[3.5] I may not wild shape b..but I have a lance !

[Avrodath]

Hi guys and gals.

I play a strongheart halfling rider druid in one of my games. Currently 3rd level, 4th soon (all druid for now).
Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 17, Chr 11
Got the Mounted combat => Spirited charge line of feats, and have Lance proficiency as a bonus feat from my background.

As wild shape wouldn't be as useful to me, compared to a regular druid, I thought about swapping it at level 5 with the "Aspect of the Dragon (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/druid.html#aspect-of-the-dragon)" class feature from Dragon Magic.
Passable idea, or cruel mistake ?

And... well, except going full druid, is there a good druidic PrC both advancing spellcasting and the animal companion advancement ? ( my campaign might lead us to the 12th or 13th level.)

If you have any other advice concerning a not perfectly optimized rider druid, I'm all ears ! Thanks ! :smallredface:

[tyckspoon]

It's a downgrade, because basically everything that attempts to substitute Wild Shape is, but as far as downgrade replacements go it's not horrible - no type is given for the stat bonuses so it should trivially combine with pretty much everything, each usage lasts a good long while, and even the Breath Weapon option despite being mostly underwhelming can potentially give you some neat options by unlocking access to Breath Weapon feats. Could do a lot worse.

Not familiar with any prestige options that do spells + companion. It's either the ridiculous ones that are straight up just Druid+, or one of the major features gets dropped; it's usually the companion.

[eggynack]

Lion of Talisid from the book of exalted deeds seems like a solid pick. Offers some decent combat boosts alongside the casting and companion advancement, including exalted companion at level four. Also planar shepherd, but that's broken as all hell. You may also find some interest in halfling druid substitution levels from races of the wild if you haven't seen them already. They're not particularly good, but they're mounted combat themed. Anyways, yeah, aspect of the dragon is about as good as it gets where wild shape swaps are concerned, by which I mean it's pretty bad. Wild shape is powerful or whatever. Beyond that, my handbook is, as always, in my sig.

[pabelfly]

As wild shape wouldn't be as useful to me, compared to a regular druid, I thought about swapping it at level 5 with the "Aspect of the Dragon (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/druid.html#aspect-of-the-dragon)" class feature from Dragon Magic.
Passable idea, or cruel mistake ?

Even great class features are only as good as you want them to be. An animal companion, for example, can be as potent as the main character of a build, if not more so, or it can be little more than a forgotten few lines of text on your build sheet if you don't want it. So if you're not going to use Wild Shape, trade it away.

I'd also check out Aspect of Nature in Unearthed Arcana. They are temporary buffs too, and can give you some good bonuses to STR and CON.

[Anthrowhale]

Arcane Hierophant is nice for AC buffing, but it requires losing at least one level of spell advancement as far as I can tell.

[Gnaeus]

Arcane Hierophant is nice for AC buffing, but it requires losing at least one level of spell advancement as far as I can tell.

This is true, but the benefits of being able to cast mage armor, shield and mirror image on the pet are also not insubstantial.

[Anthrowhale]

You might consider retraining to get Urban Companion instead of AC and then picking up Improved Familiar to turn it into a ride. That would make you free to choose whatever prestige class you want with a decent scaling. The biggest drawback is that you can't leverage AC feats.

The choices given in Complete Warrior are pretty good. Blink dog can plausibly blink while you ride and since it's a free action to turn on or off they don't suffer blink downsides. This would allow you to charge through obstacles. Later you might Hippogriff for flight+claw/claw/bite.

[Avrodath]

Many thanks for your advices and your inputs! I know that I'm gimping my character a bit with its mounted combat schtick, but well... I like the character concept, and we're not that optimized in the group.

I totally overlooked the Lion of Talisid PrC, and it, indeed, sounds quite great. I'll keep an eye on it.

As for the Arcane Hierophant... it sounds really nice too. But, taking some wizard levels would mean taking several years in game to study and use arcane magic. And I have a too mediocre charisma to even hope taking some sorcerer or bard levels.

[ixrisor]

As for the Arcane Hierophant... it sounds really nice too. But, taking some wizard levels would mean taking several years in game to study and use arcane magic. And I have a too mediocre charisma to even hope taking some sorcerer or bard levels.

There are other classes that cast spells based on intelligence, which may need less study: beguiler and duskblade are two.
Also, the bardic sage alternate class feature allows a bard to determine their ability to cast spells based on their intelligence rather than charisma.

[Anthrowhale]

Just to be clear, the Urban Companion ACF (https://web.archive.org/web/20110324222500/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) requires zero levels of other classes. You would use it by (for example) declaring that you were retraining to use the ACF on your L5->L6 levelup as per the PHB II rules and also taking the improved familiar feat at the same time. Your existing AC will wander off and you would summon a new blink dog friend. It should require only a small amount of downtime.