[PF] Druid Privateer Help

[Xaragos]

Greetings Playground,

I am trying to build a druid whose background was being a sailor. I went with Forest Gnome for an extra funny twist. He is foul mouthed, and witnessed the death of his captain and crew, wanting to avenge them. He also wants a ship of his own one day (ARRR) [These were randomly rolled]. He tends to follow orders on a ship if he is not the one giving them.

Rolled stats that can be placed in any order: 18, 15, 15, 14, 12, 8

With the gnomes + 2 to int and +1 dex, what do you recommend the array be at level one for the druid? Also, I am torn between deciding to play the shapeshifter or the caster and can be convinced either way as long as it fits the theme of the character. On the one hand it would be neat to be able to shift into sea creatures and such and on the other slinging some spells could be useful as well as a ship's captain.

The character is starting at level 1. Looking for any advice on builds for this as I am brand new to 5E. (NOTE: I did look at the Druid guide which is helpful, but I am looking for sage advice that would fit with my background/char concept).

EDIT: Multiclassing is not out of the question either, so any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

[Gritmonger]

So Forest Gnome can talk to animals, you've got a sailing background - think about making a shoreline themed Druid who can turn into shorebirds and other ocean or shore creatures? A shark eventually?

[Madfellow]

Rolled stats that can be placed in any order: 18, 15, 15, 14, 12, 8

With the gnomes + 2 to int and +1 dex, what do you recommend the array be at level one for the druid? Also, I am torn between deciding to play the shapeshifter or the caster and can be convinced either way as long as it fits the theme of the character. On the one hand it would be neat to be able to shift into sea creatures and such and on the other slinging some spells could be useful as well as a ship's captain.

Str 8
Dex 15+1
Con 14
Int 12+2
Wis 18
Cha 15

is what I'd suggest. Those are actually some REALLY good stats. I'm not sure how useful it would be to morph into sea creatures in the average campaign, so I would lean toward the Circle of Land, specifically the Coast environment. That sounds like it'd be right up your alley.

[Xaragos]

Those stats make sense for both land and moon druids as the land doesn't really need strength and the moon can just buff himself in beast mode.

Any recommendations on whether or not to multiclass with anything? IE lets say I went moon druid would taking a level in barbarian or monk be helpful after level 2?

What about taking another spellcasting class, as really his wis, cha, int are all good. Does that increase your spell pool?

[SharkForce]

taking a level of monk or barbarian might help (monk depending on how your DM rules martial arts to work in animal form, plus the unarmoured AC, or barbarian for rage - the unarmoured ability of barbarians is less useful because it will be based on the con of the animal form, which will generally be lower than your wisdom).

that said, not necessary at all. your extra HP are your form of survivability, not your AC (and after a while if you have a mage that can cast mage armour, they'll probably be happy to find a use for their level 1 spell slot, or alternately you can use barkskin). you can get excellent value out of your spells as well when not in animal form, and if you need good AC your human form can provide perfectly decent AC and hit points after your animal form has soaked some damage (if you're already in animal form before deciding you need AC). your AC will likely never be top-tier, but it will generally be quite decent without splashing anything at all.

[Madfellow]

Any recommendations on whether or not to multiclass with anything? IE lets say I went moon druid would taking a level in barbarian or monk be helpful after level 2?

What about taking another spellcasting class, as really his wis, cha, int are all good. Does that increase your spell pool?

I don't think multiclassing is really useful for a druid unless there's a specific character concept that needs it.

The way multiclassing works is that you learn your spells as if you were a single-classed character of each of your classes. So if you're a Cleric 2 / Druid 4, you learn spells as if you were a level 2 Cleric and a level 4 Druid. Straightforward enough, I think, but not necessarily very useful unless there are specific spells you want. Your spell slots per day are based on your combined levels of each class, so you can have 3rd-level spell slots without even knowing any 3rd-level spells.