Druid Wild-shape focused build (With help from Roger Wong of QT3)
Description
The Druid can be built to be a melee fighting, spell-casting juggernaught just like a better (Divine) version of the Gish (Spellcasting Melee hybrid type). Not only do you get a nice Animal Companion who has your back when you're spellcasting, but you also can turn into an animal and bite people's asses or claw their faces off.
If we think about this focus then we will probably always want to be in wild-shape form when walking about dangerous areas such that stealthed rogues or assassins don't catch you without being uber already. That means we want to have Natural Spellcasting, which lets the Druid cast spells while in wild-shape form.
We also notice that wild-shape form uses the BAB of the player, not the form, and the AC of the form, not the player. Also, the wild-shape form counts as "unarmed attack" so weapon feats must be of that type in order to be effective while wild-shaped.
Thus we can see that a level dip of Monk will be useful in getting both feats for unarmed attacks, flurry attack (for an extra attack at a penalty to hit), and a bonus to AC equivalent to the Wisdom score bonus. Since the Druid needs Wisdom anyway for bonus spell levels, and effectiveness of DC for spells, you will want to boost this up anyway!
Level 9 spells can be cast by a level 17 Druid, so all builds must have at least 17 levels of Druid in order to get these. They are powerful enough to be worthwhile, so missing out on them is a big deal! They include spells like Shapechange, where you can turn into a Horned Devil (awesome!) and still retain your face-punching skills from the level dip of Monk. Mass Cure Critical Wounds is also very nice for keeping your friends, summoned Elemental Swarm (another fine level 9 spell), and NPCs from dying from being punched in the face too many times. You can also take the recommended Extend metamagic feat so you can cast buffs that will end up slotting at level 9 with the metamagic applied.
This will let you know some basic needed information about Druids, and has some basic guidelines about what wild-shape focused Druids should care about.
The final recommended build then is the 1 Monk / 1 Fighter / 18 Druid, and of the Human race. The additional two combat feats from the level of Fighter can aid the Druid in getting Power Attack and Cleave, which are totally awesome in clawing off the faces of everyone around you. Level 18 means that you will still get the last stat change for your Animal Companion, of which you should take the boar which has the best all-round stats (AC and HP). You will have to suffer it not looking quite as cool as the bear. QQ
Yes, you will miss out on the final wild-shape forms but the water elemental isn't that different between huge and elder forms and your level dips in Monk and Fighter will give you an edge that a straight 20 Druid will not have.
With the expansion pack coming out, there will be an additional 10 levels. I would recommend taking at least 6 more in Druid, to get all the final wild-shape forms, spell progression, an epic level feat (hopefully a wild-shape feat such as Dragon Wild-shape, RAWR!), and two more stat increases for your animal companion. Then you can add an additional level of Monk for Evasion, and 3 more level of Fighter for some additional combat feats. The reason for this is that additional levels of combat survivability are better than some junky extra wildshape per day (you aren't ever exiting it, so who cares!?).
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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