Gustav_V's page

Dear all

Has anyone tried playing a druid with wild shape? If so, how did it work out?

I'd like to try one of these, but am a little concerned about whether it's worth the trouble. My last game was PF1, where I tried to make a Dark Tapestry oracle work for a shapeshifting melee build, and it really didn't. The whole thing wasn't designed right and the character didn't contribute much (admittedly in a very optimised party).

How does 2e wild shape manage in combat? Can you keep up with the 'official' martial types and the blaster casters? Wild shape means you won't be casting spells in combat, so it's hard to use magic to catch up, and out-of-combat buffs are a bit limited.

In particular, you can only get a max of 16 Str at creation as a druid - is this a major handicap?

Many thanks!

Hi again

So my Many Forms oracle will be taking the shape of a galvo at level 11 onward. It's an amorphous blob of eels with a bite attack and two slams.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/galvo/

He's also going to take eldritch heritage with the abyssal bloodline, so he can grow claws. The polymorph rules expressly state that you can still grow sorcerer claws when shapechanged.

But do the claws add to the galvo's natural attacks, so you get a bite, two slams and two claws? Or do they replace two of them, probably the slams?

It seems obvious that if you grow sorcerer claws in the shape of, say, a deinonychus, you grow them on the same limbs which you would otherwise be using for the existing claw attacks, so the new claws would replace the old. But the galvo is just a blob of eels which can extend bits of itself to make attacks. There seems no obvious reason to treat it like a mammal, with one mouth (bite) and two arms (slams). It can extend two eel-blobs for its slams and then grow claws on some different eels and slash with them.

What do you think?

Thanks for helping.

Hi guys

The Many Forms revelation says:

"At 7th level, you can assume the form of a Small or Medium animal, as beast shape I. At 11th level, you can assume the form of a Small or Medium magical beast, as beast shape III."

At 11th level, can you change into a small or medium animal using Beast Shape III? That is, can you get things like pounce and rake (in an appropriate form)? We assumed 11th level gets you a general upgrade to Beast Shape III, albeit limited to small and medium animals and magical beasts, and if this is right then you could shift into (say) a deinonychus with pounce.

But a strict reading of the words suggests the 11th level ability only lets you assume the form of a small or medium magical beast, not an animal, with Beast Shape III. If you want to assume animal form you have to do it under the 7th level power, which only gives you Beast Shape I --- so no pounce.

Which is correct? I get the impression the intent was to give you Beast Shape III for small and medium forms, but a careful reading suggests the rule doesn't have that effect.

Thanks for the help and clarification!

Hi all

Been thoroughly enjoying a return to RPGs after many years since I last played childhood D&D. Running a Dark Tapestry oracle with the Many Forms revelation in Strange Aeons. It's a melee build (with a bit of control/healing/etc) based around polymorph.

The Many Form revelation says: "At 7th level, you can assume the form of a Small or Medium animal, as beast shape I. At 11th level, you can assume the form of a Small or Medium magical beast, as beast shape III. At 15th level, you can assume a variety of forms, as greater polymorph."

We're at level 4 and a few oddities have thrown themselves up.

(1) Does the level 11 effect give you the Beast Shape III abilities in the form of a medium animal? On a strict reading of the above you could still change into a medium animal but only "as beast shape I". This seems odd when you realise all the small and medium magical beasts are quite mediocre.

(2) Can you use the level 11 effect to turn into a jackalwere? One guide says you can, but another player pointed out that a jackalwere's natural form is a jackal, which I could change into as a small animal, but which wouldn't give me the humanoid jackalwere form.

(3) Doesn't this seem like rather odd progression? The 3rd level alter self is great fun -- I didn't tell the other players I had it before changing, which was a great moment in a campaign like Strange Aeons -- and Beast Shape I is pretty cool at level 7. Greater Polymorph is awesome at level 15. But the level 11 ability is pretty meh. The only reason I'm looking at jackalweres is because the best medium magical beast seems to be the galvo, which is OK but not as good as a form with weapons and spells. Basically I wanted to use the jackalwere for a free +4 attack and +4 to natural armour.

If the rules are as set out above then I'd probably revert to adlet form via the level 3 ability. With spells and weapons it'd be better than either a deinonychus without pounce or a galvo. It doesn't seem right to go backwards like that. What do you think? Have I got this wrong?