First of all... welcome to Ironworks Forums, Shaggy! [img]graemlins/wavey.gif[/img]
Second, i would like to chime the discussion with an opinion (not too late, hopefully)... forgo your Avenger! The best soloing-suited Druid kit is the Totemic Druid.
Anyone who soloed the game with a magic user knows how valuable summons are - and the Totemic Druid's summoning rocks. Really.
First, the Spirit Animals. One of them can take out the entire Irenicus Dungeon. They are all immune to non-magic weapons, which makes the early game a cakewalk. Their stats are: Base AC 2 to AC -1, 45 to 96 HP, Base THAC0 8-10. STR 16-19, DEX 14-20, 2 to 3 attacks. Immunity to panic, poison, sleep, petrification, confusion, charm, hold, stun, slaying, and they use special attacks (poison, cold, etc). Not bad, i'd say.
The Spirit Animals will get you through the early game and will allow you to gather a decent amount of XP. Once you can summon Nymphs, you're on the roll.
The Nymphs (from the Call Woodland Beings spell) are especially deadly against groups of humanoids, who tend to be vulnerable to Confuse and Charm attacks.
You're level 11 already? The game should just give up now.
Fire Elementals are all you need. They're really awesome. A Fire Elemental, 2 Nymphs and 2 Spirit Animals with a little buffing is a force to be reckoned! They last long, too.
These three summoning spells will be your cannon fodder. But are you going to let them have all the fun?! Hell no!
Meanwhile, your Totemic Druid hangs in the back, emptying his arsenal upon the enemy and resummons if needed.
You fight outdoors? Call Lightning can wreak havoc in enemy lines.
Mages pestering you? Counter them with your hoardes of bugs (aka Insect Plague).
The fight seems lost? No way to beat the bugger? Oh well...
Toti : Casts Nature's Beauty - Bugger.
Voila! End of battle.
Nature's Beauty is your last resort spell. Most people don't even bother to give it a second look... *sigh*.
Note the *no save*, *permanent* Blindness.
A Blind creature is a dead creature. The Insta-Dying part is just gravy.
It's really one of the best spells in the game.
Your weapon of choice should be the Fire Tooth +3 throwing Dagger. It deals decent damage, and Fire damage is always good.
Oh, and that may sound surprising, but don't bother to memorize more than one Ironskins. If you're caught in melee, you're doing something wrong.
As for the level gap... get ToB.
You won't regret it.