[3.5] Best use of natural weapons

[Shaynythyryas]

Hi everyone !

I'm playing a half-dragon (red, but CN), with two claws and one bite attacks ; and I'd like to give up on traditional weapons to only use my natural ones.
Now I know that these clearly can't compare with enchanted weapons at high level, but, still, I'd like to try it, 'cause it sticks well with my char.

What I'm looking for are :
- items (limit : items under 50 000 gp only. I have, however, more than 200 000 at my disposal.)
- tricky way to overcome the fact that I can't wear gloves, and can only wear one ring (I've got a cursed ring that blocks me one slot).
- permanent spells
- mabe feats but I'd like to keep these open for other stuff.

[Khaelic]

I can't speak for items but in terms of feats, in MM01 there's a feat called Improved Natural Attack which ups the size category of your attacks one size category. Also, if you find your attacks miss and you have secondary attacks, also take Multiattack.

[Gwendol]

You probably also want to check out Savage Species for more, including a necklace of natural weapons.

[Keld Denar]

Take Imp UAS. That kicks all of your natural weapons into the secondary category while still allowing you to take your iterative attacks. At that point, you have 4 natural weapons (UAS + claw + claw + bite), so the Amulet of Mighty Fists pays off. Then you just need to get a source or three of bonus damage (like SA, Knowledge Devotion, Insightful Strike, etc) to take advantage of your high number of attacks per round.

[Shaynythyryas]

I take it by Imp UAS you mean Improve unarmed strike ?
I... fail to see how this would give me an extra attack.
I get the point of Improve natural weapons (I can't afford a feat right now, so I think I'll buy a Fanged Ring which gives me the feat), but i don't understand the extra attack.
(btw, what does SA stands for ? I'm quite unfamiliar with acronyms.)

[Gwendol]

SA = sneak attack

[Andreaz]

I take it by Imp UAS you mean Improve unarmed strike ?
I... fail to see how this would give me an extra attack.
I get the point of Improve natural weapons (I can't afford a feat right now, so I think I'll buy a Fanged Ring which gives me the feat), but i don't understand the extra attack.
(btw, what does SA stands for ? I'm quite unfamiliar with acronyms.)

Natural weapons secondary, natural strike primary
Attack goes like this: US -> US -> (repeat till bab over) -> claw -> claw -> bite
With multiattack, you are at -2 to all natural weapon attacks (normally it'd be -5)
Draconomicon has two feats for extra natural weapon attacks, eventually tripling your claw attacks (pre-requisite is being the Dragon type and some bab)

Amulet of Mighty Fists is your go-to item here. Occupies neck slot, enchanted like a weapon (costs double than enchanting a weapon). All your natural attacks (unarmed strike included) are enchanted so.

[Shaynythyryas]

Thank you, that'll help me a lot.
And Savage Species is... awesome. I never put my nose in it, and goooosh i was wrong...

[HunterColt22]

This is why warforged are wonderful with natural attacks. "Here mechanical person, have an item that not only increases the size of its dice by two, but you can now enchant the ever living life out of your now over sized elephantiasis fists, enjoy!" Granted they can gain one more, but it is your jaw, and I don't think you can enchant that, unless your DM and you have a discussion on what constitutes your "body" enchantment for warforged plating and if it can only get armor type enchantments or if you can use it to power up your natural attack as well, considering the tracery feats. :smalltongue: On topic though, you have the rudimentary items covered such as the necklace and feats. Have you looked at the breath weapon feats yet since you are a half dragon? There are quite a few good ones, and one that lets you qualify for meta breath feats as well, just another thought since you have this as a natural attack option as well.

[Rubik]

I wouldn't bother with Improved Natural Attack, generally, unless you have a ton of size-boosters, as it only bumps you up an average of 1 point of damage. NOT worth it if you're spending a feat. The fanged ring, however, is a much better deal.

Consider going psychic warrior; they have a ton of natural attack boosters (claws especially) and gain all sorts of other good things as well.

[Telonius]

Some Incarnum and Dragon Magic could help. Two levels of Totemist, Dragon Tail soulmeld, Bind Incarnate Avatar soulmeld to your Totem Chakra; invest all your essentia here. With that, you get a tail attack and a morale bonus to all of your natural weapons' damage.

[eggs]

Natural weapons can definitely compete with normal weapons at high levels - especially considering that you can tag them into full weapon attacks as freebies. This thread (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10994.0) is relevant (its links and discussion as much as the OP).

Warblade (Tome of Battle), Swordsage (also ToB), Totemist (Incarnum), Kensai (CWar), Black Blood Cultist (Champions of Ruin) and Thayan Gladiator (also CoR) and sneak attack classes are about as friendly to natural weapon specialists as they come. Also maybe Soul Eater (BoVD), but the actions involved in its energy drain sometimes run into debate.