Alright, so I'm running a new campaign with a new group who are new to pathfinder. I was able partake in the character creation of most of the group, so I can confidently say that group is pretty optimized. Now I have been informed that there is another player joining the campaign who already has some strict ideas of what she wants her character to be after reading the srd.
She wants her character to be a elf nature fang druid with a wolf animal companion. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to contact this player myself to see exactly what she had in mind.
So in the meantime, let's assume that this all this player is looking for in her character. How do I optimize this kind of character?
All of our party is currently level 1 right now and consists of a
half-orc invulnerable barbarian
elven evocation wizard
elven sorcerer with the sage bloodline
TWF human slayer
Melee Tactician from Psionic Unleashed
Aasimar Life Oracle who wants to solely be a buff and band-aid character
Infernal Sorcerer that will be doing who knows what.
Large group, I know. I can't really do anything about it right now, but I'm expecting that everyone won't be able to attend every session.
Do you at least know whether she wants to go melee or archery?
Admittedly, it will probably be a lot easier to make this a ranged character (not saying it is impossible to go melee, it would just end up with 12 con instead of 14, really- at least going by my own rules for stats) , and you already have 2-3 melee characters (not sure about the psionic stuff).
Oh, and is this starting at level 1?
Yep, everyone is starting at level 1. No clue if she is going archery or melee. I will try to clarify this later.
I dont Think it should be a problem. Even in melee she May end up being the only Reason the oracle dosent loose interest in the game. I would go with a long spear and combat reflexes, get animal soul at level 9 and use animal growth when need be. A druid is a full caster with a good spell list. I would prefre a wildshapeing druid but it is still gonna be good with str 14, dex 16, con 12, wis 14 and what ever.
I dont Think it should be a problem. Even in melee she May end up being the only Reason the oracle dosent loose interest in the game. I would go with a long spear and combat reflexes, get animal soul at level 9 and use animal growth when need be. A druid is a full caster with a good spell list. I would prefre a wildshapeing druid but it is still gonna be good with str 14, dex 16, con 12, wis 14 and what ever.
Druids do not get long spears. I know, weird. They get the other two types of simple spears.
Since reach is out of the question (without a dip or feat, at least), scimitars are the usual weapon of choice for melee. Rapiers for finesse...but eh.
If you take advantage of slayer talents, you could do something interesting with TWF and quarterstaves though. As a double weapon, it can do both 2 handed and 1 handed/light. That means tht it can get those sweet x1.5 bonuses when you move. Quarterstaves have problems with special material DR though...but you can also use shilelagh to make it hit like a great sword...
Of course, that might step on the actual slayer's toes. Side note- the new weighted spear is great for your slayer. It is a simple double weapon as well, but it can do special materials.
Still can't contact her, so for now let's assume that she will either go melee or ranged. Would a TWF shillelagh build work for a druid?
No long Spear for druids. Then i would spend a feat on a good reach weapon like a fauchard.
Still can't contact her, so for now let's assume that she will either go melee or ranged. Would a TWF shillelagh build work for a druid?
Well, I am only suggesting this since nature fang druids get slayer talents at level 4, and ever 2 levels after. So they can get the feats together about as well as a slayer.
Of course, you might not want to go that route, since you have another TWF slayer in the party. It will cause 1 of 2 things to happen- the slayer will envy the druid for doing the same things as him, but with full spell casting, or the druid will envy the slayer, who has the same combat style, but does it better since it has full BAB and better weapons.
A nice scimitar build or an archery build would avoid this problem.
Anyway, onto other interesting considerations- what do you think of animal soul?
This feat allows you to choose to count as an animal for spells (or not, if someone tries charm animal). This provides interesting opportunities, ones that a normal druid cannot take advantage of. Nature fang druids do not have wildshape, so they do not have any important transmutation effects going on. That means you could take advantage of the nice spells on the druid list.
Besides animal growth (being large with +8 str...), there is also Atavism, which gives you the advanced template. That is a straight +4 to all stats and a +2 to natural armor. Obviously, that one is useful no matter what kind of build you go with- melee, archer, or caster would all enjoy that extra +2's.
Of course, this feat should be considered later on, when such powerful 4th and 5th level spells are an issue.
Still can't contact her, so for now let's assume that she will either go melee or ranged. Would a TWF shillelagh build work for a druid?
Here is a sample Human Nature Fang Druid I built using Shillelagh
Human/Half Orc
- + 2 to Str
Trait
- Magical Lineage (Shillelagh)
- Bred for War (+1 Intimidate +1 CMB)
Plant Domain (Growth Sub)
- Enlarge as a Swift action
- Enlarge and Righteous Might Domain spells
Feats
1st Improved Initiative/ (Insert Human Feat)
3rd Power Attack
4th TWF (ST: Ranger Combat Style)
5th Improved Overrun
6th Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff (ST: Weapon Training))
7th Quicken Spell (Quicken Shillelagh as 4th level spell)
8th ITWF (ST: Ranger Combat Style)
9th Greater Overrun
10th Double Slice (ST: Ranger Combat Style)
11th Vital Strike
12th Two-Weapon Rend (ST: Ranger Combat Style)
13th Improved Critical (Quarterstaff)
etc.
Since this Character does not have Acrobatics or a good Dex, Overrun is used to help get positioning on the battle field without provoking AoO.
With her being an Elf and wanting a Wolf she wouldn't have access to Enlarge but she could still be a good TWF with Shillelagh.
Remember that Studied Target will help offset the 3/4 BAB.
A good prestige class for her (if melee focused) could be Gray Warden.
Adds more sneak attack and Bane to her Shillelagh.
Still ends up with 9th level spells if the campaign goes to level 20.
Also keep in mind that her Dex does not need to be higher than 14 (though she may want it to be) since she can get TWF and ITWF from Slayer Talents.
If she is ok giving up the Wolf, another good domain could be Crocodile.
Adds 1D6 sneak attack and a familiar.
That said I prefer the Growth sub Domain for reach with a TWF 3D6 Shillelagh