Good animals for druids to turn into

[13_CBS]

I'm making a character for a PbP game here at Giantitp (the House of a Thousand Corpses game, in fact). He's a gestalt Druid 8//Sorc 4/Fiend-Blooded 4 who will focus mostly on buffing teammates, doing some batman stuff, and healing, with some extra blasting and tanking on the side.

Here are the sources I'm allowed to use. I have most but not all of them:

Complete Adventurer
Complete Arcane
Complete Divine
Complete Mage
Complete Psionic
Complete Scoundrel
Complete Warrior
Dungeonscape
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Heroes of Horror
Libris Mortis
Magic of Incarnum
Monster Manual V
Player’s Handbook II
Races of Destiny
Races of the Dragon
Savage Species
Spell Compendium
Tome of Battle
Tome of Magic

What are some good animals for me to wildshape into? It would be best if suggestions are limited to animals (or "animals") that are relatively common in a land populated almost entirely by malicious undead.

Edit: I should also include that he is Neutral Evil.

[13_CBS]

Bump bump bumpity bump.

[Lizardfolk Lich]

I too would enjoy knowing this, because I am also playing a druid now.

[Riffington]

What are some good animals for me to wildshape into? It would be best if suggestions are limited to animals (or "animals") that are relatively common in a land populated almost entirely by malicious undead.

Wolves, ravens, bats, and (if you are particularly vile), cats.

[The_Snark]

At your level? Let's see...

Combat:
-Dire lion
-Dire boar
-Polar bear
-Rhinoceros

Flying:
-Dire bat (if in combat)
-Eagle or hawk (if you want more speed)

Aquatic:
-Giant octopus
-Orca (in 1 level, anyway)

Other: Anything inconspicuous is a good choice for sneaking around. Things like cats and owls don't attract a lot of notice. By contrast, the Huge viper isn't a very good combat form, but turning into a 30-foot snake is fun just for the shock value, really...

[13_CBS]

Hmm...interesting suggestions, but I'm wondering if there are any animals that fit the Nation of the Dead setting. As I've said before, any animal from the list of sources above works.

Edit: Or am I too low a level for them?

[The_Snark]

I don't think any of those listed books have any animals in them. A few of the Monster Manuals have some, but not V.

And... I don't know, what sort of animals are appropriate to the setting? Vultures? Wolves (dire)? It looks like most of the setting has the standard wildlife, where there's wildlife at all. Is there a specific region (and corresponding climate) that your character is from?

[Lizardfolk Lich]

What about a level 15 (nearly 16) druid?

[The_Snark]

Depends on sources.

Whales are good if you need to be in water, as is the giant squid. If you have access to Frostburn, the zeuglodon (prehistoric whale) is a killer. Pretty much all the aquatic dinosaurs from Stormwrack are powerful, too, if you feel like turning into a dinosaur.

You can't do it just yet, but rocs are a lot of fun to turn into.

Elephants (or woolly mammoths, if you feel like it and have Frostburn) are fun. Triceratopses can be good for reptilian druids.

Which reminds me! Add the giant crocodile to my earlier list. Works well for a fiend-descended character, too.

[13_CBS]

Actually, much of this guy's past comes from a (now desolated) foresty, sylvan land, and he only moved to the desolated, undead-populated area fairly recently, so I think the standard animals will work just fine.

Thanks for the help!

[leperkhaun]

i dont have the link handy, but in the character optimization forums at wizard. search for the druid handybook. It has a list of various shapes and AC for different levels.