3.5 Advice

[JinKazamaru]

I have been invited by a friend of mine to play 3.5 and I was hoping for some druid advice I know not the details of the campaign just yet but I'm thinking elf druid is what I'm going for unless perhaps shifter is usable... I'm the 5th man in... and all roles in terms of a group are covered... Sorc/Fighter/Cleric/Rogue... so I got free rule on what I can do... I figured Druid would make the most sense... with spells like barkskin and so on out of the cleric's reach and prehaps going wizard later...

I believe my goal is to be a buffer but who knows  

[Archfiend Damio]

Well depending on the level you can make a few good builds if you are going for a buffer its all about the spells you prepare not only buffing the party but you as well. If you plan to use your wild shape grab a hold of the feat that allows you to cast while an animal. If you not wanting to use that there are a few variants that change it or get rid of it for other things. These are options.

If you plan to go into Wizard I would defiantly suggest the Arcane Hierophant PrC(Races of the Wild) it not only combines your Familiar and your Animal Companion it boosts caster level for both Arcane and Divine (no to mention you almost need to be druid because of trackless step). The other abilities it gets are a little awkward but they basically let you cast spells through plants and animals.
You also don't loose out on your wild shape abilities and they continue to 'grow' aside from the fact you don't get improved ones.
Not only that you get basically armored casting as long as its with light or Medium non-metal armor.

This is just one build a druid and a wizard can make great buffers. A Transmuter wizard is also great instead of just straight wizard because most of the buffing spells are Transmutation.

Feats like 'Summon Elemental [reserve]' (Complete Mage requires 4th level spells) are useful because you always have a summon spell ready as long as you have spells available because of your spontaneous summon natures ally from Druid.
as well as if you are a Transmuter you can take the feat 'Toughing Transmutation' (Complete Mage) which gives DR 5/Magic for 1 round (or increases the creatures DR by 5 for 1 round) to anyone targeted by a transmutation spell you cast. Its not that amazing but its fun.

this is just one suggestion if you want to go a different route that is up to you.
Hope this helped. ^_^  

[Archfiend Damio]

you don't have to have a familiar to get into the Arcane Hierophant PrC but if you wanted one still I could suggest forget the Wizard and go Bard. Bards are the 'ultimate' buffers there bardic music and the right feats can make you a very useful Buffer.
As I was saying about the familiar because Bards don't have one you can take 'Obtain Familiar' Feat (Complete Arcane) and this can be taken at anytime even during the PrC both the Arcane Hierophant and Bard would stack (just like it says for the PrC) for determianing your effective 'Wizard/Sorcerer' level for your familiar and now that you have the ability to obtain on you can use the 'Familiar Companion' ability granted by Arcane Hierophant and have them be the same creature. Its also a fun kind of bard type person. For more flavor the 'Savage Bard' variant (Unearthed Arcana) would give your character a little more depth. Its up to you.
If you go bard you can also use the Fochlucan Lyrist class (Complete Adventure) and continue to grow in Brad ablilities and in Divine casting still... This doesn't require a Familiar so no worries there but you would have to gain evasion weather through 2 levels of monk or Rouge or you could be crazy and go 9 levels of ranger for it >.< there is always 12th level Ninja or 5th level scout...
Setting that a side whatever you choose is going to take away from casting in both respects. The only way to counter act this would to be to take Practiced Spell Caster feat(Complete Arcane) twice, once for each spell casting class, and then your caster level will be considered 3 higher for both classes (Would suggest this anyway.) for both classes and sense you only need 1st level spells It would be great if you could just take 2 levels of Rouge then one ofr Bard And One Druid because then you would be 4th level. (Max skill ranks for most if not all needed skills for class.... Except you need 13 ranks in preform and because of this you have to be 10 to even get in... in this case we would find this class a little more restricting and a little harder to reach.

In the end you could really take any Arcane casting spell it just means you need to look at your stats. High int means go for Wizard, Duskblade, Bardic Sage (Unearthed Arcana), or Wu Jen. High Cha means go for Savage Bard, Bard, or Sorcerer. And if you are going to take a class that doesn't give a familiar then take the feat (but you don't need it.)

Just remember you are 2 caster stat dependent at this point. So pick what class you want to multiclass with then drop your stats where they need to be remember if you are going into Arcane Hierophant then you can wear up to Medium armor that is basically like Darkleaf Breastplate is one of the best ones or bronze wood.


And in the end have fun with it make the character something you want to play as a player not something that is really awesome but really boring.  

[Archfiend Damio]

Also one Additional thing for going Bard/Druid I would like to add sense you have Spontaneous Summon Natures Ally and an Animal Companion from druid take Music of Growth feat and Song of the Heart feat(Ebberon Campaign Setting) because it gives bonus to Animals and Plants and then Song of The Heart boosts everything.