Lf 1 level non druid/spirit shaman dip to gain magic fang

[Yogibear41]

Hello all, I am currently playing a solo character werewolf lord from time to time when not playing with the main group of players from our campaign. Now due to my damage reduction and decently high burst damage I am pretty much mowing down the majority of low CR critters I fight(open campaign world so run into things around cr 5 often) however I have a serious problem when it comes to incroporeal creatures because I lack any sort of magical weapon(I focus on natural attacks) a wand or other similar item will be of no help to me really as I have no ranks in UMD in addition to this being a low magic world to an extent. Anyway I'm looking for a way to actually be able to hit said incorporeal critters that does not involve actual magic items, my plan was to take at least 1 level in warshaper after finishing my savage progression then maybe try to take a level in a divine spell casting class for access to magic fang. However, due to my alignment(somewhere between CE and CN) I'm afraid to take druid due to possibly losing my powers do to alignment, in addition I would actually have to track down a druid to teach me enough to gain a level in that class, and the majority of druids would see me as an abomination and try to kill me being a lycanthrope and all and I highly doubt I could find a spirit shaman where I am currently every class has a place in the world we are in and it seems like it would be more oriental flavored so I highly doubt I would have access to it or other things(like ninja, swordsage, etc) so I figured I might be better off with cleric, but the only way I know to get magic fang is through the beastial domain in Book of Vile Darkness, are their any other ways to get magic fang on my list? I'm willing to dip an arcane casting class if I can, but would really prefer divine. I would also prefer spontaneous over prepared even though my charisma is much lower than my wisdom. Brain stats: Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 11 Also have 2 levels of barbarian if that info helps in anyway.

Appreciate any advice or ideas, thanks for the help :smallsmile:

[Malroth]

Druids of all extremes exist, there are NG druids who help farmers tend their lands in a way that prevents damage to the land and NE druids who live among the Lions hunting anything they can catch with their fangs wither 4 legged or 2. Finding a similarly aligned druid shouldn't be more than a 1 session adventure involving consulting some NPC sage.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Finding a druid to teach you shouldn't be a problem. In FR, followers of Malar the Beastlord are often evil lycanthropes and would probably welcome you with open arms.
There's probably analogues in every setting.

If you're worried about the alignment change you could roleplay your character as accepting the animal within
or bringing the beast inside closer to the surface, thus shifting your alignment to neutral on the law-chaos axis.
That would fit well with druidic training imo.

[Khedrac]

The other option is Archivist - as Magic Fang is a divine spell they can get it.

[Chronos]

Yeah, anything involving divine spellcasting is better with Archivist.

[Yogibear41]

Archivist wouldn't work for me at all because I would have to keep up with a spellbook. A good majority of the time I just run around naked in hybrid form lol :smallsmile:

[Randomguy]

If you worship a deity with the dragon domain then you can take a level of Cleric or Divine Crusader. 5 levels of sorcerer can also get you access to the Dragon domain via an ACF in complete champion.

[Feilith]

Death master from dragon compendium has magic fang, but you have to be evil and carry a spell book filled with blasphemous writings. It needs that spell book but you also get an undead minion similar to a druid animal companion that can be a skeletal wolf, fitting in with your wolf theme. If you can get your dm to make it spontaneous then it could easily be the class for you

Edit: genious idea right here. Use your skeletal wolf's ribcage as a spell book holder. That way its always on hand when you need it, and you get a minion thats pretty awesome too.

[Failed Phantasm]

If you happen to have access to Magic of Incarnum, and if your DM allows it, you might want to consider going into Totemist (MoI, pg. 29-32) instead of a divine casting class. If you've never used an incarnum class before, it can be a bit difficult to learn a new subsystem, and introducing it to your game can be a bit tricky, but there are handbooks you can read if you're entirely new to this.

This is a good start: Incarnum and YOU: a reference guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215723)

As for the Totemist itself, it has a number of good soulmelds, most of which either affect natural weapons or give you new ones to play with (even in human form); the first one to consider is Totem Avatar (MoI, pg. 90-91), which grants an enhancement bonus to your natural armor equal to the amount of essentia you invest in it, and binding it to your totem chakra grants you a morale bonus to damage with your natural attacks equal to the amount of essentia you invest in it. So with a two level dip in Totemist, you get a +2 enhancement bonus to your armor, as well as a +2 morale bonus to damage with your natural weapons.

The advantages of being a Totemist are:

Totemists may be of any alignment.
You can use your soulmelds in animal and hybrid forms without needing feats. You'd need at least Silent Spell to cast in hybrid form, but with just a dip, you wouldn't have second-level spell slots to cast your first-level spells.
A meldshaper has access to every soulmeld that his class grants access to, so there's no "soulmelds known" to keep track of.
Soulmelds last until unshaped or dispelled, which is practically indefinitely (unless you run into a caster who somehow decides casting dispel magic at the angry werewolf lord is a good idea), so you don't have to worry about magic fang's 1 minute/CL duration. In addition, soulmelds can be shaped after you wake up, so you don't have to spend a round casting before or during combat.
Incarnum classes scale off Constitution instead of a mental stat. You can shape a number of soulmelds equal to your Con score minus 10 (or as many as your class level allows, whichever is lower), so if your Con is 16, you can shape up to six soulmelds once you have enough Totemist levels. Also, Con sets the DC of any soulmelds that require it.
The amount of essentia you can invest in your soulmelds (MoI, pg. 19) scales with character level, not class level, so having 6 animal HD and 2 levels of barbarian doesn't hurt nearly as much as if you were trying to enter a caster class. You can invest 2 essentia into your soulmelds at level 6 - 11, which is coincidentally, the amount you'll have at Totemist 2.

[Yogibear41]

I like this totemist idea, my DM actually mentioned to me the other day about how he read the incarnum book and actually liked it, but I don't think anyone has every played an incarnum class before. I have access to the book and have glanced over it a few times but I might consider looking into it now. Thanks for the suggestion! :smallsmile:



EDIT: hmm after looking through it, none of the powers actually give an enhancment bonus to your original natural attacks, they only enhance the natural attacks you gain from the soulmelds, so this may not actually be the class for me after all :smallfrown:

[Failed Phantasm]

Most totemist soulmelds that grant bonuses to natural weapons say explicitly in their text "... natural weapons (whether from soulmelds or other sources)..." or some variation of that, which includes a werewolf's claw and bite attacks.

EDIT: Soulmelds that give you new natural attacks - like Worg Pelt or Girallon Arms - have bonuses that only affect themselves if you've bound them to a chakra, but melds like Dread Carapace and Totem Avatar have bonuses that affect all your natural weapons.

[JusticeZero]

I was going to mention the Psionic Warrior's Metaphysical Claw (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/m/metaphysical-claw), accessable either by dip or two feats. But I suspect that the totemist idea would work better in practice.