Looking to make an elemental druid, need help

[JamesW]

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by and helping out!

So, I am looking to make a druid focusing almost entirely on the elemental side of things.

Here are some options I have found and I am trying to figure out how best to go about it...

Elemental Companion - I know it is not the best, but keep in mind that I am looking to optimize an Elemental Druid.

Goliath Druid Substitution Levels 1 and 12 - Level1 lets me summon earth elementals one catagory larger than normal. Level 12 lets me wild shape into an Earth Elemental.

Not entirely sure if Wild Shape is something I want to work with yet or not... I might just want to focus on summoning elementals...

Feats

Augment Summoning - Requires Spell Focus: Conjuration. Gives my summons +4 str and +4 con. Not sure if it is necessary or not yet...

Any help in this area would be much appreciated!

[Kuulvheysoon]

IF you're looking to focus on Air, I believe that Raptorans have some air-elemental focused abilities (IIRC if they're Sorceror or Druid ACFs, though).

[eggynack]

You should avoid the goliath druid substitution levels. The first lets you summon better earth elementals, but it stops your ability to summon any other elementals. You also have to be a goliath, which is a bad thing. Earth elementals are nice, but it's just not generally worth the trade off. You should consider picking up Rashemi elemental summoning, from Unapproachable East, because that's the best elemental summoning feat (and possibly just the best summoning feat) in the game. Also look into ashbound summoning, from Eberron campaign setting, because doubling summoning duration, and adding a +3 to their attack bonus, is sweet. For wild shape, I'd just pick up natural spell and leave it at that. You don't really have to optimize it at all for it to be good. Just become a desmodu hunting bat from MMII, and you should be good to go.

[Waker]

The Summon Elemental Reserve feat will let you repeatedly summon elementals as long as you have a summoning spell of 4th level or higher available, plus it increases your caster level for summoning spells by +1. The feat is from Complete Mage.

[Beleron]

A level of Holt Warden or Visionary Seeker at lvl 6, giving you Knowledge: Religion, can lead to a level of Contemplative at 11 for the Summoner domain.

[eggynack]

I forgot one. How's about augment elemental from Magic of Eberron page 46. It gives summoned elementals a +2 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls, and temporary HP equal to twice their HP. In other words, it's a second augment summoning that stacks with the first and only works on elementals.

[Crasical]

I'm running an earth/fire lava tiki druidess in a WLD game, and I have to say my earth elemental companion has been worth his weight in gold. Earth glide is great, as is surfing up the wall to the ceiling and then dropping through the ceiling to goomba stomp the target with your ludicrous weight.

Also, being a Goliath opens up Stonespeaker Guardian to you, which will let you eventually earth glide freely yourself.

[eggynack]

I'm running an earth/fire lava tiki druidess in a WLD game, and I have to say my earth elemental companion has been worth his weight in gold. Earth glide is great, as is surfing up the wall to the ceiling and then dropping through the ceiling to goomba stomp the target with your ludicrous weight.
Elemental companion is alright. It just seems generally worse than an animal companion. It doesn't work quite as well at being a mobile buff platform, and it's usually worse at beating people up. You also lose out on the companion swapping utility. It's not the most common maneuver in the world, but it's nice to have. I'd just keep the AC, for beating people up, and pick up the summon elemental reserve feat, for utility purposes. It seems better than the alternative where you get the elemental companion, and pick up wild cohort.



Also, being a Goliath opens up Stonespeaker Guardian to you, which will let you eventually earth glide freely yourself.
I can't say I've ever looked at that one. It seems a bit on the meh side of things, just in terms of class features, because it doesn't advance AC's at all, and it doesn't advance wild shape in a meaningful way. That's not even considering the prerequisites, which are highly problematic. Goliath has an LA, and on a druid, LA are the worst possible thing. The two feats are also a bit on the irritating side. You're getting into this PrC at like level 10, because I'm not taking stone form before natural spell. Focusing only on earth elementals, as you would with the sub levels, just seems like a bad idea, because orglashes are the thing you really want out of rashemi elemental summoning. On the plus side, it looks like you can summon oreads out of 5th level slots, and that means crazy 5th level earthquakes.