Animal Growth+huge dire Tiger=?

[Asmo]

Do you think it would be devastatingly unbalancing to allow the 3.0 druid to actually change type to animal? After a request from me, my dm is considering this option.
Anyone that can give some example how this have worked out in actual gameplay, if allowed?
I would perhaps go for the Huge dire Tiger (now that I´ve advanced to lvl 15) and animal growth myself. But there might be other animals to consider. Any suggestions?
At this moment I use a Wilding Clasp, a Periapt of Wisdom and a +1 wild ironwood fullplate as my main gear, so I can have a decent AC while wildshaped and cast high level spells with decent DC:s ( I have the Natural Spell feat wich is very nice,imho).


Asmo

 

[youspoonybard]

It's even nicer in 3.5. (Natural Spell).

I dunno. I wouldn't allow it with the 3.0 version of Animal Growth.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Though not the druid in 3.0, since a wildshaped druid does not change type. In 3.5 a druid does change type to animal when wildshaped.

Good point. Still, in 3.0 you could Animal Growth both that summoned Dire Tiger and your Dire Bear companion.

 

[shilsen]

Good point. Still, in 3.0 you could Animal Growth both that summoned Dire Tiger and your Dire Bear companion.

You can still do that in 3.5, and yourself too (as long as you're wildshaped and using Natural Spell).

 

[Kal Skid]

Keep in mind that in 3.0, a Druid could still change his type to animal via Shapechange. Granted, it is a 9th level spell, but it opens up some big options. Such as ...

Animal Growth on himself, for a tasty +8 Strength, +4 Con, -2 Dex, -1 to hit/ac, and +2 or 3 Natural armor.

Nature's Favor, also known as Divine Favor on crack ... this baby gives an animal a luck bonus to hit and damage equal to half the Druid's level. It also never caps.

Nature's Avatar, while a 9th level spell, is easily the most unbalanced thing I've ever seen. Not only does this give the effects of haste and a +10 morale bonus to hit and damage, it also grants 1d8 temporary hit points per level.

Combine those spells with an animal with rend, and you have a Druid that fights better than fighters.

 

[shilsen]

Nature's Favor, also known as Divine Favor on crack ... this baby gives an animal a luck bonus to hit and damage equal to half the Druid's level. It also never caps.

Nature's Avatar, while a 9th level spell, is easily the most unbalanced thing I've ever seen. Not only does this give the effects of haste and a +10 morale bonus to hit and damage, it also grants 1d8 temporary hit points per level.

Combine those spells with an animal with rend, and you have a Druid that fights better than fighters.

Not just better than fighters, but better than most dragons out there.

Those two spells are a whole lot weaker in my campaign, and it's likely that if Asmo tries to use them his DM (as would most people's) will nerf them as soon as he reads the descriptions. And if not, then definitely when he sees them in action. Assuming he survives the top of his head exploding when Asmo rolls damage

 

[Kal Skid]

Not just better than fighters, but better than most dragons out there.

Those two spells are a whole lot weaker in my campaign, and it's likely that if Asmo tries to use them his DM (as would most people's) will nerf them as soon as he reads the descriptions. And if not, then definitely when he sees them in action. Assuming he survives the top of his head exploding when Asmo rolls damage

At epic levels, it's even worse. In the last session, we faced a Force Dragon. I think it was very old ... the skinny of it was that the fighters couldn't hit it, and the druid (myself) was tearing it up for approximately 400 points of damage a round. Rend is nasty with epic spellcasting to increase your strength ...

 

[Golem2176]

Though not the druid in 3.0, since a wildshaped druid does not change type. In 3.5 a druid does change type to animal when wildshaped.

Where does it state in the 3.5 PHB that the Druid's type becomes animal while wildshaped? After reading the wild shape section of the druid I can find no mentions of this.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Where does it state in the 3.5 PHB that the Druid's type becomes animal while wildshaped? After reading the wild shape section of the druid I can find no mentions of this.

Wildshape refers you to Polymorph.

Read Polymorph.

-Hyp.

 

[Asmo]

Thanx folks for all the input, great stuff!

shilsen wrote:

"Animal-growthed dire tiger (gargantuan animal):

"BAB/Grapple - +24/+48"

As I understand this is that the Tigers BAB is 24,but what I don´t understand is Grapple +48? How is this possible with a strength of 35?
If it isn´t to much, I would be glad if someone explained how this progression works. Before shilsen posted his reply me and my dm sat down and tried to calculate the numbers. Some was correct, but other things was completely wrong. Another example of this is the Tigers saves wich is incredible good.
And that leads me to my next question:
lets say that my dm allows me to animal growth myself and I choose the Huge Dire Tiger, what would my saves be?
As a 15 lvl druid my base save is 9/5/9 and my stats is: str 8, dex 11, con 18, int 16, wis 22 and cha 13. That will give me a fort save of 13, ref 5 and a will save at 17 (base 9 + 6 + 2 from Ironwill). I assume that I would keep the Tigers high con and dex for better saves,( and strenght for better attacks) but my will save would remain at 17,and not 19 wich the tiger has (because I retain my own Int, Wis and Cha)?
Glad for any help!

Asmo