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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 1713780" data-attributes="member: 13966">Well, I haven't gone over it all yet, but your Shifter class gives an aweful lot of power to a 1st-level character.  They can single-handedly do all the party's fighting for the first several encounters each day as long as they're not far apart time-wise (i.e. when dungeon-crawling the party is likely to run into encounters fairly rapidly), and still be able to contribute as a secondary warrior for the rest of the day.  A 1st-level Shifter turning into something with 5 hit dice or something, 3 times per day, for 10 minutes each time, and also turning into something of 4 hit dice once per day in addition?  Yeesh!  That'll definately need serious tweaking.  Also, it seems to me that the shifter essentially gets those extra hit dice in bonus hit points per day essentially, as each form shifted into has its own HP tracked separately from those of the Shifter him- or herself....meaning the 1st-level Shifter essentially has around 19 extra hit dice worth of hit points each day....and that's just assuming a human Shifter with 18 Constitution, not even considering a dwarven Shifter or some other race with Constitution bonuses. And the Concentration check DC for shifting (aside from maybe the adjustments incurred by metashift feats) is laughably easy; skill checks normally aren't subject to the natural-1 and natural-20 rules, so a shifter can easily make the required Concentration check without any need to bother rolling, as long as they put 1 rank per Shifter level into Concentration, and have a good Constitution (which is as likely as a Wizard PC choosing to start with a high Intelligence, as in, it's practically assured).  You also don't mention whether or not the Shifter can take 10 on the check (they obviously can't take 20, because you can't take 20 with a skill check that has penalties for failure; in this case, losing one of their uses of Shift for the day), which would make it even more ridiculously easy.  Lessee, a 20th-level Shifter can expect to have a total Concentration check bonus of around +30, so by taking 10 they could easily Shift into an 'epic creature' of 20 hit dice, and even if it wasn't possible to take 10, they would still have a 50% chance of succeeding; and really, with 20 attempts per day at that point, do they really have to worry about a mere 50% rate of failure when any single success will last them 200 minutes (or 40 hours with Enhanced Shift Type)? Also, an important note, basing the Shifter's limits on creatures available for Shifting purely on hit dice alone will lead to some ridiculous Shifts that give Spell-Like or Supernatural abilities far beyond what any Wizard of similar level could do with even their mightiest spells at that level.  At least they don't gain the capacity to Shift into Fey or Dragons at any level where it would be totally ludicrous (Faeries have powerful magical abilities for their meager hit dice, recall, and they're not the only creatures like that).  A creature's Effective Character Level or Challenge Rating might be a more appropriate measure for determining Shift limits.  Remember that many monsters have Spell-Like or Supernatural abilities that are useable at will, and some of them are rather powerful abilities (like some creatures' ability to Teleport or Plane Shift at will). I don't suppose a Shifter can be interrupted when trying to Shift, just like a spellcaster can be interrupted when casting?  Can the Shifter in that case attempt to Shift defensively by making a separate Concentration check?  What sort of action does it take to perform a Shift, and does it provoke attacks of opportunity?  As an Extraordinary ability, I don't think there's any default for these parameters, so you'd have to specify.  And how can a mere Extraordinary ability shapeshift the character into something else entirely, even granting them Supernatural and Spell-Like abilities as a result?  Seems more like the purvue (sp?) of a Supernatural or Spell-Like ability itself.  You also don't mention what, if any, effects of Alter Self, Polymorph, or Shapechange are included in the effects of Shift (Do they heal HP when Shifting? Does equipment meld with the new form, and what equipment melds? Do parts of the new form revert to their original form when separated, like severed limbs or poison? Does the Shifter revert to normal upon death?  Can the Shifter use their ability to Shift into the likeness of a specific creature and thus be effectively disguised as them, like with Polymorph?  Etc.). Not meaning to criticize, just pointing out some glaring wholes I noticed when first reading through the class.  You'll need to edit the description to include the necessary details on this stuff.  Also, why are Shifters required to be Chaotic in alignment in order to take the class, but are then allowed to switch to any alignment without penalty or whatever?  That is, why do they even need to be Chaotic in the first place if it's obviously not a required state of mind for the use of their quasi-mystical shapeshifting powers?  I don't really find the class pointless or horrible or anything, just not anywhere remotely close to being balanced as-of-yet for actual use in play. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />  I wouldn't have even noticed all this except that I'm a compulsive perfectionist and also a homebrew-obsessed DM that tinkers with everything. {:^)</blockquote>

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