Roleplaying a druid who never comes out of wildshape

[krossbow]

Anyone got some stories from their sessions of someone Roleplaying this? :smallbiggrin:


I was reminiscing on this and was wondering if anyone else has some humerous stories.

[zimmerwald1915]

Anyone got some stories from their sessions of someone Roleplaying this? :smallbiggrin:


I was reminiscing on this and was wondering if anyone else has some humerous stories.
Wizard of Earthsea comes to mind...:smallbiggrin:

[Akal Saris]

I think it'd be awesome if the party (in-character) didn't even realize he was a druid, and was just like, "Yeah, that's our ranger's other animal companion. It's uncanny how much smarter he is than the other bear though!"

[Divide by Zero]

I think it'd be awesome if the party (in-character) didn't even realize he was a druid, and was just like, "Yeah, that's our ranger's other animal companion. It's uncanny how much smarter he is than the other bear though!"

It'd be hard to explain the spellcasting. Though if you got past that (or just didn't bother using it), you could take Leadership for a ranger cohort and fool the party out of character too.

[Swordgleam]

I sort of have this happening in my group. A druid/shaman who switches between elf and wolf as to which one is real and which is the companion. The party keeps trying to come up with tactical ways to use it, and the druid keeps going, "But it doesn't work like that! I can't control it!"

[Mando Knight]

Denial.
...There's nothing strange at all about that wolf that follows the party. Nope. What'cha mean, they don't usually grow bark on their fur? Nah, no way that howling was anyway connected to the sudden overgrowth of grassy vines. She's a really clever doggy. See? Good girl. :smalltongue:

[aivanther]

I had a master of many forms that usually stayed in his forms...it was rather intimidating to have a Hook Horror walk up to NPCs and start interrogating them.

[Dr Bwaa]

I also had a MoMF who had sort of adopted a clan of minotaurs, by staying in the form of a greathorn (MM4). He was human but basically never took human form, and only his closest friends even knew he was originally human. Everyone else (enemies, most of the minotaur tribe, etc) thought he was an albino greathorn minotaur with shapeshifting abilities and a warhammer. :smalleek:

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/telepathicBond.htm
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/permanency.htm

And suddenly the Shadowrun players feel right at home as they subvocalize.

[cattoy]

Go the Genma Saotome route and buy a slate and a piece of chalk...

[Jack_Simth]

Denial.
...There's nothing strange at all about that wolf that follows the party. Nope. What'cha mean, they don't usually grow bark on their fur? Nah, no way that howling was anyway connected to the sudden overgrowth of grassy vines. She's a really clever doggy. See? Good girl. :smalltongue:
Otherwise known as an utter, utter lack of Knowledge(Nature)? After all, the DC for knowing anything useful about a critter is above the limit for an untrained check....

Goes well with Vow of Poverty, though, to deal with the lack of equipment.

[Gnaeus]

Go the Genma Saotome route and buy a slate and a piece of chalk...

Or a magic item that lets you talk, like a helm of telepathy (+ wildling clasp)

[Mando Knight]

Otherwise known as an utter, utter lack of Knowledge(Nature)? After all, the DC for knowing anything useful about a critter is above the limit for an untrained check....

Goes well with Vow of Poverty, though, to deal with the lack of equipment.

Barbarian: Wow! I didn't know that a wolf could turn its fur rock hard by howling!
Wizard: They can't, idiot. That's the druid.
Barbarian: Really? How can you tell?
Wizard: The obvious magical effects and basic working knowledge of natural order.

[Flickerdart]

I think it'd be awesome if the party (in-character) didn't even realize he was a druid, and was just like, "Yeah, that's our ranger's other animal companion. It's uncanny how much smarter he is than the other bear though!"
So that's the Ranger's bear, the Druid's bear and the Druid...is this an adventuring party, or a circus?

[Mando Knight]

So that's the Ranger's bear, the Druid's bear and the Druid...is this an adventuring party, or a circus?

Neither. It's Stephen Colbert's nightmare. :smalltongue:

[gbprime]

It'd be hard to explain the spellcasting. Though if you got past that (or just didn't bother using it), you could take Leadership for a ranger cohort and fool the party out of character too.

There's a skill trick for that. Conceal Spellcasting. Once per scene/encounter, you can pull off a spell with nobody being the wiser. Otherwise, eat people's faces. :smallwink:

[Jack_Simth]

Barbarian: Wow! I didn't know that a wolf could turn its fur rock hard by howling!
Wizard: They can't, idiot. That's the druid.
Barbarian: Really? How can you tell?
Wizard: The obvious magical effects and basic working knowledge of natural order.
To recognize a Wolf is a DC 12 Knowledge(Nature) check. The highest possible DC you can make untrained on a knowledge check is 10. In a world with critters that DO have natural spellcasting, it's not unreasonable.

[Deadmeat.GW]

Or get just enough Bardic levels for the spell that allows you to throw your voice and as such make it seem that the ranger is the one who does the spellcasting :).

[Jack_Simth]

Or get just enough Bardic levels for the spell that allows you to throw your voice and as such make it seem that the ranger is the one who does the spellcasting :).
Or convince your DM that Extra Spell permits you to grab spells off of other class spell lists. That'd work too.

[Stompy]

Barbarian: Wow! I didn't know that a wolf could turn its fur rock hard by howling!
Wizard: They can't, idiot. That's the druid.
Barbarian: Really? How can you tell?
Wizard: The obvious magical effects and basic working knowledge of natural order.

In all fairness, basic math for a wizard is Calculus 2.

on topic: I had a druid that did this. He used some spell from Spell Compendium (don't know what it is called) that let him talk in wildshape through a skull. (He also took a flashraker as an animal companion, and his shenanigans made our group ban wildshape from future games.)

[Reverent-One]

It'd be hard to explain the spellcasting. Though if you got past that (or just didn't bother using it), you could take Leadership for a ranger cohort and fool the party out of character too.

This idea amuses me. Trying to think of a way to seriously roleplay it though.

[Dr.Epic]

What level would you have to be to make this happen?

[Flickerdart]

What level would you have to be to make this happen?
A Wildshape lasts hours/level. An 8th level Druid can use Wildshape thrice per day, so he could run behind a bush before it expires or something.

[Runestar]

Or you could be a druid with the shapeshift variant from PHB2. This lets you stay in an animal form 24/7 from as early as 1st lv, but you can't cast spells in this form. So barring long duration buffs you cast at the start of each day, you are a sub-par fighter. :smallyuk:

[Kiren]

"Hey, ever notice when the wolf disappears, some strange guy starts killing people"

"Wait where is the wolf?, George? oh no!, George no!"

The wolf had 2 meals that night.

R.I.P. Random henchmen 3 and 56


Edit: seriously though, use spells that have no flashy effect, that are placed as traps (explosive runes), or look like something an animal can do.

[Lycanthromancer]

If you ever get stuck in humanoid form, act like you've forgotten how to actually talk. Grunt, if you have to respond, or use body-language.

[krossbow]

If you ever get stuck in humanoid form, act like you've forgotten how to actually talk. Grunt, if you have to respond, or use body-language.

And run around naked, especially if in the presence of foreign dignitaries.

[Lycanthromancer]

And run around naked, especially if in the presence of foreign dignitaries.That could certainly get the 'body language' point across. *Eyebrow waggle*

[Starscream]

So that's the Ranger's bear, the Druid's bear and the Druid...is this an adventuring party, or a circus?

Now I'm envisioning a sort of "Fractured Fairy Tales" campaign with the party out to find the golden haired sorceress who stole their sacred porridge.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I played a Lycnathrope who spent most of his time in his animal or hybrid form.
He pantomimed and grunted and growled for communication for a few secessions until a slotless magic item basically fell out of the sky that allowed me to speak in my hybrid form, along with a magical pair of pants that melded into him when he transformed. [the DM having grown annoyed with both]/

He did have an advantage of having fallen into a campaign setting that didn't have lycanthropes.

Even when he lounged around at his office as constable he'd be in his hammock in hybrid form.

[hewhosaysfish]

To recognize a Wolf is a DC 12 Knowledge(Nature) check. The highest possible DC you can make untrained on a knowledge check is 10. In a world with critters that DO have natural spellcasting, it's not unreasonable.

Using the Knowledge rules as written results in silliness even before anyone starts preteneding to be something else. It would be a DC 11 check to identify an elf, a dwarf, a goblin or (presumably) a human. Cue the party standing around, pointing at eachother, going "Oh my god! What's that!?"

[megabyter5]

And now, without further ado, we present:
The Party With No Ranks In Any Relevant Knowledge Skills!

"Hey, look at that! It's... Some kind of animal!"
"Are you sure? What if it's a human?"
"How am I supposed to know what a human looks like?!"
"I thought you WERE one."
"No, I'm a dwarf!"
"No you're not, I'm the dwarf."
"Really? I thought you were an elf."
"Really? I dunno, you could be right about that."
"Wait... did I say elf? I meant gnome."
"Is a gnome anything like an orc?"
"Baator if I know."
"What's Baator?"
"Exactly."

[Jack_Simth]

Using the Knowledge rules as written results in silliness even before anyone starts preteneding to be something else. It would be a DC 11 check to identify an elf, a dwarf, a goblin or (presumably) a human. Cue the party standing around, pointing at eachother, going "Oh my god! What's that!?"Well, yes, it's quite absurd that the human peasant watching a flock of sheep would not, the wolf as a wolf, nor the sheep as sheep, nor his brother as a human. But that is technically the rule.

[taltamir]

Otherwise known as an utter, utter lack of Knowledge(Nature)? After all, the DC for knowing anything useful about a critter is above the limit for an untrained check....

Goes well with Vow of Poverty, though, to deal with the lack of equipment.

Grab the magic item in your paw, then shift to any other form. It will be absorbed into your body. Weapons will not work, but most items will.

[ghost_warlock]

There's a skill trick for that. Conceal Spellcasting. Once per scene/encounter, you can pull off a spell with nobody being the wiser. Otherwise, eat people's faces. :smallwink:

There's also Races of Stone, page 133. Sleight of hand vs. Spot to cast undetected.

[Telok]

I'm currently doing this in a 4e game right now. Running an elf predator druid in a dog shape.

I realize that I'm missing out on 'optimal' stuff by not shifting back and forth between forms, but the role play is more fun. With an 8 move, dazing/sliding attacks, and a couple of carefully chosen magic items to add to his damage this character has turned out to be a very mobile control/striker.

It's also felt much less bland and average than the other 4e characters I've played. It may just be the role play, but with most classes having so much similarity in 4e having a character that's more distinct is finally making the edition fun for me.

[LibraryOgre]

So that's the Ranger's bear, the Druid's bear and the Druid...is this an adventuring party, or a circus?

For real fun: Get a wild shape ranger. Now you've got the ranger as a bear, the ranger's bear, the druid as a bear and the druid's bear.