The Shaper v2, a Full-BAB Martial Shapeshifter

[MasterGeese]

The Shaper

With the Shifter being released very soon, I figured I'd finish up my work on the Shaper in the event that Paizo and I come up with some similar ideas for a Full-BAB Martial Shapeshifter.

The idea for this class started off as a Master Summoner off-shoot, which was more oriented on using Evolutions(or as they're referred to now, Alterations) to buff themself instead of their Eidolon.

Eventually I scrapped the idea of them summoning at all, and turned the concept into a full-BAB Martial class with zero armor/weapon proficiencies, but instead has pretty hefty Natural Armor/Natural attack options.

The resulting class seems reasonably balanced on paper. It's fairly MAD, wanting all three physical stats to some extent and being based off Constitution like the Kineticist. Normally Full-BAB classes have d10 hit die, but when combined with their reliance on Constitution scores, I kept it as d8 so that their health would remain at reasonable levels. They'll have a rough time getting AC early on because of their lack of armor or anything to offset it like the Monk's Wisdom to AC. Though they don't have weapons, their Natural attacks can be easily buffed as much as necessary through Alterations.

However at high levels, while I doubt the Shaper will be able to hit as hard as a fighter or barbarian, it has a TON of extra flexibility options thanks to Spontaneous Alterations and their newer feature, the Essence Adaptations. Ideally this would mean high-level Shapers would have something to do other than pump out as much damage/tankiness as possible.

If this concept seems familiar, that's because this is a newer version of the class I posted months ago. The class features and Alteration list have been changed extensively since then, though, to the point where a new thread seemed necessary to avoid having discussion of the previous iteration confusing newcomers.

Notable changes from that version include:
[list]

The Class skills have been altered into a more "primal", less "magic/alchemical" feel, since the class is no longer based on Intelligence.

Your Essence Pool is now based off your Constitution modifier instead of your Intelligence modifier. It also has a base power of being able to buff your physical skill or ability checks.

Essence Adaptations, available at 2nd, 8th, 14th, and 20th levels, give you additional ways to spend your Essence other than on adaptations. There's a total of five different "lines" of adaptations, each having a corresponding entry at 2nd, 8th, 14th, and 20th level. You could focus on one of these lines of adaptations, or mix and match at your leisure.

Categorized many of the Alterations into not just Natural Attack, but Defense and Sense alterations. At the requisite levels, Natural Defense and Natural Predator will give you bonus Alteration points towards Defense and Sense alterations respectively.

Extensive work on adding, editing, and removing the Alterations list, particularly giving new options specific to certain types of Natural attacks and adding more options for high-level Shapers.

Essence Armor has been removed. Those that still wish to get an Armor bonus without having to shell out money on Bracers of Armor should look no further than the "Imperviousness" line of Essence Adaptations.