Druid Gestalt

[Nosta]

ok so i'm here to ask I have a Druid gestalt I am building level 16 and I was wondering what all class features from others classes can be used well in wild shape I want to have my main thing being wild shaped but being boosted by the other class. any one got some ideas?

[Bad Wolf]

You could always take Master of Many Forms on the other side.

Monk 6/MoMF 10//Druid 6/Planar Shepherd 10. Get your Wisdom to AC, and Wild Shape into absolutely everything.

[Deophaun]

Yo dawg, I heard you like wild shape. So I made you wild shape while being wild shaped in a wild shape.

Race: Shifter.
Aspect of Nature Druid 16//Wild Shape Ranger 5/MoMF 10/Warshaper 1

[Rebel7284]

Totemist can greatly improve wild shape by adding on a bunch more natural attacks. Bear grappling with 4 claw attacks and an extra bonus to grapple is pretty darn grapply for example.

Some other classes to consider on the off side include:

Swordsage 2 gives you Wis to AC in light armor. Also some nice maneuvers.

Monk 1 gives you improved unarmed strike and Wis to AC if you didn't take swordsage+armor approach.

Fist of the Forest 1 for your crazy Con to AC

Cloistered Cleric 1 for domain powers and Turning to power Divine Metamagic. I hear Bite of the Werebear working all day is all sorts of crazy.

Sacred Exorcist 1 for MORE turn undead, especially if you also take cleric sub levels to trade turning for Rebuke Dragons or the Azurin Cleric substitution levels.

Contemplative for an extra domain.

Warshaper for extra bonuses while wildshaped.

Holt Warden 1 for extra domain slots.

[Troacctid]

In no particular order: Psion, Ardent, Warlock, Ninja, Totemist, Incarnate, Cloistered Cleric, Artificer, Wizard, Beguiler, Binder, Swordsage, Factotum, Warblade, and Monk are all decent base classes. Master of Many Forms is a great prestige class. If you're playing with LA just on one side, then Phrenic, Half-Fey, Shadow, Half-Celestial (especially with the reduced LA from the BoED version), Mulhorandi Divine Minion, and Saint are good templates, and Marrulurk is a great race.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Psionics is a pretty decent 2nd half, mostly because of the many ways to mess with the action economy. Ardent has the benefit of being Wis-based and its unique power progression. Psion gets bonus feats and more powers but makes you more MAD. PsyWar gets less powers but bonus feats and a different power list.

Wizard also works if you rely on buffing. War Weaver is the best for that, and it uses move actions leaving your standards for your druid side. The other option is going Swiftblade for a big defense increase and extra standard actions. It also opens up Incantatrix and its metamagic shenanigans, filling one of the big weakpoints of druid casting and adding the wizard spell list, which is generally acknowledged as the best among the T1 casters. The downside is, again, MAD.

Another option is to load up on a whole lot of dips to get useful passive abilities. 2 levels of Rogue for Evasion, 2 levels of Monk for bonus feats and Invisible Fist, 2 levels of Swordsage for Wis to AC and the Diamond Mind save replacers, 2 levels of Witch Slayer for Mettle, 2 levels of Heir of Syberis for a big SLA and the Mark of the Stars/of the Dauntless feats, 1 level of Shiba Protector for Wis to hit and damage, 1 level of Warblade for Iron Heart Surge and White Raven Tactics, a level of Cleric for DMM and cool domain powers, ... there's a lot of useful stuff you can pick up.


You could always take Master of Many Forms on the other side.

Monk 6/MoMF 10//Druid 6/Planar Shepherd 10. Get your Wisdom to AC, and Wild Shape into absolutely everything.

The problem with this is the same as taking multiple form-adding feats - you can't be wildshaped into more than one thing at a time, so at any one time most of your build does absolutely nothing for you.
Any time you use your Planar Shepherd WS your 10 levels of MoMF might as well not be there. Most form adders, be they classes or feats, also provide you with the tools for almost any situation entirely on their own (or they're not worth taking in the first place).
Sure, you're going to have a lot of variety to select from, but most of it will overlap in functionality so you're not even getting the significant increase in versatility one might expect from that combination.

And 6 levels of Monk are a waste. If you want to melee take a full BAB class, and if all you want it Wis to AC either go Swordsage 2 for a big increase in utility and Wis to AC that stacks with armor or just buy a Monk's Belt.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Go Warshaper 5/MoMF 10 on one side. Warshaper is only middling if you don't abuse the unlimited natural weapons trick, but the 5th level ability is killer- you can change shapes as much as you want without ending your wild shape, effectively granting you infinite shapeshifting. Before then, I'd probably do, mmm... Monk 1 (for Wis to AC and free Improved Grapple)/any full BAB 4. Ranger (preferably Fangshield Ranger) would be thematically appropriate but somewhat redundant. Crusader or Warblade, obviously, though strikes would be less useful for a natural weapon blender. Fighter for bonus feats, Duskblade for channeling, Paladin + Serenity for Wis to saves, Hexblade for Dark Companion...

[atemu1234]

Go Warshaper 5/MoMF 10 on one side. Warshaper is only middling if you don't abuse the unlimited natural weapons trick, but the 5th level ability is killer- you can change shapes as much as you want without ending your wild shape, effectively granting you infinite shapeshifting. Before then, I'd probably do, mmm... Monk 1 (for Wis to AC and free Improved Grapple)/any full BAB 4. Ranger (preferably Fangshield Ranger) would be thematically appropriate but somewhat redundant. Crusader or Warblade, obviously, though strikes would be less useful for a natural weapon blender. Fighter for bonus feats, Duskblade for channeling, Paladin + Serenity for Wis to saves, Hexblade for Dark Companion...

Warblade is also good for a few bonus HP.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Warblade is also good for a few bonus HP.
True, but only 4-8 points. If you want a bit of extra durability, Crusader's better with its bonus healing.

[Twurps]

Anything psionic can grant you access to 'metamorphic transfer' for SU abilities while you wildshape.
If you go psion, and use its bonus feat for 'practiced manifester' you just need a 1lvl dip.

[PallentisLunam]

Maybe I'm boring or low powered but I would add a barbarian 1 dip and take the extra rage feat for a little extra punch when you need it. You could go with the standard rage or whirling frenzy depending on your preferred style.

[Jack_Simth]

ok so i'm here to ask I have a Druid gestalt I am building level 16 and I was wondering what all class features from others classes can be used well in wild shape I want to have my main thing being wild shaped but being boosted by the other class. any one got some ideas?

Depends on what you want to do.

Ninja goes great. Wisdom-based swift-action invisibility to enable Sudden Strike for a bunch of extra damage on the several natural attacks you can get by using Wild Shape, plus Wisdom to AC, all good saves, and 6+Int skill points? Works out fairly well. Not the most optimal thing in the world... but if you wanted that, you'd be digging out Serpent Kingdoms.

How much "power" do you want? Are you familiar with PFO / PFD numbers? Do you prefer to blast things, disable things, buff your allies, kill your opponents with direct damage, reshape the battlefield, or something else?

[Spider_Jerusalem]

Man, the title of this thread could be the title of a truly scary horror movie for a DM.

As for the build, I guess monk plus MoMF is actually very useful to have on the other side. You get a nice AC bonus, lots of skills and you could get a few extra tricks (imagine a bear snatching arrows like a kung fu master, haha)

[nedz]

There's always
Rogue 2 / Bard 8 / Fochlucan Lyrist 10 // Druid 10 / X 10
Gets you Druid 20 casting; Bard 18 casting and 10 levels of whatever.

Notes:
Rogue 2 / Bard 8 can be taken in any order
A Ring of Evasion may allow you to dump the Rogue 2 part

Druid 10 / X 10 - you only need one level of Druid before 10th

[sleepyphoenixx]

There's always
Rogue 2 / Bard 8 / Fochlucan Lyrist 10 // Druid 10 / X 10
Gets you Druid 20 casting; Bard 18 casting and 10 levels of whatever.

Notes:
Rogue 2 / Bard 8 can be taken in any order
A Ring of Evasion may allow you to dump the Rogue 2 part

Druid 10 / X 10 - you only need one level of Druid before 10th

Dual progression classes aren't generally allowed in gestalt though.

Bard casting also isn't that great in the first place unless you go Sublime Chord, and in either case you'll run head-on into the action economy limitations with a build that's pretty much all active abilities (druid spells, bard spells, bardic music, wildshape melee). By the time you've even made use of most of your abilities combat is likely already over.
Another issue is that Fochlucan Lyrist does not progress Wild Shape, which is apparently the main goal of the OP.

Even normal theurge builds fall short of their theoretical potential unless they include a way to get extra actions. You just have too many spells to even begin to use them all effectively in a normal day, and the increase in versatility isn't generally good enough to make up for the abilities you could have gained instead of a second casting progression, by taking a different class that works together with what you already have instead of separate from it. Not to mention that you can get most of that additional versatility just by getting the Spell domain and getting Miracle on your list.

Gestalt is all about synergy. A gestalt theurge who adds on even more active abilities that compete with each other for actions while still not getting any more actions is just a huge waste of potential.

[illyahr]

Wait, isn't Druid already a gestalt? :smalltongue: