Arcane Heirophant?

So how effective is this Prestige Class? Are there early entry methods for getting in? How effective would a Druid 4/ Wizard 3/ Arcane Heirophant 5 be?

Since you mentioned early entry methods, I'll mention
Bamboo Spiritfolk Savage Bard 5/Ur-Priest 2/Mystic Theurge 3/Sublime Chord 1/Arcane Hierophant 9, which is an amusingly powerful build, if likely not what you're looking for.

Arcane Heirophant is pretty awesome, especially if you like the idea of having a crazy powerful Animal Companion.

As an alternative to the build above (not using early entry) you can take Mystic Theurge levels after completion of Arcane Heirophant to get dual 9's in Druidic and Arcane.

If you want dual 9s: Druid 3/Wizard 3/Mystic Theurge 2/Arcane Hierophant 10/Mystic Theurge 2 gets you them.

Early entry the normal tricks apply; not the best versed on them, but I know in this case the BAB requirement (+4 BAB) cuts into most of them (and is why you have to take 2 bad levels of MT before getting in to get double 9s).

At Lv 12 an arcane hierophant can be fairly effective. You have 5th level druid spells, and 4th level wizard spells for a wide array of buffs. If you take Natural Bond you have the animal companion of a 12th level druid, except it's smarter and has some other benefits. Also if you take the Companion Spellbond feat (or Enspell Familiar if the Dragon Magazine Compendium is allowed) you can share wizard and druid buffs with it from 30-ft (or a mile) to get a pretty bestial pet. Also wizards have some low level familiar buff spells which are pretty nasty on the right chassis (which a single class wizard just can't get), +2 to AC, Attacks, saves, and damage for 1 hour/level, on a tiger :smallbiggrin:

The PrC's effectiveness (relative to others) largely depends on the spells you have access to. With core-only spells, the synergy is not as strong; the druid and wizard lists already have a strong degree of overlap (e.g. both classes get Reverse Gravity, Foresight, Shapechange, even the lowly Cat's Grace) and the best core divine spells (e.g. Blasphemy line, Harm, Mass Heal, Miracle, Planar Ally line) are only on the cleric list. So it's a nice way to put Heal on your wizard or Gate on your Druid, but there are better options for a pure druid or pure wizard to pursue and theurging them doesn't outweigh the lost progression, to me.

Outside core things get better; Druids get toys like Word of Balance (SpC) and the Vigor line to shore up their list and differentiate it more from the Wizard one.

It's primary benefit though is merging your familiar and animal companion, which carries considerable benefits.

Its harder to get into than mystic theurge, but much more rewarding. Many dislike its high power level. The reason its only +1 is because its only 10 levels long. Need get past prereq's early?

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boa...p?topic=7061.0