Advice for helping DM tailor a PC's Druid

[Craglansun]

Hi there,

I believe this is my first post, so just a quick little bit - I have played a combination of 3.5 and Pathfinder for about 3 years now, and have recently started to DM a campaign of my own. And, I have never played a Druid myself...

Of those in the group, one of them introduced me to the RPG genre and thus is very experienced, and the other three are completely new to the game, two of which have never played any kind of RPG games, be it online or otherwise.

They are a strange combination, a Rogue (Unchained, naturally), a Barbarian, a Druid, and the experienced chappy having an Oathbound Paladin,

Being a very melee heavy group, I suggested the Druid go for a ranged approach to their character (and being very freshfaced to any kind of RPG, she agreed) The party is level three and the Elf Druids rolled stats are (very) roughly 12/16/12/12/20/10, and she has a Wolf pet.

As she is new to the game, I am avoiding completely any kind of dipping into classes - Prestige or otherwise. However, finding a suitable PrC and persuing it is acceptable.

She said she is happy for me to help her stay ranged, and so I am essentially asking for advice on how to help her character succeed at being a ranged DPS/buffing (and healing when needed) character?

Specifically, I am looking for creative ways in which she can use her Wildshape to buff her ranged prowess? Are there dextrous animals that can use bows? Or should I homebrew an 'Aspect' type variant? Or am I looking at this all wrong, and not noticing that she should be attacking with ranged spells over bows?

I have had a look at 3.5's Variants and found the Aspect of Nature variant which looks pretty good, but would there be any teething issues implementing the change?

Any help here would be much appreciated, and I eagerly await your advice.

Many thanks,
Crag

[Dafydd]

From the top-

Druid for a new player? well, i guess if you try to keep it simple for her. Druid can get very complicated.

PrC: Evangelist is great, as is Nature Warden (recent feat means you no longer have to multiclass in ranger to enter)

For Wildshape, Air Elemental is the shape you want. Flying can get High Ground and Air Elemental gets a dex boost. Do keep in mind that the bows do not change size, so she will need bows of multiple sizes (unless there is some other way to ignore wrong size penalties)

If you are allowing some 3.5 material, I do suggest that feat that allowed you to spontaneously cast Cure Spells. I forget the name, but it was very useful to my druids.

[Craglansun]

Many thanks for the advice Dafydd!

Aye, I wasn't (and still aren't) so keen on having a brand new player being a Druid, but I couldn't sway her any other way - not even with a Summoner. But I will be micro-managing for another couple of levels at least.

Nature Warden looks very appealing! I'm sure it wont take too much convincing to urge her down that route, especially as it looks like it will be easier to manage mechanically. I can certainly homebrew something to bridge the gap.

As for the flying elemental type, she does love the elemental theme (and actually wanted an elemental pet) so I will have to see what she says.

I'm fairly certain Nature Warden is what I will push her towards however.

Many thanks for the advice!
Crag

[Taenia]

There is a new weapon property Resizing That might help.

Make sure you look at Natural Spell as it allows druids to cast in animal shapes including small, diminutive and tiny forms, great for concealment and protection.

I personally would avoid Prestige Classes as they complicate the class already and the druid is great as it is.

There is a druid archetype in Monster Summoner's Handbook that gets an elemental eidolon. May want to look that up as well.

[Dafydd]

Normally, I also steer new players away from prestige as well. However, Nature Warden is simple and would help a low casting/non natural attacking druid.

On a side note, did you try to tempt her with Hunter? It is very similar to Druid, and is slightly stronger for archer style with Gravity Bow and free Precise Shot.