Planar ally on a druid

[Crake]

So i have this friend who's playing a druid, and he's taken a liking to summoning stuff with summon natures ally. He was looking around for a cool prc when he stumbled upon thaumaturgist from the DMG and took an immediate liking to it.

I felt a little bad when i crushed his dream by telling him that druids dont get planar ally, so i feel like i should make it up to him by trying to find a way he could get into it without discussing with the DM to make a custom version of the class for druids.

So my question: What are they ways that a druid can go about gaining the ability to cast lesser planar ally?

[Urpriest]

A dip in Contemplative could give access to the Summoner domain, which grants it.

[Psyren]

Summoner Domain would do it. However, the only way I can think of to get domains at the moment is Contemplative, and that comes online pretty late. There are a couple of others with the PA line as well, like Dragon Below from Eberron.

Skypledged will get all the cleric spells onto your Druid as well, via the Divine Spellpool.


*shakes fist at Urpriest*

[Crake]

contemplative requires 13 ranks in knowledge religion, which isnt a druid class skill.

Also, druids dont get the ability to cast domain spells, so even if they somehow got a domain, they wouldnt have any means of casting from it

as for skypledged, he's an elf so sadly cant get in, unless he could convince the DM to forgo that requirement

Something i should add: We're playing in greyhawk, so the DM has basically said no eberron or forgotten realms stuff

[Psyren]

I can't help you regarding Know (Religion), but you're incorrect about the domain point - you don't need domain slots to prepare domain spells as a druid. Complete Divine pg. 20:


If she memorizes spells like a druid, paladin, or ranger, then she can simply choose to memorize one of that domain's spells instead of one of her usual spells, but never more than one domain spell of each level.

As far as Skypledged, the adaptation (RotW pg. 130) lets you strip most everything out of the class except the Divine Spellpool if you want to show the DM that.

[Crake]

I can't help you regarding Know (Religion), but you're incorrect about the domain point - you don't need domain slots to prepare domain spells as a druid. Complete Divine pg. 20:



As far as Skypledged, the adaptation (RotW pg. 130) lets you strip most everything out of the class except the Divine Spellpool if you want to show the DM that.

huh, TIL

hmm, either way it looks like itll be very far down the track, contemplative requiring 13 ranks in skill (im sure theres a feat somewhere to add a single knowledge skill to your skill list) and skypledged requiring 4th level spells followed by 4 levels in the prc, so at best level 12-13 start on thaumaturgist. We're only level 3 right now, and progressing at a very humble pace, so i may be getting a bit ahead of myself. Two of our party (me included) have already died and rerolled, so he may not even last long enough to get that far :smalleek:

honestly, i was hoping for some feat i'd overlooked like the psionic "expanded knowledge" feat

[Psyren]

The big hurdle I see for Contemplative is that you said no Eberron or Faerun are allowed - the only way I know to get all knowledges as class skills is the Education feat, and it's material from both of those settings.

It's pretty neutral though (at least, the Eberron version is) so I'd ask your DM about it anyway. The worst you'll hear is no.

Or just PrC into something with easy requirements, that has Know (Religion) as a class skill and doesn't lose caster levels. Ruathar is a great choice - even with 10 Int, you can stagger the levels out to end up with a 13 in Know (Religion) just in time for Contemplative. And the flavor is pretty good for an elf druid.

[Urpriest]

Knowledge Devotion also can give you a Knowledge as a class skill, and it's setting-neutral. But a (low-requirements) dip might be better.

[Rubik]

A single-level dip in cloistered cleric could get you ~half the skill points needed, grabs you three domains, and you could swap those domains out for Devotion feats. Burns a caster level, but you do get quite a bit for it, including the use of spell-completion items on the cleric's spell list (and wizard/sorcerer items too, if you take the Magic Domain).

[Coidzor]

If he's human, human paragon will get him a whole bunch of class skills for one level and one skill as a class skill forever. The last 2 levels of it would progress casting, but, well, druids are best served by maximizing their amount of druid.

The Cloistered Cleric dip is probably better than human paragon in this case anyway.

[Psyren]

He's an elf, sadly.

I think Cloistered Cleric or Ruathar are the best options so far.

[Rubik]

If he's human, human paragon will get him a whole bunch of class skills for one level and one skill as a class skill forever. The last 2 levels of it would progress casting, but, well, druids are best served by maximizing their amount of druid.

The Cloistered Cleric dip is probably better than human paragon in this case anyway.Too bad he can't take human paragon at level 1; he could gain 4x the number of skill points for every level thereafter.