So, I'm playing a Druid who will have access to Wild Shape at some point to turn into Elementals, as per the Elemental Body spells.
Now, Elemental Body I only allows Small-sized Elementals, which means I wouldn't be able to use my Medium-sized Scythe weapon. Elemental Body II allows Medium-sized Elementals as well, which would allow me to use my Scythe.
At some point, I'm going to be using Elemental Body III/IV, which allow for Large/Huge sized Elementals. I don't need to go that big, because I would prefer that if I was going to go Melee, that I would still be able to use my Scythe, so I would still sick with a Medium size.
My question here is that if I still stuck with a Medium size, would I only receive the total benefits listed from Elemental Body II, or would I receive the increased Statistics and Natural Armor from Elemental Body III/IV?
The crux of the issue is this line right here:
The abilities you gain depend upon the type of elemental into which you change.
It seems the increase is independant upon which size you actually take, per RAW, but I'm not sure if that is RAI.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
|
If you turn into a Medium elemental, you only get the elemental body II benefits. You would still gain the immunity to crits and sneak attacks from III and the DR from IV once you got those abilities as they are independent of the form you take.
Think of the spells as giving you a menu of increasing sizes to choose from, and you only get the changes for the size you pick. But the stuff listed before the forms is part of the spell you use, so you get that regardless of your choice.
Another option would be to grab equipment for your preferred elemental form.
For example, you could grab a large sized scythe for your large elemental form.
Now, this might seem like an extra cost to get a spare weapon just for that...although.... who says it has to be your 'spare'. It could be your main weapon.
The thing with elementals is...they can have hands. They have a language so they have voices. And since you are using wild shape, you can pretty much turn into an elemental all day by the time you get medium options. So what stops you from just BEING that elemental all the time? What stops you from making that your default?
I mean...look at a large earth elemental. +6 str, -2 dex, +2 con, +6 natural armor. Now, that is fairly sturdy. And what if you wore regular armor over that (not wild armor- just a large set of armor). That could end up REALLY sturdy. You have 10' reach, and you could wield a large sized scimtiar (similar to falchion) or spear (same damage dice as greatsword). Overall, as a buff mechanic, it is not too shabby when compared to things like rage.
So why not go around like that all the time? Just take your large sized equipment off at night, turn to normal, then wake up, wild shape, and put your equipment back on. You would be little different from a heavy armor user really.
Giant Hunters handbook has a possible answer to weapon size.
Giant Hunters handbook has a possible answer to weapon size.
Thanks for linking that, I'll definitely take a look at it for my GM.