My first druid

[Darcand]

Well, actually, my girlfriend's druid, not my own, but I've never played one and she asked for my help building him.

Rhuum'na is a half-orc whom she would like to see built into a melee monster. He's level two, stats are Str15 Dex14 Con13 Int8 Wis15 Cha8. Should she be getting metamagic feats now, to improve her buffs later? Melee feats?

The game is core rules, with the magic item compendium only.

[Doc Roc]

Okay, may I hand you guide books?
And links to builds or examples of well-played core\near core druids?

[Darcand]

of course!

[Mando Knight]

She should get Natural Spell, and stick with straight Druid. And get Wildling clasps on everything the character wears.

[Tempest Fennac]

Page 39 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Classes-Base.pdf features the Shapeshifter variant. It gets aweaker form of Wildshape which grants stat bonuses which can be used whenever you like. If you want to make use of the Half Orc's physical stats, that would allow you to use them. (I know this isn't Core, but it requires less book-keeping then the normal Druid).

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm features 2 other Druid variants which can be used together which may fit the character (I can see Druidic Avenger as a better fit then the Deadly Hunter but it may still work).

[Origomar]

If you just want to be a melee monster and dont particularily care if you have an animal companion, be a druidic avenger. natural spell is always a good feat.

[Fenix_of_Doom]

Well, actually, my girlfriend's druid, not my own, but I've never played one and she asked for my help building him.

Rhuum'na is a half-orc whom she would like to see built into a melee monster. He's level two, stats are Str15 Dex14 Con13 Int8 Wis15 Cha8. Should she be getting metamagic feats now, to improve her buffs later? Melee feats?

The game is core rules, with the magic item compendium only.

As a half-orc is could be worth it to look into the following class variants:

Deadly hunter variant


The druid might choose to give up her wild shape ability in exchange for becoming a swift and deadly hunter.

Gain:
Bonus to Armor Class when unarmored (as monk, including Wisdom bonus to AC), fast movement (as monk), favored enemy (as ranger), swift tracker (as ranger), Track feat (as ranger).

Lose: Armor and shield proficiency, wild shape (all versions).



avanger variant:

Druid Variant: Druidic Avenger

The druidic avenger channels her inner fury to wreak vengeance upon those who injure the natural world. This comes at a price, however, since the avenger must give up some of her own sensitivity to nature.
Class Skills

Add Intimidate to the avenger's list of class skills. Eliminate Diplomacy from the avenger's list of class skills.
Class Features

The druidic avenger has all the standard druid class features, except as noted below.
Animal Companion

An avenger does not gain the service of an animal companion.
Fast Movement (Ex)

A druidic avenger's base land speed is faster than the norm for her race by 10 feet. This ability is identical to the barbarian ability of the same name.
Rage (Ex)

An avenger can enter a furious rage, identical to that of a barbarian. An avenger can use this ability once per day at 1st level, and one additional time per day for every five levels above 1st.

An avenger does not gain the greater rage, indomitable will, or mighty rage abilities.
Spontaneous Casting

An avenger cannot channel stored spell energy into summoning spells.
Tireless Rage (Ex)

At 17th level and higher, an avenger no longer becomes fatigued at the end of her rage.
Wild Empathy

A druidic avenger takes a -4 penalty on wild empathy checks.

This allows for more use of the increased physical stat and removes the difficult wildshape and the need to handle you companion. With all those spells I think a new player already has enough to learn.

[Mando Knight]

If you just want to be a melee monster and dont particularily care if you have an animal companion, be a druidic avenger. natural spell is always a good feat.

The animal companion is the other half of the DruidZilla: you cast Greater Magic Fang on yourself and your companion, and team up to thrash everything. Wolves or war-trained Riding Dogs are probably the best non-adjustment companions since they get free trip attacks.

[Kallisti]

Go druidic avenger. Avoid the deadly hunter, you can get mroe benefit from wildshape later.

I think you should rebuild him with poor STR and DEX, possibly even poor CON, because wild shape changes all of those anyway. One fruid I once saw had crappy physical stats, and just wild shaped into a baboon of all things, and he had fairly decent (as good as what the character has now) stats, and as a baboon he can still wield weapons.

Natural spell is a must-have. A drid is a fair melee fighter. A druid with Natural Spell making good use of his boatload of druid buffs scares the hell out of boring ordinary fighters.

Wilding Clasps are your best friends. They let you bring magic items into wild shape.

Trust me on this, keep your wild shape! At low levels, it gives you physical stats as good as your current ones so you can have better mental stats, later it gives you physical stats much better than the ones you have now, and it lets you change into a bird if you need a fly speed, which can be a huge advantage at low levels.

Wild feats rock, but you're confined to core, so that and master of many forms are out. Consider Hierophant at later levels maybe, but be wary of it, because it means giving up some of your wild shape powers.

[Doc Roc]

what. part. of. core. do you not grok?! Avenger isn't core! I wish it was, but it isn't.

[ericgrau]

With buffs get as many as you can cast outside of combat as possible, to avoid wasting rounds. Greater magic fang is one obvious example. Stoneskin is one of my favorites, and I'm sure there are many more. Just read your spell list. Boost both yourself and your animal companion.

Druids also have some good battlefield control spells, like entangle, that you should consider. And I can't tell you how much my arcane caster likes sleet storm :smallsmile:. Not sure how well they fit her theme, but battlefield control would make beating up monsters easier when they can't fight back as well. Druid stuff tends to have low AC without boosts so boosting your defenses or using control helps.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

A Druid is a melee monster due to Wild Shape, so your starting physical stats are completely irrelevant. Half-Orc doesn't get anything worthwhile, you'd be better off with just about any other race in the game. Focus on Wis and Con, Strength is a dump stat unless you want Power Attack. Get Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple and Wild Shape into forms with Improved Grab, or get Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning and just conjure some melee monsters. In the early levels get a decent AC and play as a spellcaster, use battlefield control spells while your animal companion does your fighting. Take Natural Spell at level 6. Later on you can summon some lions and cast Animal Growth on them and your companion to get more melee damage than any core character of equal level would be capable of. By level 12 you should have a standard Metamagic Rod of Empower to cast Fire Seeds (berry bombs) three times and put them into a pouch ahead of time, then drop them in the middle of some opponents as you fly past in bird form to deal around 600 damage in a single shot. Don't try to focus on any one thing, you'll be a powerful melee combatant once you get Wild Shape, you'll be a powerful spellcaster if you prepare the right ones, and your animal companion is a powerful melee combatant from the start. Trying to make a Druid into a melee combatant before you get Wild Shape will not work, especially in Core+MIC. Be sure to get a Monk's Belt with a Wilding Clasp, and a Circlet of Rapid Casting+Wilding Clasp is also good to have.

[sofawall]

Wild feats rock, but you're confined to core, so that and master of many forms are out. Consider Hierophant at later levels maybe, but be wary of it, because it means giving up some of your wild shape powers.

What the hell? Heirophant? Lose 5 caster levels?

Also, Wilding Clasps? Last I checked, they weren't core, and Forgotten Realms, to boot.

EDIT: Unless they're in the MIC, afb.

[Eldariel]

Actually, on low levels a Druid focusing on Shillelagh and beating the **** out of things in melee works out just fine. That's before Wildshape takes over; at that point the extra Str is very useful. Indeed, if going Shapeshift or some other variant combination, you can maintain that and make your physicals useful.

Wildshape is still great, but it's of less use to high physical types who may want to use their own physicals instead (though without focus Wildshape forms still have way superior capabilities).

[Paul H]

Hi

Don't forget your animal companion - in the Pathfinder Organised Play campaign my Dwarf Druid has a Riding Dog wearing m/c Studded Lthr barding.

AC 22. BAB +3 Str Dex Con all 16.

Cheers
Paul H

[Zadus]

I've played a few druids and you really can't go wrong with druid 20. If it was me, I'd take extend spell to make my summons last longer. Its a lot of book keeping, but gives you tons of utility. Need to get to a high up place, have a dire bat fly you to the top.

The shapeshifter variant is a lot of fun. If it was me, I'd try to get that included. It helps your stats and removes about half of your book keeping. If she hasn't played a druid before, it makes things a lot easier. I've heard shapeshifter makes you less powerful, but I've always managed just fine with it.