Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Warlock33 01-14-06, 06:37 PM	Well, for this next campaign I'm thinking about being some sort of druid/ranger/beastmaster-ish character, but I don't really care about how powerful he is (I actually took spinning halberd as a feat!). I'm making this character all about story line and stuff, you know, just making him plain fun. But to protect my goofy and flavorful character, I'm going to need to make my animal companion nasty. Tigers are more powerful, but I like the idea of a bear the best. Armored bear juggernaut, mmm. But anyways. The bear is equal to a druid of 9th level as a level 7 character. I was wondering what feats you guys would suggest, as I have raised him since birth and therefore I'll choose what feats he has. He has 8 hd, so that means 3 feats. The feats I'm planning on right now are power attack, improved bull rush and awesome blow. at 9th hd, planning on taking leap attack, and at 12th, shock trooper. However, here is a question about awesome blow: when you hit and they fail their reflex save, they are knocked 10 feet away from you, thereby exiting a threatened square. I would immediately get another attack in the form of an aop, correct? Furthermore, how would improved unarm strike affect a bear? Could I make two claw attacks, a bite attack, and iterative unarmed strikes in a full attack? I doubt it, but I'm not sure what the ruling on this is. Thanks for your time, 'Lock
PhoenixInferno 01-14-06, 07:10 PM	I doubt a bear would be allowed to make an Unarmed Strike attack. Just get Improved Natural Attack to bump up the claw damage.
Warlock33 01-14-06, 07:30 PM	Why in the world couldn't a bear make an unarmed strike? Headbutt, Kick, Shoulder charge...Doesn't have to be a "punch" A human monk could fight only with his feet if he so wished.
Warlock33 01-15-06, 03:29 AM	Bump. What three feats would you guys suggest?
Surreal 01-15-06, 03:49 AM	here is a question about awesome blow: when you hit and they fail their reflex save, they are knocked 10 feet away from you, thereby exiting a threatened square. I would immediately get another attack in the form of an aop, correct? Technically, yes. It's been known to be houserules out though, depending how the DM interprets it. Personally, I'm more partial to Knockback (Races of Stone). You perform a bull rush off a hit, and the opponent doesn't wind up prone (although it could in conjunction with Shock Trooper), but it triggers off every attack rather than eat up an entire standard action like Awesome Blow. Furthermore, how would improved unarm strike affect a bear? Could I make two claw attacks, a bite attack, and iterative unarmed strikes in a full attack? If your DM allows the bear to take IUS, then you get unarmed strikes as your primary attacks, and your claws and bite as secondary. What three feats would you guys suggest? The power attack/imp. bull rush/shock trooper feat tree is pretty good, but is generally better suited to two handed attackers to make the best use of power attack. If your party is well suited to making the best of battlefield control though, then pick up this line as soon as you can. Imp. unarmed strike is an odd choice, but it does lead into imp. grapple, and bears are naturally very strong grapplers. Other feats to consider: improved natural attack, multiattack - both of which increase your damage output Yet another feat tree to consider: if you make your bear your mount, then there's an entire slew of feat possibilities
Warlock33 01-15-06, 01:39 PM	Yea, I probably will take the bear as my mount, there are just so many feat trees it's basically boiled down to what will be the most fun, because all are good. Actually, the power attack/leapattack tree is fine because a bear gets 1.5 it's strength modifier on the bite if it's the only attack it makes. Which is what would happen if I charged. I would rule that if it gets 1.5 it would qualify for 2x power attack, just like a two handed weapon. So a leaping power attack would be the normal x4.