Core Only Bear Druid

[koboldish]

Hello Playground! I've been unable to play for almost 5 months now, and I'm excited to be getting back into a core only game online. I'm relatively well versed in most of the rules, but I've never played a core only game before, nor have I played a druid. Most of the other members of the group are skilled optimizers, and the DM has made it clear that the campaign will be rather challenging. I've gone through some posts on here, and I know the spell list fairly well.

Here's what I'm coming to you guys for: I wan't to be the BEARiest of all of the bears out there. I want to turn into a bear while riding a bear companion and summoning bears. It started out as an inside joke with my group from 5 or 6 years ago, but I want to make it a reality. I'm not sure if this can be done effectively in core without gimping my class too heavily in comparison to things like fighters and rogues, as there are definitely better things to do with a druid. Anyways, I think it's a funny idea, and I'd love it if you guys could give me some help with my concept. Thanks!

[eggynack]

Well, especially in a core environment, most of that is going to consist of pretty obvious and natively available stuff. The wild shape forms are just kinda there, as are the summons and the companions (though the shift from brown bear to polar bear is a poor one). Still, there're ways to improve things some from there. On the summoning end, you're going to want augment summoning, probably at first and third, and natural spell is an obvious must pick at 6th. On the wild shape end, your AC is going to trend a bit low especially when you're running around as a black bear, so you're probably going to to keep up barkskin such that you don't die. Greater magic fang is also a great idea when you get it.

In any case, you shouldn't worry too much about low melee effectiveness. You're going to be weaker than a druid that uses casting directly, but between all of your various sources of melee, you should be outperforming mundane melee classes without too much work. You can still pull some traditional casting though. The best buffs are long in duration, so you don't need to cast them all the time, and you can turn battlefield control spells into bears just as well as you can turn greater magic fang into them.

[koboldish]

Thanks for the advice! I could also use some help with ability scores. We have a 25 point buy and are starting at level 1. I don't think this is a build where I can afford to get 18 wis, but I'm not sure how high I should go.

[eggynack]

Well, 18 wisdom, 14 constitution, 11 intelligence, 8's in everything else would probably work fine. As long as you don't engage in melee until you're actually a bear you don't really need strength or dexterity, due to stat replacement. If you do want to melee before 5, maybe 16 wisdom, 14 constitution, 12 strength, 12 dexterity, 9 intelligence, and 8 charisma. The former array is probably superior though.

[Flickerdart]

If you want to ride a bear while being a bear, keep in mind that your mount needs to be larger than you, which rather limits your forms.

Also, bears (both you and your companion) can wear barding, so your AC should be just fine as long as a buddy helps you put it on in the morning after you've wildshaped.