Need Four feats for a Warbeast Dire Elephant

[killem2]

It is 21hd, 43 str, 332 hp Gargantuan.

DM said I had to take the inital feats of a normal elephant.

Alertness, Endurance, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Listen)

She is way to big to get into dungeons at the moment and even with a shrink collar (which I plan on getting) we have been dealing kobolds almost non stop. However I do want a epic gaurd elephant so we can all stay up in a rope trick with the wizard.

What feats would you go with, and if you can why? :smallbiggrin: Dragon Mag, 3.0 and 3.5 allowed, as well as online sources and Dark Sun.

[Venger]

The shock trooper line is well suited to an elephant:

1) power attack
2) imp bullrush
3) shock trooper

it's a tactical feat in complete warrior (thus giving 3 maneuvers)

1: heedless charge: take the penalty from power atk and put it on ac instead of atk.
2: domino rush: bullrush a guy into another guy and get a free trip against them both
3: directed bullrush: for every square you push a guy back, you also push him horizontally

very good combo with elephant.

since he's already got endurance, steadfast determination might be a good choice for his last feat. it lets him use his great con instead of his terrible wis for will saves.

[Piggy Knowles]

I'd definitely look into Martial Study/Martial Stance. 21 HD means that you can initiate 5th-level maneuvers. How about Martial Study (Foehammer), Martial Stance (Thicket of Blades) and Martial Study (Divine Surge)?

[killem2]

I wouldn't say Her Will save is terrible :) It's kind of up there. But yes con is much better.


Those are some pretty brutal attacks.

here I was thinking, power attack , powerful charge, improved nat attack.


What you suggested is so much better.

Can I ask how you fluff an animal being able to pull off tob moves?

[Venger]

I wouldn't say Her Will save is terrible :) It's kind of up there. But yes con is much better.


Those are some pretty brutal attacks.

here I was thinking, power attack , powerful charge, improved nat attack.


What you suggested is so much better.

Can I ask how you fluff an animal being able to pull off tob moves?

well, a 21 HD animal with a 13 wis has a will save of +8

I'm not sure exactly what your pet's con is, but if you have 332hp, then you'd need a con of 32-33 if you had avg hp at every HD (except 1st of course) for a +11 bonus with 90 hp coming from HD, leaving the remaining 242 to come from con.

or in the less likely scenario of your animal having max hp every hd, you would need a con of 24-27 to account for the remaining 164 hp. either way, your con bonus is better by at least 6 points and possibly as much as 10 points, so this is a decent option, especially since animals are targeted with wills first since it's their traditional weak save.

fluff for tob is mutable. it doesn't need to be your elephant having gone to kung fu school (though that's a valid option, kung fu panda style) it could have tutored under loxo (elephant people) or maelephants (elephant demons) or hollyphants (elephant angels) or a multiclassed druid/rkv could've taught her some elephant kung fu while wild shaped so she could communicate proper technique in elephant language via a pearl of speech or the like.

what is your elephant's personality like? is it awakened? does your character make any effort to talk to it? what's its history? how did you come to get it? did you rescue it from an abusive circus? did you raise it yourself from a calf? did you take it as spoils of war after killing some haradrim?

the real question is how you fluff your elephant doing these maneuvers.

in a similar vein, shape soulmeld and open chakra are viable (if less powerful) options for the same reason that martial stance/study are. they can provide a variety of useful effects, and since your elephant's got so many HD, she can actually unlock the highest tier of binds (waist or throat) which can give a ton of neat effects, including a fly speed (from shape soulmeld: manticore belt) and flyby attack (from the waist bind of manticore belt) getting essentia might be a little tricky, but bonus essentia is an option, even if it's probably weaker than some of your other choices here

flight provides an important tactical advantage if you don't already have an item or spell on your elephant to have her fly all the time.

are you a mounted combat dood?

[killem2]

The elephant is just a bought off the market place warbeast dire elephant.

I like the loxo background.

i myself am a greenbound summoning/ashbound/elemental tricks, into planar sheperd shennanigans.

[Particle_Man]

in a similar vein, shape soulmeld and open chakra are viable (if less powerful) options for the same reason that martial stance/study are. they can provide a variety of useful effects, and since your elephant's got so many HD, she can actually unlock the highest tier of binds (waist or throat) which can give a ton of neat effects, including a fly speed (from shape soulmeld: manticore belt) and flyby attack (from the waist bind of manticore belt) getting essentia might be a little tricky, but bonus essentia is an option, even if it's probably weaker than some of your other choices here

flight provides an important tactical advantage if you don't already have an item or spell on your elephant to have her fly all the time.

I thought you needed a magic feather to get an elephant to fly. :smallsmile:

[killem2]

I thought you needed a magic feather to get an elephant to fly. :smallsmile:

lol.


I'm going to call her Charlotte after my favorite elephant in a movie:

http://elephantencounter.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/family_pix_025.37145338_std.jpg

And yes, the elephants con score is 33. She's a hefty one.

[Qc Storm]

lol.


I'm going to call her Charlotte after my favorite elephant in a movie:

http://elephantencounter.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/family_pix_025.37145338_std.jpg

And yes, the elephants con score is 33. She's a hefty one.

Get Endurance + Steadfast Determination. Gain 10 will saves.

[killem2]

I really like the idea of using Martial Study (Mountain Hammer) to overcome all hardness, and DR.

Taking Steadfast Determination for the excellent will saves (+35 now at this point)

And adding in Imp Natural Attack and Powerful Charge,

Charlotte is dealing 6d6+24 On a gore attack, with an addition 4d6 From powerful charge, +2d6 from Mountain Hammer.

12d6 on a charge, is a great tool for bashing down walls, and the Occasional Dragon :P.

And if I throw animal growth on her, it's going to get even more stupid.

I think that turns it into 16d6 on a charge.

[Diarmuid]

Just a note, you cant combine Mountain Hammer with a charge. Charge is a "special full round action", while the Mountain Hammer maneuver has a listed activation of Standard Action. While you can substitue any kind of "attack action" onto the end of a charge, you cannot activate a ToB manuever that isnt specifically intended to work with charges at the end of a charge.

[killem2]

Awww man :(

That sucks well, she's still got some power behind her.

I'll look at the other stances too then

That over coming DR is really attractive and we've been dealing with constructs recently and she could lay out a golem,

[Venger]

Awww man :(

That sucks well, she's still got some power behind her.

I'll look at the other stances too then

That over coming DR is really attractive and we've been dealing with constructs recently and she could lay out a golem,

Since your DM lets your female elephant have a gore attack, she has some kind of tusk extensions. perhaps you could simply buy some adamantine tusk caps like historical war elephants have used

[killem2]

Since your DM lets your female elephant have a gore attack, she has some kind of tusk extensions. perhaps you could simply buy some adamantine tusk caps like historical war elephants have used

Well, the Dire Elephant has a gore attack, so he's letting me use the dire elephant :).


I need to check that out I don't know if I've ever seen weapons for animals in d&d books (that aren't 3rd party)