Just started a Skull and Shackles campaign in which I'm playing a shark shaman druid. Druid is my favorite class from old, but this is the first time I've played one in Pathfinder. We just finished Kingmaker and I hated playing a wizard (probably because I ignored the god-wizard builds and wanted to make a blaster).
I'd like to get some advice on how to build him up. I'm planning on getting feats like Natural Spell, Power Attack, Powerful Shape, and Toughness. The idea is that he can switch between tanking and casting more or less at will. Versatility and toughness are my primary goals. Damage is a minor third, healing ... bleah. Spamming SNA is a possibility, but the other players will probably kill me if I focus on it after what I did with a master summoner.
It's a 3 person group and the other two are a brawler and a rogue (who is going for arcane trickster via sorceror). I am the WORST optimizer, as I usually build around an RP concept, and our group is generally combat oriented. (My fault, I've been playing with these guys for 20 years, I should know this.) 20-point build because only three people. Also, the GM has said that he wants to focus a lot on RP, so I don't really feel pressured to optimize much.
Still, advice on good feats, combos, and tactics would be appreciated.
Dagmar Grimtooth
Male dwarf druid (shark shaman) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 40)
N Medium humanoid (dwarf)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +1 shield)
hp 11 (1d8+3)
Fort +5 (+2 trait bonus vs poison or drugs (+4 to avoid effects of alcohol)), Ref +0, Will +5; +2 vs. poison, spells, and spell-like abilities
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee club +2 (1d6+2) or
. . dagger +2 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . sickle +2 (1d6+2)
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . 6/day—battle rage (+1)
Druid (Shark Shaman) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . 1st—cure light wounds, magic weapon[D], stone fist[APG]
. . 0 (at will)—know direction, purify food and drink (DC 13), resistance
. . D Domain spell; Domain War domain
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Statistics
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Str 15, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 8
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 12 (16 vs. bull rush, 16 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Profession [sailor])
Traits besmara's blessing, iron liver
Skills Acrobatics -2 (-6 to jump), Appraise +1 (+3 to assess nonmagical metals or gemstones), Heal +7, Knowledge (nature) +7, Perception +8, Profession (sailor) +11, Survival +9 (+11 while at sea), Swim +4; Racial Modifiers +2 Appraise to assess nonmagical metals or gemstones
Languages Common, Druidic, Dwarven, Giant
SQ nature bond (War domain), nature sense, saltbeard, wild empathy +0
Other Gear hide shirt, light wooden shield, club, dagger, sickle, backpack, belt pouch, blanket, blanket, winter, buoy (2), chalk, charcoal stick, coffee pot, dice, fishhook (5), flint and steel, folding pole (2), hip flask, holly and mistletoe, mess kit, mug/tankard, pot, saw, sewing needle, signal horn, soap, spell component pouch, trail rations (5), waterskin, 6 gp, 4 sp, 20 cp
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Special Abilities
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Battle Rage +1 (6/day) (Sp) Touch ally to grant +1 to a melee dam for 1 rd.
Besmara's Blessing (1/week) Reroll a Profession (sailor) check and take the higher result.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Druid (Shark Shaman) Domain (War) Granted Powers: You are a crusader for your god, always ready and willing to fight to defend your faith.
Greed +2 to Appraise to determine price of nonmagic goods with precious metals or gemstones.
Iron Liver +2 to Fort saves vs. poison and drugs, or +4 vs. alcohol.
Saltbeard +1 to attack/+2 to AC Gain bonus to att/AC vs aquatic/water foes. +2 to Sailor/Survial checks at sea.
Wild Empathy +0 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
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Note: Prof: Sailor. Should be a 13 at sea, 11 on land.
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We're only on day 2. I put my starting feat into skill focus (Profession: sailor) and I'm the cook's mate .... Will be putting points into Profession: cook if I live to level 2.
To show you how clueless I am / our group is, we never knew the Druid was the powerhouse in 3.5. Aside from me, it's always been ignored. Also, our group disdains wizards, seeing them as weak and vulnerable. My performance as a wizard in Kingmaker did not help break this stereotype. Melee combatants usually take spotlight and are full of win. One guy borderline to refuses to play in any game that doesn't have a cleric as a dedicated healer. And then there's me, always wanting to play a special snowflake with great concepts and poor execution. I can't go wrong this time! Can I?
My group has just finished Skull and Shackles, so let me give you a piece of advice...don't focus or think too much that you will be underwater a lot. A lot of the campaign takes place on the water, boarding boats and being pirates. Sure, there are times in which you go underwater, but the amount of time you will actually spend in the drink...is well relatively small.
While the shark shaman is definitely good thematically, the mechanical changes made to the class may actually leave you feeling less useful more often than you had imagined.
And not that you have selected it because you have appeared to have chosen domains, but a shark animal companion would probably be useless 80% of the time or more, since you would need to cast buffs on it to get it out of water. Which is possible, but you wont be able to keep it out all the time or all day.
This is just a warning so you can think about how hard you want to focus into the whole "underwater" aspect.
I will say, if no one else is taking or focusing on profession sailor, your skill focus will actually serve you well.
Thanks. I didn't get the companion for the exact reason you mentioned. I assumed that most of the action would take place on a ship as opposed to under it.
I am psyched about turning into a great white at level 6, but I'm not focused on exclusively underwater action. I initially debated whether to go shark shaman or aquatic druid, and while aquatic may have more mechanical advantages, shark shaman is much cooler. :)
Also, I think the wild shape penalty is effectively gone by level 12 or so. What level did you wind up being at the end?
Level 14 is where the campaign ends, so you will spend the majority of the campaign at a disadvantage.
Also, I can't see anything that gets rid of the penalty. You are always effectively 2 levels behind.
By 12 I think the shaman has all the same forms and sizes available and it's only times per day that you're behind on. And aside from the -2 wild-shape, what other disadvantages are there?
The shaman only gives up Thousand Faces, a level 13 ability, and venom immunity. Still has woodland stride, nature's step, resist nature's lure, and full casting. Am I missing something?
Edit: grammar. And checked, it's 14th where the shaman gets huge elementals.
Edit x4: why can't I get this post right?
By 12 I think the shaman has all the same forms and sizes available and it's only times per day that you're behind on. And aside from the -2 wild-shape, what other disadvantages are there?
The shaman only gives up Thousand Faces, a level 13 ability, and venom immunity. Still has woodland stride, nature's step, resist nature's lure, and full casting. Am I missing something?
Edit: grammar. And checked, it's 14th where the shaman gets huge elementals.
Edit x4: why can't I get this post right?
Core druid doesn't become huge till it reaches level 12. Your shark shaman druid wont be able to do it till level 14, the end of the campaign.
Wildshape is the druid's main combat ability. If you're not that interested in being able to contribute to combat you're probably okay, but otherwise you're probably going to fall behind.
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Have you considered the skinwalker race with the wereshark heritage? I haven't looked at how it works with your stats and abilities but it should fit your theme.
Can't recommend this enough, base druid (or possibly feral shifter if you want some more cool combat stuff) with race as Skinwalker (wereshark) will be far better for you imo, the racial stats are +wis/con and -int which seems fine and you don't end up lagging behind combatwise by 2 levels for probably 70%+ of the campaigns fights. It also nicely keeps the flavour of the whole shark theme.
I think there's been a miscommunication. The game has already started and the character I posted is what I have. What I'm looking for is how to optimize the existing character, not make a new one.
That being said, I am still appreciative of the advice.
On getting your current guy to work. Consider some of the following.
Your totemic trans can give you a bite or a swin speed and water breathing at 2nd lvl. I would consider two handing a weapon maybe a staff and use the bite as a secondary.
When your wild shape comes online, look at a Druids robe, and the sky swim spell. As always you want natural spell feat (must have).
If you really want to avoid summons focus on melee. One buf and into the fight, probably bull str until you get a belt. Barks kin and the new iron skin may be good too. Don't buff too long or the fight will be done before you get there.
Druids don't have too many low level mass buffs, but review your list thoroughly. At higher levels it can be good to leave a slot blank to fill in with something you find you need later.
At higher level look at life bubble spell nice to have.
With the small group 3 of you, summoning May work out. If so look into spell focus conj and augment summon with superior summons, and maybe one of the nature summoning specials like moonlight or sunlight summons.
Do best to keep str high, and anything else to keep your attack up. I found problems toward the end.
Druid should be fine. I played a menhir savant thru S&S and had fun.
Any specific concerns?
On getting your current guy to work. Consider some of the following.
Your totemic trans can give you a bite or a swin speed and water breathing at 2nd lvl. I would consider two handing a weapon maybe a staff and use the bite as a secondary.
When your wild shape comes online, look at a Druids robe, and the sky swim spell. As always you want natural spell feat (must have).
If you really want to avoid summons focus on melee. One buf and into the fight, probably bull str until you get a belt. Barks kin and the new iron skin may be good too. Don't buff too long or the fight will be done before you get there.
Druids don't have too many low level mass buffs, but review your list thoroughly. At higher levels it can be good to leave a slot blank to fill in with something you find you need later.
At higher level look at life bubble spell nice to have.
With the small group 3 of you, summoning May work out. If so look into spell focus conj and augment summon with superior summons, and maybe one of the nature summoning specials like moonlight or sunlight summons.
Do best to keep str high, and anything else to keep your attack up. I found problems toward the end.
Druid should be fine. I played a menhir savant thru S&S and had fun.
Any specific concerns?
Thanks. That's going to help. After talking to the players, they won't be upset if I start throwing summons around, so I'll definitely pick up augment summons. Otherwise, I'm looking for anything that will make wild shape (even with the -2 level progression) useful. I've been thinking of focusing on biting and taking forms which have a bite as the primary, such as a hippo, wolf, dino, etc.
Planned feats are:
3 - Spell focus: Conjuration
5 - Natural Spell
7 - Augment Summoning
9 - Improved Natural Attack (Bite)
11 - Powerful Shape
13 - Superior Summons