Druids of Decay

[Palanan]

I’m working up a druid who’s fascinated by decay, which he sees as an essential aspect of the flow of life. He’s interested in accelerating and manipulating this process, but he detests necromancy and won’t be evil.

What sorts of options are available for a decay-themed druid? I’m open to all official 3.5 and Pathfinder content. I’m aware of the Blighter, but what else is out there?

[ComaVision]

Dragon #311 has the Wild Reaper druid variant. They believe that death is an important part of the natural cycle, and aren't required to be evil.

[Psyren]

I’m working up a druid who’s fascinated by decay, which he sees as an essential aspect of the flow of life. He’s interested in accelerating and manipulating this process, but he detests necromancy and won’t be evil.

What sorts of options are available for a decay-themed druid? I’m open to all official 3.5 and Pathfinder content. I’m aware of the Blighter, but what else is out there?

Blighter is the 3.5 Prestige Class focused on this, but Pathfinder also has the Blight Druid (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/archetypes/paizo-druid-archetypes/blight-druid/) archetype that performs a similar role, but can do so from level 1. You can either pick up a normal animal companion (likely a vermin of some kind) or you can combine its ability to gain a familiar instead with Improved Familiar and pick something suitably squicky, like a Beheaded.

[Waker]

In Eberron there is a faction of Druids called the Children Of Winter, whose fluff matches what you are looking for. Sadly the only things I can find for them are a handful of feats that pertain to Vermin. Maybe later I'll try to dig something else up.
One thing you should definitely look up is the table for Fungus Magic in Dragon Magazine 337. It is a compilation of spells from PHB, CAd, CArc, and CDiv that related to plant/fungus type stuff as part of the requirements for the Thrall of Zuggtmoy. Should be useful for your theme.

[The Viscount]

Talontar Blightlord is a class that spreads disease and rot from Unapproachable East.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by The Viscount
Talontar Blightlord is a class that spreads disease and rot from Unapproachable East.

Thanks, but this requires an evil alignment, which isn’t appropriate for this character.


Originally Posted by ComaVision
Dragon #311 has the Wild Reaper druid variant. They believe that death is an important part of the natural cycle, and aren't required to be evil.

This was actually my first thought, even ahead of the Blighter. But the Wild Reaper seems more focused on culling than decay, and none of the class features have anything to do with decay—or even the variant’s stated focus, apart from a couple alternate spontaneous spells.

That said, I’d be glad to look at any feats or spells, including Dragon content, that might work with the Wild Reaper in ways that aren’t immediately obvious.


Originally Posted by Psyren
Blighter is the 3.5 Prestige Class focused on this, but Pathfinder also has the Blight Druid archetype that performs a similar role, but can do so from level 1.

I appreciate the suggestion, but the Blight Druid also doesn’t quite fit. It’s kind of an unfocused archetype, with a touch of vermin and a touch of disease, but it doesn’t seem to follow through on either.


Originally Posted by Waker
In Eberron there is a faction of Druids called the Children Of Winter, whose fluff matches what you are looking for. Sadly the only things I can find for them are a handful of feats that pertain to Vermin. Maybe later I'll try to dig something else up.

Thanks! I knew there was something like this from Eberron, but couldn’t remember the name.

I’ll check out the reference on Fungus Magic, that sounds like it would be useful. Are there any other fungus-related feats, class abilities, anything at all you can think of? That would be really helpful to my concept.