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  1. - Top - End - #91
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Troacctid View Post
    Celestial companions are intelligent, though, so they could unambiguously initiate maneuvers.
    Definitely the case. Might include it and put down the assumption that you're gaining companion intelligence by some method.

  2. - Top - End - #92
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    This is nothing short of a work of art. Also, with the title, I keep having a Highlander reference of a conversation going through my head.

    Wizard: I know everything!
    Druid: I am everything!
    Copy this to your signature if you love Jade_Tarem, too.

    Quote Originally Posted by Extra Anchovies View Post
    A 20th-level fighter should be able to break rainbows in half with their bare hands and then dual-wield the parts of the rainbow.

    Dual-wield the rainbow. Taste the rainbow.

  3. - Top - End - #93
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Great resource!

    Quick trick that's missing: Because fast healing works exactly like natural healing, healthful rest doubles it as well. Couple that with Aberration Wild Shape, enhance wild shape, and the proper form, and the druid can become a ridiculous damage sponge.

  4. - Top - End - #94
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    For items, Circlet of Mages (MIC) is 5000 gp and allows you to retain spell slots by expending charges (1 spell level per charge, 3 charges/day). You also get +2 to Concentration. It's kind of like a better version of a Pearl of Power III at half the price. Downside is you have to use it at the time of casting, whereas a Pearl of Power can be used later.

    I'm curious, are there any relics that are any good? Druids can power them, after all.
    Last edited by Troacctid; 2015-09-29 at 04:53 PM.

  5. - Top - End - #95
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Troacctid View Post
    For items, Circlet of Mages (MIC) is 5000 gp and allows you to retain spell slots by expending charges (1 spell level per charge, 3 charges/day). You also get +2 to Concentration. It's kind of like a better version of a Pearl of Power III at half the price. Downside is you have to use it at the time of casting, whereas a Pearl of Power can be used later.
    Seems interesting. There doesn't seem to be much utility to any other mode compared to the pearl, and I tend to think the first level pearl is the most cost efficient (cause it's cheap as hell), but I think there're some 3rd's you'd wanna double cast.

    I'm curious, are there any relics that are any good? Druids can power them, after all.
    I haven't seen any, but they could plausibly exist. To be honest, while I think my item section covers most of the ground it should, I've never done a book by book survey of every item option like I did for spells and forms.

  6. - Top - End - #96
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    I think Abolisher may be a notable prestige class for giving you back wild shape if you traded it away for something else. The "swift and deadly hunter" UA variant would be the prime example, as not only do you trade away wild shape, you also gain Track, so you don't need to worry about the feat tax. And due to the wording of the ability, Druid levels count towards your wild shape HD cap even if they weren't actually granting you wild shape, so you're not even behind, aside from having to delay Natural Spell until 9th level.

  7. - Top - End - #97
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Troacctid View Post
    I think Abolisher may be a notable prestige class for giving you back wild shape if you traded it away for something else. The "swift and deadly hunter" UA variant would be the prime example, as not only do you trade away wild shape, you also gain Track, so you don't need to worry about the feat tax. And due to the wording of the ability, Druid levels count towards your wild shape HD cap even if they weren't actually granting you wild shape, so you're not even behind, aside from having to delay Natural Spell until 9th level.
    It seems doubtful that this setup would be worth a caster level. If the question were strictly one of wild shape gained for caster level lost, then that'd be one thing, but what you're really getting here is some rather mediocre ACF. Then you account for the feat loss, which is annoying, and the medium animal limit on forms, which is bonus annoying, and you enter into a situation where what you're losing may be better than the ACF, even if you ignore the CL loss. I'm also not entirely sure that the PrC interacts with druid as you've described. You're adding one to your effective druid level for this purpose, but it seems to me that your effective druid level for this purpose is zero if you've traded away wild shape.

    So, I don't think it's a plausible addition, especially when you consider the obvious comparison point, lion of talisid. You enter the classes at the same time, and lose a feat in both cases, but where abolisher ditches a caster level and form variety, lion of talisid merely delays picking up wild shape for two levels, and gives nearly full wild shape power for your trouble. Seems like the superior option in the vast majority of cases.

  8. - Top - End - #98
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Hey, how come you don't have the level marked down for some of the aberration forms? It's pretty relevant that if you're 5th level, you can turn into a Grell, but not a Mimic. Some builds do take the feat at 5th or 6th.

  9. - Top - End - #99
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Troacctid View Post
    Hey, how come you don't have the level marked down for some of the aberration forms? It's pretty relevant that if you're 5th level, you can turn into a Grell, but not a Mimic. Some builds do take the feat at 5th or 6th.
    I mostly just assumed 9th as the entry point, cause natural spell is a thing, and one vital to the workings of aberration wild shape. I suppose I could do up the missing entries though.

  10. - Top - End - #100
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by eggynack View Post
    I mostly just assumed 9th as the entry point, cause natural spell is a thing, and one vital to the workings of aberration wild shape.
    I'm not sure if it is vital. If you're content with a Grell (which is a good candidate to always be in), I believe RAW you can cast without issue. After all, the Grell Philsopher in LoM casts spells just fine without anything special. Well, maybe Grell Alchemy, fluff-wise.
    Last edited by Deophaun; 2015-10-16 at 01:53 AM.

  11. - Top - End - #101
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Deophaun View Post
    I'm not sure if it is vital. If you're content with a Grell (which is a good candidate to always be in), I believe RAW you can cast without issue. After all, the Grell Philsopher in LoM casts spells just fine without anything special. Well, maybe Grell Alchemy, fluff-wise.
    I guess it's halfway plausible that you could get the odd form, but I figure there's going to be at least some discrepancy in terms of what DM's allow casting on which forms. I don't think it's enough for the form to be capable of casting intrinsically, as, to quote alternate form, "It must be able to speak intelligibly to cast spells with verbal components and it must have humanlike hands to cast spells with somatic components." It leaves you with a tricky pool of usable forms, and, of course, that pool is going to be a lot less viable than the broader aberration pool. Also notable is the fact that, in the end, it doesn't make much difference whether grell is available at 5th or 6th, because it's only viable at 7th, when you get enhance wild shape, a thing true for most aberration forms.

    Still, despite that, your point is well taken. Aberration wild shape, while perhaps even more reliant on casting for usefulness than traditional wild shape, has a somewhat reduced need for natural spell. Not a significantly reduced one, because I'm not all that convinced that aberration wild shape without natural spell is better than natural spell without aberration wild shape, but it at least makes that timing halfway viable. I'll probably do that at some point, though to be honest, my editing rate has slowed down a lot.

  12. - Top - End - #102
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    There are definitely characters that would want to take Aberration Wild Shape before Druid 9.

    • If you multiclass at all, even just for a dip into Divine Oracle or Holt Warden or whatever, you could take Aberration Wild Shape at 9th but have a lower effective level for wild shape.
    • If you become a dragonborn at 5th level or higher, some builds can swap out feats in order to get both Natural Spell and Aberration Wild Shape at the same time.
    • 3.PF games may use the Pathfinder feat progression, resulting in you getting Natural Spell at 5th and Aberration Wild Shape at 7th.
    • Some DMs ban Natural Spell (I've seen such a ban talked about on these forums before), which would mean it doesn't eat up your feat slot at 6th.

    Also, speaking of dragonborn, it actually is still pretty good for a human or strongheart halfling because of the Wasteland Druid thing. Dragonborn human is probably better than silverbrow human, for example, since you get favorable ability score adjustments and the dragonborn abilities seem better than the feather fall SLA. And if you didn't start as a human or strongheart halfling, it seems worth noting that the transformation allows you to swap out Sandskimmer for Dragon Wings or Dragon Tail--pretty solid as trades go.

    It's also a really good choice for the half-orc builds. A frostblood half-orc can take Strong Stomach at 1st level, grab a bonus feat of their choice via the Iron Constitution ACF at 4th (due to having Strong Stomach already), and then become a dragonborn later, losing the prerequisite for Strong Stomach and allowing them to swap it for any other feat. End result, you got to bank your 1st level feat for later (allowing you to get both Natural Spell and another wild shape feat at 6th, for instance), and you traded Resist Nature's Lure for a bonus feat of your choice (which is a great trade). And if flaws are allowed, you can use them to pick up Diehard or something to bank those feat slots for later, too.

  13. - Top - End - #103
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Just did up the level labeling on aberrations over 5th. Not all that sure on the dragonborn setup though. You're not getting heat endurance for free, as it requires both pushing yourself into the marginally downgrade inducing wasteland druid, and resist nature's lure isn't nothing (especially if you were going to trade it for another thing that's better than heat endurance otherwise). It's not just a straight across trade of feather fall for dragonborn stuff as a result. Meanwhile, the half-orc thing is kinda interesting, especially given the presence of the substitution levels. Might be worth some thinkery.

  14. - Top - End - #104
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    With Wasteland Druid, you're presumably trading out Sandskimmer, not Heat Endurance, since it's a lower-value feature. Although you could trade out Resist Nature's Lure via Strong Stomach, if you prefer.
    Last edited by Troacctid; 2015-10-17 at 01:45 AM.

  15. - Top - End - #105
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Troacctid View Post
    With Wasteland Druid, you're presumably trading out Sandskimmer, not Heat Endurance, since it's a lower-value feature. Although you could trade out Resist Nature's Lure via Strong Stomach, if you prefer.
    True. Still, the overall impact isn't too far off. After all, you actually can't trade resist nature's lure, because you have heat endurance instead, due to the fact that the trades are all or nothing. In the context of that all or nothing nature, the strong stomach thing seems a bit closer to viability.

  16. - Top - End - #106
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    To be clear, I meant that if all-or-nothing is a concern, a non-Wasteland Druid can trade out the Strong Stomach feat instead of taking the Wasteland variant. That way it's only Resist Nature's Lure that you're swapping out (and you even keep the +2 to saves against disease).

    I'm pretty sure the Wasteland Druid can still trade out Heat Endurance by taking Fangshields or Planar substitution levels, FWIW.

  17. - Top - End - #107
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Well, I have finished reading your guide. Uff! What a encyclopedia!

    However, there are little absences here and there along the sections. I'm equally surprised for finding no citation to the spell coral growth (Shining South), that is a shapeable and incredible wall for his level, and is permanent; or the five spells per round casting of the nagahydra in the aberration wild shape section; or for the great evil PrCs that are Durthan (UE), certainly bad than Hathran, but likely with place magic, or Tainted sorcerer (UA), specially with the synergy of the later with the wild reaper variant. The Beastfriend collar (Dragon Mag. #356 p. 68), one of my favorite druidic magic items, may deserve a mention in his section, both for his extended share spells effect or for the immediate action thing. Also there are little mistakes, like the dispelling chord, that is a "torso" item, not "shoulders".

    Having said this, what remains is little discrepancies in opinion: for example, I love the sidhe scholar variant for having empty the two final levels like the 3.0 druid, wich is and invitation for almost-free multiclassing for the common little price of a point or two of BAB. I also find of utility the Planar familiar spell (spellbook archive web enhancement) as a method, not without ambiguity, for giving to animal companions some intelligence, and maybe a bit of cheese. How works the linked minds effect of the axiomatic creatures (Planar Handbook) with a dire tortoise's lightning strike? I don't know, I don't know... (Other two spells in the same page, elemental familiar and animate dead familiar, can be interesting for a Druid with the Cityscape urban companion class feature, but the XP cost hurts).

    Finally, I Propose you to make two mini-sections in your guide:

    First, one section explaining how to equip an animal companions/wild shaped druids, including all the options in dragon 349, but also claw extenders (dragon 334), mouthpick weapons (LoM), the relative (in)utility of the wild armor and beatskin armor, maybe fanged rings in any of his two versions, the mandatory versus between Amulet of Mighty fists and necklace of natural weapons and, to follow with savage species, the incredible brokenness of the arms of the naga.

    Second, a brief text listing the (almost-all ambiguous) ways for obtaining intelligent companions, and the limits of the animal intelligence. It’s not credible that a fleshraker shapechanged into a hive mother can hover and make ray attacks without feeling uncomfortable, and if you have reach shapechange, you will want to share it with your companion.

    The common point among the two previous recommendations is that always they have been mechanically ambiguous or problematic, but at the same time they have been always a common place in discussions about the druids too, and reappear over and over. They are the kind of things that really needs a FAQ.

  18. - Top - End - #108
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Tundralord View Post
    However, there are little absences here and there along the sections. I'm equally surprised for finding no citation to the spell coral growth (Shining South), that is a shapeable and incredible wall for his level, and is permanent;
    That spell requires that the coral be living and submerged, which makes the spell heavily environmentally limited. I could buy it as a situational but powerful aquatic spell, though I'm not sure what the distribution of coral underwater is offhand. I guess you could carry around some weird coral container that has living and submerged coral, such that you can use the spell on land, but I don't know what the feasibility of that looks like.

    Or the five spells per round casting of the nagahydra in the aberration wild shape section;
    That's a thing specific to their personal casting. I don't think it's an ability you get, or that you can get, through wild shape.

    Or for the great evil PrCs that are Durthan (UE), certainly bad than Hathran, but likely with place magic
    I don't really like that you need two types of casting for that one, especially cause you only advance one. Losing CL is a problematic thing.

    or Tainted sorcerer (UA)
    It seems worse for druids than for most, cause the nature of the class is that you're risking the loss of class features, but it's probably strong enough in spite of that to warrant mention.
    The Beastfriend collar (Dragon Mag. #356 p. 68), one of my favorite druidic magic items, may deserve a mention in his section, both for his extended share spells effect or for the immediate action thing.
    Yeah, that one is really cool. Reads a lot like an item version of companion spellbond, at least at higher levels, and the fact that you get repeated immediate action teleportation, even with narrow focus, is quite useful. Probably tossing that in, though the price is very high.
    Also there are little mistakes, like the dispelling chord, that is a "torso" item, not "shoulders".
    Yep. Don't know how that happened.
    Having said this, what remains is little discrepancies in opinion: for example, I love the sidhe scholar variant for having empty the two final levels like the 3.0 druid, wich is and invitation for almost-free multiclassing for the common little price of a point or two of BAB.
    I kinda think the standard druid is like that too. You're not losing much at all by skipping huge elemental forms. Druid mostly ends at 17 or so, but optimization becomes quite a bit less relevant once you have 9th's.

    I also find of utility the Planar familiar spell (spellbook archive web enhancement) as a method, not without ambiguity, for giving to animal companions some intelligence, and maybe a bit of cheese. How works the linked minds effect of the axiomatic creatures (Planar Handbook) with a dire tortoise's lightning strike? I don't know, I don't know... (Other two spells in the same page, elemental familiar and animate dead familiar, can be interesting for a Druid with the Cityscape urban companion class feature, but the XP cost hurts).
    Guess it could see some mention somewhere, but it not being on the druid list limits where that somewhere could be. I suppose you'd want contemplative or something.

    First, one section explaining how to equip an animal companions/wild shaped druids, including all the options in dragon 349, but also claw extenders (dragon 334), mouthpick weapons (LoM), the relative (in)utility of the wild armor and beatskin armor, maybe fanged rings in any of his two versions, the mandatory versus between Amulet of Mighty fists and necklace of natural weapons and, to follow with savage species, the incredible brokenness of the arms of the naga.
    My thoughts on those sorts of items for wild shape'd druids are pretty similar to my thoughts on melee feats for druids, in that I don't think they're all that useful. Could be worth mentioning in the context of the animal companion though, as you said. Druids already have an item section, and it's the item section. However, there could feasibly be a section that corresponds to the already existent animal companion feat section.
    Second, a brief text listing the (almost-all ambiguous) ways for obtaining intelligent companions, and the limits of the animal intelligence. It’s not credible that a fleshraker shapechanged into a hive mother can hover and make ray attacks without feeling uncomfortable, and if you have reach shapechange, you will want to share it with your companion.
    It's an interesting idea, more because it'd give more room to discussing the potential advantages of intelligent companions, like the whole ToB thing that came up which I still haven't used. Worth thinking about, at least.

    The common point among the two previous recommendations is that always they have been mechanically ambiguous or problematic, but at the same time they have been always a common place in discussions about the druids too, and reappear over and over. They are the kind of things that really needs a FAQ.
    I actually disagree that my listed methods for companion intelligence are ambiguous. The closest to ambiguous is the watchspider, but even that doesn't seem to have any sort of rules gap.

  19. - Top - End - #109
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Eh, like every other "handbook" out there, possibly useful along as you take it all with a pinch of salt.
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    You have Power Attack as a "red" feat for Animal Companions and a reasonable explanation: That the 1-to-1 ratio the animal gets is often actively bad because the damage output would be higher if it didn't power attack.

    However, some attacks arguably should get the 1-to-2 ratio. If you check a Dire Wolf's bite attack, for example, the damage bonus is +10 -- with a strength score of 25 which makes a bonus of +7. The extra +3 is because the attack is "two-handed" (+7 times 1.5 rounded down = +10).

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by rrwoods View Post
    You have Power Attack as a "red" feat for Animal Companions and a reasonable explanation: That the 1-to-1 ratio the animal gets is often actively bad because the damage output would be higher if it didn't power attack.

    However, some attacks arguably should get the 1-to-2 ratio. If you check a Dire Wolf's bite attack, for example, the damage bonus is +10 -- with a strength score of 25 which makes a bonus of +7. The extra +3 is because the attack is "two-handed" (+7 times 1.5 rounded down = +10).
    I don't think that's arguable. The Strength modifier doesn't matter for Power Attack; that clause is only in Pathfinder. In 3.5, you get the 2-to-1 ratio with two-handed weapons or one-handed weapons wielded in both hands. Natural weapons are neither.
    Last edited by Troacctid; 2015-10-20 at 01:30 AM.

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by rrwoods View Post
    You have Power Attack as a "red" feat for Animal Companions and a reasonable explanation: That the 1-to-1 ratio the animal gets is often actively bad because the damage output would be higher if it didn't power attack.

    However, some attacks arguably should get the 1-to-2 ratio. If you check a Dire Wolf's bite attack, for example, the damage bonus is +10 -- with a strength score of 25 which makes a bonus of +7. The extra +3 is because the attack is "two-handed" (+7 times 1.5 rounded down = +10).
    Some attacks do have strength bonuses inconsistent with standard one-handed attacks. However, I don't think that strictly implies that they get a better power attack ratio, or indeed implies that at all. Power attack has a static behavior under most circumstances, the 1:1, and then an exception based behavior under specific circumstances, that being a weapon wielded in two hands. A weapon that kinda acts like a two handed weapon in this one sense isn't necessarily a two handed weapon, and in this case we can clearly see that it is not one because it's being wielded in no hands. It would theoretically make sense for power attack to operate in the way you've described, but I don't think the reading reflects the rules as they exist.

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Although speaking of animal companion feats, Draconic Aura should be worth a mention as a good way to spread the animal companion's feats around the whole party. Combine with Dragontouched to improve the bonus.

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by eggynack View Post
    Some attacks do have strength bonuses inconsistent with standard one-handed attacks. However, I don't think that strictly implies that they get a better power attack ratio, or indeed implies that at all. Power attack has a static behavior under most circumstances, the 1:1, and then an exception based behavior under specific circumstances, that being a weapon wielded in two hands. A weapon that kinda acts like a two handed weapon in this one sense isn't necessarily a two handed weapon, and in this case we can clearly see that it is not one because it's being wielded in no hands. It would theoretically make sense for power attack to operate in the way you've described, but I don't think the reading reflects the rules as they exist.
    Under a strict reading you're right, and I did have to do the math to figure out how the damage bonus might be calculated. There's nothing in the monster entry explicitly saying to treat the attack as two handed.

    However I will note that it's not simply "inconsistent with standard one-handed attacks". Every monster damage bonus I've seen has either been .5 times strength, 1 times strength, or 1.5 times strength. What that implies or doesn't imply is up to the group playing -- I do suspect most will say it implies nothing. Still think it's worth pointing out.

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Troacctid View Post
    Although speaking of animal companion feats, Draconic Aura should be worth a mention as a good way to spread the animal companion's feats around the whole party. Combine with Dragontouched to improve the bonus.
    I do enjoy a good animal companion aura, and it might be low choice enough to make sense with a low intelligence creature.
    Quote Originally Posted by rrwoods View Post
    Under a strict reading you're right, and I did have to do the math to figure out how the damage bonus might be calculated. There's nothing in the monster entry explicitly saying to treat the attack as two handed.

    However I will note that it's not simply "inconsistent with standard one-handed attacks". Every monster damage bonus I've seen has either been .5 times strength, 1 times strength, or 1.5 times strength. What that implies or doesn't imply is up to the group playing -- I do suspect most will say it implies nothing. Still think it's worth pointing out.
    Monsters are sometimes kinda weird, I gotta admit. Like, why does the smilodon have the sorts of iteratives granted by multiattack without the feat or something like it? Or, alternatively, where does that AC bonus on the will-o'-wisp come from, and is that a thing you get with wild shape? Weird stuff.

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    I went and I looked through MMIII, and I found the Mivilorn, which has a bite attack and Power Attack, and the description states that it takes a -15 penalty through PA for an additional +15 damage. The damage it deals only works if it also gets 1.5x Str on its bite.

    So, it seems RAI natural attacks that get 1.5x Str are not supposed to get double PA damage.

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Deophaun View Post
    I went and I looked through MMIII, and I found the Mivilorn, which has a bite attack and Power Attack, and the description states that it takes a -15 penalty through PA for an additional +15 damage. The damage it deals only works if it also gets 1.5x Str on its bite.

    So, it seems RAI natural attacks that get 1.5x Str are not supposed to get double PA damage.
    Just because monsters with a single bite attack get 1.5x Str doesn't mean they wield their natural weapons with two hands. If you want that get the Fangshields sub level that lets you wildshape hands and wield a two handed weapon.

    One thing i'm a bit fuzzy on are Mouthpick weapons. The example weapons are all twohanded. So does a Mouthpick weapon always get 1,5x Str? Only when the monster has no other attacks? What about PA and combat maneuvers? What about monsters with more than one bite attack? Can you wield 3 Mouthpick Greatswords and get 1,5x Str and 2x PA damage on all of them?

    You can get a similar bonus to PA on your natural attacks with the Dread Carapace soulmeld. It does add +2 to bite attacks per essentia, but it's sadly limited by your essentia capacity. Obviously only worth spending a feat on if you have essentia from somewhere.

  28. - Top - End - #118
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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by eggynack View Post
    That spell requires that the coral be living and submerged, which makes the spell heavily environmentally limited. I could buy it as a situational but powerful aquatic spell, though I'm not sure what the distribution of coral underwater is offhand. I guess you could carry around some weird coral container that has living and submerged coral, such that you can use the spell on land, but I don't know what the feasibility of that looks like.
    I've looked at this spell before, and fiddled around with circumventing the environmental requirement. The spell description is explicit that the amount of coral to start with can be very small. "Submerged" is not a defined game term, so going just by the dictionary definition any living coral "below the surface of an area of water" should suffice. Thus, glass vials filled with seawater and a small quantity of coral should work, and these essentially become an additional material component for the spell. Hopefully you'll get a DM handwave there to treat it as an actual material component, so it's still a free action to grab it, otherwise then you may be trying to figure out how to get an extra move action to draw the vial from your pack or manipulate an object.

    The other sticking point would be after a few days, without a reliable source of food, the coral would no longer be living. Preserving living organisms is a bit tricky... Unguent of Timelessness only works on once-living material, as does Angriz's Chest. Shrink item or Glove of Storing/Master Strategist would work, but that's not a spell druids have easy access to, and using the glove to carry around one spell component would interfere with using it for anything else. Storing the coral with some air plants (Stormwrack) would help keep the water oxygenated, but presumably the coral would still need to eat something (maybe grind up a goodberry and drop it in?), and then the air plants need to be "well lit", so toss in a liquid sunlight capsule (Complete Scoundrel), but now you're trying to keep an entire aquatic ecosystem alive (how is it we have owl bears, sea lions, and duck bunnies in D&D but no sea monkeys?).

    Two other examples of "living coral" as magic items:

    Living Coral armor (16,000 GP, Stormwrack), a reskinned version of the Moon Ivy armor from A&EG, but the designers didn't bother to fix any of the stupidity issues of the original. I'm not sure if you can break off pieces of this, so using coral growth probably means you're attached to the coral structure until nightfall, which doesn't sound like a popular combat strategy.

    Dukar Hand Coral (1,600 GP, Champions of Valor), which lives under your skin. Which means the coral growth bursts out from... ugh. Yes, presumably you'd regenerate the damage but the mental image is decidedly unpleasant. On the other hand... 25 cubic feet per spell level of magic regeneration coral that sells for 1600 GP for less than an ounce would be an interesting experiment in economics.

    The easiest solution: carry around some Chaos Flasks (100 GP, Planar Handbook). These can be explicitly used to create living creatures, which would include coral. It's a free action to use, and requires a DC 13 Wisdom check (which isn't exactly a dump stat for druids).

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Quote Originally Posted by sleepyphoenixx View Post
    Just because monsters with a single bite attack get 1.5x Str doesn't mean they wield their natural weapons with two hands.
    Very good. You have divined the reason why I bothered to look at a monster stat block to see how the designers implemented PA in those situations.

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    Default Re: Being Everything: Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook

    Eggy: is there any part of this that would be useful for my transmogrifist handbook? I'm assuming that the wildshape part makes reference to useful Ex qualities thanks to enhance wild shape, and there are critters with insane natural weapon routines hidden somewhere. Is there anything else that might be useful, in that document or others?
    Quote Originally Posted by Inevitability View Post
    Greater
    \ˈgrā-tər \
    comparative adjective
    1. Describing basically the exact same monster but with twice the RHD.
    Quote Originally Posted by Artanis View Post
    I'm going to be honest, "the Welsh became a Great Power and conquered Germany" is almost exactly the opposite of the explanation I was expecting

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