Druid Handbook: PF2 Class Guide – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

The Druid is an interesting class. Thanks to the Primal Spell List, they have some of the healing capabilities of the Cleric, as well as some of the blasting capabilities of the Wizard. But the Druid goes far beyond their spell list: Druids can train a powerful Animal Companion to fight alongside them; they can transform into beasts like wolves, dinosaurs, dragons, and kaiju; or, they can double-down on their core class features, allowing them to do things like conjuring storms or talking to plants at will.

In a party, the Druid most frequently serves as a Blaster, Healer, and Support Caster. Depending on your build, you can easily also serve as a Defender, Face, Scout, and Striker. However, this broad skillset means that the class can be complicated to build and play, and you’ll need to plan out your build well in advance.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Disclaimer
• Druid Class Features
• Subclasses – Druidic Orders
• Ability Scores
  • Conventional
  • Wild Order
• Ancestries
• Backgrounds
• Skills and Skill Feats
• Feats
  • Druid Feats
    • 1st Level
    • 2nd Level
    • 4th Level
    • 6th Level
    • 8th Level
    • 10th Level
    • 12th Level
    • 14th Level
    • 16th Level
    • 18th Level
    • 20th Level
  • General Feats
• Weapons
• Armor
• Druid Focus Spells
  • 1st-Level Spells
  • 4th-Level Spells
  • 6th-Level Spells
  • 8th-Level Spells
  • 9th-Level Spells
• Magic Items
  • Other Magic Items

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

Druid Class Features

Key Ability: Wisdom. This conveniently boosts both your Perception and your Will Saves in addition to your spells and your class DC.

Hit Points: 8+ hit points is normal for aspellcaster, but if you plan to rely heavily on Wild Shape you need to investin Constitution and you should consider the Toughness feat.

Initial Proficiencies: The Druid’sproficiencies can best be described as “average at best”. Across the board,the Druid’s starting proficiencies and proficiency improvements are almostprecisely average compared to other classes, but their attacks and defensesmatch the worst in the game. Fortunately you’ve got plenty of spellcasting torely upon.

• Perception: Starts poor and doesn’tincrease much (though it does increase early), but your emphasis on Wisdomwill make up the difference.
• Saving Throws: Trained in Fortitude andReflex saves, and with your high Wisdom, Expert proficiency in Will Saveswill make your Will Saves excellent. You have plenty of Ability Boosts tothrow around, so you can pad your saving throws, but your proficiencies areunimpressive.
• Skills: A total of 4+ Trained skills,which is normal.
• Attacks: Only Simple Weapons and unarmedattacks, but using weapons is a rarity for most druids. The Druid’sproficiency with weapons is among the worst in the game, increasing at thesame rate as the Wizard.
• Defenses: Medium armor is fine but sinceyou can’t wear metal armor you can’t use anything better than Hide. On topof that, the Druid’s proficiency in armor is the among the worst in thegame, increasing at the same rate as the Wizard. Fortunately, you do getShield Block so you can count on a shield to supplement your otherwise poordefenses.
• Class DC: You start at Trained and neverimprove. Fortunately, none of the Druid’s class features or feats use yourClass DC, so as long as you avoid external options like Critical Effectsyou’ll be fine.

Primal Spellcasting:

• Heightened Spells: Heightening spells isan important mechanic in Pathfinder 2e. Many spells scale with spell level,allowing them to stay relevant long after you learned them. Since druidsdon’t use a Spell Repertoire, you can prepare a spell at any level that youcan cast.
• Cantrips: Fantastic every time, on anycharacter, in any amount. Druids can prepare 5 cantrips each day (if youhave the first printing the Core Rulebook, this was corrected inerrata).

Anathema: Prohibiting metal armor means thatyour best types of armor are light armor or Hide armor until you can affordarmor made from special materials like Darkwood or Dragon Hide, but those are12th-level items so it’s going to be a while, and by then you’ve gotten tworounds of ability boosts so hitting 16 Dexterity shouldn’t be a problem.

Druidic Language: Neat, but unless your GMputs other druids into the game it’s basically useless.

Druidic Order: See “Subclasses – Druidic Orders”, below.

Shield Block: With poor armor options andpoor armor proficiency, the ability to Raise a Shield and use the Shield Blockreaction can dramatically improve your durability, especially at low levelswhen you have few hit points.

Wild Empathy: If you’re good at Diplomacy,you can make an entire creature type non-threatening. However, you can also dothe same thing with spells like Calm Animal, so there isn’t a huge motivationto invest in Face skills if you weren’t going to do so already.

Druid Feats: See Druid feats, below.

Skill Feats: Standard for everyone except the Rogue.

Alertness: Your only improvement toPerception, and you get it at level 2.

General Feats: Standard.

Great Fortitude: Your only improvement toFortitude saves, and you get it at level 3.

Skill Feats: Standard for everyone except the Rogue.

Ability Boosts: Standard.

Ancestry Feats: Standard.

Lightning Reflexes: Your only improvementto Reflex saves, and you get it at level 5.

Expert Spellcaster: Better spell attacks andspell DCs. Standard for full spellcasters.

Druid Weapon Expertise: You are still garbagewith weapons.

Resolve: You are very good at Will saves.

Medium Armor Expertise: This is as good asyou will ever get with armor. You never get armor specialization effects, somedium armor will be worse than light armor in most ways.

Weapon Specialization: You are still garbagewith weapons.

Master Spellcaster: Better spell attacks andspell DCs. Standard for full spellcasters.

Legendary Spellcaster: Better spell attacksand spell DCs. Standard for full spellcasters.

Primal Hierophant: 10th-level spells arecrazy. You can spend a class feat to get another, but it’s unlikley thatyou’ll ever cast more than 2 10th-level spells in a day.

Subclasses – Druidic Orders

Your subclass grants you a Trained skill, an Order Spell (which is a Focus Spell), and a Druid Class Feat. There are also a handful of Druid Class Feats which are exclusive to a specific Druidic Order. You start with one order, but you can take the Order Explorer class feat to get the benefits of multiple orders.

Animal

An Animal Companion is a great expansion to your existing capabilities, and since you can direct it with a single Action it’s a great way to get more out of your turn without giving up the ability to cast a spell. While you can do without Heal Animal (which means Order Explorer is an option), it’s a great way to keep your Animal Companion combat-ready without consuming other limited resources so if you plan to include Animal Order it should probably be your first choice.

• Skill: Athletics: Athletics is generallyuseful, but I have no idea what it has to do with animals or AnimalCompanions. I guess you already get Nature, and since Nature is used tohandle animals Paizo probably didn’t know what else to do.
• Feat: Animal Companion: Animal Companionsare powerful, but also complicated. For help with your Animal Companion, seemyPractical Guide to Animal Companions.
• Spell: Heal Animal: See “Focus Spells”,below.

Leaf

The Leaf Domain feats are mostly bad, and can usually be replaced by spells. Leshy Familiar is great, but you can get it from Order Explorer if that’s all that you want from the Order.

If you plan to play your party’s Face, Leaf Order is likely your best bet. Diplomacy is obviously crucial, and if you do plan to use the Leaf Order feats you’ll want enough Charisma to make them effective.

• Skill: Diplomacy: Essential in anyparty, but Charisma is typically a dump stat for the Druid. Several of theLeaf Order’s unique feats involve talking to plants, but they’re not verygood so you can ignore them in favor of using spells with roughly identicaleffects.
• Feat: Leshy Familiar: Familiars are reallygood. For help with your familiar, see ourPractical Guide to Familiars.
• Spell: Goodberry: See “Focus Spells”,below.

Storm

A great concept, but the feats and Focus Spells are really disappointing.Storm Order is notably the easiest way to expand your Focus Pool withoutmulticlassing, but it’s a big investment for little payoff when multiclassingis so easy to do.

• Skill: Acrobatics: Used to maneuver inflight, and you’ll need that if you take Stormwind Flight. You need to be atleast Trained, but you may not need to rush to increase your proficiency solong as your Dexterity is decent.
• Feat: Storm Born: The Primal Spell Listincludes numerous options for using weather to impede other creaturs. Evenlow-level options like Obscuring Mist can give you a significant advantagein combat thanks to Storm Born.
• Spell: Tempest Surge: See “Focus Spells”,below.

Wild

Wild Shape is the only thing you need from this order, so if you can spare a feat at 2nd level to take Order Explorer, that’s a great way to get Wild Shape. Wild Shape is powerful and fun, but it’s also really complicated, so see our Practical Guide to Wild Shape for more help.

One word of warning: Wild Order doesn’t get any feats that expand your Focus Pool beyond 1 point, so consider combining Wild with another order or multiclass into something that makes it easy to expand your Focus Pool. Otherwise, expect to use Wild Shape once per fight, then immediately Refocus as soon as you can unless you want to rely on Form Control and use much weaker forms.

• Skill: Intimidation: Charisma is a dumpstat for most Druids, so Intimidation can be hard. You can use Skill Featsto make Intimidation an interesting option in combat, but that likelydoesn’t justify investing in Charisma.
• Feat: Wild Shape: See “Focus Spells”,below.
• Spell: Wild Surge: See “Focus Spells”,below.

Ability Scores

Conventional

Most druid only need Wisdom to fuel their spells and class features, then enough Dexterity and Constitution to keep them alive.

Str: Dump. Druids don’t get good enough armoror weapon proficiencies to be effective in melee, so fighting in melee is verydangerous.

Dex: You need at least 14 if you want towear hide armor or 16 if you want to wear studded leather. At low levels, youmight choose to use a crossbow or other ranged weapon in combat, though Idon’t recommend doing so.

Con: Hit points are always important.

Int: Only useful for skills, but yourability score needs are otherwise limited, so more skills are a good way tobenefit from Ability Boosts which you won’t otherwise use.

Wis: Your Key Ability Score.

Cha: Most druids can dump Charisma, but ifyou plan to play your party’s Face or to pursue the Leaf Order you’ll benefitfrom a little bit of Charisma.

Wild Order

This set of ability scores assumes that you’ll be investing heavily in Wild Shape and its associated feats. If you don’t plan to take Form Control, you can dump Strength.

Str: You need 14 for Form Control at level4, and you need 18 for Perfect Form Control at 15th level, and you’ll getthree sets of ability boosts in between those two points. If you investheavily in Strength, you may be able to beat the Attack Bonus provided by WildShape spells, but that’s only likely to happen if you invest heavily inHandwraps of Mighty Blows and if you’re using Form Control to extend WildShape’s duration at the expense of casting Wild Shape 2 spell levels lowerthan nromal.

Dex: If you’re in Wild Shape, yourDexterity doesn’t matter except for Acrobatics checks. You should still get atleast 14 to fill out hide armor in case you get attacked before you can WildShape.

Con: Wild Shape will give you some temporaryhit points, but they won’t last. You need as many hit points as you can get.Expect to start with 16 and boost it at every possible opportunity, then addToughness.

Int: More skills never hurt, but otherwiseIntelligence doesn’t offer the Druid much.

Wis: When Wild Shape runs out or whenturning into an animal can’t solve a problem, you still need to be a druid.

Cha: You get Intimidation for free, butyou’re not better at being a face than any other character. There are someoptions which seem to imply that Wild Shape builds should work well withIntimidation, but the inability to speak or activate magic items whilepolymorphed makes it exceptionally hard to do so.

Ancestries

Wisdom increases are obviously crucial, but otherwise you have plenty of room to consider other Ancestry traits. Wild Order druids who plan to rely on Wild Shape should also look for a Consitution increase and high racial hit points.

Catfolk: The Wisdom Flaw is fixable thanksto the Optional Flaw rules, but there’s not much here that’s worth the effort.Cat’s Luck is good but not essential, and most of the Catfolk’s other featoptions won’t help the Druid.

Dwarf: Constitution and Wisdom boosts, and aCharisma flaw. Charisma is the druid’s dump stat, so this lines up perfectly.Free Ability Boosts are always nice, but honestly you don’t need it so use ithowever you like. The Dwarf gets the most racial hit points, and DwarvenStoutness at level 9 adds more hit points on top of everything else (includingToughness). The Forge Dwarf and Strong-Blooded Dwarf add damage resistancewhich can add even more to the Dwarf’s excellent durability. This is a greatoption for any druid, but it’s absolutely fantastic for Wild Shape builds.

Elf: The ability scores can work for mostdruids, but there’s very little in the Elf’s Ancestry Feats which helps theDruid.

Gnome: While the Gnome’s ability scoresaren’t great on their own, the Gnome otherwise has a lot to offer, especiallyto druids focused on spellcasting. Use the Voluntary Flaw rules and you’llhave two Free Ability Boosts to put into Wisdom and one other Ability Score.Several of the Gnome Heritages have interesting benefits, and perhaps the mostinteresting is the ability to get an additional cantrip from any of the fourpublished spell lists. Keep in mind that these are “Innate Spells”, so they’reCharisma-based. I recommend sticking to options that don’t depend on yourspellcasting ability score because your Charisma will lag behind your Wisdom.This means no attack options, but options like Guidance and Prestidigitationare great. You can then get another cantrip from Fey World Magic and afamiliar from Animal Accomplice. You can also take Gnome Weapon Familiarity tomake the Gnome Hooked Hammer a Simple weapon for you, but I don’t recommend itbecause druids are just awful at using weapons.

Goblin: Using the Voluntary Flaw rules, youcan put both additional Ability Flaws into Charisma (or split them betweenStrength and Intelligence) and both free Ability Boosts into Wisdom, givingyou a final result of +2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Cha. Once you’ve dealt with thatmess, the Goblin’s Ancestry Feats are very good. Burn It! is an absolute mustsince the Primal Spell List includes numerous options for fire damage, andGoblin Scuttle can help you get out of melee combat if you’re not built formelee.

Halfling: The Halfling’s Ability Boosts workgreat, and if you use the Voluntary Flaw rules you can even manage a Strengthincrease to help support a Wild Shape build without too much trouble. StapleHalfling Ancestry Feat options like Halfling Luck are always welcome, and youcan use Cultural Adaptability to borrow great options like Fey World Magicfrom the Gnome or Burn It! from the Goblin.

Human: Two Flexible Ability Boosts, andAmbitious Nature is the only way to get one of the Druid’s 1st-level metamagicfeats at level 1, and at high levels options like Multitalented add a lot ofuseful things. You have several great Heritage options, too. For example:Half-Orcs can make use of orc Ferocity to give them an emergency survivaloption for Wild Shape builds.

Kobold: Put your Free Boost into Wisdom andyou’re ready to build a back-line sorcerer. Kobold Breath can be a helpfulreplacement for offensive cantrips, especially since it deals area damage, andthe Kobold’s other feats can get you some Innate Spellcasting to complementyour regular spellcasting. Unfortunately, the Innate Spellcasting is Arcaneand Charisma-based, so try to stick to utility options and buffs.

Orc: The Orc is an odd choice for theDruid, but it can work for the Wild Order Druid. The Druid doesn’t have abuilt-in way to make unarmed strikes viable outside of Wild Shape, but the Orcdoes. On top of that, Bloody Blows appears to work while in Wild Shape. And,of course, Orc Ferocity is great for anyone expecting to be on the front linesin melee.

Ratfolk: The boosts and flaws work fine,but the Ratfolk offers nothing else that appeals to the Druid.

Tengu: Two boosts and no flaws, but theTengu’s Ancestry Feats offer nothing that appeals to the Druid.

Backgrounds

A Wisdom increase and a Constitution increase are strongly recommended. Beyond that, looks for skills which suit your ability scores well. Athletics and Acrobatics can be helpful for Wild Shape builds, and any skill which capitalizes on your high Wisdom is a great choice.

If you’re having trouble deciding, here are some suggestions:

• Animal Whisperer
• Farmhand
• Field Medic
• Hermit
• Hunter
• Nomad
• Scout

Skills and Skill Feats

You get Skill Increases at 3rd and 5th level to raise skills to Expert, increases at 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th level to raise skills to Master, and increases at 15th, 17th, and 19th level to raise skills to Legendary. That means that you can maximize at most three skills, and the rest of your skills might not advance beyond Trained.

You get Skill Feats at even-numbered levels, giving you a total of 10 Skill Feats (and maybe another from your Background) by 20th level. Generally, you want to invest these feats in the same skills which you are choosing to maximize, though in some cases you may want to grab feats from skills which don’t require that you be more than Trained.

• Acrobatics (Dex): Situational, butflight is important so you should at least be Trained by the time magicalflight becomes a realiable option.
  • Assurance: If you spend a lot of timeflying and your DM likes to make that difficult, Assurance can providepeace of mind knowing that you can consistently achieve many maneuvers.See ourPractical Guide to Assurancefor more information.
  • Cat Fall: Being knocked prone whileflying is an easy way to counter flying creatures, and enemies can do itjust as easily to you as you can do it to them. Cat Fall will reduce theeffective distance you’ve fallen, allowing you to take less damage froma fall. However, the effects of Cat Fall scale based on your Proficiencylevel, so it may not be worth the skill feat unless you plan to increaseyour proficiency in Acrobatics.
• Arcana (Int): Useful, but leave it forsomeone with better Intelligence if you can.
  • Arcane Sense: Detect Magic is a greatcantrip that ever party should have ready. While this won’t scale withlevel like most cantrips (it requires that you improve your Proficiencywith Arcana), even the basic version of Detect Magic is a usefuloption.
• Athletics (Str): Important for Wild Shapebuilds, but you don’t need to go beyond Trained because Wild Shape willprovide a fixed skill bonus.
  • Assurance: Helpful if you plan tograpple or Shove while using Wild Shape, but not strictly necessary. SeemyPractical Guide to Assurancefor more information.
• Crafting (Int): Useful, but leave it forsomeone with better Intelligence if you can.
• Deception (Cha): Most druids will dumpCharisma.
• Diplomacy (Cha): Most druids will dumpCharisma, but Leaf Order druids have some feat options which depend onCharisma.
• Intimidation (Cha): As a spellcaster,you’re going to spend many turns using 2 Actions to cast a spell, and inmany cases your third Action will go unused. If you expect to be attacked,Raise a Shield. If you don’t expect to be attacked, you can use Demoralizeto turn that Action into a debuff.
• Lore (Int): Broad and vaguelydefined.
• Medicine (Wis): An excellent supplement tomagical healing options, and you have plenty of Wisdom to make it work.
  • Battle Medicine: An excellentsupplement to your magical healing capabailities, but it only works onceper target per day.
• Nature (Wis): Central to the Druid’stheme, and you get it for free at first level. Its only unique action isCommand an Animal, but the knowledge actions are very important for handlingthe natural world, and the skill feats are helpful for dealing with Primalspells.
  • Bonded Animal: Basically “DietAnimal Companion”. While the animal is helpful to you, it’s not any morepowerful than a normal animal. You could get a horse to serve as amount, or a bird to fetch items and deliver messages, but don’t look foranything to fight with.
  • Natural Medicine: This is a bad feat.It only applies to Treat Wounds, and if you’re good at Nature you haveeverything that you need to be good at Medicine, too. Instead of wastinga Skill Feat on this, spend that same Skill Feat to improve your optionswith Medicine.
  • Recognize Spell: The ability torecognize spells can dramatically improve your ability to respond tothem. Sure, in some cases the spell will be obvious once you’re familiarwith the game, but more subtle spells like buffs and illusions can bemuch less effective against you if you know what spell is being cast.
    • Quick Recognition: The Druid hasno built-in options for using their Reaction, so spending it to useRecognize Spell is not a singificant cost.
  • Train Animal: A nice way to add someextra tricks to your Animal Companion so that it can do more than fightthings.
• Occultism (Int): Useful, but leave itfor someone with better Intelligence if you can.
• Performance (Cha): Too situational, andmany druids will dump Charisma.
• Religion (Wis): An essential Knowledgeskill, and you have the Wisdom to back it up.
  • Divine Guidance: Stuck? Ask your GMfor a hint.
• Society (Int): Useful, but leave it forsomeone with better Intelligence if you can.
• Stealth (Dex): Always helpful, and withmoderate Dexterity and light armor you can be very good at this.
• Survival (Wis): Very situational, butyou’re really good at it due to your high Wisdom, and having someone in theparty who is Trained is typically sufficient.
  • Forager: Rations are cheap.
  • Survey Wildlife: Situational.
  • Terrain Expertise: The bonus isterrible and situational by design.
• Thievery (Dex): Always helpful, and withmoderate Dexterity and light armor you can be very good at this.

Feats

Druid Feats

1st Level

• Animal Companion: Only accessible bytaking the Animal Order. Animal Companions are powerful, but alsocomplicated. For help with your Animal Companion, see ourPractical Guide to Animal Companions.
• Leshy Familiar: Only accessible by takingthe Leaf Order. Familiars are powerful, but also complicated. For help withyour familiar, see ourPractical Guide to Familiars.
• Reach Spell: Great for spells with Touchrange like Heal and some buff spells.
• Storm Born: Only accessible by takingthe Storm Order. Situational, but if you like to rely on spells whichmanipulate weather you can put yourself at a significant advantage. Yourallies might get annoyed by constantly struggling to see in fog or drivingrain, but you’ll be just fine.
• Verdant Weapon: The intended benefit isthat you can hide or stow your weapon undetected and without concern forBulk. However, the action economy here is attrocious. You still need tospend an Action to Interact to take the seed out of your pockets or whateverbefore spending an Action to turn it into a weapon. Even if I’m misreadinghow actions work here, the benefits are too situational to justify a ClassFeat. It’s likely that you’ll turn your seed into a weapon and leave it thatway until you need to hide a weapon, so you might take this feat and onlyuse it once every few levels.
• Widen Spell: Essential for blasters. Evena minor boost could mean one or two additional targets with a single spell,which can dramatically improve how much you get out of your spell slots.
• Wild Shape: Only accessible by taking theWild Order. Wild Shape itself is great, but not until you get access toAnimal Shape when you get 2nd-level spells. For help with Wild Shape, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.

2nd Level

• Call of the Wild: Very situational. 10minutes is way too long. If you need easier access to Summon Animal, buy anAnimal Staff.
• Enhanced Familiar: Familiars are reallygood, and expanding their limited number of abilities can make them evenbetter. For advice on what to do with the extra abilities, see ourPractical Guide to Familiars.
• Order Explorer: You only get the chosenOrder’s 1st-level feat. To get the Order’s Order Spell you will need to takeOrder Magic. This is a good option if you want an Order’s feat, but youdon’t care about its Order Spell. For example: The Wild Domain’s 1st-levelfeat is Wild Shape, but its Order Spell is Wild Morph. Wild Shape is great,but Wild Morph is terrible, so Order Explorer is a great way to get accessto Wild Shape.
• Poison Resistance: Damage resistance isalways welcome, and if you’re going for a Wild Shape build you definitelywant this to improve your durability.

4th Level

• Elemental Summons: Situational. the 10minutes spent here will keep you busy while allies Refocus, and your GMmight let you Refocus at the same time, so the time cost isn’t a hugedeterrent.
• Form Control: For help with Wild Shape and related feats,see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Leshy Familiar Secrets: You gain anextra Familiar Ability from a list of three options not available anywhereelse. Unfortunately, most of them are bad.
  • Grasping Tendrils: Extra reach isgreat for delivering spells, using items, etc.
  • Purified Air: Too situational.
  • Verdant Burst: Neat, but unless youlet your familiar die it will never be helpful. If you do let yourfamiliar die for the healing, you’re out a familiar until you have afull week of downtime to replace it.
• Mature Animal Companion: For help with Animal Companionsand related feats, see ourPractical Guide to Animal Companions.
• Order Magic: Order Spells are rarelyworth spending a feat to get more than one. You might find a specific buildwhere this is a great idea, but it’s definitely not a go-to option for mostdruids.
• Thousand Faces: For help with Wild Shape and relatedfeats, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Woodland Stride: Situational, but youcan use it to move freely through your own spells like Entangle, potentiallygiving you an advantage in combat.

6th Level

• Current Spell: Raise a Shield costs thesame Action, provides a +2 circ*mstance bonus to AC, and literally anyonecan do it. The bonus to saves is both too small and too situational.
• Green Empathy: Plants live in a lot ofplaces, and talking to them can be very useful. Obviously places with lotsof plants will make this more useful, but even in more sparse environmentsyou may be able to get something useful out of this. The biggest problem isthat this still requires Diplomacy, and Charisma is generally a dump statfor the Druid.
• Insect Shape: For help with Wild Shape and related feats,see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Steady Spellcasting: The Flat Check istoo difficult to make this feat an easy choice. You have a success rate ofjust 30%. If you’re in a situation where you might lose a spell, cast acantrip so that losing it won’t cost you anything.
• Storm Retribution: You shouldn’t be inmelee and you shouldn’t want to suffer a critical hit. Given the choicebetween this and using Shield Block, I would use Shield Block everytime.

8th Level

• Deimatic Display: Too situational. The AOEis too small, and Demoralize isn’t impactful enough. You can expect toaffect two creatures at most, and Intimidation isn’t a go-to option for theDruid. It’s nice that this affects three creatures types rather than justanimals, but even without the creature type limitation it’s not great.
• Ferocious Shape: For help with Wild Shape and relatedfeats, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Fey Caller: The Primal spell list doesn’thave many Illusion spells, and the ones which Fey Caller adds cover the mostcommon uses for illusions: disguising creatures, creating fake objects, anddisguising or altering environments.
• Incredible Companion: For help with Animal Companions andrelated feats, see ourPractical Guide to Animal Companions.
• Soaring Shape: For help with Wild Shape and related feats,see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Wind Caller: See “Focus Spells”, below.This is notably the first opportunity for the Druid to expand their FocusPool.

10th Level

• Elemental Shape: For help with Wild Shape and relatedfeats, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Healing Transformation: A great optionfor Wild Shape builds, especially if you can use Wild Shape multiple timesin the same combat.
• Overwhelming Energy: Primal spells thatdeal damage rely heavily on elemental damage, and unfortunately thoseresistances are common. This will allow you to continue relying on favoritespells like Fireball with less concern for Damage Resistance.
• Plant Shape: For help with Wild Shape and related feats,see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Pristine Weapon: Situational by design.You can’t normally have both Cold Iron and Silver on the same weaon, whichis a nice benefit. But Low-Grade Cold Iron and Low-Grade Silver weaponscosts a little more than 40gp each, so you’re not saving any significantgold here. The persistent bleed damage is really nice, but stillsituational.
• Side by Side: For help with Animal Companions and relatedfeats, see ourPractical Guide to Animal Companions.

12th Level

• Dragon Shape: For help with Wild Shape and related feats,see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Green Tongue: You have spent your DruidOrder (or the Order Explorer feat), plus a feat to get Green Empathy, plus afeat to get Green Tongue, all so that you could avoid casting Speak WithPlants. Speak With Plants is a 4th-level spell which you’ve been able tocast for 5 levels. If you just want Speak With Animals on hand at all times,get a Verdant Staff.
• Primal Focus: Tragically, the only wayto expand your Focus Pool that we’ve seen by this point is Wind Caller, sounless you’re Storm Order this won’t be useful until at least 16thlevel.
• Primal Summons: See “Focus Spells”,below.
• Wandering Oasis: Situational, and you cancover the same effect with Endure Elements a 2nd-level spell slot for eachmember of your party is sufficient to address one temperature extreme (hotor cold, not both) and that’s enough for all but the strangest locales. Ifyou’re in places like a volcano with extreme heat, just break out the5th-level version of Endure Elements and leave as soon as possible.

14th Level

• Reactive Transformation: Being able touse Wild Shape as a Reaction is really nice, but there are notably noTrigger options to respond to something as simple as being stabbed.
• Sow Spell: This is a really funmechanic, but it’s essentially a gamble unless you can force an enemy intothe effect. When you think about it, it shares many similarities withsnares. This also doesn’t specify how targeting works, so RAW it looks likeyou can use spells like Wild Shape and I think the spell would still targetyou. I don’t think that’s the intent, but that seems to be how it’swritten.
• Specialized Companion: For help with Animal Companions andrelated feats, see ourPractical Guide to Animal Companions.
• Timeless Nature: Situational.
• Verdant Metamorphosis: Situational, andby this level you have plenty of options to handle healing while resting,including using Goodberry repeatedly to heal yourself and your allies, andyou can cast plenty of other spells which will remove the listed statusconditions. If you just want to turn into plants, use spells.

16th Level

• Effortless Concentration: An extra actionevery turn while you’re maintaining a powerful ongoing spell offers a lot ofoptions.
• Impaling Briars: See “Focus Spells”,below.
• Monstrosity Shape: For help with Wild Shape and relatedfeats, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.

18th Level

• Invoke Disaster: See “Focus Spells”,below.
• Perfect Form Control: For help with Wild Shape and relatedfeats, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.
• Primal Aegis: Simple and effective, andit even covers positive and negative damage, which is rare.
• Primal Wellspring: Great if you’reheavily dependent on Focus Spells, but unless you’re Storm Order or you tookarchetype feats the Druid can’t get their Focus Pool large enough to makeuse of this.

20th Level

• Heirophant’s Power: Another 10th-levelspell slot.
• Leyline Conduit: There are a huge numberof very good spells of 5th level or lower with no duration. Heal,Restoration, Restore Senses, and Fireball are all good examples. You cancast heightened versions of the spells, so keep a version of spells you planto use with Leyline Conduit prepared at the highest level which providesimproved effects (up to 5th level, of course). Even if you’re just usinglow-level versions of spells like Heal you can still do a lot to stretchyour spell slots if you use this every minute outside of combat.
• True Shapeshifter: For help with Wild Shape and relatedfeats, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.

General Feats

• Canny Acumen: Two of your saves and yourPerception never increase beyond Expert, so this becomes a great option whenyou reach level 17.
• Incredible Initiative: Spellcastersbenefit more than anyone except the Rogue from going first in combat.Casting a spell before your enemies and allies are entangled in melee cancompletely define the outcome of a fight.
• Toughness: Always a fine choice, butabsolutely crucial for Wild Shape builds.

Weapons

• Crossbow (Hand, Heavy, or Regular): Therange is excellent, and you won’t suffer if your Strength is below 10, butthe damage is at most 1d10 (avg. 4.5), compared to 1d4+4 (avg. 6.5) from aCantrip at 1st level, and your Cantrip damage will scale every other levelwhile the crossbow languishes.
• Dagger: Carry some for utility purposes,but don’t expect to use them in combat.
• Longspear: Your only weapon option withreach, but you can’t use a shield and the Druid doesn’t get any feats thatlet you take Reactions when enemies move. Even if you multiclass to getAttack of Opportunity, your proficiency with weapons is so poor that you’reunlikely to get much use out of a longspear.

Armor

• Leather: Probably your startingarmor.
• Studded Leather: You’ll need 16 Dexterityto fill out the Dexterity Cap, but it’s still your best armor option due tothe low Check Penalty and Bulk compared to Hide armor.
• Hide: If you don’t plan to go beyond 14Dexterity this is your best armor option.
• Shield: You need one hand to cast spells,but your other hand can hold a shield, and since many spells are 2-ActionActivities, you can often use your third Action to Raise a Shield if youdon’t need to move that turn.

Druid Focus Spells

1st-Level Spells

• Goodberry: Paizo was very cautious toavoid abuse cases which 1st edition allowed. You can no longer stockpileGoodberries for an easy cache of healing between combats. At 1st level,1d6+4 healing can save your life, and as Goodberry’s level scales you caneat additional berries to gain additional healing so that it remains viablein combat. As long as you have enough time to Refocus you have infinitehealing. You can also get similar results from using the Medicine skill’sTreat Wounds Activity, but to match the effects of Goodberry you’ll need toinvest several skill feats and you will still need to eat regular food. Ifyou have the first printing of the Core Rulebook, Goodberry recieved asignificant rewrite so be sure to check the new text of the spell.
• Heal Animal: If you have an animalcompanion, you need a way to keep it healed without making it an extra mouthto consume your party’s limited resources, and there are few betterrechargeable resources than Focus Spells. The single-action version of thespell can be used the same turn as casting a 2-Action spell (which is mostspells), but generally you want to use the 2-Action version because it’s somuch more effective.
• Tempest Surge: Better than a cantrip, andthe Clumsy effect is a decent debuff. As you gain levels, you can take theStorm Retribution to use this as a Reaction, but that requires that yousuffer critical hit in melee. You shouldn’t be in melee, and you shouldn’twant to suffer a critical hit.
• Wild Morph: At 1st level, this turnsyour hands into the equivalent of short swords. As you gain levels, you canexpand the effects by taking Wild Shape feats. However, this spell has someproblems due to the design of other parts of the class. First, the Druiddoes not belong in melee combat; your AC is too poor and you don’t haveenough hit points. Second, the feats which improve Wild Morph are the worstWild Shape form feats. Third, if you’re going to use a Focus Spell to begood in melee, Wild Shape is more effective. I think the intent of thisspell is that it allows the Druid to focus on spellcasting, but to have somemelee options without giving up spellcasting like you do with Wild Shape.While it technically meets that goal, it doesn’t do it well enough that WildMorph is appealing.
• Wild Shape: Powerful, but extremelycomplex. For help with Wild Shape, see ourPractical Guide to Wild Shape.

4th-Level Spells

• Stormwind Flight: The fact that this is aFocus Spell means that you can cast it repeatedly, and you only need toRefocus to regain the ability to cast it. However, the 1-minute durationmeans that you are likely to only use it in combat or to quickly bypassspecific obstacles, and the 2-Action casting time an the fact that you mustspend an Action every turn to Sustain the spell means that you will onlywant to use this in combat if it’s absolutely necessary.

6th-Level Spells

• Primal Summons: This adds a lot ofversatility to your summoning options. The ability to add a fly speed or aswim speed makes land-bound options (which are often the strongest) muchmore powerful and allows them to be used nearly anywhere. However, the Wateroption notably omits the ability to breath water, so your summons may stillneed to hold their breath if you’re fighting underwater.

8th-Level Spells

• Impaling Briars: Complicated buteffective. The area of effect is vast, allowing you to easily affect largebattlefields. Against multiple foes you will want to use the Impede and Walloptions, but against single targets you can rely on the Entangle option to(hopefully) prevent the target from moving. After you sustain the spell(which takes an Action), you can spend a second Action to attempt to bothharm a target and impede its movement. 10d6 damage for an Action is betterthan you’ll get from a Cantrip, so this is a great way to get consistentdamage over the course of several rounds. However, spending a total of 2Actions to continue this spell every turn means that you don’t have the 2Actions required to cast most spells. You can take Effortless Concentrationto get back one of the Actions, likely allowing you to impale something andcast another spell on the same turn.

9th-Level Spells

• Storm Lord: Very similar to ImpalingBriars in some ways, but obviously a very different theme. Impaling Briarshas more useful effects when you sustain the spell, but Impaling Briarsdoesn’t work in the air, and it can only attack enemies up to 20 ft. off theground. The biggest problems with Storm Lord are that the Calm and Rainoptions are mostly useless, and the Fog option replicates a 2nd-level spellthat you’ve been abusing for 14 levels. The big draw is the lightning boltsevery round, and everything else is secondary. Hopefully you took EffortlessConcentration to save yourself the Action to Sustain the spell.

Magic Items

Other Magic Items

• Druid’s Vestments: 1,000gp is a lot forwhat you get. +2 to Nature checks isn’t enough on its own, and one emergencyFocus point per day (which is restricted to Order spells) still isn’tenough.
• Gorget of the Primal Roar: This item isclearly designed for spellcasters using Polymorph spells, such as a druidusing Wild Shape. However, the rules of the Polymorph trait state that “Yourgear is absorbed into you; the constant abilities of your gear stillfunction, but you can’t activate any items.” So even if you had anally strap this to you after you use Wild Shape, it’s totally useless. YourGM may allow you to use this as it’s clearly intended, in which case I rateit green.