How is Shapeshifting Hunter Not Completely OP?

[Merkatz]

Shapeshifting Hunter wrote:

You blend your knowledge of foes and your shapeshifting abilities together.

Prerequisitites: Favored enemy class feature, wild shape class feature.
Benefit: Your levels of druid stack with your ranger levels for determining when you select your next favored enemy. Also, your ranger levels stack with your druid levels in determining the number of times per day you can use your wild shape class feature, up to a maximum of eight times per day.

1 Ranger level + 1 Feat grants a Druid a full Favored Enemy progression? Combine that with a 15k Wand of Instant Enemy at higher levels, and the Druid becomes more of monster than it ever was before...

[hogarth]

In my experience, most druids have better things to do than making melee or ranged attacks (except maybe Produce Flame).

But a thought just occurred to me. A ranger's animal companion gets to benefit from the ranger's favored enemy bonuses. Does the same apply to a ranger/druid who has fewer than 4 levels of ranger? I imagine it wouldn't, but if it did, that would be pretty sweet.

[Darigaaz the Igniter]

What's the source?

[Michael Sayre]

Dude, where is that from?

[thejeff]

Ultimate Combat, according to d20pfsrd.

[Thefurmonger]

its from UC apperently

[thejeff]

It also makes a pretty decent basis for a combat shapeshifter. 4 levels of Druid to pickup Wild Shape and then all full BAB ranger.

[Serum]

Your choices for wild shape (large, elemental, etc) don't increase with ranger level, just the number of times you can use it per day.

You could also make the argument for: Your bonus against favored enemies doesn't increase with druid level, just the number of types you have favored enemy against.

[thejeff]

Yeah. Never mind then.

I still want a full BAB shapeshifter. No, the ranger Shapeshifter archetype doesn't cut it, since he can't actually change into things.

[Smug Narcissist]

You can take Shapeshifting Hunter and Shaping Focus so Druid 4/Ranger X for Full BAB -1 ,Full Favoured Enemy and with the right Druid Archetype also full Favoured Terrain.

[thejeff]

Smug Narcissist wrote:

You can take Shapeshifting Hunter and Shaping Focus so Druid 4/Ranger X for Full BAB -1 ,Full Favoured Enemy and with the right Druid Archetype also full Favoured Terrain.

That looks to me like you get the Wild Shape forms of an 8th level Druid, but can use them as many times/day as if you were 4+X Druid.

Not bad and probably as close as you can get without rewriting a class/archetype.

[TGMaxMaxer]

Kick in the animal shaman archetype of druid and you count as 2 higher for your particular favored one at 6. You get huge of the favored kind but only medium elemental.

[Weirdo]

Not sure it's that bad without the Instant Enemy abuse, since you're a level behind on spells, wild shape forms (if not uses), and minor druid abilities, and you've spent a feat.

Serum wrote:

You could also make the argument for: Your bonus against favored enemies doesn't increase with druid level, just the number of types you have favored enemy against.

This looks reasonable, since the feat description only says levels stack for "when you select your next favored enemy" instead of for all favoured enemy purposes. So you can get up to 5 favoured enemies as a Ranger 1/Druid 19, but they're all at +2 unless you have the ranger levels to boost them. That means that a Wand of Instant Enemy won't let you apply a +4 or +6 to everything.

[Pi Master]

That's incorrect. Referencing excerpt from Favored Enemy:

"At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by +2."

The +2 increase applied to an existing favored enemy choice is applied as a function of selecting a new favored enemy.

[Doomed Hero]

So you're sacrificing your caster progression and a feat for favored enemy bonuses?

Definitely not OP.

[Mechalibur]

hogarth wrote:

But a thought just occurred to me. A ranger's animal companion gets to benefit from the ranger's favored enemy bonuses.

Wait, really? I don't see that listed anywhere under Hunter's Bond or Favored Enemy.

[K177Y C47]

Doomed Hero wrote:

So you're sacrificing your caster progression and a feat for favored enemy bonuses?

Definitely not OP.

Sacrificing 1 level of progression... not going to kill you. Blaster Wizards do it all the time (taking a dip into Crossblooded sorcerer) and so do Loradins.

As for the feat, not much of a sacrifice either. Melee druids are usually not horridly feat starved.

[Jon Otaguro 428]

Wand of instant enemy is a standard action to activate - so action economy means you just spent a round buffing. Rangers can cast the spell as a swift action.

This is still one of the most powerful feats in the game.

[K177Y C47]

If you are a Samaran you can easily get around the whole wand thing by using MPL to add Instant enemy to your spell-list.

[Jon Otaguro 428]

K177Y C47 wrote:

If you are a Samaran you can easily get around the whole wand thing by using MPL to add Instant enemy to your spell-list.

My last character was a samsaran druid with that setup. However, I was addressing the OP. Wands are always standard action even if the spell is a swift action.

[K177Y C47]

Ah ok that is true.