Build Help: Radagast :P

[unbutu]

I'm looking for suggestions on this thing I'd like to play. It's going to be a dude with many animal friends. I'm mainly looking for ways to improve their usefullness. (What they can do, how well they do it, the capacity to communicate it, )

The game is 3.5. Some feats and class features have been implemented from PF on a DM-approval basis.

I'd like to:
-Have my animal companion flank with the (very lonely) warrior
-Have my monstruous mount(Leadership) join them later (Maybe ? )
-Have my cohort be scouting animals (Mouse, bat, owl and such)
-Still helpfull with spells (Summoning meat to help warrior)
-Have plenty of Speak with animals. Will need a way to not use all my 1st levels slots with it. (Wand, permanency, other ? )

Human Druid
6-14-14-10-16-14 (It's a 3.5 28 point buy,flexible)
1.Spell Focus: Conjuration , Augment Summoning
2.
3. Blah Blah Blah
4. Retrain Blah Blah Blah to Companion Spellbound (http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/featbox.pl?feat=Companion_Spellbond)
5.
6.Leadership
7.
8.
9.Spirit's Gift (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/spirit-s-gift)
10.
11.
12.Evolved Companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/evolved-companion)

[unbutu]

I'll bump once: This is important enough that last nigh I dreamed someone answered this thread.

She was saying to max Alchemy starting at level 7. Yeah...

[mvpmack]

Max alchemy starting at level 7.

How important is being a full druid? You could always try going for the beastmaster PrC (complete adventurer), though going full druid is strictly stronger.

At mid levels, I'd consider buying a custom continuous item (probably headband) of speak with animals.

You don't really need dexterity; you have wild shape. I would not start with a 6 STR, as it makes you basically a cripple (unable to carry much of anything) while not in animal form.

Your 6th level feat should really be natural spell.

Is your DM seriously allowing leadership?

[Hiro Quester]

-Have plenty of Speak with animals. Will need a way to not use all my 1st levels slots with it. (Wand, permanency, other ? )


My druid character has a custom wondrous item, a hat of speak with Animals. 5/day use of the spell.

Hats are for interaction, according to slot affinities.

According to DMG, the cost is 2000 gp.
Command word activated: CL(1) x Spell level(1) x 2000;
With charges per day, Divide by (5 divided by charges per day). So it would be even cheaper with less charges.

Debatably, this hat would also enable a party member to speak with the druid when the druid is in wildshape. But that's a controversial solution. when I suggested it for this purpose, some (eggynack in particular) argued that your not having animal type means it should not work, and that a Pearl of Speech is a better (more "RAW") solution. (It wasn't in our books, so I couldn't use it anyway.) Our debate about that is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?391096-Druid-communication-in-wildshape-Solved).

But if you're building Radergast, perhaps you are not going to concentrate on wildshape, and this isn't an issue. (You not taking natural spell suggests that.) Then a hat of speak with animals would be just what you need. You could even pay more for more uses per day.

However, if you are okay with not using wildshape, let me second the Beastmaster PrC (CA p. 26) as possibly what you want.

It requires Skill focus (Handle animal), and 8 ranks in HA. So Druid 5 as the entry. (which would give you one/day use of wildshape). For Animal Companion purposes Beastmaster levels stack with druid levels.

But it also grants Speak with Animals as a class ability. 3/day at 3rd level, more at higher levels.

And it grants an extra animal companion at 4th level, a third at 7th and a 4th at 10th level. Perhaps this would be enough to not need to take leadership? Though having an array of forest creatures scouting and spying for you might be useful.

Another option would be to be a forest gnome instead of a human. They get a bonus language that enables simple communication with forest animals. (+2 con doesn't hurt either.)

The problem with strength can be solved with an Animal Companion like a Riding Dog, that can wear a saddle and saddlebag, and can carry most of your gear, and you if you are small. (Again, works well with Forest gnome.) Replace with a dire bat at 4th level, or a tiger at 7th level.

But if you don't plan on using wildshape much, I would increase your strength somewhat.

If you do plan on using wildshape, taking some from Dex can be reasonable. High dex is only important for Armor Class, etc. until you can wildshape into forms with better dex and strength.

You might also consider the Uncivilized trait (Unearthed Arcana, p. 90). Socially awkward with people, good with animals. Gives a +1 to Handle Animal and Wild empathy, but -1 to bluff, diplomacy and Gather information. (My DM let me take this as -1 GA, but a conditional +2 GA to checks made with animals.)

Edit: I forgot that Beastmaster does not advance spell casting. That's a big cost to pay.

[Twurps]

Seconding (or thirding?) the beastmaster. Just the first level counts as 4 levels of druid for Animal companion (stacking) and wouldn't hurt your casting to much. From there: More levels of beastmaster give you more companions: but at the expense of spelcasting, and thus your summoning options. Mix to taste.

Also: the natural bond feat is nice if you go the beastmaster route (for +3 druid levels to one of your companions)

[Lightlawbliss]

For speak with animals, you could be a forest gnome. Then you could speak with many animals all day long.

[Waker]

I think everyone has said the Druid and Beastmaster suggestions enough, so I'll say something else. What about Bard? Specifically there are variants in UA called the Savage and unofficially Wild that give you a number of the Druid and Ranger options, such as Summon Nature's Ally, an Animal Companion, Survival as a class skill and Wild Empathy with a class that has a Charisma focus. Sadly you would be lacking Handle Animal as a class skill.
Another PrC that might interest you is the Beast Heart Adept from Dungeonscape. It has a similar flavor to the Beastmaster, but instead of natural animals it goes with creatures like Winter Wolves and other magical beasts. Only downside of that class is that if you have an animal companion, it doesn't progress with this class.