Ellrin
2013-01-17, 05:08 PM
I'm in an online group that recently decided we'd try out Pathfinder, which most of us are unfamiliar with (though we're mostly familiar with 3.5). I believe it's going to be a fairly low-op campaign, and while I certainly enjoyed optimization in 3.5, I'm looking for form over function with my current character.
Adding to my distress is that I decided to go undine adept, and I've never tried a druid before, either. I'm familiar with the basics, having read most of the 3.5 books pretty close to cover to cover a number of times now, but it's been a while and I've never tried to build one or pay much attention to the kind of feats that would be good for it; so what I'm looking for is some basic ideas for creating an effective, if not necessarily overpowered, druid. I'm pretty comfortable with my equipment list, so suggestions in that field aren't necessary.
Our DM's fairly open, though official material is very heavily preferred. I'm pretty sure he's open to 3e/3.5 material that doesn't conflict with existing PF material or rules.
Oh, and we're starting at level one, but I'm trying to get some ideas for future development, so feel free to throw feats for down the line, prestige classes, and some (not too much) multiclassing in; I don't mind going straight undine adept, either, though wouldn't mind expanding my options if there are some.
Here's my basics:
Race: Undine
Rolled stats: 18, 15, 15, 13, 12, 10
Allocated w/Race Mod: 13/17/13/12/20/10
Skill Ranks:
Climb 1
Knowledge (nature) 1
Profession (sailor) 1
Survival 1
[For the rest, I'm between Appraise, Heal, Sense Motive, and Swim]
For flavor basics, she's the daughter of a notorious CE undine pirate (probably a rogue or fighter) and a relatively well known TN/NG (haven't decided) undine judge (a sorcerer). She was raised to follow Besmara by her mother, but her father instilled a sense of justice in her, which is one of the reasons she eventually ran away. She joined the crew of a whaler after that, and after a long time as a ship's girl (she was still really young for an undine when she joined), eventually came under tutelage of a druid in the whaler's crew. The ship was eventually coincidentally found and captured by her mother and she was taken back into custody for a time, until she managed to sneak off in a small, fast ship that her mother's crew later captured. She tried to be an open-seas vigilante (having joined a crew of similarly minded idealists) for a few years after that, but was incredibly bad at it, and was later stranded on dry land, bringing her to pretty much the present day (she's been wandering southward since then). She's somewhere between CG and CN, and still worships Besmara; she tries to act like a relatively upstanding person, but is fairly piratical in a lot of her thinking.
I'm toying with the idea of giving her levels in an arcane casting class (she does have some very limited arcane talent from her father), though I'd probably need to redistribute her stats to be effective that way, and I'm not positive I want to do that (or if a druid/arcane caster mix would even be effective).
Oh, and I don't have any particular design on what sort of build to go with--I know druids can be effective at... well, pretty nearly anything, but I don't have any particular preference on whether to go wild shape tank, minion master, direct damage spellcaster, jack of all trades, or what have you. Our (rather large) party also includes two archers (a monk and a ranger), a paladin (probably our tank), a gnome wizard (who'll probably play to stereotypes and go illusionist on us), a cleric, an oracle, and a rogue, so we're probably fairly well covered on just about anything, though perhaps weakest in our melee, blasting, and crowd control options, so I'd lean towards one of (or a mix of) those roles, I guess.
Adding to my distress is that I decided to go undine adept, and I've never tried a druid before, either. I'm familiar with the basics, having read most of the 3.5 books pretty close to cover to cover a number of times now, but it's been a while and I've never tried to build one or pay much attention to the kind of feats that would be good for it; so what I'm looking for is some basic ideas for creating an effective, if not necessarily overpowered, druid. I'm pretty comfortable with my equipment list, so suggestions in that field aren't necessary.
Our DM's fairly open, though official material is very heavily preferred. I'm pretty sure he's open to 3e/3.5 material that doesn't conflict with existing PF material or rules.
Oh, and we're starting at level one, but I'm trying to get some ideas for future development, so feel free to throw feats for down the line, prestige classes, and some (not too much) multiclassing in; I don't mind going straight undine adept, either, though wouldn't mind expanding my options if there are some.
Here's my basics:
Race: Undine
Rolled stats: 18, 15, 15, 13, 12, 10
Allocated w/Race Mod: 13/17/13/12/20/10
Skill Ranks:
Climb 1
Knowledge (nature) 1
Profession (sailor) 1
Survival 1
[For the rest, I'm between Appraise, Heal, Sense Motive, and Swim]
For flavor basics, she's the daughter of a notorious CE undine pirate (probably a rogue or fighter) and a relatively well known TN/NG (haven't decided) undine judge (a sorcerer). She was raised to follow Besmara by her mother, but her father instilled a sense of justice in her, which is one of the reasons she eventually ran away. She joined the crew of a whaler after that, and after a long time as a ship's girl (she was still really young for an undine when she joined), eventually came under tutelage of a druid in the whaler's crew. The ship was eventually coincidentally found and captured by her mother and she was taken back into custody for a time, until she managed to sneak off in a small, fast ship that her mother's crew later captured. She tried to be an open-seas vigilante (having joined a crew of similarly minded idealists) for a few years after that, but was incredibly bad at it, and was later stranded on dry land, bringing her to pretty much the present day (she's been wandering southward since then). She's somewhere between CG and CN, and still worships Besmara; she tries to act like a relatively upstanding person, but is fairly piratical in a lot of her thinking.
I'm toying with the idea of giving her levels in an arcane casting class (she does have some very limited arcane talent from her father), though I'd probably need to redistribute her stats to be effective that way, and I'm not positive I want to do that (or if a druid/arcane caster mix would even be effective).
Oh, and I don't have any particular design on what sort of build to go with--I know druids can be effective at... well, pretty nearly anything, but I don't have any particular preference on whether to go wild shape tank, minion master, direct damage spellcaster, jack of all trades, or what have you. Our (rather large) party also includes two archers (a monk and a ranger), a paladin (probably our tank), a gnome wizard (who'll probably play to stereotypes and go illusionist on us), a cleric, an oracle, and a rogue, so we're probably fairly well covered on just about anything, though perhaps weakest in our melee, blasting, and crowd control options, so I'd lean towards one of (or a mix of) those roles, I guess.