Shifter PrC Questions

[isoChron]

That happens to me all the time. I type without thinking. Sorry.
BYE

 

[kigmatzomat]

I have a player in my group that is using the shifter PrC. I need to know how to determine what shapes he can take. Realistically, it seems that he can only take shapes of things he's seen before, but I'm not sure how to determine what he has seen.

Well, what are his other levels? How much down time do/has he had? Any druid, given a few weeks, can cover a huge amount of distance and locate a given type of creature. Eagles are *very* fast birds, great for overland travel, and combined with Commune With Nature they can scope out areas several miles in diameter for multiple creatures.

The Griffon should be almost a given as it is one of the more common exotic mounts. IIRC Girallons can be summoned with Summon Monster so he might be able to pay a wizard to bamf one in. Once you find a Gray Render's territory, finding the render is easy given their swath of destruction. Chimera will likely be the hard one to find.

Truth be told, Shifter's aren't really all that and a bag of chips. They've got some nifties but the loss of casting means they are turned into melees. The low BABs and moderate HPs make them reliant on the critter powers. Shifters make great multitools but crappy main guns. Fact is, most monsters don't do as much damage as a caster of equivalent level (level = HD).

 

[Rath the Brown]

This is in the Masters of the Wild FAQ about what a Shifter can change into:

Both the wildshape and greater wildshape powers
require you to be familiar with the form you assume. Just
how familiar is "familiar" for the purposes of shifting?
Would fighting a creature qualify? Would just seeing it
once work, or does familiarity require active study?

Any encounter in which you fight or have a similar
complex interaction with the creature would qualify, as
would studying the creature for a day.

So, if you can remember which creatures the party has fought in the past, those would be fair game. As for anything else, what kind of terrain does the druid come from? I would allow the druid to assume the shape of any animal with that kind of terrain listed as their environment, as well the more common monsters from a random encounter table for that terrain.

 

[Urbanmech]

Hey Todd! Giving the Shifter 3.5 Wildshape really kicks it in the teeth and makes it a less versitile. The EX abilities are the reason to take the Shifter class. If not it becomes a quest to find the best combat form and just use that form almost all the time.

If you are looking for a way to balance the class sit down with Ryan and the MM and maybe pick a handful of monsters of each type that he can change into that he has seen in his travels. Or just go back through the adventures that have been run for the group and just assume that he has seen all of the creatures encountered in those adventures. Also assume he has seen almost all humanoid races (it is the Forgotten Realms) and quite a few animals. Depending on where in the Realms CotSQ is set he could also pick up a few more shapes based on what is common to the surrounding area.

 

[JesterPoet]

Hey Todd! Giving the Shifter 3.5 Wildshape really kicks it in the teeth and makes it a less versitile. The EX abilities are the reason to take the Shifter class. If not it becomes a quest to find the best combat form and just use that form almost all the time.

If you are looking for a way to balance the class sit down with Ryan and the MM and maybe pick a handful of monsters of each type that he can change into that he has seen in his travels. Or just go back through the adventures that have been run for the group and just assume that he has seen all of the creatures encountered in those adventures. Also assume he has seen almost all humanoid races (it is the Forgotten Realms) and quite a few animals. Depending on where in the Realms CotSQ is set he could also pick up a few more shapes based on what is common to the surrounding area.

Yes, Andy, I think we have it pretty well under control.


We've talked about it, and we're going to find a happy medium between the 3.0 and 3.5 rules. We both liked the idea of assigning them almost like cleric spells, where he gets a certain number of new ones per level, and then can seek out others that he wants. I do believe that he would not (in my world) be able to change into anything he hasn't directly interacted with, so that will be what we have to discuss.

As for the EX abilities... I agree it kicks it in the teeth, but I also agree with WoTC that it had to be nerfed. I do think, however, that they might have gone a bit far with it for the sake of ease. So we're going to come up with a solution to it that makes both of us happy. One thing I'm pondering is giving him one change per size of creature (or some other variable) that gets the EX abilites, but the others don't. But I'll come up with something before next week.