Improving an already existing character?


Advice


So I am playing a Druid in a pathfinder campaign and admittedly I built them pretty poorly. Here’s what I stuck myself with as a base (if you need to know other things lemme know!):
Race : Oread
Archetype : basic Druid
Nature bond : Ash subdomain (from the fire domain and yes I chose a domain over a companion I know I messed up there)

My dm does let us multi class and is pretty flexible.

What can I do to make my character better (all around better, more efficient spellcaster in combat, more damage, etc)??


The basic druid even without an animal companion is pretty strong and flexible. Your Race and Nature Bond choice do not make them poor in a vacuum.


Rathendar wrote:
The basic druid even without an animal companion is pretty strong and flexible. Your Race and Nature Bond choice do not make them poor in a vacuum.

All the same felt pretty helpless in combat. Would you have any tips for spells or spell combos or just general things I can do to help my party out more?

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

This should be in the advice thread.

It really, really depends on build (like ability scores, equipment, feat choices), what level you are, etc. etc.

Domain instead of animal companion isn't a mistake, necessarily. I've played a domain-based druid and was quite happy with it. I liked my domain abilities and didn't want to have an extra creature to care for. My only question regarding your domain is why you didn't take the Earth domain, since Oreads by default get to use domain powers and spells at +1 effective caster level.

It's hard to play a druid badly. I think it's a bad idea to dump physical stats, but even physically weak druids can perform well as full spellcasters. I have to wonder what has happened that makes you think you did poorly (e.g., don't confuse bad die roll luck with bad build -- especially at low levels, lousy die rolls can really screw you over and there's not much you can do) and/or what's going on with the rest of the party where perhaps roles aren't synergizing like they should.

So, not knowing more specifics, this is all I can say....

- I WOULD ask the GM if you can switch to the Earth domain, since your race benefits from that.

- Alternately, if you really want the Ash domain, ask your GM (if you haven't) if you can switch your Earth Affinity racial ability (since you're not making use of it) to the alternate racial ability Earth Insight, which increases the duration of your summon nature's ally spells by 2 rounds when you summon an earth-based creature.

- Druids, since they eventually can wildshape, you want to gear usually toward melee combat (unless you're really wanting to focus on spellcasting) to take advantage of eventual natural weapons. So make sure your Strength is decent that you can hit okay.

- That said--depending on party composition, if your party has a really good tank, you don't need to be a really good tank too. You just need to be good enough to support the tank--get into flanking, etc.

- Don't multiclass unless it suits your concept and/or party structure. Druids are 3/4 BAB full caster, which is more than good enough, and you don't want to slow down the advancement of your wild shape or your spellcasting.

- Regarding spellcasting:
-- First of all, druids' ability to spontaneously transform any spell into summon nature's ally is very helpful (and means you don't need to prep that spell since you can always transform another spell into it). When combat isn't going well, you can step back and summon a creature. Adding more combatants against the bad guys--even if they just act as speed bumps--is very helpful. If you find yourself summoning a lot, get the Augment Summoning feat to make your summons tougher. I think a prereq is Spell Focus (Conjuration) so prep a lot of other conjuration spells where appropriate if you take that.
-- Think about your party's composition. If everyone's pretty good at fighting, but you don't have a good buffer like a bard, you might be better off prepping some buff spells to make yourself and your party tougher. If you don't have a good damage-dealing arcane caster, you might want to prep a damage spell or two (druid spell list is decent for that).
-- Also if you're standing back to cast--druids can be great battlefield control casters. They get entangle as a first level spell which is awesome; likewise also faerie fire which is more circumstantial but really awesome when it's available. At higher levels druids can reshape terrain and bring plants to life and all kinds of crazy stuff. If you can't hit the bad guy, then focus on hindering it.
-- Don't forget to take Natural Spell when you become able to wildshape.

Good luck.


As for where the thread should’ve gone, I’m a huge noob with these forums so terribly sorry about that.
As for you reply, that was extremely helpful! Thank you very much for taking the time to fully reply!
I did get to switch to the rock domain in the end so woo hoo to that!
Thanks again.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

No worries, hope things get better for you!

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