Giant kitty barbarian!

[Jeff the Green]

I've had a build idea floating about my head but I'm not entirely sure how to enact it.

Basically, a tibbit takes Stoneblessed (goliath) to the capstone and then takes the goliath Barbarian substitution level to go from a tiny housecat to a large housecat tiger when he rages. Aside from the visual, a housecat with its three natural weapons works reasonably well with lion totem both thematically and mechanically.

The main problem is damage. Tibbits have a -2 penalty to Strength and get a further -8 (minimum 3) when they become a cat. Mountain rage gives us +6, thankfully, but that still puts us at 14 (assuming we invest a full 18 in Strength). I can think of a few sources of damage:

Shadow Blade. We're going to have +4 to Dexterity, so this is an option.
More attacks. So, Totem Rager, I guess? We could add on IUAS and Beast Strike for iteratives, and if we're dipping into Dragon Magazine material, Mourning Mutate and Deepspawn. Warshaper's an option, but cheesy.
Strength Bonuses. Maybe a template. I'd rather not have it grow, so half-minotaur is out. Draconic or Mineral Warrior come to mind.


And then there's the rest of the build. We need two levels in something with Craft as a class skill to get into stoneblessed. If we're going into Totem Rager, Totemist is obvious. Otherwise, maybe Warblade or Swordsage for Tiger Claw maneuvers (unarmed swordsage would get us IUAS for iteratives and Beast Strike, along with WF for claws and a Shadow Hand stance). And then what do we do after 6th, when we have our general schtick off the ground?

[Kaje]

Course, due to the wording of Mountain Rage the kitty only gets about a foot bigger, even though he's large size.

[Kazyan]

Two levels in CE soulborn lets you ignore that -8 strength penalty.

Yes, I said a naughty word.

[Kaje]

Oh wow, that's true. That's pretty awesome.

[Jeff the Green]

That's... interesting. Might even be worth two levels, even if I feel like I need to take a shower afterwards.

So it's looking like Soulborn 2/Stoneblessed 3/Goliath Barbarian 1. That brings us to level 6. We could pick up Cobalt Rage as our 6th-level feat and then take two levels of Totemist before heading into Totem Rager. That'd end up with 24 Strength while raging (16 base, +6 rage, +2 levels), and Girallon Claws would give us a total of four claws and a bite (is there a better meld for this?).

[Kaje]

On the other hand, you could instead go into Warshaper.

[Jeff the Green]

Strictly speaking I think that'd be better. Unfortunately, warshaper gets silly quickly. There's no reason you can't go walking around with dozens of bites, hundreds of claws, oodles of tentacles, and a slam or two for good measure.

[Rizban]

Obviously, the best solution is to name the Tibbit Cringer and create another character to shout "By the power of Greyskull!"

[Rizban]

That's... interesting. Might even be worth two levels, even if I feel like I need to take a shower afterwards.

So it's looking like Soulborn 2/Stoneblessed 3/Goliath Barbarian 1. That brings us to level 6. We could pick up Cobalt Rage as our 6th-level feat and then take two levels of Totemist before heading into Totem Rager. That'd end up with 24 Strength while raging (16 base, +6 rage, +2 levels), and Girallon Claws would give us a total of four claws and a bite (is there a better meld for this?).

Just saw this one.
Going from Tiny to Large, a Tibbit's claws already deal 1d6 damage. While girallon arms would give two additional claws, it might be better to go with some other melds to give other attacks or other benefits instead. I like Manticore Belt for the ranged attack. Throw spikes at distance, move in, rage, and claw.

[Kaje]

Strictly speaking I think that'd be better. Unfortunately, warshaper gets silly quickly. There's no reason you can't go walking around with dozens of bites, hundreds of claws, oodles of tentacles, and a slam or two for good measure.

Yes there is. Warshaper is very specific about growing natural weapons: Pick a natural weapon. If you don't already have that kind of natural weapon, you grow one. If you do already have that kind of weapon, it gets bigger. So you can grow one natural weapon of each type to be colossal-size (does colossal+ actually mean anything mechanically? I've never been sure), and that's it. It's still a good ability, but not remotely as crazy as everyone seems to think.

[Ruethgar]

Shapeshift Druid is always a good dip for these kinda of builds, +4 Str +4 natural armor and speed to match nearer your size. Of course go 8 levels and you can increase your size again if you want.

[Sith_Happens]

Yes there is. Warshaper is very specific about growing natural weapons: Pick a natural weapon. If you don't already have that kind of natural weapon, you grow one. If you do already have that kind of weapon, it gets bigger. So you can grow one natural weapon of each type to be colossal-size (does colossal+ actually mean anything mechanically? I've never been sure), and that's it. It's still a good ability, but not remotely as crazy as everyone seems to think.

There are easily over 100 different natural weapons to grow (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286497). So yes, it is that crazy.