Best way to wildshape?

[rmnimoc]

I'm going to be joining a new game of Pathfinder soon. Since we're going to be starting at level 7, I figured I'd try something I typically don't and try to go with a character built around wildshape. Normally I hate building around abilities I don't have access to at level 1, so I'm not really sure what PF has for options for it. Like how 3.5 has wildshape monks and rangers, MoMF, Exalted Wildshape etc, what does PF have? Is it even viable to focus WS in a lower optimized game of PF?

[Serafina]

For the Druid-ability called "Wild Shape", it's rather more rare this time:
- Druid, obviously. Turn into medium-sized animals from level 4 onward, with excellent duration and later more forms.
- The Totemic Skald also gets Wild Shape, though only for one specific small or medium animal.
- the Feral Hunter also gets Wild Shape, with no elemental or plant forms.

There are other class features though that aren't direct copies of Wild Shape, but still grant good polymorphs:
- The Mooncursed Barbarian can turn into a medium animal during her rage right from level 1, and later on still wield weapon during the transformation.
- The Nimble Guardian Monk can polymorph into a medium-sized big cat for 1 hour at a time at level 7.
- the Agathiel Vigilante can change into an animal form at-will, with no limit on duration, from level 4 onward (it's not that strong though).
- a Beast-Bonded Witch can turn into a (possibly larger) copy of her familiar at level 8.
- a Dragon Mystery Oracle can turn into a Dragon. This nominally comes online at level 11, but there's an early entry trick using the Soothsayers Rainment (which you can conceivably craft yourself around level 6 or so). It's 10 minutes/level at first with one use per day, but it's possible to get up to four uses per day with magic items and feats, and at level 15 you can turn the duration up to 1 hour/level.
- a Lunar Mystery Oracle effectively gets animal-only Wild Shape at level 7, though you'll need items/feats for more than one use per day.
- a Flame Oracle can turn into a Fire Elemental for 1 hour/level, a Volcano Oracle can do that with a Magma Elemental, and a Waves Oracle can do that with a Water Elemental. All of this becomes available at level 7 as well.
- The relevant Revelations are also available via variant multiclass into Oracle for any character regardless of class, at level 8 (with retraining I think that should work, otherwise level 15).
- a Wood Mystery Oracle can get that for plant shape, at level 9 (before that, it just works as Tree Shape would).

That's all I've found.
In summary:
- Druid is still the best class for having a versatile, long-duration polymorph available, but there's two other classes who can get it.
- the earliest "turn into an animal" trick is from the Mooncursed Barbarian-
- there's some single-shape features in other classes, mostly Oracles.
- the Dragon-Oracle can actually be super-strong, with pretty early (if cheesy) access to long-duration dragon forms.

[DedWards]

While not as awesome as Wild Shape and the other listed abilities, there's also transmutation (polymorph) spells like Form of the Dragon.

[Serafina]

While not as awesome as Wild Shape and the other listed abilities, there's also transmutation (polymorph) spells like Form of the Dragon.

The main difference is really duration - all of the abilities I listed above have a sufficiently long duration that they'll last several fights, if not for most of the day.

To answer the question I forgot to mention above:
Yes, it's very viable, with all the classes I listed above. First, have two guides.
Basically, there's two uses for wild shape and similar abilities: Melee and mobility.

Beast Shape offers a lot of good forms for melee. Take the Leopard, accessible right away and not even a "weird" form - it has a bite and two claw attacks, which is pretty good at low level. A Deinonychus even offers four attacks (bite, two claws, one fore-claws) and a land-speed of 60 feet! Once you get to Beast Shape II, it's also very easy to get the ever-valuable pounce.
Plant Shape can also offer a lot of attacks (four is pretty common), often with reach, grab and poison.
Elementals actually only get a slam-attack - but they can wield weapons, so it's viable for a melee build as well.
Form of the Dragon turns you into a dragon. You do of course get flight - but you also get six (!) natural attacks. A bite, two claws, two wings and a tail-slap are pretty damn nasty (there's also a form that grants a gore instead of two wings). This can be really devastating, especially at lower levels.

For mobility and utility, you instead focus on casting. For this, you want to either be a Druid with Natural Spell, or turn into an Elemental, Dragon or some form of Plants (such as the Mi-Go).
What you get out of it is looking different (which is cool), often a different size and of course extra movement modes such as flight. Considering that many wild shape effects last for hours, the duration at least (and often eventually the mobility and speed) is better than the other options you can get. If your ability is flexible, it can also give you good disguises, a swim speed and other such things.


Note that compared to 3.5, you only get a limited selection of abilities - so it's harder to pick that one super-broke form. And more importantly, you keep your own ability scores (with a few + and - depending on the spell emulated), which means that if you want a melee build, you really ought to have good strength and such.