eamon
Explorer
Shapeshift is also less "abusable" since it doesn't follow polymorph or alternate form rules - you simply gain bonuses. This can be a disadvantage for the player, but it's nice as a DM, that's for sure. I require all players to use shapeshift instead of the standard druid, it's just so much better than wild shape. It's probably slightly more powerful in the normal case, but since the bonuses are enhancement bonuses, you can't take a ton of time buffing up with various items and things which stack with alternate form, and the shifting is just a quick action, which is quite nice (a druid in my campaign shifts almost every round to combine spellcasting with attacks). Oh, and it explicitly bans natural spell too!
Really, it's what wild shape should always have been. I do recommend working with the player to allow other effects which nominally require wild shape (such as wild armor, and a number of prestige classes, or wilding clasps) to work with shapeshift instead - otherwise you're really penalizing the player heavily and I don't like giving large mechanical disadvantages to play-styles which are liable to be more fun in a group.
Even if you accidentally push shapeshift too high (in terms of power) the limitations imposed by lacking natural spell, and the lack of pick-any-form-you-want, and the limitations imposed by enhancement bonuses instead of alternate form mean that you're far less likely to result in a game-unbalancing situation (which is born out in my game).
Really, it's what wild shape should always have been. I do recommend working with the player to allow other effects which nominally require wild shape (such as wild armor, and a number of prestige classes, or wilding clasps) to work with shapeshift instead - otherwise you're really penalizing the player heavily and I don't like giving large mechanical disadvantages to play-styles which are liable to be more fun in a group.
Even if you accidentally push shapeshift too high (in terms of power) the limitations imposed by lacking natural spell, and the lack of pick-any-form-you-want, and the limitations imposed by enhancement bonuses instead of alternate form mean that you're far less likely to result in a game-unbalancing situation (which is born out in my game).
