[3.5] Anthropomorphic Bat Summoner

[Codenpeg]

Alright I need a sanity check on my work and some feat suggestions on a character idea I had after I made a gestalt Ninja//Druid for my girlfriend.

First off is the race, does its advantages make it better than a human?
Anthropomorphic Bat (Savage Species pg 216)
Small
Str -4, Wis +6, Cha -2
Land Speed 5
Fly 20 (Average)
Darkvision 60’
Blindsense 20’
+4 racial on Spot/Listen

1 Conjurer / 5 Druid / 10 Arcane Hierophant (RotW pg 108) / X Not sure what to finish with

With Conjurer I was going to get the Rapid Summoning(1 standard action) and Enhanced Summoning (free Augmented Summon) wizard variants. Also at first level I was going to grab, what is probably going to be the most controversial part of the build: Precocious Apprentice (CArcane pg 181) which allows me to cast a single 2nd level spell in a school I have access to.

Now I know that Precocious Apprentice is not going to fly for a lot of GMs, please don't argue about if I could use it to get Arcane Hierophant or not. Using Knowledge Devotion (Complete Champion pg 60) to gain Knowledge Arcana as a class skill, and getting some extra hit/damage out of the deal, should let me get to Arcane Hierophant by lvl 6.

And the sum up the rest of the build, feats:
6: Natural Spell
9: Ashbound (ECS pg 50, Might be some RP issues with this)
12: Either Extend Spell or Rapid Spell (CD pg 84)
15: Metamagic School Focus (Conjuration)(CM pg 45) 3/day reduce cost of metamagic by 1 lvl
18: Extraordinary Concentration (CAdv pg 109)

And grab the skill trick: Swift Concentration (CS pg 90)

Comments and suggestions would be welcome, I need advice on items most importantly.

[Zaydos]

Mystic Theurge for those other levels? If you'll allow it, they fulfill the prerequisites after 3rd level of druid and could go Conjurer 1/Druid 3/Mystic Theurge 2/Arcane Hierophant 10/Mystic Theurge +4 and have 17th level wizard casting and 19th level druid casting. This hurts them for 2 levels where they lack Wild Shape because of going this route but once they get it they have the advantage of +2 wizard casting levels.

And yes Anthro Bat is better than human for a ninja//druid gestalt.

[Codenpeg]

Mystic Theurge for those other levels? If you'll allow it, they fulfill the prerequisites after 3rd level of druid and could go Conjurer 1/Druid 3/Mystic Theurge 2/Arcane Hierophant 10/Mystic Theurge +4 and have 17th level wizard casting and 19th level druid casting. This hurts them for 2 levels where they lack Wild Shape because of going this route but once they get it they have the advantage of +2 wizard casting levels.


Only issues with going Mystic Theurge is that I'll have to wait until 9th level to get Natural Spell and I'm going to be terribly squishy.

Also, any pun/funny names? The character is just ASKING to be called Bruce Wayne and his animal companion Alfred.

[Zaydos]

I'd get a bird for an animal companion. That way it could be Grayson.

[Jack_Simth]

Also, any pun/funny names? The character is just ASKING to be called Bruce Wayne and his animal companion Alfred.Hmmm... if it weren't for the pesky little problem that one of your conjourer variants gives up the familiar, I'd suggest going with a bat familiar, and a Dire Bat Animal companion. Just because....

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

First thing, Rapid Summoning only applies to 'summon monster' spells, not summon nature's ally. That makes it probably not even worth multiclassing to get that.

Second, you don't need Knowledge Devotion. You get Kn: Arcana as a class skill via Wizard, so your max ranks will always be (level +3). Just spend cross-class Druid skill points to meet the rank prerequisite for AH and save yourself a feat.

Third, FR has much better summoning feats than Eberron. There's Greenbound Summoning in Lost Empires of Faerun, which makes your SNA animals plant creatures with insane natural armor, ability scores, DR, fast healing, Wall of Thorns 1/day, and Entangle at will. With a Ring of the Beast from Complete Champion you can cast SNA 1 to get a Greenbound Dire Bat which then uses Wall of Thorns to trap several opponents and can spam Entangle every round for the rest of its duration. Besides the SLAs Greenbound creatures are extremely tough to kill and much more dangerous combatants than standard creatures, and there's absolutely no cost to using it apart from spending the feat. You can't use spells like Enrage Animal or Animal Growth on them, but you don't have to get greenbound creatures every time. There's also Rashemi Elemental Summoning in Unapproachable East, which adds the Orglash (ice spirit) template to air elementals or the Thomil (rock spirit) template to earth elementals you summon. Again it just makes your summoned creatures better for spending a feat, no other drawback or cost.

See about either dipping Sacred Exorcist or using Bone Talisman (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) to get Divine Metamagic for probably Rapid Spell. With Bone Talisman you can use Unguent of Timelessness on your spell foci so it will last 365 times longer than normal, and it never wears off so they can be reused indefinitely. Imbued Summoning in PH2 is also pretty decent, but its touch-range limit means you can't SNA+Enrage Animal with it.

Finish out the build with Mystic Theurge, you'll have 19th level Druid and 15th level Wizard spellcasting for 9th/8th level spells. Consider taking Invisible Spell from Cityscape, it's a +0 metamagic that makes affected spells have no visual effects, so any creature you summon will be permanently invisible for the full duration.

Definitely get a Ring of the Beast from Complete Champion for any character who uses Summon Nature's Ally. A Circlet of Rapid Casting in MIC is good for any spellcaster. Maybe get a lesser Rod of Chain Spell from Complete Arcane for Enrage Animal, which you could use the Circlet with to buff your summoned creatures. Something like SNA X for multiple lions for a 1 round casting time (maybe Swift Invisibility first), next round they appear and you can Rapid Cast Chained Enarage Animal and Animal Growth and order them to attack. You can get a Monk's Belt to add your Wisdom bonus to AC, and cast (Greater) Mage Armor or (Greater) Luminous Armor (BoED) every day instead of buying bracers of armor. Definitely put Wilding Clasps (MIC) on all your important gear so it functions when Wild Shaped. You can clasp your Monk's Belt and use it to hold your metamagic rods, wands, etc, and it will continue to carry out that function when you wild shape so you won't need extra clasps for every metamagic rod and wand you have.

[Codenpeg]

@Biffoniacus_Furiou
First: I get both that and Augmented Summon which DOES work on my SNA. Also with AH I'll be getting more wizard levels which means I will be using the Rapid Summons, there's also the chance I could get a GM to okay it for SNA.

Second+Third: Do class skills work like that? Edit: Yes it does, from SRD: "Regardless of whether a skill is purchased as a class skill or a cross-class skill, if it is a class skill for any of your classes, your maximum rank equals your total character level + 3."

I wasn't sure so I took the Knowledge Devotion, if that is the case I'd definitely grab Greenbound Summoning and add in Rashemi Elemental Summoning.

Mystic Theurge is going to round it out and thank you Biffoniacus for all of the items advice. With all of these spare wizard spells*... sheesh I really am going to become Batman.

[Endarire]

Why even multiclass? A Druid can summon well. Surely you can find a better use for your levels. Most Druids aren't strapped for feats, either.

[Codenpeg]

Why even multiclass? A Druid can summon well. Surely you can find a better use for your levels. Most Druids aren't strapped for feats, either.

You are right, druids can summon very well. However with that one level dip and a feat I can get into a prestige class that gives me animal companion, wild shaping, and full casting with druid and wizard. Since druid side has summoning down I can use wizard side for utility.

From druid all I would be missing is venom immunity, a thousand faces (disguise self), and timeless body.

[kestrel404]

Only issues with going Mystic Theurge is that I'll have to wait until 9th level to get Natural Spell and I'm going to be terribly squishy.

Also, any pun/funny names? The character is just ASKING to be called Bruce Wayne and his animal companion Alfred.

My last Anthro Bat character was Adam West.