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I find myself looking for one of these every couple of years, just wondering if an archtype has popped up that will do it.
In a nut shell Full BAB and can change into one or more shapes via a polymorph effect without the need of magical items or other party members.
There's a very cool new shapechanging base class called the Shapeshifter in the "Grimoire Viperian" Pathfinder compatible PDF book by Magic Skull Games.
It's not full BAB but close to it. The class is not just limited to animals but also lets you use alter self and change into mythical beasts of legend like the hellhound, winter wolf, centaur, nightmare, unicorn, sphinx and eventually giants and dragons.
You not only get some of the their standard abilities as you would from a beast shape spell, but you also get some of their special or spell-like abilities that normally aren't available with beast shape or polymorph spells. For example, when assuming hell hound form, you get its fire breathing ability. When assuming lamia form, you get some of its spell-like or supernatural magical abilities.
This Shapeshifter class is also highly customizable, letting you choose favored forms and special form abilities so no two shapeshifters are exactly alike.
There's more info here, including a sample Shapeshifter character.
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You guys are confusing me with all this talk of druids and rangers in this polymorph thread. Neither druids nor rangers get any polymorph spells, period. Wild Shape is nice because it doesn't consume spell slots and lasts for hours per level, but you only care about those two things if you're actually using your spell slots for other stuff.
The OP has stated that he wants to be a melee polymorph character. The best way to do this is to be a Barbarian 1/Transmuter 5/Eldritch Knight 10. You lose 3 points of BAB (about as much as you'd lose going straight druid), but get rage to make up for it (just spend a feat on Extra Rage and you should have enough rounds for the most important combats of the day), plus the ridiculous Strength modifiers you get for polymorphing anyway.
Wizards get access to many, many more forms than druids or rangers. A wizard can cast the following spells: Alter self, undead anatomy, giant form, vermin shape, plant shape, beast shape, elemental form, monstrous physique, form of the dragon, and shapechange. The only types of creatures a wizard cannot transform into are aberrations, aligned outsiders, oozes and fey.
Of the above spells I mentioned, the wizard would retain his ability to cast spells while using alter self, undead anatomy, giant form, monstrous physique, and form of the dragon. The wizard would also arguably retain his ability to cast spells while under the effects of the elemental form spell, since elementals have their own languages and thus can clearly speak, but that one might be up to the DM.
So, if you do want to cast as a polymorphed character, you don't even need to waste a feat on it as a wizard. As for the duration, most polymorph spells have a duration of 1 minute per level anyway, which is more than enough for the majority of conceivable combat situations. If you really don't want to waste too many spell slots, just take Extend Spell and Magical Lineage with your favorite polymorph spell (I'm partial to form of the dragon I on this one).
With a single mage armor spell, your AC will stay higher than it would as a wild shaped druid for the day while you're in other forms, and when the chips are down and you really just need to pound someone into the ground, you can cast form of the dragon I, then cast transformation on yourself, and then rage. Your BAB will reach its maximum height and your ability scores will skyrocket to the point where you won't even remember not being a dragon in the first place.
You guys are confusing me with all this talk of druids and rangers in this polymorph thread. Neither druids nor rangers get any polymorph spells, period. Wild Shape is nice because it doesn't consume spell slots and lasts for hours per level, but you only care about those two things if you're actually using your spell slots for other stuff.
The OP has stated that he wants to be a melee polymorph character. The best way to do this is to be a Barbarian 1/Transmuter 5/Eldritch Knight 10. You lose 3 points of BAB (about as much as you'd lose going straight druid), but get rage to make up for it (just spend a feat on Extra Rage and you should have enough rounds for the most important combats of the day), plus the ridiculous Strength modifiers you get for polymorphing anyway.
Wizards get access to many, many more forms than druids or rangers. A wizard can cast the following spells: Alter self, undead anatomy, giant form, vermin shape, plant shape, beast shape, elemental form, monstrous physique, form of the dragon, and shapechange. The only types of creatures a wizard cannot transform into are aberrations, aligned outsiders, oozes and fey.
Of the above spells I mentioned, the wizard would retain his ability to cast spells while using alter self, undead anatomy, giant form, monstrous physique, and form of the dragon. The wizard would also arguably retain his ability to cast spells while under the effects of the elemental form spell, since elementals have their own languages and thus can clearly speak, but that one might be up to the DM.
So, if you do want to cast as a polymorphed character, you don't even need to waste a feat on it as a wizard. As for the duration, most polymorph spells have a duration of 1 minute per level anyway, which is more than enough for the majority of conceivable combat situations. If you really don't want to waste too many spell slots, just take Extend Spell and Magical Lineage with your favorite polymorph spell (I'm partial to form of the...
Only problem with the build is its a bit of a late bloomer but it would work fine by the mid/high levels, rage and casting could be an issue
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The difference between druid and wizard is that the druid measures the time you can stay shapechanged in hours, the wizard in minutes.
some one hasnt seen the ring from UE lol.
let me pepper you with knowledge
LINK
The difference between druid and wizard is that the druid measures the time you can stay shapechanged in hours, the wizard in minutes.
also the wizard scales to 20 the druid maxes out at 12th
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I'm actually putting the finishing touches on an archetype very much like this for an upcoming product ... I'll be sure to let everyone here know when it comes out (probably toward the end of next month some time)
FYI ... here is what I was talking about:
New Paths #2: The Expanded Shaman
Check out the Primal Shifter archetype if you want to be a serious melee oriented wildshaper!
Oh, and you also even get a custom wildshape character sheet so you can keep each wildshape creature's stats, abilities and other benefits organized!
From Endzeitgeist's early review:
The pdf also includes archetypes for the shaman ... the primal shifter, who only gets spellcasting up to 6th level and according to a new table, but can compensate this drawback by enhanced wildshifting and the option to utilize the primal dances to further enhance his melee capabilities with natural weapons.
You guys are confusing me with all this talk of druids and rangers in this polymorph thread.....
The OP has stated that he wants to be a melee polymorph character....
The Grimoire Viperian Shapeshifter base class is definitely the way to go.
The class is near full BAB, with alter self and wild-shape like abilities and Form of the Mythical Beast to change into several different types of monsters, plus dragons and giants, plus the ability to use some of the monster's special abilities that no spell would grant, like a hell hound's breath weapon, centaur Run feat, or a lamia or sphinx's spell-like abilities, to name a few.
On top of that, add favored form abilities like favored terrain and other bonuses, and a long list of special form powers the shapeshifter can choose from, like knockback, intimidating glare, terrifying howl, and many more.
With this class there's no need to spend levels on wizard or druid, and no need to have a high Int, Wis or Cha score, letting you put your points into important combat stats like Str, Dex and Con. =)
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I'm disregarding The Ring because it's ridiculous. And scaling a wizard to 20 while retaining full BAB isn't going to work either.
8 levels of Urban Druid gives you Alter Self at will, +6 BAB, +5 Fort/Will, a level 8 Domain power. After that, continue with Ranger or Barbarian.
Who actually plays to level 20? My build scales all the way up to level 16, with +13 BAB. The ability to cast alter self at will is nothing special, since you will always be using a better spell during combat, it basically just lets you get low-light or darkvision and some extra Strength or Dex while you're on the road.
As for stacking rage and casting, that's why you only rage after you cast transformation, since you can't cast spells for the duration of transformation anyway. Most people would argue that rage and transformation are both not worth losing spellcasting, but I say that together, they are very worth it, especially if you're going into melee.
+8 Str, +4 Dex, +8 Con, +3 BAB, a +5 bonus on Fortitude saves and a +2 bonus on Will saves (the bonus to natural armor is probably going to be overlapped by your polymorph spell), all for -2 AC and the inability to cast spells for the duration.
And that stacks with your chosen polymorph effect. Let's say form of the dragon I.
Total of +12 Str, +4 Dex, +10 Con, +4 NA, +3 BAB, +5 Fort, +2 Will, Fly 60', Darkvision 60', 6d8 breath weapon once per spell, resist energy 20-30, 5 natural weapons, and some other small bonus based on the color/metal of your chosen dragon.
That completely curbstomps Wild Shape into the ground. Plus, your HP is much higher. (1d12+5d6+10d10 vs 8d8+7d10, counting the +10 Con bonus it's no contest at all).
8 levels of druid costs you 2 BAB, so my build doesn't fall behind on BAB by too much, and gets it back with transformation anyway.
As a final note, let me say that, personally, I think the wizard spell list is much better and more interesting than the druid spell list (And my build lets you cast 7th level spells with a CL of 16 if you take Magical Knack as your trait).
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Yeah, I like wizard spells more too. But I was looking for something that lets you change shapes all day instead of just sufficient minutes at a time for combat.
I really wish they'd made shapechanging wizard spells with hour/day durations rather than this minute/level stuff. How can you infiltrate an enemy society in five minutes?
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Yeah, I like wizard spells more too. But I was looking for something that lets you change shapes all day instead of just sufficient minutes at a time for combat.
I really wish they'd made shapechanging wizard spells with hour/day durations rather than this minute/level stuff. How can you infiltrate an enemy society in five minutes?
I don't mind this at all. Who wants to be an animal or a plant all day? I play shapeshifter because I enjoy shapeshifting, the act itself. The idea of throwing back your head and howling under the full moon as you transform into a wolf, or roaring and watching that roar turn into flames as you become a dragon...it's awesome.
People talk about mounted combat being niche all the time because you can't take a Large mount everywhere you go, so I argue the same point for wildshaped druids. You can't stay a Huge animal or a Large magical beast all the time, so the hours per level duration is nothing special. Personally, I think the limited uses is more noticeable. At 8th level, which is where you wanted to stop progressing Wild Shape, a druid can change forms a total of 3 times per day. An urban druid can change forms a total of once per day, and can use alter self at will.
Playing a druid gives you a small list of forms you can take. It's slightly more versatile than playing a synthesist summoner. Meanwhile, a transmuter gets to actually change his shape into pretty much anything he wants, and with the Multimorph discovery, he can even switch forms during the duration, allowing him to change from a hawk to a lion to a crocodile with a single casting of beast shape II. I'd rather have the ability to have many different, stronger forms available to me when I need them in combat than have a few sparse weaker forms available to me all day.
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Yeah see, what I want is to turn into a member of another race to infiltrate for days or weeks, to experience their society from within. At the bare minimum, humanoid shapechange should have a duration that lets you seduce someone of unusual race/gender and get them in the sack. Bonus points if you can impersonate specific persons. It's just hard to really explore what it means to be a creature if the whole experience takes less than half an hour.