Lions and tigers and panthers, oh my!
Dropbear.
*Looks up*
AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!
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The Constrictor Snake has a constrict attack and is Medium size.
There are two issues you're going to have with a small sized grappler though. The first is damage. Natural attack damage is based on size. Even if you think you can match other enemy's CMD with your small sized grapple check, you're going to deal low damage dice and (presumably) low extra damage without a high Str score.
The second issue is the actual check itself. If you have Weapon Finesse, great, but a large part of your CMB (pun intended) comes from your size. If you're Small sized, you're getting a net -2 or 3 to your grapple check (a flat -1 penalty that is not the +1 or +2 that it could be if you were an anaconda instead).
Honestly, while Dex based disarms and trippers are both viable, grappling is for big bad dudes with tons of muscle. I don't think you'll have much success with this.
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The consstrictor sounds nice. I just like using dex characters over strength because dex is much more useful out of combat.
No reason you can't do both. Not like druids have a lot of good save or sucks, so just keep the minimum Wisdom score for your spells (19 or less, after items) and focus on buffing and healing. Con score of 12 should do you fine, and dump Int and Cha and you'll have plenty to put in both Dex and Str.
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I don't think so, honestly. An Oread or Vanaras would get +2 to Str or Dex and Wis, with a -2 to Cha, so they might be good choices for you.
Going with a 20PB, you could do:
18 Str (or 16 Str for Vanaras)
16 Dex (or 18 Dex for Vanaras)
12 Con
10 Int
14 Wis
5 Cha
You might want to shift points around a bit, such as for more Int at the expense of Str or Dex.
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Yeah, I wouldn't want to dump int. Want enough skill points to get the dex based skills. But I do like the idea of having a high dex and strength.
Are there any races that get a +2 to both?
Sure. Humans with the Dual Talent alternate racial trait. Give up bonus feat and Skilled and you get +2 to two chosen ability scores.
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Sure. Humans with the Dual Talent alternate racial trait. Give up bonus feat and Skilled and you get +2 to two chosen ability scores.Yeah, I wouldn't want to dump int. Want enough skill points to get the dex based skills. But I do like the idea of having a high dex and strength.
Are there any races that get a +2 to both?
Oh, I'd forgotten about that.
It's an awfully harsh trade, though, that extra feat and skill point/level are huge parts of what makes the Human so good.
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Oh, I'd forgotten about that.It's an awfully harsh trade, though, that extra feat and skill point/level are huge parts of what makes the Human so good.
Considering that he wouldn't even be thinking about choosing human otherwise (since it doesn't give him what he wants, +2 to Str and to Dex) I think it's a fairly nice trade-off. He loses what he was never going to want in the first place, to get exactly what he's looking for.
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You cannot be an effective small grappler as a druid. The size penalty to CMB/CMD and the inapplicability of grab to larger creatures will pretty thoroughly ruin you.
The size penalty will eat any dex bonuses you get for small forms. You can get size and dex from elemental forms at higher levels, but for most of the game you're going to want to be the biggest grab/rake or grab/constrict form you can fit into the environment. Even if you're using agile maneuvers the size bonus will offset the dex penalty, but as a less than full BAB character you really need to stack size bonus with strength bonus to grapple competently.
Indeed. The loss of Grab is a harsh one, and will require two feats to make up for it (Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple, in addition to the required Weapon Finesse), and will also cost you damage since you can't combine your initiating grapple check with a natural attack.
Though you won't need Agile Maneuvers (as it's been stated that Weapon Finesse works for combat maneuvers if you're using a finessable weapon for trip, disarm and drag, but I believe that it should apply to unarmed grapple checks as well since they said it's because you're "using the weapon as part of the combat maneuver"), two extra feats in a class without bonus feats will be hard on you.