The Better Wild Shape Forms

[cowsay]

Playing a straight druid, what are the better wild shape forms.

I have seen the various druid handbooks, but I was hoping for suggestions and some discussions.

I realize that there can be highly specialized reasons for taking one form over another and I was hoping to generate some discussion about it.

Some of the forms I have liked are:
Fleshraker
Desmondu Hunting Bat
Giant Eagle
Polar Bear
Dire Lion
Dire Tortoise
Dire Polar Bear
Giant Squid

Are thee othe solid forms I shold be considering?

[Tokuhara]

Cryohydra (requires Frozen Wildshape)
Pseudonatural Fleshraker (Requires Aberrant Blood and Aberrant Wildshape)
Celestial Dire Badger (Requires Exalted Wildshape)

any others are within the realm of imagination

[Hiro Protagonest]

Cryohydra (requires Frozen Wildshape)
Pseudonatural Fleshraker (Requires Aberrant Blood and Aberrant Wildshape)
Celestial Dire Badger (Requires Exalted Wildshape)

any others are within the realm of imagination

You can't Wild Shape into a hydra without epic feats.

[sonofzeal]

Cryohydra (requires Frozen Wildshape)
Pseudonatural Fleshraker (Requires Aberrant Blood and Aberrant Wildshape)
Celestial Dire Badger (Requires Exalted Wildshape)

any others are within the realm of imagination
Even with those feats, isn't there a prohibition against Wildshaping into template'd forms? Otherwise, I'll take my Half-every-kind-of-dragon Fleshraker with Draconic Wildshape, please!

[Tvtyrant]

You can't Wild Shape into a hydra without epic feats.

Frozen Wildshape lets you turn into creatures with the cold subtype. Which cryohydras have.

[Tokuhara]

Even with those feats, isn't there a prohibition against Wildshaping into template'd forms? Otherwise, I'll take my Half-every-kind-of-dragon Fleshraker with Draconic Wildshape, please!

Aberrant and Exalted specifically bypass the "No Template" rule. Dragon Wildshape doesn't do this. Aberrant allows for Pseudonatural Animals to be available, as well as all of the nasty aberrations in the books. The same with Exalted.

[Mnemnosyne]

Don't forget the will o' wisp, also available with aberrant wildshape. With the spell from Spell Compendium (Enhance Wildshape, I think it was?) that allows you to take on the Ex special qualities of your next wildshape, it gives you not only perfect flight and a very high AC (which is also touch AC) but also magic immunity and invisibility.

[Venger]

Mind flayer. pump your strength, maintain a grapple for 4 rounds and instantly kill anything with 1 head and a brain. doesn't get much cooler than that