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Hi there,
my druid recently hit the level to transform into a huge animal (yeah!)
My question now is: What are the complete, combined modifiers
From the spell I get
+6 Strength
-4 Dex
+6 Nat. Armor
from becoming Huge I get
-2 AC
-2 Att
+2 CMB/CMD
Wich would combine into
AC +2 (+6 Nat Armor, -2 from Dex, -2 Size) [and also I loose my "Dragonscale Breastplate +1" armor Bonus, so it will be a total of -5 AC for me]
Attack: +1 (+3 from Strength, -2 from size)
Damage: [Damage die of the animal] + [Characters Strength +6] Mod + (one handed PA)
So basically I get Huge, get a massive hit to my AC, a minor Bonus to hit and +3 Damage per Attack.
Did I miss something or is this not really that powerfull (like it sound if you say "I transform into a HUGE BEAR")
the bigger you are the more damage weapons deal. a medium size creature bite is usually 1d6, when he gets bigger it gets to 2d6, 4d6 and more.
also don't forget reach.
there is a reason why some wild shape build include vital strike (and it's following feats) and that spell to increase bite damage as if your bigger (which stack with actually getting big) going for them 16d6-24d6 bites.
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The real bonuses are the special abilities.
As a druid, you can't benefit from some of them as you can't become a magical beas and you don't get Beast shape IV, but there are a few interesting ones.
Beast shape I: climb 30 feet, fly 30 feet (average maneuverability), swim 30 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, and scent.
Beast shape II: climb 60 feet, fly 60 feet (good maneuverability), swim 60 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, scent, grab, pounce, and trip.
Beast shape III: burrow 30 feet, climb 90 feet, fly 90 feet (good maneuverability), swim 90 feet, blindsense 30 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, scent, constrict, ferocity, grab, jet, poison, pounce, rake, trample, trip, and web.
Grab, pounce, constrict, poison, and trample have plenty of uses. The DC is that of the spell (or equivalent) used to change shape, so 15+your wisdom bonus. Not bad.
Plus, you get the natural attacks of the beast, so, potentially 5 attacks with pounce and rake.
- * - * -
Did I miss something or is this not really that powerfull (like it sound if you say "I transform into a HUGE BEAR")
AFAIK, you can't become a huge bear. The largest bears in the Bestiaryes are large.
Yes, losing armor is a hit. To deal with this you need either items or spells which apply in both forms (wild armor, bracers of armor, the spell mage armor etc.), or else barding made for your huge bear shape which you don while wild shaped.
However feats do carry over to wild shape. Unless you've got something like weapon focus (scimitar) of course in which case that was your own mistake as a wildshaping druid. Feats which gain a benefit from being big like improved grapple (+3 CMB from Str, +2 CMB from size, perhaps +4 CMB from grab) will be especially useful.
As a side note you will often prefer shapes which make use of the other properties of beast shape III - pounce, rake, trample, poison, fast movement and/or special movement modes, etc.
So basically I get Huge, get a massive hit to my AC, a minor Bonus to hit and +3 Damage per Attack.
The AC drop is only there if you don't do anything about it. A wand of Mage Armor is cheap and grants +4 AC in Wild Shape, with the +2 from Wild Shape (regardless of the size), that's a mere 1 AC loss. Alternatively, you should be able to buy barding, armor for a specific shape that you'd drop before polymorphing and equip afterwards (for a huge creature, the base price (pre-magic/masterwork) would be x8 and the weight x5, per this table). In practise, one form is clearly the best for combat anyway, so it's not an issue that the barding wouldn't work for other forms.
Edit: Ah, you're the guy with the Bear Shaman character. If you only want to turn into bears (which you are not limited to by the archetype!), Wild Shape is indead not that great. Bears are horrible to polymorph into, there's just no denying that.
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@Diego Rossi: I know that there is no official huge bear in the books, thankfully my DM allows me to simply upscale a given animal (basically making it a "giant" version of the animal).
My character is a melee focused half-orc bear shaman, so I'm a little bit restricted to the animal forms (basically bears!). :)
I know that my feats carry over, but afaik not the other way around. So if e.g. a Animal has the improved natural weapon (claw) feat to increase it's claw damage dice by one step, I would not get this increase when I change into this animal, right?
Aside of this, is my math right on the example above?
Aside of this, is my math right on the example above?
Yes, the math looks correct. Medium/large/huge animal WS basically each grant +2 net AC (apart from losing the armor) and also each grant +1 to attack rolls (the increase in strength mod is 1 higher than the size penalty for all three sizes). The only things really different are damage and reach (the latter being the biggest benefit!).
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Yes, losing armor is a hit. To deal with this you need either items or spells which apply in both forms (wild armor, bracers of armor, the spell mage armor etc.), or else barding made for your huge bear shape which you don while wild shaped.
Sadly, the Bracers don't work, they give an armor bonus.
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).
RAW the special abilities of armors and shields still work, as they aren't an armor bonus, they are an armor special ability.
I think most GM wouldn't allow that.