Help on a druid build in an unoptmized enviroment

[ildrain_quagot]

I'm a newbie at a Core/Faerun game with a bit of splat pending DM approval. It is, as far as i can tell, a heavily unoptimized group (in our last game there were two elf rangers), and i want to play a Druid. But I realy don't want to break the game (yet, still be able to get us out of the frying pan if necessary).

My plan is to not focus on anything, have some sunmoning capability, a reasonable animal companion and a few wildshape tricks up my sleeve.

The concept of the character is an Alec Holland (DC Swamp Thing) type, he used to be an Alchemist in a big city but got blown up in a caravan attack and was saved by "nature" and is now a ruthless warrior of the green. In this group we have a mage, a cleric, a warrior, a rogue and a ranger (no idea on the builds).

Here's what i got:

Human\Druid of Mielikki
1: Spell focus Summoning\Augumented Summoning
3: Rapid Spell
6: Natural Spell
9: Natural Bond (want to get a Fleshraker)
12: Dragon Wild Shape (not sure about this one, might be too powerful)
15: Initiate of Nature

So, what do you guys think?

[eggynack]

Those are pretty reasonable options, which may be a negative thing. I'm not the biggest fan of rapid spell, as higher leveled summons are so much more useful in most cases, and there're some ways to get the ability without the feat, but it's fine. Still though, druid build optimization can get you some great stuff, but druids are all about the list. If you want to not overwhelm folks, putting together a list of only reasonable spells is the best first step, and if you want to overwhelm folks, putting together a list of great spells is the first step for that too.

In any case, apart from being able to save the day without doing much, which druids do natively because of spontaneous summoning, it's not clear what kindsa stuff you want to do. So, what kindsa stuff do you want to do, particularly in terms of casting. The druid list can accommodate just about any plan, after all.

Edit: By the by, on the not-optimizing plan, the way you're going about it might be the opposite of the way you should. The first druid feat in any specialization usually does an incredible amount, whether we're talking about dragon wild shape or greenbound summoning, and other feats in that specialization do a lot less, or just don't stack with your first pick. So, the next feat after dragon wild shape would either be a mediocre combat or wild shape booster, or exalted wild shape, while the next feat after greenbound would be something like ashbound/augment, or something like rashemi elemental summoning. In other words, if you want to be suboptimal, it might be best to specialize in one facet of druid ability above all else.