I'm making this thread for a friend who "doesn't like to waste time screwing around on message boards." Despite this, he seems to believe that I *do* have time to waste... which I do.
Anyway, he wants advice on creating a polymorph specialist wizard; images of Merlin and Mad Madame Mym no doubt dance in his head (not that I blame him, that movie rocked). I advised him that druid might be the safer bet as far as shapeshifting goes, but he's not a fan of druids.
The game is 7th level with a 25 point buy (our standard, it seems). All paizo material is available for use.
I'm not really certain how effective a melee focused shapeshifter wizard will be, but meh. Thanks all!
Just make sure he knows that all of the polymorph effects in pathfinder are significantly different than they were in 3.5.
If he's wanting to be a better fighter than a fighter, then he's in for a rude awakening.
Oh, he's aware. That's one of the reasons he finally broke down an asked for advice (through me, of course). He's not really into dominating the battlefield so much as simply being effective; getting the most out of the polymorphs is his goal, in and out of combat.
I'm making this thread for a friend who "doesn't like to waste time screwing around on message boards." Despite this, he seems to believe that I *do* have time to waste... which I do.
Anyway, he wants advice on creating a polymorph specialist wizard; images of Merlin and Mad Madame Mym no doubt dance in his head (not that I blame him, that movie rocked). I advised him that druid might be the safer bet as far as shapeshifting goes, but he's not a fan of druids.
The game is 7th level with a 25 point buy (our standard, it seems). All paizo material is available for use.
I'm not really certain how effective a melee focused shapeshifter wizard will be, but meh. Thanks all!
The following can serve as a starting point:
Human or Half-Orc (depending on whether he wants the feat or the Toothy alternate racial trait) Wizard (Shapechange) 5/Barbarian or Fighter (depending on whether he wants Rage or a bonus feat) 1/Eldritch Knight 1
16 Str, 14 Dex, 14 Con, 17 Int (+2 race, +1 advancement), 12 Wis, 8 Cha
Trait: Magical Knack (Wizard)
Feats: Eschew Materials, Silent Spell, and Still Spell will allow you to cast when using beast shape I (or in armor with Still Spell); unfortunately, wizards don't qualify for Natural Spell
Spells: make sure alter self, animal aspect, and beast shape I are among the spells in his spellbook
The benefit wizard shapeshifters have is the ability to learn all the shapeshifting spells: alter self, animal aspect, baleful polymorph, beast shape, elemental body, form of the dragon, giant form, monstrous physique, plant shape, polymorph, shapechange, undead anatomy, vermin shape, etc. The drawback is either poor BAB (straight wizard) or delayed spellcasting (eldritch knight).
The benefit wizard shapeshifters have is the ability to learn all the shapeshifting spells: alter self, animal aspect, baleful polymorph, beast shape, elemental body, form of the dragon, giant form, monstrous physique, plant shape, polymorph, shapechange, undead anatomy, vermin shape, etc. The drawback is either poor BAB (straight wizard) or delayed spellcasting (eldritch knight).
I think that's why he's focused on arcane casting for this; a druids wildshaping is better than the spells it's based off of, but wizards can, with enough effort, have a greater variety of shapes.
Right now, his focus is on a wizard, but would a sorcerer or alchemist be better? Alchemist get *most* of the polymorph spells, I think. And Sorcerer would have the added benefit of never needing to memorize a specific polymorph.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I have been tossing around the idea of an alchemist who focuses on polymorph. The base attack bonus is better and the Master Chymst prestige class is very melee friendly (though it slows down access to the better polymoph extracts).
Also, the alchemist while the alchemist has a great strength booster in the form of the mutagen, the benefits of the mutagen go away when you polymorph. It's a bit of a conundrum which has made me stay with just a straight alchemist so far. I do prep beast shape I because it's nice to have the versatility, but I've never used it for straight combat.
The eldritch knight is a good plan.
If you have a copy of Inner Sea Magic, the Magaambya Academy allows you to learn a few druid spells as wizard spells 2 levels higher this might proof valuable for a wizard focused on shapeshifting.
@Sayer_of_Nay: Sorcerers don't really have the spells known slots to get all of the different form/physique/shape spells; they pretty much have to specialize on a subset if they want to be able to do other things. Alchemists get most of them, but don't get the very best ones (such as shapechange).
@Dennis Baker: The beastmorph alchemist (Ultimate Combat) gives some additional benefits with a mutagen.
Polymorphing is nice, but what's he going to morph? Allies, enemies or both? Or maybe just himself?
Polymorphing is nice, but what's he going to morph? Allies, enemies or both? Or maybe just himself?
Well the polymorph spells tend to be personal with a few exceptions though it might be fun to look into the possibilities of going with the Sylvan (Wildblooded Fey) bloodline and use polymorph spells on your Animal Companion instead.
You can do this with an improved familiar as well and probably could make it durable enough, but animal companions are fairly easy to replace in comparison and have their own feat selection and more hitpoints, familiars tend to have more resistances, more freedom of picking bloodlines and they are far more intelligent.
In that case, an Alchemist makes a more practical self-polymorpher than a wizard or sorcerer.
Polymorphing is nice, but what's he going to morph? Allies, enemies or both? Or maybe just himself?
As far as I can tell, he'll be morphing himself. A good portion of his memorized spells will be polymorphs. The others will be a mix of party buffs (haste and the like) and general utility.
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An important point if he has lots of polymorph spells memorised is that only one can be active at once and it prevents some other spells too.
PRD says: "You can only be affected by one polymorph spell at a time. If a new polymorph spell is cast on you (or you activate a polymorph effect, such as wild shape), you can decide whether or not to allow it to affect you, taking the place of the old spell. In addition, other spells that change your size have no effect on you while you are under the effects of a polymorph spell."