Help with survivability options for a NO METAL four level Ranger/Druid Gestalt

[Pwyll]

So my DM wanted to shake things up, so he gave us the chance to play Gestalt PC's up to level 4, then spec into one or the other. I went with a Ranger/Druid, specking into ranger (PHB Beast Master, no UA allowed). The DM has homebrewed some basic abilities for each class. In the case of the ranger, they can comand the beast as a bonus action. As for the druid side, not taking Druid of the land because someone beat me to it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Instead going Land for the utility.

My stats are || Str:14 || Dex:14 || Con:14 || Int:14 || Wis:17 || Cha:10 ||. My race being Kenku, that puts Dex and Wis to 16 & 18 respectively

Id like to go melee ranger, but the no metal rule that the DM has placed rule's out Dex weapons. At the same time, If I swap Dex out for Str, AC will be at 14 (And save for a magic Item, it wont go higher until Level 3).

So, i've narrowed it down to the following options keeping the above in mind, that all end with AC 16 sooner or later:

> Greatclub, taking Defence at Lv3 and GWM at Lv4.
> Quarterstaff + Shillelagh and taking Defense at Lv3 and Pole-Arm Master at Lv4. Not very exciting, but has a good damage output.
> Using the above until Lv3, take TWF and at Lv4 Dual Wielder to Dual Wield Whips. The damage is not at high and the AC will take a bit more to get to 16, but the reach will allow the character to hit and run without the Mobile feat.

Id love to hear your thoughts, or if there's any option I haven't considered.

[Nagog]

If you plan on going Beast Master, I'd go for dual wielding and pick up Sentinel, and get a Wolf as your companion. From there I'd ask the DM to allow you to pick up Polearm Master and have it's Opportunity Attack feature work with your whips, at which point you can keep enemies away from you pretty handily, which is a good defense in it's own right. With this, you'll be able to get Attacks of Opportunity on any enemy attacking your wolf companion, and with you within 5 feet of it, your wolf gets advantage on attacking those enemies as well due to Pack Tactics. If an enemy approaches you, use the PAM opportunity attack and Sentinel to stop them in their tracks, then have the wolf get between them and you. If necessary, you can use your action to heal the wolf (because you're essentially using them as a living shield, which also grants you cover) and you can get 2 whip attacks in (at level 5 ranger) and use Healing Word from your Druid side to keep your Wolf up and in good health.

Technically you can do this with a polearm, but it's less interesting, and takes longer to set up the damage output because you'll need PAM to get the bonus attack, but you'll also need Sentinel to make the most of your Opportunity attacks, meaning it doesn't really come online until level 11 (assuming you only have/plan to get 3 levels of Druid, that bit is a tad unclear)

[Man_Over_Game]

I think there's a typo in the OP. You mention not going Druid of the Land, but then say you're going Druid of the Land.

I would definitely recommend Druid of the Land, if it's available.

Specifically Coast

[AgenderArcee]

Shillelagh lets you still have a d8 weapon while wielding one-handed, so I would go with quarterstaff, PAM and Dueling style and use a wooden shield.

[sambojin]

Unsure of this myself. With bonus action Beastmaster pet attacks, I'd normally recommend Moon Druid. Bonus actions are what they want, and that's what you've got, so it'd be very powerful. I'm pretty sure you meant to say that Moon Druid got taken already though....

For a pet, while a wolf is a fine choice, you should also look at a flying snake as an option. It has flying. And fly-by attacks to keep it safe. And a minimum of +8 to-hit. This is very good, especially if tripping opponents isn't that good for you. Especially if you're a Moon Druid, so are doing your own proning/ restraining anyway. They're ultra reliable in early parts of a campaign, though they do taper off once poison resist/ immunity becomes more prevalent.

For defense and utility, a Firbolg is way better than a Kenku for your race, but I guess this is more of an RP choice than a power choice. Its bonus action invis popping is one of the better racial defensive abilities available, and it does all the other druid things too (and they have super-Disguise Self, which takes no concentration, and is amazing in every way, and Detect Magic, which saves you a whole spell preparation slot, and can be very handy in a surprising amount of situations too). Auto-animal-talk is great as well. 1st ASI goes +1Str/+1Wis (so 16Str/20Wis with your stats), so you're very druidy, pretty melee'y, but not very dexxy.

It might seem kinda silly to lose out on the Ranger's combat abilities as a Moon when wildshaped, but it really just means that your caster form is pretty handy in melee as well. You got what you wanted (bonus action pet attacks), so losing a fighting style and some ranger schtick isn't that bad. You've still got it, just not all of it while you're a big scary animal.

If Moon is off the table, then the standard advice of "be a Grasslands druid" applies. Invis, Haste, etc, just makes you or your chosen party member more defense'y or combatty or stealthy, plus you get slot recharge, which is ace for druids.

A Coastal druid is fine too, if you're specifically wanting more defense. Mirror Image and Misty Step are all you'll ever need in that department, but they are spell slot and bonus/action heavy, and you actually do have things competing for these things. At least they're non-concentration, so you can still do your druid stuff fine.

[Nagog]

Rise, dead thread, RISE!

Just realized I had this tab still open from a while back (which speaks volumes about my organizational skills I'm sure), but the thought occurred to me that a Shepherd Druid may be right up your alley for Tanky as well. Keep yourself surrounded by summoned wolves, who all get advantage on their attack rolls because you're within 5 feet and the rest of their pack is too, and behind a 5 foot wall of Wolves you can dual wield whips and combine it with Sentinel to dish out loads of damage and have some really good CC through Minionmancy.

Now I wanna try this build.