u/Low-Philosopher-2354

Pretty much what it says on the tin! For Context, I'm playing an Untamed Druid, we're currently Level 8, (Our team comp is Druid, Bard, Fighter, Gunslinger: Sniper and Alchemist: Chiurgeon) and my stats are +2 STR +2 DEX +4 CON +1 INT +5 WIS and +0 CHA (courtesy of Gradual Ability Boost). We ARE playing Free Archetype (Currently Have Medic, Acrobat and Shadowdancer) and Ancestry Paragon (Kobold) as well, but frankly my Ancestry doesn't lend itself to combos with Untamed and my Free Archetype slots are taken, I prefer to have them for thematic things. That said, I'll start with some cool stuff I already have planned!

Retrieval Belt shenanigans: Afaik nothing prevents Rainbow Vinegar or Iron Wine from working with Untamed Form, nor am I prevented from using Mistform Elixir or other such non-Polymorph/Morph buffs to enhance my forms. And though it comes online MUCH, MUCH later Bottled Night also helps, albeit mostly in base Druid shape as it enables Shadow Jump and Shadow Master without (afaik) interacting with Magic.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3102 - Retrieval Belt

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3456 - Rainbow Vinegar

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3455 - Iron Wine

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3310 - Mistform Elixir

Vital Beacon: I'm the team's tertiary healer (or I will be once our Bard gets to play, she joined recently) BUT our other Healer is a Chiurgeon who prefers to hit stuff and use his Versatile Vials for damage/buffs. Nothing wrong with that, but I feel as if Vital Beacon helps with spot healing and sustaining over the course of a Moderate encounter if I'm in Untamed Form, and keeps me from panicking over a potential lack of healing for the party. TL;DR It's Healing that I can use in Untamed Form, and solid Action Economy for spot healing.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1743

Life Connection: A Contingency Spell, and another Spell that can be cast and lasts an entire day, with the twist being....it provides a Reaction that can be used in Untamed Form! In particular, I can take one instance of damage for someone. Not super flashy, but I know that our Bard has very little CON and she's a Dirge of Doom user so she needs to be relatively close to the frontline. This just ensures the damage goes where it's supposed to....(my face).

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=939

SpellGuard Shield/Warding Statuette: To be frank, Glass Shield is kind of awful and Druids get Shield Block by default, as well as this being a Campaign with many enemy Spellcasters. As for the Warding Statuette, aside from providing Shield for my Druid I BELIEVE that said Shield would also continue to work if I used it and then Untamed Form, giving me access to a Reaction that might be more helpful than Dodge Away or Cringe if I wanna sit back for a turn or need to.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2826 - SpellGuard Shield

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2242 - Warding Statuette

Floating Shield: This is a Buckler, so while I want one hand free for Battle Medicine and one will be taken by SpellGuard Shield I can use this not only to block, but for its secondary effect....Once per day I can have Floating Shield, well float around my character and provide a +1 AC bonus. No marks for guessing what I'll use this with (it's Untamed Form). Awesome Shield.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2819

(Brace yourself) Uh....Winglets/Tailwind/Boots of Bounding/Maneuvering Spell/Size-Changing Rune/Moment of Renewal: Ahem, gesundheit. Let me break this down; Winglets extend your Leap distance by 5 feet, cumulative with Boots of Bounding (afaik) and Tailwind enables my base Leap to be 15 feet making a total of 25. This interacts nicely with Maneuvering Spell, as that Feat allows me to Leap as a Free Action when I'm casting a 2 Action Spell. Not only is this GREAT for baiting out Reactive Strikes but I can also Leap before or AFTER the Spell is cast, meaning that I can close the distance between myself and an enemy after Casting Untamed Form, which effectively extends our Reach to absurd quantities. ESPECIALLY good given that I'm not taking Reactive Strike and wanna get at least 1 hit off every Round before doing other stuff.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=5621 - Winglets

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1711 - Tailwind

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3059 - Boots of Bounding

https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2741 - Maneuvering Spell

(Okay, now for the Size-Changing): Size-Changing Rune allows you to, for one Action cast a 2nd Rank version of Enlarge or some version of Shrink (idk which), increasing your Reach to 10 Feet. Combine this with Maneuvering Spell and I'm HOPING I can get 2 or 3 people (including my own Character) with Moment of Renewal to get some value on it even without Reach Spell (my build is kinda tight). Absurdly stupid thing to combo, very funny. Hope my character doesn't die before I can use this xD

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2795 - Size Changing

https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2741 - Maneuvering Spell

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1607 - Moment of Renewal

Some honorable mentions (and a thank you to my Bard!): Voicebox is basically Shapespeak Mask but better. Healer's Gloves are amazing and cheap, only 700 for the Greater version which gives a +2 Bonus to Medicine checks of ALL kinds. Handwraps are necessary, but if I can get some Amphisbaena and convince my GM to let me put fundamental and Property Runes on them then....well they seem good! Druid's Crown and Living Mantle make a cost-efficient set of +2 buffs, variable depending on the situation. Shadow Signet is unnecessary but cool, and I might want it. Uncanny Dodge from Shadowdancer is STUPENDOUS when combined with Dodge Away, or at least good at enabling it, and frankly Dodge Away combos well with Floating Shield well.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2169 - Voicebox

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2353 - Shapespeak Mask

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3087 - Healer's Gloves

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3223 - Amphisbaena

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2335 - Druid's Crown

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3092 - Living Mantle

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3108 - Shadow Signet

https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=77 - Shadowdancer

https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=236 - Acrobat

Since my Character has Crafting but not much in terms of investment, Mending Lattice is a must and I'll be happy to get it when we're a higher Level. I'm also eyeing Sash of Prowess for later levels, not because I'm gonna invest in Athletics much but because it's got a bonus to Acrobatics as well (also the other good Acrobatics items are boots or cloaks). Saurian Spike will certainly be nice, but again MUCH later Level. Eye Slash is already awesome with Greater Darkvision, and takes up no slots save Investment. Heavy Armor goes without saying, but I'll still shout it out (unfortunately it'll be a bit before I have some but WHATEVER). And who could forget Sleeves of Storage, or Spacious Pouch?! I do have plans to use Staves, after all.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2983 - Mending Lattice

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3439 - Sash of Prowess

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2240 - Saurian Spike

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2206 - Eye Slash

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3110 - Sleeves of Storage

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3032 - Spacious Pouch

Oh, honorable mentions for Spells: Mountain Resilience, Draw the Lightning, Gentle Breeze, Wooden Double, Wall of Wind (lots of guns in this campaign), Sliding Blocks, Coral Eruption, Entangling Flora, Rust Cloud, and all the Rank 1 Reaction Spells! Goodness they're exceptional. I particularly wanna pair Interposing Earth with 3 Action Spells.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1610 - Mountain Resilience

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=898 - Draw The Lightning

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1316 - Gentle Breeze

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1416 - Wooden Double

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1753 - Wall of Wind

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1341 - Sliding Blocks

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=887 - Coral Eruption

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1515 - Entangling Flora

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1377 - Rust Cloud

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1337 - Interposing Earth

And if YOU have any suggestions as to how I can make my character better at Frontlining, Battlefield Control or simply having fun then throw 'em down because while I'm not out of ideas, I do lack experience in High-Level play!

Hiya, I'll get straight to it on this one; The character mentioned in the title is my second real character, or at least the second character that actually got long term usage and as such, I made a few mistakes that are coming back to bite me (hehe) now. Keep in mind this is a homebrew setting. We're also mid level, using Ancestry Paragon, Free Archetype and Gradual Ability Boost.

• When I first made my character, I wanted to make them as dragon-like as possible, leaning into the fact that this world only has 2 proper species, and one of them is a bit less human (scales, reptilian eyes) and so chose Kobold as my starting Ancestry with a few adjustments (needed to be Medium, so we homebrewed a Heritage). This was a bit inconvenient and odd with certain feats, but good enough early on.
• As I stated, this was to make the character more "Dragon-Like" as I believed Kobold/Lizardfolk were my only options. Recently however, I've become aware of the "Dragonblood" and just seeing all the feats it has really took the wind out of my sails as it fulfills my character fantasy so much better it beggars belief. I'll give a small list.
• For one, you can access flight much earlier (a whole 8 levels!) which is a HUGE part of my character and a true shame to lose out on, but it gets much worse than that. See, the whole point of this was to lean into those attributes, and one of the most prominent even in a homebrew setting is the Classic "Dragon's Breath". Notably for Kobolds, if you want access to a 30 foot cone or a 60 foot line you have to make some concessions, namely only using that Breath once an hour. Dragonblood is different, keeping the cooldown to 1-4 rounds while sacrificing a bit of damage (d6s instead of d8s, but still better than the native d4). Given how condensed our encounters tend to be, that effectively means I'd be using it maybe once or twice a day as a Kobold, but every fight as a Dragonblood. But we're only scratching the surface here.
• My GM is quite generous, and my character is an Untamed Druid who has plans to grab Dragon Form at Level 12. The reason this matters is that not only would I likely be able to use those feats, but also one that is, and I must stress this *extremely* cool. It allows you to use your wings as a Shield, increasing your AC and increasing your Saves against Spells (very relevant for this campaign). I would LOVE to have this.
• Now you might be thinking "Well surely that's it, and while it's not exactly ideal to be a Kobold you do have Darkvision and aren't missing out on too much" oh but that's where you're wrong, dear reader for there are only TWO actual Species in this homebrew world, and I could pick an excellent Ancestry for my Character Fantasy if I weren't stuck on Kobold. Namely, I could go Dwarf both for - CHA (my character is kind of an ass) AND the side benefit of gaining an extra relevant Ability Point. Add on to that Mountain's Stoutness (I already have Toughness and getting this would be VERY nice for my build) and you can see why I might want the change. Even better, I don't lose Dragon Lore and actually GAIN Lores (I like having extra Skills) due to Clan Lore and Dwarf Lore being separate things. But wait, there's more!
• At high Levels, and I mean VERY high levels Dragonblood has more benefits. Whereas a Kobold would be stuck getting their Flight at Level 17, or picking up the VERY limited Benefactor's Majesty at that Level, Dragonblood can create difficult terrain with their breath, which REALLY emphasizes the sheer destruction a Dragon can cause ALONG with giving you persistent damage on it which is truly excellent for flavor.
• And hey, while Form of The Dragon might be redundant there are so many cool Ancestry Feats from Dragonblood that I can hardly complain! And that's not even taking into consideration what Dwarf might have....(I didn't check)
• As an aside, that Ascendant Blood Feat would be very thematically appropriate for our campaign so that just makes things more agonizing, though it's hardly a surprise.
• Ultimately, the part I want advice on is this: If you've ever picked an Ancestry that was so absolutely crap at fulfilling your character fantasy, but felt a bit like you'd be taking advantage of your GM by asking for a change what did you do to resolve it? For me, this absolutely blows because it goes so far beyond just mechanical power. Dragonblood is highly unique, and seems tailor made for exactly the thing I wanted to do whereas Kobold....well it has strengths for sure, but I barely make use of them. Most of the Feats are irrelevant to me, and I honestly despise quite a few of them. How can I get over this, or spin it so that I don't feel bad for asking my GM to let me make that change?
• Also I just looked at the Feats again and remembered that "Majestic Presence" is a thing which is just so sad considering how much I agonized over trying to somehow get a good way to inflict Fear in Dragon Form while not using CHA. So yeah, not super pleased with my own choice of ancestry. I might have to leave the campaign, this is just so freaking awful xD
• ANYWAY, that's it for now and yeah, I'd appreciate some advice. BUT I also appreciate any of you who read even a small portion of this, as I barely know how to use bullet points properly or format this to make it a palatable read. tysm <3