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Toughness shouldn't be necessary. Low levels are swingy, but 11 HP is perfectly respectable for a melee character, especially with AC 17. I played two level 1 monks with starting HP 10-11 and AC 14-15 and they both survived.
I wouldn't take Aspect of the Beast, though, since it'll become mostly irrelevant once you start using wild shape.
More info would be helpful if you want better suggestions. Stats, race, any archetype, what's your animal companion? Maybe even what the rest of the party looks like - if you're the only melee character you'll be under more pressure than if you're sharing the field.
If your objective is primarily to protect the party, then I would recommend lowering your wisdom by 1 and raising your dex by 1, then take combat reflexes, this way you can attack or trip people coming for the squishies. Also you aren't naturally proficient with a reach weapon, however you could take one that you are proficient with with heirloom weapon. A good solution till you get large with wildshape. Flavorful too. Now You get 3 attacks of oportunity per round and you can trip without getting an attack of opportunity in your face as they can't reach you presumably.
This is a very effective combat style at lower levels, tough ymmv as you level, but by then you will have wildshape. Remember masterwork transformation for your heirloom weapon.
Dump charisma. You only need it for handle animal. You can get a +2 to your handle animal with a training harness for 10 gold. 10 gold for effectively 4 points to a stat is THE best deal in the game.
I don't know how combat heavy your campaign is, but int for skills is an often overlooked ability on a druid. You have 4 skill points per level and some very good class skills. You can also pick up some cross class ones and not worry much about not getting the +3. Acrobatics helps you jump... and you can get a big boost from picking fast forms. Stealth lets you creep through the jungle to your target, boosted by +12 for turning into something tiny. You can also pick up the occasional weird skill or hobby to cover something else the group doesn't have yet.
If you are slated to be the primary melee combatant for the group, then I strongly recommend Heavy Armor Proficiency as a feat to take. Given the difficulties that druids have with most heavy armors, that may seem counter-intuitive, but it should be possible to eventually gain access to stoneplate. Wild stoneplate on a druid is phenomenally good, especially if you're wildshaped into a high natural AC form. It's too bad you don't get the "create pit" spell series in your class list (and why is that even true?), because a front line of a wolf, a Brickwall Jackson druid (bonus points if any of you catch that reference), and a big ol' hole in the ground is pretty awesome.
I'm interested in the remainder of the party roster, too -- cross-character synergy is often even better than maximized single-character role-keeping.
I started a druid who was going to be the so called "main tank", or front liner.
A few things about my experience at los levels: the proper pets can "tank" greatly. Barding is cheap and it has a great effect in your pet AC, specially some dinosaurs. Wolf can be ok as well.
Heavy shield+weapon is unwieldly for spells. I went shield+club then changed to light shield and finally went with great axe (i'm half orc), but I had enlarge person (goliath druid) so 3d6+6 help a lot to make the switch. In any case: remember your don't have any "taunt" ability, so "main tanking" is a myth in PF. Your hace people who dissable enemies in melee (anvils, like a grappler por reach trip bild) por people who kill them (mostró chars). You hace the option to be tough instead of a glass canon, but you can't "tank" in the mmo sense, there are not mechanics for it.
If you don't want to dump a stat, I'd consider to swap cha and int. You could spend extra skill points in diplomacy or bluff and have a better effect.
At lvl 3 I took Heavy Armor, but I wikdshape into a troll and can use Full plate, so you have to think about how muchos time you'll spend in humanoid form.
Your stats are more than enough to survive, unless your GM activelly try to ignore squishies and focus fire on you with all attacks.
Edit: also interested in the group compisition
Stegosaurus in masterwork studded leather armor won't even know the kobolds are trying to hit it.
Stegosaurus in masterwork studded leather armor won't even know the kobolds are trying to hit it.Con 9-20 med hp dice? He wont live the magic missile
Give it toughness and/or tribal scars from the raptor scale. (it was made by a real raptor)
I disagree druids cant tank per say.
The best tank is saurian >
Lion> goliath ( that win at high levels).
But unlike a barbarian, druid need to use tactics.
druids can tank as well as any clases. Which means they can't at all, ad there are no tank ability in PF except antagonize feat and a few spells.
They can form a frontline and surive heavy punishment, which is what many people thibk when they say "tank"
Stegosaurus in masterwork studded leather armor won't even know the kobolds are trying to hit it.Con 9-20 med hp dice? He wont live the magic missile
With 2 hd at lvl 1 and toughness he has 13 hp. If he's facing enough direct damage spells to die at lvl 1, I feel sorry for your team's wizards, rogues and bards.
Or your druid, for that matter
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Stats look fine to me. You could drop Cha to 10 in favour of increasing Int to 12 or Dex to 14 but it shouldn't make a big difference.
I am not sure how well transitioning to more casting at high levels will work for you. I tried it with my first pathfinder character, a half-orc druid with stats very similar to yours. I found it difficult. Aside from stats, you invest feats and magic items into either melee or casting - Power Attack and an Amulet of Mighty Fists are solid early on, but when you shift to casting you'll wish you had Spell Penetration and more Metamagic Rods. At high levels (10-14) I ended up doing a lot of buffing and soaking up damage (water elemental soaks very nicely).
That said, it was my first character after 3.5 and I didn't quite know how to handle the Pathfinder druid, so you might do better than me. If your GM allows retraining it'll help - if he/she doesn't then pay close attention to your early feat choices. Feats that are useful to both roles, like Improved Initiative and Natural Spell, are very good choices. You might still want Power Attack - though if you're planning on using a shield I'd wait until 3rd level. You get better value from the feat when using a two-handed weapon OR when using non-secondary natural attacks. Heavy Armour Proficiency can wait until you can actually get Wild stoneplate or dragonhide plate (maybe level 7 or 9 given the cost of Wild armour).
The character is a Varisian wanderer/worshiper of Desna and as much as I played around with the idea of having a mastodon or a roc or a big cat, location and resources don't really support that.
(stuff)
I was considering the Mooncaller archetype what with Desna's associations with the night and the stars and moon (she gives clerics/druids access to the "dream" spell at 5th level as well)...
...until I realized last night that that might be at the expense of being vulnerable to my own entangle and wall of thorns. Is that the case?
Losing woodland stride does make you vulnerable to Wall of Thorns, yes. It doesn't make a difference for Entangle, though. Woodland stride only lets you pass through areas of natural undergrowth unimpeded - magically manipulated plants like those under the effect of Entangle still affect you if you have woodland stride. Wall of Thorns is a specific exception to this rule.
A Ring of Sacred Mistletoe lets a character with woodland stride walk through magically manipulated plants like Entangle.
If you do give up Woodland Stride, you can also get it back. Jungle Boots can give you back Woodland Stride, and a Sapling Rod lets you give it to nearby allies as well.
I can always get senses and DR from wild shape so the main draw is thematic and also replacing Resist Nature's Lure with something a little less situational and the possibility of always having DR.
Now that I think about it, tho, I'm not sure that that DR stacks with DR from wild shape forms.
If a creature has damage reduction from more than one source, the two forms of damage reduction do not stack. Instead, the creature gets the benefit of the best damage reduction in a given situation.
So for example, if you have DR 10/silver and DR 5/- you benefit from DR 10 against non-silver weapons and DR 5 against silver weapons. The only DR I recall Wild Shape granting is DR 5/- from elemental form at level 12. That is in all ways better than Mooncaller's DR - though you do benefit from DR/silver if you're not in elemental form, which might be relevant. You also gain the ability to bypass DR as if your natural attacks are silver, which may or may not be useful at level 13.
You might consider the World Walker archetype if you're just looking to swap out some minor abilities - it should fit your flavour at least as well.
(And if you have traits to pick consider World Traveler for a bit more diplomacy.)
This feels like a big decision point. Should I make a character who's combat maneuver based and tie up foes with techniques like grapple or should I focus on dishing out DPR along with the rest of the party to end combats more quickly?I'd definitely still like to focus on not sweating taking some damage in a fight but the melee field looks like it's evened out a little.
(We're also seriously lacking in spellcasting if we lost that Arcanist. That should be interesting. Maybe not quite interesting enough to convert me to dedicated casting.)
Probably no other class is close to Druid in the ability to change from damage dealing to "melee control", as you can get that with wildshape. Transform into a tiger, and you are a pouncing monster, transform into a creature with grab, or trip, and you can play the maneuver game. You still need a bit of help to make it really shine, though, in the form of magic items, feats or spells to help you.
Some feats like Powerful Shape, or spells like Lockjaw, will greatly improve your ability to grapple or trip. Forms with constrict, grab or swallow will help too. A pet with grab or trip or stun (ankylosaurus) will be a good partner. You need reach to really be useful in that regard, though. Things like Rime Frostbite will help aswell, as you can entangle/fatigue several enemies.
In the other hand, "dead" is a great condition to hamper enemy monsters ability to damage the group too :P
If your group lack spellcasting, I'd seriously think about lowering CHA to 10, and raise Wisdom to 16 again. I don't think there's nothing you can roleplay with a CHA 12 that you can't with a CHA 10. An extra 3rd lvl spell and extra +1 DC for spells might help you to fit the caster role much better, imho.
Don't forget a sling and a pouch of, at a minimum, stones. Does 1d3 instead of 1d4, costs 1 gp (for the pouch), encumbers 5 pounds, adds your Strength to damage, takes advantage of the magic stone spell and gives you a projectile weapon with a 50' range increment. 1d3+3 averages to 5 damage per hit at 10'-45' at your full ranged attack bonus.
Recommend buying your scythe as cold iron. 2x cost should be affordable.
If your group allow magic crafting feats and/or buy magic items, it's not that hard to do both.
Craft woundreous item is an awesome feat for Druids, by the way. It allows you to craft almost anything you need, as your "weapon" needs can be covered with an amulet of mighty fists
Helm of mammoth lord gives you an extra natural attack (gore 1d6). Depending on your build, armbands of brawler gives +1 to grapple and dusty rose ioun stone inside a wayfinder gives +1 to AC and +2 to CMB/CMD, with a wildshape with grab and size bonus that's a good start for grapple (lockjaw spell gives grab if your form doesnt have). Consider a barbarian 2 dip for raging grappler and rage and a belt of anaconda for constrict if you want the grapple route
Rhino armor gives a good damage boost to puncing druids, but males you a bit if a glass canon. If you favor ofende it's good.
Besides that you could get vestment of druid and the usual suspects (cloak of resistance, ioun stones, headbands and belts,glove of deliquescent etc)
For example, a build with T-rex form could do 4d6 with bite. That's 8d6 with strongjaw, and 16d6 with vital strike (plus twice the Str bonus) while moving. As it has grab, your can attempt a grapple check inmediatly, doing again 4d6 + 2x str bonus because of raging grappler, and 1d6 + str bonus with constrict. Thats 21d6+5x str bonus, not counting greater magic fang or +xd6 from elemental damage with the amulet of mighty fist and deliquescent gloves. If you hold the grapple you trip him for free (with raging grappler).
As barbarian your could add furious finish if your want
For example, a build with T-rex form could do 4d6 with bite.
T-rex is gargantuan so you can not take that shape. However the behemoth hippo is huge and deals even more damage with it's bite, 4d8.
Hippo+furious finishAnother way to get ridiculous damage, lot more feat intensive though:
If you take a level of martial artist monk and Feral combat training you can flurry with your 8d8 bite, grab each time, dealing 8d8 damage again with raging grappler. Take Dragon style and Dragon ferocity to give first attack 2xstr damage and all others 1.5xstr. Prolly need to take a few fighter levels to get the feats though. Potential 3*16d8 attacks around level 12 is nothing to sneeze at. Add Vine strike and elemental damage for 2d6 for each hit.
prototype00's Primal Mauler build is really nice, see the last section of his guide . 96d8 damage is pretty ridiculous.
But that is a few levels away for your 1st level druid ;)
Yeah, I never really got that view of Druids either. Anyways, while I may not be able to offer very good advice in the field of melee (I'm a primary caster type of guy) it seems like, if your going to go melee yourself, then you should concentrate your animal companions on stealth or sensory capabilities for scouting, like a bat. This suggestion is irrelevant if you already have a scouty type like a ranger or a rogue. If that's the case, then I suggest you take a wolf at the start, and an allosaurus or roc later. The roc has the highest stats in the mid levels, and the allosaurus has the highest stats when in the upper echelons of levels. I'm also pretty sure you can ride both of those when they hit their large size.
Yep, I was thinking in my Trex companion, but those are smaller. Hippo is ok though. There are some nice charger builds too using animales with powerful charge. charge+powerful charge+ Lockjaw grab+ raging grappler+ constrict is strong too
About scouting, you have decent wis, max Percepción, and often los light visión/ darkvision and scent (which gives +8 perception in situations were smell is relevant). You have better senses than most rangers/rogues
For tactical role I'd try with some build with grab or trip. There are a lot of good spells in that regard. Frigid touch does 4d6 no save and stagger, and you can pre-cast it and deliver it with a strong natural attack instead of soft touch attack. Lockjaw is great too, and resinous skin is surprising. Frostbite gives fatigue and rimed frostbite gives entangle too. Also if your can precast and deliver with los of attacks it adds a LOT of damage. 6d6+36 at 6th lvl with 6 attacks
Grab+reach is great. If you grab , your can move the enemy and put him adjacent to your, wherever you want. That alloes to reposition freely and help with flanking.
A Menacing Amulet of mighty fist in your pet help a lot too.
I only suggested allosaurus and roc because they take the highest stat choices overall. You can just as easily pick other awesome animal companions to fill different niches. Having a (Anaconda? Python? Can't remember) just for its constrict can be pretty fun, especially if you're a melee Druid. He can incapacitate enemies while you whale away at them with your shillelagh. Wolf's also a decent choice even at higher levels with its trip ability, and even a small winged companion can be fun for dive bombing and catching food for the party. Also, like I said. Certain other companions like bats and wolves have senses even your ranger and slayer won't have access to, like blindsight and scent for navigating in lightless areas or spotting concealed or invisible enemies.
Your don't have stealth as clases unless you dip (monk has stealth and give wis to armor, ranger gives full favored enemy with Shapesifting Hunter)
But you can transform yourself in a Tiny Animal (+8 stealth), including flying ones. Plus most people will ignore a rat or raven even if they see one
For team playa, wolf is good. Trip help other melee. Put him a menacing AoMF and send him to flank
Druids are an awesome clases if your like versatility. Really awesome
Out of curiosity, what are your other party members? Also, as far as this cloak of fangs goes, I think you would have the activated ability stack with the fangs of whatever animal you happen to become (This power obviously wouldn't work on birds, or other toothless creatures). Also, since you seemed to think that a roc was a dinosaur of some sort, just to tell you, a roc is a massive bird.
You could probably just cast it before you shapeshift either way. Also, isn't their a feat, wild casting or something, that lets you cast spells or use magic while using wild shape? That would probably suffice if you decide that you can't activate it while in animal form.
Sorry to go all taxonomy on you, but birds are literally dinosaurs.
Technically speaking, birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, more specifically, dinosaurs such as archaeopteryx, which had limited gliding capabilities and primitive wings. Archeology's my thing :) Plus I seriously doubt the roc is a descendant of a creature that's still hanging around to be ridden by rangers and druids.
Once again, sorry to go all taxonomy on you, but dinosauria is a clade, which means a species and all it's descendants, so birds, as the descendants of other dinosaurs, are dinosaurs themselves (science slam!).
As for the actual post discussion, I highly recommend you look at the vmc options. Smite, judgment and slow unarmed strike progression are all options, and so is rage, wizard school powers and bloodlines. The shapshifting transmutation subschool power lets you have additional natural attacks, which can synergise well, since you'll already have an aomf.