Rage Powers: Elemental Totems

[zanbato13]

I am making an Invunerable Rager for PFS and was wondering how the Elemental Totems from Blood Of The Elements compare to the other totems. All the guides I've seen don't mention them.

[wraithstrike]

The beast totem line which gives pounce is the best one. I have never read any guides, but if they are not even mentioned, it probably means they are not very good. However depending on your GM that may not matter if he tailors to the party.

[zanbato13]

They all said that Beast was best. I think the guides used limited sources and weren't updated. I can sum them up if you want.

[CWheezy]

One problem is not a lot of spells have a [element] descriptor, so that sucks.

Fire totem is probably the best, because concealment you ignore is actually awesome. The other powers are pretty meh though.

Earth is almost ok, but probably wont be that much damage to weapons anyway? When you get higher level, magic weapons are really tough.

Water only works underwater, so in a themed campaign it might be better than beast totem, but in a normal one is is garbage

Air totem. One round of air walk, really? Awkward greater power? lame

If I were rating them like pathfinder guides to:

Fire totem: orange

All other totems: Red, with a green caveat for water totem themed campaigns

[kestral287]

If you want an elemental Barbarian, I'd really look more at the Elemental Blood line. That one's actually pretty good (well, Greater Elemental Blood is. The rest are mediocre). And they don't conflict with your Beast Totemery.

[zanbato13]

I'm not making a Natural Weapon Barbarian. I'm going Two-Handed. I'm not touching Beast.

[Chengar Qordath]

Beast totem works very well with a Barbarian who swings a two-handed weapon. Really, pounce and an AC boost are good for just about any melee build.

The claws do largely go to waste on a non-natural weapon build, but they'll still come in useful for scenarios where your weapon is taken away, or if you're grappled, swallowed, or any other condition that prevents swinging a two-handed weapon. I certainly liked having them when my Barbarian was swallowed by a T-Rex and couldn't use his greatsword.

[zanbato13]

I was going for crit fishing by wielding a cutlass in two hands, and the Improved Stalwart feat line.

[Chengar Qordath]

For two-handed crit-fishing I would point out that the falchion and nodachi have the same crit range with better base damage. Unless you have a reason to prefer the cutlass, those weapons would be better choices.

The improved stalwart feat line is a good choice for Barbarians. I would say that the AC boost from beast totem fits in rather well with the general theme. There's also an argument that Dragon Totem can be used to boost your DR further, though that rule is ambiguous enough that you should expect table variance.

[zanbato13]

I'm trading the small damage difference for having a free hand when I need it and flavor.

Unfortunately, I'm the rules lawyer at my table and I have to agree that it doesn't work, but let me double check the definition of "class feature."

[zanbato13]

Are there ways to mitigating the penalties of Combat Expertise and fighting defensively?

[zanbato13]

After rereading and rereading and rereading, I think I can let Dragon Totem work with Invunerable Rager, I wouldn't do it because of the rage power requirements though.

[Marmandy Jones]

Ask your DM if you can ignore some of the prereqs for dragon totem, it's a really cool chain of powers and I personally don't think the prereqs make sense balance or flavor-wise for what you're getting out of them. I think there is one trait that allows you to ignore one point worth of penalties for using combat expertise. I forget what it's called though.

[zanbato13]

Marmandy Jones wrote:

Ask your DM if you can ignore some of the prereqs for dragon totem, it's a really cool chain of powers and I personally don't think the prereqs make sense balance or flavor-wise for what you're getting out of them. I think there is one trait that allows you to ignore one point worth of penalties for using combat expertise. I forget what it's called though.

Society.