Rhatha's page

Hello,

This order was shipped on Feb. 18th, and I haven't received it yet.. I have had long delays on getting things in the past, but there doesn't seem to be any tracking info on it. It wasn't sent to our apartment office or anywhere else I can tell (generally UPS will call on arrival). Do you have further tracking on this? Can you confirm that it was sent and isn't hanging in limbo somewhere? If it was delivered, it's possible it was just left on the mailboxes.. where any number of people could walk by and take it, so I'm hoping that wasn't the case..

Thanks for looking into this.

Good afternoon,

This subscription order went to my previously default address, which is my apartment office. However, with the current situation, they're not accepting packages, and I'm home all the time. I updated my default subscription address and added a phone number as that will likely be needed for delivery (deliveries normally can't get into the building). It didn't update the pending order, however. Also, I put the apt. number in the Address line 2, but it didn't appear when selecting the address, I'm not sure if that's only a display issue or not.

Will you please change the address on this order to my current default (has a phone # listed, address starts with the number 1), and also confirm that the Apt # is included on the address?

So, I was looking into ideas for a new character, and found a Skittermander grapple vanguard build elsewhere on the forums here that looked interesting.. but when talking to my GM and looking at the math, we decided not to go with it as there was a strong likelihood that it would be too good at shutting down a single target and make the combats unfun for the group - there have been similar problems in the past in Pathfinder.

I was curious if anyone else has run this, and how it worked out.

For example, at level 5, 18 DEX:
5 BAB + 4 DEX + 2 racial + 2 weapon grapple property + 1 weapon focus + 4 imp. combat maneuver = +18 vs. EAC (because vanguard)

We looked at a few CR 5-8 monsters and found roughly 17-19 EAC. Taking the higher value, for a CR8, this would mean a 9 or higher would grapple, and a 14 or higher would flat out pin. Then there's also a great likelihood that on the second round, you can succeed again, and steal an item to break the grapple.. which appears to include held weapons. While it doesn't shut down spellcasting, grappling also prevents any two handed items, so anyone with a longarm or heavy weapon is likely to be severely hampered.. and that's a CR 3 above your level. It's much easier on anything lower. Plus, with vibrogarrote, you can do entropic strike damage on top of that.

If the creature then wants to grapple you in turn, there's a good chance that they'll be able to as well (in the example above, depending on your armor, roughly an 8+ would work), but they don't get to deal damage, and unless you're pinned right back, it's likely you'll be able to regrapple on your turn. If they just attack, they suffer all the penalties and are hitting likely the most defensive party member. This may be fine for creatures with a strong attack that doesn't rely on two hands. Size differences seem to be GM discretion, but could also mitigate things.

Am I missing something here? Is it really not as strong as it seems? I'm not sure it's any one piece of this pushing it over the top.. it's the incremental bits from having the grapple weapon property and weapon focus, being able to target EAC, etc. but grapple and especially pin are so crippling that it seems like it's just too strong. It's true that sometimes you'll have a larger number of weaker enemies, but most of the time, there is a clear target that's more dangerous. I saw a lot of discussions saying combat maneuvers are too weak, but most seem to be from before the Armory and COM came out.

Good afternoon,

I put in two orders near the beginning of the holiday sale. One of them has already gone through and been delivered. The other, order 9746077, has not, and looking back at my emails I don't see a notice that it shipped. Can you confirm if this has been sent, or is it waiting on something? It appears complete in my order history on the site, so I'm not sure what needs to be done here. Thanks!

So, after walking through creating several forms, I think I have the basic idea down, but I ran into a few things that weren't clear.

First, do you have to choose one of the types/subtypes available, or can you choose not to specify one and to retain your normal type? My mystic is a Dragonkin, and if not, that means he'd never be able to retain his equipment short of dropping it before casting, since Dragon is never an option for type. This isn't clear, it says the spell allows you to appear to be another type, not that it forces you, but I can see it either way.

Second, when using a specific form for something like a Tashtari, and using a special ability like Muzzle Beam, do you use the same rules as natural attacks for capping to hit and calculating damage, or just use the stats from the bestiary as they are? Presumably this one would at least target EAC/use the ranged damage instead of the melee damage column. I'm not sure if this falls under "a trait that uses the base creature's CR for a calculation" though, or if that's referring to things like DCs.

I'm looking into a wild druid as primarily a shapeshifting melee, using spells for utility or in situations where range is needed or for utiliy out of combat, and wanted to bounce some ideas off of people to see if there's anything I missed that could be fun to play with.

Lizardfolk, Druid, Wild Order
16 STR
14 DEX
14 CON
8 INT
16 WIS
10 CHA

STR as high as possible. DEX high enough to cap AC in Hide armor, it will likely never be increased. CON and WIS as high as possible with the remaining points. Increases will likely be STR, CON, INT, WIS as we level.

Heritage TBD - I don't think any of the benefits apply while in Wild Shape, so this may end up being for flavor based on where the character ends up being from.

Background TBD - it's for Age of Ashes, so the one that gives Religion and Dahak Lore might be relevant. Lastwall Survivor looked interesting, but I'm not sure there were many Lizardfolk in Lastwall, or what type they'd be. Does anyone know of a reference to Lizardfolk living there?

Feats
Ancestry 1: Sharp Fangs - since we're likely looking at handwraps anyway for the weapon runes, as I think they fall under constant effects and work in wild shape. Any of the natural attack options could work here.
Class 1: Wild Shape - unless we change around and start with storm or leaf order to get a second focus point at level 2. Bizarre how that works. I don't know if this is needed but am going under the assumption that 1 focus + a few prepared Form spells will be enough.

Later Feats:
Class
Form Control, Ferocious, Soaring, Dragon, maybe Elemental Shape
Fighter Dedication, Opportunist, maybe Sudden Charge - I'm not sure if this is worth it or not. I don't like monk dedication as Flurry is at 10, and you really want to take Soaring and Dragon Shape around then. Barbarian could also increase damage, though it hurts your AC and Opportunist seems stronger for that. If we don't take a dedication, an extra focus point or two and Poison Resistance may be possible. I'm not sure that works in Wild Shape, though.

General
Toughness, Incredible Initiative, Rapid Recovery, Fleet - much of this is increasing your strengths.

Ancestry
Terrain Advantage is the only must have. Depending on the Heritage, the feats that boost each are strong. Lizardfolk Lore would also help with the low INT early on.

Skills
Medicine, Nature, Survival, maybe Religion, Athletics - play to your strengths. Multiple people with any of these have worked well so far. Athletics can be a later pickup, as will Acrobatics for flying later on down the line.

Skill Feats
Battle Medicine, Ward Medic, Continual Recovery - cheap healing, save spell slots.
Titan Wrestler - you can perform maneuvers on huge and gargantuan opponents later on, which most other classes can't.
Survey Wildlife, Forager - depending on how often we're trekking across the countryside
Quick Squeeze - unsure if this is needed, but it may be a late pickup.

Basically, at low levels, use a shield as needed and bite things a lot. Once Wild Shape takes off, you have a lot of options.

Items
Druid's Vestment - not right away, but once 1000 gold isn't a big deal, this will be nice to have.
Armbands of Athleticism - as noted above, you are uniquely suited to trip, shove, etc. very large creatures.
Goggles of Night - You will generally have a very high initiative, this will help further. If you activate greater goggles, the darkvision might carry over.
Any skill boosting items.

My biggest question is whether a Dedication is worth it given how many feats you want for Wild Shape.. AoO with reach sounds great on paper. Also, if one focus point is enough or not, not knowing how often rests will be an option.

In looking into a Wild Order Druid, I ran into several questions trying to figure out how Wild Shape actually works.

Attacks: Weapon attack bonuses definitely don't work. Striking appears to not work by virtue of the simple fact that it would incredibly unbalance your damage. Weapon runes like Ghost Touch might work, as they could be considered a constant effect and that would keep you at parity with anyone attacking with a weapon.That's not exactly clear, but that seems to be what most people think from reading other threads.

AC: Seems to only include what the form spells say, no dex.

But what about other abilities that could be inherent to your form? The Polymorph tag doesn't explicitly say you lose them, but this seems to fall under the umbrella of the special statistics of the form not being adjustable. It seems odd, though. For example, the fire resistance from the Sandstrider Lizardfolk heritage makes sense as the text implies that this is at least in part based on your physiology. What about the Druid feat Poison Resistance? That seems to imply that it's not based on your form.. it seems very odd if Wild Shape makes your class feats just not work part of the time. It's possible that that's the answer, though. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.