Diablo II Druid

[Artriel]

Hi guys,

I´m trying to make my old druid from Diablo II into a PC for 3.5 without homebrewing and I'm having some issues transfering some of the skills to official D&D.
Specifically, with the summoning tree of Diablo, I can't find a way to handle the spirit with an aura. Until now I have a druid/sorcerer gestalt with the domain class variants of both (air and fire) which literally adds nothing but flavor. Wildshape isn't a problem (I didn´t use it but It´s there) and summons are like this:

-Wolf: first animal companion
-Bear: also an animal companion (replacing wolf after a few levels, you couldn´t have both wolves and bear)
-Raven: summon nature's ally (since the ravens faded away)
-Creeper: wild cohort feat and Dragon Magazine #357 rules for Plant companions
-Spirit: no clue.

I hoped to get the spirit through improved familiar feat, but there are no options resembling a spirit of nature and even less a creature with some form of buffing auras. I'm thinking about the companion spirit rules from DMG II but that involves teamwork and a weird explanation, it doesn't feel right. Leadership either, IMHO.

Any ideas on how to get the spirit without breaking the rules?

[Ramza00]

Improved Familiars have some feats due to HDs. Take a familiar with a few feats and do draconic auras and reflavor this as Oak Sage.

[Aetis]

Maybe healing spirit?

Also, wasn't there a diablo 2 D&D book that was released?

[Ruethgar]

Hmmm, Catalogs of Enlightenment(Ooze) for a Living Hieghtened Wood Wose Rebuke would get the look of a nature spirit. Auras are something D&D didn’t do much of, but if you can build your Wose as Awakened you can get Dragon Touched and Draconic Aura.

Also Tiny Elementals are accessible as familiars through the Elemental Familiar(technically it can change any creature which is a whole other can of worms). A tiny Air Elemental could be decent for a nature spirit, but familiars are a bit weak and getting it to have an aura is a bit of a stretch.

Edit: Ritual associations for the Evil subtype and corrupting the hell out of him gives your elemental two or four feats depending on ruling plus one more shuffled away from worshiping the leviathan(I mean, super elemental monster, seems like an elemental might like him).

[ViperMagnum357]

There is a licensed Diablo II sourcebook, called Diablo II: Diablerie, though it is 3.0 and only covers the original 5 classes. Maybe invert the Dark Companion ACF for the Hexblade, providing bonuses instead of penalties while it remains adjacent/close range to you? Kinda homebrew, but it at least is an actual printed feature to work from.

[Artriel]

Hmmm, Catalogs of Enlightenment(Ooze) for a Living Hieghtened Wood Wose Rebuke would get the look of a nature spirit. Auras are something D&D didn’t do much of, but if you can build your Wose as Awakened you can get Dragon Touched and Draconic Aura.

Also Tiny Elementals are accessible as familiars through the Elemental Familiar(technically it can change any creature which is a whole other can of worms). A tiny Air Elemental could be decent for a nature spirit, but familiars are a bit weak and getting it to have an aura is a bit of a stretch.

Edit: Ritual associations for the Evil subtype and corrupting the hell out of him gives your elemental two or four feats depending on ruling plus one more shuffled away from worshiping the leviathan(I mean, super elemental monster, seems like an elemental might like him).

Ok I think I got it. I will try to respect the rules as good as I can.
So the idea of a Living Wood Wose is solid (except for the spell being unable to get that template, but let's ignore that for the sake of the stats) I'd rule I can get this creature as an Improved familiar and stack the familiar ''template'' with the Living spell. So I have a sentient Wood wose, which CAN'T attack (according to Wood wose description) like in Diablo. Now it gets tricky. The living spell HD's are equal to caster level, familiars are treated as his masters in terms of HD's so it seems reasonable the little Wose improves with his master in his own special way: adding another spell to the wose. So the wose gives up the familiar special features post level 1(like deliver touch spells) and in exchange the master can add a spell (a beneficial one) which he can cast to the Wose each 2 levels. In this way, it can use his 'engulf (Ex)' to buff allies in the space it occupies. The size of the spell also increases with HD's so its like increasing his 'auras range' by being able to engulf more allies. I'd also rule it can just activate one spell effect a time.

Seems reasonable or cheesy? I'm pretty happy myself with this.

Thanks for the responses

[Ruethgar]

Wood Woses aren’t creatures, they are just creature-like so they are a valid target of the template. The Spell Sovereign class grants the ability to have Living Spell Familiars in addition to awakening them and creating them.

Do note that the living spell template doesn’t change the effects of the spell. It is still bound to you and your instruction if you are the one casting it whether or not you have it as a familiar/rebuked minion. The Living Spell template also doesn’t remove the ability to cast it if it’s been applied. So a Spellhoarding Dragon, or a Sorcerer abusing their familiar spells clause could learn to cast Living Wood Wose.

You can make most spells auras with Occular, Ray Burst, Ray Extend, Persistent. But the sheneniganry to get that and then cast it into your familiar is phenomenal.

The Sculpt Self feat from Dragon Magazine has rules for making basically a custom magic item bound to yourself. Because metamagic don’t increase spell level, your Planar Touchstone(Catalogs of Enlightenment: Ooze) rebuked Living Wood Wose could get aura spells with relative ease. Just make sure it has a slew of Sanctum Cantrips at will so you don’t need to burn XP on it.

If sculpting is too much, there are a few feats that give cantrips. Magical Affinity(or Adept I get them mixed up) is the most broad as I recall, from Dragonlance, it is in that technically official category of content. You could for example take Occular Ray Extend Ray Burst Persist Sanctum Lesser Vigor. Spell Side Effects from Dragon 302(I think) add more potential to any such aura. Or just give it a couple flaws or corruption for Dragon Touched and Draconic Aura.

[WoodStock_PV]

With the leadership feat you could have a follower with the Dragon Shaman class, they have auras that either heal or improve combat to everyone in a party.

[liquidformat]

lantern archon seems like a decent choice. On a side note the shifter druid variant does give you a spirit type companion that would fill the role and you could take winter wolf as an improved familiar...