Druid w/Str 10 taking Power Attack?!

[Laslo Tremaine]

Let's say that you have a Druid with a Strength of 10.

Said Druid would like to take the Power Attack feat for use while Wild Shaped.

Can he take the feat, with the understanding that he will only be able to use it when Wild Shaped into a creature that meets the requirement for the feat?

 

[Crothian]

By the rules, I don't think so. But I'd rule 0 it and allow it

 

[reiella]

Hmm, by the rules I believe he can't take it, if when he levels up to gain the new feat, he isn't wildshaped so that he has the appropiate strength.

Which sounds and feels really stupid to me, but fits similarly to being able to qualify for feats because of a magical item boosting your strength.

 

[argo]

By the rules, no. From the SRD:

Some feats have prerequisites. Your character must have the indicated ability score, class feature, feat, skill, base attack bonus, or other quality designated in order to select or use that feat.

But I really don't see that it would be too unbalancing.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Technically in animal form wouldn't he meet the requirements for Strength? Say in bear form. So somehow he'd have to swing being in bear form when he levels... *shrug* I'd probably let 'em do it. For the most part equivalent to another character using a magic item to boost a stat in order to qualify for the feat. the druid would just have to be in a form that gave him 13 or higher strength to qualify in order to use it. So yea, sure.

 

[dcollins]

You really shouldn't allow a player to cheese it and select to be in bear-form "at the moment of level-up". (Which is an ugly idea in the first place.) The rules precedent is that the ability in question has to be in place for the whole duration of the previous level, or really close to that. For example, with regard to skill points and Intelligence:

Only a change in Intelligence that was constant (or very nearly constant) over the previous level affects how many skill points were acquired during that level. (3.0 PHB, Ch. 9: "Level Advancement", p. 145)

 

[Silveras]

As mentioned, no. And, as mentioned, letting a player do it "because it is a PC" is also a horrible precedent...as is letting the character "be in wildshape form while leveling". Characters do not know about leveling; players do. Any action a character takes based on a concept that is purely rules is a bad idea (for most games, anyway).

What you might want to do is look at the new Wildscape book from Fantasy Flight Games. It presents some thematic "realms" for Druids that alter their abilities. One of them puts the druid more in touch with his "wildshape", and allows the Druid to have separate feat chains for wildshaped and humanoid forms. This is not the only change, however; to balance this ability, the druid risks becoming distracted/overwhelmed by his animal nature every time he changes into animal form.

I am not sure I like the whole deal, but it is worth looking at.

 

[Sejs]

As has been said already, by the rules it's a no-go but I'd just house rule it to say it's okay. It'd be just like having a 10 str barbarian taking power attack that would be only useable while they're raging

 

[reiella]

Hmm, somewhat curious then, if you should allow players to take feats that they only qualify for because of magical items they have.

Oddly enough, I had thought that this was addressed in the FAQ (3.0), but seems to have poofed (either due to edit or my memory failure), although it may have been an extrapolation of the qualificaitons being meet due to virtual feats.

 

[Scion]

So what if the character spends 90% of his time in an animal form that has a 13+ str and gets trained appropriately while in that form?

It seems to me that as long as you qualifier for at least a good majority of the time then it should be fine. How could the character not qualify when they are mostly in a form that does qualify? His strength score is high enough the vast majority of the time after all.