Hi there! I'm trying to wrap my head around best way to approach my to-be-20pb Kingmaker Draconic Bloodrager. DM has announced that he will allow one Archetype and so I had my head already set with Rageshaper, untill they released Bloody-Knuckled Rowdy. I'm not so much looking to be optimal, rather than understand what works together and what doesn't.
RP wise my idea is to play a castaway from Numeria, who has from young age grown among Rostlanders and stories of Aldori swordlords and fancies himself as a sword wielding champion himself one day, clueless of his bloodline of Brass Dragons. He hasn't unleashed his bloodraging powers and won't be doing so until pushed to the limit for reasons to be unravel when the campaign starts.
Let's get to it!
For attributes I'd go:
- STR 16(+2), DEX 14, CON 15, INT 7, WIS 9, CHA 13
- Certainly some suboptimal, but character (RP) wise fitting mental stats. I'm open for thoughts on this?
I'm quite certain of Half-Orc as the race of my choice, with only few clear racial features setting him apart from the human population and traits to suit this. For that reason I won't get toothy either, so I will be playing around with claws only until Helm of the Mammoth Lord comes along.
Draconic Bloodline itself is quite clear as is, but mixing it with Archetypes is what gives me headache:
- Rageshaper - Seems to only really give Bestial Aspect (Su) as absence of polymorph spells leaves Furious Transformation (Su) awkward..?
- Bloody-Knuckled Rowdy - Seems to give a ton more, but how does it mix with claws? With Hand-to-Hand Training (Ex) out scaling claws at level 6.
To break it apart, the only clear benefit from Rageshaper would be the "increase the damage done by that attack by one die" -line, but even that can get quite confusing as (based on my extensive googling) best discussed here: How does that "one die" bonus function? To my knowledge, there still isn't clear ruling on what does it really mean? "Die size"? "By one step"? "Damage die type"? Or one actual die as written? If it really is as written, then with INA and Enlarge added to the mix it can get quite silly as explained at the end of that discussion.
Bloody-Knuckled Rowdy on the other hand seems a ton more flavorful with the addition of style feats, but then I get confused if/how it will mix with claws? Feral Combat Training will do me some good (and confuse me even more), but will I keep the claw scaling as explained on Draconic bloodline, going from 1d6 to 1d8 at level 8? Or follow Hand-to-Hand Training (Ex) ("At 3rd level, a bloody-knuckled rowdy deals unarmed damage as a monk of a level equal to his bloodrager level – 2.") scaling and hit 1d8 by level 6? Will the attacks be treated as Natural Attacks (2 claw attacks, despite the BAB), or Unarmed Attacks (with iterative attacks?) with Feral Combat Training?
Getting those cleared, I would be able to move on to feats. Currently I wish I'd understand how the latter works with claws as it opens whole new opportunities to flavor the Hidden Dragon even further rather than just make it hit harder.
Primalist is a pretty powerful Archetype.
Starting at level 4, you can take Rage Powers instead of Archetypes.
If you want to focus on Natural Weapons, taking Primalist may be a serious option.
You already have Claw Attacks, which are Primary Attacks. At level 4, you use a Rage Power to take Lesser Fiend Totem to gain a Gore Attack.
At level 8, you can either keep your Breath Weapon, or you could gain take Animal Furry to gain a Bite Attack (which is a Secondary Attack.
Your Full Attack action would look like:
+8 (Claw) / +8 (Claw) / +8 (Gore) / +3 (Bite)
If you take Improved Unarmed Strike, at 8th level, your Full Attack looks like:
+8/+3/+3/+3/+3/+3
Cheers for the input! I however don't consider Primalist as an option, as it takes away from the flavor of Draconic bloodline. I'm more interested in adding to that flavor via other archetypes.
Rageshaper is not bad tbh. One die size (which I take to mean 1d6 -> 1d8) is not great, but with enlarge person, or some of the beast shape/monstrous physique and later dragon form II it becomes decent.
And you could always depend on polymorph spells. Or grab Dragon Disciple for two levels for the bite (provided the bloodlines stack).
Rageshaper is not bad tbh. One die size (which I take to mean 1d6 -> 1d8) is not great, but with enlarge person, or some of the beast shape/monstrous physique and later dragon form II it becomes decent.
And you could always depend on polymorph spells. Or grab Dragon Disciple for two levels for the bite (provided the bloodlines stack).
Form of the Dragon I spell-like ability + Bestial Aspect + Enlarge Person + Amulet of Mighty Fists (Impact) = Gargantuan damage
FoD = Medium Natural Attacks
+
Enlarge Person = Large (your type never changes to Dragon, you still are a Humanoid (Human) in the physical form of a Dragon, per rules clarifications)
+
Impact = Your natural weapons deal damage as one size larger.
+
Bestial Aspect = damage dice increases by 1 step
=
1 Bite (2d8 damage)
2 Claws (2d6 damage each)
2 Wings (2d6 damage each)