TheDeadPoet's page

I have searched to clarify this aspect of the Wild Shape druid myself.

What I've found so far is that you are allowed to use the + X item bonus to your unarmed attack modifier to carry on through the Wild Shape focus spell.

Runes would not apply, but the special part is that you get to use your own attack modifier + 2 if you want, which leads many to believe that is it meant to include item bonus on your base attack bonus.

Cellion wrote:

Speaking of druid, I think you're massively overvaluing the animal companion feats. You get them all much later than a ranger would, and a weak, undeveloped animal companion is often less valuable to command than spending your final action on another strike (especially considering the bounty of sweet final strike actions the fighter has). If you want a companion, the animal trainer archetype gets you access much earlier than a druid archetype.

Okay, so do you believe that animal companions themselves are a bad idea? Or only animal companions received through a druid dedication because they come too late?

And either way, what would you say are the actual strengths of a druid dedication for a fighter?

Druid Dedication paired with Monk Dedication (Flurry of Blows with Multitalented Half-Elf or Human) is inherently powerful.

Combining the natural high bonus of fighter with Flurry of Blows, Attack of Opportunity and the + 2 status bonus from the Wild Shape focus spell from Druid turns you into a somewhat powerful/large/imposing striker. I think that if you are to ever mention Wild Shape, pair it with Monk Dedication right off the bat (Multitalented makes it easier since you can skip the 3 feats in an archetype before getting a new one requirement, leaving you with only 2 Druid feats and 2 Monk feats instead of 3 and 1 at the same timing normally).

I specifically think about making a guide about this particular aspect, the multiple aspects of Wild Shaping and how you can approach it.

Vali Nepjarson wrote:

Aggresive Block I think is much better, Intimidating Strike I think is much better, and Lunge IMO is the actual Blue choice of Level 2 Fighter Feats given that against many foes it will force an Attack of Opportunity as they approach you.

You're not wrong on the value of those feats. My estimation of Intimidating Strike rose as I wrote the guide. I probably will change that to blue.

You can also reverse the route and go full druid with a Fighter Dedication from Ancient Elf at lvl 1 and pick Opportunist at lvl 4 or 6.

Druid only needs these two features to be competitive enough. You miss on the good attack bonus progression from Fighter, that can't be competed with but you get full spells.

What's interesting about this route is that you end up giving 10-15-20 % to hit and deal critical/regular damage for a huge versatility.

I still think that there are best strikers than Warrior going into Wild Shape, as they'll scale poorly due to Wild Shape requiring later levels feats from the class itself to be worth using at later stages.

Another interesting option is to open up the Monk Dedication at lvl 9 from an Ancestry feat called Multitalented (going Half-Elf basically) and picking up the Flurry feat at lvl 10 from Monk Dedication. You end up with two dedications archetype feats outside your class feats and you only need Opportunist and Flurry of Blows, which upgrades a lot of the Wild Shape abilities.

It's just odd that the Monk Flurry of Blows is lvl 10 and the Fighter Opportunist is lvl 4. Like both classes get the ability from lvl 1, but archetype-wise they don't correlate at the same level oddly enough.

I still haven't got to play up to there, but in theory, that would make quite a good strike with full spellcasting. The only downside being the two actions requirement to get the benefit.

This is possible if you go Elf Atavism at lvl 1.

A Fighter with an early Wild Shape from Druid archetype will wreck stuff pretty hard though. They hit with the best proficiency + 2 ... that is a massive to hit per say.

Pretty good guide dear Druid lover.

I dug it quite a few times.

You shed some light on really interesting topics. I tried making an optimized Wild Shaper without gimping my stats.

With the Ancient Elf heritage from Human lvl 1 Elf Atavism, you're not gimping your Constitution and you can have 16 strenght 14 dexterity 12 constitution 10 intelligence 16 wisdom 10 charisma. You can get some good stuff out of an Early Fighter-Opportunist pairing and then making a transition at level 9 with Multitalented to take Monk Dedication into Flurry of blows at level 10. You can even accomodate a lvl 1 Order that is not Wild Shape. Lvl 2 Order Explorer is what you want for Wild Shape.

This felt like the sweet spot.

It feels really good so far to have spells to dump and have the leisure to be an actual threat. With how the striking rune interacts, it's really interesting, you some good mileage out of several underdogs when doubling their damage dice paired with some interesting speed.

A funny interaction is an ape with the Field Medic. It's a soft line as if apes can use their digits to ''manipulate'' as it is intended for PCs.