Can an alchemist with the Feral Mutagen qualify for Improved Natural Attack? And if it can, can the feat stack with the Master Chymist's discovery Furious Mutagen?
Temporary but regular access to the prereqs for a feat is usually considered to be enough to qualify. OTOH increasing the damage dice for an attack (= increasing damage as if the creature was one size larger) does not stack with another effect of the same kind.
Ok, thanks. I'll just pick a different discovery.
Or a different feat? Improved Natural Attack only works for one type of attack, so the claws wouldn't profit from it (or the bite, but applying it to the claws would be stupid due to the small base dice).
Here is the FAQ on virtual size increases not stacking, by the way.
Eh, I've got some feats to spare. I don't really have any chain feats in the build, unless I decide to go with Vital Strike or something. Plus I can get the feat a lot sooner than the discovery.
Very last post of the thread. Character
Thing is that on a full attack, unless you're enlarged, INA (Bite) is an average damage bonus (across all attacks, presuming Haste) of 1.25; OKish for natural attacks, but not really good either. INA (Claws) is even worse at +0.5!
Is Variant Multiclassing an option? I like it a lot for natural attack based character, for the exact reason you're giving.
I don't think Variant Multiclassing works for PrC. And there's not much point in it when I'm only leaving the qualifying class for a two level dip before the PrC.
VMC is completely seperate from any kind of regular multiclassing, including prestige classes. You simply replace half the (regular) feats with the listed stuff. Despite the name, VMC is not in any way multiclassing, it's an alternate system to the regular feat progression, and thus completely independent from your class levels. You can't take levels in the VMC class, and you might have the regular issue of redundant class features (as can happen with regular mutliclassing), but otherwise, you can take whatever classes you like.
I think VMC: Barbarian would work very well for your character, both mechanically and flavor-wise, with the Barb stuff being part of your Alchemist nature.
Meh, still don't really like the idea of giving up half my feats, even if I do have a few to spare. Especially since I won't get the rage power until level 11.
It's your character, I just want to help you make an informed decision.
Feats are indeed a bit tight at early levels when using VMC with a class without bonus feats (you'd be amazed how well it works when combined with e.g. a natural attack Vigilante!), and you would loose out on that early Lesser Beast Totem. The benefit is that you'd be 2 Alchemist levels ahead, which could mean Master Chymist at 8th level, and the rage totem you get (plus one you'd take with Extra Rage Power) does scale with character level (good for e.g. Reckless Abandon or Superstition).
Thank you for the advice.