Help with a Druid

[Darthor]

Hello,

I'm creating my character in a Hi-OP casual game. We all agreed in some Homebrew rules. The Basics:

It's Gestalt, 32 points buy. And there is no restriction on Double-casting PRC and in going PRC on both sides.

What i am about to play:

Wizard 6, Arcane Hierophant 10 / Druid 6, Master of Many Forms X, maybe Warshaper...

So, my doubts:

1. As far as i have searched, the Warshaper PrC does NOT progress your maximum Hit Die for wild shaping forms, is that correct?

2. If i take levels in Warshaper, while i'm progressing on Arcane Hierophant it would increase the Hit Die limit correct?

If you have any other suggestions they are welcome. We all know the kind of broken things that can happen with those rules, we are aware, it's just a casual game.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Darthor

[Ansem]

Amulet of wildshape will make up for the lost HD.
Gives you +4HD Wildshape

[eggynack]

1. As far as i have searched, the Warshaper PrC does NOT progress your maximum Hit Die for wild shaping forms, is that correct?
Yes, that is indeed correct.


2. If i take levels in Warshaper, while i'm progressing on Arcane Hierophant it would increase the Hit Die limit correct?
It looks like it would. MoMF stacks with druid for the HD limit aspect, and arcane hierophant combines with druid levels to determine HD, so it should all stack up alright.


If you have any other suggestions they are welcome. We all know the kind of broken things that can happen with those rules, we are aware, it's just a casual game.
Depends on what you want to do, I suppose. I'm not the biggest fan of warshaper levels on a druid build because it doesn't do all that much, so I would ditch those. Also, unfortunately, it doesn't look like the ability to assume colossal animal forms by combining MoMF's gargantuan wild shape and megalodon empowerment (Storm, 118) does anything, so that's a sad thing. Past that, druids can do anything, and wizards can probably do even more anything, so it all depends on what sort of anything you want to do.

[Darthor]

Thanks for the help!

Well, i'm planning on buffing (Priority: Me>Companion>Allies(I bet they will have some buffs), meleeing or adapting with Wild Shape (sometimes forms with high dex and fly, etc) and maybe a little blasting (ray spells mostly). I'm a human level 4 at the moment (Wizard 4 / Druid 4). My feats right now are: Alertness(MoMF), Endurance(MoMF), and Knowledge Devotion.

I'm planning on taking Arcane Strike, but i really don't know about the future feats (Besides Natural Spell at lvl 6). And i have no clue where to spend my gold(6000gp). At the moment, for AC bonus, i'm thinking on using Luminous Armor....maybe Shield when needed.... I already read the Druid Handbook (great stuff), and some guides about wizards.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Eggynack already answered your questions so i'll just throw out some suggestions.

Your class selection doesn't really synergize.
You have all the spells you'd need to play as a full caster on one side and a heavy melee focus on the other side but not enough actions to use even the caster side fully, let alone both sides.
You'll also be very short on feats if you want to use both melee and spellcasting to their full potential.
Instead of trying to do everything you'd get more out of focusing on either spellcasting or melee with one side and using the other side to take classes that grant passive boni to enhance your specialization and/or grant additional actions.

Something i like to do on a druid gestalt is throwing a lot of dips on the other side that synergize with high Wisdom and shore up weaknesses.
Swordsage 2 gets you a few maneuvers and Wis to AC. Make it Swordsage 4 and you get your Wis to damage (Diamond Mind or Tiger Claw are good disciplines)
Shiba Protector 1 grants Wis to hit and damage.
Psychic Rogue 2 gets you Evasion and 2 fighter feats (for qualifying for Shiba Protector, for example) and also lets you use psionic focus which synergizes well with Diamond Mind
Witch Slayer 2 gets you Mettle and has easy requirements.
Warblade 1 gets you White Raven Tactics and Iron Heart Surge.
Heir of Syberis 2 gets you a Syberis Dragonmark 1/day (Mind Blank or True Creation are nice) and also qualifies you for Mark of the Dauntless and Mark of the Stars (which are awesome)
Ardent makes a nice filler for the rest. It is Wisdom dependant and can get you a few action economy boosters (Synchronicity, Anticipatory Strike, Temporal Acceleration, Schism, Sense Danger) in addition to other utility powers.

If you're set on your class selection at least take a level in something that isn't Wizard 6, because that doesn't get you anything. There's plenty of arcane PrC's with easy requirements that advance casting and also get you something else at first level.

[Darthor]

Eggynack already answered your questions so i'll just throw out some suggestions.

Your class selection doesn't really synergize.
You have all the spells you'd need to play as a full caster on one side and a heavy melee focus on the other side but not enough actions to use even the caster side fully, let alone both sides.
You'll also be very short on feats if you want to use both melee and spellcasting to their full potential.
Instead of trying to do everything you'd get more out of focusing on either spellcasting or melee with one side and using the other side to take classes that grant passive boni to enhance your specialization and/or grant additional actions.

Something i like to do on a druid gestalt is throwing a lot of dips on the other side that synergize with high Wisdom and shore up weaknesses.
Swordsage 2 gets you a few maneuvers and Wis to AC. Make it Swordsage 4 and you get your Wis to damage (Diamond Mind or Tiger Claw are good disciplines)
Shiba Protector 1 grants Wis to hit and damage.
Psychic Rogue 2 gets you Evasion and 2 fighter feats (for qualifying for Shiba Protector, for example) and also lets you use psionic focus which synergizes well with Diamond Mind
Witch Slayer 2 gets you Mettle and has easy requirements.
Warblade 1 gets you White Raven Tactics and Iron Heart Surge.
Heir of Syberis 2 gets you a Syberis Dragonmark 1/day (Mind Blank or True Creation are nice) and also qualifies you for Mark of the Dauntless and Mark of the Stars (which are awesome)
Ardent makes a nice filler for the rest. It is Wisdom dependant and can get you a few action economy boosters (Synchronicity, Anticipatory Strike, Temporal Acceleration, Schism, Sense Danger) in addition to other utility powers.

If you're set on your class selection at least take a level in something that isn't Wizard 6, because that doesn't get you anything. There's plenty of arcane PrC's with easy requirements that advance casting and also get you something else at first level.

Thanks for the reply too.

These are some great options, i will check them! If i focus melee or Spellcasting, would you suggest anything for my magic items?

[sleepyphoenixx]

You don't really need a lot of items either way. I like to get Soulfire armor early no matter the build just because it's an important defense that applies to a lot of attacks. YMMV depending on your DM.
Another good thing to have if you spend a lot of time in wild shape is an Amulet of Natural Attacks (on a Wilding Clasp) with the standard defensive enhancements (Warning and Defending) that you only need on one weapon.
Getting active enhancements for all your natural attacks is usually to expensive to bother with imo.

For casters, lesser metamagic rods (Extend, Sculpt, Chain) are useful and not too pricy, Ankh of Ascension and a Bead of Karma to boost CL, Ring of the Beast if you want to summon.

For melee i like to get the Mantle of the Beast asap for swift action wildshape and automatic Magic Weapon on natural attacks.

Other than that i usually just get the standards (Wis booster, Belt of Battle, Handy Haversack etc.) and use the rest of my money for utility items (Feather Tokens, Vestment of Many Styles, Artificer's Monocle, Survival Pouch to name a few).

[eggynack]

Thanks for the help!

Well, i'm planning on buffing (Priority: Me>Companion>Allies(I bet they will have some buffs), meleeing or adapting with Wild Shape (sometimes forms with high dex and fly, etc) and maybe a little blasting (ray spells mostly). I'm a human level 4 at the moment (Wizard 4 / Druid 4). My feats right now are: Alertness(MoMF), Endurance(MoMF), and Knowledge Devotion.
You might satisfy the alertness prerequisite due to your familiar providing it, so you could possibly skip that. I'm not really sure why you need knowledge devotion, as you could probably do better with that slot. As for spells, for second level druid spell based buffing, I'd go with mass snake's swiftness (SpC, 193), and maybe the combination of obscuring snow (Frost, 103) and snowsight (Frost, 104) if you want some absurdity. With your spell slot quantity, preparing something like instant of power (FoW, 114) might be a good idea at an earlier level than it otherwise would be. For the druid blasting end of the spectrum, splinterbolt (SpC, 203) is usually the most powerful option, though alicorn lance (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20020719a) is better at low levels if you can access it.

Aside from that, sleepyphoenixx is correct that your plan is a bit on the action intensive side. You don't necessarily need to get rid of the class structure, but spending your time hitting stuff when you have the combined slots of a wizard and a druid seems rather counterproductive. You should ideally be spending a good amount of slots on long term buffs and other low action cost options, just because you will usually have more slots than time to use them. You may want to look at the master of many forms bible (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-general/threads/1060931) if you choose to stick with that route, and I can PM over a copy of the druid handbook I've been working on if you seek more druid spell stuff.