I've got a brutish sort of combat-focused druid I'm playing right now, currently level 7. I'm looking ahead at a few different feat options, and I'm trying to decide which feats are likely to work out well for him.
Right now, he's got the following:
Level 1: Combat Reflexes
Level 3: Power Attack
Level 5: Natural Spell
Level 7: Sacred Geometry
(Yeah, I took *that* feat. Tossed Extend Spell and Echoing Spell onto it, and I use it for stretching out the long-term party buffing stuff I do with my somewhat limited (14 wis) spellcasting ability. It's worked out well enough for us so far. Plus, the hilarity of a supposedly-stupid nature dude breaking out a set of blueprints and critiquing the architectural soundness of some complicated structure is fun.)
Also, because we're playing Hell's Rebels and we get some bonuses I've picked up Alertness and Iron Will as bonus feats, because not missing shady dealings is nice, and there are some will saves (confusion!) that would be really bad for my character to fail. Based on the info in the player's guide, I expect I'll be picking up Toughness and a floating whatever-you-want bonus feat before all too long, too.
As it happens though, I've not got a real clear picture of where I want to move forward from here. There's a few neat feats I could take up, and it's not exactly like I absolutely need anything more at this point, so it's more a matter of choosing things that will help me serve my role a bit better in the party (thrashing our enemies when things inevitably turn to a fight), or give me new fun options on shenanigans I can pull.
Right now, some of the top contenders I've got kicking around:
Powerful Shape -- It's not super strong, but it's an obvious choice for fighty-focused druids; makes most everything I do just a little bit better.
Multiattack -- I like turning into shapes with lots of attacks; kind of fun stacking a bunch of things together to make even the weaker attacks scary. Getting a -5 on all secondary natural attacks isn't as fun though, so reducing that penalty by 3 would be pretty neat.
Improved Unarmed Strike so I can toss some headbutts and such into my normal attack routine when I really need to throw out a high number of attacks. Probably would just pick up the feat by paying a bit of lip-service to Irori and pick up one of those 4,300gp-ish ribbons from Inner Sea Gods that grant Improved Unarmed Strike and I an't remember the name of. Seems better to spend a bit of gold than to use up a feat. I think Lamashtu will forgive my druid for sneaking a little something from another deity (item just requires the creator to worship Irori, doesn't require the user to actually worship or anything).
Also sort of pondering taking up a style chain (would probably sneak into it with said item above). A couple top contenders for that:
Wolf Style, Wolf Trip, and Wolf Savage -- I do a decent amount of tripping, and that bestow curse thing for really messing up someone who's prone next to you just seems fun.
Kraken Style, Kraken Throttle,, and Kraken Wrack -- I do a LOT of grappling attempts. Sure, I'd also have to pick up improved grapple to get into this style chain, but it seems a small price to pay (especially since it gives a decent bonus too) for what's essentially a free poor-man's constrict on everything (that stacks with actual constrict!) along with a few other interesting options for grapples.
I kind of want to make whatever I pick really count, y'know?
IMO you will want to focus on feats you can use in combat that also enhance your class abilities.
For example; the unarmed strike and style feats wont help you if you wade into combat as a bear... no unarmed strike... unless you have Feral Combat Training! I would choose Claw since most forms have two of them. This allows you to use your style feats when you hit with claw attacks.
Another option is the old version of Animal Soul which allowed you to use spells that specified Animal as the target on yourself. Enlarge Person aint nothing compared to Animal Growth. The new version is still useful but I dislike that it replaced the old benefits.
Endurance and Diehard make you much more survivable. Toughness is not a good feat imho... +20 HP at level 20?
Vital Strike chain. Grasping Strike, Winter's Strike and Faerie's Strike for added effects.
Stalker's Focus to add temporary buffs to yourself in a combat
For example; the unarmed strike and style feats wont help you if you wade into combat as a bear... no unarmed strike... unless you have Feral Combat Training! I would choose Claw since most forms have two of them. This allows you to use your style feats when you hit with claw attacks.
My understanding of Feral Combat training is it's meant for use with flurry of blows (I've got a character who does just this with her bite attack) and with style feats that actually require use of unarmed strikes, like Boar Style or Snake Fang. The style chains I've been looking at foremost (Kraken and Wolf) don't actually require you to use unarmed strikes for any of their effects. In fact, Wolf Savage even specifically states you can use a natural attack.
Another option is the old version of Animal Soul which allowed you to use spells that specified Animal as the target on yourself. Enlarge Person aint nothing compared to Animal Growth. The new version is still useful but I dislike that it replaced the old benefits.
I do quite like the old Animal Soul feat. I can understand why that effect got errata'd away though, and it'd feel just a bit cheaty to try to take the old one, especially with the other allowances I've been given with this character. I'd rather not try to ask for yet another thing. :P (Also, new animal soul isn't really terribly useful for this character, considering he's outsider (native) by default.)
Endurance and Diehard make you much more survivable. Toughness is not a good feat imho... +20 HP at level 20?
Unfortunately, those aren't options with that particular bonus. Hell's Rebels gives a couple bonus feats to the PCs here and there as their organisation ranks up. That particular rank gives the choice of Toughness, Fleet, or Improved Initiative. Toughness isn't great, but extra HP is extra HP; and going first isn't always all that helpful for my character. I *might* go with Improved Initiative instead, though...
Vital Strike chain. Grasping Strike, Winter's Strike and Faerie's Strike for added effects.
Vital Strike is incredibly useful on a small number of druid forms, I'll admit. I kind of like packing on a bunch of rider effects with my attacks and chucking a fistful of dice though, rather than banking everything on a single roll. I do hope the druid player in my other group doesn't find these feats, though...
Stalker's Focus to add temporary buffs to yourself in a combat
That one's pretty cool! I might see about picking that up.
|
These are some options for early levels
1 - Toughness
3 - Power Attack
5 - Natural Spell
7 - Planar Wildshape
9 - Powerful Shape
You can also look for the Goliath Druid Archetype and end with something like this, works wonders with Dwarf or Half Orcs
1- Toughness
3- Power Attack
5- Heavy Armor Proficiency
7- Cornugon Smash
9- Vital Strike
11- Powerful Shape
You can play switch Toughness as you wish, only took it to be a better frontliner