| Lupastro |
I have two simple questions about Shifter's Blessing and Master Shifter class features of the Shapeshifter ranger:
1.After reading this...
Form of the Bear: The Ranger’s muscles enlarge and tighten, and his facial features become more ursine. While in this form, the Ranger gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength, but his base speed becomes 20 feet.
...I don't understand why the base speed is fixed. Isn't better if it decrease or increase just like the Form of the Cat?
If i play a giant storm, who has a base speed of 50 feet, with Form of the Bear i'll lose 30 feet of speed.
On the other hand, if i play an halfling or a gnome, who have a base speed of 20 feet, with Form of the Bear i won't decrease my speed.
Do you think that's logical?
2.After reading this...
Form of the Otter [from Shifter's Blessing]: The Ranger’s hands and feet grow webs, and his body grows an oily fur that is water resistant. While in this form, the Ranger gains a swim speed of 30 feet and a +8 bonus on Swim checks.
Form of the Otter [from Master Shifter]: The Ranger’s hands and feet grow webs, and his body grows an oily fur that is water resistant. While in this form, the Ranger gains a swim speed of 60 feet and a +5 bonus on Swim checks. Alternatively, the Ranger can polymorph into the form of an otter or similar river mammal as if the caster of beast shape IV.
Why the bonus to swim skill from Shifter's Blessing with the Master Shifter decrease?
I think that +8 bonus on Swim checks refers to the racial bonus that every creature with a swim speed gain, so this bonus will be added to +5 bonus on Swim checks from Master Shifter, for a total of +13 bonus on Swim checks.
If it's so, i think it's better to erase this sentence "and a +8 on Swim checks" or to state from where this bonus comes from.
P.s. The speed problem exists for the Form of the otter too, i think it's more logical to set the swim speed basing on the base speed of the ranger.
| JavaDragon |
The same issue was brought up in my game as I have a player that wants to play a shapeshifting druid. I have not been able to find a answer to this question anywhere.
I do not think that it is logical myself. I have an idea as to why they might do it this way though. This change might be so that a character with a base speed of 20 (which is a hindrance on the character already) does not drop to a base of 10. That would be just too slow.
However, as you and my player mentions, this scales poorly in a linear fashion for all other base movement speeds. This is not a polymorph so you are not turning into a bear to have your base speed set to a certain number.
If they wanted to make sure that those with already slow movement are not hampered even more, they could have said "You base speed is reduced by 10 to a minimum of 20" or something like that.
Hopefully, someone from Paizo can answer this thread to let us know why they have it this way.