Paladin of Baha-who? |
Yes, it works well. As Imbicatus says, it starts to fall behind a bit when one is past the levels where a full BAB character would have iterative attacks, but there are ways around that. For instance, a fiend totem barbarian can get a gore attack. There's a magic helmet that gives you a gore attack as well, and a magic cloak that gives you a sting attack like a wyvern. Five natural attacks, all at full BAB, should keep up with manufactured weapons pretty well.
Cavall |
We have a first time roleplaying lady in my game I helped make a tengu river druid Ferrier with animal domain raven pet. She works in the crows nest on the Pirate ship and loves her character
It may lag for full BAB but for a 3/4 she is awesome at low levels and keeping up rather well at 5th. With that BAB she won't complain much either as she won't really be missing attacks.
lemeres |
You can work a bit beyond the mid level plateau if you find another way to make you attacks more effective.
I personally like going eldritch guardian fighter and picking up teamwork feats (a few of those are combat feats, and thus can be passed to your familiar).
The star of that build would be coordinated charge. That feat allows you to do a charge as an immedite action when your teammate charges. So that means you moved next to your opponent outside of your turn, and thus you will most likely be in a perfect position to full attack on your next turn.
It is pseudo pounce+ an extra attack. That should be enough to keep up fairly well, even though you only have 3 natural attacks. And since it is your familiar that is doing the charging...well, it removes the one downside of that feat (your teammates might not want to charge about), since the familiar exists purely to boost you.
I might also try to grab some dirty trick feats. Cause those are always useful, and with a familiar getting those feats as well, you can boost action economy. By mid levels (when your base number of natural attacks start going 'meh'), you could have all the feats needed to completely cripple an opponent for the entire fight (2 dirty tricks with dirty trick master, and then nauseate them so they lose their standard action- can't remove the condition, can't attack, can't cast spell). So that keeps you relavent.
Imbicatus |
Another option is to go with Improved Unarmed Strike and then use two-weapon fighting to kick/kick/claw/claw/beak, adding iterative attacks as you level. You have the downside of -5 to hit on you natural weapons and 1/2 str damage, but the upside of staying relevant in high levels.
You can also use a non-held weapon like armor spikes, but with unarmed strikes your amulet of mighty fists does double duty.
lemeres |
Another option is to go with Improved Unarmed Strike and then use two-weapon fighting to kick/kick/claw/claw/beak, adding iterative attacks as you level. You have the downside of -5 to hit on you natural weapons and 1/2 str damage, but the upside of staying relevant in high levels.
You can also use a non-held weapon like armor spikes, but with unarmed strikes your amulet of mighty fists does double duty.
I've always been...eh...on that. Too much mixing, requires a lot of feats, very specific stats, etc.
How about talons? Thinking about it, there is a relatively painless way to get talons. Those are nice, primary, and take up your feet.
The eagle shaman (druid archetype) is one of the few methods to get talons that I know of. Which doesn't seem like it helps you very much, now does it?
...except for the fact that there is basically a slotless magic item that lets you crib the totemic transformations from those shaman archetypes for druid.
Animal Totem Tattoos are a type of magical tattoo (which has its own system of item slots; I forget the rules for that; just grab only the one tattoo, and forget the rest, really), and it gives you the ability to use those totemic transformations just like a 5th level druid with the appropriate animal shaman archetype. That means 5 minutes/day, spent in 1 minute increments.
The eagle shaman can give you 2 talons (and a bite; minor detail since you are a tengu) or flight.
And all this for 12,000 gp. A fair deal, no?
Charon's Little Helper |
Imbicatus wrote:I've always been...eh...on that. Too much mixing, requires a lot of feats, very specific stats, etc.Another option is to go with Improved Unarmed Strike and then use two-weapon fighting to kick/kick/claw/claw/beak, adding iterative attacks as you level. You have the downside of -5 to hit on you natural weapons and 1/2 str damage, but the upside of staying relevant in high levels.
You can also use a non-held weapon like armor spikes, but with unarmed strikes your amulet of mighty fists does double duty.
It works extremely well for the Errata'd Master of Many Styles.
Unlike the old version, it's a pretty decent class for something other than a 2 level dip, and since it doesn't flurry there's no reason not to stack on a bunch of natural attacks. Plus, as a monk with access to Barkskin, using up your neck slot on an AoMF doesn't hurt your AC.
Imbicatus |
lemeres wrote:Imbicatus wrote:I've always been...eh...on that. Too much mixing, requires a lot of feats, very specific stats, etc.Another option is to go with Improved Unarmed Strike and then use two-weapon fighting to kick/kick/claw/claw/beak, adding iterative attacks as you level. You have the downside of -5 to hit on you natural weapons and 1/2 str damage, but the upside of staying relevant in high levels.
You can also use a non-held weapon like armor spikes, but with unarmed strikes your amulet of mighty fists does double duty.
It works extremely well for the Errata'd Master of Many Styles.
Unlike the old version, it's a pretty decent class for something other than a 2 level dip, and since it doesn't flurry there's no reason not to stack on a bunch of natural attacks. Plus, as a monk with access to Barkskin, using up your neck slot on an AoMF doesn't hurt your AC.
Although the FCT nerf hurts.
lemeres |
Still, as I noted, you can get enough uses of talons for the entire day.
Comparing it:
2 sets of iterative attacks with BAB-2, full str and power attack (presumably- you guys kept on mentioning monk dips- without monk, 1 of those attacks hits with 1/2 of the bonus damage), + 3 natural attacks with BAB-2 and 1/2 bonus damage
5 natural attacks, all at full BAB, all with full power attack/ str bonus.
It is certainly comparable.