The Reincarnated Druid always seemed like a great idea for a recurring villain to me, between their class ability that prevents people from knowing about them and their innate, well, recursion. Ideally, this villain would be completely self-reliant, and the Druid class lends itself well to this. Between buff spells, wild shape, summons, a personal bodyguard companion, and the assistance of nature, they will always be capable of posing a threat.
I was considering using this in my campaign, sometime far in the future in the range of levels 10-17. Any necessary circumstances can be arranged, and the party makeup at that point is hard to predict.
The main hurdle is trying to create a high-level NPC foe essentially without gear. The first time the PCs defeat him, they'll take all of his good stuff, and then he'll suck. Buff spells and wild shape ameliorate this to some extent, but it's hard to threaten PCs with a guy without stuff. The other question is how to get him to pose a threat. Summons and the full druid spell list might help here.
Some thoughts I've had in this brainstorm follow.
Samsaran as his (original) race (he's probably died a few times already), to get the alternate race feature that lets him add more spells to his druid list. That would likely include Restoration, to remove the negative levels from respawning. The feat Shade of the Woodlands might also help, thought that specifically makes him reliant on a material focus.
Full spell list could be one form of attack. I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of multiclassing. Some thoughts I've had on that front are taking a few levels in monk for Wisdom to AC and bonus feats, or forgoing a druid spell onslaught for taking levels in Assassin or the like.
Any suggestions?
with a 13 Cha he could take eldritch heritage [arcane] and improved familiar... just give him a small amount of gear each time the fight him, but give his faerie/tidepool dragon a handful of good wiz/sorc wands: it can hit the druid with some solid buffs to make up for missing gear, and it can (will) fly away if its in danger of death (or when the druid 'dies')
This reminded me of a backup character I haven't & may never get to use. Simply put, it's a Menhir Savant archetype Druid for 9-10 levels. Then it takes levels in Mammoth Rider.
This results in a huge size mount that the druid can ride on top of, well out of melee range. Yet still attack, buff, and cast spells in relative safety. And a druid with level 5 spells can cast some serious painful buffs on animals. Animal Growth (size gargantuan!), Atavism(advanced template!), Air Walk(fly!), Strong Jaw, Bull's Strength, Feather Step, Barkskin, Resist Energy... You get the idea.
Racial-wise I took Aasimar for the Celestial Servant feat, giving it the Celestial Template. GM rule switch it around to a "fallen angel" Aasimar or a Tiefling. Make the feat give the Fiendish Template.
As for the companion itself, I'd suggest something not too strong... Choose an armored Charger archetype Arsinoitherium that deals like a zillionD8 +Strength on a hit & people might get pissed off. Flavor-wise I think it'd be hilarious if it was brought back as an undead mount. Mix up the heroes strategy to counter it. Also hilarious - by killing the druid & companion they made them more evil by bringing in undead.
The build is almost all about buffing the companion with spells, & then harassing with spells. So loot won't be amazing. On the downside it seems you want to use Wild Shape. I say forget that. They'll focus the NPC quick if at all possible, and the expensive loot melee would require is something you say you want to avoid to an extent. Good luck!
Wild Shape is about more than attacking. Fly speeds, burrow speeds, elemental immunities, diminutive size, or more could enhance his survivability or style in one way or another. As long as he has the ability, it would be foolish not to examine ways to use it. Besides, say the PCs are being attacked by 4 animals. (Druid, his companion, his familiar, and a summon.) They won't know the proper NPC until they've seen this scenario a few times - and the animals change every time.
I doubt he'll be attached to one animal companion. Instead, when one dies, he'll just get a new one appropriate to whatever terrain.
This guy will almost certainly be mentally venerable in a young adult body, because why not? That's one of the beauties of reincarnate.
Keep the ideas coming!
Keep in mind that the equipment being looted by the PCs is not necessarily an issue per se. Defeating an opponent (particularly an intelligent one) doesn't always have to mean killing it. Let the druid use his spells/wild shape/equipment/etc. to flee when the fight starts to sour. Depending on what level you want him to be the first time they fight, you could even have him equipped with a contingency to really get him out of dodge fast.
I used a druid villain once in 3.5. I made use of animal companion, wild shape, natural spell, etc. to make him a beast in a fight. The most powerful spell though proved to be Entangle. Difficult terrain plus being entangled really slowed the party down as they tried to close the distance, allowing the druid to blast away from afar.
Finally, one of the best things about druids, depending on the nature of the adventure/campaign/etc. is that you don't necessarily need to make them evil for them to be the villain. In my scenario, the druid was the protector of the local forest, a forest that was being steadily encroached upon by the ever-expanding local city. The expansion was killing trees and animals, etc. so the druid, while not evil, took it upon himself to protect the forest. Making him neutral enables you to flat out introduce him to the party in a social encounter, let him chat the party up, offer his services if need be or ask their assistance, etc. Of course, if you do go this route, its a good idea to drop little clues here and there. In my scenario, there was a bit of a tent town outside the city walls since the city was too crowded, freshly downed trees were being hauled into the city with lots of adds for lumberjacks, etc.
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I would suggest that the druid be the head of a cult of nature the devourer. The weak devour the strong taken to an extreme. Solo bad guys are a little less challenging with action economy. And the threat of unleashing a horde of followers on loved ones, the local town, ect may have more impact on the players.
Another idea would be to have the druid villain bound to a powerful druidic grove. The grove could provide the constant reincarnation and provide magical bonuses substituting for gear. Now, there is not a constant looting cycle and you can adjust the druid villian to challenge the pcs as needed.
Also, the grove may have an imprisoned true guardian that the pcs can free after the druid villian is no longer useful for the campaign.