PF Shapeshifting Hunter feat, too good?

[grarrrg]

Link to Shapeshifting Hunter (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/shapeshifting-hunter)
Short version: Druid and Ranger levels stack for #/day Wild shape, and Favored Enemy bonuses.


Unless you are playing a Casting focused Druid, why would you ever NOT dip Ranger and take this feat?

EDIT for clarity: Taking this feat as a Druid 19/Ranger 1 gives you FULL Favored enemy bonuses, while losing almost nothing from Druid. And only if your dead set on Casting as a Druid would you ever bother with Druid 20.
Druid 19/Ranger 1 makes Druid 20 (mostly) obsolete, and makes one of the better classes even better. And yes Favored Enemy can be situational, but when you have 4 or more options (that you picked yourself), I'm sure something will be relevant a good portion of the time.

Heck, grab the World Walker Druid archetype and pick up Favored Terrain while your at it and make Ranger 20 obsolete as well!



And a Ranger dipping into Druid can't benefit NEARLY as much in turn, as it only adds to #/day Wild Shape, NOT duration or size of effect (and requiring 4 levels of Druid)

[Chained Birds]

Seems pretty nifty, especially for a Wild Shape/Melee focused Druid.

[CTrees]

I think the lost caster level, and 1 level drop in Animal companion is well worth gaining _5_ Favored Enemies.

Lost caster levels always hurt, but Boon Companion helps with the animal companion if you're REALLY worried.

EDIT: You do lose the at-will Wildshape capstone, but a cap of eight times per day isn't bad. What's worse, if you're dipping more than one level of ranger, is that the power and duration of Wild Shape aren't improved by ranger levels. The feat/dip combo isn't perfect, but it is pretty darned good.

On the bonus side, I don't think there's ANY drawback to the bonuses of dipping one level of Trapper Ranger (instead of vanilla). Urban Ranger would be even better, but it's harder to justify, fluff-wise.

[grarrrg]

You do lose the at-will Wildshape capstone, but a cap of eight times per day isn't bad. What's worse, if you're dipping more than one level of ranger, is that the power and duration of Wild Shape aren't improved by ranger levels. The feat/dip combo isn't perfect, but it is pretty darned good.

On the bonus side, I don't think there's ANY drawback to the bonuses of dipping one level of Trapper Ranger (instead of vanilla). Urban Ranger would be even better, but it's harder to justify, fluff-wise.

Druid Wildshape 'power' caps at level 12, and the 'duration' is 'druid level' HOURS. So 8/day transformations of 19 hours each? I think we'll be ok.


My main point is that with this feat Druid 19/Ranger 1 pretty much obsoletes Ranger 20.
(granted Druid 20 obsoletes Ranger 20, but.... it's worse now)

[Ravens_cry]

Eh, favoured enemy bonuses are pretty situational. In some campaigns they can be great, like one that focuses on undead or fiends. In others, less so.
I'm not saying it's not worth it, but it might not exactly be "I must, must have this feat" either as a druid.

[mikau013]

I'm guessing the feat doesn't work if took the guide archtype?

[RndmNumGen]

So with regard to the favored enemy scaling, do the bonuses still increase to +4/+6/+X as you gain new favored enemies, or do they all stay at +2?

[Ravens_cry]

I'm guessing the feat doesn't work if took the guide archtype?
No, because you don't have the favoured enemy class feature and therefore do not meet the prerequisitesfor the feat.

[grarrrg]

So with regard to the favored enemy scaling, do the bonuses still increase to +4/+6/+X as you gain new favored enemies, or do they all stay at +2?

Yes. You do get what you said.
As for WHICH of what you said.... I don't know.

The Wild Shape portion of the feat spells out that it only works for #/day uses.

The Favored Enemy portion needs a FAQ or something.

Feat
"Your levels of druid stack with your ranger levels for determining when you select your next favored enemy"

Favored Enemy
"At 5th level and every five levels thereafter...the ranger may select an additional favored enemy. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by +2."

I'd say "yes" you do get the +2 Increase.
But note that you only get a +2 _once_ each time you get a Favored Enemy
So at level 10 you could have +6/+2/+2 or +4/+4/+2, but NOT +6/+4/+2

[Snowbluff]

Sounds like the 3.5 Wildshaper Ranger for PF. Shouldn't be too OP. IIRC Wildshape had been nerfed with PF.

[grarrrg]

Sounds like the 3.5 Wildshaper Ranger for PF. Shouldn't be too OP. IIRC Wildshape had been nerfed with PF.

It's fine from a Ranger 16/Druid 4 point of view (you need Wild Shape to qualify for the feat), but think about it from the Druid 19/Ranger 1 point of view.

[KutuluKultist]

It's fine from a Ranger 16/Druid 4 point of view (you need Wild Shape to qualify for the feat), but think about it from the Druid 19/Ranger 1 point of view.

I would have vastly preferred if it gave you a way to add wild shape to the ranger, not just add favored enemy to a class that really needs nothing added to.

[Snowbluff]

I would have vastly preferred if it gave you a way to add wild shape to the ranger, not just add favored enemy to a class that really needs nothing added to.

Agreed, you aren't really doing much for Druid this way.