Domain choice for a Druid

[AmberAnarchy]

I'm building a Druid that I plan on being something of a frontline fighter. However I'm not all that happy with using the animal companion Nature Bond and see the character as having taken a Domain Nature Bond. I was wondering which Domains that a Druid can take normally (no archtypes to get additional ones) would work for an offensive Druid

[XMorsX]

The Saurian Shaman has access to the Destruction, Strenght and War domains. If you are allowed to pick from their subdomains too, Rage, Ferocity and Tactics are excellent choices.

Rage is the most offensive domain, both powers aid you in dealing tons of damage (buy a Furious courageous AoMF and enjoy the benefits!).

Ferocity is great for dealing damage too (not so great as rage though) and gives early access to Enlarge Person. Still probably the weaker choice.

Tactics is the most versatile option, as the initaiitve boost is great for someone who wants to cast a spell before entering melee and the 8th lvl ability is seriously awesome if you have combat expertise, as it allows you to choose the improved version of a combat maneuver on the fly.

[AmberAnarchy]

I was looking at building this character using the standard Druid build (no alternate class builds)

[T.A.U.]

Fire is the more blaster domain (Fire Bolt Sp and buring hands spell at first level... produce flame from 3rd level, fireball from 5th) but fire resistance and fire immunity are also the more common defensive abilities the enemies will have.

I usally prefer Air (at first levels) or Weather (at mid levels) [and you can have both with the Storm Druid archetype, but that's not in the OP request]

[XMorsX]

The Plains domain is the only domain I would consider if this is the case. It gives Haste at 5th lvl and Pounce at 6th. A great domain, but it is lacking compared to the other choices for a battle druid.

The Growth domain is not as good as it sounds as the enlarge person spells does not stack with wild shape, as well as most of the spells gained are already on your spell list.

Saurian Shaman is a great archetype to consider though. There is a build illustrating how to build a great battle druid / monk here. It is not a Saurian Shaman, but I believe that prototype00 has misinterpreted the wild shape ability of the archetype. It does obtain it at lvl 4 and not at lvl 6, it is just modified after lvl 6. Also, I believe that having flurry would be a great perk for the build, and the fact that crane style is not as good now makes it even more attractive to just take dragon style and keep flurry. Imagine such a build reaping the advantages of the rage subdomain, along with proper rage powers and a furious courageous AoMF. A beast indeed.

[Kazumetsa Raijin]

As a Melee Druid, Plant Domain isn't a bad choice. The Growth Subdomain is useless for you, and the Decay domain is INCREDIBLE - However it will effect your teammates too as it refers to "Creatures" instead of Foes or Opponents or whatever. Notice there is NO SAVE to this. Draining their Strength, means it's harder for them to hit anyone, and easier to CMB them, among other things.

"Aura of Decay (Su): At 8th level, you can emit a 30-foot aura of decay as a standard action. Living creatures in this aura (except you) take 1d6 points of damage per round as their flesh rots. They also take a cumulative –1 penalty to Strength each round they remain in the aura. Once outside the aura, the penalty fades at the rate of –1 per round, but it begins building again if they reenter the aura. Plant creatures take 2d6 points of damage per round. You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive."

If you can talk your DM into letting that only effect living creatures other than Allies, it's hella worth it.

If not, you get "Wooden Fist (Su): As a free action, your hands can become as hard as wood, covered in tiny thorns. While you have wooden fists, your unarmed strikes do not provoke attacks of opportunity, deal lethal damage, and gain a bonus on damage rolls equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum +1). You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Bramble Armor (Su): At 6th level, you can cause a host of wooden thorns to burst from your skin as a free action. While bramble armor is in effect, any foe striking you with an unarmed strike or a melee weapon without reach takes 1d6 points of piercing damage + 1 point per two cleric levels you possess. You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive."

They are both incredibly useful, and very fitting for a druid. That's a good bit of static damage(and dice damage) to those you target(with every hit mind you!), and those that target you.(combine wooden fist with stone fist!) Though, the Whatever Fist is more for Unarmed attacks...

Take a look at all of the Domains you get: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Animal, and Plant here:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains
Keep in mind, any Subdomain within the Domain you choose you can substitute out with what it says you can in the description, in order to gain that subdomain.
I must say I have to recommend Plant though, as it provides that extra oomph in melee combat. The Water Domain is great for pushing opponents around using your probably crazy strong CMB as a druid. With Fire Domain you get the Fireball spell eventually, which an AE that big really does come in handy. The Earth Domain is great for acquiring Dark Vision and giving objects Radiation that damage targets in a certain range of them.

I hope this helps!

[prototype00]

XMorsX wrote:

Saurian Shaman is a great archetype to consider though. There is a build illustrating how to build a great battle druid / monk here. It is not a Saurian Shaman, but I believe that prototype00 has misinterpreted the wild shape ability of the archetype. It does obtain it at lvl 4 and not at lvl 6, it is just modified after lvl 6. Also, I believe that having flurry would be a great perk for the build, and the fact that crane style is not as good now makes it even more attractive to just take dragon style and keep flurry. Imagine such a build reaping the advantages of the rage subdomain, along with proper rage powers and a furious courageous AoMF. A beast indeed.

The interpretation of this particular ability is thorny, and as is my custom, I adhere to the strictest interpretation to forestall any DM fiat.

Saurian Shaman does do a pretty good mnk/drd build, I shall have to play around with it (really, all optimization of builds come down to optimal feat placement in the end).

prototype00

[Taenia]

Is this for a home game or PFS? In either case the Varisia book introduced a certain role for druids called the totem shaman and provides access to some domain if you want to have been associated with certain tribes, without an archetype. These include destruction, war, strength, protection, rune, liberation and a few others.

[XMorsX]

prototype00 wrote:

XMorsX wrote:

Saurian Shaman is a great archetype to consider though. There is a build illustrating how to build a great battle druid / monk here. It is not a Saurian Shaman, but I believe that prototype00 has misinterpreted the wild shape ability of the archetype. It does obtain it at lvl 4 and not at lvl 6, it is just modified after lvl 6. Also, I believe that having flurry would be a great perk for the build, and the fact that crane style is not as good now makes it even more attractive to just take dragon style and keep flurry. Imagine such a build reaping the advantages of the rage subdomain, along with proper rage powers and a furious courageous AoMF. A beast indeed.

The interpretation of this particular ability is thorny, and as is my custom, I adhere to the strictest interpretation to forestall any DM fiat.

Saurian Shaman does do a pretty good mnk/drd build, I shall have to play around with it (really, all optimization of builds come down to optimal feat placement in the end).

prototype00

I see, but I believe that the difference of wording according to the pfsrd between the shaman archetypes and the archetypes that clearly take wildshape at 6th lvl is enough of evidence to let us conclude that the shaman archetypes have wildshape at 4 lvl.

For reference, the wording of the swamp druid is:

"Wild Shape (Su)

A swamp druid gains this ability at 6th level, except that her effective druid level for the ability is equal to her druid level – 2."

For the saurian shaman is:

"Wild Shape (Su)

At 6th level, a saurian shaman’s wild shape ability functions at her druid level –2. If she takes on the form of a reptile or a dinosaur, she instead uses her druid level +2."

The table (grid) also leaves the wildshape feature of the saurian shaman at 4th lvl empty and at the higher lvls it is marked with C. The swamp druid has an X at the 4th lvl of the wildshape feature and C at the higher lvls.

I would be interested to see such a build. I will be especially satisfied if it achieves a competitive attack bonus too.

Also prototype00, I think you have never posted the tripping and grappling versions of your druid / monk warriors of yours.

[prototype00]

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ovxd?So-just-brainstorming-a-bit-about-a-monk# 1

Here is where I think about the trip build, mostly can be distilled to:

Quote:

But yes, tripping kind of sucks because you are limited by size (so as a medium character, you can trip large creatures), but:

1.) Wild-shape gets you up to huge eventually
2.) The halfling underfoot adept gets counted as larger for the purpose of trip.
3.) Powerful shape lets you treat yourself as one size larger

So the basic setup is:

1.) Wildshape to get huge size
2.) Underfoot adept to get size increases (two, three?)
3.) Powerful shape to get the rest

Then take the maneuver master archetype to get free trip attempts on top of your iterative attacks (and natural attacks), since flurry of maneuvers isn't flurry of blows you can also use natural attacks.

Forgot to mention Fury's Fall and Huge Air Elemental to leverage a pure dex tripping build (great with the halfling's racial dex bonus).

The grappling build I am still working on.

Just curious, was there any faq entries or dev stances on when Shaman archetypes get wildshape?

prototype00

Actually in regard to the Saurian Shaman Wildshape, here is the author's intent:

Jason Nelson wrote:

Level 4-5, druids would normally get WS. An animal shaman does not get any wild shape at all at those levels (but can use their separate totem transformation power).

At 6th level, they finally gain the WS ability. When using it to assume the form of their totem, they are treated as if they were 8th level druids in all respects (see my above post). When using it to assume any other form, they are treated as 4th level druids in all respects (again, see above).

No great loss, with Totem Transformation, you can get started on Feral Combat Training (Claws) earlier, which allows you to deal unarmed damage (12d8) with them later at only a -2 penalty (with multiattack).

Also, allows you to apply Dragon Style and Dragon Ferocity to them, changing their damage to 1 str from .5 str (as secondary natural attacks)

prototype00