Hello all! My friends and I are playing Tyrants Grasp with 3 players and we TPKed twice on the first book. We have restarted at the second book with a new team and I'm playing a multiclass Feral Hunter Archetype. My concept is getting one big bite attack probably by way of a huge hippo. So I have two paths I can take and I am a bit conflicted as to what would be mechanically more viable. The build right now is barb 1/hunter 4. I have improved natural attack (gm approved) and the rage power that amps a bite attack so I'm actually really good on the Frontline in leopard form. So here is the question, 1. Continue with hunter till Hunter 8 to get 3rd level spells and amp up the animal focus and get huge wildshapes? 2. Take more barbarian to get rage powers, better bab, and get entry into the Furious Guardian Prestige class. I would do this by taking Shaping focus (approved by GM) to keep up my wildshape levels so I would still get the huge wildshape. Any thoughts on which option would be better?
for those interested in party makeup we have an earth kineticist and a knife master rogue who is my flanking buddy. In theory we had a druid but his player is unreliable so he basically doesn't exist. Thank you all for any thoughtful responses on what you would do with this build.
In general, I'd always recommend staying with the spellcasting class, and that your Wild Shape scales with the same levels only strengthens that. And this goes double as you're basically the only caster in the party.
My concept is getting one big bite attack probably by way of a huge hippo.
Two questions: How focussed are you on that, and what does your GM let you get away with? Multiple virtual size increases (like Improved Natural Attack and the various Rage Powers) don't stack, so the bite maxes out at 6d6 unless the GM ignores that FAQ.
When it comes to dealing damage, natural attack builds focussed on a single weapon are far behind pounce builds using multiple attacks. To be honest, even with stacking INA+Strong Jaw+Lesser Atavism Totem on a Behemoth Hippopotamus (that's a 16d6 bite!) with Vital Strike is the build signigifantly behind a standard allosaurus build when it can charge.
The build right now is barb 1/hunter 4. I have [...] the rage power that amps a bite attack
How do you have a rage power on a 1st level Barb?
To answer a few questions. I didn't actually know about the stacking rules for natural attacks which may change things for me. I am glad you brought that to my attention. I am trying to avoid dinosaurs because frankly Ive seen too many "Dino" druids and I hate how cheesy they are. I might in that case focus on iterative natural attacks and use equipment to make up the difference. Any thoughts on how to make a real good Feral hunter then? I was really pulling for that big bite at higher levels.
Any thoughts on how to make a real good Feral hunter then?
- Wild Shape into an animal with pounce. That's mainly it. The feats Mutated Shape and Chaos Reigns can add primary attacks, and the feat Planar Wild Shape can grant SR, DR, resistances, and a once-per-day Smite Evil or Smite Good, which is extremely powerful with a pounce build with many attacks (basically, it's damage-to-level with all attacks, as it doesn't grant a deflection bonus and you likely don't have a positive charisma mod).
It doesn't have a to be a dinosaur, big cats works too, and indeed, the best large form is the Dire Tiger. Allosaurus doesn't really do that much more damage, but the 15ft reach is pretty awesome, and the only other pouncing huge animal is a) weird looking (despite being called "warcat") and b) lacks the rake attacks.
Thank you so much for the advice! I will take those to heart and go big cat!