Reading through the SRD options, I think I like the Focused Animal variant. It would make Jalen's effective druid level 2 higher for purposes of determining his animal companion's abilities, so Greenbeak would start the game with 2 bonus HD, +2 nat. armor, +1 str and dex, 2 bonus tricks and evasion. He still wouldn't be a melee force, but he'd be more likely to live a while.Pinnacle said:There are some other druid variants in Unearthed Arcana (and the SRD) if you wanted some other ideas. But a weakened skirmish progression sounds good as well.
If you're okay with me taking both the Focused Animal and Spontaneous Rejuvenation variants, I'm good to go.