Zen Kaze's page

Here is the author's intent on shaman wild shapes:

Link

James Nelson wrote:

Michael Grimm wrote:

In the APG Druid Shaman entries, their wildshape is modified as follows:

Quote:
Wild Shape (Su): At 6th level, a [type] shaman’s wild shape

ability functions at her druid level – 2. If she takes on the
form of a [type], she instead uses her druid level + 2.
What does this +/- modify? Does it modify how long the ability lasts or the level of the ability you can use?

Thank you.

Both.

As in, levels 1-5 you get no wild shaping.

At 6th level, you can use wild shape as if you were an 8th level druid if you turn into a (bear/eagle/etc.), lasting 8 hours, Huge to Diminutive, as beast shape III, up to 3 times per day.

You can turn into any other kind of animal as a 4th level druid, lasting 4 hours, Small or Medium, as beast shape I, only 1 time per day.

The times per day overlap, so you could turn into a (totem animal) 3/day, or into some other kind of animal 1/day and a (totem animal) 2/day.

- Gauss

That's a way simpler way of handling the uses per day than what I had in mind. And thanks for posting the link. I was seconds away from clicking "submit post" to ask for one.

Delaying Wild Shape until 6th is also frustrating, which in turn delays Natural Spell (feat) to 7th level. In some ways I regret not going with a straight up Druid. I've progressed through the hardest part now and am ready to live life as a level 6+ level Saurian Shaman =D

Does the Saurian Shaman archetype actually delay Wild Shape? I originally read it as giving Wild Shape at 4th level as normal and then modifying the way it functions when the druid hits 6th. I can see it going either way though. Has there been an official clarification on this?

On a related thought: In what way, specifically, does Wild Shape's function change based on druid level, as modified by Saurian Shaman? For a default druid, level seems to modify duration, uses per day, and the level of Beast Shape(and others) spell imitated. Does this mean that a Saurian Shaman who turns into a dinosaur uses a higher level of Beast Shape(seems obvious), keeps the form 2 hours longer per use(also seems obvious), and gets an extra use per day(not so clear)? If so, does that mean that a one time shift into any non-dino/reptile burns an extra use?(a druid 2 levels lower has 1 less use per day)