By the time my group got to him we were thirsting for gold. It is powerful, but check to see how much its sell price (50%)divided by party remembers would put them over wealth by level, if any. If they keep it I don't believe there are a lot of opportunities for gold until near the end of the book so there is that trade off.
As for mending/make whole you're reading it wrong. The item is not destroyed, so the 2x level requirement is not necessary.
Feral Mutagen gives you a claw/claw/bite attack all as primary attacks; you've read it incorrectly. Fiend Totem, Lesser is just restating the general rule for natural attacks - they are all secondary if you use a weapon (manufactured or unarmed). Otherwise they are always primary if listed as a primary attack or always secondary if listed as a secondary attack.
Naked, Raging, Mutaganed, your attack would be:
Primary Claw, Primary Claw, Primary Gore, Primary Bite.
If you were wielding a scimitar as an example:
Full BAB Scimitar, Secondary Claw, Secondary Claw, Secondary Gore, Secondary Bite.
For crying out loud, just take Power Attack. I can't see any reason to take a bunch of weaker "You do more damage" feats first, let alone stinkers like Diehard.
1. Playing around with a DPR spreadsheet, at 4th, power attack is adding +2 expected damage. I hit harder, but take a 10% penalty to do so. Glancing through the bestiary, a CR4 monster ranges between AC 16-20 - so I have 65% hit chance of ac18 when not power attacking versus 55% when I am. And thematically, I just really despise missing. Later on, when I have plenty of bonuses, I will definitely add it, but early I'm not convinced I get enough for it.
Mike Schneider wrote:
For "pseudo" multi-attack, simply use a polearm and take Cleave and Combat Reflexes or Quick Reflexes -- you'll get lots of opps once you're routinely Enlarged
I like this idea. BUT, I also like Wild Rager's extra attack - by my reading, it stacks with haste. Also, the will save to avoid the confusion effect is determined, bizzarely enough, by my barbarian levels. So instead of going straight barb, let's just dip into it for two levels and then jump into Fighter. Wild Stalker seems thematic, but I don't think you get enough out of it.
Drunken Wild Rager lvl4:
Spoiler:
. Tank cha to 7, and dwarf brings us down to 5. That gives a -3 to the save DC. We're stepping out of Barbarian at level 2, when we get our haste effect. The dc to avoid going Hulkified is 9, with a +7 bonus to will saves!. That's something we can work with. The drunken brute Archetype will allow us to extend rage when we don't get a chance to full attack.
Stats:
20 point buy:
Str 17 + 4th bonus. = 18 at 4.
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 7
Wis 16
Cha 5
Our Will Save is +7 at 4th level when raging. After 4th, we can alternate Barb and Fighter levels, as Improved Iron Will greatly improves our chances of ignoring the wild rager's confusion effect.
Our feats will be:
1) Iron Will
2) (Rage) Good for what Ails you
3) Combat Reflexes (Fighter Bonus), Improved Iron Will
4) (Fighter Bonus) Stand Still
At 4, assuming enlarged, our full attack looks like this:
+ 10 3d6 +10
+ 10 3d6 +10 (Wild Rager Ability)
With 3 AoO's a round and 15' reach. Stand still allows me to keep opponents in place so I can full attack them next round, and keep them from getting past me. Lucern Hammer is superior to all other reach weapons at this level because of how it steps up in damage when in enlarged.
rather than taking a level in sorcerer so that you can cast Enlarge person on yourself (with an arcane failure chance) just have potions of Enlarge person with you, same time to pull out and drink(and that's if you pull out, you can cheese it and always have one in hand), only 50 gold a pop, and most combats don't last more than 1 minute
No arcane failure chance due to getting to apply Still Spell for free due to the Magical Lineage trait. Also, that build presumes a later entry into Dragon Disciple PrC for the Strength, Natural Armor, and Natural Attacks and slight increase in spell casting. Still, that is a good point. With the drunken brute archetype that would be easy to pull off, and with 15 foot reach the limited mobility is not a bad trade off.
Also, looking back, it looks like I forgot to add the Reckless Abandon modifier, which would give another +1, making it +10 total.
Here's another build:
Double-Fisted Wild Rager lvl4:
Spoiler:
Human, we need the feats to make this work. Two Weapon Fighting and Weapon Focus: Kukri 18 str and 16 dex again. For extra fun, consider Light Picks! At 2nd level, we're taking lesser fiend totem for the gore attack, and at 4th lesser elemental rage. Our 3rd level feat is extra rage power: animal fury. Pro-tip: You only take the heinous penalties off-hand penalties if you actually swing your off-hand weapon at someone; and your secondary natural attacks are not effected at all other than taking the flat -5. Furthermore, the DC to avoid the wild rager confusion effect is against your Cha, so be sure to tank it - it will keep you going until you can afford to pick up Iron Will and Improved Iron Will (and hopefully Clear Mind at Barb 8)
I'm dreaming up a Barbarian that skips Power Attack until the later levels. To make up for that, I need to up my early level attacks and damage. I'm also not interested in the beast totem line with Pounce as its capstone, because the payoff is a bit too delayed - I'm starting at 1st, and want to have fun with my guy now, not later.
To that end, I've came up with a few ideas, aiming at max ownage at level 3/4:
Razortooth Halforc lvl4:
Spoiler:
Take the feat Razortooth for the bite attack, as the ferocity racial ability is pretty useful for staying upright (in conjunction with the accelerated drinker trait), and saves me from taking a bunch of feats that are situational: Endurance, Diehard, and/or Raging Vitality (this one is more useful at higher levels, imo). Take Fiend totem at Lvl 2, Step Up at lvl 3, and Lesser Elemental Rage at 4. At 4th Lvl, assuming STR 18 pre-rage and a nothing fancy greataxe, we can do this with a full attack while raging
Looking to entry into dragon disciple at later levels. Human, with Magical Lineage trait for enlarge person, Magical Knack for the Sorcerer class; spend feats on Still Spell and Combat Reflexes. Take Reckless Abandon as your rage power. At level Three jump into Sorcerer and we spend round one with a Stilled Enlarge person effective for 3 minutes. UMD will come in handy later on. We're assuming 18 str and 16 dex, and we will be playing with a Lucern Hammer for the tasty 3d6 damage with reach after we Still Spell enlarge ourselves on round 1. For the third level feat, take Stand Still to dominate that battlefield.
Enlarged, with 4 AoO a round:
+9 3d6 + 10
Anyone else have other builds? I just really really hate missing with my melee attacks.
I have a scenario in mind trying to figure out how exactly combat maneuvers interact with actual play, and would like the community's help in determining how to adjudicate this scenario:
1. Barbarian, rages, then charges at the Ranger in the rear of the party. As part of the charge, he chooses to Overrun the Fighter. Does he make this roll at CMB, or CMB + 2 (for the charge bonus).
2. Assume the Barbarian does not have Improved Overrun. Can the fighter make a Disarm attempt for his AoO? Is the Barb's CMD regular, -2 for raging ac penalty, or -4 for the rage and charge penalty?
3. Assume the Fighter does not have Improved Disarm. Does his AoO Disarm attempt give the Barb an AoO? If the Barb attempts a Trip for his AoO and does not have the feat, does this result in another AoO for the Fighter if the Fighter has combat reflexes?
4. If the Fighter is successful in his Disarm, can the Barb halt his charge? Or is he committed to completing it weaponless? Does he have to complete the Overrun?
5. Assume the Barb Overruns the Fighter unmolested. Can he Sunder the Ranger's bow at the end of the charge? Is it made at CMB, or CMB + 2 for charge bonus? Assuming no Improved Sunder, does the Ranger need Improved Unarmed strike to take an AoO here, or is he totally helpless?
Thank you for your help. I'm hoping to showcase the new maneuver rules for my group's first session with Pathfinder, but it would be nice to understand them first!
