CORE Druid: help me change shape and smash things

[Joe M.]

Motivation: I'm fairly experienced with Pathfinder, but never really got to know the Druid class. It's complicated! An unfamiliar spell list, the animal companion, wild shape ... that's a lot of moving parts to learn, so I haven't ever bothered. But now I'd like to fill in the gap in my knowledge of the game. To that end, I'd like to build a Druid for play in PFS Core, to minimize the complications. And I'm turning to you for help!

Goal: I want to change shape and smash things! The goal is to keep things as simple as possible as I get to know the class. Wildshape strikes me as the weirdest part of the class to get to know, so I'd like to skip the animal companion to keep it simple and focus on melee and wildshape.

Parameters:

• PFS Core. So, 20 point buy, no resources outside the Core Rulebook except basic traits. All the other usual PFS limitations.
  
• Non-human. Almost every one of my characters is human. I'd like to try something different. Plus, (i) if we can make the build work without the human bonus feat it's always easy to switch back and (ii) a 20 ft. move speed, usually why I skip Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, isn't as much of a handicap once wildshape comes into play.
  
• Domain, not animal companion. For the sake of simplicity, I'm skipping the animal companion.
  
• Melee focus. I want to smash things!

Thoughts? Suggestions? I'd especially appreciate advice on wildshape. What should I know about the ability? What Bestiary 1 shapes will be especially useful? How does wildshape affect my choice of equipment or feats?

(I'll post my preliminary build and thoughts and questions in a day or two. Want to leave it open-ended for now.)

[Taenia]

Not surprisingly in core if you want to melee you will have to go with Strength as your primary as Dex damage builds don't work in Core.

The races that provide Str bonuses are Human, Half Orc and Half Elf. Given you have mentioned you don't want Human, I would suggest Half-Orc.

This will give you a Str boost, Darkvision and Ferocity. Not bad.

Stat wise being in melee Str Dex Con and Wis are primary stats, Int is nice but without an AC Charisma is not as important.

Consider
S 16 + 2 D 12 C 14 I 12 W 14 Ch 7, if you don't mind dumping Int you could go S 17 + 2 D 14 C 14 I 7 W 14 Ch 7 or S 16 + 2 I 9 depending.

This give you a decent set of physical abilities and the wisdom you need for the majority of your career (you will need a +2 Wis headband before level 9.)

You don't get wild shape til 4th so your shapechange ability will be limited. I suggest you focus on Shillelagh and grab a Club and hit stuff, wear Hide armor, grab a shield and go to town. As you level up funnel spells into melee buffs or to fulfill a needed role.

Feat wise get Power attack and Natural Spell at 5th. Heavy Armor Prof at 7 - 9 is also useful for Wild Dragonhide Full Plate.

For forms at 4th look at Deinonychus, which will give you (assuming 19 str, stat point in str plus 2 for Beast Shape 1) 22 str and 4 attacks. Thats +8/+8/+8/+3 for 2x 1d8+8, 1d6+8, 1d4+3. Your Armor Class will be limited so consider purchasing a dragonhide breastplate suited for Deinonychus form which can put you at 20+ AC.

Eagle is not a bad option getting 3 attacks at +8 for 1d4+7 and flight 30'. Put a breastplate on that you can have an AC of 22+.

Don't forget to grab Natural spell at 5th level and grab a rod of extend, lesser for 10 hours of Greater Magic Fang for a +1 enhancement bonus on all attacks and casting Produce Flame for 5 charges of and extra 1d6+5 on each attack. You could go Deinonychus, cast produce flame, move 50' to the target, touch it for 1d6+5 damage then full attack next round and deliver +8/+8/+8/+3 for 2x 1d8+8 + 1d6+5 Fire, 1d6+8 + 1d6+5 Fire, 1d4+3 + 1d6+5 Fire all in one round.

At 6th go Dire Tiger for pounce on 3 attacks, Str 26 (20 + 4 Beast shape II, +2 belt, plus GMF) +12/+12/+12 (+14 on a charge) for Bite 2d6+13 + Grab, 2 Claws 2d4+13 + Grab.

At 8th you gain rake on your dire tiger form, open up huge dinosaurs for big hits especially if you grab Vital Strike, Stegosaurus plus Vital Strike = 8d6 + 21 + Trip on a huge dinosaur. With Wild dragonhide full plate +1 you can have Decent armor and hitting hard.

At 10th you can give up some offensive power for defensive capability in Earth Elemental form, getting Earth glide and 2 slams plus good natural armor and immunity to crits/sneak attacks and bleed.

Spells should be tailored to buffing and filling any secondary role. Produce Flame, Barkskin, GMF, Freedom of Movement, are all good choices, Wall of Thorns is great as you can walk right through it for guerilla attacks. 11th brings a suite of spells designed to really change the battle field, especially fire seeds, liveoak and spellstaff expanding your repertoire. Don't forget to pack some obscuring mists, sleet storms and ice storms for Control options plus faerie fire and daylight to deal with darkness issues.

[Ryzoken]

Pathfinder Guide to the Guides

Everything you need to know about how to build and play Druid (or most classes for that matter) can be found at the above link. Specifically, I recommend Treatmonk's guide as it is Core and contains excellent advice in an easy to consume format.

I've gotten good mileage out of Weather Domain.

[Just a Mort]

You can't fly in medium armor (ie. Breastplate).

[Taenia]

Are you referring to:

"Flying mounts can't fly in medium or heavy barding."

Which is a mount specific rule and not something that applies to flying creatures without riders.

I have to agree on weather domain, it is great versatile domain with a good ranged attack (provides a debuff) a decent AoE (call down several at once to hit multiple foes) and good spells (Control, damage).

For pure melee, the Plant domain isn't bad. You have the ability to give yourself a weapon when needed, deal damage when hit and provides you with several spells you will use. I recommend using your 3rd and 4th domain slots for additional barkskins and 6th slot for another Wall of Thorns.