This is my contribution; a build losely based on Sbullies rakshasa but with more shifter forms and thus more versatility. Downside losing 2 epic spells (hellball and greater ruin, but they arent that useful anyway).
Take human; alignment druid restrictions; 8str,8dex,12con,16int,18wis,8cha
Pre epic 5 druid 7 shifter 6 wizard 2 shifter in this order for getting drow and kobold shapes quickly, best ab and getting undead at lvl 21.
Normal feats pre epic: alertness, extend spell, empower spell, spell penetration, greater spell penetration, toughness, expertise and impr. expertise. Bonus wiz feat: maximize spell at lvl 17 Raise wisdom every 4 lvls except lvl 40 raise int
leaves 2 epic feats at 27 and 33: epic fortitude, epic prowess, armor skin, blind fight or bove knockdown feats: its your choice.
Note you can take greater wisdom twice, sacrifice undead shape for greater wisdom and take dragon shape instead of golem shape.
You will have excellent buffs from wizard to boost your shapes, be a decent wizard as well (Mordenkain disjunction/Bigby spells/IGMS) and gain a lot of melee power. Risen lord, epic minotaur, iron golem with keen, greater magic weapon, flame weapon, haste, improved invis, shadow shield, spell mantles, mage shields, damage reduction, epic warding etcetera and be less vulnerable to paladins and clerics with bless weapon with only the rakshasa shape and are still a mage killer in rakshasa form (spell immunity and indefinite maximized icestorms). Another advantage is the better playability if you start at lvl 1, since you gain shapes a lot earlier. Lvl 12 drow and kobold shape, lvl 21 undead, lvl 30 outsider and epic minotaur and 36 construct shapes.
Your comment please, what feats would you take at lvl 27 and 33? Is (improved) expertise worth ir or better go (improved) knockdown? Are all the spellpenetration feats necessary?
By the way maybe i post my rogue shifter and bard shifter as well. Ever seen a singing drag?
Edited By griphook on 03/26/05 17:27
Cool your build looks really interesting
"By the way maybe i post my rogue shifter and bard shifter as well. Ever seen a singing drag?"
please do post them it would be really interesting to see a singing dragon
Looks cool but one question: looks like you're losing at least 2ab by doing it this way (from shifter and Druid levels). Would it not be better to do eg shifter8/druid8/wiz4 for pre-epic to keep the 2ab lost with Shifter9 and druid 6-8? Then you could still get two more wiz levels after getting undead early while keeping some attack power
Build only contains 5 druid levels. When you take more druid levels you lose epic shifter levels, epic wizard levels and a bonus feat so you will be losing epic shapes or epic spells by gaining max 2 ab. Dont think its worth it. Maybe a druid 8 shifter 11 wizard 21 is possible but you will lose an epic shape and you will only get 1 epic spell.
just a question ... Starting as a druid , will your spellcaster lev be limited by the druid level?