New Druid Shapeshift Forms

[DaTedinator]

So, I was thinking about the Druid shapeshift variant, and realized that while it's so much cleaner than Wildshape, it doesn't work for everyone. What about aquatic campaigns, or a character who simply wants to be able to customize their forms a bit more?

And not only that, but it's so much easier to give the Druid more exotic abilities this way, such as allowing them the shapeshift into, say, a swarm! So I came up with these. These are by no means all of the possible alternate forms, just a few I came up with to get things started.

Anyway! These are feats. The requirements are fairly slim, anyone think they should be stiffer? Regardless, whenever a Shapeshifting druid gains a new Form they may instead opt to take one of these feats instead, as long as they meet the prerequisites.

In addition, I've included a few feats that Druids can take to further personalize their Shapeshifted forms.

Here you go:

New Shapeshift Form Feats

Herbivore Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 4 ranks, Shapeshift Druid
Grants:

• +2 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +4 enhancement bonus to natural armor
• Base land speed becomes 50 feet.
• Two hoof attacks that deals 1d4 if you are Medium
• Gain the Endurance feat.
• Upon reaching Druid level 5, gain the feat Run when in this form.

Aquatic Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Shapeshift Druid
Grants:

• +4 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +2 enhancement bonus to natural armor
• Swim speed 50 feet (Land speed reduced to 10 feet)
• May breathe above or below water
• A slam or bite attack that deals 1d6 if you are Medium
• Upon reaching Druid level 7, gain the feat Spring Attack when in this form.

Earthbound Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Shapeshift Druid
Grants:

• +4 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +4 enhancement bonus to natural armor
• Burrow speed 20 feet (leaves no tunnel behind)
• Two claw attacks that deal 1d4 if you are Medium
• Upon reaching Druid level 7, gain the ability to burrow through stone as well as earth.

Swarm Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Shapeshift Druid
Grants:

• Size reduced to Tiny, and gain the Swarm subtype
• –6 penalty to Strength
• +4 enhancement bonus to Dexterity
• Swarm Attack dealing 1d6 damage, +1d6 per four Druid levels
• Gain Distraction special ability
• Upon reaching Druid level 12, size may be reduced to Diminutive.

Virulent Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Shapeshift Druid
Grants:

• +4 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +4 enhancement bonus to Natural Armor
• Immune to poisons created by Animals and Vermin
• Gain Sting attack that deals 1d3 damage (if you are Medium) that also injects a poison that deals 1d4 Strength damage, +1 per four Druid levels, with a Fortitude save DC of 10 + 1/2 Druid levels + Constitution modifier.
• Upon reaching Druid level 7, the Druid may have her poison affect any one ability score of her choosing, chosen upon entering Virulent Form.

Winged Destroyer Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 11 ranks, Arial Form
Grants:

• Size increased one step.
• +6 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +4 enhancement bonus to Natural Armor
• +4 enhancement bonus to Fortitude and Reflex saves
• Fly speed 40 feet (Average maneuverability)
• Gain two claw attacks that deal 1d6 if your base size is Medium.
• Upon reaching Druid level 10, gain the Pounce ability when in this form.

Beast Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 15 ranks, Ferocious Slayer Form
Grants:

• Size increased two steps.
• +12 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +8 enhancement bonus to Natural Armor
• +6 enhancement bonus to Fortitude saves
• Gain bite attack that deals 2d6 if your base size is Medium.
• Gain two claw attacks that deal 1d8 if your base size is Medium.
• Upon reaching Druid level 14, gain the Awesome Blow feat when in this form.

Great Beast Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 19 ranks, Beast Form
Grants:

• Size increased three steps.
• +18 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +12 enhancement bonus to Natural Armor
• +8 enhancement bonus to Fortitude saves
• Gain bite attack that deals 2d8 if your base size is Medium.
• Gain two claw attacks that deal 2d6 if your base size is Medium.
• Gain a tail slap attack that deals 2d8 if your base size is Medium
• Upon reaching Druid level 18, gain the Swallow Whole ability of the Purple Worm when in this form.

Wyrm Form

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Knowledge (Nature) 19 ranks, Winged Destroyer Form
Grants:

• Size increased two steps.
• +12 enhancement bonus to Strength
• +12 enhancement bonus to Natural Armor
• +4 enhancement bonus to Fortitude and Will saves
• Gain bite attack that deals 2d6 if your base size is Medium
• Gain two claw attacks that deal 1d8 if your base size is Medium
• Gain two wing slap attacks that deal 1d8 if your base size is Medium
• Gain a tail slap attack that deals 2d6 if your base size is Medium
• Gain a fly speed of 120' with Poor maneuverability
• Gain immunity to fire, cold, electricity, or acid (chosen upon entering the form)
• Gain a breath weapon that deals (class level*2) damage in a 60' line usable every 1d4 rounds; damage is of the same type as elemental immunity, and a Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 class level + Con mod) is allowed for half damage
• Upon reaching Druid level 18, you may breathe in either a 60' line or a 30' cone.

Form Modification Feats

Child of the Air

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Aerial Form, Knowledge (Nature) 6 ranks
Benefit: Any of your Shapeshift forms that do not already have the ability to fly, grow wings that allow you to glide forward 20 feet for every five feet you descend. Your effective flying speed while gliding is 40 feet with average maneuverability, though you obviously cannot rise.

In addition, while in a Shapeshifted form, you may fly for a number of minutes equal to your Druid level, and this time may be divided up as you see fit (this is a pool used by all of your forms).

At tenth Druid level, you gain full flight when in a Shapeshifted form, with a speed of 40 feet and average maneuverability.
Special: You may only make use of one of the Child of the _____ feats each time you Shapeshift. You may, however, switch which one you’re making use of as a swift action.

Child of the Earth

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Earthbound Form, Knowledge (Nature) 6 ranks
Benefit: Any of your Shapeshift forms that do not already have a Burrow speed, gain a Burrow speed of 20 feet.

At tenth Druid level, your burrow speed increases to 30 feet. This also increases the burrow speed for your Earthbound form.
Special: You may only make use of one of the Child of the _____ feats each time you Shapeshift. You may, however, switch which one you’re making use of as a swift action.

Child of the Sea

Spoiler

Show

Prerequisites: Aquatic Form, Knowledge (Nature) 6 ranks
Benefit: Any of your Shapeshift forms that do not already have a Swim speed, gain a Swim speed equal to their land speed, and when in a Shapeshifted form you may hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to your Constitution score.

At tenth Druid level, whenever in Shapeshifted form you become completely amphibious, breathing underwater as well as you breathe air.
Special: You may only make use of one of the Child of the _____ feats each time you Shapeshift. You may, however, switch which one you’re making use of as a swift action.

Also! As a tool for allowing a player more freedom with deciding the specific animal they're changing into, I propose allowing the player to trade off a natural attack for any other of equal value. There are pretty much two types of natural attacks: singles, like Bites, and doubles, like Claws, which deal a die step lower in damage; they're generally equal, so you could trade a pair of Claws for a Tail Slap, or a Bite for a pair of Wing Slaps. Whatever.

So. Thoughts? Suggestions? Anyone feel like coming up with their own?

[The_Snark]

Swarm Form ought not to be available until considerably higher levels; at level 3, the ability to become invulnerable to weapons and deal damage without an attack roll in an area is very, very powerful. Maybe have it require 8 ranks and have the size start as Tiny rather than Diminutive; at 12th level, they could choose to become Diminutive instead of Tiny.

Other than that, I think I like them. Always had a soft spot for that feature; it's better balanced than Wild Shape, easier to use, and at-will abilities are always enjoyable.

[DaTedinator]

Oh, truth. I forgot that Diminutive swarms take no weapon damage instead of half. But even still, forgot how vicious swarm attacks are at low levels. I like your changes, I'll go with them.

[Fawsto]

Nice work. I like this class feature. Wildshape is too cheesy... I'd recommend any druid to take this instead of wildshape.

Congratz.

Edit: Oh, yes. If you guys have some spare time, please take a look on the thread linked in my sig. If you could read it and give some constructive opinion, I'd be grateful.

[Bhu]

Thumbs up from me. I love the SHapeshift Druid.

[DaTedinator]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Also, I added two new forms, Beast and Great Beast. Do they seem balanced? Particularly great Beast, considering that you don't gain a whole lot over Beast form; like, once you get Great Beast, there's really no reason to go into Beast form, so do you think it's balanced enough, considering that it basically costs a form to get it?

[watsyurname529]

Aquatic form should grant Swim By Attack (same thing as Spring Attack except underwater) instead of Spring attack.

Winged Destroyer form should get something other than Pounce in my opinion. Not sure what at the moment.

Otherwise good work.

[DaTedinator]

Spring Attack doesn't specify movement type, as far as I know, so I believe you could use it while running, burrowing, flying, or swimming. Flyby Attack is a separate feat because it lets you take any standard action, not just attack (so you could cast a spell, for example).

[Tempest Fennac]

They sound interesting. What sort of creature would you become using the Beast and Greatbeast forms, though?

[DaTedinator]

I figure leave that up to the player's imagination. Could be a King Kong type monkey, could be a massive dinosaur, who knows? I just thought, the massive beast category wasn't fully satisfied with Shapeshift.

Another thing I've been tinkering around with is a system to let Druids tweak forms so as to get better flavor (i.e., if they want to only turn into lizards, give them tradeoffs so they can give every form a bite attack, and maybe a tail, or whatnot.), which would be good for the Beast and Great Beast forms, so you could get in anything from a T-Rex to a giant spider.

I'll stick that up when I've got it into a generally workable form.

[Tempest Fennac]

Thanks for explaining (that could be interesting as far as flavour is concerned).

[watsyurname529]

I figure leave that up to the player's imagination. Could be a King Kong type monkey, could be a massive dinosaur, who knows? I just thought, the massive beast category wasn't fully satisfied with Shapeshift.

Another thing I've been tinkering around with is a system to let Druids tweak forms so as to get better flavor (i.e., if they want to only turn into lizards, give them tradeoffs so they can give every form a bite attack, and maybe a tail, or whatnot.), which would be good for the Beast and Great Beast forms, so you could get in anything from a T-Rex to a giant spider.

I'll stick that up when I've got it into a generally workable form.

You could create a set of feats that would give you certain traits or a PrC that would give you a set of traits to choose from.

[Overlord]

Another thumbs up from me. The Shapeshift druid is so much better than the wildshape version.

[DaTedinator]

@Tempest Fennac: No problem! 'Twas my thoughts.

@ watsyurname529: Well, I figure it wouldn't really be a problem to just make it a variant, and let the individual druid tweak the forms, as long as it's just minor ways; or rather, letting them swap natural attacks, like changing two claws to a bite, or a tail slap to a slam. The given attacks are, I find, the main problem for druids who want their form to be a specific animal.

For slightly bigger changes, like adding fly, or burrow speeds, or poison, then I think feats are the way to go.

Actually, speaking of poison, I should make a form with a poisonous attack. I'll, work on that. :-P But yeah. As for the feats, what do you think is the way to go? A feat that tweaks a single form lots, or a feat that tweaks all forms in smaller ways? Or something else?

[Mr Bojangles]

New to the site, but this is pure brilliance. I love the shapeshift variant as well, but always hated it's lack of versatility. Great, balanced way to fix that problem.

[DaTedinator]

Thanks! That was pretty much what got me to work this out. I had been considering making a Shapeshift Druid, but wanted a few more options than I currently had.

Also, I added in some "Form Modification" feats, starting with just granting forms different movement types. Balanced?

[Mr Bojangles]

Also, I added in some "Form Modification" feats, starting with just granting forms different movement types. Balanced?

Lets find out.

Red is my suggestions/questions.

Child of the Air

Prerequisites: Arial (sp) aerial Form, Knowledge (Nature) 6 ranks
Good prerequisites. Nothing too far out of reach, and it costs a feat. It isn't a freebie.
Benefit: Any of your Shapeshift forms that do not already have the ability to fly, grow wings that allow you to glide forward 20 feet for every five feet you descend. Your effective flying speed while gliding is 40 feet with average maneuverability, though you obviously cannot rise.
Balanced.

In addition, while in a Shapeshifted form, you may fly for a number of minutes equal to your Druid level, and this time may be divided up as you see fit (this is a pool used by all of your forms).Nifty.

At tenth Druid level, you gain full flight when in a Shapeshifted form, with a speed of 40 feet and average maneuverability. Balanced and nifty. Average maneuverability is a good call.
Special: You may only make use of one of the Child of the _____ feats each time you Shapeshift. You may, however, switch which one you’re making use of as a swift action.
Thank you for putting this. For three feats if they really want to pull it off they can, but not all at once.


Child of the Earth

Prerequisites: Earthbound Form, Knowledge (Nature) 6 ranks
Benefit: Any of your Shapeshift forms that do not already have a Burrow speed, gain a Burrow speed equal to half their land speed (Maximum 20 feet), and when in a Shapeshifted form you may hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to your Constitution score.

At tenth Druid level, whenever in Shapeshifted form you require vastly less oxygen, allowing you to breathe perfectly well even when burrowing. RAW what problems would you run into with breathing while burrowing? This needs explanation I think.
Special: You may only make use of one of the Child of the _____ feats each time you Shapeshift. You may, however, switch which one you’re making use of as a swift action.

As it is now, it would take a good chunk of your feats to buy every single one of these feats. Which keeps versatility up, but omnipotent adaptability low. You can pick and choose to match character concepts.

I kind of think that druids shouldn't have to "buy" their adaptability like that, seeing as they should have been included with class features in the first place, but meh. Over all good stuff.

[DaTedinator]

Thanks for the feedback! But, don't give me all the credit for the Flying mechanics, I nicked that from the Raptoran mechanics.

As for the burrowing, you're right; there's nothing RAW about being unable to breathe underground, I guess that's just been an assumed houserule in my group.

Well drat. That leaves me, uncertain of what to give at slightly higher levels instead of breathing. Maybe increased speed? I'll probably go with that.

You think increasing the burrow speed by +10 feet at tenth level would fly? Ooh, or what about allowing them to burrow through stone? I think I'll go with that. And actually, I'll probably set the burrow at a flat 20 feet anyway.

Anyway! Any other comments, or suggestions for new feats or forms?

[Mr Bojangles]

No worries, I thought I recognized that bit from Raptorans. Swear they make for a good back drop every now and then. But, on to the point.

Well if you think about it, moles and other burrowing creatures don't seem to need any sort of extraordinary ability to breath while burrowing, so I would assume someone mimicking such natural burrorowing creatures wouldn't either. Moles or gophers don't hold their breaths any longer than most mammals, I'm not sure how much sense that makes as a capstone ability.

Maybe something along the lines of what you said, about ignoring stone? That would be A; useful, and B; not too overtly powerful if you think about it. Burrowing still isn't going to be the coolest mode of transportation around, but, still not going to be utterly useless. Especially when you can go through stone. So would this be completely based on digging with your hands- turned shovel-ish claws, or maybe something earthworm-like. Maybe something along the lines of while in Earthbound form, your constitution changes to match that of naturalized earthen creatures, becoming able to devour through non-worked obstructions, such as stone or ground.

I don't know, I could see clawing work too, really either way, but it's 3am, and my brain is trying to be creative. That helpful bugger...

[DaTedinator]

Well, the approach I used (though I'm by no means married to the concept) is to let the Earthbound form burrow through stone, and the feat make you move faster, so that Earthbound form would still grant better burrowing than another form with the Child of the Earth. But I might end up switching it so that Earthbound form has higher speed, and both Earthbound and Child of the Earth let you burrow through stone.

Also, added a substitute for Predator form. I wanted some sort of variation to that. So, Herbivore form. Not really that different, but then, Predator form is pretty basic. Thoughts?

[mikeejimbo]

I've always wanted to be able to turn into a virus, but I doubt that this is feasible.

[DaTedinator]

A virus? As in like, the flu? How exactly do you mean?

[dman11235]

Do you mind if I adapt these a little bit for my Shifter?

[Guyr Adamantine]

Am I the only one that expected Earthbound Form to have psychic powers?

You did a good job.

[DaTedinator]

@dman11235: Oh, feel free! I wouldn't have posted them online if I didn't want other people using them! You know what they say: imitation is the sincerest form of television flattery!

@Guyr Adamantine: Hahahahaha, I was wondering why that word came so easily to my head. And thank you!

[dman11235]

Hey, I gotta ask. And besides, I'm not using them completely, I have to adapt them to the class. The mechanics are a bit different (they all get more powerful through levels, rather than requiring a new form, the lower level ones remain useful, but not as powerful, allowing for easy PrC creation).

And you will be recognized in the completed work of Magic of Origins.

[DaTedinator]

Oh, I understand, and I do appreciate the courtesy. And oh, thanks! That'd be great! Much appreciated!

[Cowjuicer]

I HEREBY DECLARE THIS ULTRA-AWESOME!

I LOVE the shapeshifter druid, because it's easier to play, has the same mechanics no matter what you look like for each form, and has no headache in terms of abuse. These feats just take that awesomeness and multiply it into MASSIVE EXCITEMENT!!!!!

One question: exactly what is the virulent form? A largeish hornet or advanced stirge? Some sort of freaky weirdo bug thing? Some sort of weird abberation? Unlike the others, this one is vague. I suggest a new name, perhaps "Insect Form".

Other than that, YOU WIN AT LIFE.

[DaTedinator]

Thank you! It's people like you that convince me to write down my D&D musings.

And! "Virulent" just means "Poisonous," so it could be any of those things. Like any Shapeshift form, feel free to use your imagination; a giant scorpion, a wingless wyvern, a skeletal snake, whatever. Just like the Great Beast could be a T-Rex or a Purple Worm or a weird humongous man-eating tree!

But speaking of Virulent form, I never did figure out anything for them to get at 7th level. Maybe let the poison affect any ability score, as chosen by the Druid upon assuming the form? That sound decent?

[hiryuu]

Just looked these up again; Great Beast has a power that comes online right as soon as you get it, since you can't get it until level 18, anyway.