Arcane Hierophant build

[Astolfi]

Hello i'm gonna play Arcane Hierophant in future campaign. My group is optimised but not too much. I'm allowed to take Alternate Spell Source for early entry. So this is builds i thought about:
druid 5/wizard 1/arcane hierophant x
druid 3/wizard 1/mystic theurge 3/arcane hierophant x
Bard 1/druid 4/green whisperer 1-2/arcane hierophant x
I want to focus on summoning and supporting my team and my monstrous spider companion(which i'm allowed) and i'm not sure what will be the most effective way to do this and also i'm not sure how valuable wildshape would be in this.

[Vizzerdrix]

If you want a spider, you can always take a watchspider. They are magical beasts as opposed to vermin, and are raised for guarding.

Also bamboo spirit folk. Some DMs allow its ability to count as the druid class ability.

[liquidformat]

Wild Shape is a toss up if you just want to sit in a defensive flying form and cast spells then I wouldn't worry too much about loosing some levels in it.

I would suggest replacing your familiar with a class feature and take obtain familiar instead in is more powerful as it doesn't restrict your effective familiar level to your wizard level but instead your arcane caster level (excluding feats that boost it).

I think the Green whisperer build is a bit more thematic and I would suggest taking Greensinger Initiate so you have an easier time meeting the skill requirements.

What level are you starting at? I think that might determine which path is the best for you.

[Astolfi]

We starting at lvl 2 but eventually will probably reach high levels.

[ayvango]

I personally like full casting progression when playing arcane hierophant. So lose as few levels as possible. The best feat for early entry is sanctum spell. It just makes you spell capabilities higher on one level. So you would get Druid 1, Wizard 1, Druid 2, (get skill +6 prerequisite for mystic theurge), Mystic Theurge 1-4, Druid 3 (get AB +4 prerequisite for Arcane Hierophant), Arcane Hierophant 1-10, Mystic Theurge 5-6.

Trade wizard familiar for something useful. Abrupt Jaunt for example. Our group have homebrew rule that wizard could trade scribble scroll and familiar for total spell mastery on all learned spells and sorcerer could trade familiar for eschew materials. Just to make other options than abrupt jaunt conjurer viable. But it is still homebrew. Later you could take feat obtain familiar and get both familiar and familiar companion. Then you could take feat spell-linked familiar to get them caster level and ability to use wands. Also shenanigans like sharing light of mercuria with 3 targets to produce triple damage or sharing Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer to prepare 3 3rd level spells spending single 4th level becomes available once you have 2 followers.

Animal companion is a pain. You lose too many levels to keep it contributing in fight and out of fight it have a little usage. So I switched it for Elemental Companion ACF that could be found in Complete Mage. Elemental Companion have less fighting capabilities from the beginning, but it is intelligent, it could speak, use tools and perform scouting tasks. Air elementals could fly and earth elementals glide.

Wildshape likewise turns out a sub-option when delayed for extra 5th levels. At that time polymorph become available and later druid could find lovable Shapechange spell in his spell list that makes any wildshape obsolete. So it is wise to trade wildshape for something else that would benefit you earlier. Like deadly hunter ACF that resides in Unearthed Arcana. Bonus to Armor Class as monk, Fast Movement as monk, Favored Enemy, Swift Tracker and Track feat as ranger. And you should discard only wildshape and armor/shield proficiency.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You don't need a familiar class feature prior to taking AH, it automatically grants your animal companion those benefits based on your arcane spellcasting class level plus AH level. If you use Wizard or Sorcerer, use the animal companion ACF (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererWizard) if you'll have at least two levels of it.

Wild Shape is pretty good, you'll still gain it from Arcane Hierophant if you didn't have enough Druid levels to gain it (per the example build). Be sure to take Natural Spell as early as possible.

Druid by itself can honestly do all the things you're looking to do just as well as an AH, if not better due to not losing spellcasting levels. Take Greenbound Summoning and a SNA I gets a Greenbound Dire Rat that can immediately use Wall of Thorns, then spam Entangle for the duration of the summon. The Druid list gets spells like Kelpstrand, Sleet Storm, and Mass Snake's Swiftness for debuffing opponents and helping your party. Get a Ring of the Beast and pick up Ashbound and the Summon Elemental reserve feat. In the early levels you'll want to hide behind a wooden tower shield and concentrate on Enrage Animal on your animal companion, but it doesn't work on a monstrous spider.

For an Arcane Hierophant build, I'm a big fan of going with a Wild Elf, Druid 8/ Suel Arcanamach 2/ Arcane Hierophant 10. You can replace Wild Elf with any race that has sufficient weapon proficiencies to qualify for Suel Arcanamach. Say you visited the Otyugh Hole to get the Iron Will prerequisite without spending a feat on it. This is basically a Druid that picks up some arcane spellcasting for buffing himself and his party/companion.

[ayvango]

If you use Wizard or Sorcerer, use the animal companion ACF if you'll have at least two levels of it.
1-level dip into wizard would grant 1 level of familiar at best. All other wizard casting levels are obtained from the mystic theurge. So you could trade familiar better for some other bonus.



Wild Shape is pretty good, you'll still gain it from Arcane Hierophant if you didn't have enough Druid levels to gain it (per the example build). Be sure to take Natural Spell as early as possible.

And it would be pretty late to take enough impact on game. Polymorph and Alter Self from Acrane part of Heirophant is enough for the task. I should admit Enhance Wild Shape (extraordinary) with some aberrant forms are good, but it's pity to spend feats to get some features in late game that would be replaced with Shapechange soon enough.



Druid by itself can honestly do all the things you're looking to do just as well as an AH, if not better due to not losing spellcasting levels.

You could afford to lose 1 (and only one) spellcasting level to obtain full wizard spell list. Spell enhancer for example is wizard-only spell that would increase your spellcaster level for +2. Shadow conjuration is another gem that make using magic tattoo free and provide another +1 bonus to spellcaster level. You should never underestimate wizard spellcasting and bonuses it could grant to your primary spellcaster class. Especially for a druid that has Control Winds, Phantom Stag, Giant Vermin which relied on spellcaster level heavily.

[Astolfi]

The spider companion is actually homebrew and DM said it can be treated as normal animal companion in every way(it's probably worse that just simple riding dog but we both like the flavor).
So i would take 3 lvl in Druid 1 lvl in Wizard and then just Mystic Theurge until Arcane Hierophant will become available. For the feats:
1 Sanctum Spell or Alternate Spell Source, Natural Bond(we get 2 feats at start just don't take human)
I could trade Scribe Scroll for Practised Spellcaster and Familiar for some summonning feat(but not Augment Summnoning cause i'm going Donmain Wizard). I would probably also take this Hunter Druid for armor and shield proficiences and wildshape.