How do I overcome hardness and damage reduction with natural weapons?

[Storm Nobleheart]

Greetings,

I am hoping some of the rule Gurus who frequent these message boards can help me with a problem that plagues my Pathfinder Society character. I have a 7th level aasimar (garuda-blooded) druid with a wild-shape focused build. I chose the animal companion bond for a flanking buddy as well as extra damage and to carry gear. My character has been confronted with many issues concerning hardness and damage reduction within the past several scenarios, most especially those of season six. Yes, I know an amulet of mighty fist of +3 or +5 overcomes certain types of damage reduction, but these items cost far too much gold as well as fame at my current level. I thought about a golembane scarab as a means to bypass some issues concerning constructs but was hit with the fact that the item does not overcome hardness that some creatures possess such as those in recent Pathfinder scenarios. I searched for druid spells to address these issues but could not find a single spell to help solve the problem. I could not help but feel, well helpless during these last several scenarios as I could do little to no damage many of the opponents. I honestly felt like taking the character I used to enjoy playing so much and running the character sheet through the paper shredder at a game I played yesterday. It is quite disheartening when you get buffed with bull strength and strong jaw to do a few points damage the entire scenario. Any help is appreciated. Thank you for your help and time.

Storm Nobleheart

[Kazumetsa_Raijin]

The only thing I can think of is an Amulet of Mighty Fists + X

Also, if you're an animal with multiple attacks, I would also recommend Pummeling Style. It essentially combines all of your attacks into One big one, meaning DR wouldn't take from each swing. It's unclear what it applies to right now, so try and take advantage of it until there is a FAQ/Errata.

I'm no Guru, but I tried :(

[Human Fighter]

Kaz pretty much said what I was going to say, but make sure to go look up the rules of what you by-pass with each enhancement bonus. Remember, they will only by-pass DR, and not hardness for the enhancements.

[Valiant]

I'm still pondering the same question myself.

One item can be used to overcome hardness. I don't know it's specific name, but it's an alchemical item. I think it's a salve or something. Adamantine salve...something...

It basicly says: Pay 100 gold, apply to your natural weapon...and you can overcome hardness like your natural weapon was made out of adamantine.....

for 1 attack only....

Yeah...that's gonna be expensive. I know. But hey, in a pinch it can help.

Still looking for better solutions myself.

[Thomas Long 175]

Edit: Monk level + Wis vs DC 10 + CR or hardness and you gain +2 to hit and auto bypass DR until the end of his turn, swift action.

[Valiant]

Oh, also...the item is called Weapon Blanch

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services/herbs-oils-oth er-substances#TOC-Weapon-Blanch

fun thing: you'd have to put your claws in a red hot furnace to melt the adamantine to your natural weapon for it to be able to use it ONCE on a successfull attack.....

rawr...hot stuff.

[Human Fighter]

Weapon Blanch your wings, tail, slam and bite attack!

[DethBySquirl]

The Eldritch Claws feat lets your natural attacks count as magic and silver. The aasimar-specific Angelic Blood feat can give you either Silver or Cold Iron for your natural weapons. The Frost Fist Amulet gives your attacks the Frost quality and counts them as cold iron. The Forge Fist Amulet gives your attacks Flaming and counts them as adamantine. There's also a few spells, like Versatile Weapon and Weapons Against Evil, but they're not on the druid list.

[666bender]

vital strike, strong jaw and power attack.
you ""ignore"" hardness.
behemoth style :
4d8>8d8>16d8 + XXX = a lot more than DR.

[Kurthnaga]

I can find no reason why Heart of the Metal from the ACG wouldn't work on natural attacks. Spend 100g+375 for the scroll, and the ability to UMD it or having someone in the party who can allows you the ability to bypass DR/adamantine and hardness less than 20 for 5 minutes. A bit expensive, but when you need it, you really need it so I'd say it's worth it. It affects weapon/level however so for those with many natural attacks it can get a bit awkward or expensive.

[Shfish]

The "many attacks" natural attacker is one of the few builds that truly finds the feat Vital Strike useful in its own way. With DR that you have no way to ignore, getting 1 big hit in is better than many smaller hits.

Now the main issue you will face right now is you said your level 7 which means you need to wait till level 8 to swap any feats (off my memory I think you can only retrain at level time, but I may be wrong). So you could consider the Vital Strike option and since its BAB 6 req, when you rebuild you use your current abilities to qualify. Alternately Eldtich Claws also requires BAB 6 if you think the magic+silver would get you more ooomph. Additionally the Angelic Flesh:Steel option mentioned above does the CI.

Honestly the answer to this problem lies at the heart of the problem with playing the game with a 1 dimensional character: You are not flexible. I say this, and I know it comes off as harsh, but that is the problem and its yours. YOU have to think of creative ways to be useful with such a build in such a circumstance. I have some 1 dimensional PFS characters and I start getting super creative when I hit those snags. In your case, dude...your still a stinking druid! Cast some spells man, summon some monsters that do energy damage, etc. Want to still melee? Well hopefully you actually built your guy to be good in melee and the wildshaping just improves it and not makes it work...buy a big arse hammer with adamantine on it or something (based on prof of course) and beat it down!. These are just some ways to find yourself useful. Other ways is you snag some good buff scrolls and when you can't do anything useful you consider making your allies more useful, or your AC.

To add some perspective, I have a character who is played as having a vow of nonviolence that damages enemies (choice on my part) and is a master manipulator (sorc with high DC mind screw spells). His only power lies in his ability to force the enemy to at least not act effectively. When I hit points where I can't use such spells due to immunity to mind effecting spells, I of course use my 2 buffs spells on the party...but after that I have some wands/scrolls that have useful non-violent options as my back up. I also look for terrain features and see if there is a way to exploit that to aid my allies or hinder my foes. Heck, I've gone in and grappled an enemy caster before (choosing to not deal the damage on successfull checks).

You need to do the same kind of thinking. As it sounds like season 6 is the antithesis of the natural attack beasts that dominated in season 4&5 (eidolon/ACs/druids with holy amulets!) in certain areas those same players are going to have to start getting very creative.

[Belabras]

I don't play a lot of druids, but by level 7 couldn't you wildshape into a hippo? That's a 2d8 bite plus 1 1/2 strength. With power attack I would think you could just brute your way through DR and Hardness.

[Aioran]

You can add vital strike onto the hippo bite. ;D

[Vital Strike Tyrannosaurus]

Did someone call my name?

[Talos the Talon!]

Along this line, my druid is 4th level and has a rhino (Herzog the Amazing). He has power attack, and will get improved natural attack, and at 10 the level be huge (mammoth rider). Can anyone show me the math on its attack with strongjaw? How about the powerful charge?

[Storm Nobleheart]

Greetings,

Thank you all for the helpful advice. Looks like I will need to shop for a couple items. The frost fist amulet listed seems like a more practical means to bypass cold iron DR than burning two feats. The extra cold damage for the claw attacks adds some icing to the cake. I intend to pick up vital strike at ninth level. Vital strike and Strong jaw equals a lot of win against squishies. I have been pondering about retraining the 7th level choice of Planar Wild Shape to another feat. The added resistance bonuses and DR are nice, but using two wild shapes to activate it at my current level hurts. I seem to forget often that a druid may summon some nasty creatures spontaneously. I need to discover what sorts of creatures the character can summon as air elementals with lightning-based attacks may prove effective against the current batch of enemies in society play. After summoning the elementals, the cat and druid could go after any squishy targets that may accompany the hardened creatures. Thank you for your time.

Storm Nobleheart