Wild shape questions

[Brother MacLaren]

My druid is about to hit level 8, resulting in a vastly expanded array of wild shapes. This raises a few of questions:
1) What constitutes familiarity? Does summoning and observing an animal give the druid familiarity with a form? Or must it be observed in its natural environment?
2) The rhino's charge is an outstanding ability in some instances (such as vs DR). While the 3.5 MM doesn't explicitly say "double damage on a charge," that appears to be the case. Is that correct - should I double all damage, including that from magic fang? What about Power Attack? And yes, I know that I don't get Improved Natural Attack (gore) and so the gore is only 1d8, not 2d6.
3) Str modifiers on a charge appear to work differently for the rhino (3x Str bonus) and triceratops (2x Str bonus), which is odd. Is one a mistake? 2-handed melee weapons do 3x Str bonus on a Spirited Charge, yes?
4) When you cast magic fang on "one natural weapon," is that "claws" or "left claw"? Would a dire ape's Rend attack be subject to DR/magic if only one claw has magic fang on it?

Thanks!

 

[Starglim]

1) The example refers to a druid who has "never been outside a temperate forest". I think the requirement is no more than having seen the animal, or been taught about its ways by a higher-level druid.
Having said that, I'd say that either summoning or taking the form of an animal that does not occur naturally in the area (dire animals are fine) is bordering on disrespect to nature.

2 and 3) Any change to Powerful Charge to make it do double damage would be a house rule, but probably a reasonable one, since it would clarify what you should do on a charge with your lack of Improved Natural Attack as you mentioned.
It seems to me that the triceratops' Powerful Charge is a misprint and it should do 4d8+30 damage. This would make the rhino and triceratops consistent: both of them add 1.5 times Strength bonus to a gore attack and both do double damage on a Powerful Charge.

4) Magic fang explicitly applies to one slam attack or fist, so it would apply to one claw also. I'd say that Rend damage would only count as magical if both claws were magic.

 

[Perun]

My druid is about to hit level 8, resulting in a vastly expanded array of wild shapes. This raises a few of questions:
1) What constitutes familiarity? Does summoning and observing an animal give the druid familiarity with a form? Or must it be observed in its natural environment?

Well, AFAIK, there's no official rule under v. 3.5, but in 3.0, either in the Sage Advice, or in the Masters of the Wild accessory, it was officially answered. Back then, you became familiar with a form if you either studied it for one day, or encountered the creature in combat.

In our camapign, the DM considers druids to be familiar with all the animals native to the region the druid is from, or where he spent a good deal of time. My druid, for example, started with an Underdark theme, and I was familiar with all animals normally found below the ground, which included some odd beasts, such as the desmodu bats (from MM2). However, I had to spend some time above ground, and specify several times that I spent the off-time studying the fauna, so now I'm also familiar with animals found in temperate regions. I also spent a good deal of off-time in Waterdeep zoo (the DM said it was there, and I couldn't disagree with the DM, could I ), so I became familiar with some pretty odd animals (dire apes, smilodons, etc.).

2) The rhino's charge is an outstanding ability in some instances (such as vs DR). While the 3.5 MM doesn't explicitly say "double damage on a charge," that appears to be the case. Is that correct - should I double all damage, including that from magic fang? What about Power Attack? And yes, I know that I don't get Improved Natural Attack (gore) and so the gore is only 1d8, not 2d6.

The SRD descriprion of the powerful charge says: "When a creature with this special attack makes a charge, its attack deals extra damage in addition to the normal benefits and hazards of a charge. The amount of damage from the attack is given in the creature’s description".

So, no, powerful charge is not double damage, it's whatever is written under the powerful charge entry in each of the monsters' descriprion.

Look at the minotaur, for example. It's normal gore damage is 1d8+4, but it's powerful charge gore damage is 4d6+6.

3) Str modifiers on a charge appear to work differently for the rhino (3x Str bonus) and triceratops (2x Str bonus), which is odd. Is one a mistake? 2-handed melee weapons do 3x Str bonus on a Spirited Charge, yes?

See above. Powerful charge does a pre-defined amount of damage, depending on the monster. It's not a multiplication of a normal attack.

4) When you cast magic fang on "one natural weapon," is that "claws" or "left claw"? Would a dire ape's Rend attack be subject to DR/magic if only one claw has magic fangf on it?

Generally, it'd be whataver is listed in the attack section of the monster. If a monster has listed 2 claws as on of its attacks under the full attack entry, then one casting of the magic fang affects both claws. I don't know if that's official, but that's what we've been using. It wouldn't make any sence to require a separate spell for each claw.

Also, remember that when using greater magic fang, you can give a +1 enhancement bonus to all your natural weapons (although you won't eba ble to cast it till level 9, of course).

 

[Brother MacLaren]

Having said that, I'd say that either summoning or taking the form of an animal that does not occur naturally in the area (dire animals are fine) is bordering on disrespect to nature.

You know, I never thought of it that way. I'm not sure I agree, particularly on the summoning. The Summon Nature's Ally list includes few enough creatures at higher levels. Restricting it to only those that are appropriate to the environment at hand would seem to be problematic (dinosaurs are right out in most cases), as that restriction wouldn't carry over to the Summon Monster list.

See above. Powerful charge does a pre-defined amount of damage, depending on the monster. It's not a multiplication of a normal attack.

That raises the question of how it is affected by Bull's Strength, Augment Summoning, and Animal Growth, all of which enhance Strength (the latter upgrades damage dice as well). The same question could apply to Constrict, Rend, Rake, Trample, etc... these all have fixed damage in the entries.

 

[Perun]

That raises the question of how it is affected by Bull's Strength, Augment Summoning, and Animal Growth, all of which enhance Strength (the latter upgrades damage dice as well). The same question could apply to Constrict, Rend, Rake, Trample, etc... these all have fixed damage in the entries.

Well, apparently the damage dice (i.e. xdy) are listed a "special" damage, but the bonus damage (+z) is derived from the Str score (but depends on the creature in question). So, it should be calculated on a case-by-case basis. A bit awkward, but it's the only way I see.

In the minotaur example, it's Str gives him a +4 bonus to damage, however, when he's charging (and using his powerful charge ability), the bonus increases to +6 (or 1.5 times his Str modifier). If he has a bull's strength cast on him, his Str bonus raises to +6, and his powerful charge damage bonus raises accordingly to +9.

I do think they should have listed powerful charge as a simple multiplication of base damage, but this is what we have to live with

Regards!