Is Arcane Strike worth it, to make my two claws magical?
At least, until I can get Eldritch Claws, and even then, for the +x damage?
You can only take Arcane Strike if you have Arcane spellcasting levels. That said? Yes in that situation it would be. For every 5 Arcane spellcasting levels you get an additional +1 to damage for each attack. This isn't just for one weapon. Any weapon you pick up and use, ranged or melee, can get that benefit.
This should be under advice, not under rules questions.
Also, it is impossible to say without knowing what your build is.
Just realized that I wasn't in Advice.
My bad.If you want to comment, moving it there.
When you ask such question you probably should provide more background information before anyone can tell you if it is worth it or not.
Alright, I'll post my info here, too.
I'm a Sorceror/Ranger/soon-to-be Dragon Disciple focused on natural attacks (two claws from natural weapon combat style feat).
Is the 1+1/five levels to damage worth it? And would it apply to both claw attacks separately?
Yes it's worth it, IMO and yes it does apply to both claws (and to your bite later, too)--thus it's just gone up to +3 damage/5 levels.
Ruyan.
What were you thinking of taking instead. "Worth it" is always relative to your other options.
That said, it probably is worth at some point in your advancement.
Okay:
Abresh, Gnome Sorceror 3/Ranger 1 (draconic bloodline [white])
Feats-
1-Sorceror 1- eschew materials, scribe scroll
2-S2
3-S3 elemental spell (cold)
4-Ranger 1-
5-R2- aspect of the beast (claws, 1d3), improved natural attack (1d4)
6-DD1-
7-DD2-blind-fight or power attack (??), ??
Spells-
0- daze, ray of frost, spark, disrupt undead, one more
1- Mage armor, burning hands, shocking grasp, magic missile
That's about all I have right now. I'm not at home, but Abresh is, so...
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Arcane Strike is usually "worth" it for any melee character that has caster level progression. The only question is, at what point does it become your "best" choice.
For example, on a feat intensive twf fighter, I doubt I would take Arcane Strike before 5th level, and might put it off until much higher. Eventually it will provide a larger damage bonus than any remaining options. The question is, when?
Arcane Strike is usually "worth" it for any melee character that has caster level progression. The only question is, at what point does it become your "best" choice.
For example, on a feat intensive twf fighter, I doubt I would take Arcane Strike before 5th level, and might put it off until much higher. Eventually it will provide a larger damage bonus than any remaining options. The question is, when?
I put a feat-progression above, is it good enough to be in my 7th-level slot?
Do you get improve natural attack for free somehow or are you taking that as a feat
At 5th level? That level is Ranger 2, and my bonus combat feat is Aspect of the beast for two claws. I get a character feat at 5th also, and I can take the feats on my list even if I don't meet the prerequisites. So, I'm using my two slots (ranger and character) to select Aspect and INA.
So? Not every character need be optimized.
@Tangent101 - I agree but at the same time he is asking for optimization help.
@bigrig107 - I would take it if you think you will be persistently fighting melee and judging by your feat progression you are expecting it. You don't have much to spend swift actions on in your build (or anything really) so it costs you nothing to use. Your damage was nerfed slightly by your choosing a small race and this will help put you back on par.
You didn't ask but I would take power attack over blind fight.
A foreseeable problem with this build is that your strength is probably low which will affect your to hit and damage, the to hit you could possibly solve with weapon finesse but only if your dex is high and still it's a feat tax. I had a player make a Gnome Paladin for Rise of the Runelords and he asked to switch in book one when he couldn't successfully break down a door.
@Tangent101 - I agree but at the same time he is asking for optimization help.
@bigrig107 - I would take it if you think you will be persistently fighting melee and judging by your feat progression you are expecting it. You don't have much to spend swift actions on in your build (or anything really) so it costs you nothing to use. Your damage was nerfed slightly by your choosing a small race and this will help put you back on par.
You didn't ask but I would take power attack over blind fight.
A foreseeable problem with this build is that your strength is probably low which will affect your to hit and damage, the to hit you could possibly solve with weapon finesse but only if your dex is high and still it's a feat tax. I had a player make a Gnome Paladin for Rise of the Runelords and he asked to switch in book one when he couldn't successfully break down a door.
You can take it but it won't improve necessarily: For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
Caster levels, not levels. So for instance, an Eldritch Knight (assuming level 5 Wizard) will only have +3 to Arcane Strike when they've 10 levels of EK.
You should actually replace Improved natural attack with arcane strike going from 1d3 to 1d4 increases your damage by very little (average of 2 to an average of 2.5), arcane strike at CL3 is +1 (giving you an average damage of 3 which beats out INA and scales later on which INA does not).
Due to your small dice sizes INA is not worth it until you have very few feat options (you need a base damage of 1d8 or more for INA to be worth taking)
I believe my GM will let be house rule that INA stacks. 1d3->1d4, 1d4->1d6, etc.
I believe my GM will let be house rule that INA stacks. 1d3->1d4, 1d4->1d6, etc.You should actually replace Improved natural attack with arcane strike going from 1d3 to 1d4 increases your damage by very little (average of 2 to an average of 2.5), arcane strike at CL3 is +1 (giving you an average damage of 3 which beats out INA and scales later on which INA does not).
Due to your small dice sizes INA is not worth it until you have very few feat options (you need a base damage of 1d8 or more for INA to be worth taking)
I'm not sure that he will let that be a house rule. ;)
Arcane Strike is worthwhile for any character that can qualify for it and doesn't have something better to do with her swift actions.
I'm not sure that he will let that be a house rule. ;)I believe my GM will let be house rule that INA stacks. 1d3->1d4, 1d4->1d6, etc.You should actually replace Improved natural attack with arcane strike going from 1d3 to 1d4 increases your damage by very little (average of 2 to an average of 2.5), arcane strike at CL3 is +1 (giving you an average damage of 3 which beats out INA and scales later on which INA does not).
Due to your small dice sizes INA is not worth it until you have very few feat options (you need a base damage of 1d8 or more for INA to be worth taking)
Well, why not? I only really want to take it twice, at most, for 1d6.
Why because it bad preedent. Your 1d3 to 1d4 to 1d6 is not that much but a huge dragon bite that 2d6 that gose to 2d8 then 4d6 via INA that then is strong jawed to 6d6 is big deal. Remeber that 99% of rule changes come out in the GM side as win vs the player side lose.
Why because it bad preedent. Your 1d3 to 1d4 to 1d6 is not that much but a huge dragon bite that 2d6 that gose to 2d8 then 4d6 via INA that then is strong jawed to 6d6 is big deal. Remeber that 99% of rule changes come out in the GM side as win vs the player side lose.
ya, what he said, lol.
Tom, I'm his GM.
Why because it bad preedent. Your 1d3 to 1d4 to 1d6 is not that much but a huge dragon bite that 2d6 that gose to 2d8 then 4d6 via INA that then is strong jawed to 6d6 is big deal. Remeber that 99% of rule changes come out in the GM side as win vs the player side lose.ya, what he said, lol.
Tom, I'm his GM.
Worth a shot, eh?
If no questions were asked, where would we be?
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Why because it bad preedent. Your 1d3 to 1d4 to 1d6 is not that much but a huge dragon bite that 2d6 that gose to 2d8 then 4d6 via INA that then is strong jawed to 6d6 is big deal. Remeber that 99% of rule changes come out in the GM side as win vs the player side lose.ya, what he said, lol.
Tom, I'm his GM.
Worth a shot, eh?
If no questions were asked, where would we be?
and to think i used to be glad he learned to talk. 16 years of endless questions so far......
and the answer is still no.