Dear fellow Pathfinders
I am quite out of my depth in building my next character for a 15-level campaign.
Most of the feats and builds are more RP-focused (craft staff, craft wondrous item, combat casting...) but I want my spell list to look as blasty as possible.
So what are the most heavy duty spells available for a Druid damagewise?
Right now I've got on my 'typical spells prepared' list the following-
8th- derp
7th- fire storm
6th- greater dispel magic
5th- fire snake
4th- dispel magic, FLAME STRIKE!!
3rd- ash storm, spike growth
2nd- intensified burning disarm, flame blade
1st- derp
We use most Paizo rulebooks, so *fire* away!
p.s. oh yeah I haven't quite made up my mind regarding which domain to go with either. I was leaning toward Fire/Ash for fireball/disintegrate goodness but flame strike beats intensified fireball all day everyday and I'm looking for more AoE burst so disintegrate wasn't all that necessary.
If you guys could point me out to some nasty burst spells, that'd be wonderful.
Thanks in advance >:3
Storm Druid is an archetype that gives lots of opportunity for blasting.
While it is not the best damage in the world you can get a lot of mileage out of your spell slots with flaming sphere/ball lightening combined with call lightening.
Be wildshaped into something flying and hang out in relative safety while using your move and standard actions to control the spells. In a large encounter you get a lot of bang for your two spells. Of course not so much in small encounters.
Which race are you playing?
Samsaran might open more blasting options.
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At that level, you will need some spells that can get by High SR if you have a DM who likes to thwart casters. My DM usually throws APL + 6 Combats at us, so none of my druid spells could really work very well (he was more for item creation) so I started memorizing the no SR spells. They are still a bit blasty, but not as blasty as say Flame Strike. Here are some useful blasty/control spells.
1st: Entangle (it does damage, not many choices here)
2nd: Tar Ball, Stone Call (Low dmg, but no save or SR)
3rd: Call Lightning( low DMG, but consistent)
4th: Ball Lightning, Geyser, OBSIDIAN FLOW
5th: Baleful Polymorph(not blasty, but EXTREMELY USEFUL), Call lightning Storm, Wind Blades, Wall of Thorns(+plant growth for great effect)
6th: Tar Pool
7th: Sunbeam
8th: Finger of Death, Stormbolts, reverse gravity (Falling Damage), Earthquake (see spell for when this will actually do damage)
Blasty druid can be awesome, but some added control effects are some of the benefits of their spell list. Look at some of the added effect of some of the spells I mentioned. You will see that not only do they do damage initially, but they will add up if you stack them on a target. Some save or Suck spells will be good for the big baddies, unless they make their saves. And if you don't like the options at a certain spell level, remember you can memorize lower level spells in higher level slots (or just metamagic them).
As far as domains, I went storm druid so I could have 2 domains and spontaneously cast from them(I chose Air and Cloud maybe? can't remember, one granted chain lightning which is just awesome). For you either of the domains you mentioned would be fine if you are going for that firey death bringer.
At level 15, the enemies will have high SR, most will probably resist fire, and almost all will have DR. Trying to make sure all of your spells have the greatest chance of succeeding is going to net you more damage than if you have some high damage spells that rarely work/get resisted.
The closest thing to blasting on 1st level is produce flame.
The second level definite blast spell is flaming sphere. 3d6 fire damage per round on a failed Reflex save for 3+ rounds. A good choices are also UC frost fall and APG stone call.
Third level has the druidic blasting spell call lightning.
Fourth level has APG ball of lightning, which is better, electric flaming sphere.
Fifth level has call lightning storm.
Seventh level has sunbeam and eight level has sunburst and stormbolts.
Aconyte, you might want to cite the sources of some of those spells. Tar Ball is clearly not from the Core Rulebook.
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Fire Seeds got a much deserved nerf from it's 3rd edition D&D form but it still packs a good punch for not allowing a saving throw. I would recommend having a few more general purpose spell lists made up rather then just OMG BLAST! The ability to have access to such a huge list of spells and to change them out isn't something you should give up on. Maybe something for in communities, in caves, on the water, in a dungeon, etc.
Not sure how RP I'd consider crafting feats and combat casting though. ;)
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Aconyte, you might want to cite the sources of some of those spells. Tar Ball is clearly not from the Core Rulebook.
I apologize, here are the sources:
1st: Entangle (CRB)
2nd: Tar Ball (UM), Stone Call (APG)
3rd: Call Lightning (CRB)
4th: Ball Lightning (APG), Geyser (APG), OBSIDIAN FLOW (UC)
5th: Baleful Polymorph (CRB), Call lightning Storm (CRB), Wind Blades (ARG)*, Wall of Thorns(CRB)
6th: Tar Pool (UC)
7th: Sunbeam (CRB)
8th: Finger of Death (CRB), Stormbolts (APG), reverse gravity (CRB), Earthquake (CRB)
CRB - Core Rule Book
APG - Advanced Players Guide
ARG - Advanced Race Guide
UC - Ultimate Combat
UM - Ultimate Magic
* - NEEDS GM APPROVAL, racial spell
The Naga Aspirant archetype for Nagaji adds a lot of blasting spells (such as magic missile) to the druid spell list.
wow thanks again for all the awesome posts. The race is pretty much locked in as a Human and Menhir Savant as an alternate class feature so any racial/archetypical choices are no-no. Sorry I forgot to mention them X(
Anywho, I love Aconyte's list. It looks like Druids, unlike Sorc/Wiz, always have more battlefield control-ly feel added onto the less damaging spells (compared to the Sorc/Wiz direct damaging ones). Hmm, I guess I'll make do!
Cheers again y'all.
Edit: wildshapewise, we're expecting (or led to believe) that it'll heavily be a sea-based, ship-to-ship combat-focused campaign for all we know. I'll be on the crow's nest since I'll have the highest Perception bonus of the team so I don't expect to be needing more altitude anytime soonish.
Also, RPwise, I'm expecting to be turning into bears/wolves very often. Who doesn't love the dropbear from above, on fire?
p.s.s. any idea on which domain to go with?
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For you, Ash > fire (who needs elemental body? you can just shape into an elemental). If you want chain lightning and spontaneous casting of your domain spells pick up the storm druid Archetype (UM). Plus you get 2 domains instead of one (Air and one other would be good).
If you want more aquatic friendly domains to match the campaign, Ice > Water would be a good choice. It has a good balance of Blast and control. Specifically Ice Storm, Cone of Cold, Freezing Sphere, and eventually Polar ray.
As far as standard druid spells a frigid touch spell with a magic linage trait (-1 metamagic) and the rime spell metamagic feat means on a touch you do 4d6, auto stagger for a round and entangle for 2.
Its a 2nd level spell combo boss killer WAY better than flame blade.
When speaking about rime I LOVE rimed frost fall on my witch. No need to touch, area spell but the stagger only triggers on a failed save. The entangle on the other hand is not affected by the save.
cheers to everyone yet again. I talked to the DM about my choice and he said that although ship-to-ship combats will be expected, there will be a lot of board-the-ship types so I can't just blast away with AoE burst all day and be done with it (meh, I'll just Tar Pool up the deck and rain bear and wolves from above).
On the other hand, he said as long as I could explain the choice, I could have any choice of domains I wanted! So things like Travel domain (doesn't look so hot when I can Transport Via Plants all I want) and stuff I can fit in.
With that given, what would be a good choice of blasty-blasting? I like Ash suggestion since disintegrate now is 'in' but I'm open to more awesome suggestions >:3
So ship to ship combat eh? I don't know what your caster level will be when you go into ship to ship combat, but I highly recommend Warp Wood.
It will be a subtle blast, and since most ships are colossal you will need to probably use three castings (maybe even quickening warp wood), but you can single handed wreck a ship in a couple of rounds. Then the choice is yours: Do you go in wildshaped into an aquatic form, wreck the ship from underneath, and then signal your crew to move in? Do you come back to the ship and tell them to wait like vultures at a safe distance from the wreck until the hopelessness, dwindling supplies, and inclement weather weaken their resolve?
Otherwise I'm a big fan of the Whirlwind, Resist Energy Electricity, Call Lightning Storm combo. You basically start sucking up enemies and targeting yourself with 5d10 worth of lightning. Call lightning storm sounds weak until you're shocking an army of boarders sucked up in your whirlwind, plus you'll be bludgeoning them every round.