Shifter racial feats? Worthwhile?

[Akaiku]

Is it just me or is the feats for shifters generally not worth taking unless you have no real other feat to take?

I mean, take the Gorebrute charge feat. It gives you +3 damage on charges but only when shifted on a longtooth shifter. It sounds okay, but weapon focus gives +1 damage on all attacks, so unless a full third of your hits are charges after you were bloodied, weapon focus is better. This gap gets bigger as tiers go up. Heck, powerful charge gives you +2 damage whenever you charge and a bonus to bull rushing and is a non-racial general feat. Aside from stacking them, why ever take this?

The razorclaw shifter one is slightly better, as it's 2 damage when shifted to targets you have combat advantage to.

Wild senses, I don't mind much, +3 initiative (feat bonus) and roll twice to follow tracks? Okay, I can buy that.

Beasthide shifting? Okay, epic win, resist 2 whilst shifted for a feat, no problem here.

Cliftwalk shifting? Err... climb speed whilst shifting? It seems somewhat useless unless you gm is a big fan of making it matter, but it still has lots of awesome imagery to it. (note, awesome sounding isn't a good mechanical balance)

And the epic tier feet... Burst of savagery...

Okay, if you are a longtooth shifter? This is a bad feat to have and use. Free action, de-shift, do 2d6 damage to a target you hit and gain 10 temp hp.
Note, you loose 2 damage per round and regeneration 6 when bloodied for that)
It's worse if you have beasthide shifting.

Even then, it's not too common that that would be better than the razorclaw's +1 ac and ref and 2 extra speed, but that is at least debatable.

Am I missing something?

 

[Tellerve]

Yeah, I'm pretty underwhelmed by them as well. As far as I can see you aren't missing anything.

 

[bganon]

With a build that focuses on charging, you can actually fairly easily set yourself up to charge nearly every round. Also, you pointed out the main good thing about Gorebrute Charge: it stacks with everything. Otherwise, no, it's not a super feat; you'd probably take others first. I'm not terribly impressed with Blurring Claws, either, but again, I think it's something to take after other feats to put you over the top.

I think Wild Senses is actually very good. It's nearly as good as Improved Init -plus- you get a very nice tracking bonus ("roll twice" abilities are very powerful). To me it's almost a gimme.

I don't think resist 2 is actually all that much at paragon, but Beasthide is still very nice.

But cliffwalk? I always thought in 3.5e that cliffwalk was one of the most overlooked options. Climb speed is situational, but when it's useful it is VERY good. Keep in mind that without climb speed you move at half speed, grant CA, are slowed by difficult terrain, and have to make Athletics checks each turn. With a climb speed, none of that applies.

An archer or caster with climb speed can be 20 feet (or more) up a tree or wall, well out of melee reach, with a single move action and no Athletics check. Sure, this is somewhat DM-dependent, but many outdoor areas have trees and most caves have walls. I think this is more than just awesome, it's mechanically pretty useful.

Your arguments against Burst of Savagery apply IF the encounter continues on for three or more rounds after you use it. But shifting ends at the end of an encounter anyway, so you're going to lose your shifter bonuses at that point anyway. It's a finishing move, best used on the last or second-to-last round of a fight. Giving up one round of +2 damage and regen 2 in exchange for ending the fight a round earlier is definitely worth it.

 

[Akaiku]

Your arguments against Burst of Savagery apply IF the encounter continues on for three or more rounds after you use it. But shifting ends at the end of an encounter anyway, so you're going to lose your shifter bonuses at that point anyway. It's a finishing move, best used on the last or second-to-last round of a fight. Giving up one round of +2 damage and regen 2 in exchange for ending the fight a round earlier is definitely worth it.

Burst of savagery is an epic feat, you are giving up one round of +2 damage and regen 6. For temp hp and 2d6 damage. At epic...

 

[bganon]

Burst of savagery is an epic feat, you are giving up one round of +2 damage and regen 6. For temp hp and 2d6 damage. At epic...

Er, right, forgot about the regen scaling. So yeah, it's not a great feat for a longtooth.

I wouldn't be surprised if a few nice Shifter feats got saved for the Eberron Player's Guide.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I don't have PHB2 yet, so this is my first exposure to these feats, so all I can say is: Wolverine, much?

 

[Spatula]

Is it just me or is the feats for shifters generally not worth taking unless you have no real other feat to take?

I mean, take the Gorebrute charge feat. It gives you +3 damage on charges but only when shifted on a longtooth shifter. It sounds okay, but weapon focus gives +1 damage on all attacks, so unless a full third of your hits are charges after you were bloodied, weapon focus is better.

So take both? The shifter feats are untyped, and look pretty good to me. The complete lack of shifter racial abilities is more of a concern for me.

 

[Mort_Q]

The complete lack of shifter racial abilities is more of a concern for me.

Eberron is coming... we're sure to see more racial feats at least.