Okay, so yesterday I had an idea for a fighter build centered around Draconic Eldritch Heritage. The character concept was originally a character that's the emissary/indirect "hand" of a good-aligned blue dragon (in fact, the same one I talked about in a separate post), however I not only endorse but encourage you to create your own version of this build with any alterations to the mechanics or flavor of this character that you want.
Race: Hobgoblin (Engineer Alternate Racial Trait)
1st Level:
Feats - Catch Off-Guard, Skill Focus (Perception)
2nd Level:
Class Features - Bravery +1
Feats - Throw Anything
3rd Level
Class Features - Armor Training 1
Feats - Eldritch Heritage (Draconic Bloodline [Blue] - Claws)
4th Level
Feats - Weapon Focus (Claw)
5th Level
Class Features - Weapon Training (Natural +1)
Feats - Weapon Specialization (Claw)
6th Level
Class Features - Bravery +2
Feats - Rending Claws
7th Level
Class Features - Armor Training 2
Feats - Vital Strike
8th Level
Feats - Improvised Weapon Mastery
9th Level
Class Features - Weapon Training (Natural +2, Hammers +1)
Feats - Greater Weapon Focus
10th Level
Class Features - Bravery +3
Feats - Critical Focus
11th Level
Class Features - Armor Training 3
Feats - Improved Eldritch Heritage (Draconic Bloodline [Blue] - Draconic Resistances)
12th Level
Feats - Greater Weapon Specialization
13th Level
Class Features - Weapon Training (Natural +3, Hammers +2, Thrown +1)
Feats - Penetrating Strike
14th Level
Class Features - Bravery +4
Feats - Improved Vital Strike
15th Level
Class Features - Armor Training 4
Feats - Staggering Critical
16th Level
Feats - Greater Penetrating Strike
17th Level
Class Features - Weapon Training (Natural +4, Hammer +3, Thrown +2, Light Blades +1)
Feats - Bleeding Critical
18th Level
Class Features - Bravery +5
Feats - Greater Vital Strike
19th Level
Class Features - Armor Mastery
Feats - Deepsight
20th Level
Class Features - Weapon Mastery (Claw)
Feats - Critical Mastery
Now, at the core of this build are the surprisingly impressive claw attacks granted by the Draconic Bloodline. However, there are two major issues.
Firstly, there's the limitation to the number of time the ability can be used; secondly, there's the fact that natural weapons cannot be enchanted. I came up with a workaround for both.
The solution for the first problem is honestly a stroke of genius - Catch Off-Guard, Throw Anything, and Improvised Weapon Mastery are incredibly fun feats, but they don't see nearly as much use at higher levels - but when we combine it with our Draconic heritage, we create a fighting style where we use our limited-use claw attacks as our primary weapon, then grap whatever's nearby and use it to completely wallop any remaining enemies.
The solution to the second problem is a lot more inelegant and brute force. Basically, if the claws can't be enchanted, then we must simply find a nonmagical means of making them do as much damage as possible. This is the point of the Weapon Focus/Specialization feat chain, the Vital Strike feat chain, the Penetrating Strike feat chain, Rending Claws, and the four Critical feats. A neat side benefit to this is that Vital Strike and the Critical Feats can continue to be used even after we run out of uses for our claw attacks.
Lastly, the reason I chose Deepsight was because I wanted to create a character that was a bit more well-rounded instead of just having one gimmick (the unique fighting style). It's honestly pretty meaningless and replaceable but I like it.
Replace critical focus with advanced weapon training (focused weapon) to get better damage on the attacks.
unfortunately, this character does NPC damage at best. there are a lot better ways to do a natural attack build
Well the character is intended to be an NPC so that shouldn't be a problem
However, there are two major issues.
Firstly, there's the limitation to the number of time the ability can be used; secondly, there's the fact that natural weapons cannot be enchanted.
Some options (you may or may not want to use all of them):
1) Two levels of ranger (Natural Weapon combat style) for Aspect of the Beast (Claws of the Beast).
2a) Acquire a bodywrap of mighty strikes. It's cheaper than an amulet of mighty fists and doesn't compete with an amulet of natural armor for the neck slot.
2b) One level of spell warrior skald to use the Enhance Weapons weapon song; grants a +1 (or a +1 equivalent special ability to weapons that already have an enhancement bonus) to all weapons used by the character and allies within 60 feet. Note that the skald spellcasting also meets the prerequisites for the dragon disciple prestige class, if you want to go that route instead of Eldritch Heritage/Improved Eldritch Heritage.