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zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 07:32 PM
Hi guys,

I need a little help with character direction.

Specifically, what feats from 1-20 REALLY benefit a druid.

What items (1-20 would be great but a specific level can be addressed) would really benefit.


What prestige classes really pump up a druid (Please, no cheddar).

What spells at what levels really make the druid come into it's own?

What items at level 2 with wealth (900gp) would aid me at this stage?

Any general information would REALLY be appreciated as well

Eldariel
2010-08-05, 07:35 PM
What edition? 3.5? PF?

What sources? All? Core? Core + Completes?

What role? Tank? Controller? Buff Caster? Skillmonkey? Multiples/All?


PrC I can answer: Planar Shepherd is the only PrC that's better than straight Druid and that's cheating of the highest order. So, none. Moonspeaker [Races of Eberron] is decent but that's Shifter-only and straight Druid is probably still slightly better.

WarKitty
2010-08-05, 07:36 PM
Hi guys,

I need a little help with character direction.

Specifically, what feats from 1-20 REALLY benefit a druid.

What items (1-20 would be great but a specific level can be addressed) would really benefit.


What prestige classes really pump up a druid (Please, no cheddar).

What spells at what levels really make the druid come into it's own?

What items at level 2 with wealth (900gp) would aid me at this stage?

Any general information would REALLY be appreciated as well


Natural spell. Natural spell. Natural spell.

Forget the prestige classes, you're already powerful.

And wild shape. Period.

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19868802/Druid_Handbook_revived

Urpriest
2010-08-05, 07:37 PM
Druids actually don't get all that much out of prestige classes, besides the unambiguously cheesy Planar Shepherd.

As for feat: Natural Spell. Take it as soon as you can. Treasure it as you would your firstborn son. It's the only feat you'll ever need.

Edit: Utterly ninjaed on both counts. Also, swindlespitter animal companion or war-trained riding dog, upgraded to fleshraker when you are high enough level.

aivanther
2010-08-05, 07:38 PM
Natural Spell, Greenbound Summoning, Rashemi Summoning, Multi-Attack, Improved Natural Attack (claws or bite seem to be the most common).

oxinabox
2010-08-05, 07:50 PM
as about Natural Spell it's possible the best thing ever.

Once ypou can spend your whole day in wildshape,
Your only important stat is now wisdow, followed by Con for HP.


Just thinking Items, Wilding Clasp (iirc) to let you shape shift, with items.
Wilding clasp say a Belt of giant's strength.
so you are stronger in your animal form.
idk, i've ony played a core only druid, and they have no wilding clasps. so i'm not so certain on how useful they are.

an item to let you cast some other comminication spell while in animal form, so that you can speak to your party with out having to shape shift, would be pretty handy.

A set of addiumantium barding four yourself and your Animal companion, can't go astray. though if you are large or greater size then it may VERY expensive


as fopr spells:
Druids really come into there own not with combat spells, but with utility spells. your combat base is like 1d6 of damage per every two caster levals. (vs a wizards 1d6 per leval).
But you get sweet utility spells like merge with stone.



Wild shapes, you should look into what you want from your wild shape.
I used dinosaurs for there multiple attacks. and awesomeness.
You could take feets to optimise that. (multi-attack from Monster Manual)

M.M.2 has thew Flesh Raker, wich is statted out as an animal companion and from looking at it it's pretty awesome.
(it's been a waile, i can't recall if there are feets to optimise the natuarl poison of monsters)

TooManyBadgers
2010-08-05, 07:52 PM
I'm just going to toss a couple (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19868802/Druid_Handbook_revived) links (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1354.0) out here.

Generally, you'll want Natural Spell and Quicken Spell. Both are in the PHB.

Beyond that it's really a matter of taste. I'm rather partial to Summon Elemental and Minor Shapeshift from Complete Mage, but it's hard to go wrong with most options.

Very few PrC's are worth taking as a Druid. If you want to tweak your abilities or to specialize somehow, it's usually better to dig up/homebrew a couple alternate class features or variants to modify your character than to PrC.

The PrC's that are sometimes worth considering:
Lion of Talsid (Book of Exalted Deeds): it nerfs your Wild Shape a little bit, but gets a couple nifty abilities like pounce and scent and maintains BA/Casting/Animal Companions.
Planar Shepherd (Magic of Eberron): an utterly broken PrC, which is better than the Druid in every way. if you consider using it, you should probably feel ashamed.
Arcane Hierophant (Races of the Wild): A Druid/Wizard Theurge with a couple useful abilities (namely combining the Animal Companion with the Familiar) and Wild Shape. It's not fantastic, but I don't think it loses too badly to straight Druid, even without early entry shenanigans.
Stonespeaker Guardian (Races of Stone): 5 levels, Dwarf-only. Advances casting and Wild Shape, as well as a funky Wild feat that turns you into a big rock. It gets Earth Glide at level 5, which is pretty fun.
Moonspeaker (Races of Eberron): 14 levels, Shifter-only. I believe it gets full caster level, advances a bunch of definitively Shifter-based abilities, as well as Wild Shape. It's probably a bigger boost to a Ranger than a Druid, but it's distinct and different than the typical "Druid 20" build.
Nature's Warrior in Complete Warrior makes your Wild Shapes a bit more combat-focused, Abolisher in Lords of Madness lets you do funny things to Aberrations and Master of Many Forms in Complete Adventurer lets you wild shape into pretty much anything. They're all weaker than a straight druid (casting progressions are 3/5, 8/10 and 0/10, respectively), but that's often a good thing.
There's also one that involves turning into a giant tree and hitting things with Axes... Faiths and Pantheons, maybe? It didn't look like a particularly powerful class, but it had full CL advancement and could be kinda neat.

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 07:59 PM
Frozen Wildshape from Frostburn is a nearly VITAL wildshaper feat. Hell, it ought to be called "11 Headed Cryohydra Wildshape"

Primordial Wildshape from the same book is also nice to have, if at a drawback. Nice big stat bonuses, which when used on Frozen Wildshape, makes your 11 headed cryohydra stronger and hardier.

If you have no qualms, crack open Lords of Madness and the Abberant Wildshape so you can become an Aboleth

once you can, pick up Assume Supernatural Ability for ones like Beholder and the like.

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 08:04 PM
Wow. Rock on you guys.

Also, sorry, I should of said.

3.5 edition, All core or linkable websites.

Natural Spell was said like seven times. So I'll presume at a base that's what I'm aiming for. lol.

Wilding clasps sound nice. Source? Link?

Can i take Improved Natural attack at first without having the wildshape ability?

Also odd question but I'm Noob so forgive me. My feat (Improved Natural attack for instance)....shared with my companion or not?

Also can someone link the Flesh raker? That druids handbook looks invaluable...thanks!

Urpriest
2010-08-05, 08:09 PM
Fleshraker and Swindlespitter dinosaurs are in one of the later monster manuals (MM III I think...) and I don't think there are web sources for them, so if you're restricted to core they won't be available. I'd go with the War-trained riding dog, they get trip, better stats than a wolf, and the ability to wear barding.

Wilding Clasps are in the Dungeon Master's Guide, Wondrous Items section.

You don't share feats with your companion, but your companion gets its own feats (one feat, plus one for every 3 hit dice, plus any bonus feats it gets in its monster manual entry).

Eldariel
2010-08-05, 08:12 PM
Guide to Free D&D (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1109.0) and Necklace of Natural Attacks (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fc/20060707a); that's pretty much all the free material I can remember off the top of my head. There's some more on Wizards-page, but little of it is Druid-relevant.

I'll get you an in-depth reply later. Wilding Clasps are in Masters of the Wild, Complete Divine & Magic Item Compendium at least, but I don't think you can find 'em online. This (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20020909a) article does determine what they do tho.

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 08:15 PM
Fleshraker and Swindlespitter dinosaurs are in one of the later monster manuals (MM III I think...) and I don't think there are web sources for them, so if you're restricted to core they won't be available. I'd go with the War-trained riding dog, they get trip, better stats than a wolf, and the ability to wear barding.

Wilding Clasps are in the Dungeon Master's Guide, Wondrous Items section.

You don't share feats with your companion, but your companion gets its own feats (one feat, plus one for every 3 hit dice, plus any bonus feats it gets in its monster manual entry).

"War trained Riding Dog" Forgive my Uber Noob status.

But...do I want a Riding Dog so that I can ride it? Or....? Could you explain "war trained". Also wear barding...Bit more detail?

Urpriest
2010-08-05, 08:20 PM
"War trained Riding Dog" Forgive my Uber Noob status.

But...do I want a Riding Dog so that I can ride it? Or....? Could you explain "war trained". Also wear barding...Bit more detail?

Sure.

Riding Dogs are in the Monster Manual...they're called riding dogs because halflings ride them, but they're intended to represent any big dog like a mastiff. Their entry describes that some of them are trained for war, and thus are able to trip foes that they bite. They've got better stats than pretty much any other first level animal companion, they trip people, and they're proficient in barding. This last means you can buy them armor (more expensive since they're an odd shape, I think it's a x2 modifier to the price, but you can look it up, there's a sidebar in the armor section of the Player's Handbook), once you can afford it.

Amphetryon
2010-08-05, 08:20 PM
Rapid Spell is the only thing I didn't see listed that's useful enough to be added for consideration.

The Glyphstone
2010-08-05, 08:22 PM
Barding = animal armor.
Riding dog = dog that can be used for riding, but has some of the best stats for all animal companions.


Sword'saged.

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 08:23 PM
Companion-wise, I prefer using Core, and favoring Ape and later Bison

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 08:27 PM
Companion-wise, I prefer using Core, and favoring Ape and later Bison

Ape's level 4 isn't it? I got two more levels to go til that's applicable.

Also, Riding dog, barding, trip. Awesome.

Thanks!

Keep up the suggestions with spells and tactics. Loving it.

EDIT:

Racewise the handbook suggests this:

Consensus?

Shifters (EbCS/RoE/MM3) are a great druid race, despite their somewhat less-useful attribute modifiers. At low levels, any Shifter with a natural attack shifting ability can be using the druid spells to enhance their natural attacks. Later on, your shifting bonus will stack with Wild Shape (Shifting is a supernatural ability, so you keep it in Wild Shape), which not only means stat bonuses, but also gives extra AC, new move types, or even possibly extra attacks. Dreamsight Shifters (RoE), in particular, give +2 Wis and Speak With Animals while shifting, but all of the Shifter traits give untyped bonuses to stats that still work while shifting, so any of them can work quite nicely. (Plus, it allows you to take, say, Improved Natural Attack (claws) or INA (bite) even if your GM won't usually allow you to take those for forms you can only take with Wild Shape. Then again, that GM might not allow INA to transfer to Wild Shape.) Shifters can also take Moonspeaker (RoE), one of the few good druid PrCs.
Beasthide, Dreamsight, Longtooth, and Razorclaw Shifter traits are good for druids, because those benefits stack nicely onto whatever animal form you might be using. Cliffwalk and Longstride are okay; it's nice to add a bit of land speed or climbing speed to a landbound form, but you can always take a monkey or bird form to completely outdo these traits. The other traits aren't so hot: Gorebrute forces you to use a somewhat ho-hum gore instead of your superior natural attacks, Swiftwing negates any claw attacks you might have and is rendered moot by flying Wild Shape forms, Truedive has too short a duration to be very useful anyway even if you couldn't turn into fish and mollusks, and Wildhunt can be replaced with any one of four different level 2 spells.
Taking Shifter also allows you to use the Shifter sub levels. The first Shifter sub level costs you your Animal Companion, but replaces it with a Beast Spirit that can buff you, buff your summons, cuts your summons to a standard action, and can eventually cast quickened spells for you. (All the bonuses make this an absolutely awesome choice for any sort of druid.) Most druids will want to avoid the fifth sub level, unless you're planning to specialize heavily in shifting. (The sub levels are in Races of Eberron.)
Dropping Wild Shape for Shifting enhancement at level five is an unusual choice, and I'll write a guide here for it at some point, honest.

aivanther
2010-08-05, 08:37 PM
Check this link (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dogRiding.htm). It describes riding dog and under combat being trained for war.

If you're limited to core/links then a lot of the more interesting animal companions are out of your reach, MM3's Fleshraker being the most notable. Still, you have more powerful class abilities than most classes. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0346.html)

Note that instead of barding armor you can get beastskin armor (Magic Item Compendium, I can't recall where else) or for more money you can get wild armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm#wild)

edit:

Shifters are interesting, but it's not my favorite. I'm not that fond of the shifter's alternative class features, but it can work. Similar thoughts on the moonspeaker.

Urpriest
2010-08-05, 08:38 PM
Do you have access to Shifters? Be aware they're not in the Core books.

Urpriest
2010-08-05, 08:40 PM
Note that instead of barding armor you can get beastskin armor (Magic Item Compendium, I can't recall where else) or for more money you can get wild armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm#wild)



To clarify: aivanther is talking about armor for you, not the dog. The dog would use barding, aivanther is describing armor that you can use while wildshaped.

aivanther
2010-08-05, 08:53 PM
To clarify: aivanther is talking about armor for you, not the dog. The dog would use barding, aivanther is describing armor that you can use while wildshaped.

Yes, thank you.

realbombchu
2010-08-05, 08:58 PM
Half-orcs also make good druids if you can find a copy of the racial substitution levels from Races of Destiny. Levels one and six are great. One gives you better starting hp (d10), and gives your companion the Toughness feat. Sixth level augments your animal summons.

I also suggest the extend spell feat. I don't like the fochlucan lyrist prestige class, but some do.

thompur
2010-08-05, 09:05 PM
If you have access to the Spell Compendium, wildshape into a dire-bear, then, with your Natural Spell feat, cast Bite of the Were-Bear on yourself. Strength goes to 48 I think.

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 09:11 PM
Half-orcs also make good druids if you can find a copy of the racial substitution levels from Races of Destiny. Levels one and six are great. One gives you better starting hp (d10), and gives your companion the Toughness feat. Sixth level augments your animal summons.

I also suggest the extend spell feat. I don't like the fochlucan lyrist prestige class, but some do.


If you have access to the Spell Compendium, wildshape into a dire-bear, then, with your Natural Spell feat, cast Bite of the Were-Bear on yourself. Strength goes to 48 I think.

Real, is there any link that details racial substitution levels? That sounds awesome.

Thom, That's insane. I do have the Spell Compendium at home SOMEWHERE lol I'll have to find it. Won't the penality to my Wisdom hurt?

Also I designed this homebrew for Druid:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163180

I think it benefits me really well as a Druid.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-05, 09:12 PM
Feats:
Greenbound Summoning, in Lost Empires of Faerun. You should be able to get it at level 1, and any animals you get with Summon Nature's Ally will have the Greenbound template from that book. The biggest benefit is that they get Entangle and Wall of Thorns as spell-like abilities, even if you summon rats from a 1st level spell. They get Wall of Thorns!

Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning in the PHB are good 1st level choices for a human or with flaws. Imbued Summoning from PH2 is decent, but it gets amazing if your DM will let you put Enrage Animal on your summons with it. You wouldn't even need to concentrate on it, since it lasts exactly as long without concentration as a summoning spell does. Metamagic School Focus in Complete Mage can negate the adjustment for Imbued Summoning 3/day.

Companion Spellbond in PH2 is great for sharing those long-duration buffs with your cuddly pet.

If you want to use exalted feats in BoED, consider Celestial Companion. This allows you to add the celestial creature template to your animal companion, which makes it good-aligned so it will be able to take Sacred Vow and Vow of Poverty when it gets more feats from additional HD. This is an extremely powerful and extremely cheesy trick, so use it with caution.

Natural Bond in Complete Adventurer should be taken at level 3. Since you can add your own bonuses and penalties in the most beneficial order, you can get a 'level -3' companion at 4th level and the +3 for Natural Bond will negate it, so you'd still use your full druid level for that companion's benefits. A Fleshraker dinosaur in MM3 or a Dire Eagle in Races of Stone are some of the best choices. Note that a creature with a poison attack cannot take exalted feats.

Magic of the Land in Races of the Wild will make your buffing spells also heal the target, definitely worth using if you can consistently make the Kn: Nature check. If you use Killoren from that same book for your race you can use the Aspect of the Ancient to guarantee success. You can get Natural Bond at 1st level to take this at 3rd if necessary.

Take Natural Spell in the PHB at 6th level, this is not optional.

Rashemi Elemental Summoning in Unapproachable East will make any air or earth elementals you summon more powerful.

Quicken Spell and Extend Spell are extremely useful, though it's typically more economical to use metamagic rods for extend. Persistent Spell is also great to have in the higher levels. You can even use Bone Talisman (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) to get turn undead and be able to take Divine Metamagic for Quicken and/or Persistent.

Feats which increase your combat ability are useful if you plan on being wild shaped into a combat form most of the time, such as Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Multiattack in the Monster Manual, and Improved Unarmed Strike for Improved Grapple.
Items:
Wilding Clasps in the Magic Item Compendium are absolutely necessary.

If you wear a Monk's Belt you'll get your Wisdom bonus to AC, as per the Monk AC Bonus class feature. If you put a wilding clasp on it you'll still get that when wild shaped.

The Armor of the Beast, Ring of the Beast, and Mantle of the Beast in Complete Champion are amazing. Note that Wild armor melds into your form when you wild shape and you no longer get its armor check penalty, and as a part of your form you're not actually wearing it, so your Monk's Belt AC bonus will still apply when wild shaped wearing Armor of the Beast or any other Wild armor.

The Raiment of the Four set in MIC is good to get access to some additional spells, plus the other benefits are mostly worth having. You'll have to Wilding Clasp everything, but it's still useful.

Lesser Metamagic Rods of Extend are one of the best items in the game for its price. You should try to get at least two, maybe go for as many as four. It makes your 3rd level and lower buffs last twice as long, and it makes the spell Creeping Cold deal 21d6 damage at level 3. If you're wearing a belt with a Wilding Clasp, you can attach them to it and since it doesn't meld into your form when you wild shape, neither will the rods.

A Circlet of Rapid Casting in MIC is extremely useful for casting low-level buffs.

The Rod of Bodily Restoration in MIC is amazing, especially if you're casting (Greater) Luminous Armor (BoED) on yourself and/or your animal companion each day.

The Raiment of the Stormwalker set in MIC is designed for druids, but I don't find any of it useful except for maybe the ring.

Take a look at page 234 of the Magic Item Compendium. You can add certain bonuses to existing items as though combining multiple items to one body spot, but without it costing any more than those two items individually. For example, your Mantle of the Beast could also have a deflection bonus to AC added, and the entire item would still function when wild shaped. You could get a Circlet of Rapid Casting and add a Wisdom bonus to it, and only have to use one Wilding Clasp for it to continue to function.

Around level 12+ plan on getting a standard Metamagic Rod of Extend and a 6th level Pearl of Power. Every other day, prepare two of the spell Energy Immunity from Spell Compendium, and cast it on yourself three times for three of the five energy types, using the pearl to recover one and the rod to make each last 48 hours. On the days in between, prepare Energy Immunity once and Superior Resistance once, cast both on yourself and use the pearl to recover and cast Energy Immunity a second time, again using the rod so each lasts 48 hours. This will give you constant immunity to all five energy types, as well as a +6 Resistance bonus to saving throws, and it only sets you back two 6th level spells/day.
Druid doesn't need any prestige classes to be one of the most powerful characters in the game. Just take all 20 levels of it, you won't regret it.

With level 2 wealth, I'd get Dragonhide Breastplate (700 gp), a heavy wooden shield, a club, and a partially charged Wand of Lesser Vigor (15 gp per charge, 11 hp per charge) to heal between encounters.

Open up Dragon Magic and look at the spells Call of the Twilight Defender, Haze of Smoldering Stone, and Vision of the Omniscient Eye. Note that a Druid automatically knows all the spells on his class spell list, so at 1st level you've already learned those spells and gain their passive benefit.

Your 1st level spells should include Entangle and Enrage Animal. Cast Entangle when appropriate, then just concentrate on Enrage Animal for the rest of the fight and try to stay out of the way. Later on you'll want to put (Extended) Longstrider on yourself and share it with your companion. Produce Flame is also nice for adding some extra damage to your natural attacks in wild shape later on.

When you get 2nd level spells you should try to already have a Lesser Rod of Extend to cast Creeping Cold with. Splinterbolt is a good source of damage, but I wouldn't use it without a decent Dex score (16+). Buffs like Barkskin and Bull's Strength are good to have, and later on Nature's Favor on your animal companion is quite nice. Mass Snake's Swiftness is handy if you have a large party and/or summon a lot of creatures. Heat Metal and Chill Metal can be useful, such as making a dangerous opponent voluntarily drop their weapon. Venomous Volley from Dragon 330 is great to have with a Fleshraker companion. Don't forget about Bone Talisman (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a), for a mere 150 gp you can get Unguent of Timelessness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#unguentofTimelessness) to put on eight spell foci, and it will last 365 times longer (about 60 hours per caster level) so you can set up a few during downtime to take along adventuring. At 3rd level spells you can get Icelance, Sleet Storm, and Call Lightning. Greater Magic Fang to give all your companion's natural weapons a magical bonus is good to have. If you have a Fleshraker you can cast Venomfire on it, from Serpent Kingdoms, and all three of its poisonous attacks will deal an extra 1d6 acid damage per caster level, and the spell lasts an hour per level. Spells like Ice Storm and Wall of Thorns are good for disrupting enemies. Animal Growth on your animal companion and summoned creatures is good to have, bit it won't work on greenbound animals or a celestial companion. Fire Seeds in berry bombs mode, especially with a Metamagic Rod of Empower, will destroy encounters: one casting makes eight bombs, which together at level 11 will deal an average of 186 damage empowered. Put them in a pouch and use a summoned creature to deliver it, or drop it on enemies when wild shaped into a flying form. There are really too many good/useful spells to list, just read the lists in PHB and Spell Compendium and remember that you can prepare a few situational spells and just convert them into summons later.

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 09:18 PM
Feats:
Greenbound Summoning, in Lost Empires of Faerun. You should be able to get it at level 1, and any animals you get with Summon Nature's Ally will have the Greenbound template from that book. The biggest benefit is that they get Entangle and Wall of Thorns as spell-like abilities, even if you summon rats from a 1st level spell. They get Wall of Thorns!

Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning in the PHB are good 1st level choices for a human or with flaws. Imbued Summoning from PH2 is decent, but it gets amazing if your DM will let you put Enrage Animal on your summons with it. You wouldn't even need to concentrate on it, since it lasts exactly as long without concentration as a summoning spell does. Metamagic School Focus in Complete Mage can negate the adjustment for Imbued Summoning 3/day.

Companion Spellbond in PH2 is great for sharing those long-duration buffs with your cuddly pet.

If you want to use exalted feats in BoED, consider Celestial Companion. This allows you to add the celestial creature template to your animal companion, which makes it good-aligned so it will be able to take Sacred Vow and Vow of Poverty when it gets more feats from additional HD. This is an extremely powerful and extremely cheesy trick, so use it with caution.

Natural Bond in Complete Adventurer should be taken at level 3. Since you can add your own bonuses and penalties in the most beneficial order, you can get a 'level -3' companion at 4th level and the +3 for Natural Bond will negate it, so you'd still use your full druid level for that companion's benefits. A Fleshraker dinosaur in MM3 or a Dire Eagle in Races of Stone are some of the best choices. Note that a creature with a poison attack cannot take exalted feats.

Magic of the Land in Races of the Wild will make your buffing spells also heal the target, definitely worth using if you can consistently make the Kn: Nature check. If you use Killoren from that same book for your race you can use the Aspect of the Ancient to guarantee success. You can get Natural Bond at 1st level to take this at 3rd if necessary.

Take Natural Spell in the PHB at 6th level, this is not optional.

Rashemi Elemental Summoning in Unapproachable East will make any air or earth elementals you summon more powerful.

Quicken Spell and Extend Spell are extremely useful, though it's typically more economical to use metamagic rods for extend. Persistent Spell is also great to have in the higher levels. You can even use Bone Talisman (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) to get turn undead and be able to take Divine Metamagic for Quicken and/or Persistent.

Feats which increase your combat ability are useful if you plan on being wild shaped into a combat form most of the time, such as Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Multiattack in the Monster Manual, and Improved Unarmed Strike for Improved Grapple.
Items:
Wilding Clasps in the Magic Item Compendium are absolutely necessary.

If you wear a Monk's Belt you'll get your Wisdom bonus to AC, as per the Monk AC Bonus class feature. If you put a wilding clasp on it you'll still get that when wild shaped.

The Armor of the Beast, Ring of the Beast, and Mantle of the Beast in Complete Champion are amazing. Note that Wild armor melds into your form when you wild shape and you no longer get its armor check penalty, and as a part of your form you're not actually wearing it, so your Monk's Belt AC bonus will still apply when wild shaped wearing Armor of the Beast or any other Wild armor.

The Raiment of the Four set in MIC is good to get access to some additional spells, plus the other benefits are mostly worth having. You'll have to Wilding Clasp everything, but it's still useful.

Lesser Metamagic Rods of Extend are one of the best items in the game for its price. You should try to get at least two, maybe go for as many as four. It makes your 3rd level and lower buffs last twice as long, and it makes the spell Creeping Cold deal 21d6 damage at level 3. If you're wearing a belt with a Wilding Clasp, you can attach them to it and since it doesn't meld into your form when you wild shape, neither will the rods.

A Circlet of Rapid Casting in MIC is extremely useful for casting low-level buffs.

The Rod of Bodily Restoration in MIC is amazing, especially if you're casting (Greater) Luminous Armor (BoED) on yourself and/or your animal companion each day.

The Raiment of the Stormwalker set in MIC is designed for druids, but I don't find any of it useful except for maybe the ring.

Take a look at page 234 of the Magic Item Compendium. You can add certain bonuses to existing items as though combining multiple items to one body spot, but without it costing any more than those two items individually. For example, your Mantle of the Beast could also have a deflection bonus to AC added, and the entire item would still function when wild shaped. You could get a Circlet of Rapid Casting and add a Wisdom bonus to it, and only have to use one Wilding Clasp for it to continue to function.

Around level 12+ plan on getting a standard Metamagic Rod of Extend and a 6th level Pearl of Power. Every other day, prepare two of the spell Energy Immunity from Spell Compendium, and cast it on yourself three times for three of the five energy types, using the pearl to recover one and the rod to make each last 48 hours. On the days in between, prepare Energy Immunity once and Superior Resistance once, cast both on yourself and use the pearl to recover and cast Energy Immunity a second time, again using the rod so each lasts 48 hours. This will give you constant immunity to all five energy types, as well as a +6 Resistance bonus to saving throws, and it only sets you back two 6th level spells/day.
Druid doesn't need any prestige classes to be one of the most powerful characters in the game. Just take all 20 levels of it, you won't regret it.

With level 2 wealth, I'd get Dragonhide Breastplate (700 gp), a heavy wooden shield, a club, and a partially charged Wand of Lesser Vigor (15 gp per charge, 11 hp per charge) to heal between encounters.

Open up Dragon Magic and look at the spells Call of the Twilight Defender, Haze of Smoldering Stone, and Vision of the Omniscient Eye. Note that a Druid automatically knows all the spells on his class spell list, so at 1st level you've already learned those spells and gain their passive benefit.

Your 1st level spells should include Entangle and Enrage Animal. Cast Entangle when appropriate, then just concentrate on Enrage Animal for the rest of the fight and try to stay out of the way. Later on you'll want to put (Extended) Longstrider on yourself and share it with your companion. Produce Flame is also nice for adding some extra damage to your natural attacks in wild shape later on.

When you get 2nd level spells you should try to already have a Lesser Rod of Extend to cast Creeping Cold with. Splinterbolt is a good source of damage, but I wouldn't use it without a decent Dex score (16+). Buffs like Barkskin and Bull's Strength are good to have, and later on Nature's Favor on your animal companion is quite nice. Mass Snake's Swiftness is handy if you have a large party and/or summon a lot of creatures. Heat Metal and Chill Metal can be useful, such as making a dangerous opponent voluntarily drop their weapon. Venomous Volley from Dragon 330 is great to have with a Fleshraker companion. Don't forget about Bone Talisman (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a), for a mere 150 gp you can get Unguent of Timelessness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#unguentofTimelessness) to put on eight spell foci, and it will last 365 times longer (about 60 hours per caster level) so you can set up a few during downtime to take along adventuring. At 3rd level spells you can get Icelance, Sleet Storm, and Call Lightning. Greater Magic Fang to give all your companion's natural weapons a magical bonus is good to have. If you have a Fleshraker you can cast Venomfire on it, from Serpent Kingdoms, and all three of its poisonous attacks will deal an extra 1d6 acid damage per caster level, and the spell lasts an hour per level. Spells like Ice Storm and Wall of Thorns are good for disrupting enemies. Animal Growth on your animal companion and summoned creatures is good to have, bit it won't work on greenbound animals or a celestial companion. Fire Seeds in berry bombs mode, especially with a Metamagic Rod of Empower, will destroy encounters: one casting makes eight bombs, which together at level 11 will deal an average of 186 damage empowered. Put them in a pouch and use a summoned creature to deliver it, or drop it on enemies when wild shaped into a flying form. There are really too many good/useful spells to list, just read the lists in PHB and Spell Compendium and remember that you can prepare a few situational spells and just convert them into summons later.

This was really really helpful.

Could you link this>>>? With level 2 wealth, I'd get Dragonhide Breastplate (700 gp), a heavy wooden shield, a club, and a partially charged Wand of Lesser Vigor (15 gp per charge, 11 hp per charge) to heal between encounters.

Dragon Hide costs double what the original would of cost. So Breastplate should be 400 GP with DragonHide modifier or.... no?

EDIT: Doesn't the 35% spell failure chance really mess with my casting? Or....as a druid does that not bother me?

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-05, 09:33 PM
Armor imposes an arcane spell failure chance, since a druid casts divine spells you won't need to worry about it.

Dragonhide armor costs double what masterwork armor would normally cost. Masterwork armor is 150 gp, Breastplate is 200 gp, so that's 350 gp you would double for dragonhide.

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 09:37 PM
Armor imposes an arcane spell failure chance, since a druid casts divine spells you won't need to worry about it.

Dragonhide armor costs double what masterwork armor would normally cost. Masterwork armor is 150 gp, Breastplate is 200 gp, so that's 350 gp you would double for dragonhide.

*smiles* you're a legend.

Also Wand of Lesser Vigour. 6 charges. Presumably 75gp? Or am I missing something?

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-05, 09:45 PM
A wand of a 1st level spell at caster level 1 has 50 charges, and costs 750 gp. Dividing the cost by the number of charges gets a per-charge cost of 15 gp. If you find a partially charged wand adventuring, or want to purchase a partially charged wand, you multiply the number of remaining charges by this amount to get the item's value. Note that starting out higher than 1st level your Wealth By Level allows you to purchase partially charged items at however many charges you want, since it assumes you found it at full or partial charges and used it down to its current number on your way from 1st to 2nd level. At 5 charges it will cost 75 gp, at 6 charges it would be 90 gp.

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 09:49 PM
A wand of a 1st level spell at caster level 1 has 50 charges, and costs 750 gp. Dividing the cost by the number of charges gets a per-charge cost of 15 gp. If you find a partially charged wand adventuring, or want to purchase a partially charged wand, you multiply the number of remaining charges by this amount to get the item's value. Note that starting out higher than 1st level your Wealth By Level allows you to purchase partially charged items at however many charges you want, since it assumes you found it at full or partial charges and used it down to its current number on your way from 1st to 2nd level. At 5 charges it will cost 75 gp, at 6 charges it would be 90 gp.

You guys are a massive help. I think I've got my second level character down. However I took two entangles because I can't find enrage animal anywhere that I can learn details/SRD. :smalleek:

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-05, 09:52 PM
Most of the spells I listed are in Spell Compendium. If you get only one book other than the core/srd, get that one.

Another spell I forgot to mention is Call Avalanche in Frostburn, it's extremely useful especially in creative hands.

zenanarchist
2010-08-05, 09:53 PM
Most of the spells I listed are in Spell Compendium. If you get only one book other than the core/srd, get that one.

Another spell I forgot to mention is Call Avalanche in Frostburn, it's extremely useful especially in creative hands.

I have it. Just...not at work. Nor can I bring it to work :smallamused:

Details of Call Avalanche? :smallsmile:

EDIT: Doing feats. What three feats should I take at first/second level? (Flaw buyoff and first level feat)

I'm thinking Quicken Spell, Spell Focus: Conjuration but....what else?

faceroll
2010-08-06, 04:15 AM
Sure.

Riding Dogs are in the Monster Manual...they're called riding dogs because halflings ride them, but they're intended to represent any big dog like a mastiff. Their entry describes that some of them are trained for war, and thus are able to trip foes that they bite. They've got better stats than pretty much any other first level animal companion, they trip people, and they're proficient in barding. This last means you can buy them armor (more expensive since they're an odd shape, I think it's a x2 modifier to the price, but you can look it up, there's a sidebar in the armor section of the Player's Handbook), once you can afford it.

War bred is a template you can add to any non-war-trained creature (such as a riding dog, bit not a war horse) from MM2 that adds 1 HD and +3 str, +3 con and some other bennies. Very OP, use with caution. Rather cheesy.

Natural Bond is available for all sorts of abuse. I'm sure some one else has explained it to you.

Amphetryon
2010-08-06, 04:50 AM
You want Augment Summoning.

zenanarchist
2010-08-06, 05:02 AM
You want Augment Summoning.

I saw that before too...Details? Link? Location?

Amphetryon
2010-08-06, 05:06 AM
I saw that before too...Details? Link? Location?

It's in the SRD, and the PHb. here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#augmentSummoning).

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-06, 06:31 AM
These lists (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/lists) will tell you what book to find every feat in, as well as creatures, classes, spells, etc.

thompur
2010-08-06, 12:08 PM
Real, is there any link that details racial substitution levels? That sounds awesome.

Thom, That's insane. I do have the Spell Compendium at home SOMEWHERE lol I'll have to find it. Won't the penality to my Wisdom hurt?

Also I designed this homebrew for Druid:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163180

I think it benefits me really well as a Druid.

What penalty to wisdom? Wild shape doesn't affect mental stats, nor does the spell.

Prodan
2010-08-06, 12:11 PM
No mention of Skill Focus: Underwater Basket Weaving yet?

For shame.

realbombchu
2010-08-06, 01:24 PM
Do you still need the details for half-orc racial sub levels? I'll send them to you, if you want. Oh, I don't know a link for it, but I hear that the Dragon Wild Shape feat from the Draconomicon is good too.

thompur
2010-08-06, 01:25 PM
No mention of Skill Focus: Underwater Basket Weaving yet?

For shame.

Prodan! Aren't Druids broken enough? Stop trying to give them feats that should be exclusive to fighters.(sheeeshh!)

jseah
2010-08-06, 03:26 PM
I can't find a particular magic item I remember from building a summoning druid.
A brooch, involving you worshipping a specific god(dess), that increases the level of all your SNAs by 1. IE. SNA 1 becomes SNA2...
Which is incredibly broken.

Ah... found it in here:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19864066/Summoning_Handbook
Which could be useful for your summoning.

Ring of the Beast (Complete Champion)
The limitation is that you cannot use it to cast an SNA you cannot already cast (ie. no SNA6 at level 9), but it does nicely offset the spell level loss of Rapid Casting. Enjoy summoning spontaneously as a standard action.

Urpriest
2010-08-06, 05:23 PM
War bred is a template you can add to any non-war-trained creature (such as a riding dog, bit not a war horse) from MM2 that adds 1 HD and +3 str, +3 con and some other bennies. Very OP, use with caution. Rather cheesy.

Natural Bond is available for all sorts of abuse. I'm sure some one else has explained it to you.

You can't get warbred animal companions without houserules.

Natural Bond doesn't do much for a Druid 20, though it is worth it to point out that some interpret it to counteract the level penalty for picking a more powerful animal companion. In any case it's not in Core.

Urpriest
2010-08-06, 05:26 PM
I have it. Just...not at work. Nor can I bring it to work :smallamused:

Details of Call Avalanche? :smallsmile:

EDIT: Doing feats. What three feats should I take at first/second level? (Flaw buyoff and first level feat)

I'm thinking Quicken Spell, Spell Focus: Conjuration but....what else?

Remember, a Quickened Spell has to be prepared four spell levels higher. Currently you can only cast first level spells, so you won't be able to use Quicken Spell until you're 7th level, and even then it won't be very useful. Wait to take it till at least 9th level, and take Augment Summoning instead (since Spell Focus: Conjuration lets you qualify for it).

zenanarchist
2010-08-06, 06:28 PM
These lists (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/lists) will tell you what book to find every feat in, as well as creatures, classes, spells, etc.

Very nice!


What penalty to wisdom? Wild shape doesn't affect mental stats, nor does the spell.

From being half orc?


Do you still need the details for half-orc racial sub levels? I'll send them to you, if you want. Oh, I don't know a link for it, but I hear that the Dragon Wild Shape feat from the Draconomicon is good too.

Yeah I do! Just in case

Ur, I missed you in the multiquote. But thanks! Feats changed!

Fable Wright
2010-08-06, 06:33 PM
Half orc is int and cha penalty, not wis.

zenanarchist
2010-08-07, 01:57 AM
Half orc is int and cha penalty, not wis.

Ahahah Whoops. Thanks for pointing that out. Not sure what I was thinking of.