Id Rager question

[JDawg75]

I'm looking at the Id Rager archetype, and am not positive how the whole phantom thing works.

If I take the Anger focus, does that mean I get an extra +2 Str while Bloodraging and a -2 to Dex, or do these replace the normal stat change for Bloodraging?

J

[MrCharisma]

Yup, an Anger Focus Id Rager gets +6 STR and -2 DEX when they Rage (they also get Power Attack for free, but only when they Rage).

Note that this makes them more than usually fragile, since the -2 to DEX combines with the -2AC from Rage to give you a total of -3AC, and with medium armour and likely low DEX to begin with this makes you about as easy to hit as a Wizard.

[JDawg75]

Alright, not sure if it's worth it then.

My plan is to make a Cave Druid, transforming into a carnivorous crystal at lvl 10, leveraging vital strike along with spells like Strong Jaw to do tons of damage.

I had thought of taking Shaping Focus/Magical Knack, then mixing in a level or two of Bloodrager or something else to shore up some weaknesses or add a couple bells or whistles since wild shape comes on late. Any thoughts on what might be helpful??

[MrCharisma]

I mean, Id Rager could be a good option if you have the defences to deal with the lowered AC.

I think Bloodrager is one of the best dips for extra damage. If you have 14 CON and you take a 1 level dip into Bloodrager along with the EXTRA RAGE feat then you have 12 rounds of rage per day, which is more than enough for most days. Id Rager specifically would not only give you Rage (and with the extra STR it's better than usual) but it would also save you a feat on Power Attack.

Looking at the Cave Druid, at 10th level you'd get the ability to turn into a Carnivorous Crystal. Assuming you take 1 level of Bloodrager at the next level you would have +8 BAB, which would mean your Power Attack bonus would be -3 to hit, +9 damage (uses the x1.5 modifier for a creature with a single primary natural attack). The +6 to STR would effectively negate the -3 to hit from Power Attack, meaning your Rage would give you -2 AC, +2 HP per HD, +0 to hit and +13 damage. At level 16 Power Attack gets to the next breakpoint so the total becomes -2 AC, +2 HP, -1 to hit for +16 damage. You would also qualify for RAGING VITALITY for some extra survivability, and eventually RAGING BRUTALITY for even more damage (though it will burn through your Rage quickly). If you took all these options you would end up with ~+20 damage per hit from all of this.

Bloodragers also qualify for BLOODED ARCANE STRIKE, which is a phenomenal feat for Vital Strike builds. I just read ARCANE STRIKE and noticed that it scales with "caster level", not "Arcane caster level", which means your Druid levels could increase the damage from Arcane Strike. However this probably requires a permissive GM, as that clearly isn't the intent, and if you're going by strict RAW then 1 level of Bloodrager techincally doesn't qualify you to take Arcane Strike (you'd need to get to level 4 before you actually gain the "Ability to cast arcane spells"). Check with your GM, but if it does work then this can add another ~+12 damage when raging and Vital Striking.

Whether you think any/all of that is worthwhile is up to you.

The other Martial dip I really like is 1 level of Brawler. Martial Flexibility is a really good ability, and the basic chassis of Brawler is very good as well (+1 BAB, +2 F/R saves, +0 W save, d10 HP, Improved Unarmed Strike, d6 damage with fists). There are a couple of archetypes that get Martial Flexibility in other classes, so they could be worthwhile as well.

[Trokarr]

If you take one of the elemental native outsider races (or count as one with abilities like the Planar Heritage feat) like Sylph or Undine you qualify for Elemental Strike feat which is like Arcane Strike but deals elemental damage instead of magic damage and scales with character level not class level. Also there are quite a few Wild Shape related feats that might be of interest to you such as Planar Wild Shape and the Weapon Shift feat line. Some of the Style feats may be of interest as well. Dragon Style for instance allows you to charge through difficult terrain and allies spaces. Blood Frenzy Style gives a +2 bonus to STR and CON (and a -2 to AC) after you take damage in combat. This bonus is untyped so stacks with rage. It requires you to have the aquatic subtype so u would need to take a race like Undine with the amphibious alternate racial trait. You can avoid this by dipping a level into either Unarmed Fighter or Master of Many Styles monk as both grant a style feat without needing to meet the prerequisites.

[Tom Sampson]

MrCharisma seems to have already answered the question.

For what it's worth, you can combine Id Rager with Steelblood, then you can just equip full plate, at which point you just want 14 dex and you will still be at armor cap with the Anger focus when you rage, at least until armor training kicks in. The downside is that you can't combine Steelblood with Metamagic Rager and you normally want Metamagic Rager as an Id Rager, if only so you can use it with Logical Spell to overcome the psychic spellcaster's weakness towards hostile emotion effects.

[Tom Sampson]

Wait, I'm being silly. As the Id Rager is a psychic spellcaster, you don't even need Steelblood, since there is no arcane spell failure. You can just take Heavy Armor Proficiency as a feat and still be an Id Rager + Metamagic Rager. You won't have armor training, but unless you intend to have very high dex, you could upgrade to a mithral full plate later on, perhaps even add the Nimble armor modification. And on that note, mithral full plate counts as medium armor for purposes other than proficiency so a regular bloodrager can use that as well.

[MrCharisma]

Well Metamagic Rager only matters if you're actually going to be casting Bloodrager spells, which means taking at least 4 levels of Bloodrager, and really significantly more than that if you really want it to be worthwhile. As a dip for a Druid it's probably not worth it.

Steelblood Bloodrager on the other hand gives Heavy Armour and Indomitable Stance. If you're going to wear heavy armour the other thing to remember is that the Bloodrager's usual speed bonus is lost when wearing heavy armour, which means you will not only be slowed by heavy armour, you will also lose that bonus. Steelblood trades out the speed bonus for Indomitable stance so you're at least getting something back for that lost class feature. Also if you wanted to take 2 levels in Steelblood you'd get Armoured Swiftness, which is their version of Fast Movement - whether that's worth another level is up to you.

TLDR: I think Steelblood is an excellent suggestion for a dip into Bloodrager, especially since it stacks with the Id Rager, and helps one of the main drawbacks of the Id Rager - their even worse than usual AC penalties.