Blaster (mostly) druid build sought

[Israfeli]

Greetings!

I've got a druid and I want to avoid wildshape and animal companion, and focus mostly on blasting. I've been a ttrpg player for a looooong time and remember the days before either of those were a thing. (Dark Sun Online anyone?) In 2nd edition DnD and before, we didn't need no stinking forms or pets and we did fine.

Anywho, I have a halfling with a sylph versatile heritage in PFS that is about to level to 2nd. I'm trying to make sure I don't make any big mistakes before I'm mostly "locked in" for PFS. He's currently Storm Order and I'm thinking seriously about taking an archer dedication at level 2 for something fun to do with his last action. As a sylph and storm order, not to mention the fly spell, he'll get to fly fine without resorting to forms. I don't really dislike forms, but I would like to use those as more utility/last resort than go-to damage.

I really like the flavor of a druid and I'm not really that interested in being a primal sorcerer. Is that a big mistake? Anyone have any good ideas for a build for a blaster/archer druid? I think that would be super fun.

Also, I don't expect his archery to be incredible, just a little extra damage here or there for the third action. But I also don't want this idea to be horrible.

Thanks all for your help!

Izzy

[breithauptclan]

Generally, PF2 characters - especially ones with Core Rulebook classes like Druid - have a rather solid effectiveness floor. It is hard to build a character that is ineffective and not fun to play.

There is Gortle's Guide to Druids that you could look through.

Playing a Caster Druid is completely fine. Druid is in fairly high regard for their versatility. You have proficiency in medium armor - which you should use since you won't be using Form spells. Using a bow also means not using a shield, but you might carry one anyway just in case. Shield Block saves lives - though only if you have one that has the hardness and HP needed to be relevant.

Archer Archetype with the intent of making one 0-MAP attack on some rounds seems reasonable. It won't be the staple of your damage contribution, but it makes a good one-action 'cantrip' with really nice range.

[pauljathome]

Should be fine. Wis 18, Dex 16 rest to suit.

Blast spell/archery is a reasonable combination.

Just be aware that you're very much a blaster first and an archer second. Your archery action should probably mostly be used when convenient, but if there is a strong case for moving or raising shield as a third action then probably give up the shot.

[Perpdepog]

I'd also recommend a shortbow over a longbow unless you have ways of guaranteeing how far you are from the enemy a lot of the time. I believe that PFS favors smaller battle arenas, and the Volley trait can really eat into your accuracy when you're not a martial.

[lemeres]

You could get some pretty consistent combination of archery and blasting if you use flaming sphere.

This is an early AoE blasting spell that you can sustained for up to a minute. In return, you bet a burning ball of death rolling around the fight and do a smack of damage.

Since it will take an action to sustain, you still have two actions left over. Shoot your bow twice, move and shoot, or just drop a fireball or chain lightning for move blasting when you have the spell slots. You can be flexible.

[Dubious Scholar]

Flaming Sphere does have the downside of not doing half damage on successful saves unfortunately. If you're doing archery to add some extra damage, I'm not sure you want to sustain constantly necessarily. Fortunately, as a druid you just have everything available every morning anyways, so you're free to experiment with stuff.

Storm Order is a great blaster though - Tempest Surge is an excellent focus spell, the scaling is great and the persistent damage+clumsy on a failure is nasty (your martials will love you any time that part lands, because it's -2 AC that stacks with flat footed).

With the bow, I would probably avoid the attack roll cantrips. Electric Arc and Scatter Scree would be my go-tos there (Scatter Scree has a lot of situational cases where it beats Electric Arc - concealment, swarms, resistances - so having both means you should be fine no matter what shows up, and with a bow Ray of Frost's long range is less valuable)

For my own spell recommendations... I know you're a blaster, but always bring at least one slot of Heal, imo. It's amazing burst healing, it's ranged, your party will thank you. (You could also consider order explorer to snag Goodberry if you want to trivialize out of combat healing)

For blasting, I'm a big fan of Horizon Thunder Sphere for single targets. The main thing here is the 3-action version of it, which uniquely deals half damage on a failed attack roll. The damage is within a hair of Shocking Grasp while having 60' range too. The six-action version is really cool and really impractical - I'm solely recommending this for the 3-action option.