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Ok, as I am expecting to receive delivery of my PF core rulebook in the next week or so, I have a request for you guys. My wife loves playing a Druid, but she, and I, hate Wild Shape. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good replacement feature? Maybe granting access to either Animal or Plant Domains, but they get alot of those spells anyway. Open to ideas.
Ok, as I am expecting to receive delivery of my PF core rulebook in the next week or so, I have a request for you guys. My wife loves playing a Druid, but she, and I, hate Wild Shape. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good replacement feature? Maybe granting access to either Animal or Plant Domains, but they get alot of those spells anyway. Open to ideas.
I think a bit of explanation as to why you dislike wild shape would probably help steer any alternatives in a direction that you would like.
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Fair enough, she doesn't like the whole transform yourself into an animal thing, plain and simple. I tried to explain the various advavtages, even though I'm not a fan of it myself, but she just really would be happier with something else. What I would like to do is replace it, her Druid is more a "Woodwise Healer" sort, and I do try to allow subtle changes to classes in order for my players to play the character they have in mind, it's a lot of work but to me it's worth it. Problem is I'm drawing a blank on an equivilant ability, so I came to the fine folks on the boards to help me out.
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Well, I can think of a few things. If she wants to be more of a healer, why not trade Wild Shape for a few Cleric only healing/curing spells? Or even the 3.5 "Vigor" spells, as they are.
I personally think the Druid already has a little to much and the Cleric not enough, so I'm a bit bias here. But what about trading the Wild Shape for a 2nd Animal companion, (at -5 effective Druid Level)?
Another option would be (similar to the PF Barbarian) to replace Wild Shape with one of the Shape feats from Complete Divine. It sort of depends on why she doesn't like Wild Shape, (to much trouble, too good, doesn't like the flavor, . . .). If it is to much trouble, this would work well, while staying sort of similar to what the Druid can do. An example would be, burning a Wild Shape use to grow a poisonous Bite attack. However, she would not have Both the Feat and Wild Shape, just the feat that can be used with her Wild Shape uses per day.
In the Dragon Magic book, there is the following:
Aspect of the Dragon
Class: Druid
Level it starts: 5th
Replaces: Wild shaping, and all advances
Effect: You can take on the aspects of a dragon. Taking on one or more aspects is a swift action, and the effects last for 1 hour (or until dismissed as a free action). The various aspects are below.
At 5th level, you can have only one aspect in effect at a time. At 8th level you can have 2 simultaniously. At 11th you can take up to 3 simultaniously, and at 15th it maxes out at 4 simultaniously. Each aspect counts as one daily use of the ability (see below). Multiple versions of the same aspect do not work.
At 5th level, you can use this ability 1/day. You gain additional uses of this ability as you would wild shaping.
You are considered proficient with any natual attacks granted by the aspect, and you retain any special abilities (unless otherwise specificied).
Breath of the Dragon[/b]: You can breath a 30 ft cone of fire as a standard action. The cone deals 1d6 points of damage / 2 druid class levels. A Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 your druid level + Con mod) for 1/2 damage. Must wait 1d4 rounds before doing this again.
[i]Claws of the Dragon: You gain a +4 Str bonus and your hands become claws as a primary attack. Each claws deals a certain amount of damage (1d6 if medium, 1d4 if small, etc) + Str mod. These are treated as magical weapons for DR purposes.
Heart of the Dragon: You gain a +4 bonus to Con and immunity to paralysis.
Mind of the Dragon: You gain a +4 bonus to Wis, dark vision out to 60 ft, low-light vision, and immunity to sleep effects.
Wings of the Dragon: You grow draconic wings that allow you to fly at your normal land speed with good manueverability. You can't fly if wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load.
In the Races of Destiny book, there is a 1 time class level substitution (although it is for Half-Orc, I see no reason you couldn't use it for another race) that replaces the 6th level wild shape ability with a +4 bonus to Str and Con of creatures you summon using the Summon Nature's Ally spells.
That's all I found in official books.
There are also a bunch of feats that you "use your wild shape ability to do some other ability instead" You could effectively just grant her a few of thsoe feats and a "number of times per day = to wild shaping" they can use the feats as a whole. The Player's Guide to Druids and Rangers (by S&S) has quite a few of those, they are called Primal Feats. Such as granting yourself immunity to diseases, using detect magic (for an hour), +10 bonus on damage to inanimate objects, putting a target (on a touch attack) into a state of intense pleasure (stunned for 1d4 rounds, DC = bluff check), and sucking venom from an ally and spitting it at opponents!
Finally, you could offer to have her play a different base class but gets the druid spells, such as:
Shugenja (Complete Divine, based on elemental stuff)
Spirit Shaman (Complete Divine, kind of a druid focusing on spirits instead of nature)
That's about all I got.....
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My Cleric will trade crappy Channel Energy for your Druids undesired Wild Shape. . .She'd probably jump at that, think it would hold? :)
Depends on what you mean? As far as balanced, I think so. She would normally get Wild Shape at I think 5th level, so I would just start it there. You might also consider doing a variation. It heals living and hurts Elementals, or better yet Aberrations rather than Undead. More Druidy, and keeps it a bit different than a Clerics.
I think trading Wild Shape for Channel Energy would hold fine. Druids have a reason to not like Undead too, however having it work against Aberrations would be fine as well. It's a trade I would probably take if I didn't want wild shape.
you could also fluff channel as more of a regrowth/ channel nature thing. I do agree her gaining it at 5th level. Also channel gives her more of a wise woman/healer feel.
Ok, as I am expecting to receive delivery of my PF core rulebook in the next week or so, I have a request for you guys. My wife loves playing a Druid, but she, and I, hate Wild Shape. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good replacement feature? Maybe granting access to either Animal or Plant Domains, but they get alot of those spells anyway. Open to ideas.
I'm not sure how balanced this would be but what about giving the animal companion wild shape. Same progression, same everything, just on the companion. If you did this I would also give the AC a slight INT boost when it gets wild shape. Make it an avatar of nature.
Oh thats a great ideal. A nature bound spirit as a companion, I like that alot
You could also give her a sorcerer bloodline in place of wildshape as a gradual alignment with a natural force. Basically, she would devote herself to a single concept of nature and slowly transform her body to become one with it. Elemental, Fey, Celestial (Positive Energy), Undead (Negative Energy), or Draconic (Magic) would all be suitable. Just don't give her the bonus spells, and perhaps tweak them a little to better fit the druid.
Just an idea.
If she doesn't like the concept of altering herself into an animal, how about instead a 'plant shape'? Use the stat boosts she would get for each of the beast form, elemental form, etc, but instead she becomes almost dryad in appearance? Bark like skin, green hair, etc?
She couldn't get fly or anything, but she could get all the other benefits (boosted stats, natural attacks (clawed fingers with sharp wooden nails), faster ground movement, etc.
It would take some work on your part to work out what she get's at each level, but it would only be up front work.
EDIT : LOL, forgot they already have Plant Shape spells. Would she be ok using just those for wild shape?
If she doesn't like the concept of altering herself into an animal, how about instead a 'plant shape'? Use the stat boosts she would get for each of the beast form, elemental form, etc, but instead she becomes almost dryad in appearance? Bark like skin, green hair, etc?
I know, replying to my own message is bad form, but I thought I should elaborate on what I meant. Instead of her turning into a plant based creature (like a shambling mound or something), she instead takes on plant traits, but stays a humanoid? Obviously recognizable as her character, but sort of a woodling version (if you have the original MM3 that has woodling templates in it). So, for Plant Shape I she'd either be able to become a Small Woodling type (Say, vulnerability to fire, +2 Natural Armor bonus (bark skin), maybe darkvision, +2 Con). Or a medium woodling type (like a dryad, +2 str, +2 natural armor, Darkvision, vulnerability to fire).
For plant shape II she becomes a large woodling type, like a 10 foot tall dryad, gains darkvision, +4 natural armor, +4 strength, and +2 con.
And for PS III, She grows to a huge height, like a treant, but still her character. DR 5/Slashing, barkskin (+6 Natural AC), darkvision, and so on...
She'd not have the ability to assume other forms (beasts or dragons or elementals), but would retain speach and equipment in the plant form, so that's a good trade off.
Alternately, if you *do* have the woodling template from MM3, you could just give her that template, but only usable per day as if she had Wildshape. And, she could only adjust her size in the template as if she were using the Plant Shape's of the various levels. That's a powerful punch, but, she's giving up versatility to basically be a plant girl part of the time.
I would say the channel energy would be a fair trade. I don't think it should be as beneficial as the cleric's ability, so I would do one or both of the following:
1) Gain channel energy at 4th level. Effective cleric level is druid level -3.
2) The druid only gains use of this ability when in a natural environment. (Wouldn't work in buildings, man-made dungeons, or large cities).
Ok, as I am expecting to receive delivery of my PF core rulebook in the next week or so, I have a request for you guys. My wife loves playing a Druid, but she, and I, hate Wild Shape. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good replacement feature? Maybe granting access to either Animal or Plant Domains, but they get alot of those spells anyway. Open to ideas.
A few quick suggestions (off the top of my head - game balance hasn't been tested), hopefully they inspire:
You could give her a bonus feat for each use of wild shape she would normally get,
or
You could give her the fey or verdant sorcerer bloodline abilities (but not the arcana, etc.)
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Um, i'm sure those are good suggestions, but according to the post stamps this thread is over two years old.
Um, i'm sure those are good suggestions, but according to the post stamps this thread is over two years old.
Haha. Talk about thread necromancy. I guess I should check those dates more frequently.=)