Unseen Naturalist Build

[No brains]

I got an idea for a character who would go into dungeons not to plunder, but just to record the ecology of the creatures inside. What abilities would be good for this?

I figure they need to stay undetected, so Pass Without Trace would help. Maybe Gloom Stalker levels? Any ways to hide from tremorsense or foil false appearance?

[Corran]

There are several ways you could go about this.
1) Stealth: pass without a trace, invisibility, wildshape, meld into stone, stone shape, teleports (good if you can also grab true seeing)
2) Safety: Arcane eye, scrying, clairvoyance
3) Blend in: Disguise self, alter self, tongues, wildshape
4) Negotiate: Charm person, suggestion, etc

[Man_Over_Game]

Grasslands Land Druid covers most of what you'll need, with Pass Without Trace and Invisibility. You might want to grab Nondetection from somewhere, while you're at it (Deep Gnome + Feat), and you'd have a class fit the narrative...narratively!

[LudicSavant]

You might enjoy the Goblin Hazard Druid. Making it a Moon Druid could also help; they can quite literally be a fly on the wall, or glide through the ground, or various other things.

[Teaguethebean]

I don't reccomend playing this unless the entire party is on board to not kill monsters and take their loot in a game of D&D. Because when a normal party finishes walking through the dungeon your character will have little ecology to right about unless you are a necromancer.

[Honest Tiefling]

I don't reccomend playing this unless the entire party is on board to not kill monsters and take their loot in a game of D&D. Because when a normal party finishes walking through the dungeon your character will have little ecology to right about unless you are a necromancer.

We don't know what the rest of the party is doing, could be that everyone is on board, I could easily see players agreeing to this concept. And if they are, it would help to know what they are. If you have, for instance, another druid or wizard, we might need to start suggesting other options.

[xroads]

I've had a similiar idea as well. My plan was to create a druid that had clositered scholar (or sage) background. I like the idea of a non-traditional druid. A naturalist just seemed like a perfect fit.

Druids in particular have wild shape, which I can see being a great asset for naturalists. So I recommend the druidic path.

Rangers also work. And in a pinch shadow monks and trickery domain clerics might give you what you want, since all of these classes have access to Pass Without Trace.