These characters have a lot in common, but also offcourse differences... I have no experience with any of these but would like to play a shapeshifting, melee swordfighting, natural hunter like pc :-)
I was wondering if someone could tell something about the difference in play between the Druid, feral hunter and a druid4/ranger with shaoeshifting hunter feat and shifting focus feat.
I don't see how you would melee swordfight if you're shapeshifting.
You might want to consider something like the Magus with a sprinkling of Polymorph spells as well. They have Alter Self and Beastshape on their list.
Much would depend on the scale and scope of the campaign you are in.
If the campaign runs till level 12, with 15 pt buy or level 20 with 25 pt buy and mythic, the answers will be different.
For a basic answer, in my experience, full druid pulls away from melee primary as levels go up.
As a full spellcaster with unique spells, you begin casting, casting buffs, then melee.
Druid 4/ Ranger x leads to a more melee/wildshape for utility feel for me.
Feral hunter I have not tried.
Wildshape as your melee is very possible, but lends itself to different gear and style than swordfighting melee.
Druid takes out all metal armor, while wildshape only gets armor from the Wild enchantment.
(Be sure and check out the Faq about druids wildshaped while wearing armor.)
A campaign that includes Mythic will give options like using mythic flame blade in melee at low levels.
What are the details of your campaign?
Different people would play them differently. However, based on what I've gleaned from the many, many threads you've made on this topic, you would play all three the same way:
Memorize or select combat buff spells, cast them on yourself before a fight or in the first round, and then go into melee with your great sword. You turn into a bear (or is it tiger now?) and go scouting in the woods.
Personally, it sounds like Druid/Ranger is the path for you as it will boost your combat the most out of all your proposed options. As mentioned above, straight Druid's power shifts to its spells the higher your level, so you'd be moving away from your swordsman idea or becoming less effective at both melee and casting.
I also second the doing over further option paralyzing discussion at this point. I can't believe your campaign hasn't started yet. If not, I would stat each up at 1st, 5th, and 10th level and decide which path keeps you closest to what you envision.
Also, if you could keep your questions to one thread, you would get less conflicting advice and more consolidated ideas as people are able to skim what's been said before.
|
I am an avid druid player in PFS and each time I have looked at Feral Hunter I have come close but not chosen it yet.
The main reason depends on shapeshifting style, I like combining Monk/Druid and using the elemental shapes with flurry of blows, not as much damage as a pouncing dire tiger but very good defenses especially at 10+.
Main reason I bring this up is because elementals, in humanoid like shape, can use weapons. So if you want to use wild shape to supplement your swordfighting try going Earth Elemental and picking your sword back up.
Comparing Druid to Feral Hunter these things stood out:
Spells - Druids definitely win here, unless you like Spontaneous Casting, at which point though you may get fewer spells you have access to the ones you have without limitation.
Wildshape - If you focus on animals, it's the same, if you want to go plant/elemental you have to stick to Druid.
BAB - Basically the same, the Druid/Ranger w/shapeshifting hunter or Shaping Focus is likely to be the best in this category.
Special Abilities - Druids can get Wild Shape and a Pet, this can pretty strong. Feral Hunter get Animal Focus at will (Druid variant get it at 1 min/lvl/day but lose Animal Companion)
At low levels I think this puts the Feral Hunter up a bit as they get a quasi-wild shape right away. This can be pretty cool, as you just shift your focus around as needed, walk around with +4 perception, combat shift to strength, caster? grab mouse, need to fight invisible? grab scent. Since you can stack this onto wild shape the combo is pretty good though magic items tend to replace some abilities.
Feral HUnter does have one advantage around level 8 or so. Running in Dungeons can be a pain with a large creature. A Feral Hunter can grab a Belt of the Weasel for compression and still use his Animal Focus for enhancement to strength. Druids would have to be casting Bull's Strength. Nothing like a large dire tiger pouncing stuff down the end of a 5' wide hallway.
Teamwork feats work well for a feral hunter but the lack of a constant teammate with them without spending a resource can be a problem.
Overall I would say Feral Hunter's tend to shine better at lower levels but Druids have more longevity because of their spells. Also the will save vs. reflex save favors the druid by far. I will suggest you consider what you want to turn into, what you want to be spending resources on and how often you want to be casting.
If you want a strong melee wild shape build I would even consider adding Barbarian rather than ranger. Get Wild shape plus lots of rage and rage powers can make for insane combos, imagine a raging dire tiger at level 6 with a 30 Str (19 start, 1 at lvl 4, 4 from dire tiger, 4 from rage, +2 from belt) pounce and stuff will just die. Barbarian also works well when you aren't wild shaped.
