That said, "Creature" is actually rather well defined as anything with a Wisdom and Charisma score (if it has one, it has both). Yes, this means that intelligent items are technically creatures (in fact, they are stated as such), but they do have specific rules regarding them.
Really? I thought there were golems and/or undead that didn't have either (I'd have to check). Is there a source for this claim, or is it a general observation?
And man, the Epic Druid being a different class than the Druid is an interesting thought. That does mean the Druid class is still 20 levels long... but is the Epic Druid a base class? I notice the "Character Classes" link is only looking at base classes, except that epic classes are included as are all variant classes. Does this mean "Character Class" is the same as base class (and that epic classes count as such) or is it its own definition?
I notice "Character Class" does seem to get used interchangably with Base Class in a number of books.
Okay, so here's the challenge for the moment. What I'm not sure of is whether Epic classes count as Base/Standard classes, or whether alternative classes count as standard classes (I'm pretty sure they're base classes at this point). So I wonder if we can find references to the Epic classes as being either base or standard classes, and whether we can find Alternate Classes referred to as Standard Classes (though I think I've seen those terms used opposed, as in "here's some alternate classes to use instead of standard ones). Certainly, that link to Character Classes showed that WotC considers alternate class features (including racial ones) to be whole other classes, which seem to be base classes. That means we also have to somehow eliminate savage progressions from the base class definition without removing racial classes.
Right now I'm thinking "Standard Class" means base classes that don't use alternate class features, meaning a Factotum for example can't use Lion Totem Barbarian's pounce. But I'm not sure whether base classes includes Epic classes (doesn't matter for the Factotum obviously, but still important to get right).
I like the idea of saying a base class is one with starting gold, but Epic Druids don't really have a starting gold if they're not the same class as a Druid (and I'm still figuring out if they're base classes), and I'd bet some other class is still missing its starting gold (I'll have to check on Dread Necromancers, and I bet other books have had that same problem).
EDIT: Adding to the confusion, the SRD says "When a single-class epic character gains a level, he or she may choose to increase the level of his or her current class or pick up a new class at 1st level." That certainly sounds like the Epic Druid is still considered the same class as the Druid... which also means Druid isn't 20 levels long. Likewise, the DMG on page 206 says "this book expands each class's progression of class features beyond 20th level" in the epic section.
JaronK