[PF] Saurian Shaman Build Advice

[Xaragos]

Playground,

I am trying to build a Saurian Shaman going with kind of a human from an isolated tribe in the wilderness who grew up in an area thick with dinosaurs and the like. Kind of like the Savage lands with Kazar in the comics. I have looked at some of the guides for druids, but I was looking for more specific advice to the Saurian Shaman itself.

Rules 15 pt buy, all books acceptable.

Here is my current build at level 1:

Human

16 Str
14 Dex
13 Con
7 Int
16 Wis
7 Cha

Skills trained: Knowledge (Nature) and Handle Animal
FCB: +1 HP
Traits: Gifted Adept (Call Animal), Dirty Fighter
Racial Traits: Eye for Talent, Heart of the Wilderness
Feat: Spell Focus: Conjuration

Animal Companion:

Deinonychus

13 Str (This is where I gave it the +2 bonus)
17 Dex
17 Con
2 Int
12 Wis
14 Cha

Feat: Armor Proficiency Light
Skills: Perception, Acrobatics
Tricks: Combat Training + Seek

Any and all inputs on stats, traits, feats, animal companion, prcs, weapons, items, etc. more than welcome.

[avr]

Personally I hate dumping Intelligence, especially that far. You don't have room for the odd point in skills like Survival or your own Perception or anything else.

Armor proficiency (Light) is usually a waste. Any barding with zero ACP (e.g. leather, masterwork studded leather, mithril chain shirt) does not require it. If you can retrain feats later get Weapon Finesse, if not get Combat Reflexes or one of the +2 save feats.

[Spore]

I agree with avr. If you want to portray a struggling human in a backwards region you might like the Neanderthal (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/human-neandethal). Otherwise I'd recommend the following array:

Str 14 (you are not the strongest of the tribe, you don't need to be because nature comes to your aid)
Dex 12 (you don't have to be the quickest, your companion is still rather quick)
Con 14 (some hardship can't be dealt with brute strength, like a broken bone, or a disease)
Int 8 (you don't have to be Einstein, but you ARE human, you need to think about tools and hone your skills)
Wis 16 (your foresight and insight into nature and the dinosaur behaviour gave you your position as the shaman apprentice or shaman)
Cha 10 (you can't convince me that you can get a wild coldblooded reptile to listen to you when you're about as empathic as a troll)

Feats: SF (Conjuration) is fine, you aim for Augment Summoning on 3 and Natural Spell on 5.
Skills: Go for Perception with that new skill point. You can't be blind in the wilderness without your companion. If you don't know where the prowling animals are, you are dead.

[Xaragos]

All good inputs,

I guess my rationale was to try and keep my strength high for wildshape. As I understand it (and Pathfinder Druid is new for me) all you get is:

climb 30 feet, fly 30 feet (average maneuverability), swim 30 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, and scent.

Small animal: If the form you take is that of a Small animal, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Dexterity and a +1 natural armor bonus.

Medium animal: If the form you take is that of a Medium animal, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Strength. and a +2 natural armor bonus.

So, if I don't already have a 16ish strength, I am going to be hurting in that department when I am in my alternate form.

And for the charisma, I was thinking yeah its a -2, but I get +4 vs Reptiles and Dinosaurs, so I am still at a net +2 + Druid Level. Its too bad you can't put points in diplomacy or something to help with that roll. I am messing around with the numbers again, but 15 pt build is tight on what you can do :)

[avr]

That's beast shape 1. As a saurian shaman when you reach 6th level (& first get wild shape) you use beast shape 1 when turning into something which isn't a reptile or dinosaur, or beast shape 3 when turning into a reptile or dino. Guess what you're going to change into ...

16 base strength would still be nice but not at the cost of being terrible at perception, poor at wilderness survival (you're a druid!!!. Also doesn't fit your background) and basically being a sad specimen of humanity.

Personally I could see a low charisma on someone who empathises primarily with reptiles. Really though you're going to need to shave a point or two off either strength or wisdom (the latter's doable for a melee druid) IMO.

[Spore]

All good inputs,

I guess my rationale was to try and keep my strength high for wildshape. As I understand it (and Pathfinder Druid is new for me) all you get is:


I had a Bear Shaman once. HAD!

I was of the opinion that I need Strength and that the shapeshifted form does all the work else. That is a wrong notion. If you choose the larger of the two wildshapes, your damage is a force to be reckoned with. Your AC and defenses...less so.

To summarize:
- druid is a d8 class
- you loose any AC bonus from armor you had, throwing you into the ring with +1 from dex, +4 from nat. armor: in your case AC 14
- if you planned ahead and used Barkskin, your AC is 17.

So if you keep your Con (and boost it on 4th level), you have a character with AC 14 and 33 HP. This isn't bad but dangerous. My try at a very melee focussed build (using a spear in druid form). You companion has 30 HP and AC 15. Without spells your defenses is just as bad as your class feature's.

Do you catch my drift? If you are the ONLY tank, you will get a lot of abuse. I'm not sure if you can afford either having this constitution this low or if you can really blow feats on summoning when your main thing is standing in melee.

[Xaragos]

Thanks for the advice. I have never played a PF druid so all of this helps. I ended up going with.

16 Str
13 Dex
13 Con
8 Int
15 Wis
9 Cha

Should I take Toughness to balance it out? What feats and the like do you recommend?

EDIT: One other thing Saurian Shaman can do is Totem Transformation 1/day, so maybe the +2 nat armor can help.

[Spore]

Good luck. May the mighty dinosaur roar in your favor.

Four odd attributes. This hurts my little optimizer heart.