What Benefit Do You Get from ANIMAL FORM Barbarian Feat?

[Caleb Garofalo]

Can someone explain to me what benefit you get from the level-8 barbarian feat 'Animal Form'.

Animal Form wrote:

You transform into your animal. You gain the effects of the 3rd-level animal form spell except you use your own statistics, temporary Hit Points, and unarmed attacks instead of those granted by animal form. You also retain the constant abilities of your gear. If your animal is a frog, your tongue’s reach increases to 15 feet. Dismissing the transformation gains the rage trait.

For every stat the animal form spell gives you it seems that the feat is telling you to use your own stats instead. So what benefit are you actually getting from the spell?

[Deadmanwalking]

I believe you'd gain its modes of movement. Which can be relevant.

[Ruzz Fuzzleberd]

Seems to me the only benefits you gain aren't useful in combat (when you'd be raging) scent might help it locate invisible creatures but it is flawed and the movement speeds for climb would only be helpful in very specific situations.

[Haevon – Bacchanal]

So I've been looking into this because, honestly I love these kind of characters.

Animal Rage:

Animal Rage

"You transform into your animal. You gain the effects of the 3rd-level animal form spell except you use your own statistics, temporary Hit Points, and unarmed attacks instead of those granted by animal form. You also retain the constant abilities of your gear. If your animal is a frog, your tongue’s reach increases to 15 feet. Dismissing the transformation gains the rage trait.".

It's an 8th level Barbarian feat that required you to spend an action to gain the effects of a 3rd level Animal Form. Except it says that you use your own Statistics, Temporary HP, and Unarmed Attacks.

Animal Rage:

Animal Form
You call upon primal energy to transform yourself into a Medium animal battle form. When you first cast this spell, choose ape, bear, bull, canine, cat, deer, frog, shark, or snake. You can decide the specific type of animal (such as lion or snow leopard for cat), but this has no effect on the form's Size or statistics. While in this form, you gain the animal trait. You can Dismiss the spell.

You gain the following statistics and abilities regardless of which battle form you choose:
AC = 16 + your level. Ignore your armor's check penalty and Speed reduction.
5 temporary Hit Points.
Low-light vision and imprecise scent 30 feet.
One or more unarmed melee attacks specific to the battle form you choose, which are the only attacks you can use. You're trained with them. Your attack modifier is +9, and your damage bonus is +1. These attacks are Strength based (for the purpose of the enfeebled condition, for example). If your unarmed attack bonus is higher, you can use it instead.
Athletics modifier of +9, unless your own modifier is higher.
You also gain specific abilities based on the type of animal you choose:

Ape Speed 25 feet, climb Speed 20 feet; Melee Single Action fist, Damage 2d6 bludgeoning.

Bear Speed 30 feet; Melee Single Action jaws, Damage 2d8 piercing; Melee Single Action claw (agile), Damage 1d8 slashing.

Bull Speed 30 feet; MeleeSingle Action horn , Damage 2d8 piercing.

Canine Speed 40 feet; Melee Single Action jaws, Damage 2d8 piercing.

Cat Speed 40 feet; MeleeSingle Action jaws, Damage 2d6 piercing; Melee Single Action claw (agile), Damage 1d10 slashing.

Deer Speed 50 feet; MeleeSingle Action antler , Damage 2d6 piercing.

Frog Speed 25 feet, swim Speed 25 feet; MeleeSingle Action jaws, Damage 2d6 bludgeoning; Melee Single
Action tongue (reach 15 feet), Damage 2d4 bludgeoning.

Shark swim Speed 35 feet; Melee Single Action jaws, Damage 2d8 piercing; breathe underwater but not in air.

Snake Speed 20 feet, climb Speed 20 feet, swim Speed 20 feet; Melee Single Action fangs , Damage 2d4 piercing plus 1d6 poison.

Heightened (3rd) You instead gain 10 temporary HP, AC = 17 + your level, attack modifier +14, damage bonus +5, and Athletics +14.
Heightened (4th) Your battle form is Large and your attacks have 10-foot reach. You must have enough space to expand into or the spell is lost. You instead gain 15 temporary HP, AC = 18 + your level, attack modifier +16, damage bonus +9, and Athletics +16.
Heightened (5th) Your battle form is Huge and your attacks have 15-foot reach. You must have enough space to expand into or the spell is lost. You instead gain 20 temporary HP, AC = 18 + your level, attack modifier +18, damage bonus +7 and double the number of damage dice, and Athletics +20.

So you don't get the "statistics", but the list of what you get is "statistics and abilities" without really differentiating between them. You for sure don't get the TEMP AC, and Unarmed Attack as it calls those out specifically. Animal Rage also specifically calls out that you get a 3rd level version of Animal Form, the 3rd level gains Extra Temp HP (which you don't get), A bonus to AC, A bonus to Attack, a Damage bonus, and an Athletics Bonus. Meaning that "Abilities and Statistics" is

- AC = 17 + your level
- Damage Bonus +5
- Movement Speed
- Low-Light Vision and Imprecise Scent 30ft
- Attack Modifier +14
- Athletics +14

I can't imagine that the only thing you get out of that list is the movement speed since the feat calling out 3rd level raised the HP, AC, Attack Modifier, Damage Bonus and Athletics and nothing else. So it raising it to 3rd level had to have some purpose.

I was actually looking stuff up while writing this and I was just searching the book for the word “statistics” and I came across this: Playing the Game

Specifically this section:

"Checks like this are the heart of the game and are rolled all the time, in every mode of play, to determine the outcome of tasks. While the roll of the die is critical, the statistic you add to the roll (called a modifier) often makes the difference between success and failure. Every character is made up of many such statistics governing what the character is good at, each consisting of a relevant ability modifier plus a proficiency bonus, and sometimes modified further by other factors, such as bonuses or penalties from gear, spells, feats, magic items, and other special circumstances."

Meaning that Statistics are modifiers and "consisting of a relevant ability modifier plus a proficiency bonus" (Which would likely include the AC adjustment). This would mean that Statistics would only include the AC Adjustment, Attack Modifier and the Athletics Modifier, but you would still get the Damage Bonus as a bonus it calls out is different than a statistic, which would leave you with [TLDR]:

- Damage Bonus +5
- Movement Speed
- Low-Light Vision and Imprecise Scent 30ft

Which honestly would bring you much closer to the other Instincts’ level, and would make the feat much more competitive with the comparable feats from the other Instincts.

This is the best I can figure it out. If anyone has any evidence otherwise, please let me know.

[HeHateMe]

Frog instinct gets 15' reach with the tongue attack, which is nice. I think the main benefits are movement speeds and scent, which honestly are kinda a big deal.