Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Silver Griffon" data-source="post: 625148" data-attributes="member: 9425">I have to agree with Jester that a templated creature is not an average member of a species, but it can be argued that a templated creature is not the same species as the base creature. Anyway, it says that your ABILITY SCORES must be average for the creature, but your physical appearance can vary at your whim to anything &quot;within the normal ranges&quot; of the creature. Therefore, you can become an albino water buffalo even though an albino water buffalo is not an average buffalo. But, the new form's ability scores must be average, so that albino water buffalo could not have an 18 Dex.To repeat what others have already said, I think it comes down to the familiarity rule. If they haven't seen it, they can't become it.I disagree with Jester's comment that animals are an exception though, because the description of wild shape in MotW specifically sites the polar bear as its example when talking about the need for familiarity. Yes, a druid's nature sense allows him to identify an animal without error, but it doesn't provide familiarity with all animals. Some people have determined that this is a supernatural effect. I disagree. I think it is like the difference between Knowledge(nature) and Wilderness Lore. Knowledge is Int based and represents information and &quot;book learnin'&quot; and Wilderness Lore is Wis based and represents personal experience, or familiarity. Nature sense works more like Knowledge(nature).Besides, the thread is about shifters, and not all shifters are druids.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Silver Griffon, post: 625148, member: 9425"] I have to agree with Jester that a templated creature is not an average member of a species, but it can be argued that a templated creature is not the same species as the base creature. Anyway, it says that your ABILITY SCORES must be average for the creature, but your physical appearance can vary at your whim to anything "within the normal ranges" of the creature. Therefore, you can become an albino water buffalo even though an albino water buffalo is not an average buffalo. But, the new form's ability scores must be average, so that albino water buffalo could not have an 18 Dex. To repeat what others have already said, I think it comes down to the familiarity rule. If they haven't seen it, they can't become it. I disagree with Jester's comment that animals are an exception though, because the description of wild shape in MotW specifically sites the polar bear as its example when talking about the need for familiarity. Yes, a druid's nature sense allows him to identify an animal without error, but it doesn't provide familiarity with all animals. Some people have determined that this is a supernatural effect. I disagree. I think it is like the difference between Knowledge(nature) and Wilderness Lore. Knowledge is Int based and represents information and "book learnin'" and Wilderness Lore is Wis based and represents personal experience, or familiarity. Nature sense works more like Knowledge(nature). Besides, the thread is about shifters, and not all shifters are druids. [/QUOTE]

Verification