Hello,
Many Forms makes me drool every time I read the entry. It looks to me like an amazing ability, probably one of the best of all mysteries. Alter self ? Beast Shape ? Then Polymorph ? ALMOST AT WILL ?
I'm saying almost at will, because by the time you're level 7 and get Beast Shape, you already can use it seven times a day for 1mn, that's actually more flexible than a druid could ever be.
So, yeah. Those were my first thoughts.
However, no Natural Spell makes it less than ideal. It should be very useful on a STR oracle, shapeshifting to get many natural attacks.
But I'd like to build a CONTROL/DEBUFF oracle, and STR will probably be my dump stat. So I'm not looking for combat damage, more about utility.
So could you help me out ? What kind of tricks would you pull (at low level with alter self, at higher level with the other abilities) with Many Forms as a controller ?
Flight comes to mind, but then there's a revelation that also gives flight so that's a bit redundant.
Thanks a lot !
|
Quenly here is a dark tapestry oracle built around Many Forms (currently level 9).
He's an elven ancient lorekeeper archetype oracle, trading out the normal mystery spells for choices from the wiz/sor spell list (at 1 level above what they'd normally be). This will give you lots of options for control spells.
I wouldn't dump STR too hard, but you can certainly make use of decent DEX and an agile amulet of mighty fists. Until you get the Greater Polymorph ability at level 15 you're limited to Small and Medium forms only. The best fighting forms tend to be those with multiple natural attacks so an amulet of mighty fists would really help. I have yet to upgrade my amulet, it is currently only +1.
Once you have access to Greater Polymorph, all special abilities from the forms you take (Dragon and magical beast breath weapons for example) will key off CHA for saving throws, so that will synergise with a high CHA controller.
I built to be able to cast spells in any form. I chose the Deaf curse, for free Silent Spell. I took Eschew Materials (not hugely necessary because Oracles don't use divine focus materials, but some of my mystery/archetype spells benefit from it), and Still Spell. I will take Quicken Spell as my level 11 feat.
Good forms to use at lower level: any Small humanoid buffs your AC by 2 (Dex boost plus size bonus) assuming you are normally a Medium race; Adlet is a useful medium humanoid. Troglodyte is the best for natural attacks. Several humanoid forms give you Scent. Lizardfolk has a Swim speed.
Animal forms are extremely useful for getting in and out of places. I once escaped a trapped room by becoming a Small snake. I got my whole party out of a larva trap by becoming a Medium Dire Badger and burrowing through a dead purple worm! Deinonychus is my combat form of choice.
A nice thing about the Dark Tapesty mystery is that the armour revelation and the flight revelation both work when you are using Many Forms. Neither is a polymorph effect. A harsh GM might force you to activate your armour revelation after you have changed form, but you can use it for 1 hour per level per day, in 1 hour increments, so that would still work. I have both these revelations.
At level 11 I will choose the Pierce the Veil revelation that lets you see in absolute darkness (including magical darkness). I will also choose the Deeper Darkness spell. I can already use Silence to prevent enemies spell casting without hindering my own (and have used this tactic successfully), I will then also be able to render enemies unable to see whilst not affecting my own sight at all. Both these tricks have to be used carefully to avoid screwing up your party's tactics of course.
One last tactic for a Many Forms user: get an animated shield or buckler. At the start of combat, your actions are:
Swift - Quicken Spell: Divine Favour
Move - animate the animated shield
Standard - activate many forms (or cast a standard action spell such as Blessing of Fervour)
Enjoy!
<Shrug>
Compare it to a Transmutation/Shapechange school wizard/eldritch knight with the Multimorph arcane discovery: The oracle gets the ability to switch forms in one minute increments early (Multimorph requires wizard 5) and conserve duration by ending a form instead of using the entire 1 min/level, while the wizard/eldritch knight can shift into more forms (using monstrous physique, undead anatomy, elemental body, etc.) for more total minutes per day.
The reason wild shape is so "great," compared to other shapechanging methods is: 1) 1 hour/level duration per use, even if limited to one form per use, plus archetypes/feats to grant additional options (mountain druid gets giant form instead of plant shape, Planar Wild Shape adds the celestial or fiendish template, etc.); 2) Eschew Materials and Natural Spell reduce the need to change forms at all (can cast most spells in whatever form they are in).
@Dragonchess: I agree that Many Form is not the end all/be all of polymorphing, but I find it pretty neat on paper ^^
@Quenly: I like your tricks, but they're more geared toward fighting than support/control. I don't plan to get into melee much, so I was more looking for a way to expand my options (like being able to burrow, swim or fly).
|
Trumpeter Swan form and Flyby Attack give you insane maneuverability when casting spells, so long as you invest in a ring of eloquence and a rod of still spell.
How does the swan hold the rod, whilst flying?
Metamagic rods must be held (or "wielded") when you cast to work. Pathfinder prd link
Edit: in fact, there are no Still metamagic rods (at least in Paizo published material). The need to hold a metamagic rod in hand defeats the purpose of Still Spell, so the item would be essentially useless. At least, that's the norm. In a home game your mileage may vary.
|
|
@Quenly: I like your tricks, but they're more geared toward fighting than support/control. I don't plan to get into melee much, so I was more looking for a way to expand my options (like being able to burrow, swim or fly).
Burrow: Dire badger is a medium animal. When you eventually get Greater Polymorph you can become an earth elemental and earth glide, which has great utility.
Swim: Lizardfolk for remaining humanoid and keeping all your equipment active, as well as normal spell casting. They are slow swimmers, but it is still a swim speed. Bull Shark is a very good Medium animal swimmer.
Fly: there's no way to get to be a flying humanoid using Many Forms (works as Alter Self, which does not grant fly speeds; nor burrow nor climb speeds). It's hard to beat an eagle as a flying animal form. Many Forms limits your flying speed to the maximum allowed by the spell it is based on.
|
|
Trumpeter Swan form and Flyby Attack give you insane maneuverability when casting spells, so long as you invest in a ring of eloquence and a rod of still spell.How does the swan hold the rod, whilst flying?
Metamagic rods must be held (or "wielded") when you cast to work. Pathfinder prd link
Edit: in fact, there are no Still metamagic rods (at least in Paizo published material). The need to hold a metamagic rod in hand defeats the purpose of Still Spell, so the item would be essentially useless. At least, that's the norm. In a home game your mileage may vary.
Huh, I could have sworn I saw a rod of still spell somewhere. Oh well.
As for holding rods while flying, Animal Archive has this handy little chart where the "avian" body type is marked with an asterisk, and it explains that
Creature body types marked with an asterisk (*) are able to grasp and carry one object at a time in their paws, claws, or hands, including weapons, rods, wands, and staves
That text from Animal Archive actually works with the PRD text on Metamagic Rods. Good find. It would be hard to argue that "grasp and carry" means something different than "hold".
Actually I have a character with a hawk familiar that goes around picking up the wands her master drops all over the place in battles - but the hawk cannot use the wands, she just picks them up so they don't get lost/stolen.
So it seems that if you can otherwise cast spells whilst in an avian form, you do have the ability to take advantage of a metamagic rod (just don't be holding it at the time you change shape, otherwise it will merge with you).