Earth Elemental Damage & To Hit For 12th Shapeshifting Hunter

[michael mehallic]

What will my to hit and damage be if I wildshape into a huge earth Elemental, then activate Unrighteous might on my armor to grow one size larger, while using these feats and equipment?

Or will righteous or unrighteous might not work after wild shape even if I have the proper feat to activate the item while in Wild shape?

12th level character Halfling
4 Druid (World Walker)
8 Ranger (Urban)

Str 12 +4 belt = 16
Dex 16 +4 belt = 20
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 16
Cha 10
Base Attack +11

+1 Wild Unrighteous Darkleaf Hide Armor
+1 Wild heavy wooden shield
Ring of protection +2
Amulet of mighty fists +2

Feats

combat reflexes
natural spell
shapeshifting Hunter
wild speech
power attack
multi-attack
improved natural attack
(Increases slam damage dice)
Vital Strike
Improved Vital Strike

Damage dice on a huge earth Elemental is 2d8, then righteous might increases the size to gargantuan, then improve natural attack will increase that even further I believe. I could also add vital strike to that multiplying the damage dice by three.

I am mainly curious what it would be without the vital strike, how many slam attacks I would get at 12th level, how many slam attacks I get at 12th level, and how much damage I would add to the damage dice after all that, with the equipment I have listed. That way I could figure out the haste attack, the vital strike damage, and be able to calculate it on my own after that.

I appreciate any help, and if you could break it all down for me that would be great. Thank you for the help.

[Diego Rossi]

It is a magic item you activate, so you can't use it when wildshaped.

Quote:

When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses

and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function). Items that require activation cannot be used while you maintain that form.

[Firebug]

Additionally:

Polymorph Rules wrote:

You can only be affected by one polymorph spell at a time. If a new polymorph spell is cast on you (or you activate a polymorph effect, such as wild shape), you can decide whether or not to allow it to affect you, taking the place of the old spell. In addition, other spells that change your size have no effect on you while you are under the effects of a polymorph spell.

So simply the Huge Elemental size. Improved Natural Attack will increase it one size still though to 3d8.

Wait, Shapeshifting Hunter only stacks Ranger levels with Druid for number of uses of wild shape(and favored enemy), not what creatures you can shift into, am I missing something? From what I can see you will be limited to small and medium animals? I am going to assume I am missing something...

You get the same number of Slams as the elemental you are mimicking regardless of your level, so 2 on a full attack. Haste brings that to 3 on a full attack. Vital Strike of course can't be used on a full attack, I am assuming you are just asking for what your numbers are for if you make a single standard action attack.

So attack bonus:
3 BAB for Druid, 8 BAB for Ranger = +11
Base Strength 16 + 8 Size = 24, or +7
Amulet of Mighty Fists +2
Power Attack -3
Size -2
Damage: 3d8(assuming you can actually wild shape into the elemental in question)
Str 24 = +7
Power Attack +6
Amulet of Mighty Fists +2
So 2 attacks at +15 Slam for 3d8 +15.
Haste would add +1 to hit and another Slam.
Favored Enemy could be adding anywhere from +6 to hit and damage to +0.
Or
Improved Vital Strike as a standard action for +15 Slam for 9d8+15 damage. The static damage is not increased on Vital Strike.

[michael mehallic]

Righteous Mike does not say it's a polymorph spell.
Natural spell and wild speech Feats allow me to cast spells and activate magic items while in Wild shape. You are right about the shapeshifting Hunter feet. I miss that part. So I am only 1 Ranger and 4 Druid now. Trying to figure out which way to go. Guess I will have to go to 1 Ranger and the rest druid for now. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go. thank you for all the input that actually helps a lot from everyone.

The wild shape math and changes just throws me off because it becomes so many different things to add together.

[michael mehallic]

Shaping focus let you multi-class I druid and gained the maximum character level for wild shape ability. So that would fix the problem for changing into an elemental if I have four druid and the rest Ranger.

[michael mehallic]

Yes I was only looking for one main attack. the idea is to use combat reflexes mixed with an Inquisitor and the teamwork feats to get multiple attacks of opportunity and do the most damage.

Is righteous might considered a polymorph type spell?

[Belafon]

michael mehallic wrote:

Righteous Mike does not say it's a polymorph spell.

Wild shape, however, is a polymorph effect. So no effect that changes your size (such as righteous might) works while you are in wild shape.

In addition, there's another variation on this rule buried in the text of enlarge person.

CRB page 278 wrote:

Multiple magical effects that increase size do not stack.

edit: actually, that's the last sentence of righteous might as well.

CRB page 335 wrote:

Magical effects that increase size do not stack.

[Firebug]

Mostly Ninja-ed, but posting anyway.

michael mehallic wrote:

Righteous Mike does not say it's a polymorph spell.

Doesn't matter. Wild Shape is a polymorph effect and that turns off anything else that is a spell (or spell-like) that changes your size.

michael mehallic wrote:

Natural spell and wild speech Feats allow me to cast spells and activate magic items while in Wild shape.

Not exactly. Natural Spell allows you to (among other things) use material components and focuses (of spells) that are melded into your form. But not other magic items that are melded into your form. Wild Speech allows you to activate certain items while in form... but no mention of Melded items. So for example, you could pick up a wand and use it with Wild Speech, but not activate your melded items.

The solution, if you are planning on spending most of your time in Elemental form anyway, is to simply put on the items after you use Wild Shape. That is also a common way to get Armor (barding) on animal-type wild shapes.

michael mehallic wrote:

You are right about the shapeshifting Hunter feet. I miss that part. So I am only 1 Ranger and 4 Druid now. Trying to figure out which way to go. Guess I will have to go to 1 Ranger and the rest druid for now. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go. thank you for all the input that actually helps a lot from everyone.

The wild shape math and changes just throws me off because it becomes so many different things to add together.

Shaping Focus will cover for 4 levels of non-druid.

[michael mehallic]

Been playing DND for over 20 years. Started with 3rd edition and went to pathfinder. Never played a Bard or a druid. So this is my first Druid. I was going to go 1 Ranger and the rest druid, because I was the only healer. Then someone died and made a cleric. Plus I noticed cure moderate was not a second level spell. Which makes it a lot harder to be the main healer. Plus we need another tank that's why I am trying to figure out the best way to go the rest Ranger.

I was up to late reading things. Shaping focus said 4 levels higher, up to max of character level.

Sometimes you can take the Feats more than once like the shaping focus. But they normally say at the end you can take it multiple times. Is shaping focus one of those feats? I really doubt it but I figured I would ask.

Thanks again for pointing out all the flaws that I overlooked. I really do appreciate the help.

[Firebug]

You can't benefit from a feat more than once unless it says so. Since it doesn't say so, it doesn't stack.

If you are just looking to fill in the tanking role... you are a druid, so you can summon nature's ally and maybe even have an animal companion. Unless you picked an archetype that trades away Spontaneous Casting you can turn any spell you have memorized into an equivalent level Summon Nature's Ally.

At Druid 5, you can summon 1d3 small earth elementals or an Aurochs. At Druid level 12, you could summon that Huge Earth Elemental or a Dire Tiger (among other things).

Animal Companions can be decent at tanking hits especially an Ankylosaurus or Stegosaurus. The Ankylo starts off with an AC of 21 before you put armor on it. The Stego starts at 20, but has a few more HP since it has a Con of 10. The Ankylo with combat reflexes can possibly daze/stun on an attack of opportunity a couple times a round. The Stego does a bit more damage, and can trip on that attack of opportunity. It also has a higher Dex for more combat reflexes.

[michael mehallic]

I was mainly trying to figure out all the "to hit" and "damage capability" with everything added together. I missed some of the things that didn't stack or work the way I thought they did. Y'all answered all my questions and more. I appreciate the help finding the flaws in my ideas and giving me other ideas on how to make the character be the most beneficial in combat. Thank You for the help.

I also found a web page that is a WildShape tool then calculates everything for you just about. So if anyone's looking for something quick and easy to figure out what your attacks, stats, and abilities are in any wild shape form you should check this out.

http://wildshape.easytool.es