Calinero
2013-09-23, 03:46 PM
So, I just made a Druid for a friend's Pathfinder game, and am only now getting into the gist of how Wild Shape works.
First of all, let me just say that this is an atrociously written ability. It involves looking at two or three other places just to figure out how it works, plus access to bestiary to actually be functional. That said, it is a pretty cool ability, with a few caveats that I'm trying to figure out. Namely, the question of AC.
As a Druid, I don't have an amazing Dexterity bonus. However, I get medium armor, and can wield a shield if I want one. That, plus the ability to cast Barkskin fairly often, leads to a pretty good AC without too much investment. However, when I use Wild Shape, a lot of that armor goes away.
With Wild Shape, I'm getting a small bonus to natural armor, only +1 or +2 at the first rank of it. This comes at the cost of +6 or +7 regular armor. That's a pretty sizable hit, in return for a potentially faster movement and natural attacks.
I'm a huge fan of the natural attacks, and the special abilities you can get later on, such as Grab and Pounce. However, this transformation doesn't give you any extra hit points, is a huge hit to AC, and presumably wouldn't transfer over the benefits of any magic weapons you may have acquired. All of its benefits are geared towards making you a striker, but seem to greatly increase the chances that you wont' survive being on the front lines. The Druid doesn't have a great hit die or BAB to begin with, so why is one of its core mechanics centered on throwing them into the melee and depriving them of AC? Am I missing something here?
First of all, let me just say that this is an atrociously written ability. It involves looking at two or three other places just to figure out how it works, plus access to bestiary to actually be functional. That said, it is a pretty cool ability, with a few caveats that I'm trying to figure out. Namely, the question of AC.
As a Druid, I don't have an amazing Dexterity bonus. However, I get medium armor, and can wield a shield if I want one. That, plus the ability to cast Barkskin fairly often, leads to a pretty good AC without too much investment. However, when I use Wild Shape, a lot of that armor goes away.
With Wild Shape, I'm getting a small bonus to natural armor, only +1 or +2 at the first rank of it. This comes at the cost of +6 or +7 regular armor. That's a pretty sizable hit, in return for a potentially faster movement and natural attacks.
I'm a huge fan of the natural attacks, and the special abilities you can get later on, such as Grab and Pounce. However, this transformation doesn't give you any extra hit points, is a huge hit to AC, and presumably wouldn't transfer over the benefits of any magic weapons you may have acquired. All of its benefits are geared towards making you a striker, but seem to greatly increase the chances that you wont' survive being on the front lines. The Druid doesn't have a great hit die or BAB to begin with, so why is one of its core mechanics centered on throwing them into the melee and depriving them of AC? Am I missing something here?