D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5]Druid's "must-have" Magic Items?

[Pariah]

Druids are pretty much self sufficient in 3.5, so they don't HAVE to have magic items, but I was thumbing through the DMG, and haven't seen many items that a druid would use every day. So, in your opinions, what items are out there in any of the WotC stuff (Core, Splats, Dragon, website, etc) that would go well with Wild Shaping and also things that druids could equip their companions with?
Since druids only ever get the one companion, it behooves the druid to give it as many magic items as possible.

I've already come up with several, just seeing if there's something I haven't thought of.

Items like:
Monk's Belt
Amulet of Natural Fists
Torc of Animal Speech (MotW)
Druid's Vestment (it's ok, I guess)
Metamagic Extend Rod (extended regeneration spells, Mmmm)

The big one I see is that monk's belt, if you can wildling clasp a monk's belt that is. Unless I take up the Shifter PrC, I see many iffy moments when some of the druid's items may or may not stay functional. I know that some of the designers are saying to give the druid the benefit of the doubt, but I'd like to remove all doubt so there's not any suspicion I'm trying to "pull" one over on the DM. I have a small rep as a min-maxer, and I am a big fan of the "smackdown" threads

Any people want to add to the list of neato druid items? They necessarily don't have to add to combat, even though that seems to be where the 3.5 wild shape shines. Anything that helps survivability is a good thing!

 

[Brekki]

Druid stuff I use often:
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1, ghost touch, keen
Ring of Freedom of Speech (originally an amulet I think)
Rod of Extend Spell, Lesser
Strand of Prayer Beads (better greater magic fang, longer spelldurations)
Wild Darkleaf Fullplate +as much as affordable (nice medium armor with high AC)
Bracers of Armor +1 with as much fortification as I can afford
Animated Heavy Darkwood Shield +1

 

[Vraister]

Moin,

what is 'darkleaf' and what stats does it have?
I never heard of it.

Thanks
Vraister

 

[Rath the Brown]

Moin,

what is 'darkleaf' and what stats does it have?
I never heard of it.

Thanks
Vraister

Elven darkleaf is in the Arms & Equipment guide; it is armor made out of darkwood and alchemically treated leaves. Only armors normally made out of metal can be made out of darkleaf. For an additional 2250 gp, you gain +1 to the max Dex, +2 to the AC check penalty, -5% arcane spell failure, and the armor is one category lighter (unless already light). The armor weighs the same as normal metal armor of its type.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Druid stuff I use often:
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1, ghost touch, keen

Add in throwing and returning, and wonder what on earth is going on...

 

[Brekki]

Well ... to bad it's kind of destructive to throw parts of yourself at the enemy.

At higher levels you just need ghost touch and keen is one of the best abilities to have on your natural weapons, since they are mostly either piercing or slashing.

 

[Nifft]

Periapt of Wisdom!

Since "Darkleaf" isn't core 3.5e, use Dragonhide armor. Magic Dragonhide Fullplate with the Wild and Fortification enchantments.

A Magic Dragonhide Large Shield with the Animated enchantment.

Ring of Protection -- this is a no-brainer, everyone needs a Ring of Protection.

A pile of Quaal's Feather Token (Tree), so you can Tree Stride from remote locations.

Everyone needs a Cloak of Resistance. It's cheap and it saves your life. 'Nuff said.

As said above, Metamagic Rods are very useful to all spellcasters.

One item you may want is Silversheen. Have someone else put it on your claws when you want to take down that pesky Devil.

-- N

 

[DM2]

Periapt of Wisdom!

Since "Darkleaf" isn't core 3.5e, use Dragonhide armor. Magic Dragonhide Fullplate with the Wild and Fortification enchantments.

It is a great armor for druids, except for one major obstacle...druids don't have heavy armor proficiency, so a -5 penalty applies to all attack rolls, and all movement related skill checks while not in wildshaped form.

I guess with natural spell you could ignore that penalty by staying wildshaped pretty much all day though...

DM2

 

[Pielorinho]

Periapt of wisdom, definitely!
The Karma bead from Necklace of Prayer beads is also fantastic -- in fact, it's good enough that having two wouldn't be overkill. You'll want to use it when you cast your buffs (it'll give you an extra +1 on all greater magic fangs, increase your barkskin's efficacy and duration, and make a stoneskin more effective), and when you get into battle (+4d6 damage on every flamestrike is nothing to sneeze at).

Instead of getting bracers of armor, however, I prefer to get a wand of mage armor and give it to a friendly arcane caster. She can use it on me and on my animal companion, and generally it's a lot more cost-effective -- 15 gp's worth of magic item protects me for an hour of adventuring at the same level as a 16,000 gp item protects me constantly, and it doesn't go away when I wildshape.

At low to medium levels, a bag of tricks can be awful nice: you can make it yourself with the appropriate feats, and it gives you an extra critter to buff.

Finally, spend a few thousand gp on scrolls when you get a chance. You don't normally want to have spells like speak with animals, neutralize poison, and stone shape prepared, but when you need them, they're super-nice to have on hand. Get one scroll of each of them and then use your spell slots for things useful on a daily basis.

Daniel

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Finally, spend a few thousand gp on scrolls when you get a chance. You don't normally want to have spells like speak with animals, neutralize poison, and stone shape prepared, but when you need them, they're super-nice to have on hand. Get one scroll of each of them and then use your spell slots for things useful on a daily basis.

I believe strongly that the most important feat for a Druid is Scribe Scroll. A number of the Druidic spells are fabulously useful in the exactly right circumstances, but may be difficult to justify preparing without accurate foreknowledge about what lies ahead.