[[Stupid freakin' board ate my looong post, so I abbreviated this one.]]
My wizard just bit the big one, and I wanna replace him with a nature based character. We're playing in the Scarred Lands (white wolf), and the three casting classes who tap into Primal magic are the Druid, Ranger, and Bard. I almost always play casters of some flavor, and as such I've narrowed my choices to those three.
Our party is as follows:
Barbarian - (Earth Genasi) High AC, focused on mobility & Good damage
Fighter - (Earth Genasi) High AC, High Damage
Sorceress - Blaster
Warlock (3.5) - Blaster, mostly single target
NPC Healer Type - I think she's a druid, but she mostly just hangs around and heals when we need it.
I've got access to most 3.5 books, and the character is 11th level. I'd love some suggestions on what sort of character would accompany this group well. I enjoy playing skillful characters, and I would play up the nature aspect of any of these three classes (Bard can be considered a nature based class for this discussion). The only constant here is that I don't want to play a melee type. I won't be able to get my AC high enough to survive with these two melee types we already have. Bard/Ranger would probably be archery based, and druid would likely be a caster focus.
Thanks in advance.
I love playing caster druids. At level 11, you start getting some of their really ecellent spells, IMHO. And nothing fits into a nature role better than a druid.
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Caster druid sounds like your best choice. Focus on battlefield control and buffs, because it looks like the group has a pretty solid handle on damage output.
Treantmonk has an excellent guide to playing a druid, and can offer all sorts of guidance on types of druid and spells to use. He has a lot of good advice, I recommend reading through it even if you don't follow it all.
It also sounds like you need a "skill monkey," so a bard, ranger, or bard/ranger fits the bill. You can even be a secondary healer with wands.
Druids are REALLY fun and versatile, though. I played an elven archer druid, and he could pretty much fill any roll the party needed without dominating all the face time.
EDIT:
At 11th level you can use Empowered Flame Strikes!!!!
Your group needs a scout. Druids are good, but rangers are better as far as recon goes. "How much magical support do you want to offer" is the real question. If you choose a ranger, there's a nifty little PrC in Complete Champion called Forest Reeve that I'd check out. As for druids, I always liked playing a plant-oriented druid; Verdant Lord is a PrC from Masters of the Wild (3.0, but conversion is easy) and my immediate choice if I were playing a druid. I'm not sure they ever reprinted a 3.5 version of Verdant Lord, but you can't get any more "nature character" than that.
Nice, some really solid advice in here. I really do love the flavor of a druid, but I can't help but wonder if my group would benefit from a skillsy person. Our Warlock is very scout-like, so that's not necessarily something I need to worry about. However, since I don't have access to invisibility I'd likely invest in stealth (especially with the great boosts you can get w/ wildshape).
Verdant Lord, eh? I'm gonna look into that one. Are there any other prestige classes from 3.5/3.0 that push the nature character? After all, druid falls pretty flat after 12-13th level.
Nice, some really solid advice in here. I really do love the flavor of a druid, but I can't help but wonder if my group would benefit from a skillsy person. Our Warlock is very scout-like, so that's not necessarily something I need to worry about. However, since I don't have access to invisibility I'd likely invest in stealth (especially with the great boosts you can get w/ wildshape).
Verdant Lord, eh? I'm gonna look into that one. Are there any other prestige classes from 3.5/3.0 that push the nature character? After all, druid falls pretty flat after 12-13th level.
Geomancer is a fun divine/arcane hybrid PrC that I've enjoyed playing; there's a 3.5 variant floating around in one of the Complete books.
Forest Master can be found in Forgotten Realms: Faiths and Pantheons and isn't too difficult to convert; personally, I think this is a cheap Verdant Lord knock-off, but it might have what you want.