Totem Druid

The Totem Druid is a Druid Variant Class in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition featured in the pages of Dragon Magazine #335. As the name suggests, theses are druids from a culture that worships specific totem animals, and consequently their druidic magic is "filtered" through this reverence for a particular bestial spirit patron. This makes them one of the simplest variant classes from a mechanical perspective; aside from gaining Natural Spell as a bonus feat at 2nd level, and gaining the Totem Speech (Ex) ability at i8th level, which lets them use human language as an animal and speak to their totem beast at-will, it simply restricts the druid's animal companion and wild shape ability.

In short: a totem druid can only take a regular or Dire Animal version of their totem animal (the "listed" totem animals in the article are ape, bear, eagle, horse,s harke, snake, tiger or wolf, but you can easily mod those for your own setting) as an animal companion, and they can likewise only assume the shape of their totem animal - a regular one from 1st level, a dire one f rom 6th level, a celestial or fiendish one from 10th level, and a celestial/fiendish dire one from 16th level.

On the plus side, the totem druid counts as being 2 druid levels higher to determine both the special abilities of their animal companion and if they can take a Dire Animal as a totem companion.