I have a question about the Bear Warrior prestige class. I have a player who is thinking about taking the class down the road. He meets two of the three requirements, the ability to rage and the power attack feat, but he wants to move the BAB requirement from +7 to +5. He felt that the bear forms would be less useful later at high levels. I don’t have too much of a problem with this. I have played the class before, and I felt like my bear form was weaker than the other party members at times, with the exception of when grappling. He is going to take the prestige class whether I move the BAB requirements just because he liked the idea so much. These boards have been so much help in the past so I thought I’d ask what everyone thought.
Any and all help is appreciated!
Thanks
Fizz
I'm inclined to think Bear Warrior is a pretty weak prestige class, mainly because it functions off an ability that the class itself does not grant. Being able to use your ONLY ability 3 times per day is just terrible; while the ability itself is pretty good, when it runs out you have nothing to fall back on.
Consider two 11th level characters. A straight orc barbarian can GREATER rage 3/day, so with no magical enhancements you're looking at a 28 STR for a +9 to attack, and a +14 to damage with a 2 handed weapon, let's say a nonmagical greataxe. The bear warrior still only has black bear form, and ends up with a slightly higher strength but lacks the damage resistance and has a worse constitution bonus. The fact that a black bear is only doing d4 for its claw, d6 for its bite, and only a +10 damage with no improved grab is just not as capable of dealing the big damage that the barbarian can, nor is it as capable of survival.
Sure, once you get to dire bear form the bonus is quite impressive and the damage is good, but before you get to the brown bear form you're just a hamstrung barbarian. The only justification I can think for having the +7 requirement is so that you can take the 8th level of barbarian easily when you realize that the prestige class doesn't support itself.
Thanks for the help. Does any one have any ideas to change the Bear Warrior? I hate for one of my players to be short changed just because he liked the idea so much.
Fizz
I don't really see a big issue with it. It is an overall neat concept, but weak prestige class. Having played one up to 9th level (yeah I just missed the Dire form), it was good flavor but much weaker than a barbarian who has geared themselves towards damage. The bear form is really good for one thing, grappling and only then once you get the brown bear form. Beyond that, while the higher strength bonus is nice it doesn't balance out the loss of flexability of the form. Most magic items do not crossover to the bear form, so you end up fairly vulnerable (luckily rings stay with you). I found to really make the prestige class at least somewhat worthwhile was to take two levels of Warshaper prestige class to help round it out a bit. But I can't think of any reason you couldn't start the class earlier. Granted he'll be even weaker than one that waited until 7th.
I love the flare and story they can have, but they do lang behind other classes it seems. I think the reason he was wanting to take it at a lower level was so he would have more play time with it. We usualy stop around 12th or maybe 15th lv. The game just seems more fun between 5th-ish to 10th-ish lv to my group. Thanks for the help. I may increase the number of his rages per day as he goes up as a Bear Warrior and suggest to him to pick up improved natural attack or maybe snatch if he meets the prerequisites.
Thanks
Fizz