shape change + animal growth (incl. smack :D)

[Dark Dragon]

Ok, here's what I've worked out for a smackdown...I must admit that I did the math without having the books at hand, so mistakes are quite possible

The druid I used has the following stats:

Druid 18, human, saying 140 HP, BAB 13 / 8 / 3 (right?)

STR 8 / 14 belt of strength +6
DEX 15
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 22 / 28 with periapt of wisdom +6
CHA 16

Other equipment: Ioun stone of spell storing (6 levels), wilding clasp (attached to the periapt). Weapons are not important...

Feats: Natural Spell, Power Attack, rest is not important.

Spells used per round:
1. Shape change (lvl 9): morph into Dire Tiger (huge animal).
New important stats: STR 27, DEX 15, CON 17, AC 16.
Claw: 2d4+8, bite 2d6+4, reach 10 ft, rake 2d4+4.

2. Animal growth (lvl 5): Dire Tiger growths to gargantuan animal...
New stats: STR 35, DEX 15, CON 21. HP rise to approx. 280, AC 18, BAB 26 / 16 / 6
Claw: 2d6+12, bite 2d8+6, reach 20 ft (not sure), rake 2d6+6

3. Nature's Avatar (lvl 9): +10 morale bonus on attack & damage + 18d8 hp + haste-effect...
New stats: AC 22, approx. 360 hp, 3 claw attacks, each: 2d6+22, bite 2d8+16, rake 2d6+16, BAB 36 / 26 / 16, cast a second spell in the same round:
Aura of vitality (lvl 7): STR, DEX, CON +4-enhancement...
New stats: STR 39, DEX 19, CON 25, AC 24, hp +2 for each hd (+72 hp), so we get approx. 430 hp
Claw 2d6+24, bite 2d8+17, rake 2d6+17

4. Brilliant Aura (lvl 7): +9 enhancement bonus to attack & damage...
Claw 2d6+33, bite 2d8+26, rake 2d6+26, BAB 45 / 35 / 25, cast a second spell due to haste: Blood Frenzy (lvl 2?): +2 bonus to STR & CON...
New stats: STR 41, CON 27, hp reach finally cica 460, AC drops to 23 (?).
Claw: 2d6+34, bite 2d8+26, rake 2d6+26
Final BAB (incl. STR and haste-effect): 60 / 60 / 50 / 40.

Begin rage...

With a pounce attack, power attack 5 and a hit for all attacks, the damage would be: 6d6+117+2d8+31+2d6+31. On the avarage:
209 points of damage done by a gargantuan combat machine glowing in a bright light, with blood-red eyes and a swift moving...

Someone might ask, why not empower a summoned dire tiger or a dire tiger companion of the druid? Well, look at the will save of that animal. The opponent has PERHAPS the possibility to charm or control it, and that COULD be a problem for the party. A druid of level 18 should have a very good will save .

 

[DM_Matt]

Ok, here's what I've worked out for a smackdown...I must admit that I did the math without having the books at hand, so mistakes are quite possible

The druid I used has the following stats:

Druid 18, human, saying 140 HP, BAB 13 / 8 / 3 (right?)

STR 8 / 14 belt of strength +6
DEX 15
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 22 / 28 with periapt of wisdom +6
CHA 16

Other equipment: Ioun stone of spell storing (6 levels), wilding clasp (attached to the periapt). Weapons are not important...

Feats: Natural Spell, Power Attack, rest is not important.

Spells used per round:
1. Shape change (lvl 9): morph into Dire Tiger (huge animal).
New important stats: STR 27, DEX 15, CON 17, AC 16.
Claw: 2d4+8, bite 2d6+4, reach 10 ft, rake 2d4+4.

2. Animal growth (lvl 5): Dire Tiger growths to gargantuan animal...
New stats: STR 35, DEX 15, CON 21. HP rise to approx. 280, AC 18, BAB 26 / 16 / 6
Claw: 2d6+12, bite 2d8+6, reach 20 ft (not sure), rake 2d6+6

3. Nature's Avatar (lvl 9): +10 morale bonus on attack & damage + 18d8 hp + haste-effect...
New stats: AC 22, approx. 360 hp, 3 claw attacks, each: 2d6+22, bite 2d8+16, rake 2d6+16, BAB 36 / 26 / 16, cast a second spell in the same round:
Aura of vitality (lvl 7): STR, DEX, CON +4-enhancement...
New stats: STR 39, DEX 19, CON 25, AC 24, hp +2 for each hd (+72 hp), so we get approx. 430 hp
Claw 2d6+24, bite 2d8+17, rake 2d6+17

4. Brilliant Aura (lvl 7): +9 enhancement bonus to attack & damage...
Claw 2d6+33, bite 2d8+26, rake 2d6+26, BAB 45 / 35 / 25, cast a second spell due to haste: Blood Frenzy (lvl 2?): +2 bonus to STR & CON...
New stats: STR 41, CON 27, hp reach finally cica 460, AC drops to 23 (?).
Claw: 2d6+34, bite 2d8+26, rake 2d6+26
Final BAB (incl. STR and haste-effect): 60 / 60 / 50 / 40.

Begin rage...

With a pounce attack, power attack 5 and a hit for all attacks, the damage would be: 6d6+117+2d8+31+2d6+31. On the avarage:
209 points of damage done by a gargantuan combat machine glowing in a bright light, with blood-red eyes and a swift moving...

Someone might ask, why not empower a summoned dire tiger or a dire tiger companion of the druid? Well, look at the will save of that animal. The opponent has PERHAPS the possibility to charm or control it, and that COULD be a problem for the party. A druid of level 18 should have a very good will save .

Um, ever heard of circle of protection? That will keep your animal companions safe for a while from charming, etc.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Right, as does a simple Protection from evil . But I'm not sure if Circle of Protection is a druid spell. Protection from evil is clearly not.
A morphed druid as above has generally better saves and the ability to cast spells if the need arises. And he can use magic items like a spell storing ioun stone (charged with some good protective spells, like, hmmm, spell immunity, spell resistance. Ask your friendly neighborhood cleric ).

I found some mistakes in the smackdown:
1. There are two rake attacks instead of one, resulting in 2d6+26 dp extra (average 242 points total). The final BAB for a rake attack is (without the multiattack feat) 35.

2. The overall attack value is reduced by 2 due to gargantuan size.

3. An additional required feat should be multiattack to get a better rake and bite attack value.

Hmm, I'm just thinking to upgrade a gargantuan dire elephant from the MoW....

 

[Speaks With Stone]

Does Animal Growth work on a shapechanger? I thought that the shapechanger's type did not change and therefore he could not be targeted by spells that only work on animals.

 

[Dark Dragon]

In combination with shapechange (the spell) it works, 'cause it is stated in the spell's description that you change your type. So if you use the spell for a change into an animal, it works nicely with animal growth

 

[Speaks With Stone]

So that means that once you turn yourself into this uber-beast, I can use a 1st level Druid spell, Animal Friendship on you. I could get behind that.

 

[Urbanmech]

Why not try the Legendary Bear or Tiger from Masters of the Wild, both are still animals and can benefit from the Animal Growth spell. Both will also have more strenght than the Dire Tiger, and also a little bit better AC.

 

[Dark Dragon]

So that means that once you turn yourself into this uber-beast, I can use a 1st level Druid spell, Animal Friendship on you. I could get behind that.

Nice idea, it's just like Charm person . Drawback: Should the druid fail his will save, you could ask him only to do actions that are not against his nature. Forcing him to attack his friends, set off a trap or cast a spell that would harm nature would end the spell.

Originally posted by Urbanmech
Why not try the Legendary Bear or Tiger from Masters of the Wild, both are still animals and can benefit from the Animal Growth spell. Both will also have more strenght than the Dire Tiger, and also a little bit better AC.

Right. I don't know how their STR and AC would change if they'd grow from large to huge size (no MM at work), perhaps they would be better than a gargantuan dire tiger. A better choice for high STR is the dire elephant, it starts at STR 40 (or 41?), but has a bad AC of 10...

 

[DM_Matt]

Why not try the Legendary Bear or Tiger from Masters of the Wild, both are still animals and can benefit from the Animal Growth spell. Both will also have more strenght than the Dire Tiger, and also a little bit better AC.

I just posted a Legendary Bear smack in the smackdown thread. But note that you need to be L20 to have Legendary bears, and you cant get Legendary tigers without going way epic.

 

[Jeremy]

I don't think that protection from evil would protect you from the bears because they aren't evil.

All of the bonuses in the spell seem to apply to evil creatures. Resistance vs evil spells, deflection vs evil creatures, I believe repulsion of evil summoned creatures...

You might want to look into this.

Especially since there isn't a protection from neutral spell.