hopping there's a feat out there.

[Donny_Green]

Hello:

I'm hoping to find a feat out there (3.5 and possible 3.0 or DraMag) that gives me 4 HD of wildshape, up to my total class level.

I've seen other's involving spell caster level and hope Wizard made something for the druid.

Please let me know.

Thanks.

[eggynack]

I dunno about any sort of feat, but you could always pick up a wild shape amulet (MoF, 167), which is a 40,000 GP item that increases your wild shape level by four, to a maximum of 20.

[Donny_Green]

I dunno about any sort of feat, but you could always pick up a wild shape amulet (MoF, 167), which is a 40,000 GP item that increases your wild shape level by four, to a maximum of 20.

wow.. for the first time I just felt some regret for taking VoP for this charcter.

[Kazudo]

There are more reasons, trust me. That's a big one though.

[Irk]

Actually, VoP could work pretty well on a Druid, but it's a pretty big disadvantage in this case. I looked around, and there are just a bunch of items that can do it, but no feats that I saw. Maybe retrain VoP? Is that possible?

[Donny_Green]

There are more reasons, trust me. That's a big one though.
The character actually does work really well with VoP. 1 monk/8 wildshape ranger/7 MoMF/ 3 of beast master/ 1 warshaper. (with VoP)

No spells, no weapons, no armor; but a crap load of bab, and AC, and 9 levels of monk unarmed damage, and an exalted companion cave ankleousaruse with the shock trooper feat.

Oh and I can pretty much ping a casters location from 60ft away... thank you nemesis.

The damage end of it builds up a bit slowly, but I get alot of fun out of this build.

[eggynack]

Actually, VoP could work pretty well on a Druid, but it's a pretty big disadvantage in this case. I looked around, and there are just a bunch of items that can do it, but no feats that I saw. Maybe retrain VoP? Is that possible?
It does work pretty well, but it's also a pretty big disadvantage in a whole lot of cases. Druid items are pretty awesome on occasion, though it's possible that ranger items, as would be the thing used in this case, are less awesome. Then again, you likely need the basic items more in this case too.

The character actually does work really well with VoP. 1 monk/8 wildshape ranger/7 MoMF/ 3 of beast master/ 1 warshaper. (with VoP)

No spells, no weapons, no armor; but a crap load of bab, and AC, and 9 levels of monk unarmed damage, and an exalted companion cave ankleousaruse with the shock trooper feat.

Oh and I can pretty much ping a casters location from 60ft away... thank you nemesis.

The damage end of it builds up a bit slowly, but I get alot of fun out of this build.
Is it possible to poke some of those levels into a different direction? Because beastmaster is the worst thing, and should likely become more MoMF, and you can probably enter MoMF faster by ditching a level or two of monk or ranger. Basically, you can probably do this by rearranging your build instead of your feats.

[Donny_Green]

It does work pretty well, but it's also a pretty big disadvantage in a whole lot of cases. Druid items are pretty awesome on occasion, though it's possible that ranger items, as would be the thing used in this case, are less awesome. Then again, you likely need the basic items more in this case too.

Is it possible to poke some of those levels into a different direction? Because beastmaster is the worst thing, and should likely become more MoMF, and you can probably enter MoMF faster by ditching a level or two of monk or ranger. Basically, you can probably do this by rearranging your build instead of your feats.

heh.. 1 level of monk + 7 levels of ranger, is a new tier of unarmed damage. An 8th level of ranger along with 3 in beast master brings my companion up to 3rd tier (feats involved).

I initially took 2 of beast master to soak up the MoMF feat requirement, and haven't taken the third level yet. I plan to hold on to that level of BM until my companion starts to dip behind, along with that 8th level of ranger.

I didn't put all the classes in order though. for now it's 2 ranger/1 monk/3 ranger/ 2 beastmaster/ 2 of MoMF/2 ranger/1 warshaper/5 of MMoF and 1 of ranger and BM in some order.

[eggynack]

heh.. 1 level of monk + 7 levels of ranger, is a new tier of unarmed damage.
How does ranger advance unarmed damage?

An 8th level of ranger along with 3 in beast master brings my companion up to 3rd tier (feats involved).
I get the basic idea of it. It's just not particularly worth it, especially when you're running a sub-standard animal companion, and double-especially when it's pulling from other progressions this much, and maybe triple-especially when you're not even advancing the guy past a certain point.

I initially took 2 of beast master to soak up the MoMF feat requirement, and haven't taken the third level yet. I plan to hold on to that level of BM until my companion starts to dip behind, along with that 8th level of ranger.
Beastmaster doesn't really eat the feat requirement, due to the entry requirements.

[Flashy]

How does ranger advance unarmed damage?

Maybe they're using a homerule that lets you make offhanded unarmed strikes? That's literally the only thing I can imagine.

[Regissoma]

Ascetic Hunter is what he is using to advance his unarmed damage.

[Flashy]

Ascetic Hunter is what he is using to advance his unarmed damage.

But that only works against two categories of opponents, which isn't terribly reliable...

[Donny_Green]

Ascetic Hunter is what he is using to advance his unarmed damage.

thank you regissoma.

Eggynack, the companion is like a second build, in and of itself. It has a high AC, and can do an bullrush knockback shock trooper with alot of reliability.

[Regissoma]

Prerequisite

Improved Unarmed Strike (PH) , favored enemy,
Benefit

When you use an unarmed strike to deliver a stunning attack against a favored enemy, you can add one-half your favored enemy bonus on damage rolls to the DC of your stunning attempt. If you have levels in ranger and monk, those levels stack for the purpose of determining your unarmed strike damage. For example, a human 7th-level ranger/1stlevel monk would deal 1d10 points of damage with her unarmed strike. In addition, you can multiclass freely between the monk and ranger classes. You must still remain lawful in order to retain your monk abilities and take monk levels. You still face the normal XP penalties for having multiple classes more than one level apart.
.
Note that nowhere in the description that it limits the unarmed damage by anything. Also I would just ask the DM if its possible to maybe have a homebrew feat for increasing the HD up to your character level as there is Practiced Manifester and Spellcaster. There are a few other classes I might suggest, but away from home at the moment to look them up.

[Karsh]

If you're taking Beastmaster to advance your animal companion, might I suggest taking the Natural Bond feat to increase your effective Druid Level by 3 and rerouting those class levels into MOMF?

[bekeleven]

If you're taking Beastmaster to advance your animal companion, might I suggest taking the Natural Bond feat to increase your effective Druid Level by 3 and rerouting those class levels into MOMF?

1 level of beastmaster is still decent, but more are a waste imo.

[Donny_Green]

If you're taking Beastmaster to advance your animal companion, might I suggest taking the Natural Bond feat to increase your effective Druid Level by 3 and rerouting those class levels into MOMF?

already taken but thank you for the suggestion

[Donny_Green]

1 level of beastmaster is still decent, but more are a waste imo.

Every level of beast master after 1st is still a druid level of companion. If you figure for a monster that takes your companion level down by 8, you can just barely swing that with 5/ranger 2/beastmaster.... put in natural bond to bring the effective druid level up by 3, putting the companion in the next tier.

Now with aesthetic hunter another 2 levels of ranger (ranger level 7) plus the one of monk allows for 3rd tier monk damage. another 3 levels (ranger level 8) + one more of beastmaster does all that plus brings my companion up yet another teir.

So my 2nd level of beastmaster was almost necessary. A 3rd level, only taken after/if my companion starts to show he's slipping in the fight, won't be that big of a stretch.

[bekeleven]

Natural bond only work on the first animal companion. The reast aren't strictly animal companions, as they fall under the "extra animal companion" class feature. So basically a Druid 6/BeastMaster 1 has 1 compaion at 9th EL, then when he levels up to Druid 6/Beastmaster 4, he has primary companion at 13 EL, and a second at 1st EL. It's completely a waste and can't contribute to anything unless you really like vipers and riding dogs.

The class has a decent chassis but in a build like this you're looking for more than chassis, IMO.

[Pyromancer999]

Every level of beast master after 1st is still a druid level of companion.

This is incorrect:




Use the beastmaster's class level + 3 to determine the animal companion's special abilities. If a beastmaster already has an animal companion from another class, her beastmaster class levels stack with class levels from all other classes that grant an animal companion.


The Beastmaster levels stack with the Ranger class levels for determining the animal companion, not Druid, as there are no levels in the build that are Druid. So, you do get +4 levels(if interpreted generously as you getting the +3 for level one) for a one-level dip, it's +4 Ranger levels, meaning your effective Druid level increases by 2. With the levels planned in the build, this will be a +3 to your effective Druid level, which is the same as Natural Bond.

So it'd honestly just be better to see if those Beastmaster levels can be retrained and see if you can't just take Natural Bond at some point instead.

[Segev]

Honestly, there may not be a feat printed that does precisely that, but homebrewing one is straightforward and honestly probably not unbalanced. It's got precedent in the +4 CL and +4 ML feats. If it doesn't let you exceed your HD, but gives you bonus HD of Wildshape to make up for multiclassing, it should be about as balanced as the CL/ML feats.

[eggynack]

Natural bond only work on the first animal companion. The reast aren't strictly animal companions, as they fall under the "extra animal companion" class feature. So basically a Druid 6/BeastMaster 1 has 1 compaion at 9th EL, then when he levels up to Druid 6/Beastmaster 4, he has primary companion at 13 EL, and a second at 1st EL. It's completely a waste and can't contribute to anything unless you really like vipers and riding dogs.

I'm pretty sure that natural bond does actually work on later animal companions from beastmaster, because an extra animal companion is still, y'know, an animal companion. However, due to the complete adventurer errata, natural bond can only apply to one of these animal companions. Incidentally, the fact that said errata exists, and was likely intended to disrupt this interaction (because life is stupid sometimes), means that the thing about extra companions being companions is likely accurate.

[Donny_Green]

This is incorrect:



The Beastmaster levels stack with the Ranger class levels for determining the animal companion, not Druid, as there are no levels in the build that are Druid. So, you do get +4 levels(if interpreted generously as you getting the +3 for level one) for a one-level dip, it's +4 Ranger levels, meaning your effective Druid level increases by 2. With the levels planned in the build, this will be a +3 to your effective Druid level, which is the same as Natural Bond.

So it'd honestly just be better to see if those Beastmaster levels can be retrained and see if you can't just take Natural Bond at some point instead.

What I was trying to point out is that while rangers "effective druid level is half their ranger level" a beastmaster level's count as full levels "like druids" not like rangers.

[Donny_Green]

Natural bond only work on the first animal companion. The reast aren't strictly animal companions, as they fall under the "extra animal companion" class feature. So basically a Druid 6/BeastMaster 1 has 1 compaion at 9th EL, then when he levels up to Druid 6/Beastmaster 4, he has primary companion at 13 EL, and a second at 1st EL. It's completely a waste and can't contribute to anything unless you really like vipers and riding dogs.

The class has a decent chassis but in a build like this you're looking for more than chassis, IMO.

And you don't actually gain that 2nd companion until level 4, which is out of the build.

[Pyromancer999]

What I was trying to point out is that while rangers "effective druid level is half their ranger level" a beastmaster level's count as full levels "like druids" not like rangers.

When you gain a new one from the class or already have druid levels. I don't see anywhere saying otherwise. I've looked through the text closely twice, and see nothing saying that.

[Donny_Green]

When you gain a new one from the class or already have druid levels. I don't see anywhere saying otherwise. I've looked through the text closely twice, and see nothing saying that.

Every thing I' about to talk about is with the understanding that I'm talking about class levels' that make your companion more powerful.

A ranger gets a new level for companions ever other level. 2 for 1

A druid gets a new level for companions on ever level. 1 for 1

In addition to the +3 bonus at the beginning of the class, Beastmaster gets a new level for companions on ever level. 1 for 1 + 3

Now all three of these classes stack for the purpose of the animal companion. Your druid levels, ranger levels, and beast master levels all add up.

And just so it's not confused, in the beastmasters description when ever it makes reference to the "class level" there's speaking about levels of beastmaster, not levels of what came before beastmaster.