|
I played a similar character. I found transitioning from melee to casting mostly worked. I had a bit of a hard time with DCs and spell resistance but druids get enough buffs and control spells that I was able to work around that.
If you're unsure about the nature bond, I would go with the domain. I loved my triceratops and she was great for the first few levels, but really got left behind in the long run in terms of actual effectiveness. Granted, triceratops aren't optimal animal companions, but your Domain options give you not just a casting boost but also buffs that will help you personally contribute in combat.
It has been clarified that the shaman druids don't get wildshape at all until level 6, so you'll take Natural Spell at 7. That leaves some room to take a combat feat at level 1 or 3, when it would be most useful. I'd consider Combat Reflexes to get in a bit of reach action, using a longspear at low levels and larger forms at high levels.
|
You could also talk to your master if he will allow the retraining rules and start with an animal companion and by 8 you can change to a Domain or even to the new Druidic herbalism option
And for a balance setup you can start by using the dual talented alternated racial trait or even with dwarf you can make it work thanks to the bonus on wisdom
Druid is my fav class, but i feel as if only having 10 feats to choose from, you cant really invest a lot in being balanced if your end goal is to be a caster. Druids are a little tougher to turn into blasters so it takes a little bit of dedication to get there. My fav druid blaster is the storm druid, and using wildshape to cast from the sky and be a party mount.
planar shape is good for both blasting and melee (you can smite with a ray, that sounds fun)
decide if your going big animals or small animals (finesse or power attack) those are good ways to find what chains you will need to be decent at melee. vital strike chain is fantastic as a druid because some of the wild shapes (like dino tails if I remember correctly) have unusually high dice already.
|
Its worse at the low levels but taking an Animal Domain or subdomain is very good at level 5+ (your level 5 feat becomes Boon Companion). 1 feat for a domain is a very good trade off.
If you're planning on going caster later I'd lower Dex and add to your starting wisdom. And probably lower Int to 10 (4 skill points is likely enough).
If you're allowed more exotic races then Oreads and Aasimars should both be considered.
By "balanced", I just meant that my stats were more balanced and that I would fight in melee until around 7th lv. Sorry for the confusion.
I'll try to explain what I'd like from the character. For spells, I'd like mostly buffs and area control, with a few damage options. The standard action summoning just sounded too good to pass up, but I could drop it if there is a better option. I'd like to keep wild shaping because it sounds like it would be very versatile and useful. So maybe a combat build would be worth considering.
At the higher lvs (10+) which would be better, a combat or a caster druid?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The one thing I would suggest is to do a lot of prep work.
If you choose to have an animal companion, write up a full character sheet for the animal companion.
Write up full stats for your summoned allies, especially if you have feats that alter them, like Augment Summoning.
You will also want to fully stat out your common wildshape forms.
Druids have lots of moving parts, and you (probably) don't want to hog the lime light. You already have your PC, your pet, and probably multiple summoned allies to control on your turn. You don't want to also be flipping through lots of different books too.
|
|
There are various things to choose from if you want a balanced vibe between casting and combat
Between 7 and 12th level the combat druid will be amazing but you will go downhill after that
You can try something like this if you don't want to summon
Dwarf Druid (Menhir Savant Archetype)
Str 16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 17 Cha 7
Traits: Reactionary and Deft Dodger
1 Improved Initiative
3 Power Attack
5 Natural Spell
7 Spell Penetration
9 Dazing Spell
With this you will have endurance to stay on combat and by 7th level you can switch to casting, just remember to raise wisdom every 4 levels.
Another option if you like to summon, buff yourself and be very decent on melee can be something like this
Half Orc Druid (Lion Shaman archetype)
Alternate Racial Traits: Sacred Tattoo
Nature Bond: Nobility Domain or Wolf
Str 18 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 8
Traits: Fate's Favored and Reactionary
1 Toughness
3 Spell Focus (Conjuration)
5 Augmented Summoning
7 Heavy Armor Proficiency
9 Powerful Shape
With this guy you can self buff, be very strong summoner thanks to this archetype to summon lions as a standard action
|
An animal companion can give you a little more flexibility for your party as an additional party member. Particularly if you are going in with a normal party of 4.
A larger party is usually safer to play a full caster, as you have more protection. (aka other targets for enemies to go after.)
If you are certain your party can handle most fights or you are sure your character is able to handle soloing, then going a pure caster (domain) would be viable.
If archetypes are allowed, then like what Prometeus mentioned, an animal shaman is a good choice to be a caster+summoner. As the standard action summon helps you avoid the biggest weakness summmoning has, which is the need for a full-round action to cast.
Since you are playing Serpents Skull, a jungle + sea setting adventure. Playing a Saurian, Serpent, Eagle or Bat Shaman would make sense for a caster. (Saurian is far stronger then the rest. Eagle is a close 2nd, due to FAQ support. Eagle shamans are the only ones that can wildshape into Huge-sized Rocs and Med Eagles. Rocs are usually not available as a wild shape to druids.)
|
|
Quick posting. I will get into further details later if I have the time.
First, your ability scores will influence your character all the way to level 20. So make it clear what you want to be over the course of your character's adventure career.
Does he wants to be a Wildshape combat druid? Or a Summoner+Caster?
While you can do a mix build, like above, it would often leave you a lot weaker then a specialized build.
For example, you may want to consider getting some of the following summoning feats:
Versatile Summon Nature’s Ally - Allows you to summon elemental template animals. Like T-Rexes that can fly or flying dinosaurs that can barrow...etcc
Superior Summoning - To summon even more summons
Proxy Summoning - More uses for your summons.
On the Armor... True it wont help much when Wildshaped until you can acquire the Wild enchantment but it's still helpful if you want to use Totem Transformation while using your normal form. The +2 nat armor will up your AC, speed will make you less of a clunky doof by upping your 20ft armor movement speed, Senses (Low-Light and Scent) if your race doesn't have them and finally you have natural attacks which give you 2 Claws and a Bite. This may not be your ideal way to fight but your Wildshape WILL get used up along with your spells over multiple encounters.
On Multiclassing... I wouldn't if you think your character will ever get over level 16. That bonus feat or class feature that sounds nifty usually doesn't stack up to losing a 9th level spell or three.
Saurian Shaman is a favorite archetype of mine. I currently have one at level 11. I can say that a dinosaur as an Animal Companion is quite powerful. I have a Tyrannosaurus that bites for 4d6+14, 1d6 Bleed before Vital Strike with AC around 25. Animal Growth on him and let him just demolish anything that cant fly while I cast hate and discontent. So I'm a little biased towards having a pet dino lol. That being said, Strength and War domains ARE tempting retrain options.
If your end goal is to be a caster then that is how you want your build from the beginning, which looks like you got pretty well with the ability scores you have. Natural Spell is a MUST if you plan on using Wild Shape at all. Focus your feats on Metamagic, Summoning or a little of both.
I will be playing serpents skull with 3 other players. I don't know what the others are planning, so I was thinking of going with a druid, playing as a balanced build at first, then focus more on casting later. I haven't played a druid before, so any advice would be appreciated. As for character creation, all 1st party books are allowed, 20 point buy, 2 traits (1 campaign, 1 anything), starting at lv1.
Here's what I've got so far. I was originally thinking of playing it more as a caster, but a combat build might be nice too.
** spoiler omitted **
I'm open to any suggestions, but I'll probably keep it as a half orc, unless I can find something I like even more. And I'd like to keep the ability to wildshape. Thanks for reading.
I would discard the archetype, select animal companion for nature's bond and start with both str and wis at 16, 14 con, positive dex, fill. Pump wis with levels
Important feats are augment summoning, natural spell, and craft wondrous. The vital strike line makes for decent melee with strongjaws but is optional because it comes online when you said you want to be casting.
1-4 your animal companion will carry you
5-mids your wild shape and summoning are good.
High levels you summon and cast spells with a nice utility form while sharing shapechange with your animal companion so that it destroys things as a huge dragon (get 3 int by now)
#2cents
Is the 4d6 bite after buffs? Because when I look at the stat block for an animal companion, it becomes 2d6 at lv7.
The Rex took Improved Natural Attack feat (2d8) and my Druid took Evolved Companion twice; Improved Damage (4d6) and Bleed 1d6.
After looking at it again, the war domain may be worth taking for the weapon master ability. Being able to temporarily gain any 1 combat feat that I qualify for, sounds great, even if it is only briefly. But other than power attack, I didn't see much that would benefit me.
You didn't mention the Domain Spells, which have some pretty nice options, many of which are not on the Druid spell list either! There are also the Sub-Domains to consider.
|
|
You may want to consider the rage sub domain of the destruction domain. Destructive smite is awesome for making a big attack stick especially if the attack has a rider effect like grab.
And you get rage with rage powers. This give you access to furious weapon enchantment which helps level out the painful cost of the amulet of mighty fist.
There are MANY awesome rage powers you could utilize. If you want to go Rage and jump into fights in the long run then consider more feats that boost your Wild Shape.
Natural Spell
Powerful Shape
Planar Wild Shape
Quick Wild Shape
Vital Strike
-Winter's Strike
-Faerie's Strike
-Grasping Strike
Any rage power that makes you tougher to incapacitate or makes you deadlier are ones I would look for. Unfortunately, Strength Surge is not available since it includes an effective Barbarian level to determine it's effects. That level restriction really hurts what you can choose.
Auspicious Mark
Armor Ripper
Animal Fury
Bloody Bite
Feasting Bite
*Ferocious Beast
Superstition
No Escape
Quick Reflexes
Swift Foot
Savage Intuition
Guarded Life
Knockback
Knockdown
Overbearing Advance
*Raging Grappler
*Smasher
Witch Hunter
Lesser blood powers
Lesser totems
The Tactics subdomain of War is really good. Rolling initiative twice and taking the better for you or the wizard or whoever needs to go first in this particular combat is a pretty big deal. Also, you start out being able to do that six times a day, which is enough to get you through almost every single initiative roll you ever have to make. My wildshape focused Gorumite druid got so much mileage out of that domain. Trading Spiritual Weapon for Aid even worked better with their strategy of prebuffing, dropping a single no (or mostly irrelevant) save battlefield control spell (wall of thorns plus the ring which lets druids completely ignore it was the favorite), and then wading in.
Looks good. Divine Interference looks amazing! I would take it if I ever played a high level divine caster in PF ever again. I like re-rolls and interruptions. I made a 3.5 druid that got good use out of Improved Counterspell. It's particularly effective with a druid, since you aren't "wasting" your whole turn Readying to Counterspell; your companion and/or summoned allies are active while you're being reactive.
Maybe consider Ferocious Summons since you're a Half-Orc. I think you got a pretty good build there.
I see you are investing into Summoning. I present this feat as well for your consideration...
Versatile Summon Nature's Ally
You've learned to summon a wider array of creatures.
Prerequisite(s): Augment Summoning, Spell Focus (conjuration), Knowledge (nature) 1 rank, Knowledge (planes) 1 rank.
Benefit(s): When you summon one or more animals, humanoids, or vermin using a summon nature's ally spell (or an effect that mimics such a spell), instead of granting them the benefit from Augment Summoning, you can instead apply one of the following templates to them: aerial,
aqueous, chthonic, fiery, or primordial. If you summon multiple creatures with one casting, they must all have the same template.
Rebuild Rules: Type gains the air subtype; Senses gains darkvision 60 ft.; Defensive Abilities gains DR and resistance to electricity as noted on the table below; Speed gains a fly speed equal to its highest speed with perfect maneuverability (maximum fly speed of 10 feet per HD); Attacks gains bonus electricity damage as noted on the table below on attacks with natural weapons and metal weapons.
HD 1-4: Resist Electricity 10, 1 point Electricity damage
HD 5-10: DR3/-, Resist Electricity 15, 1d6 point Electricity damage
HD 11+: DR5/-, Resist Electricity 20, 2d6 point Electricity damage
Rebuild Rules: Type gains the water subtype; Senses gains darkvision 60 ft.; Defensive Abilities gains DR and resistance to cold as noted on the table below; Speed gains a swim speed equal to its highest speed + 10 ft.; Attacks gains bonus cold damage as noted on the table below on attacks with natural weapons and metal weapons.
HD 1-4: Resist Cold 10, 1 point Cold damage
HD 5-10: DR3/-, Resist Cold 15, 1d6 point Cold damage
HD 11+: DR5/-, Resist Cold 20, 2d6 point Cold damage
Rebuild Rules: Type The creature gains the earth subtype; Senses gains darkvision 60 ft.; Defensive Abilities gains DR and resistance to acid as noted on the table below; Speed gains a burrow speed equal to half its highest speed (its tunnels always collapse behind it, and never leave behind a usable passage); Attacks gains bonus acid damage as noted on the table below on attacks with natural weapons.
HD 1-4: Resist Acid 10, 1 point Acid damage
HD 5-10: DR3/-, Resist Acid 15, 1d6 point Acid damage
HD 11+: DR5/-, Resist Acid 20, 2d6 point Acid damage
Rebuild Rules: Type gains the fire subtype; Senses gains darkvision 60 ft.; Defensive Abilities gains DR as noted on the table below; Attacks gains bonus fire damage as noted on the table below on attacks with natural weapons and metal weapons.
HD 1-4: Resist Fire 10, 1 point Fire damage
HD 5-10: DR3/-, Resist Fire 15, 2d6 point Fire damage
HD 11+: DR5/-, Resist Fire 20, 3d6 point Fire damage
Rebuild Rules: Defensive Abilities gains DR as noted on the table below; SR gains SR equal to its new CR + 6; Speed gains a +10-ft. bonus to all speeds; Attacks the damage dice for one primary natural weapon increases as if the creature were one size larger (if the creature has more than one primary attack, the increased damage is applied to the first attack type it has from this list: bite, claw, slam, gore, talon, sting); Spell-Like Abilities gains spell-like abilities listed on the table below according to its Hit Dice (including all the spell-like abilities of lower-Hit Die primordial creatures), each available 1/day. The DCs of any saves against these abilities are equal to 10 + the primordial creature's Charisma bonus + spell level.
HD 1-4: Dancing Lights
HD 5-10: DR5/cold iron, Faerie Fire
HD 11+: DR10/cold iron, Lesser Confusion
If you are still considering a companion, a T-Rex is a favorite of mine but the Allosaurus is savage in it's own way due to Pounce granting 5 attacks on a charge! The Ankylosaurus/Stegosaurus make awesome guardians/bodyguards with the huge nat armor bonus and the Stun/Trip attacks respectively. Setting you up even more so to deliver that Vital Strike/Power Attack.
There are various things to choose from if you want a balanced vibe between casting and combat
Between 7 and 12th level the combat druid will be amazing but you will go downhill after that.
I was worried about that, adventure paths go until lv17ish. But I guess I could focus more on casting and summoning by that point.
What do you think of this for a combat build?
Half Orc Druid (Saurian Shaman archetype)
Alternate Racial Traits: Sacred Tattoo, Shaman's Apprentice
Nature Bond: Strength/Self-Realization Domain
Str 17 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 14 Cha 7Traits: Fate's Favored, Boarded in Mwangi Expanse (campaign trait)
1 Toughness?, Endurance (Bonus)
3 Spell Focus: Conjuration
5 Augment Summoning
7 Natural Spell
9 Powerful Shape, Power Attack OR Vital Strike (Bonus)
11 Quicken Spell
13 Planar Wild Shape?, Power Attack OR Vital Strike (Bonus)
15 ???Planar Wild Shape sounds useful if I encounter a lot of evil enemies, and I assume I would by that point.
Which would you recommend between toughness and heavy armor? Because I don't think I could take both. And if I did take heavy armor, I could lower dex to 12.
I was thinking of going with either 17 str/14 wis and bumping str at lv4. Or go with 16 str/15 wis and bumping wis at lv4. But either way the remaining bonuses would go to wis.
A few questions, the self realization sub domain gives the spell paragon surge, but can anyone besides a half-elf actually cast it? Or would I be stuck with a spell I can't use?
And if I understand this correctly, while wild shaped, a druid loses the armor and enhancement bonuses from any armor and shield they wear. So wouldn't that make armor kind of pointless from lv6 until whenever I can get a wild enchant on it? Because I assume I would be using wild shape most of the time.
For the case of armor and wildshape, you can have a set of barding made for whatever animal shape you most use and have your allies put it on you after you wildshape.
T-Rex and Allosaurus are the two companions I am currently considering. I don't think the allosaurus companion gets rake, so it would only be 3 attacks.
Huh... not sure at what point I thought Allo's had Rake but you're right. Maybe I was mixing them with Totem Transformation?
Feats I recommend:
REX
Improved Natural Attack
Power Attack
Furious Focus
Vital Strike
-Improved V S
--Greater V S
Endurance
Diehard
Blind-Fight
Weapon Focus: Bite
Critical Focus
Improved Critical: Bite
ALLO
Improved Natural Attack
Power Attack
Furious Focus
Bloody Assault
Dodge
Mobility
Combat Reflexes
Endurance
Diehard
Outflank
Blind-Fight
If you ever want to go down the Improved Grapple, Greater Grapple and Rapid Grappler feats... Dirty Fighting is a neat way to get there without taking Improved Unarmed Strike.
|
|
Divine Interference looks amazing! I would take it if I ever played a high level divine caster in PF ever again.
I've used it. Wouldn't say it was amazing, but definitely very handy. I mostly used it to negate crit threats, since enemies are unlikely to threaten on the re-roll. Normal hits have a pretty good chance of just hitting on the re-roll unless you sacrifice a high-level spell to add a big penalty, and then you've used up your one use per enemy per day.
But that one time that you can prevent a buddy from eating a scythe crit...
Toughness isn't ever a useful feat IMO unless it's to boost a Mauler Familiar's HP. On an Animal Companion it's 16 extra HP at level 20. I wouldn't say armor proficiencies are bad decisions, I just prefer more damaging feats. I think, for me, it depends on the animal. The Rex has such great potential for insane damage with Vital Strike feats that I don't have room for armor. With Improved Natural Attack on the Rex and Evolved Companion: Increased Damage on the PC, a Rex sits at 4d6. Greater Vital Strike is 16d6 without a Strong Jaw or Animal Growth spell!! If he dies... Raise Animal Companion. If I want to keep him safe and run... Carry Companion turns him into a figurine so you can put him/her in your pocket.
Look into the feat Summon Guardian Spirit.
Mine is a Lyrakien Azata. "Her name is Lucille... and she... is... awesome!"
Huh. I would almost always give a large companion who wants to charge Improved unarmed Strikes, so they could qualify for Dragon Style, and draw charge lanes through my party, but that's probably because my groups aren't great at coordinating in that way, and I probably overvalue the ability to ignore difficult terain for a mount, but Druids are one of the best classes for making it...
It is probably an excessive feat investment for what it gives you.
A minute per level makes summon guardian spirit pretty nice. Only so many ways to get that as a druid. The SLAs and fated guardian are just icing. I'm considering that feat for my caster-based reincarnated druid.
What makes yours so awesome? There are some nice SLA, but other than that, it doesn't sound so great. A reptile guardian spirit, such as a faerie dragon, could have it's uses with standard action summoning. But I just don't know where I'd fit such a feat. Maybe replace superior summoning?
Aside from being a CL 7 with CHA 24, DR5/Evil, Immune: Electricity, Petrification; Resist: Cold 10, Fire 10; SR 17, AC 22, Traveler's Friend(Su), 1/day: Lesser Confusion, Silent Image, Cure Light Wounds, Cure Serious Wounds, Invisibility and Protection From Evil; and constant: Detect Evil, Detect Magic and Freedom of Movement?
She is a little bundle of joy that brings some decent spellcasting at the cost of 1 of my spells. She will only get stronger as my Druid levels.
6- Call Lightning Storm
7- Breath of Life or Break Enchantment (tough choice)
8- Cloak of Dreams or Sunbeam (tough choice)
9- Regeneration
(CL 15 with CHA 28, SR 25, AC 32)
Maybe give up Powerful Shape since it seems like you want to be a more efficient summoner than a WildShape warrior?
Difficult to summon for every fight if you're keeping it up to your highest summon nature's ally level. Maybe if you memorize summon nature's ally N once and use pearls of power? (I don't think those work if you spontaneously cast it.) But the duration is enough that you can often carry the summon over to multiple challenges.
Once per day on command, a pearl of power enables the possessor to recall any one spell that she had prepared and then cast that day. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast.
After it's been cast. If you burn the slot for some other reason (such as to cast a different spell), that no longer fits the item's ability description.
|
|
Still haven't decided on a natures bond yet, that might depend on what the others choose. But hows this?
Half Orc Druid (Saurian Shaman archetype)
Alternate Racial Traits: Sacred Tattoo, Shaman's Apprentice
Str 16 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 15 Cha 7 (All boosts to Wis)Traits: Fate's Favored, Boarded in Mwangi Expanse (campaign trait)
1 Spell Focus: Conjuration, Endurance (bonus)
3 Augment Summoning
5 Superior Summoning OR Craft Wondrous
7 Natural Spell
9 Planar Wild Shape OR Powerful Shape, Power Attack OR Vital Strike (bonus)
11 Divine Interference
13 Planar Wild Shape OR Powerful Shape, Power Attack OR Vital Strike (bonus)
15 Quicken SpellI think this should give me a nice balance between summoning, combat, and casting feats. I might take craft wondrous if necessary, otherwise I'll go for superior summoning.
I still need to look through the combat feats available, to see if a dip in brawler would be worth it.
If you plan to be a mix of caster + close combat, you may want to consider dropping all the summon feats.
You need quite a number of summon feats to get only a modest bonus to summoning.
Summons by themselves are already very useful by themselves.
You could instead focus on combat feats and use summons in battle to soak up enemy attacks instead.