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This is going to be a "try to make the best of a tough build" thread. I have, for a long time wanted to play an archer druid but the feat requirement and lack of proficency have dissuaded me.
So I ask the community "how would you build this?" All builds or tips are welcome. The more levels of druid the more I am likely to play it.
How attached are you to druid? If all you want it for is animal companion and spellcasting, a human Hunter can get precise shot at 1, and has a nerfed wild shape that works with archery.
Alternatively, the Survivor archetype for druid gets longbow proficiency (though with reduced spellcasting, so not sure I'd recommend that - though it is what I'll use below). They lose wild shape, but gain traps, which might help with the grapple companion for controlling a battlefield.
Half-Elf with weapon familiarity still has to wait to get precise shot.
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Assuming 20 point buy
Human Druid (survivor)
Str 13; Dex 16+2; Con 14; Int 7; Wis 16; Cha 7
level 1 feats: point-blank shot, precise shot
level 3: rapid shot or deadly aim
level 5: deadly aim or rapid shot
level 7: toughness, improved initiative, or weapon focus (longbow)
level 9: manyshot
level 11: toughness, improved initiative, or weapon focus (longbow)
Other feats to consider: Power Attack (for a switch hitter), Snap Shot (if you just want to threaten with the bow), Bullseye Shot (if you find yourself moving and attacking a lot)
Traps (at 4 and all evens thereafter) are not something I know much of; just look at what seems best for the campaign (like fire traps for a campaign in the north or the like).
ANIMAL COMPANION: Allosaurus (if not PFS) for pounce + grab; Roc gets 2 talons with Grab at 4, Constrictor is slightly better at grappling right from the start
This build will only have 3 skill ranks/level (4 if you spend favored class on hp), though the animal companion can help to a small degree.
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Thanks for the post. I want to specifically make a druid. I know I could make a better archer from a hunter, divine commander warpriest, animal domain cleric, nature oracle, fighter or warpriest with animal ally feats, sacred huntmaster inquisitor. Many would be better archers.
I'm hoping to find a way to use druids control spells, domain or maybe ac to make decent archer.
Thanks again though.
Samsaran for Mystic Past Life is probably a good start (ranger to add gravity bow, plus some other spells like hunter's howl, arrow eruption, etc.). The death druid archetype may be thematically appropriate (and an archer has less need to wild shape for combat-effectiveness, anyway). Either a one level dip in a class with proficiency in all martial weapons (fighter for the bonus feat, as well, works OK) or just investing a feat on Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longbow) is not that bad.
Druid only
1st- Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longbow)
3rd- Point Blank Shot
5th- Rapid Shot
7th- Precise Shot
9th- Manyshot or Quicken Spell
11th- Quicken Spell or Manyshot
In 3.5, I made a fun and versatile elf archer druid.
1. Point Blank Shot
3. Rapid Shot
6. Natural Spell
9. Craft Wand
12. Empower Spell (mostly for flamestrike)
15. Improved Counterspell
Rapid Shot is fun because you can use it with produce flame.
It wasn't optimized, but it was versatile and really fun.
You could definitely get more archery feats with Pathfinder rules, and drop a lot of the later ones that don't fit your play style, like Craft Wand and Improved Counterspell.
Elves also get to use longswords, so I had a lot of in-combat options: spellcasting, archery, swordfighting, wildshaping.
(I might be the only person ever to really like Improved Counterspell, but trading flamestrikes for enemy fireballs and lightning bolts saved a ton of healing, and since I did it as a druid, my PC could be passive and Readying to Counterspell and I would still be active with my animal companion and summoned allies, so it didn't feel like I was wasting my turn doing nothing.)
Natures Priest that worships Erastil. Gets you proficiency in the longbow and the ability to take the Deadeye Bowman. Next, instead of an animal companion, take herbalism: free buffs/healing in a bottle so more of your actual spells are attack/range spells. Use full pouch w/ raining, splintercloud, tangleshot, trip and slowburn arrows: this gives you a supply of special effect arrows with a higher DC than normal.
If you have scent, Kaava musk equipment trick feat is nice. Kaava musk/beast lure work with full pouch so you have an easy supply. it's an easy way to gain a +1 morale bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls. Too bad this character is most likely going to be feat starved to think about it.
EDIT: with natures priest, you could be human and have precise shot at 1st...
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I have a Core Archer Druid and he is actually quite effective even with the Core limitations.
Feats all went to Archery, of course. He spends all his time wildshaped into an Air Elemental. Spells are used for buffing the group and some control (even with relatively low wisdom a druid has some pretty awesome control spells).
I guess what I'm saying is that it is trivial to produce a quite decent druid archer.
I have a Core Archer Druid and he is actually quite effective even with the Core limitations.
Human? Cuz waiting until 5th to get precise shot hurts a LOT. Even waiting till 3rd sting a bit. OF course if you started at 5+, you can ignore the pain and pick a different race.
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Sticking with medium elemental or will you change weapons? Are/will you be packing larger ammunition?
I'm going to take a guess at some numbers to get an idea of what numbers will work. I'm assuming the build looks something like this (feel free to correct me if I'm way off):
Human lvl 8
1st- Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longbow), Point Blank Shot
3rd- Precise Shot
5th- Rapid Shot
7th- Manyshot
Attack:
6 BAB + 4 starting DEX + 2 weapon enhancement + 1 DEX belt + 1 DEX from leveling + 2 DEX from wild shape = +16 to hit
Damage
1d8 + 2 STR + 2 enhancement + 1 STR belt = +5 Damage
+14/+14/+9 for 2d8+10 / 1d8+5 / 1d8+5
Against a Cr=lvl AC21 that's about 23 damage a round. Good to know this will work. It will give me something to compare to once I settle on something.
Thanks pauljathome
Anyone ever build an "archer" druid (or cleric, etc.) with javelins instead of bow & arrows? Is the extra AC from being able to wield a shield worth the reduced damage? Is the damage reduced, considering you don't have to spend money on "mighty" composite longbows?
I have considered turning a high level druid into one with Belt of Mighty Hurling and retraining into Ricochet Toss. But it did not seem worth it.
It adds quick draw as a requirement and you lose manyshot, so it seems hard to make effective.
Maybe a dip in far strike monk but I'm not sure.
Take a Spear-thrower. This requires Rapid Reload (spear-thrower) feat for free action loading and spears, darts and javelins have x2 range. a level of farstrike monk duplicates rapid shot with flurry, gets a ranged feat AND quickdraw, +2 all saves, wis to AC, unarmed attacks, ect. What's also nice is their bonus feats include targeting feats [ace trip/ace disarm!!!].
Now if you CAN manage to get that Belt of Mighty Hurling, it can be ok. Of course not archery good [nothing is] but it's not bad. To bypass the need for a Ricochet Toss, use a Shadow Piercing blinkback belt. [1.5 cost but doesn't take up the magic item slot].
Race: Human
Class: Druid (Nature Fang Archetype)
Stats (20 Point Buy)
Str: 14
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 12
Wis: 15 +2 Racial +1 4th +1 8th +1 12th +1 16th +1 20th
Cha: 7
Alternate Racial Traits: Adoptive Parentage (Elf)
Feats:
1st: Point Blank Shot
3rd: Precise Shot
4th (Slayer Talent - Ranger Combat Style - Archery): Rapid Shot
5th: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
6th: (Slayer Talent - Ranger Combat Style - Archery): Manyshot
7th: Augment Summoning
8th: (Slayer Talent - Rogue Talent - Combat Trick): Deadly Aim
9th: Extend Spell
10th: (Slayer Talent - Ranger Combat Style - Archery): Improved Precise Shot
11th: Superior Summoning
12th: (Slayer Talent - Rogue Talent - Weapon Training): Weapon Focus (Longbow)
13th: Reach Spell
14th: (Slayer Advanced Talent - Rogue Advanced Talents and Ninja Master Tricks - Feat): Quicken Spell
15th: Spell Perfection (Summon Nature's Ally V)
16th: (Slayer Talent): Trapfinding
17th: Spell Penetration
18th: (Slayer Talent - Rogue Talent): Trap Spotter
19th: Greater Spell Penetration
20th: (Slayer Talent - Rogue Talent): Rogue Crawl
Adoptive Parentage (Elf) swaps your first level human feat for Elf racial weapon proficiencies. Better than buying Martial Weapon Proficiency as a feat, and you'd normally have to wait until BAB +1 to do this anyhow. This way you get to pew-pew from first level, assuming your starting wealth permits.
You access Manyshot and Improved Precise Shot feats without needing high Dex through the Ranger Combat Style rules. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim, and Weapon Focus (Longbow) round out your archery feats. Everything else isn't as good or will cost too much investment into your Dex to consider.
You can choose to either get an animal companion to lock down your foes in melee while you shoot arrows, or pick a domain if you prefer extra spells.
At 15th level you can spontaneously cast Summon Nature's Ally V as a swift action by applying Quicken Spell for free using Spell Perfection. Your summons gain double the normal benefit of Augment Summoning, and you get +2 summoned creatures if you pick 1d3 creatures from the Summon Nature's Ally IV list.
At extremely high levels you can disable traps. Probably nobody cares by this stage though.
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I have recieved some good advice so far I will give this one bump to see if anyone as any other ideas.
Thoughts on ranger Dip Shapeshifting Hunter Air elemental with the new orc horn bow.
Any way to use the eagle domain familar to my advantage other than as a protector or a sage?
Any spells that blind or deny dex other than Burst of Radiance and Shadowmind?
Has anyone tried the domain with channeling + Channel Smite + Guided Hand?
Last question:
Is there any way to play a lawful good druid? I have a palidin like protector of the forsts idea for this charcter and lawful good would feel right.
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Last question:
Is there any way to play a lawful good druid? I have a palidin like protector of the forsts idea for this charcter and lawful good would feel right.
First, my core archer actually was a 1/2 Orc. We'd decided that we'd ALL be 1/2 Orc members of the same family :-). The delay on the feats hurt a fair but not as much as one would expect (we got up to level 5 where you have all the NECESSARY feats fairly quickly). And the fact that he made a pretty darn good scout made up for a lot of it (it was PFS and I'm a 5 Star GM so I got access to the VERY non core spell Blend).
As to alignment, unless your group is extraordinarily strict on such things just write down "NG" on your character sheet, tell people that he is almost LG but not quite, and then play him as you want :-). Or, possibly, LN instead of NG. In my experience it is VERY rare for people to complain because you're playing your character as "too good" or "too lawful". Perhaps make sure that he has a "flaw" in that alignment. So, for example, he is LG EXCEPT that he really hates people hurting animals and goes a little crazy on them
Inquisitor Sacred huntmaster/Green Faith Marshal with terrain domain?
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Inquisitor Sacred huntmaster/Green Faith Marshal with terrain domain?
It's a good combo. Thanks for the suggestion.
I'm aware there are other options. I looked at Arsenal Chaplain - Natures ally, Divine Commander, Hunter, Sacred Huntmaster, Ravener Hunter Inquisitor/Sanctified Slayer, Any number of ranger builds.
I'm looking to make a druid build work.
Human nature fang eagle domain is look like my top choice for now. maybe Skinwalker (raptorkin) fighter 1 nature fang x less optimized but fun thematically with the eagle domain. Plus I can always train out of the fighter level later.
Denying Dex to AC typically means seeing the enemy when they can't see you.
Valid options:
Greensight + Plant Growth
-See freely through thick undergrowth for 10 minutes/level. Grow thick undergrowth as a standard action at the start of combat, then shoot arrows through it without concealment.
Watchful Animal + Animal Companion
Place a scrying sensor on your animal companion, then send it into combat. Spend a move action on your turn to see through your scrying sensor, a swift action to Handle Animal on your animal companion, then standard action to fire your bow. The maximum range on a composite longbow means you shouldn't have too much trouble with getting far enough away so the enemy can't see you, but you have clear sight to your target's square.
Obscuring Mist + Fogcutting Lenses
Cast a fog of any description at the start of combat. Anyone more than 5 ft. away from you loses Dex to AC. You have clear sight but take -4 Perception due to the magic item's text.