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I was thinking about a dwarf version of this build.
Mostly the same except swapping out:
- sunlight summons -> combat reflexes (use your long reach)
- powerful shape -> cleave
- quick wild shape -> goblin cleaver (everything is smaller than you when you're a dinosar :) Would add great cleave as well.
- improved natural attack bite and claw -> imp nat: tail since my favorite dinosaur is Stegosaurus
Also think about Heavy Armor Proficiency at higher lvls to wear that dragonhide full plate wild armor.
If you want to focus on summoning, grabbing two levels of Envoy of Balance Prc gives your summoned allies the Counterpoised template, giving them nice immunities and smite, thus bringing Summon Natures Ally closer to Summon Monster in terms of power. You lose hp and 1 point of Bab though. If you do take the Prc, you might want to take Shaping focus as to not lose Wildshape. As Saurian Shaman this is not crucial though.
I would probably take Reactionary over deft dodger, your Init will be quite bad in wildshape, maybe even swap some feat for Improved init?
Improved natural attack and Strong jaw do not stack as of latest Faq so INA is not crucial, though if you get them as bonus feats go nuts :D
If you have high Wis consider taking a level of Monk to get Wisdom to AC and other monk goodies. There is a lot of synergy with monks and druids, you might want to check out the guide Way of the Angry Bear The example build is capable of dishing out 64d8 damage on a charge at level 15. Insanity. You won't be a good summoner going this route though.
What spell were you thinking of using Quicken for? Dazing spell might be nastier to lay down some really nice battlefield control, Dazing Flaming sphere forces save every round, dazing Stone Call dazes a HUGE mass of enemies and creates difficult terrain for them. You of course have Air walk or at least Feather step to keep pouncing on them. Covering the area with dazing Spike Growth is evil.
Your plan is to spend your first 3 or 4 feats on improving your summoning.
You will also have a spinosaurus companion to munch foes for you. And at level 9, of druid, you will be able to cast awaken animal to get a 2nd critter to chew up or gore foes.
This being so, and the fact your best wild shapes make you a dinosaur, is it worth throwing a ton of feats into becoming a melee monster [both literally and metaphorically] yourself. Having started going down the improve the summoning route I would keep doing that and improving your spellcasting otherwise.
There are Moonlight and Starlight Summons, Harrowed Summonning [which has Harrowed as a prerequisite].
Another possibility is taking one level of Mammoth Rider in order to increase the size of your companion to huge.
I think str 16, dex con and wis 14 and char and int 10 is a good Line either Versatile human, dwarf or half orc. Where half orc is the best because of favored class option. And a falchion on low levels. Spinosaurus or Allosaurus are both good hangarounds.
I wouldent bother too much with the summoning since you will be a melee monster with a friend from level 1, so i would Pick Toughness,powerattack, ironhide, natural Spell, improved initiative and the talking feat.
Traits would be fates favored, if you are half orc, birthmark if not and reactionary or a skill trait if you want one.
There is nothing wrong with summoning, and the dino druid does it well since there is a dino for every occation, but i would focus on melee.
Edit: stat increases in str and keep wisdom relevant with a headband.
Are you going melee? With a strength like that it looks like you are. If so, you really should get power attack sooner. I don't understand why you waiting for level 9. If you're not going melee, getting power attack won't help you.
I disagree. Druids have plenty of ways of boosting their attack: Magic Fang along with the totemic transformation ability that gives them claw and bite attacks, bull's strength, wild shape into a form that boosts strength, Shillelagh on a club or staff, and one can purchase an amulet of mighty fists that enhances all natural weapons at the price of two magic enhancements. They also can summon creatures to flank with them, or order their ACs into flanking position. I personally would go with Power attack at level 3 if you're planning to do lots of melee, and use the bonus feat for something like Feather Steps which would let you charge over one square of difficult terrain.
I would not recommend feathersteps as a feat for druids, simply because of spells like air walk and feather steps. Also Featherstep Slippers are ridiculously cheap and usefull for early levels. They have saved my bacon a LOT of times :)
I would not recommend feathersteps as a feat for druids, simply because of spells like air walk and feather steps. Also Featherstep Slippers are ridiculously cheap and usefull for early levels. They have saved my bacon a LOT of times :)
This is good advice. Dont take a feat that is redundant with a 2000 gp magic item.
True, well then you could take Power attack at a lower level, then get it as a bonus feat and retrain the previous feat into something else you need.
Yep.
What do you mean by racial heritage(aasimar)?
Celestial servant seems good to me also, and it really kicks in at level 5, so I would take it then.
Oh I see.
I had thought you were playing an Aasimir, so looked for the racial feats.
I still think what I said in my first post here, that your character should concentrate on one of summoning dinosaurs to fight for you and being good at being a powerful dinosaur in combat yourself.
You are already dividing feats between yourself and your animal companion, dividing them in a third direction will I think result in an unfocused character, not really good at any one thing.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/racial-heritage
for celestial servant...
I Think Racial heritage allow you to steal stuff from humanoids but not from outsiders:(
Edit: Aaaaand ninja'd by Bob Bob Bob.
Talk to your GM, they may allow the feat. Or play an Aasimar.
On why I would concentrate on spell casting for your character- its not that you need more feats exactly. Its when you get them.
More importantly, consider your character at around level 10. You will have your spinosaurus to munch foes. And you can awaken an animal, probably a dinosaur to help, then you can summon more dinosaurs to chew up enemies.
Do you want to work on being able to become another dinosaur to chew up foes? Will one more help much. I would concentrate on my spells. But its your character...
I'll have to say that quicken wildshape is not very useful. There are not many situations where standard action wildshape is a lot worse than swift action to a lesser form. I could maybe see the usefulness if your campaign is taking place mostly in urban environment where you can not be an allosaurus all the time. But still, standard action should be quick enough even then.
At level 13 your wildshape lasts the whole day. I would recommed taking powerful shape at 13, it will give you benefits in all your forms all the time.
1 Spell Focus (conjuration)
3 Augment Summoning
5 Celestial Servant
7 Natural spell
9 Planar wildshape+ bonus power attack
11 Powerful shape
13 Quick Wild shape + bonus vital strike
15 Quicken spell
17 Superior summoning + bonus Improved Overrun
19 Charge ThroughIs it better?
Well, it really depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to summon a lot of stuff take Superior Summoning at 11. If you want more smashy stuff take Powerful Shape at 11.
I'm not very keen on Quick Wild Shape. Since you get Vital strike for free maybe Improved Vital strike?. I know it is not optimal, especially since you can pounce, but sometimes you might be in other shapes than allosaurus or you don't have a charge lane. Also consider Intimidating them with your huge size giving you nice bonus to the check.
Something like:
Focus on summoning
11 Superior summoning
13 Sunlight summons + bonus vital strike
15 Divine Interference (forcing enemies to reroll can really save you or your AC)
17 Quicken spell + bonus Improved Overrun
19 Charge Through
Order of feats after Superior summoning is not critical, see how your campaign goes. Sunlight summons saves you from casting Greater Magic Fang on your summons.
Focus on hitting stuff and scaring them s***less
11 Powerful shape
13 Cornugon smash (free intimidate when power attacking) + bonus vital strike
15 Intimidating prowess (to really pile on intimidation)
17 Improved Vital strike + bonus Improved Overrun
19 Charge Through
you don't like the possibility to change form on every round?(by 12 there are no lesser form)
You still have a limited number of changes pr Day.
you don't like the possibility to change form on every round?(by 12 there are no lesser form)
Well, for saurian shamans that is true as long as you remain a dino. Also I had the impression it cost extra wildshapes to change as a swift action, seems I was wrong.
At level 12 you have 5 wildshapes a day, you go through them quickly changing shape every round.Still, I don't see many situations where standard action wildshape is not quick enough. This of course varies by campaign. If you are almost constantly in a situation that requires you to change shape to/from allosaurus then this feat is really good. Maybe urban campaigns where you can't constantly be a dinosaur? I have not yet faced a situation where quick wildshape would have been extremely usefull.
Of course, if you have the feats to spare and can't think of anything else, Quick Wildshape is not a bad choice.
I am intrigued though, what kind of dinos/forms do you think you will change into in the middle of battle? What kind of situations you see coming up that force you to change shape so fast that standard action is too slow? You may be onto something with this that I just can't see. Maybe you can convince me to take Quick wildshape for my druids next feat :D
maybe into a flying dinosaurs if you wanto to switch to a flying enemy, a dinosaur with a different combat manovre ex Stegosaurus for trip without loosing action...
in addition you can tranform into an allosaurus in the first turn and start charging!
Wild shape is a limited resourse even if you get to do it in a hurry. I think the feat is better spend on somthing that give more power but it is not a terrible choice.
1 Spell Focus (conjuration)
3 Augment Summoning
5 Celestial Servant
7 Natural spell
9 Planar wildshape+ bonus power attack
11 Powerful shape
13 Quick Wild shape + bonus vital strike
15 Quicken spell
17 Superior summoning + bonus Improved Overrun
19 Charge ThroughIs it better?
Well, it really depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to summon a lot of stuff take Superior Summoning at 11. If you want more smashy stuff take Powerful Shape at 11.
My opinion is that 1)Saurian Druids have very powerful and flexible options for summoning and 2)the above list takes the first 2 feats on a skill tree that makes the summonings better at levels 1 and 3.
This being so it is illogical not to take the excellent superior summoning at level 5.
It is perfectly sensible to take Harrowed, Harrowed Summoning, and Moonlight and Starlight Summons too. But the player does not want to go that far down that route.
Natural Spell should be you only choice at level 5, nothing else beats it for a druid.
Saurian shamans get wildshape at level 6 so it is not possible to take Natural Spell at level 5.
Natural Spell should be you only choice at level 5, nothing else beats it for a druid. The level 1 and 2 lists have no decent reptile or dinosaur options so you wont be getting much, if anything out of Superior Summoning until level 7 when you can do multiple constrictor snakes or crocodiles.
As a saurian shaman he doesn't have wild shape until level 6, so NS isn't an option at level 5. I do agree that Superior could wait a while if he had anothe feat he wanted at level 5.
Natural Spell should be you only choice at level 5, nothing else beats it for a druid. The level 1 and 2 lists have no decent reptile or dinosaur options so you wont be getting much, if anything out of Superior Summoning until level 7 when you can do multiple constrictor snakes or crocodiles.As a saurian shaman he doesn't have wild shape until level 6, so NS isn't an option at level 5. I do agree that Superior could wait a while if he had anothe feat he wanted at level 5.
Actually i Think he get normal wildshape at level 4 and it is changed at level 6. There is nothing that indicates him not getting wildshape at 4.
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I interrupt this broadcast to bring you this important message from your local voice of reason and logic:
Cap. Darling doesn't realize that he is likely to have just started a debate. Before it begins let me just state that he is not alone in this opinion. I have always believed that Saurian Shamans (and all of the Shamans) get Wild Shape at 4th and then it upgrades at 6th. I believe that mostly because that is what it says. Good reason, right? ;)
I return you to your regularly scheduled debate...