[PF] Advice for a creepy druid

[CockroachTeaParty]

Howdy folks. Just wanted to probe the forums for some thoughts and opinions.

I want to make a druid who is really into bugs, spiders, vermin, etc. Specifically arthropods (not common pests. The Vermin monster type, as it were). This is primarily for flavor reasons, but I'd also like to make them mechanically sound/viable.

In Pathfinder, my options seem to be one of two things:

I could make a standard druid, and take a vermin animal companion as described in Ultimate Magic. None of them seem particularly more useful than a normal animal companion. The giant wasp and giant mantis stand out, partially because they have flight. It could be fun to make a small-sized druid and use a flying giant bug as a mount.

The other option is the Blight druid archetype from the APG; they don't get an animal companion, but I could take a vermin familiar and focus more on spellcasting. More importantly, they get wild empathy usable on vermin (and certain mindless undead, strangely). They also get some weird disease-flavored alternate class features.

I guess I'm just not sure what to pick, or if there are other options out there. Are there any spells, traits, or feats I'm missing? Anything related to vermin could be useful and thematically appropriate.

[avr]

If your concept is more "someone into vermin" and less "Druid" you could go with a summoner. You can design your eidolon to have multiple legs, summon fiendish or celestial bugs with your free summon monster ability, etc. The fiendish/celestial template does make a difference to their combat ability.

If you want to play a druid with an interest in vermin but the menhir savant archetype (or any other than the blight druid) calls out to you, the vermin heart (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/vermin-heart) feat should be useful.

[supervillan]

Vermin Lord PrC from Book of Vile Darkness.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Thanks avr! The Vermin Heart feat looks to be the best solution!

[Keneth]

You've already described the two major options. There's also the Vermin Heart feat as already mentioned, and you could get yourself a Scarab Breastplate to wild shape into vermin forms. You should probably focus on spells that summon vermin and swarms for greatest effect. Vermin skin is probably creepy enough for anyone, and you should ask your GM if he'll let you have vomit swarm for even greater effect.

You could also consider playing a witch, sorcerer, or a summoner, all of whom have options for this kind of thing, but I don't really think it's worth switching classes for a bit of fluff.

[Edenbeast]

Vermin Lord PrC from Book of Vile Darkness.

That's 3.5.

Based on the OP's description, the standard druid with vermin companion vermin heart feat is the way to go. Other than that, you could consider the cave druid archetype (with the same feat and companion), if you intend to go underground.

[CockroachTeaParty]

What book is the scarab breastplate from? I've been researching vermin wild shape options and haven't come up with much. Any other bug-related magic items I should be sure to grab?

[Keneth]

It's from Ultimate Equipment. Pretty expensive, but well worth the gold if you ask me.