Hello All,
My GM allowed me the option of a prc regarding a Druid and I could use some help with the feats. Being a PRC, it basically came down to reduced spell efficiency (only gaining 1CL progression per two levels) and limited wild shape (only a couple of forms, all linked) in exchange for a magical creature single form. My form chosen was a werewolf (no DR Silver, no disease) starting medium sized and maxing at large size. The only other wild shape forms I have is the normal wolf and the direwolf. So no birds, no fish, no elementals.
Anyway so I envisioned this guy as being a melee combatant. Druid spells for buffs. The character is half orc. So at lv 7, this is my build so far:
Lv 1 Ranger
Lv 2-6 Wolf Shaman (must cast 3rd lv spells to qualify PRC)
Lv 7+ Primal Rage PRC
Feats:
1 - Power attack
2- Improved Trip (from Wolf Domain)
3 - Natural Casting
5 - Shapeshifting Hunter
7 - Heavy Armor Proficiency
9- Improved Critical - Natural weapons (claws)
11-
13-
15 -
I like the idea of the overrunning charge but I know thats going to eat up some feats getting that going. Any suggestions on feat progression?
Thank you in advance
Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus(Claw), Feral Combat Training, Dragon Style, Dragon Ferocity.Wouldn't IUS be a waste though, since Druids are considered already proficient in all of their shapeshifted natural attacks?
prereq for style feats
Thank you very much for your suggestions. Problem with the IUS feat chain is that based on the feats taken, it wouldnt go into effect really until lv 17. IUS and WF are pretty useless at the teen levels and the other two, while flavorish and cool, are they really worth 4 feats to obtain the effects?
Half Orc.
You're asking if getting 2x str on your main claw and 1.5x str on your 'offhand' claw is worth it?
Please forgive me if anything I say here is incorrect, I'm currently unable to look anything up to confirm, but... you're taking Power Attack. So yeah.
Thing I'm Not Sure On #1: Does your 'werewolf form' have natural attacks or are you considered to be dual wielding your claws? If you're using the TWF rules, then you're ordinarily only doing 1x str on your main claw and 0.5x on your 'offhand.'
Not the best with power attack, which would also shrink to 0.5 with your offhand.
Increasing your str to 2x and 1.5x also increases your power attack damage, though. So let's suppose you're at BAB 8 and your Power Attack is at -3 to hit +6 damage. Let's suppose you have 22 str (incl. Items). Let's additionally suppose your claws are 1d6, not that that matters.
Without Dragon Style, you could do 1d6+6 damage, or 1d6+12 on a power attack. That decreases to 1d6+3 and 1d6+6 with your offhand. With Dragon Style, you could be doing 1d6+12 damage, increased to 1d6+24 on a power attack.
Offhand damage with Dragon Style is 1d6+9 without power attack. With power attack, it might be 1d6+12 or 1d6+18, depending on how power attack and dragon style play with each other.
If the claws are natural attacks, Dragon Style just becomes even better, though. If they're both primary natural attacks, they should both increase to 2x from 1x, and if they're both secondary they both jump to 1.5x from 0.5.
Yeah absolutely, if his prestige class gives him natural attacks. Like I said, I really don't know, though. Can't really look at the wording of its abilities.
Killer if they're all primary natural attacks, though.
I saw him as a spirit kin type shaman. More in touch with the wild and the spirit of the beast. The ranger class came to indicate the years spent outcast from the orcish tribe until he found his druid mentor. Favored enemy humans because of the anti human propoganda (orc tribes) and the fact that his father was a human that raped his orc (ack!) mother. Mother died giving birth and the tribe took him on with extreme prejudice.
The wolf domain just gave flavor to the werewolf/spirit wolf idea. The trip feat wasnt bad and there were better domains but it was a struggle being that he is a tundra spirit shaman.
For the question re: natural attacks...the Prc does give him the natural attacks of the werewolf. Just no DR nor disease.
I thought about the human vs half orc last night since the stats are the same and the 1/2 orc was losing +1 feat and +1 Skill pt/lv but the half orc gets darkvision, ferocity/diehard, and for druids, the racial ability of half orc is +1/3 for natural armor in Wildshape form. Plus of course I see orcs more in tune with the spirit world than humans but thats just me.
There are no secondary bites and claws.
Not completely true, the bite from the trait has been designated as secondary as per JJ. There are probably other exceptions, so unfortunately the statement isn't 100% correct.
As for the build. Take a level of Fighter and then a level of Monk (Master of Many Styles). It will net you heavy armor prof for free and get you weapon focus (claw) [fighter], then IUS and a free style feat (Dragon Style) [monk]. This pushes up your feat selection several levels.
Also, does Primal Rage PrC give favored enemy? If not take shaman first and then Ranger at level 6 to take full advantage of the feat from level 5 (the feat states the bonus applies to your next favored enemy choice).
Thirdly, I don't think you qualify for the improved crit feat at level 9 (druid 5[+3] & ranger 1[+1]) so even with full BAB from the PrC (3 levels) you don't get a +8 BAB.
If you are going to be a beast shaman, I strongly recommend the feat Planar Wildshape. It's a feat that allows you to spend two uses of your Wildshape to turn into a Celestial or Fiendish version of any animal based Wildshape.
While there are a lot of benefits (1/day smite evil, SR, resistances, DR, darkvision) the main reason you'll want this option is story. What often happens to melee wildshape druids when they get higher level is they rely more on their Elemental Body/Plant Shape Wildshapes rather than animal wildshapes because EB/PS shapes quickly outclass the benefits of your animals. Planar Wildshape allows your animals to grow with your increasing challenge rating so you won't run into the problem of "I'm Krull of the Spirit Wolves, master wolf shaman, wolf brother to the tribes, and I turn into... a Treant."
May not be a rules guy, but RAI is RAI from a Paizo employee. I'm pretty sure PFS has to take those "not a rules guy" rulings as they come (or at least I've seen posts saying that). You may not like it and can keep that stance, but other people think differently. I'll take his ruling over your opinion.
Now here is the kicker...to level dip or not to level dip.
I restructured last night doing 2 lvs of monk + 5 druid then Prc, 1 level monk + 1 lv fighter + 5 lv druid the Prc, and finally 1 lv monk + 5 druid + Prc.
The 2nd lv of monk gives +1 BAB, a free feat (dragon ferocity), evasion (his dex, reflex saves are the worst saves so not sure how effective this is, and +1/+1 to flurry of blows). But it does hold of progression to the Prc for an extra level.
The lv in fighter gives +1 BAB, a free feat, heavy armor proficiency which would be a feat I would have to take if not going fighter.
Lastly, the monk + 5 druid then to Prc gives access to the medium magical beast form which is the first step of the Prc progression.
Always a tough decision when you level dip because its holding off that ultimate target of the higher end Prc abilities.
Thoughts?
I don't see any need to take 2 levels in Master of Many Styles. One level will get you IUS and your first style feat. Once that's on the character, it seems to me you'd be better served by a level in fighter than a second level in monk. Both get you a bonus feat, but the fighter level gives you the armour proficiencies, and I'm to understand that's something you want.
There's not necessarily any need to take these levels right away, either. The later Dragon Style feats require higher BABs, so you could wait on Master of Many Styles until your BAB is high enough.
You could still take the Dragon Style feats without Master of Many Styles, of course. The one level dip into monk is netting you two feats, but if you don't want to lose the BAB and other class features, you'd only be one feat down just sticking with fighter. Two levels in fighter would give you two bonus feats, that could be spent on IUS and Dragon Style, in addition to the desired armour proficiency.
The whole point of taking MoMS is to ignore the prereqs for the style feats so you could get Dragon Ferocity at level 2 by taking 2 levels of monk.
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Monk(MoMS) 1 - IUS*, Stunning Fist*, Dragon Style*, |Some other feat you qualify for|(1st)
Druid 1
Druid 2 - Power Attack(3rd)
Druid 3
Druid 4 - Natural Spell(5th)
Druid 5
Fighter 1 - (Heavy Armor)*, Weapon Focus [Claws], FCT[Claws](7th)
PrC 1
Can't do fighter first, don't have access to claws to get WF and won't have prereqs for any of the other "goodies."
Doing druid first doesn't give you BAB to take PA, nor do you have claws yet so no WF. Don't have wild shape so cannot take Nat Spell.
This route you have everything you need by the time you gain access to the werewolf shape you were talking about. It only delays 1 level in comparison to your original progression. Being able to charge through difficult terrain and your allies with the additional damage for your claws is more than worth it.