Making a druid and need a few things clarified.

[ngilop]

Hey guys, so I am making adruid character for the first time in a long time and I have a question regarding animal companions aswell as a couple of feats

first off, at every 4 HD, do or or do I not add a +1 bonus to a stat for an animal companion, I don't think I do, but I just want to make certain

My goal is to go into combat with my animal companion so I took the Spellbound companion that allowed me to be within 30 feet instead o 5 to share spells also it allows me o cast tough spells at cose range but only on my companion so yeah, I can get some more safety heals on for the little guy

now on to feats.

im taking natural spell at 6th level of course, but would Initiate of Nature be worth it?

[JDL]

Your animal companion gains everything it normally would from the bonus hit dice, including extra feats every 3 HD and an extra point to one stat every 4 HD. You can't spend the point to take your companion above 2 Int, or it becomes a magical beast and thus invalid as a companion.

As for feats, I strongly suggest Spell Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning and Natural Spell as your first three feats. Initiate of Nature is a great feat as well. The bonus spells aren't terrible but the big attraction is the ability to command animals as an evil cleric commands undead. At level 9 the selection isn't great, since to command an animal you have to have a Druid level twice the animal's hit dice and most animals with 4 HD or less are pretty weak. Level 12 is ideal, since you can command two big beefy dire wolves or brown bears.

The Greenbound Summoning is also a ridiculously good feat for a druid and most DMs ban that feat due to its power level. If you can get away with it though, go for it.

[Hiro Quester]

I'm playing my first druid, too. Just got to 5th level.

I echo sf(conjuration) and augment summoning. I considered mant many other options, and Companion Spellbond was a strong temptation. But this does indeed make your summoned creatures much tougher. In very useful ways.

And your summoned creatures are one of the best druid features (well, AC, wildshape, casting too). In just about any situation, the option to choose a prepared spell or summon a (toughened) creature is leaning heavily towards summoning a creature. There's a lot of versatility there. And the augmentation makes them able to last a few rounds.

You don't summon much the first few levels, since they don't last that long. But at fifth level summoning d3 augmented crocodiles, or an augmented lion, is game-changing.

Edit:
Oh, and initiate of nature is good. But you can't take it till after 5th. And 6th is natural spell. So take it or companion spellbond at 9th.

[ngilop]

i have 5,400 gold to spend as well. I have zero clue on what to buy.

[hymer]

i have 5,400 gold to spend as well. I have zero clue on what to buy.

Some staples: Pearls are nice. A Pearl of Speech and some Pearls of Power as you like. You're a little low budget for Wilding Clasps, but you'll want to go there eventually. A wand of your first level healing spell of choice. A stat booster and cloak of resistance are nice for anyone, and so are handy haversacks and bags of holding.
Leather barding for your companion is pretty cheap, and with no ACP it's not a problem that the AC isn't proficient.

[ngilop]

what is a pearl of speech?

[Khedrac]

A pearl of speech (language) is an item from the Magic Item Compendium that allows speech in the designated language. It's description implies it melds with one (when placed under the tongue) so a nice DM will allow you to activate it in humanoid form and it keep working when wildshaped, but if not then just activate it in wildshape form and you can now talk to the party.

As for feats, it depends what type of druid you want to play.
If a summoner druid then Augment Summoning is the way to go.
If a companion-buffing druid then Spellbond Companion is great and also look at Natural Bond.
etc.

(If you really want to buff your companion overboard then look at the Arcane Hierophant prestige class - stack a load of wizard buffs on it too. My favourite anti-wizard technique is to drop an anti-magic field on my smilodon companion and then let it go grapple the wizard...)

[JDL]

Gear for a low level Druid consists of storage needs for your loot. A Handy Haversack should be your first priority. You have a huge advantage in the gear department, since most of your needs for attack and defense are covered with Wildshape, and indeed any gear you do buy becomes worthless when using this ability since it melds into your form and is nonfunctional.

Metamagic rods are a great investment. A Rod of Metamagic Extend, Lesser costs 3,000 gp and lets you double the length of three spells per day that are up to 3rd level.This can extend your summons enough to last several encounters, or extend those hour per level spells to last half the day. The best part is that even at higher levels they'll still be useful. Extend should be your first priority here.

The Pearl of Speech is quite useful, and cheap to boot. Definitely worth the investment at such a cheap cost.

Start saving for a Ring of the Beast (CC, 8,000 gp). This will let you treat all of your SNA spells, except for the highest you can cast, as if they were the next rank (SNA III is cast as if it were SNA IV, for example). This is a great way to beef up your lower level spell slots.

At higher levels you may wish to invest in Wild armor but it's quite expensive and the bonuses are minimal for the cost. You already have easier access to AC through spells and animal forms, plus at mid to high level play AC largely becomes an all or nothing game. Concealment and movement options are far more useful than mediocre AC.

In summary I'd buy the items below as soon as possible in the following order of priority:

A Handy Haversack (DMG, 2,000 gp)
A Rod of Metamagic Extend, Lesser (DMG, 3,000 gp)
A Pearl of Speech (MIC, 600 gp)
Ring of the Beast (CC, 8,000 gp)

[Andezzar]

If a companion-buffing druid then Spellbond Companion is great and also look at Natural Bond.
etc.Natural bond will not do much for a single class druid. It cannot improve the animal companion beyond that of a druid of your HD and it is unclear whether choosing a more powerful Animal Companion creates an effective druid level that can be improved by Natural Bond.


(If you really want to buff your companion overboard then look at the Arcane Hierophant prestige class - stack a load of wizard buffs on it too. My favourite anti-wizard technique is to drop an anti-magic field on my smilodon companion and then let it go grapple the wizard...)The problem with Arcane Hierophant is you lose druid caster levels.

[JDL]

Seconding the recommendation on avoiding prestige classes. A Druid gets a ton of goodies aside from caster level progression from their class levels, far more than a Cleric or Wizard. They're one of the few classes you really have to think hard about not taking straight to 20. There's some specific prestige classes that can make a Druid arguably better than pure, but they're probably not worth taking. After all, who doesn't want to be a huge elemental?

Your animal companion is a class feature that you tend to outgrow past mid level. Around level 10 your companion's BAB will start falling away from the average monster's AC for their CR, and your animal companion isn't going to have the kind of defenses to stand up to the really nasty stuff you can encounter. Spending feats on your companion to keep it up with the difficulty curve is simply weakening your own character in the long run. There's really no penalty for losing your animal companion in battle aside from the roleplaying aspect, since mechanically you can simply call another into your service. In fact, if you do have a favorite animal, I'd suggest releasing it from your service and keeping it at home as a pet, instead binding whatever big disposable nasty you can get at your adjusted level.

[eggynack]

Natural bond will not do much for a single class druid. It cannot improve the animal companion beyond that of a druid of your HD and it is unclear whether choosing a more powerful Animal Companion creates an effective druid level that can be improved by Natural Bond.
It does work, actually. The rules for alternative animal companions specify that they apply an adjustment to your druid level for the purposes of determining companion characteristics and special abilities. Natural bond, meanwhile, states that your effective druid level for the purposes of your animal companion cannot exceed your druid level, and before that it defines effective druid level as being for the purposes of, "Bonus Hit Dice, extra tricks, special abilities, and other bonuses that your animal companion receives." It is rather clear, by my reckoning anyway, that these two levels described are the same, given that they impact the animal companion's abilities in an identical manner. I can't see much reason to think that the two levels are different.

Anyway, on to other thread stuff. On initiate of nature, it's pretty good. Not the best, and mostly a filler feat for when you don't have other things to do with your feats, but it does its minor minionmancy thing in commendable fashion, and the spells aren't the worst. As for augment summoning, mentioned a few times, it's a reasonable feat when books are a bit limited, but somewhat out of its league when you have books as far afield as players guide to faerun. Greenbound summoning was mentioned, for example, which is better in most conceivable ways and a few ways that are inconceivable, and both rashemi elemental summoning (UE, 45) and ashbound (ECS, 50) are significantly better as well, in the latter case if only because of the lack of prerequsite.

Another option worth considering, as you seem to be going the animal companion route, is exalted companion (BoED, 42). The big benefit there is applying the celestial template to companions such that you can give them vow of poverty for a pile of bonuses out of scale with other feats. You may also want to start thinking about a form adding feat for wild shape. Aberration wild shape (LoM, 178) is the best of the bunch, but requires that you take aberration blood, which would happen at this approximate stage of the game, or you could take dragon wild shape (Draconomicon, 52) or exalted wild shape (BoED, 42), which are both excellent, if not quite on aberration's scale.

As for cash usage, I second the lesser rod of extend spell. The big benefit there is extending long duration and low level buffs, and the druid list has a lot of them. The big spells include the heart of X line from complete mage, the primal line from dragon magic, snowsight/obscuring snow from frostburn, snowshoes (SpC, 194), and a number of others. Another classic maneuver is extending creeping cold (SpC, 55) which deals massive damage for the cost. It's an amount of utility significantly out of scale with just about anything else you could buy at this level.

[sleepyphoenixx]

One item that was not yet mentioned is the Chronocharm of the Uncaring Archmage (MIC, 500gp). It lets you cast a summon of up to 3rd level as a standard action, is incredibly cheap and you can extend its usefulness with a Ring of the Beast (CC, 8000gp).

[ngilop]

My plan is to mostly be wildshaped and do the long term buffs and enter combat with my animal companion., so until I can afford a bunch of wilding clasps, I most likely won't be entering combat due to the whole ' ou have no equipment'

what all feast improved upon those 2 aspects (wildshape and animal companion)

[Hiro Quester]

Buy your party arcane caster a wand of mage armor to cast on you. 750 gp. First level caster's spell, so it lasts an hour. But good for using when you wildshape. Then cast barkskin on yourself before you wildshape. Those two should keep your AC when in wildshape at reasonable levels.

[eggynack]

My plan is to mostly be wildshaped and do the long term buffs and enter combat with my animal companion., so until I can afford a bunch of wilding clasps, I most likely won't be entering combat due to the whole ' ou have no equipment'

what all feast improved upon those 2 aspects (wildshape and animal companion)
My listed feats are still very good in that context. Aberration wild shape, dragon wild shape, and exalted companion all tend to work best in a magic heavy plan, though each has its own things to provide in terms of combat (dragon possibly less than the others). Similarly, the three animal companion feats that have been mentioned, natural bond, companion spellbond, and exalted companion, are pretty much the only three worth anything, and don't rely on items, especially exalted.

If you do want to beat face though, and feel like your lack of items in a wild shape is harming your ability to do that, you really shouldn't. Even when you start being able to really itemize, your focus should be on things that enhance your druidic capabilities, rather than things that help you punch better. Your magic can more than handle AC with luminous armor, and magic weapons with greater magic fang, and even without those things a classic combat form like fleshraker is amazing. I'm not saying you should beat face. In point of fact, I consider it generally inferior to using wild shape for utility (desmodu hunting bat is a classic along those lines), to back up your more character central casting, only resorting to face beating when you run low on magic. However, if face beating is what you want, proper itemization won't make you any better at it as you are now.

Buy your party arcane caster a wand of mage armor to cast on you. 750 gp. First level caster's spell, so it lasts an hour. But good for using when you wildshape. Then cast barkskin on yourself before you wildshape. Those two should keep your AC when in wildshape at reasonable levels.
As I mentioned above, luminous armor from the book of exalted deeds should be more than enough. It's a second level spell that lasts hours/level, providing +5 to AC and an effective extra +4 against melee attacks. You need to be good to target yourself with it though, which could hamper its use depending on overall build. Alternatively, a pearl of power only runs 1,000 GP, and it gets a casting from the wizard himself, which is better. Not really sure why barkskin is coming after wild shape either, unless we're assuming this is happening at that narrow sliver of time that is level five.

[Invader]

It's a bit pricey atm but a collar of healing is a great item if you're really going to rely on your animal companion in combat. It's even better if you can convince your dm to let it heal an amount you specify instead of all 50 at once.