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View Full Version : [3.5] Start with Totemist2, then What?



balistafreak
2010-07-07, 04:54 PM
I have this Totemist2 in front of me. He's pretty bog-standard:


Warforged.
Adamantine Body for the lulz.
Jaws of Death for the extra attack.
Binding Giralon Arms for 4 claw attacks, combined with the bite and slam for 6 attacks total.
Blink Shirt and Wormtail Belt to round out.


A "classic" progression is to then dip 2 levels of Lion Totem Barbarian, grab two more levels of Totemist, then go full out Totem Rager. However, I don't feel like focusing on Raging fits the character concept.

I'd like to try something with a more martial bent. While yes, I'll be taking at least one level of LTB to get Pounce, I'm not sure how useful the second level of LTB is (Uncanny Dodge isn't that useful due to low Dex from Adamantine Body, any good ACFs?)

Is it possible/feasible to simply use Totemist2/LTB1-2 as a springboard (by supplying some good weapons) into another martial class, like ToB? The idea of swapping initiator and Totemist levels to keep the Giralon Claws maxed out (with the Expanded Soulmeld feat, of course) in the later levels has a certain appeal to it.

... yeaaah, it looks like Totem Rager is by far the optimal choice. :smallannoyed:

Optimystik
2010-07-07, 04:56 PM
... yeaaah, it looks like Totem Rager is by far the optimal choice. :smallannoyed:

Is that a problem in some way? TR is a good class.

PId6
2010-07-07, 04:58 PM
Wolf Totem Barbarian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ) gets Improved Trip as a bonus feat, ignoring prereqs. Very nice when you don't have the stats to allocate 13 to Int and still want to trip. Probably of limited use to Totemist, but still better than Uncanny Dodge.

balistafreak
2010-07-07, 05:05 PM
Not so much as a problem as not exactly the concept I was going for. I prefer playing smarter, more calculating warriors to angry, face-smashing ones. Diamond Mind vs. Tiger Claw, one might say.

@PId6: Is it possible to blend the Lion and Wolf Totems like that? Alternatively, it's not that hard to simply not grab that second level. I was just wondering because of the builds online.

Wait, is it because of BAB requirement? :smallconfused: That might explain a lot. I'm AFB right now (laptop cacked from malware right now, distributed by a freakin' university security certificate :smallfurious:).

The idea of switching between Totemist and ToB levels intrigues me, but how much synergy do six (later seven) natural attacks and manuevers have?Assassin's Stance for sneak attack sounds nasty.

PId6
2010-07-07, 05:13 PM
@PId6: Is it possible to blend the Lion and Wolf Totems like that?
No reason why not unless your DM disallows it. They're completely unrelated, and are from different books even (the CC one is Spirit Lion Totem, not Lion Totem). They trade completely different things too. Mechanically, there's no reason why you can't.


The idea of switching between Totemist and ToB levels intrigues me, but how much synergy do six (later seven) natural attacks and manuevers have?Assassin's Stance for sneak attack sounds nasty.
Swordsage levels can work pretty well with lots of attacks. Assassin's Stance, the Burning Blade line, and some charging maneuvers like Searing Charge all work really well with them (assuming you have pounce).

Saph
2010-07-07, 05:13 PM
Try the Desert Wind maneuver, Burning Blade (and later on, its bigger brothers Searing Blade and Inferno Blade). Adding 1d6+level fire damage onto each melee hit can get pretty horrific with enough natural attacks.

Fax Celestis
2010-07-07, 05:18 PM
Why not more Totemist? Not like incarnum classes really suffer from not PrCing.

Alternatively, you could go Umbral Disciple or see about letting your DM waive the racial req on Ironsoul Forgemaster.

I would personally go something like Totemist 4/Warblade 1/Umbral Disciple 10/Totemist +5 (or replace the +5 with a homebrew dual incarnum/maneuver PrC). The warblade is so you can pick up Pearl of Black Doubt and couple it with Umbral Disciple's 3rd level Embrace of Shadow ability: miss chances make Pearl of Black Doubt ludicrously awesome.

If you want pounce, just use Sphinx Claws.

EDIT: Actually, Totemist 3/Barbarian 1/Warblade 1/Umbral Disciple 10/Totem Rager 5 could also be cool, especially if you wanted the Spirit Lion/Lion Totem ACFs