I will use the power of EEVVVIIIILLLL! To feed everybody !! And reduce child mortality !!! None shall stand in my path !!!!

Quote Originally Posted by Things Lost, Things Gained
Things Lost, Things Gained



Spoiler: Abundance
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From "Cities of the Unapproachable East" by Meldo Griffinquill, Chapter 7

...though Brethil is called the Garden City, the meaning of this name was lost on me during my brief visit. Its walls are high and sturdy, yet seemingly far too small for its many denizens, and so hardly any space within the city exists that is not taken up by ramshackle homes or impromptu stalls. Curiously, though the denizens' poverty is apparent, their homes are uniformly colored red, leaving me wondering where they acquire the paints.

Indeed, even the town's inns, supposedly for the benefit of travelers, often find themselves employed as semi-permanent residences for its wealthier newcomers. As such, to find a place to eat and sleep was no small feat, and in the end I found myself forced to enter one of its seedier neighbourhoods, where I at last encountered a small building advertising several vacancies. It looked disheveled, but a warm glow from within implied a well-fed fireplace, which proved more appealing than night's chill (not to speak of night's dangers).

Its name I shall not repeat for you: my visit was one of necessity, not choice, and the inside of this warren boggled the imagination. Filth caked every surface, flies buzzed around mysterious stains, and though I saw none, the chew-marks and droppings of rats revealed that they, too, patronized this innkeep. Still, a roof was a roof and a door was a door, and I, possessed of a sizeable traveler's purse, supposed there existed no foodborne illness that could not be cured by a respectable temple donation. Now the ubiquitous shrines to Talona made sense - presumably, in a city this full of people and their filth, many thought it prudent to appease the goddess of disease.

The innkeep, a brutish man with a couple teeth too few and a couple warts too many, asked what seemed like a pittance for my meal and bed. I paid him thrice that, instructing him to bring me his finest food, as well as a large cask of booze. Truth be told, I had half a mind to eat nothing without first drowning it in ale - better a soggy meal than a worm-ridden one.

But when my host returned, I could hardly believe my eyes. Where I had expected a watery soup with stale bread, perhaps supplied by cheese or dried meat, I was instead treated to a meal that ten times the gold wouldn't have bought me elsewhere. The main dish was a rich stew, prepared with mackerel of all things. When I expressed wonderment at this, the innkeep chuckled that he 'caught it himself', which seemed quite odd to me as we were many days' travel from the ocean. Even so, it tasted wonderful, and I resolved that no trick of preparation could disguise rotten fish as fresh, and so ate it all and asked for more. Along this I was served a small bowl of whitish, watery legs (off-putting at first, but delightful all the same), as well as black pudding and some strange powdery bread with a greenish tint - exotic-tasting, but not unpleasantly so.

I inquired as to the origin of all these delicacies, and my host, being not exceptionally busy, humored me. Scratching a bulging abscess in his neck (which I tried to pay no attention to), he regaled to me the tale of the Garden City's origin, which all children here learn before they are four years of age.

It went thus...


Spoiler: Introduction, intermission
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What is a miracle? The contest theme was annoyingly broad to me, at first. There's no real definition, and a lot of mythological and religious examples are either very unimpressive in D&D, or can be replicated straightforwardly by mid-level spells.

But a very common thread in miracle stories is this: the denial of scarcity. Feed a crowd with five loaves of bread and two fish. Strike a rock in the desert and watch water flow forth. Keep a flame burning for eight days, even though the oil should only last one. Change water into wine. And because D&D is a resource management game at heart, things like this are actually hard to obtain on a large scale!

So all that's left is to actually find the sources of these miracles. A certain high-level spell gets the job done, but of course this is Monster Mash, so it's hard to fit in high-level spells without compromising our monstrosity.

But don't worry: we find a way.


Spoiler: Consumption
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Many, many centuries ago, there was a good and honest man, who lived on a humble farm with his family. But the man's enemies came, and drove him and his kin out, and they were forced to seek refuge in the dark forest where no living soul dared venture.

For three days and three nights they traveled the ever-darkening paths, growing hungry and thirsty and tired, but the righteous man instilled hope and joy in them, and so they persisted until they reached a glade in the forest's deepest heart.

There dwelled a beautiful nymph, who had never seen humans before and was most curious about them. And the man impressed her so with his wisdom and righteousness that she pledged to serve humanity forevermore. And so the nymph provided for the righteous man's needs, calling down manna from heaven to nourish him, wood from the earth to feed his fire, and lore from the past to sate his soul. He built a house then, and made that glade his home, and dwelled there happily for a number of years.

And when the righteous man died, his children built him a great tomb. It is this tomb that was the first building of the Garden City, so called for the natural splendour it was founded among. And though much time has passed, still our immortal protector provides for us, and so every day new souls flock here, eager to share in nature's bounty.

Praise be!


Spoiler: Build Table (1)
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Lorine Verbena

NE Nymph Ex-Druid 1 / SA Fighter 1 / Blighter 3


Point buy: 8 STR / 10 DEX / 14 CON / 12 INT / 18 WIS / 12 CHA
Ability Scores: 8 STR / 16 DEX / 16 CON / 18 INT / 24 WIS / 20 CHA
ASIs (8, 12, 16, 20): All in Wisdom for a final stat of 28.

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
9th Nymph (6 RHD, 3 LA) +3 +2 +5 +5 Concentration +3 (3), Craft (Alchemy) +8cc (4), Craft (Woodworking) +8cc (4), Diplomacy +9 (9), Escape Artist +9 (9), Handle Animal +9 (9), Hide +9 (9), Knowledge (Arcana) +8cc (4), Move Silently +9 (9), Sense Motive +9 (9), Spot +9 (9) Great Fortitude, Spell Focus (Transmutation), Darkstalker Blinding Beauty, Dimension Door 1/day, Stunning Glance, Unearthly Grace, Wild Empathy, Spells
10th Ex-Druid 1 +3 +4 +5 +7 Concentration +7 (10), Craft (Alchemy) 4, Craft (Woodworking) 4, Diplomacy 9, Escape Artist 9, Handle Animal 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (4.5), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spot 9 - Nature Sense, Spells, Animal Companion, Voice of the City
11th Sneak Attack Hit-And-Run Fighter 1 +4 +6 +5 +7 Concentration 10, Craft (Alchemy) +1 (5), Craft (Woodworking) +4 (8), Diplomacy 9, Escape Artist 9, Handle Animal 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (5), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spot 9 - Sneak Attack +1d6, Hit-And-Run Fighting
12th Blighter 1 +4 +8 +5 +9 Concentration +2 (12), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (6), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +3 (12), Escape Artist 9, Handle Animal 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) +1 (1), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft +1 (1), Spot 9 Craven Deforestation
13th Blighter 2 +5 +9 +5 +10 Concentration +1 (13), Craft (Alchemy) +6 (12), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +1 (13), Escape Artist 9, Handle Animal 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 1, Spot 9 - Blightfire, Sustenance
14th Blighter 3 +6 +9 +6 +10 Concentration +1 (14), Craft (Alchemy) +2 (14), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +1 (14), Escape Artist 9, Handle Animal 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) +4cc (2), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 1, Spot 9 - Undead Wild Shape


Spoiler: Depletion
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I hate them.

All of them - crawling through their own filth, loving and laughing and learning nothing, so incredibly wrong about everything, about me. They call me a protector, a provider, a goddess and it makes me want to scream at them, to press them face-first into their own excrement and scream of the trees that used to stand there. But I can't, of course: it'd hurt them.

I'm sure this isn't what you expected. But trust me, it'll make more sense if we just start at the beginning.


Once, I was of the trees.

I did not dwell among them like a man in his house - I was them. I sustained them without thought, without effort, as you sustain your own body through food and drink.

...I don't remember what it was like. I don't remember food and drink either, of course. I can live without them, and the city's many hungry mouths cannot, and thus anything one would offer me, I must at once give up to one who needs it more. Such is the logic of my current existence.

In that distant past came along a man, accompanied by his children; a victim of some greater evil who sought refuge in the forest. They found none with me. The forest-that-was-me was no place for mortals - and if they hadn't bothered to learn that lesson, well, they say pain is the greatest teacher. And I'll grant him one thing; he took the torments well. Well enough for me to actually be impressed, for me to grant him one little last request before I finally snuffed out his life: that his kin would be safe from harm until the last of them set foot outside the forest. An innocent enough boon, or so I thought.

That's the worst part. The realization that I only have myself to blame.

I don't know how that spawn of his learned the exact words of our pact. Maybe she knew, failed to spot her skulking about. Maybe she got lucky. Maybe whatever they fled from was so terrifying she'd rather take her chances with me. But where all the others left, she did not. She stood up to me. Had the gall to order me around: to demand food and a fire to cook it on, to demand shelter and protection.

To my horror, I obeyed.

I was of the forest. I was the-one-who-speaks-for-the-trees. I was my words, as much as I was the forest - more than I was the forest, to my horror. I had made a promise: to keep her from harm. And mortals, well, they're such fragile things: so many ways they could be harmed, so many deprivations they could suffer - so many things the promise made me provide.

And to keep it, I would let the woodcutter's axe claim my body one trunk at a time.

She built herself a cabin, and her father a grand tomb. Then she built storage sheds, a well, a fenced-in farming plot. Travelers came; pilgrims, traders, other lost souls - they left with distorted versions of the truth. More came the following year - some remained. She declared them kin - declared all visitors kin, adopted them into the pact. One year, I was caretaker to one, the next year, to a hundred, then a thousand, then too many to count - each and every one loyal to the woman I loathed so.

She never left, though to her final day I was hoping she would. She died, and was buried next to her father, though by now I think they've lost track of her among all sorts of lesser souls. Maybe someone out there still knows the truth, but I doubt it.

The pact endured - she worded it carefully enough to survive her death - and by now I don't see how it will ever be undone. Everything that once counted as my forest is long dead and gone.

That nearly killed me anyway, you know. Ten, eleven generations in, when their hunger had brought an end to most of my home, when the final great oak had disappeared into some fireplace, when chaff and pig crap choked the dirt, I found myself fading. I was of the forest - how could I possibly survive if it went? I remained sentenced to servitude - but I served knowing my death was near, and that granted me a sort of peace.

If only it had been that easy.

The vermin drinking my blood learned of my decline. Did they change? Reflect on their greed? Of course not, they acted as mortals always do: find some force beyond your ken and make it solve your problems. I never sought out the Forms - but when they made their offer, the curse left me no choice. And so I was remade for a final time, more thoroughly than ever.

My new body was a thing of dead wood and sharp angles, thin, twisted, unstable. Sometimes it collapses for a moment, giving way to the shape of some starving beast - at times even dead ones - but I always return to it. It is no more part of the forest than a chair or table - and no longer dependent on it. When they asked for its last few trees, not the merest spark of self-preservation was there to stop me.

And then? More of the same, of course. Why would the utter desecration of this land matter? Business as usual, now if our Fair Fey Protector would please magic up some more food and firewood? And make it quick!

And so I do - the only way I can. No heavenly ambrosia for you, no straight and proud trees - rains of fish and stinking blood to wash it down, twisted thorny branches that burn with pungent smoke. And disease - the inevitable endpoint of so many souls crammed together. That, at least, I cannot fix, so I simply watch the plagues come and go, watch each new strain reap more than the last. Never enough to kill them all - but enough to provide some glimmer of satisfaction.

Do you know what I do with the bodies? I twist them, infuse them with the last part of me still connected to the green. No plant has survived in this city - none, but the thorny vines I draw from their bodies. They never last long: the mortals always hunger, and my magic requires sacrifice, but I take grim joy in knowing it is them I feed on, in the end.

So welcome to the Garden City - where the only growing things are those that root in human hosts.

Will you be staying long?


Spoiler: Build Table (2)
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The Provider

NE Splinterwaif Knave Ex-Druid 1 / SA Fighter 1 / Blighter 3 / Shaper of Form 3 / Shapeshifter 3 / Talontar Blightlord 3

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
6th Splinterwaif Knave (6 RHD, +0 LA) +3 +2 +5 +5 Bluff +9 (9), Climb +6 (6), Concentration +6cc (3), Craft (Alchemy) +8cc (4), Craft (Woodworking) +8cc (4), Diplomacy +9 (9), Hide +9 (9), Knowledge (Arcana) +8cc (4), Move Silently +9 (9), Sense Motive +9 (9), Tumble +9 (9) Great Fortitude, Spell Focus (Transmutation), Darkstalker Splinterspit, Camouflage, Call Brambles, Sneak Attack 4d6, Transformation, Superior Woodland Stride
7th Ex-Druid 1 +3 +4 +5 +7 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +7 (10), Craft (Alchemy) 4, Craft (Woodworking) 4, Diplomacy 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (4.5), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Tumble 9 - Nature Sense, Spells, Animal Companion, Voice of the City
8th Sneak Attack Hit-And-Run Fighter 1 +4 +6 +5 +7 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration 10, Craft (Alchemy) +1 (5), Craft (Woodworking) +4 (8), Diplomacy 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (5), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Tumble 9 - Sneak Attack +1d6, Hit-And-Run Fighting
9th Blighter 1 +4 +8 +5 +9 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +2 (12), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (6), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +3 (12), Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) +1 (1), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft +1 (1), Tumble 9 Craven Deforestation
10th Blighter 2 +5 +9 +5 +10 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (13), Craft (Alchemy) +6 (12), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +1 (13), Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 9 - Blightfire, Sustenance
11th Blighter 3 +6 +9 +6 +10 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (14), Craft (Alchemy) +2 (14), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +1 (14), Hide 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) +4cc (2), Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 9 - Undead Wild Shape
12th Shaper of Form 1 +6 +11 +6 +12 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (15), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (15), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy 14, Hide +2cc (10), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently +2cc (10), Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 9 Mother Cyst Like Begets Like, Modify Self (Renaissance)
13th Shaper of Form 2 +7 +12 +6 +13 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (16), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (16), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy 14, Hide +2cc (11), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently +2cc (11), Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 9 - Fortify Item, Polymorph 1/day
14th Shaper of Form 3 +7 +12 +7 +13 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (17), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (17), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy 14, Hide +2cc (12), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently +2cc (12), Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 9 - Polymorph 2/day
15th Shapeshifter 1 +7 +14 +9 +15 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (18), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (18), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +4 (18), Hide 12, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently 12, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft +2 (3), Tumble 9 Natural Spell Wild Shape (3/day)
16th Shapeshifter 2 +8 +15 +10 +16 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (19), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (19), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +1 (19), Hide 12, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently 12, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft +5 (8), Tumble 9 - -
17th Shapeshifter 3 +9 +15 +10 +16 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (20), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (20), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy +1 (20), Hide 12, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently 12, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft +5 (13), Tumble 9 - Wild Shape (Large)
18th Talontar Blightlord 1 +9 +17 +10 +18 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (21), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (21), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy 20, Hide +4 (16), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently 12, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 13, Tumble 9 Savage Grapple Blightbringer Domain, Blightblood
19th Talontar Blightlord 2 +10 +18 +10 +19 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (22), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (22), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy 20, Hide +2 (18), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently 12, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft +2 (15), Tumble 9 - Illmaster
20th Talontar Blightlord 3 +11 +18 +11 +19 Bluff 9, Climb 6, Concentration +1 (23), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (23), Craft (Woodworking) 8, Diplomacy 20, Hide +2 (20), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Move Silently 12, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft +2 (17), Tumble 9 - Blight Touch 1/day

(if you hold 'profession skill must be herbalist' to also mean 'you must have at least one rank in profession herbalist', then assume we invest a cross-class rank during our RHD and end up with two fewer points of sense motive)

(also if you want to be strict about us taking Natural Spell at the level we get wildshape, just move the shapeshifter level ahead by one - I would fix these table errors but c'mon this is a build with two spellcasting tables and two class tables, I have filled in too many boxes to go back and change everything again and it all works out either way)


Spoiler: Spellcasting
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Druid
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
9th 6 6 5 3 2
10th 6 6 5 4 3
11th 6 6 5 3 2

Druid spellcasting is lost at Shaper of Form 1.

Blighter
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
12th 4 4 - - - - - - - -
13th 5 5 2 - - - - - - -
14th 5 5 3 2 - - - - - -
12th 6 5 4 3 2 - - - - -
14th 6 5 5 4 3 1 - - - -
16th 6 5 5 5 4 2 1 - - -
18th 6 6 5 5 5 3 2 1 - -
19th 6 6 6 5 5 4 3 2 1 -
20th 6 8 6 6 6 6 4 3 2 1

Typical Spells Prepared:
0 - Detect Magic (3), Ghost Sound (2), Read Magic
1 - Endure Elements (3), Necrotic Awareness (2), Ray of Enfeeblement (3)
2 - Chill Touch (2), Darkness, Necrotic Cyst (2), Necrotic Scrying
3 - Deeper Darkness, Desecrate, Protection from Energy (2), Stinking Cloud (2)
4 - Animate Dead, Death Ward (2), Necrotic Domination, Transmute Mud to Rock, Transmute Rock to Mud
5 - Antilife Shell (2), Create Undead, Necrotic Burst, Power Leech, Repel Wood
6 - Acid Fog, Finger of Death, Fire Seeds, Harm
7 - Chain of Sorrow, Control Undead, Necrotic Tumor
8 - Evil Weather, Mind Blank
9 - Implosion



Spoiler: Spotlights (10, 15, 12, 15, 20)
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ECL 10
Compared to a regular druid, we're behind a spell level and lack wild shape, but we possess a very potent at-will save-or-lose and insane boosts to all defenses, plus some great stats and a very nasty anti-humanoid tool in Blinding Beauty. Voice of the City is mostly taken to avoid having redundant wild empathy. Great Fortitude shores up our weakest save, Spell Focus Transmutation helps out here or there, and Darkstalker is surprisingly useful thanks to Hide and MS being nymph class skills (note that Obscuring Mist is a solid spell that works great here).

ECL 15
Our druid powers are lost as we cease to properly respect nature. This makes us an ex-druid (obviously) who was previously capable of casting 3rd-level druid spells (we still are, but that's irrelevant) - lastly the BAB requirement is covered by a level of SA fighter. During the rough first levels of blighter, when normal builds would've been five or six levels behind, we actually do decently well on the casting front, and at any rate still have our nymph defenses and stunning glance. Undead Wild Shape gives us the first bit of shapechanging this build is going to have; we'll be favoring big cats throughout the build, and that's true already - skeletal leopards bring 21 dexterity, pounce, improved grab, and two rakes: win initiative, charge something, and hit five attacks that deal 1d6+12 sneak attack damage each. Don't forget the fighter dip is also giving us our dexterity to damage and +2 to initiative!

We can also look into corrupt spells to enhance the blighter's lackluster spell list a bit, which creates an interesting rules interaction that I think merits a closer look.

Spoiler: On Two Wrongs And What They Make
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What happens when an undead casts a corrupt spell? There are two RAW-supported views, as far as I'm concerned.

In the first, undead can cast the spell and are immune to the corruption cost, making corrupt spells virtually free for them.

In the second, undead cannot cast corrupt spells at all, because the corruption cost is a component and 'A spell’s components are what you must do or possess to cast it' (PHB). Undead cannot take ability drain, so they cannot cast spells that include ability drain among their components.

In either of those interpretations, we get to cast corrupt spells without having to pay those costs.

Read the rules for corrupt spells in the BoVD: corruption costs are paid once the spell's duration expires, not as part of the casting. That means we can cast a corrupt spell with non-instantaneous duration (possible in both of the interpretations), use Undead Wild Shape before the duration expires, and then be immune to the ability cost when it is inflicted, again in accordance with both interpretations. We always have the ability to take ability drain at the moment of casting, and we always have immunity to it at the moment the cost is incurred, making us a better user of corrupt spells than purely mortal or purely undead casters.


Anyway, once we've got the blighter casting to meet the casting requirement, we enter Shaper of Form to grab Like Begets Like (discussed in the next spoiler), as well as Modify Self to pick up Renai-

ECL 12
-ssance.

With blighter our new casting class of choice, why bother keeping those druid spells around? We change our race from nymph to splinterwaif (normally not an option for being a race with a level adjustment, but Monster Mash rules take care of that), explicitly keeping our sky-high nymph stats (as well as our 'previously capable of casting 3rd-level druid spells' status), but gaining a shiny new set of racial traits to go with it.

(by the way, note that I asked the chair, and he suggested I recalculate RHD skills when I change race - so that's what I did)

Camouflage is nice - it's concealment coupled with a big +10 to Hide (on top of our new +10 racial), great for our sneak attacking ambush-loving self, and as a (Su) it sticks around when we're wildshaped. Splinterspit gives our animal forms a ranged attack, our natural speed rockets up to an impressive 50 with a climb speed to match, we get Improved Initiative (hello, flat-footed enemies) and Weapon Finesse (hello, extra-accurate leopard pounces and melee touch spells) as bonus feats, and our sneak attack goes up by 4d6, for a final 5d6+12. That's not much worse than what the rogue is doing at this ECL, with considerably better forms to do it with. Moreover, Blighter casting is up to 4ths, closing most of the gap between us and a full caster when combined with our reduced ECL. Animate Dead doesn't have the greatest capacity, but via a desecrated area you can still end up with something on par with a druid's animal companion.

Also, Mother Cyst is a very multifunctional (and flavorful!) feat that massively expands our spell list, eventually letting us scry, dominate creatures permanently, massively buff ourselves, and ultimately destroy souls in a way even Wish cannot undo.

ECL 15
More Shaper of Form gets us Polymorph twice per day, at an unspecified CL that thus defaults to our HD. I don't need to tell you how good the spell is - go turn into a hydra or dragon and go to town. This also qualifies us for Shapeshifter, giving us proper druid-standard Wild Shape back, except now it's at our character level rather than tied to a particular class, letting us get choice PrC benefits and max out our form access. For now, consider MM2's Legendary Eagle (30 dexterity, 100 ft. speed, 3 attacks), or Legendary Ape (30 strength, rend), with various burrowing and aquatic forms for utility.

ECL 20
More spell advancement lets us eke out 9ths on a build with about 2/3rds of the sneak attack damage of an at-level Craven Rogue (fun fact: Mind Blank foils divinations that would break our stealth) and wild shape forms up to and including the dire tiger (which is everything we want in a combat form: fast, good stats, three attacks plus two rakes, pounce, and improved grab). This unique suite of abilities makes us one of those rare builds that can use Savage Grapple, adding our sneak attack to grapple check damage (which we can try up to 3 times a round and which uses grapple checks rather than attack rolls). Grappling itself of course remains a very potent way to shut down casters and their ilk.

Talontar Blightlord rounds out the build (thanks to the glaive proficiency we obtained way back when), giving us extra spells known and another source of minions via Blight Touch (which inflicts a disease that turns low-cha sufferers into blightspawned creatures that we can then rebuke - note the synergy with Chain of Sorrow). Furthermore, when said blightspawned creatures inevitably succumb to the illness, they become Juju Zombies, which we can still control thanks to Command Undead (not to mention mundane diplomacy if the base creature was intelligent). All these minions can be used to carry the holly berry bombs that Fire Seeds creates, allowing for extra damage once they die.

And well, with how transmissible the disease is, and how easy it should be to take some high-value low-cha animals captive, and how easy a time we have conjuring up the food for them all... getting a large reserve of rebuke fodder going shouldn't be hard at all. Druids need to summon their minions first? Who's got time for that?

And so we present the final build: a highly capable minionmancer pulling in undead, plant, and tumor-controlled minions, with access to a wide variety of forms, a bunch of sneak attack that a regular druid has no hopes of obtaining, and a natural form that lets all our animal bodies double as stealthy snipers - as well as a miracle worker who can ensure food, water, and protection for literal millions. Not too shabby!


Spoiler: Miracles
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Unlimited Food
A single casting of Evil Weather at CL10 covers 314 square miles (10 mile radius circle), or about 350 million 5-ft squares. Assume that for the 3d6 (10) minutes the spell last, every square is struck at least once by one fish per round. This comes out to 350 billion fish conjured per casting. Each must weigh at least 1 pound, per the falling object rules, so that's 350 billion pounds of biomass. Actually, let's halve that, because falling damage is linear and these fish only deal 1d3 instead of the 1d6 you'd expect, so 175 billion pounds.

Per casting.

I cannot properly stress how insane this is: the total animal biomass in our world is 13 billion tonnes; these fish would be 0.6 percent of that.

So what's that mean in terms of mouths fed? Give your 314 square miles a population density comparable to Kowloon Walled City, which comes down to 1.5 billion denizens. They would each receive 232 pounds, per person, per day. It doesn't matter how watery or bony that fish is, it doesn't matter how big or dense your city gets: these people are getting fed. In a medieval-esque setting, where famines and food insecurity are undeniable dangers, this alone is going to attract a lot of people to your territory.

The only concern is micronutrients, though a lot of micronutrients might be covered by the blood rain option (blood, almost definitionally, contains whatever an animal body needs to survive). Assume an inch of rain over the area, that's about 5 billion gallons of blood per casting.

And, of course, blood also neatly takes care of hydration, if filtered. Our inability to capture it all doesn't really matter - blood is 50% water, and that water needs to go somewhere - once the ground is inundated, evaporation is the only option. (if necessary, we can induce evaporation artificially with Blightfire)

Keeping the fire going
As a splinterwaif, we can create one Medium-sized branch per turn. Assume this has half the volume of a human, or about 30000 cubic centimeters. That's a 10-20 kg branch! If we work for 8 hours and produce 10 x 60 x 8 = 4800 branches, that's over 50000 kg of wood. This isn't quite as world-shaking as our food production values, but it's still enough to keep tens of thousands of people warm and should form a notable decrease in the overall need for firewood. We can also use this as a corpse disposal service, by using Transformation to turn humanoid bodies into medium-sized brushes that we can then be harvested and burned without the need for burial or cremation. Also, presumably even thorny branches can be used for more than firewood.

More stuff from heaven
A sort of combination of the above two points lies in a second use of Evil Weather: Plague of Nettles, which creates choking weeds across the whole area. It's not our favorite tool - the hungry plant creatures that pop up as a side effect are just too annoying to deal with, but it's worth noting that some of the named creatures make for pretty nice Command Plants/Blightblood infection fodder - and that as a blighter, we can use the plants to fuel our casting while also creating deforested zones where they won't grow.

Anyway, the 'choking weeds' are still plants and can presumably be processed somehow, even if it's just as animal fodder or fertilizer. Skeleton harvesting crews shouldn't draw the attention of carnivorous monsters.

Redeforestation
As a blighter, a notable weakness is our reliance on Deforestation to regain slots every day. Being a splinterwaif, we can turn corpses into plants, at which point the area has vegetation and can thus be an eligible deforestation target. Even if we're not fighting humanoids or fey, dragging their bodies along (in zombie form if need be) is considerably easier than keeping plants alive to kill.

Plague of Nettles is another last-ditch effort to create vegetation to desecrate - the spell is unclear about its effects when cast in a plant-unfriendly environment, but given the ridiculous growth rate of the conjured seeds I somehow suspect that a mere desert environment won't stop the seeds from taking root.

Transubstantiation
Shaper of Form is a balanced prestige class, exhibit 2: Like Begets Like.

Like yeah, no real limits on what you can do with that ability. Make a big cube out of your gold and turn it into a bigger cube of gold to up its value by 50%. Create plants with unique properties or useful fruits (plants are nonmagical objects!). Instantly create stuff with your craft skills. Make sure to Wildshape when needed, because the effect is based on your own size and thus becomes more powerful if you're Large. It's just a poorly-written ability with utterly busted applications, and it fits our miracle theme extremely well. It's also worth seeing if you can use this to create more useful minions: you can't affect creatures, but can you turn a corpse into another corpse? An ostrich egg into a dragon egg? The seed of a plant creature into a different species? The closest spell to this effect is PAO, which is notably broken, doesn't show up until higher levels, and has some tighter restrictions on what can be turned into what.


Spoiler: Sources
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Nymph - MM1
Splinterwaif Knave - MM3
Legendary Eagle/Ape - MM2

Druid - PHB (Voice of the City - Cityscape Web Enhancement)
Fighter - PHB (Sneak Attack Fighter - UA, Hit-And-Run Fighter - DotU)
Blighter - CDiv
Shaper of Form - DComp
Shapeshifter - OA + D318 update
Talontar Blightlord - UE

Darkstalker - LoM
Mother Cyst - LM
Savage Grapple - CAdv

Cyst Spells - LM
Corrupt Spells - mostly BoVD
(Chain of Sorrow from HoH)