Ways you can Abuse a Shifter

[DM_Matt]

1- Changing into a large creature in a cramped room and squishing everybody against the walls.

Better yet, turn into a Gelatenous Cube the exact size of the room and digest everyone.

 

[Krystoff]

There are other ways out of that though. They could shapechange into a small black dragon for instance and just start tearing their way out. And there are several other Acid resistant creatures.

I say if you do enough damage to kill the creature that swallowed you, then you take enough damage to kill you too.

 

[Greatwyrm]

If memory serves me, Wild Shaping, greater or otherwise, is a spell-like ability. That means it can be interrupted. That also means you'd need to make a pretty ugly Concentration check to do it while being digested by something that just swallowed you whole. Of course, I could be mistaken about the type of ability.

As far as the power of the Shifter, look at what you have to give up. 10 levels of being a Druid (in most cases). You don't get ANY further spell advancement.

 

[Pielorinho]

One trick: for spells with an expensive or not easily-portable focus (e.g., scry for a wizard), you can shift into an animated version of the focus, per the construct rules. Your DM should decide whether this works ahead of time.

Similarly, you could shift into a diamond as big as a horse, or an exquisite necklace, and have your friends sell you for ready cash.

Daniel

 

[twjensen]

Black Pudding

Ick! Black pudding and splitting, very nasty.

The shapeshifting into a spell-focus is a clever idea, and one that makes the DM go, "Um, I don't really want to allow this, do I?"

 

[EOL]

Re: Re: Ways you can Abuse a Shifter

Basically, what I'm saying is that I won't allow someone to pull off a bone-headed move like being swallowed and then shapechanging into a Tarrasque.

Well to begin with the shifter the shifter would have to be level 48 before he could pull that one off, you'd think he would have learned not to pull bone-headed stunts by then.

But with some reasonable saving throw type limitations I don't see anything wrong with having an ability with the potential to kill a creature. Everyone else is getting their death attack spells by the time a shifter could pull anything like this off and with the shifter giving all that up I don't see where under very limited circumstance they couldn't pull off something like killing the creature from the inside.

Just to show you how we've dealt with it I will include the house rule we came up with for that situation. There are a lot of other house rules most of which have seriously limited the power of the shifter so keep that in mind as you read this one:

Should the shifter ever find themselves inside a creature (this could most easily happen through a Swallow Whole ability) the shifter can use his shifting ability to cause damage, assuming he can take the shape of something with a size at least one below that of the creature who swallowed him (if swallowed by a collosal creature the shifter would have to be able to assume a Gargantuan shape in order to have any chance of doing damage). In order to cause damage oppossed fortitude saves are made. For every point by which the higher save exceeds the lower the person with the lower save takes 2d6 points of damage up to a maximum of the shifter’s class level.

As you can see it's just as easy for the shifter to kill himself unless he has a substantially higher hit point total or fort save.

If memory serves me, Wild Shaping, greater or otherwise, is a spell-like ability. That means it can be interrupted. That also means you'd need to make a pretty ugly Concentration check to do it while being digested by something that just swallowed you whole. Of course, I could be mistaken about the type of ability.

Shape-changing starts out as a spell like ability and becomes a supernatural ability at Shifter level 6.

One trick: for spells with an expensive or not easily-portable focus (e.g., scry for a wizard), you can shift into an animated version of the focus, per the construct rules. Your DM should decide whether this works ahead of time.

Similarly, you could shift into a diamond as big as a horse, or an exquisite necklace, and have your friends sell you for ready cash.

Ohhh! that's one I hadn't thought of. Though I had considered that the whole animated object if given a carte blanche could get very nasty. The shifter could disguise himself as anything in a room, a Gargantuan Tapestry, or a large couch. Talk about your perfect assassin. Of course once they gain the ability to turn themselves into a mimic they can do much the same.

Originally posted by twjensen
Ick! Black pudding and splitting, very nasty.

I think it's been generally agreed that with any ability which is sort of "procreative" for example egg implantation by a Slaad or Spider Eater, or the pudding split, that the shifter loses control of the split off form, so yeah maybe the pudding does split, but that just means that the shifter is stuck in a room full of black puddings he has no control over. Or yeah the Slaad does hatch, but all you've done is create an army of slaads who will probably destroy you. It's also just fairly simple to rule 0 the whole idea of shifter spawning.....

 

[Shard O'Glase]

feats: you gain the feats of the creature, as per the new wildshape rules. In wildshape limited to animals I think it makes sense since the feats are supposed to simulate more natural abilities or instinct based abilities of that animal. In sentient creatures for whom feats are more logically learned abilities it makes less sense, and coincidentally gives you access to more feats than the fighter has.

Regen is ex, celestials unless things are changed in an errata have no weakness in that regen so everything does subdual damage to them. You only revert in form if killed, being knocked unconscious isn't mentioned as a way to do it. Therefore if turned into a celestial you are effectively unkillable except from non-hp loss deaths, like disinigrate.

 

[kreynolds]

Therefore if turned into a celestial you are effectively unkillable except from non-hp loss deaths, like disinigrate.

Deal enough subdual and the celestial is toast.

 

[UD]

I would love to cemment on this thread, but... I still havnt got my *$@$!?#}** book yet!!!!!1

 

[med stud]

If swallowed, the best creature to transform into must be a black pudding of the same size as the ventricle and throat of the swallowing creature; the term "peptic ulcer" will take on a new meaning for the creature