For the next in my series of power builds for the Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous video game I’ve got a Druid Shapeshifter build. The mythic path here is Angel, in order to get great Angel benefits including merging spell books. Check out my guide to rule changes and power builds here.
Build Progression
1. Human Primal Druid, background Warrior/Mercenary. This gives us access to longspears, which is an advantage in terms of reach until we get the ability to change shape. Combined with Enlarge Person you’ve got significantly more safety. If you’re really against this for some reason, Pickpocket is a very solid option. Human is useful as druids are somewhat feat-starved
- Str 17 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 8
- Skills: Perception, Lore (Nature), and whatever you want. I go with Knowledge (World) and Athletics
- Feats: Power Attack, Cleave–great combination
- Animal Companion: Smilodon–five attacks at level 1!
- Diety: if Angel, Gozreh is a good choice for alignment compatibility
3. Feats: Combat Reflexes, though Shake it Off is also an option
4. +Str every four levels. We gain wolf form. This is great because of the trip ability alone, which can be enhanced by casting Animal Aspect: Gorilla. Your attacks can be tripled if you have a skald using Animal Fury and Lesser Beast Totem. Buff your defenses with spells like Mage Armor and Barkskin
5. Feat: Natural Spell
6. Here you get leopard form, which innately has more attacks.
7. Feat: Outflank as usual, along with most of the rest of your party
9. Feat: Seize the moment as usual, along with most of the rest of your party (Update: also consider Back to Back instead as StM does not stack with Outflank anymore)
10. Here you gain smilodon form. You get 5 attacks per round + pounce. As soon as you gain access to the Shapechange spell you can use it transform into a dragon! Dragons have multiple advantages, including a huge increase in attacks per round
11. Feat: Improved Critical – Bite. Remember any AoO’s will come from your primary attack, which is bite
13. Feat: Improved Critical – Claw. Now we have 19-20 crit range for all our natural attacks.
15. Feat: At this point you’ve got more options. Cleaving Finish is a good idea, but you may instead choose Improved Initiative, MM Extend Spell, or Weapon Focus (on the way toward Shatter Defenses) but I don’t think it’s needed
17. Feat: Again up to you. Great Cleave is nice, but if you think it’s overkill go Improved Initiative. You also have the option of Improved Critical – Other Natural Attacks if you want to use the dragon form
19. Feat: Lots of choices here to. Metamagic Extend Spell is nice, but you could certainly at it at 17. As a merged Angel you’ll get spells lasting 24 hours that usually only last minutes.
Smilodon Build Progression
1.Take Aggressor archetype unless you prefer the default. Feat: Combat Reflexes
3. Feat: Improved Initiative
4. +Int so he can learn teamwork feats. Following this increase Strength
5. Feat: Shake It Off
7. Feat: Outflank
9. Feat: Seize the Moment
11. Feat: Improved Critical–Bite
13. Feat: Improved Critical–Claw
15. Feat: From here on it’s up to you, I’ll be lazy and pick Weapon Focus Bite
17. Feat: Just as lazy, Weapon Focus Claw
19. Feat: Improved Critical–Other Natural Weapons, only if you want to turn your pet into a dragon. Nothing wrong with Toughness
Key Spells
1. Enlarge Person is very useful, especially in the early game for obvious reasons
2. Barkskin is great and stacks, Animal Aspect: Gorilla boosts your trip attacks, and Natural Rhythm against bosses early and mid-game, and will last 24 hours with your extend and enduring spell boosts
3. Greater Magic Fang of course, and the Shield from Demonkind spell is cool
4. Echolocation bypasses concealment
5. Animal Growth, one of the best buffs in the game. Geniekind is a great buff, and can be used in combination with Acid Maw to proc Elemental Barrage, which greatly boosts damage. Aspect of the Wolf gives you back your trip attacks every round, regardless of your form
6. Greater Dispel Magic works well since we have a high caster level. Bolt of Justice is an awesome angel spell, and Aegis of the Faithful is indispensable for defense
7. Sun Marked is wonderful, extended Holy Hymn and Ward Against Weakness Communal
8. Seamantle, Storm of Justice, Avenger’s Blessing (can be extended)
9. Fortress of the Faithful, Shapechange, and Sun Form is great for the incorporeal form alone
10. Army of Heaven, Phoenix’s Gift, Rekindle, there are some good choices here
Mythic Progression
As a full divine spell caster, druids can merge spell books with Angel, which is unadulterated awesome for several reasons, many of which I’ve covered in previous power build posts.
- Ascension: Close to the Abyss for the additional gore attack. If you don’t like the idea–being angelic and all–Instrument of Freedom is always a good choice. Ability: Master Shapeshifter
- Extra Ability: Ever Ready
- Ability: Elemental Barrage. This is easy to proc due to the Acid Maw (lvl 1) and Geniekind (lvl 5) spell, which you get at level 9. Cast Acid Maw on your pet and you are treated as the source of damage for EB. NOTE: Don’t forget to merge your spell book!
- Feat: Improved Critical Mythic: Bite. Improved Sword of Heaven: Everlasting Flame
- You’ve got options here. If you want to max out spell casting, Abundant Casting is the way to go. Since this build is less geared toward that, Enduring Spells is what I pick given all the buffs you have access to. Improved Halo: Piercing Rays is nice if you have DC-based spells, but Solar Winds is hard to pass up
- Improved Critical Mythic: Claw. Improved Sword of Heaven: Abolish Guile
- Ability: Greater Enduring Spells or Improved Abundant Casting, depending on what you picked for mythic rank 5. Improved Halo: Flame of Life, why not
- Ability: Power Attack Mythic. Sword of Heaven: Speed of Light
- Up to you, I’ll pick Mythical Beast for your pet. Improved Halo: I like Burning Bright, but whatever you like
- This is really at the end of the game, so whatever you prefer
Equipment/Gear
Weapon: Longspears for levels 1 – 3, with Enlarge Person. After that we don’t need any weapons, we already have them
Head: Headbands that increase wisdom. If you don’t want that, the Triple Fin Helmet gives you another gore attack
Neck: ultimately Vellexia’s Magnifying Amulet for both builds, early on Amulet of Mighty Fists
Goggles: Goggles of Piercing Gaze. Mask of the Rapid Bites is better if you have The Last Sarkorians DLC
Armor: Seal of Madness is nice, unique armor, but armor is fairly useless for you. This is a crusade relic
Chest: Anything you want
Belt: Belts that increase Str, later Belts of Physical Perfection
Gloves: Claws of a Sacred Beast, everything stacks! Paws of the Bear King is probably better if you have The Last Sarkorian DLC
Boots: Ronneck’s Sacrifice can go here, but Boots of Stampede might be preferable
Bracers: Bracers of Armor are good–your actual armor does not transfer its bonus to your animal form, but these do, and Bracers of Animal Fury are also good
Rings: I like a ring of evasion, ring of guiding star, or Bane of Spirit ring
UPDATE: Ring of Triumphant Advance if you have the Treasure of Midnight Isles DLC.
Cloak: Cloak of Resistance
Consumables: This is locked out while in beast form, unfortunately
Alright, this is a different sort of build. I just haven’t seen many druid builds out there and I thought this would be great for some variety. There is another way to approach shape shifting though. There is a Demon mythic path option and uses a Demonslayer ranger chassis that is even more powerful! If anyone is interested please comment and I’ll be happy to post.