I hate wild shape and I'm taking it away from Druids. Now, obviously, I'm not going to do such a horrible thing without replacing it-- in this case, with a handful of selectable "nature-oriented" physical changes and abilities inspired by the Geomancer's Drift and the Aspects of Nature variant from Unearthed Arcana.
This leaves me in a little bit of a bind, as I have no idea what a proper capstone ability would look like now.
Some background:
- This is a Gestalt game with a fair bit of "niche protection" for individual classes, so that different class combinations are generally more distinct. The Druid needs to be able to combine well with any other base class.
- Druids lose wild shape and every variation thereof, and thousand faces, and gain immunity to disease. Otherwise, they have all other Druid class features.
- Since they gain a new spell level every odd class level, they gain an Aspect of Nature on every even level. Aspects are divided into three rough categories, with more powerful aspects only allowed after 6th or 12th level. (I'm considering an 18th level category.) Aspects can have prerequisites, either of other aspects or of other permanent racial or class abilities that duplicate aspect.
- Aspects are permanent physical changes and do not have daily usage limitations. Only one has a save DC.
- Druids gain an enhancement bonus of 1/4 their Druid level to all natural attacks, whether they were gained through aspects or through other means.
I'm stumped. Any advice?
replacing it-- in this case, with a handful of selectable "nature-oriented" physical changes and abilities inspired by the Geomancer's Drift Complete Divine pg.43) and the Aspects of Nature variant from Unearthed Arcana pg.68.
I like the both ideas as a replacement for Wildshape, exactly how "Gestalt" your game is would likely be the determining factor of how you implement the changes.
Maybe a chart similar to the Fighter? Feat/Armor/Weapon, but using Drift & Aspects... my only concern is that spreading the Drifts out that far MAY be underpowered by the time the Druid gets the "useful" ones, though a Geomancer doesn't typically start getting them until "Character Level" 7. Here is an attempt using both.
1st - Drift 1
2nd -
3rd - Drift 1
4th - Aspect 1
5th - Drift 2
6th -
7th - Drift 2
8th - Aspect 2
9th - Drift 3
10th -
11th - Drift 3
12th - Aspect 3
13th - Drift 4
14th -
15th - Drift 4
16th - Aspect 4
17th - Drift 5
18th -
19th - Drift 5
20th - Aspect 5