Gren Beastclaws
N Ghostwise Halfling Druidic Avenger 5/Totemist 2/Warshaper 4/Totem Rager 9

Image by Shestval

Spoiler: Story
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When Gren Beastclaws was a wee girl, she was a wild, disobedient thing, and it was all the worse because her father was the Wise Man at that time, and she was expected to take his place when he died, just like you’ll take mine someday. But the tribe couldn’t let her go on like she was, never listening to a thing anyone said to her. Do you remember when Lurill the hunter left us, child? Do you remember the ritual?

Of course I do, grandmother.

Gren Beastclaws underwent the same ritual when she was younger than you are now, before even her Naming. Her mother and father were heartbroken, of course, but what else could they do? She went out into the world, and stayed away for many moons. When she returned—

What did she do when she was gone, though?

I’m afraid that’s one of the mysteries, my dear. Gren Beastclaws never did tell anyone what happened to her during her Change-time, but when she returned to our land, she had mastered the ways of the great beasts of the forest. And lucky that she did, too.

Why was it lucky?

Hush, my little sparrow, I was just about to tell you. She had been away too long, you see, and the Wise Man died before she came back. Without him, our tribe fell into disarray, and a terrible dragon with a hide like falling leaves invaded our forest and enslaved our people. Gren Beastclaws fought the dragon for a day and a night, using the power of the great beasts to aid her. The dragon had breath that withered the trees, but Gren channeled all her wildness in the aid of her people, and her claws were strong enough to hew stone. In the end she slew the dragon and freed our tribe. This rock just here is site of their final battle--look, you can see the gouges she left in the stone.

And that’s why this rock is the center of our land?

Indeed it is. Here, I made this for you. It’s a necklace, with a little piece of Gren’s rock in it, just like mine. Wear it close to your heart so that wherever you go, your clan and your history will be with you, and always remember little Gren, who tamed and honed her strength to become our tribe’s great champion.


Spoiler: Ability Scores
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At level 1: Str 12 (16), Dex 14, Con 16 (20), Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10
At level 20: Str 16 (22), Dex 14, Con 21 (27), Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10

The 20th-level ability scores assume no items.


Spoiler: Build
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Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Druidic Avenger +0 +2 +0 +2 Concentration 4, Intimidate 4, Jump 4, Listen 4, Survival 4 Power Attack Rage 1/day, fast movement, wild empathy
2nd Druidic Avenger +1 +3 +0 +3 Concentration 5, Intimidate 5, Jump 5, Listen 5, Survival 5 Woodland stride
3rd Druidic Avenger +2 +3 +1 +3 Concentration 6, Jump 6, Know (Nature) 1, Listen 6, Survival 6 Cobalt Rage Trackless step
4th Druidic Avenger +3 +4 +1 +4 Concentration 7, Jump 7, Know (Nature) 2, Listen 7, Survival 7 Resist nature's lure
5th Druidic Avenger (Halfling subtitution level) +3 +4 +1 +4 Concentration 8, Handle Animal 2, Jump 8, Know (Nature) 3, Listen 8, Survival 8 Undersized wild shape 2/day
6th Totemist +3 +6 +3 +4 Concentration 9, Jump 8.5, Know (Nature) 4, Listen 9, Survival 9 Bonus Essentia Wild empathy
7th Totemist +4 +7 +4 +4 Concentration 10, Jump 9, Know (Nature) 5, Listen 10, Survival 10 Totem chakra bind (+1 capacity)
8th Warshaper +4 +9 +4 +4 Jump 10, Listen 10.5, Survival 10.5 Morphic immunities, morphic weapons
9th Warshaper +5 +10 +4 +4 Jump 11, Listen 11, Survival 11 Multiattack Morphic body
10th Totem Rager +5 +12 +6 +4 Concentration 11, Handle Animal 3, Jump 12, Listen 12, Survival 12 Totem rage, wild empathy
11th Totem Rager +6/+1 +13 +7 +4 Concentration 12, Handle Animal 4, Jump 13, Listen 13, Survival 13 Rage 2/day
12th Totem Rager +7/+2 +13 +7 +5 Concentration 13, Handle Animal 5, Jump 14, Listen 14, Survival 14 Improved Essentia Capacity DR 1/-
13th Totem Rager +8/+3 +14 +8 +5 Concentration 14, Handle Animal 6, Jump 15, Listen 15,Survival 15 Chakra binds (crown, feet, hands)
14th Totem Rager +8/+3 +14 +8 +5 Concentration 15, Handle Animal 7, Jump 16, Listen 16, Survival 16 Extended rage
15th Warshaper +9/+4 +14 +9 +6 Concentration 16, Handle Animal 8 Cobalt Charge Morphic reach
16th Warshaper +10/+5 +15 +9 +6 Concentration 17, Handle Animal 9 Morphic healing
17th Totem Rager +11/+6/+1 +16 +10 +7 Handle Animal 11, Jump 17, Listen 17, Survival 17
18th Totem Rager +12/+7/+2 +16 +10 +7 Concentration 18, Handle Animal 12, Jump 18, Listen 18,Survival 18 Open Lesser Chakra (Arms) Dr 2/-
19th Totem Rager +13/+8/+3 +17 +11 +7 Concentration 19, Handle Animal 13, Jump 19, Listen 19, Survival 19 Rage 3/day
20th Totem Rager +13/+8/+3 +17 +11 +8 Concentration 20, Handle Animal 14, Jump 20, Listen 20, Survival 20 Chakra bind (arms, brow, shoulders)


Spoiler: Spellcasting
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Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st 3 1 - - - - - - - -
2nd 4 2 - - - - - - - -
3rd 4 2 1 - - - - - - -
4th 5 3 2 - - - - - - -
5th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
6th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
7th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
8th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
9th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
10th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
11th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
12th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
13th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
14th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
15th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
16th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
17th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
18th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
19th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -
20th 5 3 2 1 - - - - - -


Spoiler: Meldshaping
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Level Chakra Binds Soulmelds Shaped Essentia (Rage)
5 0 0 1
10 1 3 5 (6)
15 2 4 7 (9)
20 3 5 9 (13)

Typical Soulmelds Shaped/Bound at 20th Level: Blink Shirt, Girallon Arms (arm bind), Landshark Boots (totem bind), Sphinx Claws (hand bind), Threefold Mask of the Chimera


Spoiler: Snapshots
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Level 5: Druidic Avenger is an alternate class from Unearthed Arcana that trades the animal companion for fast movement (very useful for a small charger) and rage. Other than that, Gren is a pretty standard druid--she’s even a good spellcaster at this level, which is absolutely not going to be the case after this. Of particular note for this competition is Undersized Wild Shape, which she gets from a halfling substitution level. It means that, instead of being able to take small or medium animal forms, she can take tiny or small ones. That limits her options (an excellent choice is the Serval, from Sandstorm, which has a positive Str modifier and pounce) but it also means she gets to Wild Shape one more time per day, which is good, since Wild Shape is also not something she’ll be improving much. She’s also able to communicate in Wild Shape thanks to her racial pseudo-telepathy Speak Without Sound.

Level 10: Gren gets another version of pounce at level 7 when she can bind Landshark Boots to her totem chakra. Landshark Boots’ charge only works with claw attacks, but in addition to the serval--which is still the best small clawing form--she can get normal claws with Morphic Weapons, which means her Landshark Boots are invaluable. They’re also the reason she’s training up Jump. The main feature of Totem Rager (Totem Rage, obviously) really helps her piddly essentia capacity, letting her fuel the excellent Cobalt Rage feat with an extended capacity, also increased by the Improved Essentia Capacity feat. From here on out, she should be using her spells for buffing and out-of-combat healing, because they’re not much of a threat compared to her attacks; and Wild Shape is mostly good for travel and stealth, since she can get more powerful natural weapons in her notmal form.

Level 15: At this level, Gren gets her third and best pounce ability: Sphinx Claws, bound to her hands, which finally gives her pounce with all her natural weapons--and with Morphic Weapons, even used non-cheesily, that’s gonna be a lot of stuff. In addition, her Cobalt Charge feat means that all her natural attacks to extra damage on a charge, and Morphic Reach means they all stretch five extra feet, which is pretty great for a small character. Since she never gets improved versions of rage, she also picks up Reckless Rage here as a substitute.

Level 20: Gren is unfortunately one effective Totemist level away from getting a third chakra bind, so she takes Open Lesser Chakra for her last feat to simulate it. The standard soulmeld she uses with this feat is Girallon Arms, which, when bound to her arm chakra, give her rend with claw attacks--and she should have claw attacks, thanks to Morphic Weapons. She also gets Morphic Healing, which gives her a good reason to still be spending points on Concentration even though she’s not much of a spellcaster. Her damage reduction improves a little bit, and she gets another use of rage, but these last five levels are just about polishing up what she can already do.


Spoiler: Sources
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Complete Champion: Warshaper
Magic of Incarnum: Totemist, Totem Rager, Cobalt Rage, Bonus Essentia, Improved Essentia Capacity, Cobalt Charge, Open Lesser Chakra
Races of Faerun: Ghostwise Halfling
Races of the Wild: Halfling Druid substitution level
Unearthed Arcana: Druidic Avenger alternate class