Dreamscarred Press Introduces Lords of the Wild- The Playtest!

[meemaas]

I try not to be the kind of person that begs for feedback, but we did put out two new PrCs on Wednesday and I'd love to get some opinions on them. The Greater Werewolf and the Formless Master.

First off. I absolutely adore the Formless Master. It reminds me of the Warshaper, but more importantly it is a perfect fit for the shifting feats to progress into.

[ATalsen]

I try not to be the kind of person that begs for feedback, but we did put out two new PrCs on Wednesday and I'd love to get some opinions on them. The Greater Werewolf and the Formless Master.

I know I missed Formless Master because it was not listed in the Outline on the left side. :)

I love Formless Master as a Pathfinder 'updated' version of the 3.5 Warshaper prestige class (though they have significant differences). {EDIT: Ninja'd by meemaas :) }

3 feats seems steep for entry; I understand with the way shifting feats work, 3 feats is usually the 'next level' of expanded ability for most shifting feats, so I can see why that number was chosen though.

I do like how the capstone ability (Truth of Form) makes the Unbounded Ability effectively an 'always on' buff. Many capstones are not all that impressive, and many don't work with what the class was building too, but I think this one is worth it and tying a bonus in from a previous ability integrates it more.

EDIT:
I missed it the fist time through, but the required +6 BAB is way high; it would be disappointing to have to wait till 7th level (minimum) to take this class, and the class is 3/4 BAB as well, I don't think that fits.

[Halae]

I try not to be the kind of person that begs for feedback, but we did put out two new PrCs on Wednesday and I'd love to get some opinions on them. The Greater Werewolf and the Formless Master.

Formless Master doesn't really hold my attention, but Greater Werewolf definitely does - I'm a sucker for both classes that advance a base class and advance your racial features, meaning as soon as I realized this was in I'd have to try it sometime. Let me break down my thoughts on it.

Prerequisites: Only needing three levels to get into something is unusual, but Kel explained to me before why that was done, in order to match the Greater Vampire PrC. Feral Vitality is interesting because it's a very defensive feat, and it leads right into the rest of the class.

BAB, HD, and Saves: Full BAB caught me by surprise, since that doesn't really match most "natural" HD setups; only Dragon and Outsider, primarily. Still, not a complaint, as this makes it approachable for martial characters. As far as saves go, I was honestly expecting Reflex over Fort, but here we have fortitude instead of reflex saves. Why is that? It seems weird to me that reflex save isn't considered despite the fact that dexterity and agility are sort of a wolf thing, rather than standing solid and tanking hits (which is more of a bear thing). D10 HD at least makes sense, since this is clearly a close-combat PrC.

Instincts of the Beast: An untyped bonus to wisdom and a +2 to will saves, the most important save of all! This is sort of odd, because while it benefits wisdom based casters (who don't really want to take this class in the first place due to lost caster levels) and initiators (who can at least skate by on the +2 class features and practiced initiator, but don't hugely want this either) the benefits of this are primarily defensive or non-combat.

Armor of the Beast: More Damage Reduction is always nice, and getting all the way up to DR 8/Silver is cool, though it's a weird number given how most DR tries to stay in multiples of five. but eh, the barbarian doesn't follow that, aegis doesn't, so who gives a damn about that? Another defensive bonus.

Heart Of The Beast: To be perfectly honest, I sort of dislike this ability. It doesn't do anything you can't already do with Wild Empathy, this just makes it supernatural, which to me doesn't really fit in with the rest of the abilities. Everything else feels inherent to how a badass werewolf should be, and it doesn't really add much to a character that can already do Lycanthropic Empathy, at least as far as I can see.

Nature Of the Beast: This is another ability that feels a little off, but for a different reason. This is good from a power perspective, and I can't really think of anything that readily breaks it, but primarily in stories and movies and the like, the transformation into a werewolf is difficult, sometimes painful. A free action suggests it's as easy as talking, which while I could see it, is a bit off. No big complaint about this one, and I have no suggestion to fix it to make it feel better to me; I'm not sure it even should be fixed, just for feeling weird.

Armory of the Beast: Ah, the first offensive ability in the whole prestige class! This is a nice way to add additional resources to the base template; I was a little miffed when I saw that I could only choose either claws or a bite, rather than both, and this solves that problem handily, and if you want to specialize on a particular type of natural weapon this lets you. Wonderful.

Life of the Beast: Regeneration only bypassed by silver? Amazing. This combined with the 2 HP fast healing from Feral Vitality means that a werewolf is extremely unlikely to actually be put down in the long term. that said, it's another defensive buff, and all about taking hits but getting back up to keep fighting. It's weird in that direction.

Base Class Advancement: An excellent boon to anybody looking to take this prestige class; it'll help its availability immensely in the long run. Not sure why it was decided to only go on 2 and 4, beyond mimicking the Greater Vampire Prestige Class. It feels odd, but whatever, a few things already do.

Final Thoughts: This feels like an exceptionally defensive prestige class. Armory of the Beast makes up for that a little, but it's a latecomer to the prestige class, coming in at around level 7 for most characters. Between the Damage Reduction, Regeneration, Fast Healing, d10 HD, boost to wisdom and will save, and little in the way of offensive boosts, this feels extremely hard to put down, but that's only half the equation for the classic werewolf. You need to be both unstoppable offensively and defensively for that, and while this covers the latter, the former is somewhat lacking here. If it had a bit more offensive utility (maybe in place of Heart of the Beast? I don't know) it'd feel a lot better to me.

[Vhaidara]

Final Thoughts: This feels like an exceptionally defensive prestige class. Armory of the Beast makes up for that a little, but it's a latecomer to the prestige class, coming in at around level 7 for most characters. Between the Damage Reduction, Regeneration, Fast Healing, d10 HD, boost to wisdom and will save, and little in the way of offensive boosts, this feels extremely hard to put down, but that's only half the equation for the classic werewolf. You need to be both unstoppable offensively and defensively for that, and while this covers the latter, the former is somewhat lacking here. If it had a bit more offensive utility (maybe in place of Heart of the Beast? I don't know) it'd feel a lot better to me.

Going to actually address this first, since it brings up a theme.

So, let me start by saying it really was meant to be a defensive PrC. For me, natural attack builds already do a good job of capturing the savagery of a mythical werewolf, the offensive power they have. What they fall down on is the unstoppable, indestructible side of things, the idea of a monster that will not stop until you put it down with it's one weakness: silver.

BAB, HD, and Saves: Full BAB caught me by surprise, since that doesn't really match most "natural" HD setups; only Dragon and Outsider, primarily. Still, not a complaint, as this makes it approachable for martial characters. As far as saves go, I was honestly expecting Reflex over Fort, but here we have fortitude instead of reflex saves. Why is that? It seems weird to me that reflex save isn't considered despite the fact that dexterity and agility are sort of a wolf thing, rather than standing solid and tanking hits (which is more of a bear thing). D10 HD at least makes sense, since this is clearly a close-combat PrC.

Fort felt more on point with the juggernaut werewolf the PrC is trying to create.

Instincts of the Beast: An untyped bonus to wisdom and a +2 to will saves, the most important save of all! This is sort of odd, because while it benefits wisdom based casters (who don't really want to take this class in the first place due to lost caster levels) and initiators (who can at least skate by on the +2 class features and practiced initiator, but don't hugely want this either) the benefits of this are primarily defensive or non-combat.

Iron Will actually pulled from the fact that the traditional lycanthrope just gets Iron Will for free.

Heart Of The Beast: To be perfectly honest, I sort of dislike this ability. It doesn't do anything you can't already do with Wild Empathy, this just makes it supernatural, which to me doesn't really fit in with the rest of the abilities. Everything else feels inherent to how a badass werewolf should be, and it doesn't really add much to a character that can already do Lycanthropic Empathy, at least as far as I can see.

This ability is about the idea of a werewolf who becomes the leader of a pack, especially since the checks involved are normally Cha based, which isn't exactly fitting for the standard werewolf. It's honestly kind of a ribbon ability, but it's something i think creative players should be able to get some mileage out of

Nature Of the Beast: This is another ability that feels a little off, but for a different reason. This is good from a power perspective, and I can't really think of anything that readily breaks it, but primarily in stories and movies and the like, the transformation into a werewolf is difficult, sometimes painful. A free action suggests it's as easy as talking, which while I could see it, is a bit off. No big complaint about this one, and I have no suggestion to fix it to make it feel better to me; I'm not sure it even should be fixed, just for feeling weird.

So, I generally agree that the experience isn't a pleasant one, but this PrC is about EMBRACING your nature as a werewolf. At this point you're halfway through the PrC, you're used to the pain and can shift as naturally as you can breath.

Armory of the Beast: Ah, the first offensive ability in the whole prestige class! This is a nice way to add additional resources to the base template; I was a little miffed when I saw that I could only choose either claws or a bite, rather than both, and this solves that problem handily, and if you want to specialize on a particular type of natural weapon this lets you. Wonderful.

Thank you, I liked being able to expand that option myself.

Base Class Advancement: An excellent boon to anybody looking to take this prestige class; it'll help its availability immensely in the long run. Not sure why it was decided to only go on 2 and 4, beyond mimicking the Greater Vampire Prestige Class. It feels odd, but whatever, a few things already do.

I generally feel that the PrC is strong enough to stand on its own, but it is lacking in offensive abilities, as you noticed, in a primarily offensive game. I felt the 2/5 progression was enough that you would feel the loss, but not be crippled by it on most classes.

[Elricaltovilla]

EDIT:
I missed it the fist time through, but the required +6 BAB is way high; it would be disappointing to have to wait till 7th level (minimum) to take this class, and the class is 3/4 BAB as well, I don't think that fits.

You're right, that is actually too high. That's what I get for copy/pasting. It'd down to +4 now.

[Nyaa]

3 feats seems steep for entry

I second this. Also, Formless Master ends up with 6 shifting feats, which is 1 too much.

[Elricaltovilla]

I second this. Also, Formless Master ends up with 6 shifting feats, which is 1 too much.

You get new abilities at 1, 3 and 5 for all your shifting feats. That means that you have 6 feats all with level 1, 3 and 5 effects. It's not like your 6th shifting feat is stuck at level 1 effects, all of them gain their full effects.

[Halae]

~Snip~

Fair enough. Then I have no further objections.

[Vhaidara]

I second this. Also, Formless Master ends up with 6 shifting feats, which is 1 too much.

You can use as many shifting feats as you want. 5 is just the point where they don't individually keep getting stronger. The individual feats are still extremely potent and worth taking.

[MilleniaAntares]

I rather like Formless Master, but I am curious why you cannot use metamorphosis to qualify for the prestige class. I understand psionic creatures have the Metamorph prestige class, but having another option would not be bad in my view.

Edit: Okay, the formatting of this book is rather annoying and incomplete. I hope you don't mind feedback on this part, since it otherwise makes finding stuff a pain, and I hope my comments don't come off as too patronizing.

The following section titles should have the listed Heading applied to them.

To get Heading #: Format -> Paragraph Styles -> Heading #-> Apply Heading #

Werewolf Template (CR +1) - heading 1
Creating a Werewolf - heading 2
Special Attacks - heading 2
Special Qualities - heading 2

The Origin of the Wolf - heading 1
Bitten by a Werewolf - heading 2
Removing the Curse - heading 2
Werewolves in society - heading 2

The Pack - heading 1
Forming A Pack - heading 2
Pack Rituals - heading 2
Pack of the Night Wind - heading 3
Pack of the Blood Moon - heading 3
Pack of the Shared Soul - heading 3
Pack of the Wyrd Howl - heading 3

Archetypes - heading 1
Unshackled Rager - heading 2
Silverblade Hunter - heading 2

(By the way, the Unshackled Rager and Silverblade Hunter have different formatting applied to the title, so you may wish to make them uniform.)

Prestige Classes - heading 1
Formless Master - heading 2
Greater Werewolf - heading 2
Varsärk - heading 2

Feats - heading 1
each individual feat - heading 3
Shifting Feats - heading 2
each individual shifting feat - heading 3

Spells - heading 1
each spell - heading 3

New Disciplines - heading 1
Chimera Soul Discipline - heading 2
the title of each level of Chimera Soul - heading 4
Chimera Soul Maneuvers - heading 3
each level of chimera soul - heading 4
each Chimera Soul maneuver - heading 5 (optional)

Martial Tradition - heading 1
The Temple of the Formless Spirit - heading 2

Edit 2:

Rabid Bite and Superior Rabid Bite do not have durations listed for their effects.

Deathsting Shift's "reposition closer to you" thing could be better worded as a drag.

Strongclaw Shift: "However, if you reduce the shift duration to 2 rounds, you gain two claw attacks, which function as primary natural weapons dealing 1d4 damage each for Medium creatures, +1 for every 2 Shifting feats you possess."

What is this +1 for? Is it a +1 damage? One more claw attack?

[Nyaa]

Than would be the case if using combat shifts didn't kill duration of non-combat shifts, or if there were more than 6 combat and 5 non-combat shifting feats total.

[EldritchWeaver]

I try not to be the kind of person that begs for feedback, but we did put out two new PrCs on Wednesday and I'd love to get some opinions on them. The Greater Werewolf and the Formless Master.

Looking over the Greater Werewolf, I like it very much. But I still have some questions. The first one is, what happens if you have already Iron Will? Do you get another bonus feat? The second one is, does regeneration 5/silver supersede the DR 8/silver? If not does that mean that a non-silver weapon still needs to overcome the DR and the next round, 5 damage of the applied is still healed? Also, does the regeneration still apply in the human form?

[Sayt]

Rabid Bite and Superior Rabid Bite do not have durations listed for their effects.

Fatigue has a built in duration! Until Eight hours of rest.

[Halae]

Looking over the Greater Werewolf, I like it very much. But I still have some questions. The first one is, what happens if you have already Iron Will? Do you get another bonus feat? The second one is, does regeneration 5/silver supersede the DR 8/silver? If not does that mean that a non-silver weapon still needs to overcome the DR and the next round, 5 damage of the applied is still healed? Also, does the regeneration still apply in the human form?

I can answer these!

As with most specific bonus feats, if you already have Iron Will you simply do not gain it again and the benefit is wasted.

The Damage Reduction and Regeneration both work together; So if someone tries to hit you with a steel greatsword for 20 damage, first you reduce the incoming damage to 12 (thanks to damage reduction) and then at the end of your turn you heal for 5 damage. If the greatsword is silver or mithral instead of steel, you take the full 20 damage and your regeneration is shut down for one round. they work together; neither supersedes the other, so a steel weapon will have a hard time damaging you and keeping you down, but a silver weapon will cause you to have a bad day. Which makes sense, as that fits the stories.

The Regeneration is not restricted to hybrid or animal form, and therefore it still works in human form.

[Vhaidara]

Halae is on the nose for her answers. DR and Regeneration have no overlap, one reducing incoming damage while the other heals damage you've taken.

Milenia: I'll look into the formatting, possibly tomorrow night. Got things going on today.
As to your questions...
As Sayt mentioned, fatigue is an 8 hour duration by default
...I keep trying to forget that's a separate maneuver.
That is meant to be damage. but I can see how it's unclear. Added a word to clarify

Than would be the case if using combat shifts didn't kill duration of non-combat shifts, or if there were more than 6 combat and 5 non-combat shifting feats total.

The only Shifting feats that only have short, in combat options are Beasthide and Deathsting. Abomination makes the list as only going up to 10 minutes at a time, but the rest have hour long duration shifts, and you don't have to activate every shifting feat.
Travelling cross country? Activate Swiftwing, Strongclaw, Longstride, and Wavelord shifts for bonus movement speed and movement modes.
Infiltrating a place? Chameleon, Identity, Magnitude (Tiny), and Sensory shifts are your friends.
Fight breaks out? Unleash the beast and mix up your sets by using Strongclaw, Wavelord, Magnitude, and Sensory in their short versions, and now you can bring your Beasthide, Abomination, and Deathsting out to play

[MilleniaAntares]

For Abomination, Sensory and Wavelord shifts, when taking the 2 round option, do you also gain the benefits of the longer duration option? The wording could be clarified if it's also or instead.

Fatigue has a built in duration! Until Eight hours of rest.

Milenia: I'll look into the formatting, possibly tomorrow night. Got things going on today.
As to your questions...
As Sayt mentioned, fatigue is an 8 hour duration by default
...I keep trying to forget that's a separate maneuver.
That is meant to be damage. but I can see how it's unclear. Added a word to clarify

Alright, thanks!

[Vhaidara]

"Also" has been added to the relevant shifts (Strongclaw needed it too)

[MilleniaAntares]

"Also" has been added to the relevant shifts (Strongclaw needed it too)

The special sections of Abomination, Sensory, Strongclaw, and and Wavelord also need the "also" addition.

[meemaas]

Re: Longstride Shift. I understand the RAI, but you might want to mane a note that reactivating the shift does not grant you an extra use of the swift action move. While it's for the most part pretty clear, the wording as is is something I could see a person arguing against in the case of 2 round shifts that include Longstride.

Edit: also, why is there no love for Metamorphosis with the Formless Master?

[EldritchWeaver]

Edit: also, why is there no love for Metamorphosis with the Formless Master?

Spheres of Power's Alteration could be also a gateway. Not sure if you want to include a reference for 3rd party product or if this is then an implied houserule.

[Nyaa]

Why does formless master even require polymorph when his class abilities work with shifting feats (which are a form of changing shape) and minor change shape he gets at level 1 is what was most used way to qualify for warshaper? Is polymorph requirement something more than warshaper legacy? Maybe it should be just removed?

[Elricaltovilla]

Why does formless master even require polymorph when his class abilities work with shifting feats (which are a form of changing shape) and minor change shape he gets at level 1 is what was most used way to qualify for warshaper? Is polymorph requirement something more than warshaper legacy? Maybe it should be just removed?

It doesn't require polymorph. Polymorph is an optional entry path. Hence the use of "or."

[Nyaa]

It doesn't require polymorph. Polymorph is an optional entry path. Hence the use of "or."

Why does it require any or these? Are shifting feats not shapeshifting enough?

[upho]

Here's some feedback on the new stuff:

1. Formless Master rocks. Hard. I really like both flavor and mechanics, even better than the original IMO. (I'm thinking it might be a bit too much for full casters, but I guess those are a bit of a lost cause anyways...)
2. The entry requirements for Formless Master are pretty harsh. I can see why you chose three Shifting feats though, and I frankly don't have any better ideas (but see also below).
3. Greater Werewolf is cool, but I think its mechanics feel a bit lackluster, at least in comparison to Formless Master. I wouldn't say they're weak per se, but the defensive abilities are rather bland IMO. I'd love to see the current focus on passive defenses get accompanied/partially exchanged for some more tactically interesting active defenses (stuff like situational attack debuffing/negation via AoOs and/or combat maneuvers, demoralizing interrupts able to scare away nearby opponents etc).
4. The feat entry requirements for the Greater Werewolf are also a bit weird IMO, at least when put next to the skill requirement. I mean, a lot of builds probably wouldn't even be able to afford Power Attack if they wanted to enter at 4th. Was this intentional?

Speaking of requirements, a lot of the options require the shapechanger subtype, which I guess might very well put them out of reach for many players. And while I think the werewolf template is great, the general template (ie "monsters as PCs") rules are a bit fuzzy and seem to be rarely used. I believe an alternative, less radical and/or controversial, option besides the template would be appreciated by many, opening up the cool related options for the core races and other non-shapechangers in games which doesn't allow templates. What are your thoughts on this?

Also noticed you've clarified the reach increase of Deathsting Shift. And I must say I was probably wrong before when saying I'd prefer it to emulate a reach weapon, seeing how many reach increase options there are anyways. So two thumbs up from me.

.....

Since the new stuff happened to come up just in time before the last session when the party in my regular home game were expected to run into a group of NPC werewolf villains, I redesigned my old builds and pimped them out with as much LotW bling as I could fit. I must say I think they turned out to be a lot more interesting and flavorful than the originals, and the players seemed to have at least as much fun facing them as I did running them. If anyone's interested, here are the build summaries (slightly tweaked to compensate for removed house rules):

Spoiler: Anskar Langrahond, Fyrst ór Fimbulvetr

Show

Ginnulva Rimreise (Werewolf "Half-Rimturs")* Bloodrager 1, Formless Master 4, Greater Werewolf 4, Lore Warden Fighter 1, Ordained Defender Warder 2 - CR 12, 19,200 XP
CE Huge male humanoid (giant, human, shapechanger)
*"Rimreise" is a homebrew race, as Half-Giant but with Dex penalty, Wis bonus, Fire Acclimated, low-light vision and psionic traits exchanged for cold resistance 5, darkvision and Toughness as bonus feat.

All values while in hybrid form, bloodrage and Furyhorn Stance, using all shifting abilities (short duration versions), long arm, Time Skitter and listed wands.

Initiative +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +25
Aegis allies within 10 ft. gain +1 morale to AC and Will saves.
Chaotic Evil Aura as 4th level cleric

DEFENSE
AC 26, touch 15, flat-footed 24; +2 vs. good 10 +7 armor, +7 natural armor, +4 shield, +2 dodge, -2 rage, -2 size; 2 deflection protection from good
HP 132; fast healing 2 68 (10+2d12+5d10+4d8) hit die, +48 con, +12 toughness, +4 favored class
Fort +18, Ref +10, Will +15; +5 vs. mind-affecting; +5 vs. disease, poison, exhaustion and fatigue, +1 vs. effects created by good creatures
DR 6/silver; Resist cold 5
Defensive Abilities 50% chance to avoid sneak attack/crit, All Around Vision, protection from good, Uncanny Dodge

OFFENSE
Speed 90 ft., ignores difficult terrain, may move as swift 1/encounter
Melee with Power Attack: bite +21 (3d6+24 plus demoralize, mark, trip), 2 claws +21/+21 (2d6+24 plus demoralize, grab, mark), deathsting +21 (2d6+24 plus demoralize, mark, poison, reposition), gore +21 (4d6+24 plus demoralize, mark), 2 hooves +16 (2d6+18 plus demoralize, mark) and one attack made again (Time Skitter haste effect)
Space 15 ft., Reach 25 ft., 30 ft. with claws and deathsting (35/40 ft. using Defensive Focus)
Attack Abilities and Special Attacks (values incl. Power Attack) Armiger's Mark (7/day, free on dealing damage: -4 to attack other, +12% arcane spell failure, 5 rounds), Combat Reflexes (6 AoOs/round), grab (CMB +41, free on claw hit), poison (Fort DC 25, 3d2 Strength damage, 6 rounds), reposition (CMB +33, free on deathsting hit, target must be moved closer), trip (CMB +35, free on bite hit), Staggering Strike (Fort DC 20 or target of crit staggered for 1 round)

War Blessing 5/day, ally touched, 1 min: +10 ft. base land speed, +1 dodge, +1 insight to attack, or +1 luck on saves, decided at start of each turn (+1 dodge included).

Bloodrage Aberrant Bloodline, 12 rounds/day: Staggering Strike and Abnormal Reach

Shifting 10 uses/day, 2 rounds duration/use in combat: Abomination, Beasthide, Deathsting, Longstride and Magnitude Shift

Stances and Maneuvers Readied IL 9 (Black Seraph, Chimera Soul, Eternal Guardian, Primal Fury)
Stances: Furyhorn Stance (active), Primal Warrior Stance
Boosts: Time Skitter (effects included)
Counters: Fear the Reaper, Vengeful Riposte
Strikes: Cornered Frenzy Strike

Spells and Spell-Like Abilities CL 4
1st, 2/day (1 remaining): cheetah's sprint, long arm (effects included)
At will: charm animal (CL 12, canines only)

STATISTICS
Ability Scores (20-point buy)
Str 34 15 base, 2 race, 3 level, 2 werewolf, 2 belt, 4 bloodrage, 6 magnitude shift
Dex 10 10 base, 4 unbounded ability, -4 magnitude shift
Con 18 14 base, 4 bloodrage
Int 8 8 base
Wis 20 14 base, 2 werewolf, 2 greater werewolf, 2 headband
Cha 14 14 base
Bab +11, CMB +36 (grapple +44, trip +38), CMD 47 (49 vs. grapple and trip); treated as Gargantuan size for combat maneuvers and special attacks
Feats Abomination Shift^B, Beasthide Shift, Combat Reflexes^B, Cornugon Smash^B, Deathsting Shift^B, Eschew Materials^B, Feral Vitality, Greater Grapple^B, Improved Grapple, Improved Trip^B, Iron Will^B, Longstride Shifting, Magnitude Shift^B, Power Attack^B, Toughness^B, Wrath of the Blood Moon^B
Skills Bluff +16, Intimidate +22, Perception +25, Survival +16

Traits Practiced Initiator, Reactionary

Gear furious amulet of mighty fists, +1 agile breastplate, belt (+2 str), headband (+2 wis), cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, cracked dusty rose prism in wayfinder, eyes of the eagle, wand of protection from good (20 charges), wand of shield (10 charges), potion of cure medium wounds (2), 75 gp in diamonds, 25 gp in assorted coins

Spoiler: Didra, Geira and Odrun; Ulvafólk ór Fimbulvetr

Show

Ginnulva Rimreise (Werewolf "Half-Rimturs")* Bloodrager 1, Formless Master 4, Lore Warden Fighter 3 - CR 8, 4,800 XP each (CR 11, 12,800 XP in total)
CE Medium male humanoid (giant, human, shapechanger)
*"Rimreise" is a homebrew race, as Half-Giant but with Dex penalty, Wis bonus, Fire Acclimated, low-light vision and psionic traits exchanged for cold resistance 5, darkvision and Toughness as bonus feat.

All values while in hybrid form and bloodrage, using all shifting abilities (short duration versions), long arm and wand of shield.

Initiative +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +14

DEFENSE
AC 27, touch 17, flat-footed 25 10 +6 armor, +7 natural armor, 2 Dex, +4 shield, -2 rage
HP 88 44 (10+3d10+4d8) hit die, +32 con, +8 toughness, +4 favored class
Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +8; +5 vs. mind-affecting; +5 vs. disease, poison, exhaustion and fatigue
DR 2/silver; Resist cold 5
Defensive Abilities 50% chance to avoid sneak attack/crit, All Around Vision, can use Stealth while observed, Uncanny Dodge

OFFENSE
Speed 90 ft., burrow 40 ft., ignores difficult terrain, may move as swift 1/encounter
Melee with Power Attack: bite +16 (1d8+17 plus trip) and 2 claws +16/+16 (1d6+19)
Space 5 ft., Reach 10 ft., 15 ft. with claws
Attack Abilities and Special Attacks (values incl. Power Attack) Greater Trip, trip (CMB +28, free on bite hit), Staggering Strike (Fort DC 18 or target of crit staggered for 1 round)

Bloodrage Aberrant Bloodline, 12 rounds/day: Staggering Strike and Abnormal Reach

Shifting 5 uses/day, 2 rounds duration/use in combat: Abomination, Beasthide, Chameleon, Longstride and Strongclaw

Spells CL 4
1st, 2/day (1 remaining): cheetah's sprint, long arm (effects included)

STATISTICS
Ability Scores (heroic NPC array)
Str 28 15 base, 2 race, 2 werewolf, 4 bloodrage, 5 strongclaw shift
Dex 14 10 base, 4 unbounded ability
Con 18 14 base, 4 bloodrage
Int 8 8 base
Wis 16 13 base, 1 level, 2 werewolf
Cha 12 12 base
Bab +7, CMB +23 (trip +27), CMD 36 (38 vs. trip); treated as Large size for combat maneuvers and special attacks
Feats Abomination Shift^B, Beasthide Shift, Chameleon Shift, Eschew Materials^B, Greater Trip^B, Improved Trip^B, Longstride Shifting^B, Power Attack^B, Strongclaw Shift, Toughness^B, Wrath of the Blood Moon
Skills Intimidate +8, Perception +14, Survival +10, Stealth +22

Gear furious amulet of mighty fists, mwk breastplate, cloak of resistance +1, soft paw sandals (+4 Stealth, 1,600 gp), wand of shield (10 charges), potion of cure medium wounds (2), 175 gp in diamonds, 25 gp in assorted coins

The pack stalked the PCs, who were slowly trekking across a snowy mountain slope in stormy weather, the smaller members of the pack using the snow and their burrowing speed to hide while Anskar, the alpha, approached they party in human shape. Anskar easily managed to bluff the PCs into believing he belonged to a nomadic tribe of friendly "rimreisar" camped on the other side of the mountain, and that he should help the party navigate the treacherous terrain in the worsening weather. Once he had convinced them to make camp for the night instead of continuing in the bad weather, he signaled his pack to approach beneath the snow by whistling an inconspicuous little tune. The party was taken completely by surprise when the pack suddenly charged out of the snow, and Anskar's transformation into a huge, aberrant monster werewolf definitely had the desired effect.

The fight was very tough for the four 9th level PCs, especially because of the werewolves relatively high saves against mind-affecting magic, their effective tripping bites and Anskar's far-reaching claws easily grabbing the PCs and repeatedly putting them in the worst positions. I almost thought I had gone too far, but after a couple of nightmarish rounds the PCs managed to get their act together and were able to turn the fight, although one of them was lying bleeding in the snow and two others were very close to joining him by the time they finally put down the last werewolf.

Personally, I'm especially glad to see that the LotW options really allow for a much wider range of viable humanoid natural attack builds than what has been previously possible. For example, the controller/debuff aspects of the above builds, especially those of the pack alpha Anskar, were frighteningly (literally) effective and very fun in play.

[Elricaltovilla]

Speaking of requirements, a lot of the options require the shapechanger subtype, which I guess might very well put them out of reach for many players. And while I think the werewolf template is great, the general template (ie "monsters as PCs") rules are a bit fuzzy and seem to be rarely used. I believe an alternative, less radical and/or controversial, option besides the template would be appreciated by many, opening up the cool related options for the core races and other non-shapechangers in games which doesn't allow templates. What are your thoughts on this?

The shapechanger subtype is automatically applied to anyone who knows at least one maneuver from the Chimera Soul discipline, meaning that it's available for the cost of a trait (Combat Training).

[upho]

The shapechanger subtype is automatically applied to anyone who knows at least one maneuver from the Chimera Soul discipline, meaning that it's available for the cost of a trait (Combat Training).

Doh! Sorry 'bout that, I obviously should've re-read some things before posting...

Seems like a very good solution, BTW.

[Elricaltovilla]

Personally I think Combat Training ranks as one of my best ideas from PoW:E.

[MilleniaAntares]

Yeah, it was a pretty good idea.

By the way, are there plans for Chimera Soul style?

[Elricaltovilla]

Yeah, it was a pretty good idea.

By the way, are there plans for Chimera Soul style?

There will be Chimera Soul Style feats. I'm getting ready to move this weekend though, so it's gonna have to wait.

Anyone want to help me move?

[upho]

Personally I think Combat Training ranks as one of my best ideas from PoW:E.

Seriously? In competition with the absolutely godlike sagacity and flair that is the name "Ambu-Lancer"?

Oh, wait, you said PoW:E... It is indeed a nifty and refreshingly different trait IMO.

And now to something completely different... I have a nitpick/question that may have already been clarified somewhere since it applies to some Paizo PrCs as well, but I haven't found anything. AFAICT, according to the "Systems and Use" RAW and for example the "Aligned Class" feature of the Evangelist as well as the "Class Features" features of the Formless Master and Greater Werewolf, your IL increases with 1.5 for each level gained which grants the benefit of those features. So it appears for example a mystic 4, Formless Master 4, Greater Werewolf 4 would have a mystic IL of 13, and for example a warder 5, Evangelist 10 would have a warder IL of no less than 19.

Am I correct to assume the intent was that those levels should give you +1 IL as normal initiator levels, but not also the normal +1/2 IL from the PrCs' non-initiator levels? Is this actually explained somewhere?