Ok a few friends and myself are thinking of doing a short Ebberon campaign in the summer, and we are getting our ducks in a row now. We are trying to ease into Eberron. I’ve read over shifters some, but I’m not sure what the exact build should be. I want to play a melee pc, but I’m not sure if I should go with a fighter, barbarian, or ranger. I’m also leaning toward razorclaw for the shifter trait, but that’s not set in stone either. I would like to use my natural attacks, but from my understanding you only gain natural attacks when you shift. This seems like a problem being you can only shift a few rounds a day. I think we are using a 76 or 78 point spread. I also think I'm going to be a bit of a xenophobic type pc also. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
Fizz
This board has made my gaming life some much better, or maybe it's the drinking who knows maybe it's both!
Fizz
If you want a shifter build that focusses on natural attacks, I reckon there are only really two options. Either the Weretouched Master PRC out of the Eberron Campaign Setting, The Bloodclaw Master out of the Tome of Battle. The advantage of both these PRCs is that they either give you more shifts per day, or more shifter feats (which give you more shifts per day).
As for which class is best, it is hard to beat Ranger 2, Barbarian 1, Fighter 2 for a great setup for any melee prestige class.
Alternatively, you could go Warblade 5 if you are going for Bloodclaw Master.
It is hard to give you any more detailed advice without more details (Starting Level, Stats, Books etc), but I hope that helps.
It is hard to give you any more detailed advice without more details (Starting Level, Stats, Books etc), but I hope that helps.
We are starting at 1st level. Stats 76 or 78 points spread out so 18, 16, 12or14, 12or10, 10, 8. Books pretty much all of them, but we tend to stick to the basics out of habit.
Fizz
Well, if you are planning on playing at level one, I am afraid you won't be able to use natural attacks. At 1st level you can only shift once a day, so you can only use your claws once a day.
If you are playing a one shot, starting at level 1 it is hard to go past a fighter for pure power at level 1.
However, it may be better to go with the Ranger. No one can afford full plate anyway, so you won't notice your low AC. Nothing says a Ranger HAS to be either ranged or Two Weapons. Nothing stopping you from just putting your highest stat in STR and demolishing enemies with a Greatsword (or Greataxe depending on preference). The advantage of the the Ranger is the 6+INT skill point which means yo ucan actually do somehting outside of combat (Scout, Lookout, Track etc).
Thinking about it now, a 1st (or 2nd) level Shifter Ranger would be quite enjoyable to play.
A Beasthide Shifter Barbarian can be scary. Especially since the +2 AC from shifting will cancel out the -2 AC from raging. With Beasthide Elite feat, you have a net +2 AC bonus with you shift and rage. :)
It will go past 1st lv it's going to start the beginning of may and go to the end of august longer if we are having a good time. I think we are hopeing it will get to 10th lv if we can. So feel free to plan ahead. I would still like to use natural attacks later on in the game for some reason I liked the idea of growing claws, charging, pouncing, and digging in to the enemy. Thanks for the help so far keep up with the ideas. I feel like I'm in new territory with Eberron and its new races.
Fizz
Ok I’m still thinking about this build, and all I can really think of is how I want my fighting style to be. I want to jump in, in a very animalist way, attack for a bit then pull back. I kind of want to be the spear head into the fight and then later on throw my weapons away mid fight and bring out the claws and kind of dig in. Maybe I’m just being too cinematic with my combat. I’m just not sure what class this would be I thought ranger then it seemed more barbarian then I said maybe scout so at this point I just don’t know. I’m trying to build this pc to 10th level, but I can’t decide on what class/classes to take help! help! please! All I can decide is I would like to uses axes and maybe a longbow. I can’t even decide what feats to take! I know I will be doing some basic scouting and survivalist kind of thing, and I won’t be a people person to say the least (my cha will be piss poor). I’m all giddy over this summer adventure so I have all these idea, but I’m just floundering. Help, Lords of the Board! Hell, I’ll take Kids of the Board!
Fizz
If you are going to level 10, then either Weretouched Master (ECS) or Bloodclaw Master (Tome of Battle) is the way to go. The best entry into both of them would probably be Ranger 1, Barbarian 1, Fighter 2, Ranger 2, simply to max out skill points.
For feats, if you take Extra Rage (Complete Warrior I think), then you should be able to rage 3 times a day (Which should be plenty). See if you can get your DM to houserule a shifter feat that gives you a bonus 2 shifts a day as well. (As really without this, it will be very hard to make a natural attacks shifter).
Obviously take Razorclaw as your shifter trait, and maybe work towards taking longtooth as well, for the extra bite attack.
Stats, Obviously STR is the highest (18), followed by Dex/Con, then Int, Wis, Cha.
Just had a thought, have you thought about a Druid? I am not talking about a spellcasting druid, but an out and out melee druid. If you are only planning on getting to level 10, that is only 5th level spells, and you only need a 15 WIS to cast them. If you take the shapeshift variant out of PLayers Handbook 2, it sounds like exactly what you want.
Change the Axes to Sickles (or Scimitar and Sickle) if you want to TWF (you can even just call them axes but use sickle stats).
Since you are going to be in melee, put an 18 in STR, and when you shapeshift, you should be able to rip anything to shreds.
If you let me know what direction you would like to head, I can whip up a sample build for you. I think if you check out the shapeshift druid from the Players Handbook 2, you will see it fits esactly what you want to do.
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razorclaw is nice, but keep in mind you're going to need feats.
also, you can shift a number of times = 1 + 1 for 2 shifter feats.
if i could recommend for your skirmisher type...beasthide elite...+4 natural armor and +2 con is very very nice.
take ranger or barbarian to start (ranger 2/barb1/ftr2 is nice...gives you a few useful feats, and some good skills.)
be sure to take extra rage for one of those fighter feats
when you can afford them, pick up some shifter braids for enlarging, and take extra shifter trait razorclaw @ 6th lvl.
that nets you bab 6, claws and natural armor 2/day, each time lasting for 6+con rounds. more than enough to get through a few fights.
when you can't hop into combat, stay back and plink with your longbow, or set up ambushes where you can drop in behind the enemies and pincer them against the rest of the party
consider weretouched master (even w/ the errata its a good class), and also look @ warshaper (very nice things there, too...including immunity to stun/crit and +4 str/con when in alternate forms)
-the hamster
I'm going to throw my two coppers in, and they're overpriced at that.
I'm not familiar at all with the shifter race other than their theme of being lycanthrope-ish and suitable for PCs. However, I like the visual image I'm getting from this so far.
One question: if you were to shift and gain claws, could you make two claw attacks (one for each hand), or do you just get one?
I'mseeing ranger/barbarian as a good combo before PrCs. Fighters are nice and all, but it doesn't seem to be the right theme. You could use the bow asnd go archery style with ranger, and then take some TWF feats. Shoot at your enemies until they get close, at which point you discard the bow, shift, and rage. I think that sounds cool. Altenately, you could just use an axe until you got hit a few times, then discard it, shift, and rage. Stiull fun.
Sorry that I don't have anything substantial. Sounds like a fun character, and I hope the game goes well for you!
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One person in our group has a Shifter with the beasthide trait and longtooth trait and the class is a monk. When shifting, she is near impossible to hit and she is getting a lot of attacks (flurry of blows with a bite attack) with the full attack option.
There are a number of good ways to go with this. If you want to jump in and jump out, I feel that the monk would be great for this. If you want to emphasize on combat prowess, fighter or barbarian are ideal choices. The feat trees are pretty straight-forward. Beasthide, Razor Claw, and Longtooth I feel are the best ones to choose from, but any of them would make a great combination. (However, choosing Razor Claw with the monk class seems like a waste to me.)