Urpriest
2010-10-29, 07:53 AM
I've been rolling a character concept around in my mind recently. Here's how the thought process went:
1. Kung fu bears are always fun. I once had an OA Shaman with a polar bear animal companion named Chaupiti. We'll call her that.
2. But what does a kung fu bear want in life...Con synergy and extra arms! Definitely grabbing totemist. Our kung fu bear now has a more Indian theme. We'll make her a dwarf from the Himalayas.
3. Hmm...blink shirt is pretty damn cool. But even if it's bound to my totem I'll still only get one attack on rounds when I blink up to people. This is kinda weak. What if the path isn't clear and I can't charge? Kung fu bears love full attacks, after all.
4. Teflammar Shadowlord!
So here's the problem: getting the absurd number of feats (not to mention sneak attack dice) for Teflammar Shadowlord means making a horrendous mess of a build that seems like it's trying to do too many things at once:
Cobra Strike Monk 2/Totemist 2/Barbarian 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Deepwarden 2/Bear Warrior 1/Swordsage 1/Teflammar Shadowlord 4/X 6
Where X can be more Swordsage for 3/round full attacks, Warshaper/Bear Warrior for more Con and Str, or Totemist for more melds. On the other hand if I didn't go shadowpouncing I'd end up with something like this:
Totemist 2/Barbarian 1/Totemist +1/Barbarian +1/Fist of the Forest 1/Deepwarden 2/Bear Warrior 1/Warshaper 2/Totem Rager 9
Both builds pretty much require two flaws to function. This depresses me a little, since I try to avoid things that piss off DMs. Anyway, the second build feels a lot less cluttered. The question is, how important is shadowpouncing to a kung fu bear? How much versatility does the extra meldshaping in the second build get me, and does it counteract the problem of full attacking people who refuse to stand in a straight line from me? Should I get rid of Deepwarden and put in something like Fighter to make up for being horribly horribly feat starved? Help!
1. Kung fu bears are always fun. I once had an OA Shaman with a polar bear animal companion named Chaupiti. We'll call her that.
2. But what does a kung fu bear want in life...Con synergy and extra arms! Definitely grabbing totemist. Our kung fu bear now has a more Indian theme. We'll make her a dwarf from the Himalayas.
3. Hmm...blink shirt is pretty damn cool. But even if it's bound to my totem I'll still only get one attack on rounds when I blink up to people. This is kinda weak. What if the path isn't clear and I can't charge? Kung fu bears love full attacks, after all.
4. Teflammar Shadowlord!
So here's the problem: getting the absurd number of feats (not to mention sneak attack dice) for Teflammar Shadowlord means making a horrendous mess of a build that seems like it's trying to do too many things at once:
Cobra Strike Monk 2/Totemist 2/Barbarian 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Deepwarden 2/Bear Warrior 1/Swordsage 1/Teflammar Shadowlord 4/X 6
Where X can be more Swordsage for 3/round full attacks, Warshaper/Bear Warrior for more Con and Str, or Totemist for more melds. On the other hand if I didn't go shadowpouncing I'd end up with something like this:
Totemist 2/Barbarian 1/Totemist +1/Barbarian +1/Fist of the Forest 1/Deepwarden 2/Bear Warrior 1/Warshaper 2/Totem Rager 9
Both builds pretty much require two flaws to function. This depresses me a little, since I try to avoid things that piss off DMs. Anyway, the second build feels a lot less cluttered. The question is, how important is shadowpouncing to a kung fu bear? How much versatility does the extra meldshaping in the second build get me, and does it counteract the problem of full attacking people who refuse to stand in a straight line from me? Should I get rid of Deepwarden and put in something like Fighter to make up for being horribly horribly feat starved? Help!