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One of my all-time favorite character setups is the Oradin, combining two of my all-time favorite classes into one awesome whole. Lately, I had the itch to play a "Green Knight" sort of figure, a champion of righteousness and purifier of the natural world. Druid seemed like the natural choice, but I've never been a fan of wildshaping, preferring to use swords like a true knight. Now there seems to be a way to play my favorite build with a nature focus...
What I want to do is venture into the Nature Warden prestige class. Initially, this class was really only open to Druids and Rangers, but now there's a way Oradins can become one t0o:
The Holy Guide archetype for Paladins grants Favored Terrain, one of Nature Warden's requirements.
The Animal Companion comes from the Nature mystery's Bonded Mount revelation, and Oracle also provides the necessary spellcasting levels.
Life Link can come from the Spirit Guide archetype for the Oracle, allowing me to use any mystery I want instead of JUST Life (Nature in this case).
My question is this:
Is this a viable setup? I'm not certain how well all this will mesh, or if I'll be severely limiting myself. Part of why I like Oradins is that they're solid characters on their own, their main gimmick being relatively easy to achieve early on, thus giving you a lot more leeway to add other stuff through prestige classes or various archetypes, allowing to create MANY different kinds of characters from the same chassis. I know Nature Warden probably won't synergize as well with the basic practice of an Oradin in the way, say, the Holy Vindicator or Divine Scion prestige classes will.
Is this "Green Knight" at least functional as a build?
It may be functional, but not as the Oradin is usually set up. That uses synergy between the Shield Other spell or Life Link and laying hands on yourself; Nature Warden won't advance the latter.
Also, where are you getting wild empathy from? That too is on the list of PrC requirements.
VMC Druid would get you Wild Empathy at 3rd level, and an Animal Companion at 7th level (cannot take Boon Companion, but get the equivalent at 11th level). Whether or not this is a good idea is another question . . . .
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It would also require a partly Neutral alignment, meaning Paladins are barred from VMCing that way.
I could just ditch Nature Warden entirely and play it just as a Paladin/Spirit Guide Nature Oracle multiclass, but I'm worried that it wouldn't be different enough from the Paladin/Spirit Guide Flame Oracle/Holy Vindicator character I've got on another burner. Their stories are even too similar:
"Pellius Zenderholm was born in Korvosa as the bastard son of a Korvosan nobleman and an exiled Shoanti warrior who adventured together. He seeks to straddle the line between civilization and savage by combining knightly ideals with the primal faith of his people and purify his home city of the evil that haunts it."
"Athaloric Dziergas-Highbough was born in Kenabres as the descendant of Kellid refugees from Sarkoris. He seeks to straddle the line between civilization and savage by combining knightly ideals with the primal faith of his people and retake his homeland from the demons that have corrupted it."
^VMC Druid doesn't explicitly mention Neutral alignment, but I take your point that it is moderately implicit in the Druid Code. Too bad Druid doesn't have an archetype like the Divine Hunter archetype of Hunter, which allows you to to match the alignment of a nature-themed corner alignment deity (the examples that come to mind are Erastil for Lawful Good, Desna for Chaotic Good, Lamashtu for Chaotic Evil, and maybe Zon-Kuthon for Lawful Evil). Of course, it's also too bad that Holy Warrior is restricted to Lawful Good (Paladin) and Chaotic Evil (Antipaladin) (and Warpriest doesn't cut it as a substitute, and these should really be prestige classes like Hellknight anyway).
^just be sure to pick the right Order of the Beast -- the two orders that have this name are VERY different.