Dreamscarred Press Introduces Lords of the Wild- The Playtest!

[upho]

Minor nitpick: the monk's damage increases are not die step increases, but an outright replacement. You would deal the damage listed on the table, regardless of if you're punching or using a temple sword.

Hmm... Even when I discussed Ascetic Strike with the author of the feat back when it was first released, I cannot remember him saying it works any differently than the old FCT feat (which Ascetic Strike takes its wording from). (The only thing he said was wrong with a build idea I posted was that the fighter weapon group "monk" is not necessarily the same as "a monk weapon", which I had missed.) In other words:

*The relevant wording of Ascetic Style ("...effects that augment an unarmed strike") is exactly the same as the pre-errata Feral Combat Training. And IIRC, according to the FAQ for the old FCT feat (now gone as the errata made the FAQ entry redundant), the monk's damage die size increase is an "effect that augments an unarmed strike", and therefore the monk unarmed strike damage die increase is counted from the natural attack's (size-appropriate) base damage die, not the monk's normal 1d3 (Medium) unarmed strike base damage die. Unless my memory fails and until there is an official ruling which says otherwise, I cannot see why Ascetic Style should be treated any differently, since the monk's damage die size increase remains an "effect that augments an unarmed strike".

Do you perhaps have a link to an official source which clears this up?

Would be nice if my mistake was that simple, because that is a pretty significant part of the silly 192d6 die.

[Forrestfire]

It's not about whether FCT has been FAQ'd or not. Even if the FAQ on FCT still existed (since it doesn't, it's no longer an indicator of how the rules work), it would need to reference the style feat to have it apply to it, as far as I can tell. In the monk, it says this:

A monk also deals more damage with his unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown above on Table: Monk. The unarmed damage values listed on Table: Monk is for Medium monks. A Small monk deals less damage than the amount given there with his unarmed attacks, while a Large monk deals more damage; see Small or Large Monk Unarmed Damage on the table given below.

And that's all the ability does. Thus, you get the values on the table. This is not a size increase or a die step increase, it's merely a substitution.

[upho]

It's not about whether FCT has been FAQ'd or not. Even if the FAQ on FCT still existed (since it doesn't, it's no longer an indicator of how the rules work), it would need to reference the style feat to have it apply to it, as far as I can tell. In the monk, it says this:

And that's all the ability does. Thus, you get the values on the table. This is not a size increase or a die step increase, it's merely a substitution.

FWIW, I would most likely agree with you if I didn't also know the monk damage die increase was allegedly one the top reasons for the FCT errata, and that Alexander Augunas, the author of Ascetic Strike, has named it "the BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER" (last item on page) to copy the old FCT wording, referring specifically to the "effects that augment"-part due to its all-encompassing nature.

Besides, I can't remember ever seeing a build with the old FCT which didn't count the monk's US damage from the natural attack's damage die, and even think I remember one of the devs (James Jacobs?) even confirming (and lamenting) this in a non-official post. AFAIK, the monk damage stacking is also one of the major reasons why Ascetic Strike is banned in PFS. And here's the FAQ for the old pre-errata FCT btw.

......

Re: Effortless Lace you're absolutely right, seems I somehow confused it with other similar effects. Thanks! Mr Svami would have to wield his oversized 1-handed sword as if 2-handed in order to properly benefit from EL, so no TWF or BB Stance shenanigans. Not that it would matter in most situations, considering the overkill capacity of just a single AoO and Mr Svami's very high trip CMB.

Oh, this reminds me that to really wanted to opt the damage of "Mr Svami", one should of course change the temple sword to the urumi for better crit range (since that's actually in the fighter's monk group, despite not being a monk weapon).

[upho]

It's not about whether FCT has been FAQ'd or not. Even if the FAQ on FCT still existed (since it doesn't, it's no longer an indicator of how the rules work), it would need to reference the style feat to have it apply to it, as far as I can tell.

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I can agree. Mr Svalmi has to be as close to RAW as possible to actually illustrate a valid point, and if not considering all the various non-official and/or not directly AS-related info, I believe your interpretation of the current RAW to be at least as valid as mine.

I think I should probably make two versions, one with DSP options and one without.

[Forrestfire]

I might suggest looking into akashic stuff like Armory of the Conquerer for pushing the limits on size increases.

[upho]

Thanks for the suggestion!

*reads up on akashic stuff again*

Hmm... AFAICT, in order for your Armor of the Conqueror veil to actually provide the 3 or more effective die size increases required to be superior to stuff like strong jaw or Primal Warrior Stance, you'd need to invest no less than 5 essence. Which to my understanding means you'd need to be level 18, have the Enhanced Capacity feat and of course at least 5 essence, none of which seems to be really feasible to attain before very high levels. At least not without making considerable sacrifices, a trade which I cannot see ending up with a net gain before at the very least 15th level, if ever.

But I've almost no experience with the akashic system, so maybe (probably) I'm missing something vital here that makes taking the proverbial "akashic path out of Ba Sing Se" more attractive for Mr Svalmi?

[MilleniaAntares]

Any chance of adding the polymath alchemist/investigator to the list of martial disciples who get native access to Chimera Soul?

It seems thematically appropriate, given that they (at least the alchemist) have access to mutagens, and the idea of a guy chugging enough transformative stuff to become a partial shapechanger like a Chimera Soul user seems plausible.

[ATalsen]

Formless Master Question:

When taking levels 2+ where Formless Master counts as taking levels in another class, what does it NOT count as that class for?

For example, if you took Fighter 2, and used Formless Master to advance Fighter another 2 times (FM level 2 and 3), could you then qualify for feats like Weapon Specialization that specifically require Fighter 4.

Similarly, if you have a Favored Class of Fighter, do you get the favored class bonus (say HP or skill point) on the levels of Formless Master you took to advance Fighter?

I guess what I'm asking is whether 'levels of a given class' can be considered a "class feature" that you gain.

[MilleniaAntares]

Favored class bonuses are not class features, so I do not believe Formless Master applies.

[Vhaidara]

@FCB: Class Features just advances features, FCB isn't a class feature, no advancement.

In other news, we have 2 new archetypes making their appearance, the wild huntmaster dread and the moonlight meditant soulknife (contributed by DSP's very own Forrestfire)

[ATalsen]

@FCB: Class Features just advances features, FCB isn't a class feature, no advancement.

Ok, that makes sense, but what about the other half of the question:
Do you count as actually having the class levels for anything that requires actual class levels?

Can you pick up Weapon Specialization with Fighter 2 / Formless Master 3?
Can you select the Evasion Astral Suit customization (Requires Aegis 2) with Aegis 1 / Formless Master 2?

[Lord_Gareth]

Ok, that makes sense, but what about the other half of the question:
Do you count as actually having the class levels for anything that requires actual class levels?

Can you pick up Weapon Specialization with Fighter 2 / Formless Master 3?
Can you select the Evasion Astral Suit customization (Requires Aegis 2) with Aegis 1 / Formless Master 2?

You are making this entirely more complicated than it has to be (and where the hell were these questions during Bloodforge and Lords of the Night?).

Here's the flow chart:

"Is it a class feature y/n" -> N -> "It doesn't count."

Weapon Specialization is not a class feature. Evasion customization is, of course, but you don't actually have those Aegis levels; all you did was advance your level-dependent features. The answer in both cases is no.

[ATalsen]

You are making this entirely more complicated than it has to be (and where the hell were these questions during Bloodforge and Lords of the Night?).

Thanks for the reply!
My brain just doesn’t have the watts to read up on all DSP playtest material! :)

Here's the flow chart:
"Is it a class feature y/n" -> N -> "It doesn't count.".

That makes things much clearer to me.

[MilleniaAntares]

If I might ask, why does the Magnitude Shift +2 size category thing provide +6 size to strength instead of the more typical +4 that comes from stuff like the Expansion power?

Anyways, onto the Wild Huntsmaster... I'll start by saying I rather like how diverse most of the dread archetypes are in giving different sorts of looks.

First point of order, this line from the statblock: "hp creator’s class level × creator’s Charisma bonus (if any) × the number of spaces occupied by the hunting pack"

I think it should instead be "number of creatures in the hunting pack" or something like that. This is because "number of spaces occupied" can vary quite a bit, especially since the pack can be put together into a single square.

Moonlight Meditant... reminds me a lot of the feral heart. Which is inevitable, I suppose, given their close conceptual space... But perhaps more support for the feral heart could come from this!

For the meditant's enhanced mind blade, does it apply to the set of claws (IE: both claws become +1 Flaming), or does it apply separately (IE: one +1 Flaming claw, and +1 Shock claw)?

[khadgar567]

If I might ask, why does the Magnitude Shift +2 size category thing provide +6 size to strength instead of the more typical +4 that comes from stuff like the Expansion power?

Anyways, onto the Wild Huntsmaster... I'll start by saying I rather like how diverse most of the dread archetypes are in giving different sorts of looks.

First point of order, this line from the statblock: "hp creator’s class level × creator’s Charisma bonus (if any) × the number of spaces occupied by the hunting pack"

I think it should instead be "number of creatures in the hunting pack" or something like that. This is because "number of spaces occupied" can vary quite a bit, especially since the pack can be put together into a single square.

Moonlight Meditant... reminds me a lot of the feral heart. Which is inevitable, I suppose, given their close conceptual space... But perhaps more support for the feral heart could come from this!

For the meditant's enhanced mind blade, does it apply to the set of claws (IE: both claws become +1 Flaming), or does it apply separately (IE: one +1 Flaming claw, and +1 Shock claw)?

adding a small question about meditant can we throw claw or bite attack or ı read some thing wrong

[Vhaidara]

If I might ask, why does the Magnitude Shift +2 size category thing provide +6 size to strength instead of the more typical +4 that comes from stuff like the Expansion power?

I'm sure I had a reason, but frankly I can't remember it now. Magnitude Shift is currently being looked at as a whole for some numbers tweaks.

Anyways, onto the Wild Huntsmaster... I'll start by saying I rather like how diverse most of the dread archetypes are in giving different sorts of looks.

Thank you. I had wanted to do a collective arch, and a companion arch, and then it clicked: why not both in one?

First point of order, this line from the statblock: "hp creator’s class level × creator’s Charisma bonus (if any) × the number of spaces occupied by the hunting pack"

I think it should instead be "number of creatures in the hunting pack" or something like that. This is because "number of spaces occupied" can vary quite a bit, especially since the pack can be put together into a single square.

Yeah, the wording there is tricky. Going to look into tidying that up.

For the meditant's enhanced mind blade, does it apply to the set of claws (IE: both claws become +1 Flaming), or does it apply separately (IE: one +1 Flaming claw, and +1 Shock claw)?

Currently it is applied as one weapon, that might change (the numbers we're getting out of it are a little lower than we wanted, working on some quality of life buffs)

adding a small question about meditant can we throw claw or bite attack or ı read some thing wrong

No, throw mind blade is replaced by savage pursuit.

[khadgar567]

No, throw mind blade is replaced by savage pursuit.

no problem then is there any way we can get reverse of moonlit meditant aka werewolf with mind claws unleashing terror on every one
hell maybe a aegis archtype gaining beastial soul

[MilleniaAntares]

no problem then is there any way we can get reverse of moonlit meditant aka werewolf with mind claws unleashing terror on every one
hell maybe a aegis archtype gaining beastial soul

There is a claw-based dread archetype in Ultimate Psionics and on the SRD.

[khadgar567]

There is a claw-based dread archetype in Ultimate Psionics and on the SRD.

I mean werewolf soulknife who accepts new found feral side not fear controlling mad man
what i mean isin such way that werewolf curse is major part of their manifesting abilities

[ATalsen]

While I like the theme of the Moonlight Meditant, I don’t think the natural attack mechanics quite stack up to existing DSP options.

1. Moonlight Meditant takes psychic strike, so its incompatible with Warsoul (or Gifted Blade.)
2. Using the Deadly Fist Archetype combined with the Empowered Natural Weapons blade skill, you can be REALLY effective at natural weapons, and not block access to Warsoul or Gifted Blade archetypes.

So a quick build that seems better to me is taking Deadly Fist/Warsoul Soulknife, taking Empowered Natural Weapons blade skill and grabbing natural weapon through a Discipline swap into Chimera Soul (1st level stance). This combo means that all natural attacks are soulblades with a base damage of 1d6 (medium size), and you can natural weapon flurry too. No need for an Amulet of Mighty Fists, but Deadly Fist has no *incompatibility* with one either, as there is with Amulet and Meditant.

“The moonlight meditant’s claws and bite do not benefit from amulets of mighty fists and similar effects;”


I think if Meditant was changed to allow compatibility with Warsoul, the temptation to go another route would be greatly diminished; maybe even wrap in an option that if they take both Meditant and Warsoul they can swap for Chimera Soul for free.



“At 1st level, a moonlight meditant’s mind blade takes the form of a primary bite or two primary claw attacks, chosen when he forms his mind blade. These attacks deal damage as appropriate for the moonlight meditant’s size, and may shift their location freely, allowing the moonlight meditant to make attacks with any part of his body (though he may not make claw attacks in the same round he makes an attack with his hands, and may not use these weapons in conjunction with other natural weapons of the same type).”

This says I can shift my bite to, like, my foot? Is that really the intension here?

I’m not sure why Meditant goes against the standard procedure of treating all natural attacks as secondary when using manufactured weapons, and gos so far as to ban that combo… though only banned using claw attacks, so I guess I can still combine manufactured weapons with bite attacks.



“He may treat himself as if he were in any space he could move to with this ability for determining whether or not he can attack a creature (though in order to attack them, he must move to a space from which he threatens them), allowing him to decide which creature to attack, then move into a space from which he could attack.”

What is this intended to allow or overcome?

The basic ability to move 5 ft before each attack is pretty clear. You move and can then attack whatever you can hit – like any melee attack.



“Blade Skills: A moonlight meditant cannot choose”
A Deadly Fist doesn’t have a list of restricted bladeskills, so going that route gives you much more flexibility in choice.


"Moonsilver Body (Su):… This ability replaces psychic strike."

A bit of DR, thematic as it is, it not worth the opportunity cost of being unable to select Warsoul. How about costing the bladeskill at 2nd? This archetype is already incompatible with other archetypes that cost the blade skill at 2nd. And this could be dropped in level down to 2nd when you lose the blade skill in question.

Still, I have trouble with this minor amount of DR costing any real character resource – Bladeskill or Psychic strike.



“In Wolves’ Clothing (Su):” “Moonsilver Corona”

I like these, and minor replenishable temp HP is a cool effect, as it Con to deflection; but it really requires a highly Con- optimized build to take advantage of… So, now I know what the Gelatinous Cube race is meant to become.

[Forrestfire]

Alrighty. Sorry for taking a bit of time to reply to this and get changes to the Moonlight Meditant; we've been taking feedback from here and other places and the overall feel we've gotten is that the Moonlight Meditant is weaker than it was intended to be. It was meant to be something closer to the Living Legend from PsiAug Occult, which breaks compatibility with the excellent War Soul archetype in exchange for comparable boosts. It's now clear that it really wasn't.

Spoiler: Moonlight Meditant Changelog

Show

• Enhanced Mind Blade buffed to have a unique scaling on their claw/claw/bite mind blades
• In Wolves' Clothing 'shell' clarified to not interfere with armor
• Moonsilver Corona merged with In Wolves' Clothing; In Wolves' Clothing now gives up to three size-ups, at 4th, 8th, and 16th levels (closer to the progression of expansion).
• Moonlight Meditants don't take size penalties for growing using their moonlight magic
• Savage Pursuit increases in distance faster, to match the new size progression
• No longer gets a floating shifting feat at 8th level; instead, the other places were buffed and the feat at 1st floats.

Psychic Strike and War Soul
Psychic strike on this archetype is replaced with the small damage reduction as a bit of a ribbon effect; it was originally the enhancement boost to non-mind blade natural weapons, but that was rolled into the enhanced mind blade ability. Nonetheless, it's still somewhat useful (even if it's not great), and in reality, the power lost by losing psychic strike is actually going to the other class features.

Comparisons to Deadly Fist
That's true; the Deadly Fist War Soul was much better than the first version in the playtest doc. Hopefully, this will now be rectified, as the Moonlight Meditant has gotten some unique buffs on their mind blades, and faster size increases/self-buffs.

Foot Bites and Secondary Natural Weapons
The intention is that you can make your natural attacks with your hands bound or with your feet or whatever you like. They're free-floating, as they're part of the energy "shell" you've formed. It's similar to something like an Umbra from Magic: the Gathering in image, if that helps.

For the claws and weapons in the hand, that's actually a result of the infamous FAQ about refluffing and natural weapons. Claws go on hands. That's a rule in Pathfinder, and not something the Moonlight Meditant sidesteps. In addition, according to the CRB FAQ, you're not able to offhand an unarmed strike or set of armor spikes either, normally, if you attack with both hands. Kinda messy, but it's just how it works.

Gifted Blade
As noted in the High-Psionics Soulknives section in Psionics Augmented: Soulknife, Psionics Augmented: Living Legend, and now here in Lords of the Wild, most of the time, your GM should be giving soulknives the Gifted Blade manifesting abilities for free. If they're not giving it for free, then the Moonlight Meditant is going to be better-balanced against other soulknives who are likewise not manifesting.

Savage Pursuit movement
The reason for the passage allowing you to treat yourself as if you were next to someone is that thanks to how the rules on attacks work, it's not actually clear or simple. You can only attack people you threaten, and savage pursuit isn't reach; it's movement. Since you can only make the movement when making an attack, it requires you "lock on," in a sense, to move up and attack someone.

Deadly Fist's lack of blacklist
The passage for the blade skills is similar to that in the Psychic Armory and Living Legend archetypes. In this case, the archetype have a specific balance point we're going for, so mechanically speaking, its mind blade is one thing. It can look however you want it to, but it's not something you can use a blade skill to turn into a greatsword or a trio of 18-20 crit weapons or the like.

Con bonus to AC
This is mostly just a nice extra effect for the majority of soulknives; your Con will be good but not maxed. Some soulknives will particularly like it, if they've got a +Con race, though, and the Str and Dex boosts as they level up will allow them to focus more on Con if they want.

[ATalsen]

It was meant to be something closer to the Living Legend from PsiAug Occult, which breaks compatibility with the excellent War Soul archetype in exchange for comparable boosts. It's now clear that it really wasn't.

The new changes look pretty attractive to me; enough so that I’d definitely consider this archetype when going for natural attacks.

Now I’m looking forward to using the new Bestow Blade power to give the Claw/Fang soulblade to other PCs! ;)



Savage Pursuit movement
Ok, so it sounds like there’s some rules issue that I can’t quite wrap my head around here. You don’t threaten anyone you can’t reach in this case – I get that – but you get to move before you attack, so now you are threatening them and can attack them. It’s like taking a 5 ft step before or during a full attack to bring yourself into reach.

I guess what really throws me is that Fool’s Errand maneuvers that do the same type of thing (example: Windmill Waltz Flurry) don’t have this extra text and they read just fine, so why the extra text here?

Maybe this can be re-worded in some way to work more like those maneuvers or like the 5ft + Full Attack does in core?

[Forrestfire]

Savage Pursuit movement
Ok, so it sounds like there’s some rules issue that I can’t quite wrap my head around here. You don’t threaten anyone you can’t reach in this case – I get that – but you get to move before you attack, so now you are threatening them and can attack them. It’s like taking a 5 ft step before or during a full attack to bring yourself into reach.

I guess what really throws me is that Fool’s Errand maneuvers that do the same type of thing (example: Windmill Waltz Flurry) don’t have this extra text and they read just fine, so why the extra text here?

Maybe this can be re-worded in some way to work more like those maneuvers or like the 5ft + Full Attack does in core?

With windmill waltz flurry and the other Dance strikes, the step movement happens after the attack, so there's no targeting issues, and the other movement is part of the action of the strike and not linked to the attacks at all. Ditto full attacks and the like; a 5-foot step during a full attack is just a free action move, without restrictions, taken between your attacks.

With savage pursuit, it's not "you move and then attack"; without the attack, there's no movement. However, because this ability is meant to let you close gaps to people, it can't work like the Dance strikes, because this movement has to happen before the attack. It's meant to let you move up to people and attack them (completely for free; it's not a move action or 5-foot step), and it only procs when you actually make an attack.

Because you can't make the attack unless you threaten someone, if the rules text allowing you to pick targets outside your potential reach wasn't there, the ability would never actually let you move and attack someone you weren't already reaching. The movement does not happen until after you've decided to make an attack against someone, at which point there's no going back—you've chosen to attack them and get your movement to move up to them and attack them (unlike, a 5-foot step, which is taken between attacks and thus the decisions of what to attack).

There's probably a way to word it so that it works as intended without having a "phantom reach" effect, but it's a bit of a complex ability to word, for how simple it seems. I might just be missing it though... I'm gonna think on it some more. If you have any suggestions for how to fix it to be more concise (that is, the movement can't be taken unless you're already making an attack, and has to be able to be used to move up and attack someone who was potentially outside your reach), I'd be happy to make changes to the wording

[MilleniaAntares]

A weapon's reach does not derive from its threat range. In fact, it's the opposite: "You threaten all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your turn."

I cannot seem to find any language you can only attack people you threaten; you only seem to need threat in order to make attacks of opportunity, flank, and the like.

After all, you can attack with an unarmed strike, but you do not threaten with it. Perhaps relatedly, you also provoke an AoO when doing so.

Similarly, you can attack with a bow, but you do not threaten with it. Perhaps relatedly, you also provoke an AoO when doing so. This may be supported by the Snap Shot feat, which adds threat and removes AoOs from making ranged attacks.

Likewise, a whip can attack up to 15 ft without threatening; you simply provoke an AoO in the process! You just provoke an AoO in the process! With Snap Shot, you can get 5 ft of threat; with Improved Snap Shot, you get 10. With Improved Whip Mastery, you can get 10 ft of threat (with medium), or 15 (if large), both of which are lower than the actual reach of an appropriately sized whip depending on how you interpret the whip rules.

In a reverse manner, you can have a threat greater than your reach, such as with Combat Patrol, the warder's superior version of Combat Patrol, or Iron Tortoise Stance.

In conclusion, I don't think you need any special wording at all.

[ATalsen]

With the design goals clarified, I think I understand the intent.

How about just a flat statement that you can attack, plus a statement blocking "non-persuit" movement:


Savage Pursuit (Ex): During his turn, a moonlight meditant can move up to 5 feet as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity before each attack he makes with his mind blade; after this movement he may make his attack against any target he now threatens. A moonlight meditant may not use this movement to move to a location where they do not threaten an opponent, or otherwise cannot make the attack. At 4th level, he can move up to 10 feet before each attack with his mind blade, rather than 5 feet; at 8th level, he can move up to 15 feet, and at 16th level, he can move up to 20 feet before each attack. A moonlight meditant may use this ability in the same turn he takes a 5-foot step, and vice-versa. This ability replaces throw mind blade.

[Forrestfire]

Hmm. Yeah, that works great. Thanks!

[Powerdork]

Savage Pursuit (Ex): During his turn, a moonlight meditant can move up to 5 feet as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity before each attack he makes with his mind blade; after this movement he may make his attack against any target within reach from his new position. The moonlight meditant cannot make an attack in this fashion against opponents he cannot reach from his new position. At 4th level, he can move up to 10 feet before each attack with his mind blade, rather than 5 feet; at 8th level, he can move up to 15 feet, and at 16th level, he can move up to 20 feet before each attack. A moonlight meditant may use this ability in the same turn he takes a 5-foot step, and vice-versa. This ability replaces throw mind blade.


Just my take on it after seeing the suggested text and thinking 'this could be improved further'.

[Happy Gravity]

I think the Wild Huntmaster needs some specific feats for it to use.

Something like Charnel Soldiers for their Pack. Maybe another feat expanding this to all members of the Collective (or just the Become the Beast target).

I was building one and I ended up taking all four Damnation Feats because there just wasn't anything else that I really wanted that could support what the archetype could do.

[Vhaidara]

I have a few feats in the pipeline, I just got pulled onto another project for the time being that has been taking priority (and dealing with RL BS). I'm still writing down ideas for this when I get them.

[Mathias1313]

I agree with Happy gravity to some degree. I am currently making a Wild Huntsmaster and have come to see some problems.

1) I think you should probably clarify the Hunting Pack. The power gives us 1 pack member per slot we fill and you limit the number of Pack members we can have at one time which is fine. The Stat block however seems to infer it functions like a swarm. Beasts of the Hunt supports this I think but the wording all seems clunky to me. Under HP it should probably say that you x the number of spaces in the collective occupied by the hunting pack or else someone's gonna try enlarging them and quadrupling the HP. Also, it looks like you have the Pack pool its HP together but you can send them off Individually to attack which I can see people having problems with. So if I have a Pack filling 3 spots in the collective, the pack has, provided a CHA of 20 and lvl 10, 5x10x3 or 150HP? That means as a DM I have to chew thru 150 hp before I can stop it. That seems excessive, maybe its just me. I think you should have the HPs set up individually per Pack member, that way doing damage can widdle down the effectiveness of the pack. I would probably have something in there where you cannot re-summon new members while there are still members alive or cause dismissing them as a swift or move action or something. Cause right now I have full damage capability until something chews through my 150hp, as per the example above, but at anytime I can blow a full round action to fully heal them.

2) What is the point of giving them Spirit of Many without giving them access to some powers with the Network descriptor or giving them ab ability like Medic powers? Cause is it just me or are there no real Network Powers on the Dread list?
3)Last thing, under Beasts of the Hunt it says "When the hunting pack is directed to take a full turn, it can move each of its beasts up to its speed as a move action and can make up to a single attack with each of its beasts as a standard action. When it is directed as a move action, a single one of its beasts can move and attack, and the rest do not act." This wording seems confusing to me. Maybe something like "When the Huntmaster directs his Hunting Pack as a standard action he can move each beast up to their speed and make a single attack. When he directs them as a move action, a single Beast can move its speed and attack, and the rest do nothing." I don't see the point of saying the beasts are taking a standard or move action as they cant do anything by themselves
4) As a suggestion, Become the Beast seems like a very cool idea but is utterly useless if you are a solitary hunter. You should allow it to be used on the Hunting pack as well. Limit the choices to Upgrading the Bite and maybe extend the duration? Not sure, just an idea. Another Idea would be to allow all the hunting pack to share your Teamwork Feats, or Style feats, or something. Or even just allowing you to use any of your powers on the Hunting pack as if they had the Network descriptor would be interesting.

I 100% love just about everything in this playtest. The Wild Huntmaster is what has took most of my focus. I'll send more feedback one the rest when I have time.