[3.5] Problems with a Totemist

[Krazzman]

Hello again playground,

our group has some problems meeting recently due to our DM and his wife (another player) having to deal with their newborn but we managed to meet last sunday.

Group there is level 4. Human Cleric of Kossuth, Dwarven Fighter, Elven Warmage, Azurin Totemist.

His build is this:
Azurin Totemist 4
Stats: 18 Str, 14 Dex, 16 Con, 14 Int, 14 wis, 10 Cha [Rolled stats via 4d6b3]
Feats:
A: Improved Soulmeld Capacity(Phoenix Belt)
1: Improved Unarmed Strike
3: Multiattack
Shapes: 4 (Currently: Phoenix Belt, Gorrilon Arms, Worgpelt Boots and Dread Carapace)
Binds: 1
noteworthy Equipment:
non MW Chainshirt, Amulet of Natural Attacks and the SAK.

Current Dmgoutput:
tohit(claws): 3(bab)+4(str)+3(essentia)+1(AoNA) = +11/+9/+9/+9
tohit(US): 3(bab)+4(str)+1(AoNA)-2(Multiattack) = +6.

DMG Mainattack(claw): 1d6+4(str)+1(AoNA)+3(Essentia) = 9-14
DMG Secondary(claw): 1d6+2(str)+1(AoNA)+3(Essentia) = 7-12
DMG US: 1d3+2(str)+1(AoNA)

We are playing an adventure and are currently in the hoard of a blue dragon in a desert to steal his breath with some sort of metal rod.

Last session was really weird. At least from the feeling. My dmg output is much higher than that of the fighter (although he has only 16 str). And generally I felt bad for having such a weird character with that many attacks.
So I need some input: What to shape/Bind and how to advance further.
My plan was to switch Gorrilon Arms for Sphinx Claws.
The Phoenixbelt is now in use due to the fact that our Cleric runs around with the Fiery Burst reserve feat and said to us that she will use it even if we are in the radius (she can hit 4 squares with it but is bound by line of sight).
Worg Pelt Boots are there for sneaking.
And the 4th is still unclear which I should take, I think I took Dread Carapace as we were advised to not wear metal armor.
Taking Superior Unarmed Strike or Improved Natural Attack (Claws).

Any recommendations?

[Dread_Head]

Well the amulet of natural attacks shouldn't stack with the invested essentia as they both give an enhancement bonus to hit and damage so you're damage and to hit will be one less for the claws. Secondly is the item the amulet of Mighty Fists from the DMG which should be out of the price range for a 4th level character or the Necklace of Natural Attacks from SS which should only apply to one of your 5 attacks? Thirdly the damage for the Girallons arm claws should only be 1d4 with nothing boosting it. Fourth dread carapace provides nothing for armour, not quite sure what you meant by that, it actually functions similar to Power Attack for natural weapons. Fifth unless you apply the expanded soulmeld capacity to Girallon arms rather than phoenix belt you can't invest more than 2 essentia in them anyway.

Moving past some nitpicks with your build which are probably contributing to higher damage output it's not unlikely that a Totemist will out damage a Fighter. Especially at this level the large number of attacks you can get early on have the bigger advantage. at higher levels the fighter will regain some ground as DR will have more of an impact on your multiple weaker hits and he has more BAB to PA with and such like but Totemist will probably stay ahead due to its better versatility.

In terms of feats SUS is good for increasing the damage of your US but it might be better to wait until higher levels when the effect will be more noticeable. INA(Claws) will be a small increase in damage (average +1) at this level but might be beneficial at higher levels if you're going to be stacking size increases onto your build. Bonus Essentia is always a nice feat but you may or may not find it useful as you already have some bonus essentia from Azurin. Other feats that are nice are the willing deformity and/or abberant blood chains of feats as they give you extra reach and/or natural weapons.

For soulmelds to shape Wormtail Belt is nice for the fairly large boost to natural armour. I quite like 3x mask of the chimera for the immunity to flanking but its only really good if your DM likes to throw lots of sneak attackers at you. Basilisk mask for some utility darkvision is nice or the brilliant Blink Shirt for tactical teleportation needs.

[Psyren]

If I'm not mistaken - if you combine any weapon attack with your natural attacks (even US) then that weapon has to be your primary attack, right? So the US would be +8 and the four claws would be +9/+9/+9/+9.

I can't comment on your fighter friend without knowing his build, but the fact that he is behind a Totemist is not overly surprising given the tier difference. However, damage-wise he shouldn't be suffering too much if he has PA and a decent 2-hander, especially one with reach.

General comments:
- Sphinx Claws is a good idea once you hit 6 because you gain pounce. I wouldn't shape it before then though, the Girallon arms are a better bet; you won't be able to gain pounce and use the sphinx claws simultaneously until 11. From 6-11, I suggest shaping both Sphinx Claws and Girallon Arms, while binding only the latter to your totem and the former to your hands.

- I assume you meant Expanded Soulmeld Capacity above. Note that you can change the meld this applies to every morning so there's no need to note that you're applying it to Phoenix Belt.

- Speaking of Phoenix Belt, I'm not sure what it's doing for you this early. Your cleric should have plenty of opportunity to place her bursts without burning you and still damage the enemies; building around her poor tactics is just going to encourage her to keep being a bad player. I'm not saying it's useless but there are much better melds you could shape at this level instead, like Totem Avatar for more AC and HP, or Rageclaws to protect you if you dip into negatives, Blink Shirt to hop around the battlefield, or even Pegasus Cloak for constant feather fall.

EDIT: Dread's suggestions of Wormtail Belt and Chimera Mask are also very good ones.

- I would not use Dread Carapace. At these levels, to-hit is more important to your DPR than raw damage, and what's more it doesn't look like you've included either the bonus or the penalty in your attack/damage calculations above anyway.

[Red Fel]

The thing to remember is that, at lower levels, Incarnum classes really shine; the ability to shape soulmelds, combined with the ability to inflate their power, is potent stuff. However, it doesn't scale as well as some other powers; you can expect that the Fighter, if he optimizes, will start to catch up soon.

On the other hand, if he doesn't, that's hardly your fault; go nuts.

I agree with Psy that, for now, Girallon Arms are good, and later Sphinx Claws will be great. (Pounce is just beautiful.) Psy is also correct that your unarmed strike would be your primary, meaning you get your attack with it, plus each of your natural weapons at a penalty (reduced by Multiattack) on a full attack action. So IUS is good. Expanded Capacity is good.

I would make one recommendation, however: If you can, take a Warblade dip. Here's why: Stormguard Warrior. Stormguard Warrior requires weapon proficiencies, Ironheart Aura, and Iron Heart maneuvers and stances - you can get all of those from a single dip in Warblade. And look at what you get.

Stormguard Warrior gets you three tactical options. We only care about one of them: Combat Rhythm. Combat Rhythm lets you turn all of your melee attacks in one round into touch attacks that deal no damage. On your next turn, you get +5 to damage against that opponent for each one that hit. Consider a well-optimized Totemist. Looking only at the natural attacks that soulmelds give you, you will probably have four claw attacks, a bite, and a tail, as your baseline. That's six attacks right there, not counting any attacks made with unarmed strikes - that's +30 damage to every hit on your next turn. And given that you will be using each of those six attacks again on your next turn, that's +180 damage. Again, not including any damage tacked on for your unarmed strikes.

As an aside, the prereq, Ironheart Aura, gives adjacent allies +2 on saving throws while you're in an Iron Heart stance. And with a single level dip in Warblade, there's only one stance to get - Punishing Stance. It gives you -2 to AC, but adds +1d6 damage to every hit that connects. Every hit. And in case you haven't noticed, you're going to hit a lot.

[Krazzman]

@Dread:
1.) That's not that awesome as I thought but well at least my attacks are magic.
2.) It is the version that gives it to everything. After some recalculating the cleric gave me the gold I was still missing for it. And yes we actually play that way... everyone else got loot (ring of protection, ring of fire resistance and some other stuff) and as such I got more gold.
3.) As I said long time no play and I had it written down wrong on my cheatsheat...
4.) Meant another, had just shaped 3 and thought about the AC one and didn't bother to look it up due to it not coming up and we were stressed in time anyway.
5.) Jep written down wrong when I prepared for the desert...

At the shapes: I started (level 1) with Wormtailbelt and Frosthelm (or what it is called with the icetouch thing). From second level on I ran around with the Sphinx Claws(shaped and bound) + Wormtailbelt(shaped) and Pegasus Cloak/Krakenmantle (when we were at sea). With 4th level I didn't knew what to shape as we had a ~3 month break in this campaign. And as we were going into the desert + our Cleric announcing (due to houserules sometimes not being able to aim properly) that she will fire into melee from now on... Also the Character is Chaotic Good and can't read. Also I did not want to cheese to many Natural attacks out of him as well as avoid a dip into warblade (played a warblade in a recent campaign and wanted to stay away from ToB for now).

@Psyren: About the Unarmed Strike as primary... I did not know that... can you show me the raw for it? Makes focussing on Unarmed strikes less to my taste...

The fighter is a Dwarven Fighter (no ACF despite my nudging him to at least look at it) with a Dwarven Waraxe. With Powerattack, Cleave and no idea what other feats, I think Weapon focus...

Thanks so far.

[Psyren]

@Psyren: About the Unarmed Strike as primary... I did not know that... can you show me the raw for it? Makes focussing on Unarmed strikes less to my taste...

Monster Manual:


Some creatures combine attacks with natural and manufactured weapons when they make a full attack. When they do so, the manufactured weapon attack is considered the primary attack unless the creature’s description indicates otherwise and any natural weapons the creature also uses are considered secondary natural attacks. These secondary attacks do not interfere with the primary attack as attacking with an off-hand weapon does, but they take the usual -5 penalty (or -2 with the Multiattack feat) for such attacks, even if the natural weapon used is normally the creature’s primary natural weapon.

This rule is repeated in Rules Compendium as well, under "Combining Attacks."

[Deophaun]

@Dread:
1.) That's not that awesome as I thought but well at least my attacks are magic.
I believe there is a cheaper item that makes all natural attacks count as magic without granting an enhancement bonus. That said, if your melds are giving your attacks an enhancement bonus, then they already overcome dr/magic. There's simply no benefit.

[Fax Celestis]

I would drop Worg Pelt Boots for Urskan Greaves (or, better, drop a feat on Thunderstep Boots), especially if you're using Sphinx Claws for pounce. Those bonus d4s apply to every swing, and that stun from Thunderstep Boots would also be on every swing.

[Person_Man]

If you want to avoid overshadowing the Fighter, then you could be a "blaster" Totemist. Basalisk Mask can give you Flesh to Stone (1 round duration) which sets up a great combo with the Fighter (you Stone, he Sunders it). Alternatively, Frost Helm bound to Totem gives you at will area of effect Stun ability. (And remember that Stunned enemies drop what they're holding).

If you're going for melee optimization, honestly, almost any combination of Totemist soulmelds that add or boost natural attacks will give you a high damage output.

[Perseus]

If you want to avoid overshadowing the Fighter, then you could be a "blaster" Totemist. Basalisk Mask can give you Flesh to Stone (1 round duration) which sets up a great combo with the Fighter (you Stone, he Sunders it). Alternatively, Frost Helm bound to Totem gives you at will area of effect Stun ability. (And remember that Stunned enemies drop what they're holding).


My god I can't recommend this enough...

It is seriously fun to do this and it helps with party dynamics at low levels before the Totemist flattens out.

My DM ruled Rule of Cool that the fighter if did enough damage to get through the stones hardness the the attack cut the enemy in two... And when they became unstoned ... Yeah.

Hardness was based on nook or nonmook and CR. So doing this to the boss was nearly impossible but still doable.

[Fouredged Sword]

If you are going for a ranged totemist, check out the manticore's belt. Multiple spines fired as a standard action makes for a hard to pin down hit and run shooter. It boosts jump and spot (both good for setting up ranged attacks) and adds your strength bonus of damage to each hit.

At lower levels, you can get +8 to spot and jump, and 3 spines that each are thrown at your highest base attack bonus and hit for 1D6+.5str at a decent range.

[Krazzman]

@Psyren:
Thanks I will try to remember it.

@Deophaun:
Hmm ok, maybe I can switch back if it doesn't stack anyway but I never saw something telling me that it was considered magic.

@Fax Celestis:
Thanks for the recommendation, I am still trying to filter what I can/should take.

@Person_Man:
This would leave me sadly without any real offense and wouldn't fit the character how I pictured it... he enjoys smacking things with his fists/claws/kicks too much.

@Perseus:
Considering your advice I find your name amusing.

@Fouredged Sword:
Thought about if in the beginning but decided against it. Just too much ruleshazyness and I didn't want to annoy my DM right from level 1 on.

[Psyren]

Definitely get something with AC on it because a chain shirt won't cut it. Again, Phoenix Belt is a good one to drop, and just yell at your cleric for being bad if she insists on toasting you needlessly.



My DM ruled Rule of Cool that the fighter if did enough damage to get through the stones hardness the the attack cut the enemy in two... And when they became unstoned ... Yeah.

Actually this is right in the PHB text of F2S/PAO.

[Krazzman]

I have gotten around rereading danzibr's Totemist Handbook and rechecking it with my copy of Dragon Magic gave me an awesome idea(need to ask the DM for a rebuild though):

Switch IUS for Dragontouched.
Shape Claws of the Wyrm(doubt the dm not ruling that these are natural attacks). Shape and Bind FrostHelm. Shape Urskan Greaves(switch to Dragontail depending on Situation) and Phoenix Belt(switch to Wormtail belt or Dragon Tail depending on situation).
Trade the NoNA (for other useful stuff).