[3.5/PF] Gestalting a Reincarnated Druid

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

Ok so I am gonna be playing in an upcoming game soon.
We are staring at 5th level, so I start with my Many Lives ability.

But I am not sure what to gestalt with the Druid. My character can continue to come back from the dead, but only vulnerable to Death Effects that can cause permanent death as Reincarnate cannot revive someone killed in that way.

So is there any class who has ways to get around Death effects?

I know Living Monolith PrC is immune to it at level 10 of its PrC classes. But that is somewhere between level 15-17.

[Jack_Simth]

Ok so I am gonna be playing in an upcoming game soon.
We are staring at 5th level, so I start with my Many Lives ability.

But I am not sure what to gestalt with the Druid. My character can continue to come back from the dead, but only vulnerable to Death Effects that can cause permanent death as Reincarnate cannot revive someone killed in that way.

So is there any class who has ways to get around Death effects?

I know Living Monolith PrC is immune to it at level 10 of its PrC classes. But that is somewhere between level 15-17.

Is this 3.5 with Pathfinder content, or Pathfinder with 3.5 content? Makes some difference.

The general go-to is Death Ward, which can be gotten permanently via the Soulfire armor property from the Book of Exalted Deeds. +4 Equivalent.

Do be warned, though: if they animate your remains before you reincarnate, you stay undead. Your best bet is to not let people find out (good luck with that, DMs pretty much always want to threaten the characters, it's part of the job).

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

Pathfinder with 3.5

Many Lives (Ex)

At 5th level, if a reincarnated druid is killed, she may automatically reincarnate (as the spell) 1 day later. The reincarnated druid appears in a safe location within 1 mile of her previous body. At will for the next 7 days, she can sense the presence of her remains as if using locate object as a spell-like ability. If she is killed during these 7 days, she remains dead and does not reincarnate. The many lives ability does not function if the reincarnated druid is slain by a death effect. A reincarnated druid cannot be raised from the dead or resurrected, though she can be reincarnated.

This says I get reincarnated within 1 mile of the old body, so if someone animates my flesh it shouldn't matter as I get reborn into a new body.

[JerichoPenumbra]

I've been a fan of Daggerspell Shaper. Not bad mechanically compared to the other Daggerspell PrC and the ability to slap the magical properties of your daggers onto natural attacks is nice. Gestalt it with Knife master Rogue and pick up the Hidden Weapons ninja trick to get +1.5/level on sleight of hand to hide weapons. They'll never find your knives!

Depending on if you can use ACF from a Dragon Magazine, there's a feature called Aura of Sanctity in DM 349 for Paladins. Lose Turn Undead (which I suppose would be Channel Energy in PF) and gain immunity to one effect of your choice, one option of which is Death effects. As an added bonus, allies get a +4 on saves against the effect you chose while in your aura of courage.

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

I don't really care if they find my weapons is you know what I mean. When I reincarnate I can track down my body for 1 week to find my gear and such.

Taking a dip into Paladin will be hard as Druids require you to have a Neutral alignment but that is very helpful.

Death Ward from 3,5 is gold because it makes you immune to death effects, where as the Pf version gives you a +4 to your saves against it. Now Reincarnated Druid already gets a +4 save (Untyped) so the +4 morale bonus would stack but thats just a +8, if I fail the save my character is dead permanently.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

(Unarmed) Swordsage is generally a superb choice to gestalt with Druid. Also consider a (Cloistered) Cleric dip for Knowledge Devotion and Animal Devotion and to DMM: Persist your buffs. Master of Many Forms and Warshaper are also good gestalt choices once you get past 5th level.

[Troacctid]

3 levels of Celestial Mystic (BoED) makes you immune to magical death effects.

[Jack_Simth]

I don't really care if they find my weapons is you know what I mean. When I reincarnate I can track down my body for 1 week to find my gear and such.

Taking a dip into Paladin will be hard as Druids require you to have a Neutral alignment but that is very helpful.

Death Ward from 3,5 is gold because it makes you immune to death effects, where as the Pf version gives you a +4 to your saves against it. Now Reincarnated Druid already gets a +4 save (Untyped) so the +4 morale bonus would stack but thats just a +8, if I fail the save my character is dead permanently.

Funny thing... the Soulfire armor property from the Book of Exalted Deeds doesn't actually reference the spell Death Ward in the description; I usually just say that you're getting Death Ward because the descriptions match up well and it usually saves a lot of time explaining.

Another option might be Oracle, if third party content is allowed. The Forsaken Oracle curse (www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/oracle-curses#TOC-Forsaken-3PP-) grants Resurrection 1/week at 15th... however, certain base races have a special Oracle favoured class bonus of "Treat the [races]'s level as +½ higher for the purpose of determining the effects of the oracle’s curse ability" - Gnomes, Halflings, Changelings, Tengu, and maybe a few others - which means you could, theoretically, get the ability at 10th level (and a raise dead at 7th, two levels from now, but that's less useful with the Reincarnate you already have).

Another option, of course, is to arrange for a scroll or two of the spell you need, and someone in the party who can use it.

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

My point is more, if you are killed via Death Effect you cannot be reincarnated, and the Reincarnated Druid archetype removes the ability to be raised from the dead by Raised Dead, or Resurrected. So all three methods get denied and save for possibly a Wish or Miracle spell being cast that character would be dead-dead.

Death Ward is the spell used to create Soulfire. So it is a good thing to use.So for immunity to Death Effects 25,000 GP is not bad

[TheifofZ]

Pathfinder with 3.5

This says I get reincarnated within 1 mile of the old body, so if someone animates my flesh it shouldn't matter as I get reborn into a new body.
Due to how Animate Dead and all it's nasty evil Undead Raising brothers functions, in fact, it -does- matter.
Because, in fact, the text for Animate Dead states that Animated dead have the soul trapped within the Undead body.
Yes, that is 'as Trap the Soul' or Soul Jar, or any other of a dozen spells that conveniently deny a person resurrection by keeping their soul locked in a tiny box elsewhere. Only with Animate Dead, that tiny boxy is your own shambling corpse.

This is why Resurrection spells don't function if the person you wish to raise is currently an undead; killing them first is required so that there is a soul that can be raised.
Which is also the reason that Animate Dead is tagged with [Evil], rather than just being (Necromancy). Just pupping around bodies is all find and dandy, even concious living ones. If it weren't Enchantment would include a LOT more [Evil] spells. No, the reason Animate Dead and most other spells that create undead are tagged as [Evil] is because trapping the dead soul of a being inside it's rotting flesh, but denying it life, is absolutely, unquestionably, evil.

The more you know.

Edit: if a BBEG is out to kill you for realsies, having a get out of death free card and immunity to death effects is probably unlikely to slow him down. So while your combo may get you some breathing room from unfortunate accidents and the occasional inconvenient sword through your heart, you'll still want to play careful. Especially once the campaign really gets rolling.
I mean. The easiest way to kill you for sure would be to kill you very dead, and then have several squads of highly trained soldiers search the area for signs of a naked guy/gal popping into existence, find said naked person, and stab them a lot. Again.

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

I know it would not make him immune to death. I am saying it would give him a very highlander style feel of not dying easily. Honestly if you peg this on top of a Ghoran, you have numerous chances to escape death. Albeit I would want to grab a Jealous Runeforged weapon as soon as bloody possible.

[KingSmitty]

i have to second unarmed swordsage to gestalt with especially if you can convince your DM that their AC bonus should be unarmored when using the variant. The stance pearl of black doubt gives you +2 AC for each miss against you that round with your high amounts of natural armor gets pretty tanky.

Think Kung-Fu Panda.

[Jack_Simth]

I know it would not make him immune to death. I am saying it would give him a very highlander style feel of not dying easily. Honestly if you peg this on top of a Ghoran, you have numerous chances to escape death. Albeit I would want to grab a Jealous Runeforged weapon as soon as bloody possible.
That particular combo (Reincarnated Druid / Ghoran) begs the question: Does the 'original' Ghoran that dies when the seed sprouts get Reincarnated? That'd be a fairly fast way to reproduce (about 1/week, on average), and getting to mix up skill points every single time means you could get a decent town of clones with all the skills needed inside of a year.