Totemist has ruined me, or "Why Natural Attacks seem cooler than Weapon Attacks"

[RUMBLETiGER]

So I'm more a skill monkey or caster kinda guy. The idea of Being Batman appeals to me.

And so when I decided to turn my attention to building a damage dealer, I looked at the Totemist, bercause it seemed different. And it is!

Girallon Arms grant 4 natural attacks. Lamia Belt adds 2 more. Mix in any number of ways to get a bite attack. Strength Mod. applies to all.

Multiattack feat grants only a -2 penalty on 6 out of those 7 attacks. Improved Multiattack makes the penalties go away.

There are a number of ways to get a full attack after a move.

...So, when comparing these juicy combat skills to the multiple attacks one can get using standard BAB and weapons with the attack score decending by 5 points, I can't think of any reason to consider playing another class as a damage dealer.

Compare the following to a classic melee build:

Level 5 Totemist-

BAB 3

Having Girallon Arms bound to your Totem Chakra grants you 4 claw attacks. Take the Multiattack and Improved Multiattack feats and you're doing all 4 attacks at full BAB. It only gets better from here.

I think Totemist is my new favorite melee class. Can anyone else educate me as to why I might try to play a more classic build compared to this?

 

[Drowbane]

Medium BAB sucks. Aside from that, Totemists can be pretty badass. I once had a Warforged Totemist (tee-hee). Two slams (warforged feat for second) + four claws + bite (warforged feat) with Adamantine Body. Good times.

"His" name was Nanite.

 

[WHW4]

The only "reason" I can think of to not play it is it doesn't sound very fun or flavorful. At least to me.

I can wrap my mind around the image of a warrior swinging a sword or a faerie casting spells or what-have-you. The totemist just lacks a coolness factor. With all those attacks I instantly think of the Tasmanian devil and the whole dust cloud with arms and legs flailing out at random times. Just seems silly.

I guess it just boils down to what looks cool in your head while you're playing. If you like it, play it!

 

[xigbar]

They're really fun in gestalt games. Pair them with Swordsage of Warblade on the other side for tiger claw maneuvers. Or a Race with multiple appendages. Insectile Arrow Demon is something i'd like to try. Based on what you've just stated, it would have 14 natural attacks. Or, actually, be a were-giant squid on the other side.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I've built a Totemist Based off a Longtooth Shifter, took 5 levels of Weretouched Master and went the Tiger route, and capped the build off with 4 levels of Warshaper for kicks.

Medium BAB sucks. Aside from that, Totemists can be pretty badass. I once had a Warforged Totemist (tee-hee). Two slams (warforged feat for second) + four claws + bite (warforged feat) with Adamantine Body. Good times.

"His" name was Nanite.

Nanite sounds awesome.

While I agree that Medium BAB is poo compared to Full in most cases, a Totemist 20 with 7 natural attacks gets those attacks at 15/10/10/10/10/10/10. Toss in Multiattack feat someplace and it's 7 attacks at 15/13/13/13/13/13/13, use Improved Multiattack at it's 15 across the board.
A Barbarian level 20 gets 4 attacks at 20/15/10/5. I haven't playtested Totemist at level 20 yet but the math looks better.

This is what's selling me on Totemist. More attacks at an overall higher accuracy.

The only "reason" I can think of to not play it is it doesn't sound very fun or flavorful. At least to me.

I can wrap my mind around the image of a warrior swinging a sword or a faerie casting spells or what-have-you. The totemist just lacks a coolness factor. With all those attacks I instantly think of the Tasmanian devil and the whole dust cloud with arms and legs flailing out at random times. Just seems silly.

I guess it just boils down to what looks cool in your head while you're playing. If you like it, play it!

Tazmanian Devil, yeah, I like that idea. I was picturing more of a pounce, grab and slash outwards in all directions, but that's fun too.

 

[Dandu]

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Exactly.
4th level of Warshaper granting fast healing 2 really rounds the image out.

 

[WHW4]

Hm. Granted this is D&D Legacy forum so this may be blasphemous.... but have you looked much at M&M 2e? Specifically the Warriors and Warlocks source book?

You could model whatever concept you wanted. There are some cool ways to simulate multiple attacks with descriptors and whatnot. Just a random thought that popped into my head when I saw the nice pic of Wolvie.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Hm. Granted this is D&D Legacy forum so this may be blasphemous.... but have you looked much at M&M 2e? Specifically the Warriors and Warlocks source book?

You could model whatever concept you wanted. There are some cool ways to simulate multiple attacks with descriptors and whatnot. Just a random thought that popped into my head when I saw the nice pic of Wolvie.

I possess oodles of 3.x books, I've got nothing in 2nd edition.

 

[Jack Simth]

I possess oodles of 3.x books, I've got nothing in 2nd edition.

I am reasonably certain that WHW4 was referring to Mutants & Masterminds, a gaming system of its own.