I have a player who for the first time ever is playing a druid and there are a few things i want to be sure about.
I have checked the eratta etc on wizards sites for players and MM, but few questions remain.
Am i right in thinking that the druids new form dosnt gain its feats and special attacks/qualities????
Things like weapon finesse, multiple attacks, dam reduc etc
Finding wild shape one of the hardst things to get my head around, can anyone please give a definitive explenation please
Thanks
well they do; treat it pretty much the same as polymorph. The list of what a druid can change into is limited enough to animals so you wont have any huge amount of attacks or damage; they can't even take dire forms until much later; mostly the wild shape is only good for traveling and guard duty as you can get heightened senses and abilities like tracking by scent; At level 5 he can only do small and medium animals and at level 8; large animals; most gms say that you can't change to a creature that exceeds your own HD; but I dont think this is a rule; basically you get the animals form; movement, str, dex, con, ability to use their forms weapons, ie claw and tooth, as trained and does not draw an attack of opportunity, and any skills and special abilities they have. I dont remember any animals off hand that have any supernatural abilites.
Here is a nice list of wildshape forms : http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php
in races of the wild there are some druid wild shape feats your player might want to look into; also; there is a spell that can be crafted into armor that will allow the druids armor to change and be worn by the wildshaped form; pretty cool :) if he can get a platemail chest peice made out of wood and have that and the ironwood spell cast upon it.
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Polymorph isn't the best comparison because the errata goes to great lengths to divorce wild shape from the Polymorph spell.
But, Valegrim's post is definitely a useful guide to all the relevant changes. Your physical stats do change (although your hit points are not adjusted for the new Con), and you get the attack forms, natural armor, movement modes, and the like of the new form.
I'm pretty sure you do not get the feats listed for the animal you are wildshaping into. In some cases (like weapon finesse) that's a big deal, so maybe someone could clarify that point.
Here is a nice list of wildshape forms : http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php
There's a nice article about it in Dragon 348. I here the author is exceedingly handsome, and really smart too! :D
Here's some basic details of what the errata does to the Wildshape ability:
Sometimes, the errata is confusing to read because it has stuff like, "replace the 7th sentence with this: blah blah blah." When something is changed extensively - like the wildshape changes - sometimes the best way to figure it out is to actually put the original rule text into a word document and make the actual changes. You can grab the original text from the SRD.
The list of what a druid can change into is limited enough to animals so you wont have any huge amount of attacks or damage; they can't even take dire forms until much later;
There's no special limitation for dire animals. The only limitation is the animal's hit dice compared to the druid's. A dire rat has 1 hit dice; a dire weasel has 3. Both forms can be taken by a 5th level druid.
ok tks for the info.
So things like scent ability and track does the new form get these abilities if the animal has them??
And Dire animals are up to the HD of the druid?? Am i reading that right.
ok tks for the info.
So things like scent ability and track does the new form get these abilities if the animal has them??
Track is a feat; the druid most definitely does not get that.
Scent also is not gained. From the alternate form ability:
The creature retains the special qualities of its original form. It does not gain any special qualities of its new form.
So if the druid had scent before changing, she keeps it. But if the animal has scent, she doesn't get it. Silly, but that's the rules.
And Dire animals are up to the HD of the druid?? Am i reading that right.
Any animal (including dire), up to the druid's hit dice, of the size allowed at the druid's level. A 5th level druid can assume Small and Medium, an 8th level druid can assume Large, and so on.
Just about everything in the Monster Manual is going to be OK for your player. Things can get a bit hairy once you allow other monster books - especially with some of the dinosaurs (which often are the best forms for combat).
The article I wrote that appeared in 348 will give you and your player a nice little chart with all the valid forms from the Monster Manual, and the key stuff you gain - such as alternate movement modes, natural armor, etc. Mike did a fantastic job formatting the jumble of data I threw his way with the article.
Yes, according the letter of the new rules you DON'T get special qualities like scent, echolocation, hold breath, etc. I recently saw a set of feats, however, that let you obtain special qualities and special attacks of the wild shaped form--IIRC it's in one of the complete books. If I remember, I'll look this one up tonight.
Complete Divine contains a series of "Wild" feats.