Epic Druid for an Epic Story

[Merkir]

First let me set the picture. I game in a group that loves campaigns that span multiple years. We are preparing for the second installment of a trilogy. Since the online builder at Wizards does not have a set future, we are dropping 4e to come back to 3.5e. I am extremely rust on the 3.5 side.

character:
I will be playing the son of the hero, from our last campaign. His father was a hybrid ranger/warden, with a birth line directly from Melora.
Race will be elvish (can be a variant of elf)
Starting level is 4
Stats are (Go into the point buy tab and you may use up to -18 points but no single base ability score will exceed an 18. Your bonus may make it a 20) so thinking of going two 18s, a 14, two 10s, and a 11.
Was thinking of a druid with zen archery, to fill the look of his fathers son.
I am a huge dragon fan and look dipping into that when possible. (my character had strong dragon ties in last campaign, saved the life of this character by scarifying myself. so can easily rp a dragon side in by this character wanting to know more about the character that saved his life.)

I would love any ideas, builds, etc. I know one aspect I need to cover is an off healer. We have been told that all books are open.
I do ask that if you post builds and such, please break it down and treat me like I am a nub. :)

-Jonahan Pax

[Chambers]

A Mystic Ranger sounds like a good class. It's a variant of the Ranger class in Dragon #336. It gets up to 5th level spells and gets them by 10th level, adding some Druid spells to the Ranger spell list. You could take levels in Dragon Devotee (Races of the Dragon) to add the Draconic aspect to your character. It's a decent prestige class that gives Fighter bonus feats and/or Precision Damage increases, as well as ability score improvements, natural weapons, and a few Sorcerer casting levels.

Another option for an Archery focused Druid would be the Prestige Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm). Druid 6/Prestige Ranger 14 is a simple and effective character. You end up with a Druid caster level of 13 (7th level spells), Combat Style feats, as well as the option to prepare Ranger spells in your Druid spell slots. If you want to be more Nature Archer than Wildshape Druid of Doom I'd recommend the Druid/Prestige Ranger.

There's a few Alternative Class Features in Dragon Magic for druid and rangers that you can take to add some Draconic flavor, such as the Phynxkin Companion. Dragon Magic also has some racial variants that give the Dragonblood sub-type. For Elves you'd take the Forestfold Elf; that lets you take the various Draconic Heritage feats found in Dragon Magic and Races of the Dragon.