Epic Poison/venom based druid help?

[Gron hornblower]

i have played a alot or rpgs and some d&d 3.5 games over the years, but only low level the highest i have played is level 12. In all of those i played various fighter style characters.

Ive been invited to join a continuation of a long running game at the rpg club i attend. The current d&d party has just hit level 20.

they have told me they are fairly liberal on what race/class i can play. they have half fairy warlocks, half dragon/Goliath monks, half solar paladins, and other strange combos. in fact they encourage playing something a bit odd, which is fine by me i normally try to anyway.

well ive always wanted to play a druid with a focus on poison/ venom, with a powerful poisons/venomous companion possibly a snake or spider (but open to other ideas). i dont mind if my character has to sacrifice some druid levels or power to enhance my companion

But looking at the massive array of books and options available of different races,companions, classes, gear has left me a bit stumped.

well any ideas? :smallsmile:

[Envoy]

I would suggest Yuan-Ti, Dragonborn(Copper/Black for acid damage), or a drow, which are all thematically poison-based/themed. Yuan-Ti get some extra spells, poison immunity, and magic resistance, all of which work. Dragonborn is okay, but for roleplaying it could work, sorta, actually it's not that good, I chose it for the affinity to poison. Drow are good, but Sunlight Vulnerability will hinder it's impact. Lizardfolk are surprisingly pretty good with the natural armor and, while bite doesn't work too well with the dump stat, it's also a viable choice. Warforged (envoy) are suprisingly good for druids, as the proficiency is always welcome. However, I've only played to level 10, and I would reccomend http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584818-5e-Druid-Guide-Dreams-Land-Shepherd-and-Spores. Best of luck on your travels in the Epicland!

-Envoy

[Efrate]

Venomfire on a fleshraker companion, and yourself when taking fleshrakers form. 5 attacks before haste, pounce, and caster level in d6 extra damage on each. Thats 200d6 between the 2 of you and it only gets better. Pick a poison immune race or one With a natural poison, and go to town. Crafting poison is cheap, and there are ways to get more magically. Black lotus extract for contact, greensickness for inhaled and megapede venom for injury, before epic craziness.

[Zaq]

Poison immunity gets more and more common as you go up in level. (Also, if you're going by printed epic-level monsters, they tend to have unnecessary piles of HD and CON, which may be relevant for you.) You'll want to have some way of ignoring poison immunity.

I'm not sure there is a method to just autonope poison immunity by RAW unless you can somehow get access to the "poisoner's breath" ability possessed by Sertrous (Elder Evils, pg. 115). I mean, Sertrous is a unique elder evil, so that won't be trivial, but you are epic. Might be worth talking to the GM about a homebrew effect. Even if you don't get the whole effect, a feat to say "no, you are not immune to my poison because I said so, dammit" seems like a reasonable homebrew epic feat.

[Thurbane]

Not sure it's really relevant to a Druid, but I recently discovered a feat for making Epic poisons: Epic Poison Crafter (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/20021110a)