Summoner Druid Build help.

[Cisturn]

Hey guys! I thought it would be fun to try out a druid in my friends new low level game. My character is level two and I was thinking about going the summoner route. I've found augmented summoning and ashbound to both be fantastic feats.
I'm playing a human, so I already grabbed spell focus conjuration as my bonus feat. Why I'm wondering is if it's better to take augmented summoning or ashbound first.

For the record, augmented summoning grants any creature summoned a +4 to strength and constitution. Ashbound doubles the duration that summons are on the field and gives them a +3 luck bonus to hit.

Which do you think is better?

Also if anyone has any other summoner tips I'd love to hear them!

[Zaq]

At level 2, I'd go with Ashbound. The difference between 2 rounds on the field and 4 rounds on the field makes a real difference early on. On the offensive side, Ashbound's +3 to hit is about on par with Augment Summoning's +2 to hit/damage, especially at low levels where you don't have a lot of bonuses to hit yet.

Eggynack has a great Druid handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439991-Being-Everything-Eggynack-s-Comprehensive-Druid-Handbook) that covers summoning and basically everything else you could ever want out of a Druid. I respect the choice to go thematic (both for flavor reasons and to kind of tone things down a hair), but don't forget that a Druid can do way more than just summoning. You shouldn't ever really prepare SNA spells, since you can spontaneously convert them; even if SNA is your go-to option, don't forget that you've still got the whole Druid list to play with.

[Flickerdart]

My favourite feat for summoning stuff is Imbued Summoning. It's a +1 metamagic feat in PHB II that lets you cast a 3rd level or lower touch spell on your summons as they appear, without using an action. This is cool for obvious reasons - when encountering a dragon, you can summon animals with energy resistance baked in, or make them harder to hit with barkskin, or make them beefier with bear's endurance, or let them spider climb, etc. Never have a problem with DR/magic because you can imbue them with magic fang. And so on.

If you are into shenanigans, polymorph is a touch-range spell, and Sanctum Spell makes it a third level spell...

[Bronk]

You could try for the Rashemi Elemental Summoning feat instead. With that, when you summon an air elemental, it can instead be an Orglash, which can cast three 'cones of cold' per day as an SLA, caster level equal to HD of the elemental. You'd get SNA2 at L3, so you'd be able to pick this up and use it right away. It would get more powerful over time, as your druid is able to summon more and more powerful air elementals, but at low levels it would still be helpful, especially against swarms.

Alternately, you could try to get Greenbound Summoning. Animals you summon are instead more powerful plant creature versions, an array of stat boosts that is much better than the feat you already have, but the big deal is that they get 'wall of thorns', a level 5 spell, as an SLA 1/day. This feat is more powerful early on, when stat boosts make a bigger difference, and because opponents are often less armored (the spell deals 25 damage to those moving through the thorns, minus the moving creature's AC).

[Rebel7284]

Greenbound is certainly the best summoning feat. Being able to cast a nice 5th level Druid spell at level 1 is all types of ridiculous even before considering the stat bonuses. It stays great, if less ridiculous later on too. Unfortunately, it's probably too powerful for most campaigns because of that.

Getting Ashbound and trying to find a Ring of the Beast is probably a better course of action. Getting summoning down to a standard action is something you should look into, even if it's just once per day with a Chromocharm. Also, metamagic rods such as Extend Spell (Lesser) and later on Maximize Spell are pretty nice with summoning (the latter when you go for the multiple lower level summons option)

[eggynack]

My favourite feat for summoning stuff is Imbued Summoning. It's a +1 metamagic feat in PHB II that lets you cast a 3rd level or lower touch spell on your summons as they appear, without using an action. This is cool for obvious reasons - when encountering a dragon, you can summon animals with energy resistance baked in, or make them harder to hit with barkskin, or make them beefier with bear's endurance, or let them spider climb, etc. Never have a problem with DR/magic because you can imbue them with magic fang. And so on.
Imbued summoning is mostly bad. Summons are at their best when they're caught up with level, and it's difficult to find a 3rd level or lower touch range spell that compensates for that loss of capability. None of those spells is going to make a hippogriff particularly better than a dire wolf, or a dire wolf better than a giant crocodile. And that's the argument for not using imbued summoning if you happen to already have the feat, and if you're not using spells. It's an argument against which some corner case utility probably exists. But then you add on the fact that you're paying a feat for that utility, and one of your spells on top of that. And it doesn't help that you need two feats which are only decent as prerequisites (for they are indeed only decent). Just pick up a summoner's totem from the magic item compendium. Way better, even just from a feat versus cash perspective.

You could try for the Rashemi Elemental Summoning feat instead. With that, when you summon an air elemental, it can instead be an Orglash, which can cast three 'cones of cold' per day as an SLA, caster level equal to HD of the elemental. You'd get SNA2 at L3, so you'd be able to pick this up and use it right away. It would get more powerful over time, as your druid is able to summon more and more powerful air elementals, but at low levels it would still be helpful, especially against swarms.

Nah, spellcaster level 5 is a prerequisite. Then you take natural spell, so you're usually looking at level nine. Rashemi elemental summoning is very much the high level counterpart to greenbound summoning.

[Bronk]

Nah, spellcaster level 5 is a prerequisite. Then you take natural spell, so you're usually looking at level nine. Rashemi elemental summoning is very much the high level counterpart to greenbound summoning.

Good call on the caster level requirement!

Speaking of Natural Spell, Cisturn, do you think the game is going to make it to the higher levels? Plus, I'm not sure if you're already playing, so I was also wondering if you were settled on your first feat...

[Akal Saris]

I'll just add a few thoughts, though I've never played a summoning focused druid (only wildshape).

Feats:
- Instead of Spell Focus: Conjuration, you could wait until 6th and take Planar Touchstone: Catalogues of Enlightenment (Dragon Below domain). That would grant Augment Summoning without the prerequisite. But it is a fairly cheesy workaround, and there's a lot of competition at 6+ from other feats like Rashemi Elemental Summoning, Wild Spell, and Quicken Spell.
- Improved Initiative is another good feat to squeeze in somewhere

Some useful items for summoning:
Ehlonna’s Brooch [350 GP, Held] (Complete Champion (CC), 134)
Chronocharm of the Uncaring Archmage [500 GP, Throat] (MIC, 86)
Golden Desert Honey [600 GP, Slotless] (CM, 136)
Tunic of Steady Spellcasting [2,500 GP, Torso] (MIC, 144)
Summoner’s Totem [3,100 GP, Held] (MIC, 187)
Ring of the Beast [8,000 GP, Ring] (CC, 141)
Ring of Mighty Summons [14,000 GP, Ring] (CM, 127)

For initiative:
Warning +1 special ability (MIC)
Ring of Anticipation (DoTU, 6,000, Ring)