Help with DFA/Totemist gestalt build

[Sulphuricbear]

Starting a new campaign on Monday, and I was selected to be either scout or tank. I decided on both. The idea is a super tough tank who can outsneak a rogue. Idea is totemist DFA build. Any criticism is very much needed.

Crucian monk 1/ DFA 12/ Totemist 15

Stats before modifiers
Str 14/ Con 17/ Dex 8/ Int 12/ Wis 12/ Cha 10

After racial and VoP and levels
Str 20/ Con 32/ Dex 8/ Int 12/ Wis 16/ Cha 8

Feats:
Run
Sacred vow
VoP
Dark stalker
Double chakra-shoulder
Bonus Essentia

Generally I would shape
Phase cloak [shoulder]
Displacer Mantle [shoulder] 2 Essentia
Worg pelt [feet]. 3 Essentia
Basilisk mask [totem]
Worm tail belt [unbound at waist] 3 Essentia
Rage claws [unbound at arms] 3 Essentia
Kruthik claws [unbound at hands] 3 Essentia

AC: 10+9+9+1=29 without binds

Hide would be over 30 and move silently way over 25. Is this a feasible build. I have a 60ft move speed, can walk through walls, can run and have huge bonuses to hide & move silently. AC would be 34 and Hp is 178. is this a feasible build and what can I do to make it better? I would prefer to keep VoP as it fit the fluff. Other characters are a combat themed yuan ti ranger, a monk fighter and a Blue mage homebrew class. Advice appriciated

[Piggy Knowles]

Some issues with your meld selection:

Competence bonuses don't stack with each other, so the Hide bonuses from Kruthik Claws, Displacer Mantle and Worg Pelt won't stack. Pick one (I like Kruthik Claws myself, but it depends on what slots you need to leave open) and focus your essentia into that.

Rage Claws can't be put in the arms slot.

Assuming max ranks, you should be looking at +18 Hide/MS from ranks. Add in +10 from Kruthik Claws (or +14 if you bind it to your Totem Chakra, or +16 if you also spend an additional feat) +Dex. This means that you'll be looking at between +28 and +34 from ranks and Kruthik Claws alone, before Dex. That's pretty solid, although nowhere near what a character with appropriate WBL could pull off.

EDIT: Sorry, VoP. I'll remove the item suggestions. This knocks down your Hide total considerably, I'm sorry to say. You also will probably want to spare a feat for Shape Soulmeld (Enigma Helm), so that you can get SOME protection from magical detection spells. Nondetection isn't the best protection around, but it's better than nothing.

[danzibr]

Few questions for ya. How optimized is your party? As in... their builds and gear selection (I'm guessing not very since you mentioned them at the end of your post). If you're playing with a bunch of optimizers (or just not non-optimizers) the VoP might make you fall behind hard.

Crucian monk 1/ DFA 12/ Totemist 15

How does this work? IIRC you can't LA one side of your gestalt. So you'd be Crucian (+2) Monk1/DFA 12//Totemist 13.


Feats:
Run
Sacred vow
VoP
Dark stalker
Double chakra-shoulder
Bonus Essentia

Why oh why do you have Run? There are much better feats out there. I'd say get something Incarnum-related. But then again... if you're not wanting to optimize then Run is okay.


Generally I would shape
Phase cloak [shoulder]
Displacer Mantle [shoulder] 2 Essentia
Worg pelt [feet]. 3 Essentia
Basilisk mask [totem]
Worm tail belt [unbound at waist] 3 Essentia
Rage claws [unbound at arms] 3 Essentia
Kruthik claws [unbound at hands] 3 Essentia

What's your combat strategy by the way? Get a bunch of natural weapons, walk up to them and smash faces? Or with the DFA are you going to be using your breath weapon? I assume it's the latter (or something like that) since you don't have much going on in the vein of melds which grant natural attacks.


AC: 20+9+9+1=29 without binds

Just to nitpick, you mean 10+9+9+1? It's worth mentioning (though you likely know) even if you have a soulmeld which gives an armor bonus to AC it won't stack with the sacred armor bonus to AC from VoP. Also can you list where exactly this AC's coming from?


Hide would be over 30 and move silently way over 25. Is this a feasible build. I have a 60ft move speed, can walk through walls, can run and have huge bonuses to hide & move silently. AC would be 34 and Hp is 178. is this a feasible build and what can I do to make it better? I would prefer to keep VoP as it fit the fluff. Other characters are a combat themed yuan ti ranger, a monk fighter and a Blue mage homebrew class. Advice appriciated
As for the "is this a feasible build," yeah totally if it fits the rest of your party. You want to be sneaky, you're good. And you're super tough, as desired. As for what you can do to make it better, without ditching VoP you can fiddle with your feat selection a little bit, choose different soulmelds as Piggy Knowles suggested, maybe choose a different race, depending on what you want to do in combat you can choose something other than Monk 1.

[Amnestic]

How does this work? IIRC you can't LA one side of your gestalt. So you'd be Crucian (+2) Monk1/DFA 12//Totemist 13.


I don't think the rules are exactly clear and some DMs run it with LA applying to one side while others split it evenly over both while others apply the full number to both sides. I prefer the formermost method personally, and it's quite possible the OP's DM does as well.

My main question to the OP is 'What is DFA giving you?' Your feats and strategy seem to be all based around the Totemist, so I guess you just want the passive invocs from DFA? That's fine, though honestly if you're aiming for passive stuff then Binder would probably be the superior option.

Find a feat somewhere for Entangling Exhalation at the very least.

[Sulphuricbear]

Competence bonuses don't stack with each other, so the Hide bonuses from Kruthik Claws, Displacer Mantle and Worg Pelt won't stack. Pick one (I like Kruthik Claws myself, but it depends on what slots you need to leave open) and focus your essentia into that.
I hadn't realised they were competence bonuses. I'll take your advice and go for kruthik claws.

Why oh why do you have Run? There are much better feats out there. I'd say get something Incarnum-related Suggestions are greatly needed.

What's your combat strategy by the way? Get a bunch of natural weapons, walk up to them and smash faces? Or with the DFA are you going to be using your breath weapon? I assume it's the latter (or something like that) since you don't have much going on in the vein of melds which grant natural attacks In combat I will be a battlefield controller using the DFA side. Breath attacks are lightning breath, Slow Breath and Enduring Breath. Invocations are generally passive like aquatic adaption and draconic flight

Rage Claws can't be put in the arms slot.
My mistake. I meant hands.

How optimized is your party? As in... their builds and gear selection (I'm guessing not very since you mentioned them at the end of your post). If you're playing with a bunch of optimizers (or just not non-optimizers) the VoP might make you fall behind hard.
Unfortunately it varies. One player rarely optimises, one is on a similar level and one is a crazy optimizer