I was mildly inspired by the Conqueror Ooze, and I was considering possible ways of improving on that raw amount of damage. So here's a build I wanted to run by people: The Conqueror Hippopotamus:
Half-Orc Bloodrager (Rageshaper) 12 [Destined Bloodline, or something else, it doesn’t matter all that much]
with a
Samsaran Arcanist (Brown-Fur Transmuter) 10
cohort
If a cohort isn't an option, this can be achieved with the help of a brown-fur transmuter party member. If one is lacking, you could theoretically do this on your own with a 4 level dip in druid, or a lesser version of this with a wand of Beast Shape II. But at that point it would probably just be surpassed by the Conqueror Ooze.
Feats:
1 (Bloodrager (Rageshaper) 1): Power Attack (retrained at 6th level to Furious Finish)
2:
3: Furious Focus (retrained at 6th level to Vital Strike)
4:
5: Improved Natural Attack (Bite)
6:
7: Leadership
8:
9: [insert useful feat here]
10:
11: Improved Vital Strike
12:
Actions in Combat:
Whichever person rolls higher initiative delays so that the Brown-Fur goes right before the Rageshaper.
The Brown-Fur’s actions:
Standard: Cast Beast Shape III on the Rageshaper to transform him into a Behemoth Hippopotamus
Swift: Cast Strong Jaw on Rageshaper with a lesser metamagic rod of quicken
Move: Place a Cloak of Fangs on the Rageshaper’s shoulders
Later turns: doesn't matter; buff/defend self/retreat
The Rageshaper’s actions:
Free: Enter rage, give benefits of True Strike to self
Move: Move up to 50 feet and end adjacent to most powerful enemy
Swift: Activate Cloak of Fangs
Standard: attack with Greater Vital Strike and Furious Finish (allnight to avoid fatigue)
Later turns: repeat
Damage:
4d8 base
6d8 Bestial Aspect
8d8 Improved Natural Attack
8d8 base before buffs
16d8 Strong Jaw
24d8 Cloak of Fangs
24d8 base after buffs
72d8 Improved Vital Strike
576 Furious Finish
576 total (before any damage bonuses)
This is enough to one-hit a tarrasque (or it would be, if they could be killed).
The best part of this build is that it doesn't rely on many ability scores or magic items in order to work.
There are some possible problems that I can think of. Among them are the following:
Would all of these damage increases stack? It seems like they're different enough, but I can't tell for sure.
Is the Cloak of Fangs a polymorph effect? It says absolutely nothing about that. Alter self is one of the requirements, but that has no mechanical effect as far as I know.
What action would it be to put the cloak on the Rageshaper after they were turned into a hippopotamus (hippopotamuses do, in fact, have shoulder slots)? Is there a way to have the cloak not be transformed when the Rageshaper is, or to activate the cloak after it is transformed?
Do you have a citation for the first statement? I'm not saying your wrong, as I haven't seen a definitive ruling, but I've looked at lots of threads that seem to assume they work together.
Outside of PFS, the only rule is that "Most of the following feats apply specifically to monsters, although some player characters might qualify for them (particularly Craft Construct)." I understand that some GM's might not allow it, but that's not really the default assumption.
I hope this is just a theoretical build for Internet jollies. Anyhow, there is a rule which says, "Multiple magical effects that increase size do not stack." Improved Natural Attack is a feat rather than a magical effect though, so I'd expect it to work fine with Strong Jaw. I'm not sure if Strong Jaw would stack with the Cloak of Fangs though. I'm also not sure what Bestial Aspect is.
Regarding "monster feats", every feat including those in the Core Rulebook technically requires GM permission. Outside of PFS there's no particular reason why feats from the Bestiary should be considered off limits though. In fact, animal companions in the CRB can explicitly take several "Monster" feats, and so can natural weapon Rangers from the APG. I think that the Leadership feat is much more worthy of a "requires GM permission" warning.
Yeah, this build is pretty much completely theoretical. I wanted to see if some things from the Advanced Class Guide could improve on the concept of the Conqueror Ooze.
Yeah, Leadership is the most sketchy parts of the whole concept. I only put it in there because
1. Having a cohort who casts beneficial spells on you to help you in combat is one of the least ridiculous things you can do with Leadership.
2. I wanted the character to be self-sufficient. In an actual game, it would probably be more realistic for the brown-fur to be another party member.
In terms of ability stacking, my logic was that Strong Jaw causes natural weapons to deal damage as if the target was larger, whereas Cloak of Fangs actually increases the base damage of the attack itself.
Bestial Aspect is an ability of the Rageshaper archetype. Actually, I'm sort of confused now. On my first reading of it, it seemed that it increased the damage by one step. But now that I reexamine it, it says that you "increase the damage done by that attack by one die". Does anyone know what that means/if there's been some ruling explaining it?
A couple more things: I never specifically mentioned this, but the Rageshaper takes the toothy alternate racial trait for a bite attack to qualify for Improved Natural Attack. Speaking of racial traits, I was thinking Samsaran for the arcanist to get more spell options, but I realized Strong Jaw was just divine. But that just means they'll need a wand and a better rod.
