Help me build a Leader

[Dragonamedrake]

Ok so Im starting a new campain with a brand new DM. We have decided to play a variant World of Warcraft RPG. Basicly we will be using the WOW world but we are sticking to 3.5 rules, classes, and MM. The DM will probably mix in beasties from the WOW RPG and of course all the iconic guys from the game.

First of all the background to our game... forgive me for the wall of text that follows... but its important to what i want to do.

[spoiler]
This all came about because me and another one of the players started talking about how it would be fun playing a game where we went to Arathi and the Hinterlands and re-astablished the Alterac and Stromgarde Kingdoms. Basicly if you arnt familiar with the lore or the RPG both have fallen to Hordes of Undead who after being swept away left both kindoms destroyed or in chaos. The undead are gone exept for the Scourge, a group of undead who regained thier minds and have joined The Horde. They have set up there capital under the ruins of Lordaeron, another great kingdom that fell during that time, and have renamed it Undercity. Now both Alterac and Stromgarde are broken and south of Undercity. Alterac has been taken by Ogres and is fully abandoned by humans, while Stromgarde has been invaded by Human bandits and Ogres. There is an ongoing fight within Strom between these two factions and what is left of the stromgarde defenders.

While the Capitals are beset or destroyed there are still human settlements all over the kindoms these great citys once controled. They are mostly each self reliant and beset by bandits, Ogres, and Scourge (who for some reason blame them for thier current situation).

Ok so that sets up the back story. I and the other player have decided we will be trying to unite these people and regain these kindoms for humanity. We will need to fight 3 main forces while getting this accomplished.

First the Ogres, who while not very organized usually fight in large clans and are by race alone a very dangerous foe. O and there are a large number of them. This should be the easiest of the 3 to take care of as we can fight them from area to area with little fear of being attacked by other clans in other areas.

Second is the Syndicate. These guys are the Bandits... the once great nobility of Arathi who after betraying Stromgarde and Lordaeron where striped of titles and cast out. These guys are very well established and made up of a large bandit force. They will not take kindly to us coming in and taking what they believe is thiers by birthright and we can not simply take them one camp at a time as they are to well organized for that.

And Last the Scourge... this is the tricky one. On the surface these undead have been brought back to cognant thought and arnt evil by nature. However they still attack and sabatoge human settlements whenever they get the chance and are a large destabalizing factor in the regions we wish to control. They only live in small communities within the borders of arthi and hinterlands, but we cant just go clear them out. They are a part of a HUGE country of Undead lead by a pissed off Banshie Queen who wouldnt think twice about sending large armies to wipe us off the map. I dont think she will attack us because we start up kindoms, but if we go about cleaning undead out she probably will. Secondly she is allied with Thrall... The leader of the HORDE and probably the most bad ass character in the entire story of WOW. So how to deal with them will take a bit of deplomacy if not subterfuge... maybe have another force do our dirty work for us.
[/spoiler]

So there will be 3 players and the DM

I will be playing a human who had to flee from Lordaeron and who now lives in Stormwind with his brother (another player). The 3rd player we havent had a chance to talk to but for me and my brother we want to return to our homeland and bring it back to glory under our rulership. He will take Arathi and I Stromgarde. Most of the settlements are controlled by the Alliance but we do not want to be dragged into the fight between them and the horde so we will be independent nations.

At first it was just the 2 of us playing this game so the DM decided to make it a Gestalt game. However with the inclusion of a 3rd member we will be playing single class characters. He will be playing a Warblade with a maybe a few lvls of Crusader. I think he is going for a tank, but not a lock down build

I was originally going to play a Druid/Planar Shepard // Wizard/Arcane Hyrophant/Warshaper

I was a bit disappointed we wernt playing a Gestalt game since I coudnt include Warshaper into my build without loosing caster lvls. I love the 5th lvl capstone that let me shift as much as I wanted within the shift time limit with no additional wildshape uses used. So the DM being a pretty nice guy house ruled that at 10th lvl I gain Multiform as a shifting ability for free. Pretty awsome right. He also let us add Seelie Court Fey as a Template with no SLA's or SR. We keep all the other racials and DR. I also added Athromorphic Bat but he let me stay Medium size. It was worked into the story that because of our Fey nature we look slighty Half-Elven with hints of animal ... such as my wings which I keep hidden lol. Here is the basic build I used.

Stats Rolled: 10, 12, 14, 16, 16, 18

Race: Anthromorphic Bat, Seelie Court Fey Human

-4 Str, +6 Wis

Abil   Base   1st      

STR   14(10)   10            
DEX   12   12            
CON   16   16               
INT   16   16            
WIS   18(24)   24               
CHA   10   10   

Druid 5/Planar Shepard 10/Druid 5            

2 Flaws: Vulnerable, Weak Willed
Feats:
1st: Greensinger Initiate, Extend Spell, Energy Substitution(sonic or acid), ?
3rd: Empower Spell
5th: Natural Spell
7th: Leadership
9th: Initiate of Nature
11th: Quicken Spell
13th: Dragon Wild Shape
15th: Energy Admixture
17th: Persistant Spell
19th: Explosive Spell

But here is the kicker... I had decided on my class before we decided to play the WOW RPG. I know in WOW the MMO you cant be a Human... which i will be playing, and Druids usually dont decide to rebuild human kingdoms and become rulers of nations. So here are my questons.

1. If I stick to the Planar Shepard, is there a variant druid who would be more inclinded to rule over human citys. I know Ive seen an Urban Ranger, but I couldnt find the same variant for Druid. Also what do you think of my Feat selection. Can I improve on it in any way?

2. I wanted a caster who could be good at large battles. Seeing what we are up against I think I and the other players are going to have to raise up armies and will probably be faced with some very large scale fights. Is there a better class that can accomplish this while being a good leader/face. Im not really interested in a Diplomancer build... just someone that has the tools needed with some good roleplay to convice people to come over to his cause.

3. I have been thinking about Leadership and what it provides...are there other feats that would be important in taking when running a character that will rule a large nation.

I appreciate any help guys. Tell me what you think.

[KellKheraptis]

For one, with a druid...you need to think in the long term.  Rebuilding a nation adds stability to the region, and most likely will result in most undead being driven off or destroyed, which is a good thing for the natural world.  What happens to them afterwards is of no concern, so long as they don't begin poaching the shit out of the area.  Further, from the sounds of it the skeletons of the nation are already there, just ruined, so I can't help but think of the fey attitude towards resources, which is "waste not."  As for leading an army...you get one as is without Leadership, complete with a cohort (the animal companion), but if you pick up Initiate of Nature and Wild Cohort, you're looking at a sizable army of animals/creatures as you're also a Planar Shepard, and a third army and cohort if you snag Leadership.  That's probably going to dwarf the capabilities of most of the rest of the party by a LARGE margin.

Also, as a PS, your idea of natural balance and preservation of nature transcends any one plane or planet.  Perhaps rebuilding these nations serves a greater purpose in the crystal sphere, or will lead to the rise of a mage capable of renewing the ancient forests.  All of it can be backstory friendly

[Unbeliever]

What level is this game starting at?  B/c as Planar Shepherd, as Kell notes, you will be blowing the doors off of ... well ... pretty much everything.  The multishape ability (which was nice of your DM but doesn't strike me as a big game-changer) is just gravy, as are the racial options.  By 10th level it will be largely superfluous anyway as you spend your time <insert awesome form w/ tons of SU and abilities here>. 

As Kell also notes, the backstory stuff can work really well.  I actually think PS is one of the druid archetypes that can be more "urban friendly."  You also can recognize that humans have a right to exist, too, especially if they are the bulwark against more destructive forces and can, under your guiding hand and the institutions you set up, learn to live in relative harmony w/ the land.  I mean, elves can do it, right?  Why can't the nation you help promote/rebuild be the equivalent of Rivendell? 

[Dragonamedrake]

I like what you are thinking. The game will start at level 5. And as far as Multishape goes... it is huge. basicly at lvl 12 I can Wildshape at will into anything from my Homeplane with 2 uses of Wildshape a day, as long as I dont revert back to my original form (which would end the wildshape). This way it doesnt cost me an additional use to change to a different race with a spell like ability that I might need on the fly.

Im allowed to use the Planes from Eberon to base what I can wildshape into. I cant remember the name of the plane, but its the one where all evil and good outsiders reside... in eternal battle. It basicly gives me all angels, devils, demons, and I think any animal with the celestial or infernal template.

And myself and the other characters are wanting to raise a real army... thousands of soldiers... many High level to boot. More than likey I will just have to pay/roleplay getting them, but if you guys think of any feats that would help.

O and I was wondering. I noticed that Alternate Turn abilites (Turn elemental, Turn plant, ect) are all described under the Turn Undead section in the PHB. It describes them as using holy power to fuel thier turns just as a cleric turns Undead. Does this mean if I can Turn plants and animals that I qualify for DMM?

Thanks for the responses... I think we are going to start the game this weekend. Any final touches before the game would be great.

[melinore]

You are thinking of the plane of Shavarath. This has a list of some of the inhabitants. http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Shavarath


In your build you list a feat at 5th and 7th level, but not one at 6th. Is there a reason for that that I have missed?

[KellKheraptis]

And note, any kind of turning of that sort RAW can fuel DMM.  And if you absolutely have to turn undead, be a Wild Reaper variant.  And also, enjoy the Fast Healing you get at later levels, including to Ability scores

[Akalsaris]

You are thinking of the plane of Shavarath. This has a list of some of the inhabitants. http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Shavarath


In your build you list a feat at 5th and 7th level, but not one at 6th. Is there a reason for that that I have missed?

They seem to be using the PF feat progressions.

Anyhow, good luck with the build!  The campaign sounds awesome to me - I've ran and played in a few Warcraft d20 games and had a lot of fun each time. 

[Dragonamedrake]

You are thinking of the plane of Shavarath. This has a list of some of the inhabitants. http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Shavarath


In your build you list a feat at 5th and 7th level, but not one at 6th. Is there a reason for that that I have missed?

They seem to be using the PF feat progressions.

Anyhow, good luck with the build!  The campaign sounds awesome to me - I've ran and played in a few Warcraft d20 games and had a lot of fun each time. 

You are correct. We are using Pathfinder feat progression but not much else. Most of our group feels there are too many great feats and not enough bonus feats to get them.

Im pretty stoked about the game myself. Its always fun building a kingdom within a dnd game... expecially one I play in an MMO on the regular. O and thanks for that creature link melinore

[Dragonamedrake]

Ok so Im going to change my feat selection to this...

Druid 5/Planar Shepard 10/Druid 5           

2 Flaws: Vulnerable, Weak Willed
Feats:
1st: Greensinger Initiate, Extend Spell, Energy Substitution(sonic or acid), ?
3rd: Empower Spell
5th: Natural Spell
7th: Leadership
9th: Initiate of Nature
11th: Persistant Spell
13th: Dragon Wild Shape
15th: Energy Admixture
17th: DMM Persist
19th: Quicken Spell

What do you think? Anything I can use to make this build more solid. I will get back with you guys after the first play through.