Min/Max Boards

Hmm, I thought I had Augment Elemental in there already, though my opinion of it is admittedly rather low.  Druid feats are so few and precious and the options are so powerful that a feat really has to shine in order to really make the cut.  Augment Elemental is really too narrow to fit into most druid builds - even ones focused on elemental summoning.  Maybe in a build using the Shifter Bestial Spirit racial substitution or a Moonspeaker build.   Hmm...  anyway, I'll try to stick it back in next time I'm updating.

Summon Elemental, on the other hand, just doesn't have a place in any druid build.  Even if you stretch the rules to allow the summoning enhancing feats to apply, they will still be 100% worthless in a fight at any level.  That leaves the uses limited to (bad) scouting and setting off traps.  Those uses aren't worth a feat; not when stacked up against a druid's other options.  It's sad, because I love the flavor of it, but after testing it in multiple games, it just doesn't do anything worthwhile.

As for the Dire Eagle, in general the most recent listing takes precedence, so when it was listed in the PHBII as 7th, that overwrote the RoS level listing.  (and judging by stats, correctly so).  Of course, if your DM hasn't read PHBII, hey, more power to you^^

But thanks for posting - it's good to get some of this stuff written down somewhere - real life has taken way too much of my time lately   I really need to sit down and finish all of the mostly-done writing I have for this guide.

Runes from the Runecaster PrC^PGtF are my favorite way to do this. 

The additional HD etc are for animals - your elemental companion has a separate progression - to wit, the scaling from small to medium to large to huge.  The ACF in the Complete Mage lists the levels, but here they are:

1st - Small, 4th - Medium, 10th - Large (or a HD and stat increase), 16th - Huge (or another HD/Stat increase)

You can probably talk your DM into letting Natural Bond work for your elemental as well, even though it's not strictly RAW.  It would then set your level for the purpose of elemental advancement at Druid Level + 3 (10, in your case, which would be when you would have the option of a Large Elemental)

6. there are a lot of "personal" buffs that work well still - the "Bite of the X" line from the Spell Compendium leaps to mind.  Really, the only relevant buff you miss out on is Animal Growth.

7. Only if the spells are already on the druid list - most of the initiate spells are not.  Taking the feat does put them on the druid list, and then they can be memorized just like any other druid spell.

8. All creatures/players/etc, unless otherwise noted, have a natural armor bonus of +0.  That's different from most armor bonus types - for instance, when your character is naked, you don't have a shield bonus of +0 - you simply don't have a shield bonus.  So, something that added a shield enhancement bonus wouldn't work, since you need something to enhance.  That's the distinction that the extra wording is making - basically, everyone has natural armor, even if it's +0, and therefore can benefit from a natural armor enhancement bonus.

Awesome, that is a huge help =)  Now I just need to get it all sorted and rated^^

Vizzerdrix, where is the watch spider located?  I'm not familiar with that one. 

IL doesn't matter - Crusader 1 specifies a 1st level stance. 

Spellthief isn't a bad choice then; you will need 5 levels of wizard to qualify for the sniper though.  (unless you want to dance around with the shady Versatile Spellcaster tricks and their ilk)  I would say don't bother though.  Or, Spellthief 1/Wizard 3/Master Specialist 2/Spellwarp Sniper 1 would work as well. 

Kk, that's straightforward enough^^  (oh, and to answer question 2, since I missed it before, it uses your symbiote's HD).  What class are you?  I'm assuming archivist from the "Divine" tag rather than a class list?  If so, how lenient is your DM about adding stuff to your spell list?  A lot of the spells that work best are off the Sorc/Wiz list, and with work you can get them, but I don't want to waste time if he's going to shoot down any additions. 

As long as you aren't on the run every day, you should be fine.  You do need some downtime, so you might want to check with the DM on that.  If you're going to be literally constantly on the run, yeah, not a good option.  The crafting rules are actually pretty lax as far as having workspace/tools. 

Complexity-wise, there are a lot of options, since you basically have theoretical access to every spell in the game.  However, it's not that hard to simplify it down and have a strong character that focuses on a few things, and then as you get more comfortable with the class, you can expand the repertoire.

So, if you go the artificer route, just say the word and we can help you out with the build^^

The planer sheperd is a little difficult to understand at first glance.
It continues some of the druid ab. but is connected to a plane of his choice.

Usually my group doesnt play in Eberron, but Faerun. Do you think this class could be translated there ?

Except for the self transformation stuff, what makes this class so strong?

Hrm, it's probably easier to read a bit of this guide rather than retyping out a lot of stuff.  Basically, the planar bubble and expanded wild shape options are just that strong.  It would take a little bit of work to port the class to Faerun, but not too much.

Oops, thought I already posted this but apparently it got munched by the system ><

Anyway, thanks Littha!  That's exactly the type of thing I'm looking for =)