Welcome to Guidance, Private Sanctuary’s source for tips and techniques for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, written by Everyman Gamer Alexander Augunas. Today, we’re going to be looking at a nature fang druid build.

Sometimes, you start out building one thing and create something entirely different by mistake. Take this build, for example. I had originally set out to make a Naruto build, but as I was digging around and searching for components for that Naruto (which’ll be forthcoming), I stumbled across the combos that I use here. I think its neat, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it too.

Build Concept

The basic idea is to add your Wisdom to as much as possible.

• Wolf Domain: The Wolf Domain, which is one of those nifty animal domains from Ultimate Magic, has this nifty ability where you can essentially replace your normal +2 flanking bonus with your Wisdom modifier. This is where the concept of the build began.
• Horizon Walker: This prestige class has one of the coolest ways to easily flank an opponent, and better still it’s a Wisdom-based class. So yes, we’ll be diving into the Dimensional Agility feat chain for this build.
• Maneuver Master Monk: The Wolf Domain has some moderate synergy with tripping because it gives you Improved Trip as a bonus feat. More importantly, it allows you to add your Wisdom to your AC as a dodge bonus.

So, what does this give us?

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: druid (nature fang) 6, horizon walker 1
• Feats: Improved Trip (Bonus), Weapon Focus: scythe (1st), Combat Expertise (3rd), Power Attack (Bonus), Furious Focus (5th), Great Cleave (Bonus), Endurance (7th)
• Abilities: favored terrain (Astral Plane), nature bond (wolf domain), slayer talent (ranger combat style 2), sneak attack +1d6, studied target +2, trackless step

The nature fang archetype (from the Advanced Class Guide) is the obvious choice for this build. Aside from fitting with the theme by name (nature FANG), it is also the most martially inclinded druid archetype out there, essentially gaining a single-target version of the slayer’s studied target as well as a single die of sneak attack damage. All this, without losing any spellcasting prowess. So this’ll give us our first milestone, the Wolf Domain (although we need to be 8th level to get the awesome flanking power), we also need to start working towards our three levels of horizon walker, so we’ll take Endurance early to qualify at 7th level.

In terms of the build, the nature fang can gain a surprising number of bonus feats because of its ability to pick up the range combat style slayer talent. I’ve picked two-handed weapon and went with the scythe, myself. The scythe’s x4 critical hit modifier can literally end games, especially at lower level, dealing an average of 20 points of weapon damage on a critical hit, to a maximum of 36. That’s pretty nice! Add in goodies like Power Attack and a strong Strength modifier and a lucky critical hit can fell even the strongest opponents. Invest in a keen scythe if you can. Being able to pick up Great Cleve as a 6th level combat style feat and ignoring Cleave is also a VERY helpful tactic from the slayer talents.

If you’re wondering why I took Combat Expertise, its so the build can qualify for Greater Trip later. Plus there wasn’t much else at 3rd level worth taking, what with me considering taking Power Attack at 1st level. But let’s stop talking about the future and move on to that section of the build instead!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: druid (nature fang) 10, horizon walker 3, monk (maneuver master) 1
• Feats: Improved Trip (Bonus), Weapon Focus: scythe (1st), Combat Expertise (3rd), Power Attack (Bonus), Furious Focus (5th), Great Cleave (Bonus), Endurance (7th), Dimensional Agility (9th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus) Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Stunning Fist (Bonus), Dimensional Assault (11th), Greater Trip (Bonus)Dimensional Assault (13th)
• Abilities: ac bonus, favored terrain (Astral Plane, Urban), flurry of maneuvers, nature bond (wolf domain), slayer talent (ranger combat style 2, combat trick, one talent of your choice), sneak attack +1d6, studied target +3, stunning fist, terrain dominance (Astral Plane), terrain mastery (Astral Plane), trackless step, unarmed strike

Early on in the mid-levels, we finished off the horizon walker portion of the build and pick up the all-important dimension door spell-like ability, which we can use a number of times per day equal to 3 + our Wisdom modifier. Then, one level before returning to the druid class, we dip a single level in maneuver master monk for two reasons: ac bonus and flurry of maneuvers. Flurry of maneuvers will allow our druid to make one free trip attempt per full attack while ac bonus adds our Wisdom modifier as a dodge bonus to our AC. At the very next level, 11th level, we go back to druid. At 12th level we get our domain’s ability to become EXTREMELY flexible with our flanking, which’ll work nicely. By the end of the mid-levels, we’ve also picked up the ability to make a full attack and teleport around via Dimensional Assault at the same time. Nifty!

For slayer talents, I’ve picked combat trick (to get you Greater Trip) and I’ve left you room to pick up one talent of your choice. Now, its time to check out the end result.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: druid (nature fang) 16, horizon walker 3, monk (maneuver master) 1
• Feats: Improved Trip (Bonus), Weapon Focus: scythe (1st), Combat Expertise (3rd), Power Attack (Bonus), Furious Focus (5th), Great Cleave (Bonus), Endurance (7th), Dimensional Agility (9th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus) Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Stunning Fist (Bonus), Dimensional Assault (11th), Dimensional Assault (13th), Dimensional Savant (15th), Vicious Stomp (17th), [YOUR CHOICE] (19th)
• Abilities: a thousand faces, ac bonus, favored terrain (Astral Plane, Urban), flurry of maneuvers, nature bond (wolf domain), slayer talent (ranger combat style 2, combat trick, evasion, opportunist, two talents of your choice), sneak attack +1d6, studied target +4, stunning fist, terrain dominance (Astral Plane), terrain mastery (Astral Plane), timeless body, trackless step, unarmed strike

So, I’m leaving a lot up to you in this build because you pretty much pick anything that’s super useful early on.

This build snaps up Dimensional Savant quick, which’ll effectively allow you to flank with yourself (and thereby activate your sweet, sweet Wolf Domain ability alone). Then it grabs Vicious Stomp, because why not? You meet the prerequisites and have Combat Reflexes. Finally … you get a freebee. What would you like for your 19th level feat? Likewise, I nab the opportunist advanced talent, but then leave you the last two talents to do what you will with. There really aren’t many feats or talents that this build really needs by the end game; the combo works perfectly as-is.

I didn’t realize it until I sat down and made this build, but the nature fang has this neat clause in its slayer talents that no other “I get your tricks” class has: the nature fang uses her druid level as her slayer level to determine what talents she can select, which effectively means that she can pick advanced talents at 12th level. So yes, I will take evasion, even if my Reflex save isn’t fantastic. On the off-chance that I succeed, I’d very much like for nothing bad to happen to me.

You also grab a thousand faces and timeless body in this stretch of the game, and your bonuses for studied target also go up, but ultimately your winning combo is complete the moment you get Dimensional Savant. You can teleport around, add your Wisdom to your attack rolls and AC, deal pretty great damage with your scythe, and all while having access to 8 of the 9 levels of spellcasting.

So yeah, that’s the build for this week. What would you spend that open feat and those two slayer talents on? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you back next Monday for another exciting article. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex’s favorite color is blue, his favorite Pathfinder Race/Class combination is kitsune nature fang. If only there was a Fox Domain ….

Edit: The build’s been updated as of 2/17 to reflect that the Nature Fang can pick up advanced slayer talents at 12th level, not 10th level. Thanks for the catch, Aaron!