the druid PHB II shaphshifter , what am I missing ???

[Christian]

I was under the impression the 1.5x mod was for melee weapons 2h. I thought all natural weapons follow the simple rule 1x STR mod for primary 0.5 STR mod for secondary. if you can give a ref to show the 1.5x I'd appreciate it.

MM 3.5 pg. 299, under the Full Attack heading: "The monster applies its full Strength bonus on damage rolls with its primary natural weapons, or 1-1/2 times its Strength bonus if the monster has only one primary natural weapon (for example, a wolf's bite)." And take a look at the monsters, eg. the monitor lizard or the rhino, that have only one natural weapon and a Strength of over 14--their damage bonus is multiplied per the text. (The wolf is actually a pretty useless example, as the standard wolf has Strength 13, and +1 times 1.5 is still +1.)

 

[Dinkeldog]

You also get a greater magic weapon effect on 'each' natural attack for free which is worth up to 3 third level spells (for 3 nat weapons) and is hard to pull off as a nornal druid without taking the natural spell feat.

Not to quote OotS, but, "There are druids who don't take the natural spell feat?"

Overall, I'd probably go with a standard druid and move toward the shifter prestige class, but I'm okay with a little prep-work to go with my druid.

 

[Wrathamon]

it lets you qualify for warshaper really easily

My Orc Barbarian Druid warshaper is literally a monster.