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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    TheThan's Avatar

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    Default [house] wild shape/polymorph  restrictions

    Most people agree that Druids are far more powerful than they should be, so many people have taken steps to keep them from getting out of control. Many people also say that polymorph is broken due to its vague rules. Below I present my house rules concerning wild shape/polymorph and alters self. Please feel free to comment and criticize them (constructive criticism)

    wild shape
    The druid’s wild shape ability is restricted to five different animals the druid is familiar with. The player can choose five animals he can wild shape into. These creatures can be of any size but he doesn’t get to wild shape into small, large or huge creatures until he reaches the appropriate level.
    For example
    1. leopard
    2. dire bear
    3. shark
    4. hawk
    5. dire rat

    The druid can wild shape into the leopard and the shark at 5th level, he can turn into a dire bear at 8th level. At 11th level he can turn into a hawk or dire rat. But he can’t turn into any huge sized animals (T Rex anyone) because he has not chosen any as a familiar animal. Consider these animals he is intimately familiar with. He might have grown up around them or kept them as pets. This give the player plenty of options for his wild shape form but also restricts him to only five shapes. Which helps reign in the power of the druid.

    Polymorph
    Upon acquiring the polymorph spell a wizard or sorcerer may choose five different creatures of the following types; aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or vermin. A spell caster may also choose the target’s own type. The spell otherwise function just like the standard polymorph spell.
    If polymorph is learned through a scroll or cast from a scroll, the creatures that the target transforms into is chosen by the DM, which is free to us any sort of discretion he deems appropriate.

    Baleful polymorph
    Follow the same rules for the polymorph spell given above

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
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    Seattle, USA
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    Default Re: [house] wild shape/polymorph  restriction

    If you use the GitP polymorph rules (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/dC2...K8n5OjUm9.html), druids overall lose a good deal of power, as their bonuses from wild shape are limited by their class level. Same goes for polymorph users.
    "Sometimes, we’re heroes. Sometimes, we shoot other people right in the face for money."

    -Shadowrun 4e, Runner's Companion

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    GreenSorcererElf

    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Oregon
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    Male

    Default Re: [house] wild shape/polymorph  restriction

    When I first looked at the giants polymorphing rules, I thought: woa, lots o' rules. Then I looked harder and went: wow, it just does what I thought it did in the first place, with maybe one exception (sp?) (which he pointed out in his examples). I liked the options for various polymorphng spells he presented. My only complaint was the template usage, IMO it would have been simpler just to say that any form of shapechanging/size changning cancels the last one.
    Now, TheThan's stuff:
    Sounds good to me, I'm inclined to fight for more polymorph options, but you really don't need many, and I'm soft for the arcane anyway.
    Fizban's Tweaks and Brew: Google Drive (PDF), Thread
    A collection of over 200 pages of individually small bans, tweaks, brews, and rule changes, usable piecemeal or nearly altogether, and even some convenient lists. Everything I've done that I'd call done enough to use in one place (plus a number of things I'm working on that aren't quite done, of course).
    Quote Originally Posted by Violet Octopus View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Fizban View Post
    sheer awesomeness

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