We are in an edgewatch game and I am looking to making a wildshape druid after our party wipe. My goup uses Free Archetype rules. I was curious as to what my build should look like. Starting at lvl 5 but maybe what the future might hold. Also I am not sure what race I really want.
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Before you do anything else, sit down with your GM and determine how wild shape is going to work at your table. There are a whole host of unresolved issues and they are very much going to affect how to best build a wild shaping character.
I presume by "edgewatch game" you mean the Agents of Edgewatch AP. One bit of advice specifically for that AP is that there are LOTS of times where the environment is going to restrict the size you can become (no real spoiler there, it IS an urban adventure after all). That makes Form Control very, very, very useful to you. All but essential.
I'd be planning on taking the monk archetype some time before level 10 so that at level 10 you can take flurry.
Depending on what you're trying to accomplish and what the GM tells you about how wild shape works at your table your best option for a wild shaper MAY be a martial of some sort taking a druid archetype. May be at least worth considering that alternative.
Again, depending on what you're trying to accomplish, druids make wonderful godless healing medics. You can build a character with (at level 5) Str 18, Wis 19, some dex, some con to flavour. Be a good spell caster when that is optimal, wild shape when you want to, use medicine to make a quite decent healer.
One key thing is to set your expectations appropriately. A druid wild shaping will still do significantly less damage than a martial does. Given all the benefits of your spells that is perfectly fine. But be aware that IS the tradeoff.
Oh, and if you're planning on being in wild shaped form a LOT then you'll want to get some kind of martial reaction in to add to your attacks. Attack of Opportunity is certainly a good option. You can get a lot of reach, might as well use it :-)
One last point. A druid is a very flexible class but any individual druid is far less so. Have a firm idea of how you're expecting to contribute to the group. A druid can make a quite decent healer, a quite decent melee character, a good AoE blaster, a good single target caster, a utility caster, a scout, and more. But no one druid can cover all of those (you can cover 2 or 3 fairly well). Have a plan. It is very possible to end up with a poor character by trying to stretch yourself too thin. And, as you've already found, Agents of Edgewatch can have some quite tough encounters which may severely punish suboptimal character builds.
All that said, a druid is a good enough chassis that you can definitely afford role playing hooks and some whimsy. I'm NOT saying that you want to hyper optimize at the expense of fun. My druid has as his second most important skill diplomacy. So he can talk to the animals :-). Rarely actually very useful but lots of fun
Before you do anything else, sit down with your GM and determine how wild shape is going to work at your table. There are a whole host of unresolved issues and they are very much going to affect how to best build a wild shaping character.
I presume by "edgewatch game" you mean the Agents of Edgewatch AP. One bit of advice specifically for that AP is that there are LOTS of times where the environment is going to restrict the size you can become (no real spoiler there, it IS an urban adventure after all). That makes Form Control very, very, very useful to you. All but essential.
I'd be planning on taking the monk archetype some time before level 10 so that at level 10 you can take flurry.
Depending on what you're trying to accomplish and what the GM tells you about how wild shape works at your table your best option for a wild shaper MAY be a martial of some sort taking a druid archetype. May be at least worth considering that alternative.
Again, depending on what you're trying to accomplish, druids make wonderful godless healing medics. You can build a character with (at level 5) Str 18, Wis 19, some dex, some con to flavour. Be a good spell caster when that is optimal, wild shape when you want to, use medicine to make a quite decent healer.
One key thing is to set your expectations appropriately. A druid wild shaping will still do significantly less damage than a martial does. Given all the benefits of your spells that is perfectly fine. But be aware that IS the tradeoff.
Oh, and if you're planning on being in wild shaped form a LOT then you'll want to get some kind of martial reaction in to add to your attacks. Attack of Opportunity is certainly a good option. You can get a lot of reach, might as well use it :-)
One last point. A druid is a very flexible class but any individual druid is far less so. Have a firm idea of how you're expecting to contribute to the group. A druid can make a quite decent healer, a quite decent melee character, a good AoE blaster, a good single target caster,...
I see everything your saying. The more I look the more I think maybe casty druid. Our party is barb with companion, reach barb, rogue, cleric champ and sometimes witch. Shapes look fun but melee is crowded. Indecisiveness is also killing me.
A Wildshape Druid in a party with 4-5 allies in melee does seem a bit much, yes.
I'd stick with a caster, probably Storm Order. The Clumsy 2 debuff from Tempest surge will be extremely effective in such a party.
This is what I did with my druid. I took animal companion the first 10 levels, then retrained to Wild Order druid when I could get Elemental Shape.
I started as Half-elf Storm Sorcerer. Tempest Surge is an awesome Focus spell.
2nd: Order Explorer (Wild)
4th: Reach Spell
6th: Basic Blood Potency (Dangerous Sorcery)
8th: Soaring Shape
10th: Elemental Shape
12th: Dragon shape
14th: Primal Focus
16th: Effortless Concentration
18th: Primal Aegis
20th: True Shapeshifter
Ancestry
1st: Eleven Weaponry (Whatever that one is to get the bow)
9th: Multitalented Sorcerer.
13th: Elven Weapon Expertise
17th: Natural Ambition (Reach Spell or Widen Spell)
General
7th: Fleet
11th: Die Hard
15th: Canny Acumen
19th: Incredible Initiative
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With that party I'd definitely go with caster as my primary role with a strong side line in healing (barbarians tend to need LOTS of healing and go down a LOT).
Personally, I'd probably (by level 5) take Order explorer. Primary would be storm druid, at level 2 take medic, at level 4 order explorer Leaf. at level 6 plan on taking the Order spell to get goodberry.
Max out wisdom. Nature, Medicine, Survival are your key skills. Religion because why not :-).
Skill feats all go to medicine. Battle medicine, assured medicine by level 6, ward medic, continual recovery, godless healing. Order depends on what others in your party are doing.
This is pretty much the character I'm playing in Extinction Curse. DEcent healer, good blaster, lots of utility. If you want you can even eventually add in wild shape as well and eventually get Dragon Form.
With that party I'd definitely go with caster as my primary role with a strong side line in healing (barbarians tend to need LOTS of healing and go down a LOT).
Personally, I'd probably (by level 5) take Order explorer. Primary would be storm druid, at level 2 take medic, at level 4 order explorer Leaf. at level 6 plan on taking the Order spell to get goodberry.
Max out wisdom. Nature, Medicine, Survival are your key skills. Religion because why not :-).
Skill feats all go to medicine. Battle medicine, assured medicine by level 6, ward medic, continual recovery, godless healing. Order depends on what others in your party are doing.
This is pretty much the character I'm playing in Extinction Curse. DEcent healer, good blaster, lots of utility. If you want you can even eventually add in wild shape as well and eventually get Dragon Form.
Yeah
My group uses Free Archetype Variant. This is what I have built so far.Ancestry: Leshy
Background: Herbalist
Heritage: Leaf Leshy
Ancestry Feats:
1: Leshy Lore
5: Leshy Superstition
Class feats:
1: Storm Order\Storm Born
2: Order Explorer(Leaf)
4: Order Magic (Leaf)
Free Archetype
2: Rogue Dedication
4: Basic Trickery: Mobility
Skill Feats:
1: Natural Medicine
2: Battle Medicine, Bon Mot
4: Ward Medic
General Feat:
3: Fleet
One thing I do need some additional assistance on is picking gear for this level.
One other thing I’d consider is that the anathema of a Wild Druid would be kind of tricky to avoid in an urban campaign like Agents of Edgewatch.