Best small race for a melee druid

[lostpike]

If you were limited to:
-Halfling
-gnome
-Wayang

Which would you choose to play as a melee druid for pfs?

[Sir Culer]

I would say that a Grippli would be the best, but after that I would probably go with Gnome. The Spell like abilities can help you cut down on the amount of utility spells you might need and you can get Arcane Strike as well.

[Azten]

I thoroughly enjoyed my Halfling Druid in Rise of the Runelords. He flew around on hugs dire bat and attack people that way, usually with a flame blade spell(or he'd Wildshape into a normal bat and do the same thing).

[Reynard_the_fox]

Of those three, probably Gnome. With a d8 hit die and likely subpar AC, you need all the Con you can get.

[lostpike]

I am really considering Wayang as they have no negative on strength. Build really needs a 16+ strength to be considered melee.

16 str
14 con
16 wis

Are what I think the build really needs.

[Reynard_the_fox]

I'll be damned, a small race that doesn't lose Str! Who'd a thunk it. That minus to Wis hurts, though... what about a Halfling or Gnomish Aasimar? Same exact stats as a regular aasimar but you're small.

Also I second Grippli if that's an option and the aasimar isn't.

[nate lange]

that's a strange 3 to choose from...
that specific set begs the question, just how melee focused do you want to be? if you really want to be melee focused wayang is definitely the way to go, but with the Wis penalty you are hurting your casting, will saves, and several skills. if you want a little more balance, gnome is pretty good option.

if you can expand the options a little, as Reynard alluded to you can make aasimars or tiefling who are small but don't appear to change their stat modifiers for the size difference... a small hungerseed or motherless tiefling would be perfect for what you're looking for.

[Atarlost]

Another option is to plan to go dex based. If your GM agrees that elementals can wield weapons and you can come up with some way to guarantee the availability of outsize scimitars dervish dance is an option, in which case you want a halfling.

[Reynard_the_fox]

Atarlost wrote:

Another option is to plan to go dex based. If your GM agrees that elementals can wield weapons and you can come up with some way to guarantee the availability of outsize scimitars dervish dance is an option, in which case you want a halfling.

Or simply grab an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists. Which actually is probably a lot better for you, as long as you can find Tiny forms of stuff with lots of natural attacks (always the tricky part).

[lostpike]

Now building a dex based melee druid would be interesting but it would be very lacking till 8th level.

At 8th level you get access to this:
Chupacabra, Flying

Its a small magical beast with pounce and fly.

I would then take weapon finesse and piranha strike.

Race: Halfling
Str:10
Dex 18
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 15
Cha 9
Feat: Weapon finesse, piranha strike, natural shape,

What I dont know is how I would make him combat viable for levels 1-8 till I get access to that shape. Any thoughts?

[Atarlost]

Reynard_the_fox wrote:

Atarlost wrote:

Another option is to plan to go dex based. If your GM agrees that elementals can wield weapons and you can come up with some way to guarantee the availability of outsize scimitars dervish dance is an option, in which case you want a halfling.

Or simply grab an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists. Which actually is probably a lot better for you, as long as you can find Tiny forms of stuff with lots of natural attacks (always the tricky part).

Doesn't work. You lose reach and damage going to higher dex animals. Having 0' reach sucks.

You gain reach and damage going to higher dex air or fire elementals. You never go below small and arguably max out with +6 dex and 10' reach at level 10 (dex doesn't increase going to huge and the size penalty increases, but you would get 15' reach if you could find a big enough scimitar)

lostpike wrote:

Now building a dex based melee druid would be interesting but it would be very lacking till 8th level.

At 8th level you get access to this:
Chupacabra, Flying

Its a small magical beast with pounce and fly.

I would then take weapon finesse and piranha strike.

Race: Halfling
Str:10
Dex 18
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 15
Cha 9
Feat: Weapon finesse, piranha strike, natural shape,

What I dont know is how I would make him combat viable for levels 1-8 till I get access to that shape. Any thoughts?

Wildshape only gets animal forms from the beast shape line. That thar's a magical beastie. Utterly worthless.

And as to what you do before wildshape comes into its own, well that's why you aim for dervish dancing in elemental shape. That works from level 3 on even if you're not shaping until level 6. That's only a level later than anyone who waits on natural spell. At level 1-2 you grin and bear it and finesse a sickle and maybe prepare produce flame for important fights.

[master_marshmallow]

Grippli, climb speed, 30 ft movement, bonus to DEX and WIS, what's not to like?

[Captain Zoom]

lostpike wrote:

If you were limited to:

-Halfling
-gnome
-Wayang

Which would you choose to play as a melee druid for pfs?

Every time I think of playing a Wayang, all I have to do is look at the picture and that's the end of that thought. For some reason I find goblins funny, orcs fierce and tieflings interesting, but I take one look at the illustration of a Wayang and I just can't bring myself to run one.

While not mechanically ideal for a druid, an Aasimar/Idyllkin makes for a nice RP fit... no plus to STR, but no minus either. never tried to play one as a Druid, but I am playing one as a Gnome Aasimar/Idyllkin Oracle of Nature.

I once played a wildshaping Halfling Druid who kicked ass. It was great fun going from small little halfling dude to huge beastie. Taught a few toughs about picking on little people.

[Lord Twitchiopolis]

Big note, this is for PFS purposes.
I assume the player has a boon sheet to play a wayang, so our small options are ONLY wayang, gnome, and halfling.

Personal opinion: I'd go gnome. There's the entire First world direction to go for backstory, and there are a few PFS legal racial substitutions for gnome in the Advanced Race Guide that work well for a melee build. Why you want to play a small melee build is beyond me, but more power to you.

[nate lange]

lostpike wrote:

What I dont know is how I would make him combat viable for levels 1-8 till I get access to that shape. Any thoughts?

1. as already mentioned, a dervish dance build (moving toward the elemental shapes instead of tiny things) starts to come together a lot earlier, like 3rd level

2. that's what your animal companion is for- start with one of the more combat focused options and prepare some buffs for it until you can hold your own in combat

[lostpike]

what about playing a lunar mystery oracle instead of a druid again based on melee. They get wildshape at 7th but instead of elemental form they get magical beast form at 11 and 13th levels.