Wildshaping Class


Homebrew and House Rules


I am trying to make a new class, a wildshaping class with low / no spell progression, High versatility in combat, with a wide variety of form to wildshape in. This is what I came up so far.
I'll put Spells Wildshape refers to:

1 Claws 1d4 + Str, for 3 + Cos modifiers minutes per day, activated as free action

2

3 Claws 1d6 + Str, for 3 + Cos modifiers minutes per day, activated as free action

4 Wild shape 2/day Beast shape I, Vermin Shape I

5 Elemental body I, Monstrous physique I

6 Wild shape 3/day Beast Shape II, Vermin Shape II

7 Elemental body II, Monstrous physique II

8 Wild shape 4/day Beast Shape III, Plant shape I, Can wild shape as movement action
9 Elemental body III, Monstrous physique III

10 Wild shape 5/day, Beast Shape IV, Plant shape II

11 Elemental body IV, Monstrous physique IV

12 Wild shape 6/day, Plant shape III

13 Giant form I

14 Wild shape 7/day

15 Giant form II, Can wild shape as swift action

16 Wild shape 8/day Form of the dragon III

17

18 Wild shape 9/day Form of the dragon III

19

20 Wild shape at will

I would like to either let him have an animal companion or full bab, or 6 lvl spell casting like bard. Any suggestion


I'm not seeing the Wildshape at 1st level ability here...

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I'm not really seeing much of a class here either. All it does is give them free polymorph spells...


Feral hunter archetype kinda does this.


Alter self at level 1, Monstrous Physique I at 2, Beast Shape as Druid, Elemental Body IMO doesn't quite fit, there are Form of the dragon I and II too; full initiating, steal few WIS-based abilities from Stalker and Harbinger.
Oh yes, wild shape should be unlimited uses and unlimited duration from level 1.


I really wanted to make a Shapeshifter class, so anyone who plays this class should be able to transform in any creature, with very few exceptions. I like the idea of monstrous physique and alters self at first levels!
I would like to add bonuses like +1 natural armor/4 levels when wildshaped, +1 Roll to hit and damage every 5 lvl. Doe this seem op?
Medium BAB + 6 lvl spell progression from druid list
or
Full bab?
Feral Hunter seems cool, but doesnt seem too balanced :/


If you're okay with going to third-party publishers, and by homebrewing something I think you might be, Drop Dead Studios has recently released the PDF version of Spheres of Power, with a print version on the way. It's a complete overhaul of the Pathfinder magic system, giving magic users more of a Pathfinder type of magic system instead of a system inherited from D&D 3.5e. Now, the reason I recommend this product in relation to this thread is that DDS went ahead and looked at a lot of the classes that already exist (Druid, Bard, Magus, Wizard, etc.) and made new versions of them that work well in their new system of magic. The Shifter class is their version of the Wild Shape focused Druid.

The Shifter is able to use her Wild Shape type of ability at-will using either a move action to concentrate on the ability or spend a spell point to make it a duration of minutes per caster level. At 4th level this changes to concentration +1/2 level rounds, or spend a spell point for minutes per caster level.

As the Shifter gains levels, they gain more Bestial Traits, options like Rogue Talents and Rage Powers, that can be used while shapeshifted. These options include claws, throwing your claws, gore attack, wings, hide in plain sight, earthglide, Rage as a Barbarian after dropping an enemy, improved die size of natural attacks, and more.


Do you want it to be focused just on combat or on using the shapeshifting for other things too?

I'd toyed around with a Full BAB shapeshifter. Starting with Wild Shape at first level, only simple weapon proficiencies and limited armor.

The theory was that he'd be fairly weak in combat, at least at first, but would have a lot more flexibility than the standard martial character. Early Flight, for example, though he wouldn't be able to fight much in a flying form.


mainly combat! Of course, he would be could at scounting, but the character concept is a bestial combat wildshaper.
As soon as I can i will look at drop dead studios material, seems interesting^^

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It takes a lot more than just a list of abilities to make a class.


See, if I want to play a shapeshifter, I want someone who can actually turn into things and run around in those other forms, even at low levels - which is where I play most often.

A martial shapeshifter should really be better at it than a druid. Druids have spells.

Sovereign Court

The shifter from spheres of power would work great for this even if no one else in the game uses the spheres magic system. If you keep all of your "magic" internal to your character then to the outside world it is no different then a souped up wildshape.


Mad Alchemist wrote:
The shifter from spheres of power would work great for this even if no one else in the game uses the spheres magic system. If you keep all of your "magic" internal to your character then to the outside world it is no different then a souped up wildshape.

It sounds like it's still basically a caster though, right?

Just the brief description above doesn't really seem to match what I'm looking for.


Sphere of powers seems indeed interesting, I have no money to buy it right now :/
Anyway it will be a full bab class, no spellcasting, but some spell like abilities like strong jaw and barkskin, usable only few times per day. It will have more flexibility in wildshape: I am thinking of letting this class transform in creature bigger or smaller than the original, if they can transform in that size. Huge tiger, for example, will become available once getting beast shape III.
Ultimited use of wild shape seem fine, i just wanna add some abilities usable only few times, like rage powers or rogue talents. How does that sound?

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Trisagon wrote:

Sphere of powers seems indeed interesting, I have no money to buy it right now :/

Anyway it will be a full bab class, no spellcasting, but some spell like abilities like strong jaw and barkskin, usable only few times per day. It will have more flexibility in wildshape: I am thinking of letting this class transform in creature bigger or smaller than the original, if they can transform in that size. Huge tiger, for example, will become available once getting beast shape III.
Ultimited use of wild shape seem fine, i just wanna add some abilities usable only few times, like rage powers or rogue talents. How does that sound?

The big problem I have with your class is that you aren't building a class. You're building a character concept. There's a lot more to shapeshifting than merely turning into animals. There's shapeshifters like Mystique who can turn into people. There's the characters of the Bloody Roar games that turn into animal hybrids. There's characters like Mr. Fantastic that can literally shape his body. I personally have a (non-D&D) character that can gain physical traits by touching samples of people and creatures. For example, she can turn into a tiger hybrid by touching a tiger hide or gain wings by touching a bird or make herself taller by touching someone who's taller than her.

Have you ever considered playing a skinwalker? It's a race that has a "bestial form" where they can gain natural attacks and such. It's not a polymorph effect, so it stacks with other transformation effects. You could probably accomplish your character concept by playing a skinwalker feral hunter. You can mutate yourself into a variety of beast forms by combining the skinwalker's form and feral hunter's feral focus at 1st level. Then at 4th level, you get wildshape.

thejeff wrote:
Mad Alchemist wrote:
The shifter from spheres of power would work great for this even if no one else in the game uses the spheres magic system. If you keep all of your "magic" internal to your character then to the outside world it is no different then a souped up wildshape.

It sounds like it's still basically a caster though, right?

Just the brief description above doesn't really seem to match what I'm looking for.

"Caster" is putting it loosely. The Spheres of Power system is designed to enable you to play any kind of character with supernatural powers by breaking down different types of powers into at-will abilities that can be augmented by spending a resource. There's both a Sphere and a class dedicated to shapeshifting.


Maybe I should explain why I want to create this.
I am DMing, in my world there's a forest, a really huge forest. This forest is inhabited by elves and tellan ( a plant humanoid race)
There are 3 brothers, each one is a leader of a part of the forest:
Akmeth, summoner druid, entirely focused on spells and summoning
Ariknat, wildshaper druid, who is focused on physical combat but he buffs himself with spells
Arthmek, the class I am trying to make, is a Character entirely focused on physical combat, with no spell casting (I decided to avoid spell casting for BG reasons)
These 3 argue all the time, because they think they are better than the others. In the part of the forest each one rule, people follow their leader's ideals of combat.
I need to make this class because the players will probably meet them when they'll join a war, and I need to have something at hand.
I really like the idea of a class who can wildshape into a wide variety of beasts, more than the standard wild shape.
Thing I'm sure of so far: Full BaB, WS with every polymorph spell I wrote before, no spell casting.
I am working at something like rage powers, I will post them as soon as I finish them. Capstone ability could be either.
I looked at feral hunter, but my character doesnt summon so I should replace that with something else: he cant transform in anything else than animals, which kind of collide with what i want to do. Skinwalker seems cool, but since they are 3 brothers, they have to be the same race!:/ thanks you for the help though, I will certainly create a skin walker sometime!
This class I want to make is something I have been thinking around a lot, a kind of druid who has a deep connection with nature, which leads him to become nature himself: not only he respects nature, but he also respect magical creatures, because he thinks they were once natural creature who has been imbued by magic. He sees magic like something which kind of separates man from nature so he doesnt learn to use it.

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Oh, it's for an NPC? If that's the case, then why not simply make him a barbarian, fighter, a ranger and replace feats, rage powers, or other class features with wildshape? You don't need to make a whole class for it. That's overkill. That's like building a car complete with air conditioning and all the features when a trolley cart would suffice.

He could still be a skinwalker. All skinwalkers belong to another race, but have the statistics of the skinwalker race. For example, you can have elf skinwalkers and gnome skinwalkers. You could just say Arthmek transformed or reincarnated himself as a skinwalker


Arthmrk is the leader, but all his people will follow his living style so it isnt just him. A friend of my wants to join us and he is interested in this class I am creating, so I really need it to be a class! The skinwalker thing makes sense, so Arthmek will be one!i thought you couldnt be an elf skinwalker! Glad I was wrong!^^

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Skinwalkers are people with some form of dormant lycanthropy in their bloodline. It's even possible for a skinwalker to be born from non-skinwalker parents. As a result, the book that introduces skinwalkers has a side-bar that says a skinwalker's normal form can be any other race. This has no mechanical effect -- you still have the skinwalker's racial traits, not the other race's -- unless your base race is a gnome or a halfling. In that case, you'd be a Small skinwalker instead of a Medium skinwalker.

I still suggest looking for an existing class rather than making your own. Heck, I found this class just from casually searching for a wildshaping ranger.

Designing classes is hard. Really hard. Even professional designers struggle with them. They need a lot of work and playtesting to get right. You can't just slap a bunch of abilities together and call it a day. You may end up making the class too powerful or end up not making it as fun to play as you thought. Your concept just feels way too narrow to be a class. At the very least, consider making it an archetype. This is why archetypes exist in the first place -- so you don't have to make an entire class just to accomplish a specific concept.


Cyrad wrote:

Skinwalkers are people with some form of dormant lycanthropy in their bloodline. It's even possible for a skinwalker to be born from non-skinwalker parents. As a result, the book that introduces skinwalkers has a side-bar that says a skinwalker's normal form can be any other race. This has no mechanical effect -- you still have the skinwalker's racial traits, not the other race's -- unless your base race is a gnome or a halfling. In that case, you'd be a Small skinwalker instead of a Medium skinwalker.

I still suggest looking for an existing class rather than making your own. Heck, I found this class just from casually searching for a wildshaping ranger.

Designing classes is hard. Really hard. Even professional designers struggle with them. They need a lot of work and playtesting to get right. You can't just slap a bunch of abilities together and call it a day. You may end up making the class too powerful or end up not making it as fun to play as you thought. Your concept just feels way too narrow to be a class. At the very least, consider making it an archetype. This is why archetypes exist in the first place -- so you don't have to make an entire class just to accomplish a specific concept.

Though making a class for your own use is easier than making one for general use. You can fix issues as they come up or just not abuse the corner cases.

Archetypes can work, but may wind up shoehorning a concept too much into another class. The rules for swapping abilities out are pretty arbitrary anyway.


I like playtesting and such, i am enjoying this new class creation. I understand it's hard but i really wanna try it. Basically i think i'll give druid full bab, no spell, no animal companion. I will leave features like trackless step and such, because they fit the character. i will give him more wild shapes form and some bonus like the class you
posted. i'll post it here asap^^


My variant, which never really got polished up, was to start with Ranger, drop spells, favored enemy and most weapons and armor, and give an accelerated Wild Shape. Natural Weapons combat Style, of course.

Probably a few other tweaks I'm forgetting.


1 Alter self at will Bonus feat Catch Off-Guard, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Grapple,Scorpion Style, and, Power attack
Nature sense, Wild empathy

2 Monster physique I Bonus feat
Woodland Stride 

3 Vermin shape I Young Shape (Can wildshape into a smaller version of the creature, still limited by WS limits )
Trackless Step

4 Beast shape I, Monster physique II +1 Damage rolls with natural weapons

5 Elemental body I, Vermin shape II Wild shape as movement action
+2 saves against polymorph effects

6 Beast shape II, Monster physique III Bonus feat Gorgon's Fist, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, and Mobility, Vital strilke

7 Elemental body II, Plant Shape I Advanced shape (Can wildshape into a bigger version of the creature, still limited by WS limits )

8 Beast Shape III, Monster physique IV +2 Damage rolls with natural weapons

9 Elemental Body III, Plant shape II Wild shape as swift action

10 Beast shape IV Bonus feat Improved Critical, Medusa's Wrath, and Spring Attack.
+3 saves against polymorph effects

11 Plant shape III

12 Giant form I +3 Damage rolls with natural weapons

13 Form of the dragon I

14 Bonus feat Improved vital strike

15 Giant form II
+4 saves against polymorph effects

16 +4 Damage rolls with natural weapons

17 Form of the dragon II

18 Bonus feat Greater Vital strike

19 Form of the dragon III

20 +5 saves against polymorph effects +5 Damage rolls with natural weapons

Wild shape, unlimited uses since level 1
I still need a capstone ability and some other feats, since those are obviously taken from monk list. What do you think about it?

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