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I'd like some feat suggestions for my 4th level druid. He is a human Lion Shaman from Cheliax.
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Here are my stats (20 point buy):
Str 18 (5 +2 racial +1 level)
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 14
Cha 8
I'm taking the Heroism domain instead of an animal companion.
I like Power Attack as my 3rd level feat, but I'm not sure about the two feats at first level. I see this character as a melee focused character, so combat feats were the first ones that came to mind. I'm not set on combat feats though if they are cool or fit the PC. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
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Well, Dodge is always nice if you want combat-focus. Combat Casting never hurts either. Toughness is rarely a bad Feat choice either.
When you get Wild Shape, make sure to pick up Natural Spell as soon as you can.
I won't get Wild Shape until 6th level, so Natural Spell will be my 7th level feat.
I don't think I'll take Toughness. My Con is 14, so I'm not too worried about hit points. Combat Casting is high on the list though.
I was considering Step Up too. That tree seems cool.
Improved Unarmed Strike + Improved Grapple? Then you can get some good mileage out of the Rake ability.
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It depends highly on how deadly your DM's games tend to be. An effective +2 Con in hitpoints for the cost of a feat is a very good trade, if it's a deadly game. If it's usually not, then a 14 Con is plenty sufficient.Well, Dodge is always nice if you want combat-focus. Combat Casting never hurts either. Toughness is rarely a bad Feat choice either.
When you get Wild Shape, make sure to pick up Natural Spell as soon as you can.
I won't get Wild Shape until 6th level, so Natural Spell will be my 7th level feat.
I don't think I'll take Toughness. My Con is 14, so I'm not too worried about hit points. Combat Casting is high on the list though.
I was considering Step Up too. That tree seems cool.
I don't think it will be too deadly. I'm thinking average deadly. :)
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Improved Unarmed Strike + Improved Grapple? Then you can get some good mileage out of the Rake ability.
I haven't played a PC that has grappled before. Would the big advantage of the Improved Grapple be avoiding the AOO when initiating the grapple when using the totem transformation?
When I get Wild Shape at 6th level, then I can use grab as a free action (when Wild Shaped into a Lion). Would Improved Grapple be useful in this situation (other than the +2 to CMB)?
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Take the alternate racial trait 'Eye for Talent' from the APG. You lose the human bonus feat, but you get to increase one of your animal companion's ability scores by +2.Huh? He's skipping the Animal Companion for a Domain, that'd be useless to him.
I must have missed that. In that case, it's much less usefull.
Improved Unarmed Strike + Improved Grapple? Then you can get some good mileage out of the Rake ability.I haven't played a PC that has grappled before. Would the big advantage of the Improved Grapple be avoiding the AOO when initiating the grapple when using the totem transformation?
Yes.
When I get Wild Shape at 6th level, then I can use grab as a free action (when Wild Shaped into a Lion). Would Improved Grapple be useful in this situation (other than the +2 to CMB)?
At level 6 you can wild shape into a dire tiger (or another Large-sized cat), which will be awesome. You'll get the Grab ability, which means that on a successful hit (claw for tigers, bite for lions) you'll be able to grapple something your own size or smaller* as a free action. On the succeeding rounds, grappling will be a standard action, but you'll also have the Rake ability so that grappling will be worthwhile.
So, yes, Improved Grapple will be less worthwhile until you take Greater Grapple, which basically doubles the number of grapple checks you can make each round after the first. Note that for some enemies, it might be easier to grapple normally vs. hitting with a claw attack first (e.g. heavily armored but clumsy creatures).
Of course, if you're not interested in grappling in the first place, you can invest your feats in something just as good (e.g. Augment Summoning or what have you).
*According to the Bestiary 2. If you're using the rules in the original Bestiary, you're restricted to grabbing creatures strictly smaller than yourself (e.g. if you're size Large, you can only grab Medium or smaller creatures). Consult your GM to see which rule he's using.
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Improved Unarmed Strike + Improved Grapple? Then you can get some good mileage out of the Rake ability.I haven't played a PC that has grappled before. Would the big advantage of the Improved Grapple be avoiding the AOO when initiating the grapple when using the totem transformation?Yes.
When I get Wild Shape at 6th level, then I can use grab as a free action (when Wild Shaped into a Lion). Would Improved Grapple be useful in this situation (other than the +2 to CMB)?At level 6 you can wild shape into a dire tiger (or another Large-sized cat), which will be awesome. You'll get the Grab ability, which means that on a successful hit (claw for tigers, bite for lions) you'll be able to grapple something your own size or smaller* as a free action. On the succeeding rounds, grappling will be a standard action, but you'll also have the Rake ability so that grappling will be worthwhile.
So, yes, Improved Grapple will be less worthwhile until you take Greater Grapple, which basically doubles the number of grapple checks you can make each round after the first. Note that for some enemies, it might be easier to grapple normally vs. hitting with a claw attack first (e.g. heavily armored but clumsy creatures).
Of course, if you're not interested in grappling in the first place, you can invest your feats in something just as good (e.g. Augment Summoning or what have you).
*According to the Bestiary 2. If you're using the rules in the original Bestiary, you're restricted to grabbing creatures strictly smaller than yourself (e.g. if you're size Large, you can only grab Medium or smaller creatures). Consult your GM to see which rule he's using.
Okay. Thanks for the information. The wildshape into a dire cat looked to be a lot of fun. The Pounce ability looks pretty nasty too, since I can add rake attacks when pouncing.
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*According to the Bestiary 2. If you're using the rules in the original Bestiary, you're restricted to grabbing creatures strictly smaller than yourself (e.g. if you're size Large, you can only grab Medium or smaller creatures). Consult your GM to see which rule he's using.
Paizo has released an errata stating that grab does indeed work the way it does in the Bestiary 2 your size or smaller.