Druid//Investigator Gestalt. What's a good build

[Wintermoot]

Hello all,

I've been asked to make a Gestalt Hengeyokai Badgerfolk Druid//Investigator (level 7/7). Also been asked to take the domain instead of the animal companion for the nature's bond.

I know that with Gestalt you usually want one side to be the spellcaster and one side to be something else so you don't end up with two enormous pools of spells and not enough actions to use them all. But I'm not really an expert at building them.

Any ideas on a good build, or a good way to combine these two classes?

[JoeNapalm]

Druid with Natural Spell.

Does anything else really matter, at that point?


-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist

[Gnaeus]

Hello all,

I've been asked to make a Gestalt Hengeyokai Badgerfolk Druid//Investigator (level 7/7). Also been asked to take the domain instead of the animal companion for the nature's bond.

I know that with Gestalt you usually want one side to be the spellcaster and one side to be something else so you don't end up with two enormous pools of spells and not enough actions to use them all. But I'm not really an expert at building them.

Any ideas on a good build, or a good way to combine these two classes?

More generally you want an active side and a passive side. Since Investigators and nature bond are PF and Hengeyokai is 3.5 I assume 3.PF, but is this an all sources thing?

I’m actually not sure that in this specific case I would take natural spell. Investigators use extracts which natural spell won’t help with, and even though spells are better, both is good. So your options would be
1. Go with a Druid archetype like Goliath Druid or Progenitor that use non animal wildshape, or Halcyon Druid or Natures Fang that replace it altogether. Quality may vary depending on which wild shape rules are being used
2. Take an investigator archetype like psychic detective that gets spells rather than extracts so natural spell works. Even better might be the path of war investigator archetype for maneuvers but don’t want to assume 3pp.

Which rules are in play and what is your goal with the character? Are you mostly sneaky guy or magic bear?

[Psyren]

Archetypes are always a good place to look when combining divergent classes, especially in gestalt where the abilities of one class can more wholly compensate for the shortcomings of another, including shortcomings that would normally kill an archetype by replacing a key feature.

Two archetypes I would consider for you specifically:

Spiritualist Investigator: This one gets Wis to AC and all saves(!) starting at 4th level, making it a great complement to a Druid gestalt. You lose extracts, which would normally make this a pretty weak archetype, but with Druid casting and wild shape you won't even notice. It also gets to reroll saving throws. You have to activate this defense each time but since it lasts for a minute, you can basically have it up for a whole combat.

Jinyiwei Investigator: this one gets Wis to its inspiration pool and even casts Inquisitor spells instead of using extracts. I personally think the first one is stronger but this is a decent alternative.

[Wintermoot]

More generally you want an active side and a passive side. Since Investigators and nature bond are PF and Hengeyokai is 3.5 I assume 3.PF, but is this an all sources thing?
...what is your goal with the character? Are you mostly sneaky guy or magic bear?

As far as I know its all Pathfinder. I think he has a pathfinder version of Hengeyokai, or he's ported it over. So assume it's all Pathfinder with a custom race I guess.

So the short idea of the character is this:

There is a secret order of druid protectors who have looked over some ancient places of power for several hundred years. In that time, the lands have been invaded and populated by several different races, but through it all, these secret defenders have kept their oath and continued to watch over the places, driving out any who intruded upon them. Originally, this order were very primitive "spirits of the forest" types who avoided all civilization and stayed seperate, but in the last couple generations, they realized they could do more if they integrated more.

So our "hero" largely lived in a moderate sized city where he runs a alchemists/tannery and is part owner of a successful shipping concern. He uses his position to serve as an intermediary for the rest of his brotherhood, a communication hub and providing gear and alchemical items for the network.

Recently, one of his brothers has missed a couple check-ins, so our hero has dispatched himself to investigate that brother's places of power to try and find him, but also to make sure they are still secure. He hasn't been "on the road" for quite a few years and is a bit rusty with the adventuring thing.

So when it was described to me, I pointed out that the emphasis was on the Investigator side (described as using a lot of alchemical items, and maxing out skills, with the "druid" side seeming to be in name only. The description specifically didn't want an animal companion and wanted to deemphasis shape shifting except for the Hengeyokai badger form(s), so he seems to really just want the druid spells and druid "name" more than the actual druidness.

So he really needs to have strong knowledges, strong investigative skills, strong stealth and social skills, depend a lot on poisons and alchemical items, and I guess keep the druid spells, but he'd be happy to trade out the animal companion and shapeshifting for alternate features. *shrug*

and that's a no on the POW. I love it, but he doesn't.

Basically, if there was an archtype of Investigator that replaced extracts with druid spell casting and kept everything else the same (including craft alchemy), he'd have his character. Maybe I'll just suggest that as a compromise. Druid Spelllist at Inquisitor spell progression in place of Extracts and call it done. Like a custom Jinyiwei archtype. Then we can dispense with the entire gestalt thing.

[Ramza00]

It is a different build entirely thus maybe not what you want (or your DM wants.)

But Jinyiwei Investigators are

half your level for locating creatures via perception, sense motive, and specific linguistic checks.
Wis based Inspiration
Wis based Inquisitor spellcasting so 6th levels
Good Reflex
Studied Strike as Investigator
Investigator Talents
No Trapfinding or Trapsense though.

[Gnaeus]

Well if he wants to be sneaky poison guy and not do any shapeshifting I’d definitely look at natures fang. A step down in power but trading away class features you won’t use for ones you will is always a +