More Druid Questions, and a Hypothetical Exercise

[wayfare]

Hey all!

So I've spent the last few weeks getting my hands on all manner of sourcebooks for 3.5, and I have yet to find a decent prestige class for a pure druid. The character is a level 2 human druid with:

Str 16
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 15
Wis 18
Cha 12

The idea is to build a more "rational" druid. The character is a naturalist -- he goes around with a sketchbook, drawing plants and animals and observing their behavior. He has a fascination with magical creatures and pays special attention to them -- our DM granted us a bonus skill and I chose Arcana, so the character is well versed in all sorts of magic. I wouldn't mind a prestige clas that added some arcane spell castng, or something that allows me to do stuff with magical beasts.

Anyway, I'm pretty convinced I have to play this as 20 straight in Druid. But I am looking for any suggestions that might liven up the character or bring it closer to my concept. Any suggestions are welcome.

Things I have ruled out

Daggerspell Shaper seems cool, but I don't want to go rogue
Animal Lord
Beast Master
Master of Many Forms

Things I am Considering

Loremaster (seriously)
Warshaper

Now, for a thought experiment:

My GM and I were wondering if you could play a druid without spellcating, but with a boost to wild shape (+times per day or something). How fulfilling would it be to play such a character? What tier would a spellcasting free Druid hang out in?

[awa]

probably high 3.

Wild shape and an animal companion still give him a lot of options and versatility.
you have a lot of options (by wild shape) and between you and the animal companion you can out fight most specialized melee combatants.

But with no spells you have no ways to really break the game

i think you would have no trouble playing a druid with out spells depending on the optimization of the group. your still way better than some of the core classes

[Crow]

Loremaster actually seems really good for the character you describe.

[Kylarra]

Unless you're playing PF druid or shapechange variant druid, that 16 in str should really be in Con.

[Godskook]

I've *ALWAYS* wanted to play an Arcane Hierophant, and your character concept seems to allow for this. I suggest:

Druid 3/FS Conjurer 3/Mystic Theurge 1/Arcane Hierophant 10/MT +3

This is a basic casting druid build that avoids early entry cheese. This:

Druid 4/FS Conjurer 3/AH 10/Druid +3

is also playable, but is a more druid focused character, losing arcane 9ths to focus on a more powerful wildshape and animal companion.

Arcane Hierophant is from Races of the Wild.

As far as a spell-casting free druid........depends largely on how much you leverage your wildshape options, and if you're going that way, you'd be better off with a wildshape variant ranger instead, imho.

[Coidzor]

Unless you're playing PF druid or shapechange variant druid, that 16 in str should really be in Con.

On that note, here's my suggestion for swapping the stats around.

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Str 16 -> 12 (If you're fighting, that should be a last resort or as a wildshaped critter)
Dex 14
Con 14 -> 16 (HP still depends upon your base CON)
Int 15 (I'd say is the secondary contender for the 16)
Wis 18
Cha 12 -> 14 (CHA helps with wild empathy, which depending upon the game can help get you minions, so a +2 is more valuable here than a +2 vs. a +1 in strength)

Re: The Hypothetical: With the wildshape feats and no magic, the only reason not to go MOMF is the Animal Companion. At MOMF 7 you get all extraordinary qualities. Combine this with Assume Supernatural Ability and you can have some fun.

[gorfnab]

Planar Shepherd with the chosen plane of Lamannia (The Twilight Forest) might be an option to consider.