I have a player that has a dwarf druid level 11.
He has been using a tactic that seems like it might be too good. Not sure he should really be able to do all of this so I wanted to check if it actually works the way we think it does.
First round
Standard action shapechange into a large air elemental in the whirlwind form.
Move action through all of the enemy squares stopping where he will be on top of the largest number of the them.
All of the enemies have to roll 2 reflex saves. First to avoid taking bludgeoning damage. Second to avoid being picked up in the whirlwind. Any picked up can not get out unless they have a fly speed. Pretty much out of the fight for the moment.
Second round
Any picked up take bludgeoning damage with no save.
Any that saved last time and didn’t move out of the whirlwind squares, have to save twice now to avoid taking damage or getting picked up.
Move action through all the enemies squares again continuing movement straight up as high as he can go. All of the enemies have to roll 2 reflex saves. First to avoid taking bludgeoning damage. Second to avoid being picked up in the whirlwind. Any picked up can not get out unless they have a fly speed. Pretty much out of the fight for the moment.
Free action to expel them at the highest point. They all take falling damage.
Standard action to cast AoE spell on the pile of opponents.
Third round
Standard action to cast spell.
Move action through all of the enemy squares stopping where he will be on top of the largest number of the them.
All of the enemies have to roll 2 reflex saves. First to avoid taking bludgeoning damage. Second to avoid being picked up in the whirlwind. Any picked up can not get out unless they have a fly speed. Pretty much out of the fight for the moment.
Fourth round
Just like second round.
Rinse and repeat.
This seems too good to be true. If it is legal, I’ll let it go, but wow. Unless they can get him before he starts or they have great reflex saves it has been just awesome.
Nope, it's pretty much as rad as it seems. Well, rad from his perspective, anyway. Note that enemies have no difficulty attacking or interacting with the whirlwind in any way; that is to say, if he picks up enemies and does not expel them, they are free to full attack him from inside the whirlwind. Arguably he's an even bigger target than before.
My PFS Storm Druid used this tactic predominantly for battlefield control, picking up enemies, moving them away from the action, and dropping them a decent distance to make them go prone and take some damage. If he'd ever actually kept any of the enemies rattling around inside him he'd probably have exploded from full attacks. Granted, a dwarven druid is probably tougher than my 7 STR 12 CON wizard-lite druid.
Note that Mythic elementals call out that you can eject creatures from the highest point of the whirlwind, but the normal elemental makes no such provision; therefore we usually considered the creatures to be ejected either at the point they were scooped in or from the bottom of the whirlwind, depending on how things shook out.
Be glad he's not using Powerful Shape which would allow him to pick up creatures up to his size category instead of a category smaller.
How do you determine how many creatures will fit inside the whirlwind's volume?
Technically, there's nothing stopping him from passing over them multiple times with the same move action, forcing so many saves that they can't possibly pass them all.
My players have done this to devastating effect against mobs of weaker enemies.
Dot.
OMG this is awesome! I'm playing an occultist arcanist and my air elementals are doing this from now on. I had no idea whirlwind was actually this good, thank you!
Doing that does not provoke?
The whirlwind form does not provoke attacks of opportunity, even if the creature enters the space another creature occupies.
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Keep in mind that the Elemental can only pick up creature 1 size category or smaller. This can be a problem if you are dealing with large or larger creatures.
A whirlwind has to be twice the height of the creature it is picking up in order for the volume to make sense. So You only need a 10' ceiling to pick up a medium creature, but 20' ceiling for large and 30' for huge (which can only be done by Druids with Powerful Shape, at 12+ lvl). Not despite their 10 by 10' spread, swarms are always tiny or smaller.
I have a wis focused druid with a bunch of AC from a monk level that plays in PFS. He has so far successfully juggled hill giants and stone golems.
Keep in mind that the Elemental can only pick up creature 1 size category or smaller.
With Powerful Shape you can pick up creatures up to your size category.
The whirlwind form does not provoke attacks of opportunity
This is what my GMs usually had the most trouble with (in addition to thinking it was awkward that are two saves, one vs. damage and one vs. being picked up).
Technically, there's nothing stopping him from passing over them multiple times with the same move action
Very true, didn't want to mention it because this tactic pretty mean to inflict on a GM. Or, looking at it another way, will easily TPK a party.
What kinds of magic items don't work/benefit while shapechaged? Or would it be easier to ask what ones do work?
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@ElterAgo: read the whole story here.
The relevant part is this:
When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function). Items that require activation cannot be used while you maintain that form.
So a Ring of Protection (+1 deflection to AC) would continue to work, but you would no longer be able to activate a Ring of Invisibility.
Note that this only occurs if you change into those specific creature types. If you use for example Monstrous Physique to turn into a monstrous humanoid, you keep your gear;
If your new form does not cause your equipment to meld into your form, the equipment resizes to match your new size.
Thanks I will read over the full bit tonight.
Bear in mind that Whirlwind Form can lead to some odd nested melding. In other words, let's say our dwarven druid is wearing a Ring of Protection +1. He then Wildshapes into an Air Elemental, causing the ring to meld.
As elementals are called out as being able to assume a humanoid shape, our dwarven Air Elemental picks up a bow to take pot-shots at the enemy. He then decides to use Whirlwind Form, which causes his held bow to meld into his new form.
In Whirlwind Form he is no longer humanoid in shape, so couldn't really don any new items; presumably if he sucks a spear into his Whirlwind it will drop into an adjacent square when Whirlwind is dismissed.