help with a druid

[DireFrostWolf]

I'm playing in a campaign with some friends. I'm thinking about using a warforged or a forest gnome, no sure yet which one i'll pick. could anyone give me some advices of the spells or equipment. we're starting at level 1, all book from the 3.5 edition are allowed, although anything that might be cheesy needs to be check by the dm. I'm trying to make a generalist druid. Thanks in advance for any help you may provide!!!!!

[Eldariel]

What kind of a Druid do you want? Summoner? Wildshape Fighter (from level 5 on, obviously)? Overall casting-focused? Shillelagh Fighter? Really, you can build a Druid in so many ways it's hard to give accurate advice without more information on what exactly you want.


Of course, I'm just gonna mention that the Animal Companion is like an additional Fighter for the party in combat (if slightly dumber, but only slightly); just pick one suited for combat if you feel the need for an additional combatant. Wartrained Riding Dog is probably the best overall choice for level 1, although Wolves are a solid option too, and Horses aren't bad either.

On level 4, Dire Bat probably rules the roost (unless your DM allows you to get a Fleshraker [MM3], which is the single most impressive animal companion combatant in the game; Poison, Tripping, Grappling, Pounce, Rake, you honestly don't know where to start with its abilities).


The Druid Handbook may be of interest to you.

[Salt_Crow]

The rule of thumb is that it's hard to go wrong with a straight druid. Take Natural Spell as your 6th-level feat and even if you choose all other feats with more thematical focus (say, Dragonmarks for example) you'll still be able to do your job (which is to rip baddies' faces off) without much trouble.

[Assassin89]

Some ideal equipment for a 1st level druid would be a club or quarterstaff if you intend to go into melee combat with the Shillelagh spell. For armor, the use of a wooden shield and hide armor might be a benefit.

[Weezer]

Its probably best to choose one of the aspects of the druid and focus on it. Usually the standard options are Summoning, wildshape combat or spell casting. Concentrating on one doesn't preclude the use of any of the other features, it just creates a far more effective character.

I'll lay out a summoning build, thats the only one I've actually played;
Druid 20

Feats:
lvl 1 Greenbound Summoning (adds greenbound template to all SNA summons for free) Lost Empires of Faerun (Warning its pretty stinky cheese)
lvl 3 Ashbound Summoning (free extend and a +3 luck bonus to attack for all SNA) ECS
lvl 6: Natural Spell (all druids need this)
lvl 9: Rashemi Elemental Summoning (gives all air and earth elementals summoned a pretty nice template w/ good SLA's or a special attack repectivly)
lvl 12: spell focus (conj) (pre-req)
lvl 15: Augment summoning (decent boosts on all summons)

The last two aren't ideal, can't think of anything better right now though I'm sure there is.

[Leon]

lvl 6: Natural Spell (all druids need this)

Only those that are married to Wildshape

If you choose Warforged you can later on go into the Landforged Walker (From Secrets of Xen'drik) PrC which has a interesting array of features that bring your Forged back closer to nature

Warforged Druids benefit greatly from having the Ironwood body (Races of Eberron) feat so that is a must if you go Forged, that or Unarmoured Body Feat (same book) that then allows you to wear any normal type of armour

[DireFrostWolf]

Thanks for your advices. I want it to be a generalist not a specialist because i have no idea what we (the party) are up against. I decided to go warforged for this druid. i'm not sure if it was correct or possible but i convinced my dm to allow the armor bonus and the DR provided by the armor plating of the warforged (ironwoodbody) to stay in wildshape, and also he ruled i could enhance it and give it magic armor propertiesand they would still work while in wildshape, so i don't have to pay the wild property. Could anyone tell me if that ruled is correct or not?

[Assassin89]

If it is somehow become a wild ironwood armor plating, then it would be correct.