I have been playing Pathfinder for a while, and I'm constantly looking for fun mechanics to play with.
I got the itch, once again, to play a shapeshifter. A character that focuses on transforming into different forms, similar in style to that of the Master of Many Forms (D&D 3.5).
Anyone got anything that can help a bored player out?
Druid is the obvious choice due to Wild Shape, but while the duration lasts practically forever, you have a fairly limited number of actual shifts per day which is problematic if you want to the the kind of shifter that can't stay in one form for more than 10 minutes.
If this is for a high level game, Bloodrager is pretty much perfect for you as with the Arcane Bloodline you can be affected by Beast Shape 4 or Form of the Dragon every time you rage for the length of said rage. Unfortunately that requires level 16 so isn't viable if you are going into a low level game.
If you are into 3pp material, check out one of my personal favorites, the Sublime Transmuter. It builds a bit like an Oracle as you have revelation equivalents and a mystery equivalent, but your spell list is spells from the Transmutation school only. You also get to have a certain spell as decided by your mystery and level as an at-will ability. One the mysteries is shapeshifting focused and as such you get Beast Shape X an infinite number of times per day along with some really cool revelations to further increase your shifting powers.
If you're looking for house rules, I wrote this awhile back for a player. It's a bit of a hybrid druid/monk, I replaced all spell-casting with shapechanging: Shapeshifter
It included using Wild Shape as if 2 levels lower.
It's not formatted for public use (wrote it just for the player), but he's had a good time playing it. You're welcome to adjust it to your needs.
The alchemist gets access to most of the shape/polymorph spells with the exception of form of the dragon 2. I been toying around with the build. Vivisectionist combos well and helps increase your damage that's mostly tied to natural attacks. Also d8 hp. Mutagen str bonus stacking with the shape ability. And fortification from preserve organs giving that master of many forms vibe (might be the war shaper. Can't remember).
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So one option is a bit circuitous but can be pretty good once it gets going.
Brown Fur Transmuter + Familiar + Improved Familiar + Familiar Melding + Polymorph Familiar + Lepidstadt Shifting + Potent Magic
basically you jump into your familiar then cast polymorph familiar boosted by Potent magic to get higher levels of beast shape. Altered Shifting adds some flexibility on shapeshifting during the duration. Throw in a rod of extend + spell tinkering and you can boost the duration up to about 30 min at level 8 when this combo gets going.