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Sindri
2010-08-01, 08:29 PM
I'm looking for ways to do more with wildshaping or a druid's animal companion. Anything that gives more forms, enhances the forms, or gives more abilities while in other forms is good, as is anything that gives more possibilities for animal companion, more companions, or powers them up. Alternate class features, PrCs, feats, etc. will all be appreciated; the name of the book they came from is also good.

Vangor
2010-08-01, 09:25 PM
Natural Bond from Complete Adv gives +3 to druid levels for the purposes of animal companion bonuses if you take a higher animal companion, and Companion Spellbond from PHB2 increases spell sharing to 30 feet. Natural Spell is an obvious choice from PHB to cast spells while wildshaped with Great and Small from Complete Cha to let you increase or decrease a size category (enormous charging rhino ho!).

You can take Extra Wild Shape to supplement, but those are the only ones I know of which really will see use for every druid.

Eldariel
2010-08-02, 06:27 AM
Druid Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1354.0) covers both. Mostly, it comes in:

- Magic
- Feats
- Equipment

Wildshape Feats:

Natural Spell: Cast spells in Wildshape forms. Doesn't directly expand Wildshape, but worth mentioning anyways.
Dragon Wild Shape [Drac]: You get all supernatural and extraordinary abilities of the dragon you wild shape into. Note that dragons normally speak and can cast spells, so you probably don't need natural spell, but a consensus is needed here. Has limitation of Medium & Small forms tho, but for versatility, fly-speed and such it's insane.
Aberration Wild Shape [LoM]: Tentacle Wildshape, really. You get lots of forms with lots of attacks. Also lots of great Sus and such, though you need another feat to be able to pick them up (all of Beholder's Eye Rays are one Su-ability, btw).
Exalted Wild Shape : Free, if minor, bonuses while Wild Shaping, as the Celestial template can be applied to any animal form you can usually take. It also makes blink dog and Unicorn (as well as some other, mostly useless) forms available, all Ex and Su abilities included.
Frozen Wild Shape [Frost]: This feat should just be renamed Twelve-Headed Cryohydra Wild Shape.
Assume Supernatural Ability [Savage Species]: Totally broken feat. Gets you all manners of silliness. Like early Shapechange, really. Works for any shape.
Metamorphic Transfer [XPH]: Pretty much the same as Assume, except requires Manifester Level 5 to pick up and thus harder to get.


Then there's of course standard combat feats, but those don't really expand anything but your combat options. Worth noting that having Monk Unarmed Strike (Monk's Belt is nice) means you can do UA Strikes with all naturals as secondary; that's pretty useful. Also, that would expand things like combat feats (Imp. Grapple, Imp. Trip and so on) to more forms.

Magic

Enhanced Wild Shape [SC]: You can improve your Wild Shape form with some Str, Dex or whatever. Alternatively, you [b]can gain all the Ex special abilities of the thing you're turning into. Sufficient to say, that's nice. Stacks with itself for different uses, etc.
Air Walk: Well, not all forms fly. Now they walk in the air. Works on AC too.
Girallon's Blessing [SC]: Extra arms. For forms without arms, arms can be extremely convenient for manipulating objects and so.
Generic Numeric Buffs: Greater Magic Fang, Barkskin, Greater Luminous Armor, etc. Not interesting but useful.


Items

Vestment of the Beast [CChamp]: Increases your Wild Shape HD limitation by 1! Totally awesome.



For AC:

Exalted Companion [BoED]: Most notably, makes it intelligent. Very, very useful.
Natural Bond [CAdv]: +3 to Druid-level. Arguably you can use it to mitigate the adjustment for a more-powerful-than-normal companion. Very useful if so.
Companion Spellbond [PHBII]: Makes shared spells work at the distance of 30' instead of 5'. Very useful if sharing is your primary means of buffing your AC and you mostly accompany it everywhere.
Monstrous Animal Companion [DR329]: Can get you a Magical Beast AC.


Spells:

Psychic Reformation [XPH]: Allows repicking AC feats!
Much the same as above with regards to buffs & al.


Items:

Uhh, everything ever. Basically, stuff you'd give to a dumb Fighter.

nekomata2
2010-08-02, 07:04 AM
For just wildshaping, there's always the Master of Many Forms PrC. It's better to go into that from a Wildshape ranger than a druid though, since it doesn't progress casting or the animal companion.

Runeclaw
2010-08-02, 11:48 AM
One level dip into Beastmaster gives you +3 effective Druid Levels on your Animal Companion.

Kaww
2010-08-02, 12:04 PM
One level dip into Beastmaster gives you +3 effective Druid Levels on your Animal Companion.

I wouldn't take it. You lose a spellcaster lvl for that. Druid needs spells more than animal companion. And spellbond which Vangor mentioned. It is cool casting Bite of the werebear on self and on a say fleshraker companion, venomfire too... It's better to be inventive with spells...

Sarquion
2010-08-02, 12:41 PM
One level dip into Beastmaster gives you +3 effective Druid Levels on your Animal Companion.

Where would one find this class (or PrC)?

Eldariel
2010-08-02, 01:22 PM
Where would one find this class (or PrC)?

Complete Adventurer. It's pretty mediocre for a Druid tho. Mostly useful for various Supermount builds to crank out extra HDs for your Killer Dragon. It's unfortunately also a one-level class since while it gains you additional Companions down the line, they are based on BEASTMASTER LEVEL ALONE which means they'll be hideously useless by the time you get them for anything but provoking AoOs and maybe scouting if you don't have Wild Empathied/Handle Animal'd friends for that already for whatever reason.

Sarquion
2010-08-02, 03:21 PM
Ok thanks mate

Greenish
2010-08-02, 03:45 PM
Beast Shape from ECS allows you to wildshape into a selected magical beast once a day without using up normal wildshape uses. Oh, and you gain all Ex and Su of the new form.

In the same vein, the Planar Shepherd (Faiths of Eberron) PrC allows you to wildshape into magical beasts and outsiders of the plane you're shepherding. It's rather infamous for being ridiculously borked though.

PlzBreakMyCmpAn
2010-08-02, 09:44 PM
Monstrous Animal Companion [DR329]: Can get you a Magical Beast AC.[/LIST]no. 326 page 32