treantmonk's druid handbook part 2 the spirit of the beast

8/12/2019 Treantmonk's Druid Handbook Part 2 the Spirit of the Beast

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Last revision: June 3, 2010

The Druid Handbook Part 2: TheSpirit of the Beast

Druids in Pathfinder, if any class neededsome optimization evaluation it isthem. Their previously premiere abilityhas been seriously powered down,leaving them with only a free beast

shape, plant shape and elemental bodyspells as spell like abilities, the uniqueopportunity to gain the ability to cast inthese forms, primary casting, animalcompanion or domain option, goodskills, good saves, decent HP, some niceskill bonuses, Wild empathy, woodlandstride, trackless step, resist natureslure, poison immunity, alter self at will,and resistance to aging effects. Yep,Druids have it hard.

It is however completely legitimate to

wonder what niche the Pathfinder Druidshould be filling in your party, and

whether melee is still an option, how these changes have effected their ability scorepurchase, and whether they should stick with animal companion, or jump on the domaintrain. These are the points we will be discussing, along with all the Druid abilities, andwe will determine which options are good options, and what should be avoided.

Druids have so many abilities, but it can be difficult to know how to use them together tocreate an effective whole. What does your Druid do with Wildshape in Pathfinder? Howdoes this work with spellcasting? What should be done with a Druids ability scores?Another perplexing question is which Nature Bond to choose? The choice will largelyeffect what your character can do well, and what they can't. Not a decision to take

lightly.

This is chapter 2 of a 3 chapter series. In this Chapter we will discuss the Druid typeI've named, "The Spirit of the Beast", this build is specifically made for melee combat.Yes, he can still cast, but the numbers simply don't allow him to cast effectively like theWild Mystic. Not enough castings, not high enough DC's, and the feats aren't there.However, casting remains a vital part of the whole.

Finally, we need to discuss tactics. The Druidic tactics from 3.5 will not work inPathfinder, so Pathfinder Druids must find new tactics to coordinate a large number ofvery nice abilities to actually contribute in a meaningful way.

Chapter 1: The Wild MysticChapter 3: Druid Spells examined
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Colour Coding the Guide:In this guide I will be Colour Coding your various options to provide opinion on each.

Red: Warning. This is a poor option and should be avoided. For spells, simply don'texpect to ever memorize these.

Orange: This is an OK option. I'm not recommending it, but it's not bad. For spells,not an everyday memorization, but in the right circumstance, good to have.

Green: I recommend this option. It is a strong choice. For spells, this is a worthymemorization option.

Blue: A must have. Your best possible option. For spells, this would be a "must have"memorization in my opinion.

The Druid Class Abilities:Nature Sense: A simple bonus to two class skills. Nature Sense is gained at level1 and provides an untyped +2 bonus to Knowledge (Nature) and Survival. As we willsee later, the former is a very important skill for Druids, so this bonus is welcome.Certainly both skills are very flavor appropriate for the class. Not a flashy power, but asa free bonus, we will gladly take it. We may not be able to afford ranks in Survival, butif we can do at least one level to kick in the Class bonus, we'll do that at least.

Wild Empathy: This is basically like getting a skill maxed out for free. WildEmpathy, gained at level 1, is diplomacy for animals. The Druid uses his class level plushis CHA bonus as the base, plus d20 for improving the attitudes of animals. Cha is not

going to be a strong ability for your Druid, and there is no "Class Skill" bonus, so you willhardly be Dr. Doolittle. An appropriate skill for the class, and certainly worth a try whenconfronted with potentially noisy guard dogs, or similar situations. Don't expect miraclesthough.

Woodland Stride: At level 2, this provides the Druid the ability to move throughovergrown terrain without hinderment. This is important, as it essentially gives theability to move through natural difficult terrain without penalty, allows 5' steps and allthat good stuff. Personally, I've found natural difficult terrain comes up a reasonableamount of times through a campaign, so although this remains circumstantial, you willlikely benefit from it a couple times.

Trackless Step: At 3rd level the Druid leaves no trail and cannot be tracked.This is like a Pass Without Trace spell on all the time. Note that there is no contestedroll with the tracker, it's just total immunity. The 20th level Ranger can't hope to trackthe 3rd level Druid. Not going to come up a lot, but worthy to note, if it does, it willwork.

Resist Nature's Lure: At level 4 this ability gives a +4 bonus to save againstthe supernatural or spell-like abilities of fey. Yep, sounds just as circumstantial as it is.I think in 80% of campaigns this will never see use. No big deal, it's a minor ability.

Venom Immunity: At 9th level the Druid gets total immunity from poison. Not

a bonus to save, total immunity. A Periapt of Proof against poison costs 27,000 gp andtakes up a magic item slot. Druids get the ability for free while still in single digit levels.This is a big deal. Also note, the "Use Poison" ability would now be completely


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redundant to you. Use poison all you want, and if you accidentally poison yourself, whocares?

A thousand Faces: The Druid can change their appearance at will by 13th levelas if using the Alter Self spell. Note that we are not talking about the disguise self spell

here, Alter Self provides real changes with real bonuses. A 13th level human Druid cansimply choose to be in Dwarf form, gaining permanent Darkvision and a +2 Size bonusto Str, or a Gnome to get permanent Low Light vision, small size, and a +2 size bonus toDex, or switch back and forth, or take another form. This is a good power. Note thatyou cannot use it in conjunction with Wildshape.

Timeless Body: You gain none of the negative effects of aging by 15th level.Aging doesn't come up in a lot of campaigns, though you can choose to be of differentage in some campaigns (Check with your DM.) Specifically the Wild Mystic might benefitfrom being slightly older, taking some small penalties to physical stats while boostingWisdom (and CHA and Int), however, note that Timeless body won't make previouspenalties dissapear, it will prevent any new penalties.

Ability ScoresWhen we discuss ability scores for the Spirit of the Beast, we must remember theWildshape ability. Go ahead, peek ahead at Wildshape if you like, as I will discuss thesematters again there. Before you get Wildshape your physical stats will be importantbecause you will need to enter melee without wildshape. Once you get Wildshape, thoseabilities maintain their importance, because you will be using them as a base for yourwildshape statistics. The Spirit of the Beast must be a warrior first, and caster second,and this becomes more apparent than ever when we set our ability scores.

Being a warrior, Strength has to be your first priority. If you cannot back up your

attacks with a significant bonus to hit and damage, you will find your offense lacking,and this should be the selling feature of the Spirit of the Beast. Dex and Con are alsoimportant, for initiative and defense, but both take a backseat to Strength. Wisdom too,cannot be ignored, because although you do not focus on casting, you need a decentwisdom to do it at all. In fact, this becomes a serious balancing act for the entire build.I would love to say not do dump Int or Cha, but this is a very ability dependant build,and that may be luxury you simply cannot afford.

My attribute strategy would go like this. Buy Strength last. Start by dumping Chaentirely. Dump Int too, but maybe an 8 will do. Then move to Wisdom, this is delicate,but a 13 will cover you for 6 levels of casting, and a wisdom boost headband can get youthe other 6 levels you need for 9th level spells. Even a +2 headband gets you throughto level 9. Con and Dex need a 13 at least, in a higher point buy, I would go for 14.

Then whatever I have left goes into Str.

So the order of ability priority ends up being: Str, Dex, Con, Wis, Int, Cha.

If it was my 15 point buy, before Racial Modifiers, my Spirit of the Beast would have anability array that looked something like this:

Str: 16 (10), Dex: 14 (5), Con: 13 (3), Int: 8 (-2), Cha: 7 (-4), Wis: 13 (3)

That Strength is just that important that we need to make sure it is going to give us theadvantage we need in combat. Wildshape will give your strength a boost, but if youdon't start with an impressive Strength off the bat, you will find your combat ability

unimpressive, and that's kind of the whole point of the Spirit of the Beast.


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RaceThe most important thing in considering Race for this build is Strength. There is no racewith set ability scores that grants a bonus to Strength. This makes all these choices lessthan optimal (yes, they are all still workable, but it's harder).

Also, we must remember that bonuses like Low Light Vision and Darkvision are of lessvalue. With Wildshape, we will be taking on the sensory ability of the animal/elemental/plant form, and give up our racial sensory type. Also, once we can Alter Self at will, wecan just stay in a form that grants Darkvision or Low Light vision whenever we want it.

Human: Far and away your best choice. The flexible ability bonus can be put into Str,and you don't have to worry about any ability penalties. Things like lack of specialsensory ability means less to a Druid than any other class, and the extra Skill point andFeat will both be of incredible value.

Half-Orc: A decent choice for the Spirit of the Beast. You can put that flexible stat

bonus into Strength, and the Orc Ferocity works well with a class that can heal itself as astandard action. The Darkvision is going to be helpful only really in the early levels, asare the weapon proficiencies, so this isn't nearly as nice a choice as the human, but stilldecent.

Half-Elf: The only real other "optimal" choice is the Half-Elf because it too can put thestat bonus into Strength. The racial abilities really aren't doing you much good. SkillFocus is always handy to have, but wasn't going to be a primary feat choice, and you arenot likely to multiclass either. Strictly inferior to the human, and probably inferior to theHalf Orc as well (though it's close), however, if you don't want to be human, this is anOK choice.

The others: The other races are poorer choices as you won't get a bonus toStrength. Obviously this makes the Gnome and Halfling especially poor choices indeed.However, these choices can all be made to work with this build, but you face an uphillbattle.

FeatsAs a Spirit of the Beast, your feats will be a little spread thin. Spellcasting is not yourfocus, but you may very well want Augment Summoning anyways, however, that is atwo feat investment, so I wouldn't put it first on your list. Instead you need some featsthat are going to aid you in combat, as that is going to be your primary focus. NaturalSpell is going to be an absolute must at level 5, as you can expect to be Wildshaped

most of the time as soon as it becomes available.

Power Attack: for a penalty to attack you gain a bonus to damage of twice theamount. Note that for Wildshapes where you have a single natural attack you will gettriple the to hit penalty as a damage bonus, and for Wildshapes with a secondary attack,the trade is even. This is not always a feat you will want to use, it will depend on yourchance to hit in any particular combat, but since you will not be using an attack with thecontinuous -5 on each subsequent attack, you can actually benefit more from this thanfighters can. Also, it opens the door to some nice other feats. Worth taking.

Cleave: A great feat for skirmishing, which is something you definitely want to do. Ifyou are Wildshaped into a form with a single tough attack, then Cleave is especiallytough.


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Vital Strike: Also a great skirmish feat, and again very nice with the single attackWildshape forms. These creatures can have a lot of base dice for damage, which benefitmore from Vital Strike than the Greatsword wielding Fighter.

Improved Vital Strike: Like Vital Strike, this is a feat that shines for Druids. OftenWildshaping into creatures with several dice of base damage, tripling those dice can

bring quite amazing results.

Improved Unarmed Strike: Useless for you (natural attacks are treated as armedattacks), except to qualify for other feats, which aren't so useless.

Improved Grapple: You will often be Wildshaped into creatures as big as Huge, withStrength size modifiers of +6 or so, and able to Grapple for free with a successful attack(as per the grab ability). This is basically for the +2 and for the next step up the chain.

Greater Grapple: Just a way to really take advantage of Wildshaping with the Grabability. Pin the creature, then rip it's throat out. You have a 3/4 BAB, but with bonusesfor Size and Strength, you can make up for that and be a very good grappler indeed.

Spell Focus (Conjuration): Not a high priority out of the gate, but eventually you maywant to invest in this if you want Augment Summoning. Augment Summoning isn't amust have for the Spirit of the Beast, but you will still be doing a fair bit of summoning,and the bonuses Augment gives are nice to have.

Augment Summoning: This feat improves your summons significantly. A +4 Str bonusisn't just a damage boost, it's also a +2 to hit, and that's on every attack the creaturehas. The +4 Con is 2 hp/HD. This too makes a significant difference. As a Spirit of theBeast, you will likely do a bit less summoning than a Wild Mystic, and casting isn't apriority, however, this feat is still nice to have. I wouldn't work on getting it at low level,but at higher levels I would try to fit it in.

Natural Spell: This is your level 5 feat. If you could take it at level 4 you would. Thisfeat makes Wildshape a combat viable ability, well worth a feat slot. It is also thereason you are a better polymorpher than Wizards or Sorcerers.

Combat Casting: You are going to try to avoid casting on the defensive, as yourprimary casting stat isn't great, and therefore neither is your concentration, butsometimes you don't have the choice, and this can make a difference.

Improved Initiative: Tactically, initiative is a big deal in this game. Less important foryou, who probably won't be using as many spells, but still good to have.

Toughness: +1 HP per level is almost as good as 2 points of Con. Extra HP is always

welcome to pretty much any class. For you, Toughness is the difference between yourHP and the Fighters.

Heavy Armor Proficiency: Later on you will be wearing Ironwood armors. Honesty,getting a "Wild" enchantment on Hide just isn't worth it. Ironwood Full plate armor isgoing to be the best armor you can get, and assuming you aren't wildshaped all thetime, you will find that being proficient is a good choice.

Craft Wonderous Item: Specifically to ensure you have the correct Wisdom Bonusesyou need to progress your spellcasting. If there is any doubt in regards to theavailability of these items in your campaign, this is probably a good investment.

Feats from the Bestiary: Upon GM approval, consider these featsas well...


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Hover: Pretty much a necessity if you wish to do full attacks while flying.

Improved Natural Armor: Self explanatory right?

SkillsAlthough you have 4 skill points + Int/level and that might sound pretty good, expect tobe feat-starved. The reason is you have a few "must have" skills, so once you havethose...well, there just aren't many points left for the "nice to have" skills. I'm onlygoing to list the blue and green ranked skills, because there is more choices betweenthose than you have skills slots to spend unfortunately.

Knowledge (Nature): Firstly, you can only Wildshape into creatures you know, whatcreatures you know is defined by this skill, so it is a must-have and a must-max.Secondly, getting the most out of "Nature Sense" involves taking this as well. This is a"max out" skill.

Perception: The most used skill in the game. This too should be maxed out.

Handle Animal: Also a must have. This allows you to "push" your summoned crittersas well as teach your animal companion tricks.

Fly: You will be doing a lot of flying, and your maneuverability isn't always going to beall that hot, so this is really an important skill.

Single Dips: You can't afford a lot of skills - especially after what I've already listed.However, a few "single level" dips into skills can provide you with some basic ability.Climb, Swim, Survival and Heal are all decent choices for a quick "dip".

Favored Class

You are in melee, you sometimes need to tank to get advantage of full attacks, your ACisn't quite as good as the party fighter, you are working off d8 HP. Yeah, a skill pointwould be great, but there is only one choice here. With Favored Class going into HP andthe Toughness feat, you can have your HP where they need to be as a front liner.

Equipment:Remember in Wildshape that you cannot speak (and therefore can't use spell triggeritems), and you may or may not be able to hold something like a metamagic rod. Your

equipment melds into your form, but equipment that has constant effects continue tofunction (except for armor), so when purchasing magic items, those with constanteffects should be favored.

Wands: A great choice, especially at lower levels. First level wands are useful andcheap. You won't be using Wands in combat much, but some out of combat options likeCure light wounds wands are a good investment.

Also worthy of a special note is a wand of Mage Armor. You can't use it, but odds aresomeone in your party can, whether through availability on a spell list or UMD. If youbuy this wand, you can have them use it on you for a 1 hour +4 Armor bonus. Much

cheaper than the "wild" enchantment on your armor.


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Scrolls: Look at the spell list, if the spell is ranked orange, it's probably not acandidate for a wand, but as a scroll it's probably a decent investment. Again, just beaware these are out-of-wildshape use only.

Metamagic Rods: Not really something I'm going to worry too much about as a

Spirit of the Beast. You can't use them wildshaped, and you aren't doing all that muchcasting in combat anyways. An extend rod for Magic Fang and/or Barkskin wouldcertainly be a decent investment though.

Armor: At low levels Hide armor will do the trick until Wildshape is the form of choice.However, later on, you will want Darkwood Armor with the "Wild" enchantment for thebest AC possible. The Wild enchantment ain't cheap, so be patient. In mid levels, youcan live without it.

*Shields: As of the current rules, Shield bonus to AC translates into Wildshape,however, Jason Bulmahn has confirmed that they are not meant to. As usual, your DMis the final authority. A large wooden shield is probably still a decent investment just for

the protection it provides when you aren't wildshaped.

Weapons: Not worth the investment. By the time the party is collecting magicweapons, you will be using tooth and claw.

Staves: Not worth it for you, pretty much universally. Remember, casting isn't yourprimary function.

Wondrous Items and Rings: The obvious items are on the list like Rings ofProtection, Cloaks of resistance, Belts of Str (or better yet, all 3 physical stats), andWisdom boost headbands. Amulets of natural armor won't stack with the natural armorfrom Barkskin, but do stack with the NA granted from Wildshape. Druids vestments will

be an economical way to get an extra wildshape in the levels where you could really usean extra use (levels 5 through 7). Special note that a Monk's Robe is not so goodanymore, as Wis bonus is no longer transferred to AC.

Nature BondGood news, for the Spirit of the Beast, I recommend the animal companion as theobvious choice. The headache you received when reading my suggestion for the WildMystic can now go away at last. The Plant Domain has a couple abilities that would beinteresting, but nothing that gives the tactical advantage as your friendly animalcompanion flank buddy.

So now we need to discuss options. My suggestion is to be open to changing animalcompanions through your career. Certain animals "advance" at level 4, and others atlevel 7 - so usually you are better off with an animal that advances at level 7 betweenthe levels of 1 and 3, then switch to an animal that advances at level 4 between thelevels of 4 and 6, then switch back at level 7. Make sense?

The options for animal companion are nearly endless, and I have every reason to believethat the options will continue to expand as more rule supplements come out. I won't begoing through a creature by creature evaluation, because really, there are so manyoptions that aren't optimal. Instead I will give you the tools which to evaluate animalcompanions for yourself, then I will highlight some strong options from the Main Bookand the Bestiary.

Picking your companion: The mini-guide


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Offense: Offense is the highest priority in your animal companion. It's not just yourpal, it's part of your overall combat package. Your animal companions contribution tocombat is really part of your contribution, so it's important that it can contributeeffectively. This is not a minor class ability for you, so you must pick carefully.

1) "To hit": What is the animals "To Hit" chance? It will likely be lower than yours,and this is expected and acceptable, but how much lower? If the animal fails to hit, thenit isn't contributing effectively. Since animal companions are fighting an uphill battle inthis area, it's important you consider it carefully.

2) # of attacks: Your animal won't have a terrific "To hit" chance, so increasing thenumber of attacks is very important. Furthermore, if you have multiple attacks, then the"Pounce" ability becomes very important.

3) Damage: This needs to be balanced carefully with number of attacks. A creaturewith 3 weak attacks may fail to penetrate even the mildest DR. That makes the creatureineffective. Therefore, Damage becomes a very real consideration. Damage of course isnot just the die type of the attacks, but also the Strength modifier. A Rhino may only

have one attack, but no DR is going to stop it. For creatures with lots of attacks,increasing the damage of those attacks will increase in importance as you gain levels.

4) Combat Maneuvers: Trip is the best combat maneuver ability you are going to getbecause it is not invalidated by size like grab can be. Your animal companions "trip"CMB isn't going to be great, but it's an add-on. You are attacking for damage, but evenif you only have a 10% chance to land this ability, it will still be helpful.

Maneuverability: All the offense in the world means little if your Animal Companioncan't get into the fight. Therefore, maneuverability becomes a high priority, especiallysince starting at mid levels, your own maneuverability becomes pretty good.

1) Flight: A huge bonus if your animal companion has this, but it's always a costlyability to get. The animal companion choices with the best offensive abilities will not benatural flyers, but it needs to be balanced with the animals who can fly naturally, asflight is a huge bonus. You may get stuck "Air walking" your companion, but at leastconsider the flyers first.

2) Land speed: If your companion doesn't fly, then land speed is quite important. Iwould consider any land speed under 40' a significant disadvantage, and I would avoidland speeds below 30' like the plague. Speeds of 60' + will often mean the AnimalCompanion can out move you, which isn't always the best tactically either, so that's amixed bag. A land speed of 40' to 50' is right where you want it. A 30' move isn't a dealbreaker though, remember, with Share Spells you can cast longstrider on your animalcompanion for a long duration 10' move boost.

3) Other movement types: If your companion can burrow, swim or climb, these are alladvantages. None of them are must haves, or even close to must haves (except inweird campaigns - like aquatic campaigns), however, they are all nice to have.

Defense: Less important than you may think. Generally, you should expect if youranimal companion is targeted, it will be hit. The reason is because the AC is going to besignificantly lower than combat based PC's in your party, so if it's 5 less or 8 less, theanimal companion is likely going to be hit in either case. HP however, are yourcompanions ability to take that hit, and therefore are important. Remember that AnimalCompanions are replaceable.

1) HP: Your most important consideration defensively. Your animal needs to be able totake a hit.


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2) AC: Less important than you may think. It's just not something you are going tohave at the level where your animal companion is defensively sound.

Advancing your companion: The hints.

Here's some advice for advancing your companion:

1) Ability increase: Every 4 levels your companion gets to increase an ability score. Irecommend an increase in Int to 3. This will give your animal companion the ability tounderstand your verbal commands. No more need to "push" or use "tricks", insteadsimply tell your companion to "flank on that guy", or "Try to grapple that guy". Handyeh? The ability to purchase any skill is just a bonus. Once the Int is 3, it's going to allbe about Strength.

2) Feat selection: Remember combat is your primary focus. Power attack is going tobe especially important as levels increase, as it will occasionally be required as a way to

punch through DR. Toughness will give a nice HP boost, this is a good low level choicetoo. Improved Natural attack and Weapon Focus are nice to haves, but don't rush tograb them, they can be a mid or late level purchase. Remember for creatures with claw/bite, that's only going to affect one choice. Once your animal companion gets an Int of3, then they can select any feat they can qualify for - so Cleave, Vital Strike (if they areone attack creatures), hover (for flyers) are all good choices.

3) Skill Selection: Acrobatics is key, as the animal will be a flanker. Fly of course isimportant for any flying animal companion. Perception is always handy. Stealth is alsoa very useful skill to have.

Tricks: Animal companions rely on "tricks" to determine what you can have them do.

Once you raise the Int to 3, then the animal companion should be able to understandyour language, and you should simply be able to tell it what you want it to do (thoughyou may want to rely on party members to direct your animal companion since you can'tspeak when wildshaped), but until then, tricks are very important. As an animalcompanion it will know additional tricks, but use Animal Handling to train more tricks.Animals have a limit how many tricks they can learn based on their Int score. Here aresome tricks you definitely want your companion to know:

Attack: The first trick any animal companion should know. The animal companion is forcombat, so understanding an attack command is vital. Use the "Two" trick option whereyou can have your animal companion attack undead and aberrations.

Defend: Having your animal companion seek to defend you without being commandedto do so is going to be very handy indeed.

Guard: It won't be unusual for you to want to use your animal companion for guardduty, especially if the animal companion has the benefits of "scent" which it very likelywill.

Track: Again, a great way to take advantage of the track ability.

Special abilities:

Link: Handle animal as a free action or push as a move action, +4 to handle animalchecks with your animal. This is gained at level 1 and that's when you want it. Later

on, the animal can understand language and you can have another party member shoutout suggestions in combat.


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Share Spells: I don't know if there's a huge amount of self only Druid spells that youare going to want to cast for your animal companion. Longstrider kind of sticks out as apossibility, and someday, Shapechange - but in between, not much.

Evasion: Always a nice ability to have, and helps with the reduced HP of your animal

companion.

Ability score increase: A big deal, mainly because an increase in Int to 3 means thatyour animal now understands language, which means that your party Wizard canrequest your animal companion please assume a flanking position with the fighter, etc,without requiring an animal handling skill. Adding to Str later on is always nice, but notas dramatic.

Devotion: +4 to Will saves vs enchantment. Always a nice type of spells to gain abonus against, and Will is likely going to be a weak save.

Multiattack: Only useful if it has secondary attacks, but if it does, a nice offensive

boost.

Improved Evasion: The next level of evasion. Not a huge benefit, but still nice tohave.

Choices: I'll be evaluating the choices assuming you are not playing an aquaticcampaign. I'll specifically look at choices for level 1, level 4 and level 7.

Level 1:

Bear: A solid choice, we assume this is a baby bear (small size), with a +2 strengthbonus and 3 attacks per round, offensively this is solid. 40' move does the job. A pretty

straight ahead choice.

Cheetah: A slight decrease in offense, but you still get 3 attacks, a 50' speed, and a tripattack.

Horse: Large sized creature, the hooves are secondary, but the bite is primary. GoodStr score and Con score as well.

Dire Bat: Worth mentioning as it begins with Blindsense and has a good flyingmaneuverability. I'm not recommending it though.

Elephant (Bestiary): Offensively fairly solid with a +2 str bonus and good die types ontwo attacks. Actually has a good AC (16) too.

Roc (Bestiary): Medium sized at level 1 and the advantage of a flyer. By far your bestoffensive bet with a flying creature. A bit squishy though.

Level 4:

Ape: Receives a big bonus to Str (total 21) and an increase in die type for its 3 naturalattacks. Quite the beast at this level.

Snake, Constrictor: Also receives a nice Str bonus (total 23), and although it only hasone attack, being Large, it will occasionally gain the benefit of grab/constrict. Speed is aproblem - longstrider can help, but it's still going to hurt.

Level 7:


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Tiger/Lion: A good choice for the level, granting the ever-important Pounce, large sizeplus grab is a nice combo too.

Ankylosaurus: mix a good defense (AC is good) with a pretty good Strength and thevery nice stun ability. Single attack though.

T-Rex: A good attack, even if it's a single attack. A good companion to add Cleave andVital Strike feats.

Rhino: A good single attack that can be mixed with Powerful charge for a great singleattack. Mix with cleave for 2 great attacks.

Roc: Now large size, this is just a really impressive choice. Strength is great, as are 3primary attacks. Grab ability for fun.

Let's look at the primary example at each level:

Level 1: The HorseStr: 16, Dex: 13, Con: 15, Int: 2, Wis: 12, Cha: 6Feat: ToughnessAC: 15 (+1 Dex, +4 Natural) - add barding for more ACHP: 16Attacks: +4/-1/-1 1d4+3, 1d6+1, 1d6+1

Level 4: The ApeStr: 22, Dex: 16, Con: 14, Int: 3, Wis: 12, Cha: 7Feats: Toughness, Power attackAC: 17 (+3 Dex, +4 Natural)HP: 28Attacks (power attacking): +8/+8/+8 1d6+8/1d6+8/1d6+8

Level 7: The TigerStr: 23, Dex: 17, Con: 17, Int: 3, Wis: 12, Cha: 6Feats: Toughness, Power attack, Weapon Focus (claw)AC: 17 (+3 Dex, +4 Natural)HP: 49Attacks: +8/+9/+9 1d8+10/1d6+10/1d6+10 Grapple:CMB +12Pounce, Rake, Grab

Wildshape:First off, let's discuss how Polymorph spells work, then how Wildshape differs fromPolymorph spells, then look at the specifics of each ability the Druid gets.

Unlike in 3.5, where the only real difference between Wildshaping into an animal as alevel 4 Druid and a level 10 Druid was the size of form you could take, in Pathfinder, youwill get more abilities of the creature as you level up, so Wildshaping into an Eagle willbe different at level 10 than it was at level 4.

Polymorphing first of all, makes you look like the creature (+20 to disguise). Secondly,you get the Size of the creature, thirdly, you get the natural attacks of the creature, andfourth, you gain the base movement of the creature. Your items "meld" into the newform, and armor bonuses are lost. Other items that grant permanent effects function as

normal.


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Wildshaping works similarly to Polymorph spells, but there are a few notable differences,pretty much exclusively in the Druid's favor.

1) First and foremost, Wildshape allows the "Natural Spell" feat which allows spellcastingto take place when Wildshaped.2) Secondly, Armor with the "Wild" enchantment can still provide an armor bonus in

Wildshape.3) Wildshape has a duration of 1 hour/level. This is significantly longer than thePolymorph spells4) Using Wildshape does not provoke an attack of opportunity when used, no defensivecasting required5) Being a Supernatural ability, Wildshape cannot be dispelled (though it can besuppressed by an antimagic field)6) When you wildshape into a creature that Swims or Burrows, you are able to breath inthese environments7) This is obvious, but worthy of mention anyways: Wildshape doesn't use up valuablecasting slots.

The abilities of a Druid's Wildshape improve with level. The Natural attacks are alwaysgained, but more abilities are gained depending on the level of the Druid:

4th level: Wildshape as Beast Shape 1, 1/day. Small or Medium animal6th level: Tiny or Large animal as Beast Shape 2, or small Elemental as Elemental body1, 2/day8th level: Huge or diminutive animal as Beast Shape 3, medium Elemental asElemental body 2, Small or Medium Plant creature as Plant shape 1, 3/day10th level: Large Elemental as Elemental body III, Large plant as Plant Shape II, 4/day12th level: Huge Elemental as Elemental body IV, Huge plant as Plant shape III, 5/day

1/day extra uses every 2 levels afterwards.

Lets go over the various abilities gained with Each form of Wildshape, and I'll go oversome form options for each. You will find a lot of animals bring very much the samethings to the table, so I'll cover the best choices. For example, Goblin Dog, Hyena andWolf all bring identical abilities to the table for Beast Shape I, and the Riding dog is justworse (as it's slower), so listing all these creatures really makes no sense. Instead, I'lllist your "go to" forms for each, covering the various abilities you may want to access.

Beast Shape I: You aren't getting much here, but do get Climb, Fly (up to average),or Swim at a maximum of 30 feet if the creature has this movement. Also, you getDarkvision 60, Low-light vision, and scent if the creature had the ability. If you take theform of a small animal, you get a +2 size bonus to Dex and +1 Natural Armor bonus. Ifyou take the form of a medium animal, you get a +2 size bonus to Str and +2 natural

armor bonus. This is where you say, "Do I ever want to take the form of a smallanimal?", to which I reply, "No...never."

Form options to consider:Dinosaur, Deinonychus This is your primary combat form for Beast Shape I. 4attacks, count them 1, 2, 3, oh - sorry he's dead now...put that last one away. Thereisn't even any running away for him, because you can chase him at a speed of 60'. Isthis worth considering at higher level? The Bestiary gives options for a large version ofthis creature. If allowed, I would certainly recommend it with Beast Shape II.Otherwise, just enjoy it right now. Welcome to Wildshape. Low light vision and scent aswell.


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Leopard: The Deinonychus laughs at you for your silly little 3 attacks, but if you need todo some climbing, this is your form. Get 3 primary attacks with a 20' climb, and 30' onthe ground. Low light and scent.

Squid: Your aquatic form. Swim speed is going to be 30' at this level. You get 2natural attacks and low light vision.

Riding Dog: The main reason to take this form is that you can pretty much goanywhere as a big friendly dog. You get a single attack and a 40' move, so nothingreally fantastic here otherwise.

Beast Shape II: Significantly better than Beast Shape I. Now the movements canreach 60 feet (and Fly maneuverability up to good). Grab, pounce, and Trip are receivedif the animal has the ability. If you take the form of a tiny animal, you get a +4 Dex, -2Str, and +1 NA...LOL - just kidding! Tiny animal - that's a good one. If you take theform of a large creature, and if you don't, what's wrong with you? You get +4 Str, -2Dex and +4 NA.

Form options to consider:Dire Tiger: Here's your standard combat form for this level. 3 primary attacks withpounce, grab on all 3 attacks. The damage is pretty good on all 3. Speed 40' Low lightand scent. The regular tiger is only minutely worse (the bite does a tiny bit lessdamage).

Dire Ape: No rend for you, but a large sized creature with 3 primary attacks, 10 footreach, a climb speed (30'), low light vision and scent. The reach is really the sellingpoint here.

Bat, Dire: You can actually become a flying mount, which is certainly handy. Also, youcan get a (good) maneuverability on fly (40'). A large creature.

Giant Octopus: 9 attacks. definitely a decent swim form. Add in grab on 8 of those 9attacks. Damage ain't great - but so many attacks has me dazzled. If you need toswim, a good choice.

Dire Wolf: For trip. That's really the main reason to take this form.

Heavy Horse: Specifically you may want this form for 3 reasons. First, you can getbarding for this form very easily. Second, you can carry a rider, which may be veryvaluable if you plan ahead with another character, and third, you are going to be allowedin pretty much any town or city. The form otherwise isn't too bad. You get 3 attacks (2of which are secondary) a decent move of 50', low light and scent. Definitely a stepdown otherwise from Dire Tiger.

Beast Shape III: You can now gain burrow up to 30 feet, 90 feet on othermovement types, Blindsense up to 30 feet, Constrict, Ferocity, Jet, Poison, Rake,Trample and Web. (You won't find Web). For Diminutive animals, it's a +6 Dex, -4 Strand +1 NA, for Huge Animals it's a +6 Str, -4 Dex, and +6 NA.

Forms to consider:Elasmosaurus: A swim form with a swim speed of 50'. Can move on land as well at20'. One attack only for 2d8 damage.

Stegosaurus: A bit slow at 30' but the tail does 4d6 + 1.5 Str for a solid hit (and vitalstrike or cleave contender). Also includes a trip attack, so not bad at all.


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Giant Squid: Swim at 60', Jet at 260'. 4 Decent attacks (one of which does 4d6), and agrab/constrict attack.

Elemental Body I: Take a form of any of the 4 elementals (small size). Thisincludes Darkvision with every form as well as special movement types (like Fly(perfect)and Earth glide). A size bonus of +2 to a variable ability score and a variable Naturalarmor bonus. A few special abilities (like Whirlwind and Push) are also gained. The wayI read it, Natural spell should still work even if you are in the near-invulnerable whirlwindform. However, this is a loophole, and I can't recommend it for gameplay. Generally,these will be utility forms only.

Forms to consider:Earth: A nice little form. Earth glide is handy, and you are getting a nice +4 NA bonus.Not a form I would regularly take, but in a cave like environment, could be decent.Fire: A Dex bonus is always welcome, and fire resistance is often handy. The burnability is situational, but occasionally nice to have. Nothing super here, but OK.Air: If you need a fly (perfect) form, this will do the job. Not a powerhouse though.Water: The Drench ability will be a very circumstantial power, but when you need it,

quite effective. Otherwise, this form isn't offering you too much.

Elemental Body II: As Elemental body I except the Elemental form is nowMedium. The Ability score bonuses move up to +4, and the Natural Armor grantedincreases as well (by a straight +1 across the board). Defensively, a Dex bonus formlike Air Elemental should come out a bit ahead of the Elemental body I (by one AC). Theother forms will trade size bonus to AC to NA bonus to AC and come out even. In anycase, I'm using Beast Shape III as my primary combat form, but if you need to bemedium size...well then be a Leopard. Really, I wouldn't bother.

Elemental Body III: As Elemental Body II except now you are large size, you NET

+6 to ability scores (no longer a single stat - and some forms include a penalty), and NAgoes up by one again. Not a big improvement over EBII IMO.

Forms to consider:Large Air: Really the main reason to take this form is the Whirlwind ability or for the fly(perfect). However, the two decent slam attacks makes this not a terrible combat formwhen the need arises.

Large Earth: Just as much bonus to Str as Beast Shape III, the same NA bonus too,except the penalty to Dex is not as bad and you get a Con boost, so this is actually aviable option for combat. 2 Slam attacks don't impress too much though, but mixedwith push, earth glide and earth mastery this is a situational combat form - a good

choice when Huge is just too darned big.

Elemental Body IV: Now you are huge, and you get some nice goodies. DR 5/-,and immunity to critical hits and sneak attack. Natural Armor does not increase thistime (which will likely result in a net loss of AC for most forms), but ability score netbonus is up to +10. Also, Air and Water elementals double their movement. That's areally nice enhancement. Since Elder elementals are Huge, you might as well take theElder form.

Forms to Consider:Air, Elder: You get fly at 100' (perfect) which is awesome. The Whirlwind ability workson creatures of large size, and the two slam attacks aren't looking too bad. +4 Strengthisn't bad, +6 Dex and the NA bonus means AC shouldn't be too bad either. Overall, aSolid form that will Carry you into the "fly" levels.


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Water, Elder: Situational, and I'm not sure this is better than some of your BeastShape forms, but the swim speed is fantastic, and Vortex gets pretty nasty around thissize.

Earth, Elder: The Best Strength bonus you will get with Wildshape (+8) and the (+4)con bonus is welcome as well. The two slam attacks are 2d10 each, which is OK.

Overall, you may find some of the Beast Shape forms still outdamaging this form, butdefensively, this form is a winner over them.

Plant Shape I: Not a very good ability, as you can turn into a Small or Mediumplant, which, after scouring the entire Bestiary, totals 4 forms. Every single one is a badoption. Therefore, until more plant creatures are available, this is a wasted ability. I'llgo over why they are all poor options here:

Forms you shouldn't waste your time with:Vegepygmy: Darkvision, Low light vision, 2x1d4 natural attacks. Nothing especiallywonderful here, and it's a very silly creature. (You decide if that's a bonus or not)

Basidirond: Low light vision and a 1d8 slam attack. The best feature of the form youdon't get with plant shape (the hallucination cloud). Not much here.Violet Fungus: Here's a ripoff. Violet Fungus can be harvested to create a venom, butthey don't have a "poison" attack, so what you get are 4x1d4 attacks and a crappymovement speed. The "Rot" ability will not transfer.Yellow Musk Creeper: This may be the worst polymorph option in the game. Reduceyour speed to 5' and get a 1x1d4 attack. We're done. Nothing else translates. I wish Ihad a ranking worse than red.

Plant Shape II: Still pretty bad choices, not as absolutely terrible as Plant Shape I,but worse than your Beast Shape choices pretty much universally.

Forms not to consider:Assassin Vine: You are going to be all but immobile (5' move) but you do get a singe1d8 attack with 10' reach. The reason you may want this form is for grab and constrict,however, you should note that Entangle does not translate.Shambling Mound: It gets Darkvision, Low light vision, and 2 decent slam attacks (2d6each) and both attacks have grab and constrict. Also, both attacks have 10' reach.However, this isn't even as good as Dire Tiger, which you got levels ago.

Plant Shape III: Ohhhh you can get Regeneration...just kidding. In fact, there isonly one Huge plant form, and it's the Treant which is a crappy form, and since no Plantcreature in the Bestiary has regeneration, until more creatures are available, this ishorrible.

The good news: There's only one bad option with PSIII. The bad news: It's theonly option:Treant: Sigh. No longer a good polymorph. You get 2 slam attacks for 2d6 each andthat pretty much covers it.

Playing a Spirit of the Beast:The niche you are going to fill is one of front-liner. Like a Cleric you are a divine casterwho engages in melee, unlike a Cleric, you can expect to be the primary damage dealerin your party. Your party fighter may out-defense you, but what you lack in defense you

make up for in offense.


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Why not play a fighter instead? Straight up comparison of Fighter vs. Druid in melee,unsurprisingly, expect the fighter to edge out ahead, but not hugely so. The Druidchoice is for other factors. The Druid can run circles around the party Monk, fly, swim,climb, burrow, bring as many as 7 attacks per round to bear by level 4, and gets 9 spelllevels of casting. So when comparing to a fighter, expect less damage on a single hit.Expect less AC, and possibly less HP too. Expect less ability on Combat Maneuvers, but

expect more attacks, more maneuverability, better sensory ability and more flexibility.If those are your priorities, then that is why you would choose the Druid.

How does it stack up?Let's consider a 5th level fighter. He's probably sporting the 18 Strength, he's got BABof 4, Full Plate +1, and a Greatsword +1. He's probably wearing a Ring of Protection +1and has approximately 46 HP. His attack is +12 (+5 BAB, +4 Str, WF, +1 enhance, +1Weap Tr) for 2d6+10 (+6 Str, +2 WS, +1 Enh, +1 Weap tr) Damage - that's 17 on anaverage hit. His AC is 23 (10+ 9 armor, +1 enh, +2 Dex, +1 deflection).

So that's:HP: 46

AC: 23Attack: +12 2d6+10 (average 17)

Let's compare a 5 level Spirit of the Beast.He's got the attribute spread listed above for the 15 point attribute buy. He's Human aswell. At level 4 he increased his Con to 14. He keeps a Greater Magic Fang up onhimself and his Ape animal companion all the time, he also casts Barkskin twice beforeexpected combats. He has a Ring of Protection +1, Wears a Large Shield +1, His featsare Toughness, Power attack, and Dodge.

So when in combat, Wildshaped into a Deinonychus and flanking with his Ape companionwe're looking at:

HP: 45 (Druid) 36 (Ape) (Druid HP assumes average HP rolls, toughness, Con 14,favored class bonus)AC: 21 (Druid) 19 (Ape) (Druid AC 10+ 2 Nat, +2 Nat enh, +2 shield, +1 enh, +1 Def,+1 Dodge, +2 Dex)Attack: +10/+10/+10+5 (Druid) +10/+10/+10 (ape) (Druid +3 BAB, +5 Str, +1 enh,+2 flank, -1 power attack)Damage: 1d8+8/1d6+8/1d6+8/1d4+3 (Druid) average 41 1d6+9/1d6+9/1d6+9 (Ape)average 37. Total average 78

Now, I've taken a number of liberties here. Certainly the fighter could get flank too.Sometimes Barkskin may not be active, maybe Greater Magic Fang got dispelled, maybethe Fighter is better optimized. We are also assuming full attacks, which at this level,

favors the Druid heavily.

However, look at the numbers, even considering the liberties, the Druid is faring well is itnot?

Now in one more level that Fighter is getting another attack (at -5). However, in onemore level that Druid is now taking a Dire Tiger form, and the Ape just got significantlytougher. One level after that, the Ape turns into a tougher Tiger form, and now fullattacks aren't an issue, since both Druid and animal companion are pouncing.

So I guess my point is that there are a huge number of variables in play, but overall,expect poorer chance to hit than the fighter, but only slightly so. Expect poorer AC

bonus, but only slightly so, expect lower HP, but only slightly so, and expect significantlyhigher damage potential, and not just slightly.


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I forgot about saves. Yeah, saves are better too.

When playing a Spirit of the Beast, start out with Hide armor, a Shield and a Scimitar.With good physical stats and an animal companion, you should be capable in melee,offensively you should be aces. Then start Wildshaping occasionally at level 4, and asoften as possible at level 5. Use spells for inter-combat healing or buffing, and in

combat for the occasional Summon spell to strengthen the odds.

Limitations: This build functions better than the Wild Mystic at low levels, it can reallyhold it's own. Expect to feel like a king between levels 5 and 10. However, unlike theWild Mystic, expect a more serious decline in the higher levels. Wildshape just stopsgetting better, and your animal companion advances in power more slowly than a PC.Your spells are not providing many upper level buff options, and you just aren't gettingas many attacks per round in comparison to the other players that you used to get. Thisbuild should remain viable right into high levels, but the real shine occurs in the singledigit levels. At the higher levels, expect to rely more and more on spellcasting, to whichyou really aren't built towards.

treantmonk's druid handbook part 2 the spirit of the beast

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