So my GM mutated my 4th level half-orc barbarian, and I now have 4 arms and a thicker hide (+1 natural armor). I had my future feats, rage powers, etc. mapped out, but now I need to re-work them. The feats I'm considering right now are:
* Improved Initiative (already have +4 on init, would end up with a +8 on initiative rolls)
* Combat Reflexes (would get 2 attacks of opportunity, and the party wizard buffs me with enlarge, which means I have 10' reach)
* Multiweapon Combat (normally wield a magic war hammer, could pick almost anything for my other 3 weapons)
* Multiattack (I have Lesser Beast Totem, this would allow me 4 claw attacks per round, each 1d6+5 from STR - but only when raging)
I've got the Drunken Brute and Brutal Pugilist archetypes, the Improved Unarmed Strike and Power Attack feats, and I'm already good at grappling.
Suggestions? Other feats I'm missing?
Keep in mind how Multi-Weapon Combat works. 2-armed creatures (the default standard) get one off-hand attack because they have two arms (regardless of what limb the off-hand or main-hand attacks are made with). MWP "replaces" all instances of the TWF feat. That also means that it qualifies you for ITWF and any other feats that list TWF as a prerequisite (ie, Doubleslice, Two-Weapon Defense, etc). Furthermore, the ITWF and GTWF feats only still give you one additional attack with a single off-hand; not one more per off-hand. That having been said, I'd say go for the following: Grab a 2-h reach weapon and ITWF. With the Enlarge, this lets you threaten out 15-20' with your weapon and you have 5-10' covered with Unarmed Strikes. When you're up against fodder that you don't need to burn Rage for, you can just whack them with your weapon or Unarmed Strikes, whichever is handy. If they're on the outer radius of your unarmed strike radius, you can hit them with Unarmed Strike as an off-hand attack first (two or three depending on whether you have ITWF), then 5' step back and take your iterative main-hand attacks with the reach weapon. When you do have to rage, you can hold the weapon with one hand and use the remaining 3 hands as Claw attacks to better advantage; since you're not actually attacking with the mfg weapon, the Claws remain primary attacks. Then, just re-grip your reach weapon and 5' step back to threaten.
Another thought; if you have Power Attack, dip 1 level of Martial Artist Monk. Then, all your Unarmed Strikes count as main-hand attacks (even the ones made as off-hands). This means that Power Attack gives them full bonus rather than the lower off-hand bonus. If you also take Feral Combat Training, you get Monk unarmed damage to your Claws. At BAB+11, you can use Bodywraps of Mighty Strikes (27k for +3) and it will give the +3 bonus to up to 3 Unarmed Strikes (or Claw attacks because of FCT) per round as opposed to spending 45k on an AoMF.
Dragon Style and Dragon Ferocity would also do well, especially coupled with FCT.
Your answer heads the direction I was most likely to go - MWC. It's immediately relevant, and useful in any combat whether I'm raging, enlarged, or anything. I'm still tempted by Improved Initiative, though. That, too, would be useful in any situation, even ranged combat before we close ranks.
Multiattack would only help when I'm raging and get my claw attacks. Combat reflexes would be useful in any combat, but the big payoff only comes when I'm enlarged.
Multiattack only applies to natural weapons as secondary. The Claws would be primary natural attacks unless you happen to combine them with attacks with manufactured weapons (and that's a troublesome issue with unarmed strikes) or with the idea of using a reach weapon like I suggested. I'd say ditch the multiattack and stick with just MWC, relying on your claws when Raging against tougher opponents where you'll want 4 attacks at highest BAB for more consistent damage. When you don't particularly need to Rage, rely more on your Reach weapon and off-hand Unarmed Strikes. Now, once you hit, say, +11 BAB, you may even want to not rely on the reach weapon so much since you can go up and pummel an opponent with 6 Unarmed Strikes (+1 if you have Haste), 4 of which are at highest BAB.
Now, if your GM allows shenanigans like using kicks for all your unarmed strikes so you can still use your claws, then absolutely go for multiattack and you'll be unloading 5 Unarmed Strikes and 4 Claws at lvl 7 (if you take a 1 lvl Martial Artist dip for better damage) with all 5 Unarmed Strikes getting full Power Attack bonus and full Str to damage (the Claws still get half). Go up to Monk 4 to get 1d8 Unarmed Damage, combined with Barb 8 and you'll have +11 BAB at lvl 12, 6 Unarmed Strikes @1d8+Str+full Power Attack (4 of which at highest BAB-2), and 4 secondary Claws at BAB-4. Throw on an AoMF and maybe Dragon Ferocity for an extra 50% str on all of them and you might as well just shout "HULK SMASH" every round.
The GM has ruled that the new arms' claw attacks would be secondary, that's the only reason I would consider the Multiattack option. I definitely like the idea of the reach weapon, though, and will consider the Monk level option. But do alignment restrictions apply to taking one level, or just to a character's favored class? If the former, then a barbarian could never take any levels as a monk, or vice versa.
I would continiue like on the pathfinder you have already hosen just ad in lesser beast totem for +2 claw attacks when you rage the claws will be secondary attacks with only half str. But you can look for a way to get 2 more claws pehaps when you mutate next time;)
The Martial Artist archetype removes the Monk's alignment restriction. It also ditches all the Ki based stuff, but you're only dipping anyway so that's no big loss.
|
