Help With Changing Character

[Pyromancer999]

So, this weekend I start in my first D&D 3.5 campaign that I've done in years, as a player at least. Originally, I was going to go Factotum 3/Archivist X build (although changed after another person wanted to be a cleric, so not as to overstep boundaries), then changed to Shifter Druid/Moonspeaker(as has been my dream for a long time), with some melee buffing(mainly self + summons) and summoning focus. However, things have changed. In the most recent poll of what everyone was going to do, a new player claimed the role of summoner(although she will be a cleric), along with others stating their intended classes and roles, me stating last, as it was done at a late hour while I was sleeping. So, now I have to change my character, to avoid party redundancy. I did state my intended build before to the DM beforehand in person, but not to the group chat, so I do not feel it would be polite to force through my character, despite it technically being declared before the summoner cleric. The summoner cleric did offer to change her build, but did not feel okay about that as she did claim it first in front of all of the other people in the group, as well as her being known to pout easily and hold grudges, so it would not be good for group cohesiveness.

The rest of the party is as follows:


"Tough Guy" Cleric with a focus on healing
Summoner/Caster Cleric going into Master of Shrouds
Monk(direction of build unstated)
Charisma-focused Bard


Our character creation stats are as follows:

Start at 3rd level with appropriate WBL
Stat array of 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10
All material and sourcebooks are available to use except

Anything Third Party(Dragon, other third party sources)
Unearthed Arcana material
Non-PHB spells allowed, but on a spell-by-spell approval basis from the DM
Psionics allowed, with exception of the Psion, which is banned with prejudice





So, my options are as follows:

Stay Shifter Druid/Moonspeaker, but ignore summoning stuff so MoS Cleric doesn't have competition.
Stay Druid, but go Goliath and prestige into Holt Warden and Stonespeaker(although not sure how to get rid of the animal companion, as I don't want to manage two characters if I don't have to). There would also be an unhealthy amount of Shillelaghing enemies with this build. Would probably have a tank/damage dealer role along with some casting stuff going on.
Do something else entirely. Healer cleric and DM kept pressuring me to go arcane or pure melee, but not seeing anything that really would satisfy me, especially given the restrictions on spells as preferring classes that are easy to manage at a somewhat decent power level. DM placed additional pressure on me being a Duskblade, asking why I wouldn't be one, since the class is awesome. I agree with this, but do not want to play as I have made Duskblade NPCs before, which were fun for an encounter against PCs, but do not think I would enjoy playing in the long term. Still, with some help, there could be something I'd be willing to go with that is arcane or pure melee. I am aware of Tome of Battle, but am cautious on that, as I've heard the DM refer to it before as the Book of Weaboo Fightan Magics(although they do not appear to have read the book with anything more than a cursory glance), so cautious on that front, plus I enjoy some magic on my characters. There's also psionics, but unsure of that considering my favorite class for that, the Psion, is banned.


So, what would people advise for this situation? Should I keep going Druid(whether as Shifter or Goliath), or go for something else? Any advice on this would be appreciated, as I am kind of lost on what I should do about this.

[daremetoidareyo]

Be something off the wall. Something that doesn't synergize in the typical way.

Pyromaniac Flask rogue is great fun...

Double handed crossbow juggling diopsid charadesmaster

An incarnate constuct arbalester touched by the blue fairy.

child necro-incarnate

[Cerefel]

Chameleon is a fun class to play with. It can give some fun abilities and if a party member switches to a niche that you were filling you can just switch to another one. Some good entries to chameleon are binder and/or factotum due to their adaptability.

[ATHATH]

What about a Psychic Warrior? It fits both your preference for Psionics and the group's need for a melee build.

[eggynack]

There's always the possibility of doing exactly what you were doing before, and the cleric taking exactly the role they claimed. Your druid's efforts wouldn't likely obviate those of the cleric, and neither would the cleric's efforts obviate those of your druid. That your characters would likely take opposite sides of the summoning spectrum, him with more utility and SLA's, you with big burly beasts, makes this lack of issue more likely, but even were your summoning similar you would still both aid the party a great deal.

The thing is, summoning isn't what I would consider a niche. The summons themselves take acts that can fill niches, but the act of summoning itself is really a way to access that lesser set of niches. Critically, two of those niches are melee damage and meat shielding, which means that I'd be far more concerned with the two of you overlapping with the monk. It doesn't really matter what you call the thing you're doing, or that the thing that two characters say they'll do match. What matters is how they affect the game, and I don't see a problem with two characters with summoning abilities in terms of this sort of effect. Just having both of you get what you want may seem a weird solution, but I think it's the right one here.

[nedz]

Team Cleric can work but you said you didn't want to do that.

Looking at the party they seem to have the skillmonkey role half covered and no arcane. Melee seems to be covered, though I feel sorry already for the Monk.

Maybe something like a Beguiler? It's a fixed list with spells mainly from PH and PH2 - so it should be easy to get them pre-approved.

Either Straightish Beguiler, I can give more advice if you want this, or something like
Rogue 1 / Beguiler 4 / Unseen Seer 10
The best Rogue options are Spellthief or Changeling Rogue - though the latter would usurp the face role.

[Solidarity]

So, this weekend I start in my first D&D 3.5 campaign that I've done in years, as a player at least. Originally, I was going to go Factotum 3/Archivist X build (although changed after another person wanted to be a cleric, so not as to overstep boundaries), then changed to Shifter Druid/Moonspeaker(as has been my dream for a long time), with some melee buffing(mainly self + summons) and summoning focus. However, things have changed. In the most recent poll of what everyone was going to do, a new player claimed the role of summoner(although she will be a cleric), along with others stating their intended classes and roles, me stating last, as it was done at a late hour while I was sleeping. So, now I have to change my character, to avoid party redundancy. I did state my intended build before to the DM beforehand in person, but not to the group chat, so I do not feel it would be polite to force through my character, despite it technically being declared before the summoner cleric. The summoner cleric did offer to change her build, but did not feel okay about that as she did claim it first in front of all of the other people in the group, as well as her being known to pout easily and hold grudges, so it would not be good for group cohesiveness.

The rest of the party is as follows:


"Tough Guy" Cleric with a focus on healing
Summoner/Caster Cleric going into Master of Shrouds
Monk(direction of build unstated)
Charisma-focused Bard


Our character creation stats are as follows:

Start at 3rd level with appropriate WBL
Stat array of 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10
All material and sourcebooks are available to use except

Anything Third Party(Dragon, other third party sources)
Unearthed Arcana material
Non-PHB spells allowed, but on a spell-by-spell approval basis from the DM
Psionics allowed, with exception of the Psion, which is banned with prejudice





So, my options are as follows:

Stay Shifter Druid/Moonspeaker, but ignore summoning stuff so MoS Cleric doesn't have competition.
Stay Druid, but go Goliath and prestige into Holt Warden and Stonespeaker(although not sure how to get rid of the animal companion, as I don't want to manage two characters if I don't have to). There would also be an unhealthy amount of Shillelaghing enemies with this build. Would probably have a tank/damage dealer role along with some casting stuff going on.
Do something else entirely. Healer cleric and DM kept pressuring me to go arcane or pure melee, but not seeing anything that really would satisfy me, especially given the restrictions on spells as preferring classes that are easy to manage at a somewhat decent power level. DM placed additional pressure on me being a Duskblade, asking why I wouldn't be one, since the class is awesome. I agree with this, but do not want to play as I have made Duskblade NPCs before, which were fun for an encounter against PCs, but do not think I would enjoy playing in the long term. Still, with some help, there could be something I'd be willing to go with that is arcane or pure melee. I am aware of Tome of Battle, but am cautious on that, as I've heard the DM refer to it before as the Book of Weaboo Fightan Magics(although they do not appear to have read the book with anything more than a cursory glance), so cautious on that front, plus I enjoy some magic on my characters. There's also psionics, but unsure of that considering my favorite class for that, the Psion, is banned.


So, what would people advise for this situation? Should I keep going Druid(whether as Shifter or Goliath), or go for something else? Any advice on this would be appreciated, as I am kind of lost on what I should do about this.

Personally I think the Goliath Holt Warden/Stonespeaker idea would be a good bet. Aren't there variants in UA for not having a companion? You could also talk to your DM about having a lack of a companion be a flaw you could take for an extra feat. Also, since the DM does allow book of the nine, I'd always recommend throwing in at least one stance and maneuver to a bunch of builds. Martial spirit might be nice with your build if you plan on going full whack-a-mole without worrying too much on stopping to use vigor or anything on yourself. All you'd need to splash a "per encounter" rechargeable power that corresponds to your level is a feat or two (Martial Study and Martial Stance).

[Pyromancer999]

Update: Given some of the responses on here, it seems I could keep doing Shifter Druid without stepping on either of the Cleric's toes(and I just found out races with LA are banned, so no Goliath Druid for me) so I am probably going to just go for that(although with maybe a little more melee than originally intended), as this seems to be more possible than I thought before given some of the feedback I've gotten on this thread. That said, since we don't get to see the characters and how they'll do till game time, I am going to make a Beguiler as a backup in case we really do end up needing an Arcane Skillmonkey, in case I really do need to end up taking one for the team. It can at least cast in light armor, so that's something.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, especially eggynack for first bringing up that a Shifter Druid wouldn't necessarily overlap with the clerics and their Druid Guide in their sig, which I will definitely be making use of, and nedz for the Beguiler suggestion.