Pure druid or a mixture ?

[De_Priester]

Heya people, I want to try a druid and well since I do not really care much for the mixtures I was thinking about a pure druid. Now maybe some people will scream and say NOOOO mixture owns then go ahead and tell me

Anyway I'd like to know what kind of druids are there (spell casting and shapechanging ?) and how would one be best created (stats/abilities etc.)

So to make things short how do I create an awesome druid ?

Thanks for the info up front !

[Loredweller]

I was quite happy with pure. It's nice to have some more lvl 9 spells, and with stoneskins, bull's strength and other booster spells druid is fighterish enough, esp. with those wild and elemental shapes, not mentioning the Shapechange (the Dragon, my friend, the great Red Dragon). Choose hencmen with care, though. I used Tomi mostly for the initial part since there is no good bashing tools in Ch.1, and then enjoyed Linu's company untill the end. Of course, i switched temporary to other, too - mostly just to give them their quest items (and collect revards ).

[De_Priester]

So what kind of stats did you have for your druid and why ?

Some tactics some info, familairs ? etc.

[Loredweller]

BTW, i forgot to mention those nice immunities of druid, too. He is not a monk for this part, nonetheless impressive.
Wisdom is the essence, i set it to 18 and raised only it. As soon as i got some amulet of Wisdom+x, i was wearing it all the time. Of course, while one doesn't have the Amulet of Wisdom+5, the Amulet of Good (+3 WIS, +3 CHA -another reson to be Neutral Good) is the best.
Charisma is important, although there aren't so much occasions to use the animal emphaty nonetheless it helps in gettinga couple of out-of-class quests. Intellect determines how much skill points one is offered. I set them to 13 or 12, cannot recall just on the spot, anyway the modifier is what matters, and it is +1 bellow the 14 .
DEX and CON i had 10 - just to avoid penalties. So the STR was 8, there was -1 penalty and some dificulties with carying capacity, however it's manageable with Bull's Strength and those Bags of Holding (you can get one 100% and at least two 80% already in Ch.1, keep in mind that healing packs, rods and some other things are working from within them). And, anyway, the items laid on ground do not disappear in SP NWN, one always can pick them up in proper time.
As for companion... There are some your level and some higher. Due to concept of NWN XP calculation based on party level i assumed that i'd lose considerable part of XP and raise slower if i was using those with higher level. So it left me with badger, hawk and spider. Most usable appeared the hawk, however you may have the reasons of your own. In higher levels i used companion next to never, only in most hard situations. There's the great difference between a druid and a wizard/sorcerer, who can possess his pet. After all, druid's companion is one more hebchman in fact.
Another trick was using the lowest level summon, badger in this case. Esp. in high levels it considerable lowers the party level and raises the amount of XP. Trying to avoid fast death of the summoned creature i, on the sight of opponent, told it to keep the ground. Of course, there were situations i needed the summoned creature of higher level possible, too (shame in NWN one can have only one summoned creature, summoning next cancels the previous one).
The last thing - my favorite battle spells The were Call Lightning, Storm of Vengeance, Flame Strike and Fire Storm. Nature's Balance and Sunbeam also were of great use. Slay Living was good in midgame, later too much saves, however. And, oh, the Shapechange, the glorious Red Dragon................ (other shapes i found far less usable). Elemental shape of Fire Elemental is great against undead, and Earth - against other kinds (Keep in mind they have lot of nice immunities, particulary for the mind attcaks). The major drawback, there sometimes was bare enough space for the Dragon or Earth Elemental shape. Also there are some opponents able to dispell your shape, so have more than one in store.
My day usually started with casting Bull's Strength, Barkskin, (Greater) Stoneskin, Death Ward and later also Permonition on self. A battle - Call Lightnings/Flame Strikes/Sunbeams, when engaged in h2h - Nature's Balance, Storm of Vengeance, optional Fire Storm, (if there's time) Aura of Vitality, then into shape and crush them, crush! .....
Of course, it's later, however i got lvl 20 already in Luskan (patch 19) and believe even at pathclevel 24 it's still possible in Ch.II (at least my Monk has done it - and he hasn't abilty of summoning to lower the party level).
The last point - henchmen. I didn't tried Boddyknock and Grimgnaw (i hired them, of course, to solve their quests, but i found no use end need of them). I like Sharwyn very much (although do not love so much as Linu), but she cannot disable traps Dalean wasn't of much use for me, too. So i sticked with Tomi for trap/chest rich areas in the Ch.I and with Linu (i'm just fond of her ) for the rest. (In Ch.I you have to have a lockpicker since you do not have good enough bashing weapon).
Returning to STR problem : your choice of worthy h2h weapon anyway is reduced to Ironwood Club and the Scimitar of Winds (and it's quite enough, IMHO). With their abilities you hardly need more, esp. after you find the Belt of Fire Giant (STR+5 )
Skills: Concentation - and your choice. I found no use for spellcraft, for example, save but to know what spell is cast (it's worth to know sometimes, however). Nonetheless never forget the Discipline. It is not a class skill and is not cheap, but without it all those knockdowns and disarms from pure fighter types and bards (the last are rare, though) may become annoying or even fatal ....
Feats: Battle Casting is must-be, Spell Penetration the next. Toughness is good if you have attributes suggested above. Do not bother with heawy armor, you cannot carry it anyway - and with Stoneskin, Barkskin and Permonition there is hardly a need for it. I used all the game some armor (cannot recall the name and, of course, since i found it) of splint type (IIRC) offering the mind protection.
Just my 2g, of course