Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – Natural Attacks Guide

This is an info dump of all I know and learn about Natural Weapon Attacks in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. This does not include wildshape and polymorph, as these are not confusing at all to deal with when handling Naturals. The common question is from folks who want to be a feral claw swiping tiefling with bites and horns.

Natural Attacks Guide (Not Including Shapes and Morphs)

Note: Credit goes to Paper Red

Preface: Natural Attacks as weapons in Pathfinder WotR

Natural Attacks are simply coded as weapons in PF:WotR just like they were in PF:Kingmaker. This means they are not considered Unarmed Attacks and will not work with Monk features. They are not Monk weapons. They have the Light property and can be weapon finessed. They weigh nothing at all and they do not count as Two Weapon fighting (duel wielding in layman’s terms). They can be scaled by certain class features that either grant Natural Weapons or anything that imbues weapons with enhancements.

BAB & Action Economy

You may make natural attacks for the # of limbs you possess (forelimbs for claws, horns for gore, maw/mouth for bites, **tails for slams, rear/lower limbs for tramples & stomps). Primary attacks are at Full BAB and Secondary attacks are at BAB -5.

• Bites: Typically Primary (though some are Secondary). May only occur once per bite you have available. Can be made with both hands full.
• Claws: Primary, occurs before Bites & Gores. Works like attacking with two individual weapons. Is not bound by offhand weapon penalties and is not modified by Two Weapon Fighting features. Requires a free hand or both hands free to make.
• Gores: Can be Primary or Secondary. May only occur once per gore you have available. Can be made with both hands full.

Claws are like having weapons in your hands, you may attack with them any time you may make an attack. Bites & Gores require a full-round attack action (that means don’t use a move action or other full round actions). The exception to moving and full-round attacking is the Pounce feature for Charge actions.

**As of my knowledge, there are no Tail slams or Tramples/Stomps available to the Player outside of shapes and morphs.

Sources of Natural Attacks (Bites)

The most common Natural Attack desired are Bites. These can be granted by:

• Half-Orc (Razortusk Feature; Secondary attack)
• Tiefling (Motherless Heritage; Secondary attack)
• Kitsune (Only in Kitsune form; N/A to Human transformation; Primary attack if unarmed or claws; Secondary attack if equipped with a weapon)
• Feral Mutagen (From Alchemist discoveries and Mutagen Fighter archetype; Primary attack)
• Serpentine Bloodline (Inflicts a poison that does CON damage; Primary attack)
• Barbarian Rage Power (Animal Fury; Secondary attack)
• Dragon Disciple prestige class (Absolutely the best bite attack in the game; at later levels it adds extra energy damage based on your draconic bloodline; Primary attack)

Bites stack. You can gain multiple bite attacks it you want to. I’m not sure just how many you can acquire in total. They are extra attacks. You will not see your bites equipped on your inventory screen, check your Martial character panel to see your available bites.

Sources of Natural Attacks (Claws)

Sometimes you just want to rip & tear into your foes like a wild beast. All **claw attacks are Primary attacks. Sources of claws are:

• Sorcerous Bloodlines (Grow Claws; limited by # of rounds per bloodline level from classes)
• Bloodrager Bloodlines (Claws only available while raging)
• Barbarian/Skald Rage Powers (Beast Totem Lesser)
• Druid (Elemental Rampager archetype)
• Witch/Shaman Hex (Nails)
• Witch (Hagbound archetype)
• Warpriest Blessing (Animal; Notably the Feral Champion archetype can designate their claws as Sacred Weapons)
• Feral Mutagen (From Alchemist or Mutagen Fighter archetype)

Claws granted by bloodlines are the most powerful baseline to use. They scale as you level any class that shares that bloodline. Eventually they become magical, deal greater damage, and add energy damage at later levels. Claws granted by the Hex – Nails are the weakest, dealing only 1d3 damage at Small or Medium; Hag’s Claws are only 1d3(S) or 1d4(M).

**Claws are like weapons, they can only be held in your open hands (forelimbs). Limiting you to two claws only. They are not bound to offhand penalties and are unaffected by Two Weapon Fighting features. Each claw makes attacks at full BAB. They are not Monk weapons & they are coded as equipped items so you cannot use Unarmed features/abilities with claws or other natural weapons. Have not tested Sohei weapon groups, if they include claw/bite/gore then we’re in untested territory. I have no idea how flurry of blows would affect natural attacks. My guess is only claws would get extra attacks.

Sources of Natural Attacks (Gore)

Feeling a bit horney are we? Want to drive your foes before you and run them through? Then Gores are for you. Sadly there are few sources of these:

• Close to the Abyss (Mythic Choice; rank 1 only)
• Possibly equipment. In Kingmaker there was the Triple Fin Helmet which granted a +2 1d8 Gore attack that was Cold Iron. If you can confirm this item exists in WotR let me know.

Like bites, check your Martial panel in the character screen to see your listed Gores. They do not appear as equipped items in the inventory.

Strength or Dexterity

I am not going to title this section Strength V. Dexterity because its a choice, not a debate.

• Strength – Arguable the easiest choice to make. You get Power Attack and Cleave, sparing you from paying Feature tax for Weapon finesse and Slashing Grace x3 times for claws/bites/gores. However you are likely going to have a lot less dodge AC and touch AC. You will probably still want some DEX for that. So this choice is less defensive.
• Dexterity – Arguably the most defensive choice to make. You get high dodge and touch AC. High Reflex saves. Piranha Strike is the same as Power Attack but for DEX; however, it is not a prerequisite for anything and you still need Power Attack for Cleave anyway. This means you will still need some STR for that (13 to be exact).

If you don’t want to take Slashing Grace a bunch of times, and you don’t want to waste multiple levels into Rogue for Finesse Training; I have good news for you! As early as Act 1 you will find somewhere an Amulet of Agile Fists which works like Finesse Training but for Unarmed & Natural weapons. Another option is to spend a valuable Mythic feat on Mythic Weapon Finesse which also grants DEX bonus to damage rolls but for ALL finesse weapons.

If going DEX, you can dumb STR if you are getting Power Attack & Cleave from the Bloodline Extra Feats you get at level 12. I do anything to get Cleave & Combat Expertise on melee characters.

I’m not going to mention multiclassing for the sake of deciding whether STR or DEX is more defensive. Any dip into Monk or Slayer(Imitator) will let you use WIS/CHA/INT for additional AC, but those stats are not STR or DEX and that is what this section is about.

Equipment

This section will be updated as I learn more from playing the game or if comments tip me off to an item I am unaware of. For the sake of it, I will include Kingmaker equipment because they may be reused assets (Hey, its possible. Very common in game design).

• Amulet of Agile Fists (These can be found in Act 1. Permits DEX bonus to damage rolls for Unarmed & Natural attacks. Stronger enhancement bonuses can be found respectively on +1, +2, and so forth.)
• Amulet of Mighty Fists (Just grants +{x} enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls of Unarmed & Natural attacks.)
• Alkali Gloves (Kingmaker item. Adds 1d6 acid damage to melee/unarmed/natural attacks that hit.)
• Manticore’s Claws (Kingmaker item. +4 Enhancement bonus to STR and +2 Enhancement bonus to attack & damage rolls with Unarmed & Natural attacks.)
• Thundering Claw of the Bear God (Kingmaker item. Might be found in WotR. A +4 Shock, Thundering Scimitar. Casts Call Lightning spell on Crits. Adds Shock & Thundering to natural attacks of yourself and you animal companion. Increases Sonic and Lightning damage from those attacks by 1d10. Was really strong with Blue/Bronze Dragon bloodlines.)
• Unmaker (Kingmaker item. First unarmed & natural attack made each round cast Greater Dispel Magic.)

Tips & Stuff

I’ve never written a guide before. Anyway here are some little tiddly winks of information to take with you:

• Mythic Abilities – Over powered. Prioritize anything that gets your build immediately going at Rank 1, then next you get an Mythic ability get either Always a Chance or Brutality Incarnate as soon as possible.
• Pounce or Vital Strike (or both) – By far the best use of early action economy. Charging is a great gap closer but is just heavily limited by doing tiny attacks. Charge works best with Vital Strike or Pounce. Pounce gives you a full-round attack action on your target instead of a single attack. That means you get all your claw attacks/bites/gores in immediately. Vital Strike focuses on making just 1 attack per round, this works great with Charging because Pounce is limited to Barbarian Rage Powers and Kitsune’s Vulpine Pounce feature.
• Buffs Buffs Buffs – It can’t be stated enough you are going to want some buffs. You are a melee combatant. Get those buffs up pre-combat ideally. Amazing buffs include: Shield, Mage Armor, Displacement, Greater Invisibility, Enlarge Person, Heroism/Greater Heroism, Frightful Aspect, & Transformation. Just to name a few, there are definitely more out there. Get yourself a respec on a companion and make them into a designated buffing machine.
• If you’re going Bloodrager and you don’t want Primalist, take Mixed Blood. Alternatively, the Mythic ability that gives a 2nd bloodline is acceptable too. Take a Draconic & Serpentine bloodlines.
• Stop sleeping on Blind Fight. Unless you’re a you can get the Scent rage power, get Blind Fight earlier in the game. Make your life easier. This affects more so your enemie’s rolls than your own.
• Lighting – Lighting matters in melee. Don’t fight in the dark unless you have Light Spell, a Torch, Darkvision, Blind Fight, or Scent. You’re taking unnecessary disadvantage on rolls and possibly subjecting yourself to being flat-footed (lose your precious dodge bonuses).
• Get teamwork features any way you can. Get an inquisitor. Flank the hellabyss out of your enemies.

Afterward

Natural Attacks scale fine in most difficulties below Unfair. They’re just very rough early game and very rough without buffs for mid & late game. So not much different from any other melee really. Stacking Naturals for a lot of extra attacks is fun and amusing but just far to tedious if you’re trying to do it seriously.