Legildur said:
Don't bother with Elf/bow proficiency unless you are in a small party. I found that past about 5th or 6th level, I almost never used the bow as almost always had a spell I could use (spontaneous summons are fantastic).
Depends. In my longest running 9 guys (and gals) group, I had two clerics, two druids, a dwarven ftr/rog/wiz, a wizard, a bard, a monk, a bbn1/sorX and a paladin and some other replacement chars.
One of the druids was an elven archer... in fact she was mainly archer and secondary spellcaster. She put all the cash they got into a good magic bow and had all the feats needed to enjoy it.
Whether this is a good choice or not depends on downtime, resting cycles, short: campaign style and IMX not group size. In my case, the group was regularly out of spells, wands, potions and scrolls and had no chance to get rest. So the druid, who was spending her spells only when shooting wasn't good enough or not an option, always had something left in her big bigbig spellcasting sleeve.
As for small druids, I'm looking at a new campaign where I might play a druid again. But this time as a halfling mounted on a dire weasel with the Mounted Combat and Natural Bond feats. Use spells (like Greater Magic Fang) to boost the attack bonus and have the Weasel gain the Spring Attack feat tree. Then he can close and attach (Ex) and then blood drain (Ex) a round later, relying on Spring Attack to get out of the way if he misses the attack. The druid could then rely on Mounted Combat to try and protect the attached weasel from one attack per round. The druid can also use the weasel for cover! And the dire weasel moves at 40ft.
The second druid in the group above was a halfling (variant race with WIS bonus), a monk level and he was riding a cheetah. He was regularly darting across the battlefield, staying out of range for the enemies and pelting them with Produce Flame and Call Lightning. Later he wildshaped into a giant octopus. Or a big eagle... ripping a large black dragon from the sky once.
