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brian c
2007-03-26, 04:59 PM
A question about the Bear Warrior PrC in Complete Warrior.

It says that "A bear warrior can transform into a bear while in a rage or frenzy. His only limit on the number of times he can assume bear form is the number of times per day he enters a rage or frenzy." Then later, "Any bear warrior can assume bear form once per day... at 5th level twice per day..." etc.

I think this means that you can choose to assume bear form whenever you rage, and then you get an additional 1 (later 2, later 3) bear forms when you are not raging. I just want to make sure I'm reading this right, maybe there's errata for this?

Morgan_Scott82
2007-03-26, 05:01 PM
I can't get at it right now since I'm at work but I believe this inconsistancy is directly addressed in the Complete Warrior errata, you should be able to find it on www.wizards.com (http://www.wizards.com), If no one else has supplied one I will get you a link right to the errata when I get home from the office and can access the wizards web site.

brian c
2007-03-26, 05:05 PM
Ah, so there is. And it is addressed. Thank you.


If anyone's curious, my reading was wrong and you can only assume bear form when raging/frenzying.

Zincorium
2007-03-26, 05:14 PM
Ah, so there is. And it is addressed. Thank you.


If anyone's curious, my reading was wrong and you can only assume bear form when raging/frenzying.

Still, bear form is almost always going to be better than regular raging, so you're not losing much at all.

Go at least 5 levels, and take improved natural attack (claws). 2d6 on each claw, which are your primary attacks and thus have no penalties and do full strength damage and despite being light can be used 1 for 1 with power attack. You don't get iterative attacks, though, which can be a bummer.

Fax Celestis
2007-03-26, 05:22 PM
Still, bear form is almost always going to be better than regular raging, so you're not losing much at all.

Go at least 5 levels, and take improved natural attack (claws). 2d6 on each claw, which are your primary attacks and thus have no penalties and do full strength damage and despite being light can be used 1 for 1 with power attack. You don't get iterative attacks, though, which can be a bummer.

...unless you can somehow qualify for Rapidstrike...say, by being an Elan or Half-Dragon.

Morgan_Scott82
2007-03-26, 05:26 PM
...unless you can somehow qualify for Rapidstrike...say, by being an Elan or Half-Dragon.

*sniff*sniff*

Do I smell King of Smack cheese?

J/K even with rapid strike the bear warrior won't approach the PsyWar King of Smack build and is therefore much more reasonable.

AtomicKitKat
2007-03-26, 11:03 PM
...unless you can somehow qualify for Rapidstrike...say, by being an Elan or Half-Dragon.

You already qualify as a Bear Warrior, since you have 2 claws.

Fax Celestis
2007-03-26, 11:08 PM
You already qualify as a Bear Warrior, since you have 2 claws.

Rapidstrike requires Aberration, Magical Beast, Plant, or Dragon type, so unfortunately you don't.

Druid
2007-03-26, 11:09 PM
You already qualify as a Bear Warrior, since you have 2 claws.

I believe rapid strike has a creature type requirement.

Edit: Curses, beaten to it.

TheOOB
2007-03-26, 11:14 PM
I suggest that if your going to be a bear warrior look into grappling, they gain huge advantages while doing so.

AtomicKitKat
2007-03-26, 11:48 PM
Rapidstrike requires Aberration, Magical Beast, Plant, or Dragon type, so unfortunately you don't.

Get something that turns you into an Aberration, or Dragon template. Probably Half-Dragon/Farspawn. :P

kamikasei
2007-03-27, 03:39 AM
Get something that turns you into an Aberration, or Dragon template. Probably Half-Dragon/Farspawn. :P

Hence why he said, be an Elan (Aberration) or Half-Dragon?

Zincorium
2007-03-27, 03:46 AM
I suggest that if your going to be a bear warrior look into grappling, they gain huge advantages while doing so.

Definitely seconded. Five levels in, you have a massive strength modifier, large size, and improved grab. Most players don't bother looking to closely at that, they just remember the first ability, being able to initiate a grapple with a regular, non-AoO-provoking attack. But there are two others that can really make a difference in game:

You can grapple someone else, while not being considered grappled, by taking a -20 on your check, at higher levels you can easily make that.

You deal claw damage on a successful grapple check to deal damage. Normally, you'd have to take a -4 to deal your weapon's damage, but now you can do a d8 (2d6 with imp natural attack) instead of 1d3, and your now considerable strength bonus.

I'd recommend adding Reaping Mauler to a bear warrior build, but one of the pre-reqs for reaping mauler is clever wrestling, which requires you to be medium or small, so you'd lose the feat and thus all class features when in brown or dire bear form. No synergy there, Bob.

Edit: You can easily make the grapple check with a -20 against most medium or smaller creatures, and you can't use improved grab on large or bigger ones anyway.

AtomicKitKat
2007-03-27, 06:18 AM
Hence why he said, be an Elan (Aberration) or Half-Dragon?

Yeah. Always thought it was odd that they would have a race requirement. What about the poor centaur? You'd think they at least, could do multiple stomps with their hooves.


I'd recommend adding Reaping Mauler to a bear warrior build, but one of the pre-reqs for reaping mauler is clever wrestling, which requires you to be medium or small, so you'd lose the feat and thus all class features when in brown or dire bear form. No synergy there, Bob.

Reasonable houserule to say that you can't use the benefits of a feat, but still considered as having it for the purposes of qualifying for some classes.

Kantolin
2007-03-27, 06:28 AM
You can grapple someone else, while not being considered grappled, by taking a -20 on your check, at higher levels you can easily make that.
You what? O-o Where is this stated?

Rigeld2
2007-03-27, 06:31 AM
Ignore me please, and look http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#improvedGrab there instead.

Zincorium
2007-03-27, 06:34 AM
You what? O-o Where is this stated?

The wonderful SRD:


The creature has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use the part of its body it used in the improved grab to hold the opponent. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a -20 penalty on grapple checks (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#grappleChecks), but is not considered grappled itself; the creature does not lose its Dexterity bonus to AC, still threatens an area, and can use its remaining attacks against other opponents.



It's in the section for special attacks in either the MM or the SRD, appropriately enough under the Improved Grab heading.





Reasonable houserule to say that you can't use the benefits of a feat, but still considered as having it for the purposes of qualifying for some classes.

Reasonable, yes, but unless your DM rules as such it's a really bad idea, so I hesitate to suggest it.

Edit: Rigeld2, please look here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm) under the letter 'I' before you state that it's not anywhere. It's in the obvious place.

Truwar
2007-03-27, 01:25 PM
I'd recommend adding Reaping Mauler to a bear warrior build, but one of the pre-reqs for reaping mauler is clever wrestling, which requires you to be medium or small, so you'd lose the feat and thus all class features when in brown or dire bear form. No synergy there, Bob.

Let me get this straight. If you suddenly do not have the requirements for a feat, which you already have, you lose access to that feat and in a chain reaction lose access to any abilities from a PrC requiring that feat?

So a Shadowdancer that has his dexterity temporarily reduced below 13 by a spell loses all of his abilities (due to his loss of the dodge feat)? How about a fighter with expertise? If you drop his Int (which is usually not much higher than the required Int of 13) below the minimum required for the feat, will he lose access to ALL of his feats that require expertise?

Rigeld2
2007-03-27, 01:33 PM
No.

He loses all access to feats that require a 13 dex. Thats all he loses. Things that require feats that require a 13 dex still work.

Truwar
2007-03-27, 03:15 PM
So what about PrCs that require feats? Is the Shadowdancer that gets his Dex dropped to 12 suddenly lose all of his class abilities?

Rigeld2
2007-03-27, 03:16 PM
No.
You still have the feat, you just cant use it.

Zincorium
2007-03-27, 03:47 PM
Okay, this is yet another example of why WotC needs badly to state what happens when you fail to meet the prerequisites of a PrC in the section of the DMG on PrCs. As it is, all it says in the core rules is that you have to meet the prereqs to take the first level. There are other rulings, in different books, which I'm basing this off of.

All said, if it did work, then you would be an awesome grapple monkey. Or, er, bear.