Natural attacks tend to have issues with anything with damage reduction they cannot get around. Or hardness, for animated objects or constructs. Find ways to get past that and you can do pretty good with a natural attacker so long as you have some static sources of additional damage (like sneak attack). Smite effects or ways to get Bane on your attacks for individual critters tend to work well.
Let me start with my usual: There is no universal "best", as it always depends on what you want and how the group and the campaign look like.
What is the best way to optimize damage on a build based on natural attacks?
Pounce reigns surpreme, and that goes double for natural weapons as those builds are centered around having many, individually weak attacks.
Some other things:
• Things that affects all your attacks is good, while things that affect only some of them are usually crap. Yes, that does include Improved Natural Attack!
• Damage roll bonuses are obviously the better the more attacks we make, and thus non-specific bonuses often add more damage to natural attack builds than for weapon builds.
• While weapon-based full BAB builds usually end up having more attack roll bonus than they can use (for their attacks at full BAB), the lower enchantment bonus and lack of Weapon Focus et al. usually prevent the same thing applying to natural weapon builds. Barbarian with Reckless Abandon being an exception.
• Size increases are comparatively weak, as natural attacks usually have small damage dice. Often the only way to get reach, though.
• Since our attack roll is comperatively low already, and the main damage bonuses are from strength and power attack, secondary natural attacks are much worse, and are often not worth investing into.
• As there are few(er) combat feats that actually help us, bonus combat feats are worth less than they are for weapon builds.
• Full BAB is also worth less, because it not only doesn't grant us iterative attacks, but we also don't usually have feats with high BAB requirements* that we want to take, making BAB nothing more than a bonus to attack (and via Power Attack damage) rolls. The exception is if you have no source of pounce apart from Totemic Master.
Or rogue to add sneak attack damage dice to all your natural attacks?
Sneak Attack is only good if you can reliably trigger it, and that's almost never the case.
There is a natural attack using Slayer in my Serpent's Skull game. At level 6 he is quite potent, doesn't need SA to be effective, but when he gets it it is gravy.
Weapon Shift and Greater Weapon Shift feats....
I’d be very interested in the better sources of SA you mentioned. I’m unfamiliar with them.
Vivisectionist Alchemist. That way the class also gives you a strength bonus, spellcasting, natural attacks if needed (Feral Mutagen), and with enough levels even pounce. And unlike half of Rogue's class features, not getting SA doesn't shut down any part of your build.
Of course, remember that Sneak Attack is just damage, though, it's nothing special. Plenty of classes grant a damage bonus.
Ok, so it looks like a Beastmorph Vivisectionist alchemist is the route I want to take. It allows for self buffs, pounce, and sneak attack. What race would be best for such a build?
If you want to have all the natural attacks, Ragebred Skinshifter type gives you a gore (easily doable by other means) and 2 hoove stomp seconary (pretty hard to get). +STR/CON -CHA is ok for Vivisectionist.
Ok, so it looks like a Beastmorph Vivisectionist alchemist is the route I want to take. It allows for self buffs, pounce, and sneak attack. What race would be best for such a build?
This may not be the biggest thing, but the Orc Faboured Class Bonus gives you a longer duration on your Mutagen, effectively doubling the duration if you take it every level. Half-Orcs can take the Orc FCB. There are a few other races that have the same FCB, but they're less common than something like a Half-Orc .
Also if you're relying on Mutagens for some of your Natural Attacks and buffs, I think 1 level of MASTER CHYMIST is worth it. You don't need more than 1 level , but that 1 level lets you play a bit more freely with Mutagens than usual.
If you're going Beastmorph/Vivisectionist you really want level 10 pretty much ASAP - Greater Invisibility will let you Sneak Attack everything and Greater Beastform Mutagen gives you Pounce.
Ok, so it looks like a Beastmorph Vivisectionist alchemist is the route I want to take. It allows for self buffs, pounce, and sneak attack. What race would be best for such a build?If you want to have all the natural attacks, Ragebred Skinshifter type gives you a gore (easily doable by other means) and 2 hoove stomp seconary (pretty hard to get). +STR/CON -CHA is ok for Vivisectionist.
Dont forget you need to get a feat to gain both together.( extra feature feat i think).
I was in a game where the gm was muffled by the sheer number of attacks a player showed at an early level until i pointed out he was taking 2 features at once without taking the feat.
A skinwalker get only one feature in hybrid form without said feat.
That feat is pretty much always the level 1 feat though.
The Skinwalker entry doesn’t state wether the hooves are primary or secondary. How do you know which they are?
I just checked HERE and it looks like they default to Secondary attacks.
That said I'm not an expert at all, so double check with someone who actually knows
EDIT: Fixed the link ... and by fixed I mean remembered to add it =P
The hoofs are secondary, the gore is primary, as far as I understand.
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Ok, so it looks like a Beastmorph Vivisectionist alchemist is the route I want to take. It allows for self buffs, pounce, and sneak attack.
Yeah, it's a pretty good build, because it's not one-dimensional. I would actually suggest not investing into Sneak Attack (beyond using extracts of Greater Invisibility), instead treating it as a nice bonus when you happen to get it. Unlike a Rogue, you don't need SA to function, especially at 10th+ level when you have pounce.
What race would be best for such a build?
For pure damage on a full attack, wereboar-kin is indeed the best. You don't need any help from your race to function, and you can get a gore attack via a feat or item as well, so don't feel slaved to it.
The Skinwalker entry doesn’t state wether the hooves are primary or secondary. How do you know which they are?I just checked HERE and it looks like they default to Secondary attacks.
That said I'm not an expert at all, so double check with someone who actually knows
Nah, you're entirely correct. When the ability doesn't state whether a natural weapon is primary or secondary, the default set in the universal monster rules is used.
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1: If the creature only has a single type of natural weapon, then it's always primary.
2: If the creature uses a manufactured weapon, then all natural weapons afterwareds are secondary.
3: If the creature has multiple natural weapons, then they are either primary or secondary according to the chart.
I would also like to ask whether or not you are using EITR rules. If you are, Improved Natural Attack will apply to every natural weapon, which makes it a much better feat to take. Also, look at items that give natural attacks as well. Some of them are polymorph effects, but some of them aren't.
1: If the creature only has a single type of natural weapon, then it's always primary.
2: If the creature uses a manufactured weapon, then all natural weapons afterwareds are secondary.
3: If the creature has multiple natural weapons, then they are either primary or secondary according to the chart.
I would also like to ask whether or not you are using EITR rules. If you are, Improved Natural Attack will apply to every natural weapon, which makes it a much better feat to take. Also, look at items that give natural attacks as well. Some of them are polymorph effects, but some of them aren't.
don't forget also:
1.1 if a creature has only one natural attack(only one to attack with so clawsX2 doesn't count as one) it deal damage at (1.5)x(str bonus)
EITR is a set of houserules for folks who don't think characters get enough feats and/or that feat taxes are lame. (Stands for Elephant In The Room).
It basically eliminates some feats that are only ever taken because they're needed for other feats by just giving them to the PCs automatically. Like Combat Expertise. No one takes it because they want it. They take it because it's a requirement of a whole slew of feats that people do want. And it lets feats like Weapon Focus apply to entire weapon groups, although a feat that calls out a specific weapon like Fencing Grace does still only applies to the specific weapon.
Since you didn't know what it was, you aren't using it. So I'd avoid Improved Natural Attack as it would only apply to one natural weapon.
1: If the creature only has a single type of natural weapon, then it's always primary.
2: If the creature uses a manufactured weapon, then all natural weapons afterwareds are secondary.
3: If the creature has multiple natural weapons, then they are either primary or secondary according to the chart.
Just to clarify that: If you use both Natural attacks and Weapon attacks during a full attack action then all Natural attacks are considered Secondary attacks for the duration of that full attack action. If you make a full attack with a sword and a bite then the bite is considered a secondary Natural attack, but if an enemy then provokes an Attack of Opportunity on their turn and you decide to use your bite for the AoO then the attack is made as a Primary Natural attack.
1.1 if a creature has only one natural attack(only one to attack with so clawsX2 doesn't count as one) it deal damage at (1.5)x(str bonus)
So in our previous example of using a Bite as an AoO after full attacking with a Sword and Bite: If the bite is your only Natural attack then the AoO would be a Primary Natural attack and would get the 1.5×STR modifier.