What race should I pick?

[killem2]

All but one person in our party died last night he ran, but the rest are making new characters.


I am going to be a druid summoner with all the trimmings.


DM says we start at:

level 8 with LA +0

Level 7 with la +1

or level 6 with la +2.


What do you suggest?

[Psinoob]

7 with LA +1

[sideswipe]

anthapamorphic bat (cant spell) from monster manual. its the druids choice apparently lol.
huge boost to wisdom

personally i like killorens from races of wild. though i have never made a druid myself

[Blackjackg]

For a druid you're almost always best off with a +0 LA race. Two levels of spellcasting and wild shape will always be better than the benefits of an LA race.

Anthropomorphic Bat from Savage Species is the cheesiest option, with a +6 to wisdom and a handful of other goodies, but no sensible DM would allow it. Same goes for a venerable dragonwrought kobold.

Human or Strongheart Halfling is always a good choice, since the Druid doesn't give you any extra feats, and there are plenty of cool feats that can help a summoner druid. Having four feats at level 8 instead of three is a big boost.

Other races probably won't be as optimized for druids as the aforementioned, but there are lots of very flavorful options. If you're going for something other than optimization, name it and we can help you look.

[eggynack]

Well, the best druid races, by my reasoning anyway, are human, strongheart halfling (FRCS, 18), desert half-orc (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/environmentalRacialVariants.htm#desertHalfOrcs), anthropomorphic bat (SS, 215), shifter (RoE, 25), and maybe jermalaine (MM II, 131). The first two, human and strongheart halfling, are just regularly good races, because they grant a bonus feat. Similarly, anthropomorphic bat and jermalaine are obviously good because they grant a huge +6 to wisdom.

Desert half-orc and shifter are more complicated, and they are actually probably what you're looking for on a summoning build. Half-orc is a good race because it grants you access to half-orc substitution levels (RoD, 159), which among other things trades away a wild shape use/day for augment summoning at level 6. That's basically two free feats, and you see the benefits immediately if you start at level 8. Similarly, shifters are good, both because of shifter substitution levels (RoE, 126), which are great on the first and fourth levels, and because of moonspeaker (RoE, 143), which is just generally amazing. You might also consider tossing dragonborn (RotD, 8) onto a couple of these, as needed. Mostly on anthropomorphic bat and desert half-orc, because those don't lose all that much for the free constitution.

[Phelix-Mu]

See if your DM will let you play a lesser version of an uldra, being a humanoid for +0 LA (and maybe losing one or two other racial abilities). They are small (nice for caster), and have good adjustments for a druid (bonus to wisdom). Also, favored class druid! Not that that means anything around many tables, but they are a cool race.

[Blueiji]

Don't go for anything with LA, due to the delayed casting it is almost always not worth it.

That said, some good LA 0 races for a Druid are Human, Strongheart Halfling, and Lesser Aasimar. The former two both get bonus feats and the latter gets a racial WIS bonus.

Also, since you'll most likely be Wildshaped 24/7 (assuming you have Natural Spell, which you should), you don't gain/lose much from a race that comes with any bonuses or penalties to physical ability scores. Because of this, normally good races like Dwarf become slightly less good, while things like Elves turn out to not be as bad.

[Jgosse]

Lesser Aasimar ask dm if you can switch the CHA for WIS.

[bekeleven]

Well, the best druid races, by my reasoning anyway, are human, strongheart halfling (FRCS, 18), desert half-orc (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/environmentalRacialVariants.htm#desertHalfOrcs), anthropomorphic bat (SS, 215), shifter (RoE, 25), and maybe jermalaine (MM II, 131). The first two, human and strongheart halfling, are just regularly good races, because they grant a bonus feat. Similarly, anthropomorphic bat and jermalaine are obviously good because they grant a huge +6 to wisdom.

Desert half-orc and shifter are more complicated, and they are actually probably what you're looking for on a summoning build. Half-orc is a good race because it grants you access to half-orc substitution levels (RoD, 159), which among other things trades away a wild shape use/day for augment summoning at level 6. That's basically two free feats, and you see the benefits immediately if you start at level 8. Similarly, shifters are good, both because of shifter substitution levels (RoE, 126), which are great on the first and fourth levels, and because of moonspeaker (RoE, 143), which is just generally amazing. You might also consider tossing dragonborn (RotD, 8) onto a couple of these, as needed. Mostly on anthropomorphic bat and desert half-orc, because those don't lose all that much for the free constitution.

For summoning:

Another vote for Shifter here. I recommend taking Shifter Druid sub levels, going Druid 8/Moonspeaker 3/Druid+1 for your first 12 levels. This gains you the goodies of the first 3 levels of moonspeaker as fast as possible while still getting you the best part of Shifter Druids quickly - mainly, if you take Natural Bond as your 12th level feat, you gain summons as a standard at level 12. From there on in, I personally spend the remaining 8 levels with 3 levels of moonspeaker, 1 more level of druid, 3 levels of paragnostic apostle and 1 level of contemplative. But if you like, you can fill it in with Moonspeaker 8 and buff your shifting.

Important feats for summoning are Ashbound and Greenbound Summoning, Augment Summoning (which you get for free at Moonspeaker 1), Natural Bond (as I said, this lets you level your Shifter beast spirit without needing to spend over half of your levels in Druid)... Beckon the Frozen is one of my personal summoner's touches, Imbued Summoning is a great action-economy boosting metamagic, and consider Residual Metamagic if you pick up 1 or more metas for better mileage.

All said, you'll be casting all of your summons for x4 duration, as a standard action, augmented, frozen, greenbound, +3/hit, fast healing... and as a bonus can cast summon monster a couple of times per day as well, thanks to contemplative.

For anything besides focused summoning:

There are maybe 3 prestige classes that keep the power and versatility of the base druid class. Druid 20 with natural spell is really all you need to build a CoDzilla powerhouse. The best prestige classes for it are Planar Shepard, Lion of Talisid, and a few others (like Arcane Hierophant with EQ tricks).

[Piggy Knowles]

You can play a buomman. (Planar Handbook, IIRC? I'll check my books and edit in the source/page.) +2 Wis for LA 0, thematically interesting, and they don't speak, which is normally a drawback but not so bad for someone who will spend a fair bit of time in animal form.

[eggynack]

You can play a buomman. (Planar Handbook, IIRC? I'll check my books and edit in the source/page.) +2 Wis for LA 0, thematically interesting, and they don't speak, which is normally a drawback but not so bad for someone who will spend a fair bit of time in animal form.
It might be possible to get rid of that drawback with dragonborn.

[Ruethgar]

Lesser Aasimar ask dm if you can switch the CHA for WIS.

Or go Urban Druid with the Magic Blooded Template to switch WIS for CHA.

[Piggy Knowles]

It might be possible to get rid of that drawback with dragonborn.

That... is an interesting one. By RAW, the Vow of Silence is a racial feature, and would disappear when the buomman is reborn. Thematically, though, I'm not sure how I feel about it - they don't speak not because they're physically incapable, but because they all make a racial vow never to speak at birth, and take Wisdom damage and penalties if they break the vow.

I'd probably allow it as a DM, with the fluff that the pact with Bahamut is stronger than their original racial Vow of Silence, but it's still worth thinking about.

It's worth pointing out, by the way, that they're only really a good druid race for druids starting at level 6 or above, or if retraining is allowed. Natural Spell eliminates the need to take Nonverbal Spellcasting, but if you're starting from level 1, it'll suck to need both Nonverbal Spellcasting AND Natural Spell, despite the fact that they do more or less the same thing.

[killem2]

Level 8 druid chosen:

I went ahead with, dragonborn arctic (dragon 306 or 310 can't remember) racial change, Anthropamorphic Bat.

Stats, pre racial/templates/ items:

16 -> Con -> + 4 = 20
14 -> Dex -> - 2 = 12
13 -> Str - > - 4 = 9
16 -> Int - > -- = 16
18 -> Wis -> +8 = 28
10 -> Cha -> -4 = 6

I'm also going with a Fleshraker as my pet, but also focusing on trying to max it's poison dc, so it Venomfire can be used.

Going harder into summoning with the following feats chosen (we use flaws aswell):

Greenbound, Ashbound, Initiate of Malar, Summon Elemental, and Natural Spell.

Level 9 I will pick up Rashemi Elemental Summoning.

With the money I had, I picked up amulet of mighty fists +1 for the raker fo rnow, I'll get him necklace later.

I got me the ring of the beast, with clasp, a nature symbol, amulet with clasp of wisdom, paid for dragon born.

I still have 4,550 gold left.

The other party members so far is a Half Giant who uses guns, as well as a Focused Specialist Evoker (highly blaster tuned), and the other we don't know what he is rolling yet. I expect to be cast as the melee role for my summoning.

[eggynack]

4,550 is kinda awkward, cause it's right above the cost of a wilding clasp. My initial instinct was a chronocharm of the uncaring archmage (MIC, 86) which'll run you 500 GP, but you can probably toss that ability on another item for cheaper than a wilding clasp, and I think it hits your periapt slot anyway. A lesser rod of extend fits into your range pretty well, and it doesn't need a clasp (I don't even think you can clasp it), because it's mostly for long term buffs. Golden desert honey (CM, 136) has always been a pretty classic way to spend excess GP too, especially on a summoning build. It runs pretty expensive though.