Low-level Pathfinder Question

[BlueInc]

I'm a long-time DM who in the past relied heavily on homebrew content and knew next to nothing about the actual rules of 3.5. Sometimes my "fudge everything I don't know" philosophy worked, and sometimes it put players off because of game-breaking balance issues. I've taken several steps to correct that, including reading the Pathfinder Core Rules, Bestiary, and APG several times front to back.

With my new-found DM mojo, I'm starting up a new campaign from level one with some old friends. I'm using the Pathfinder world of Golarion and one of their pre-made campaigns. I'm trying to only use Pathfinder sources to make sure the game is as fair and level as possible.

One of my players has been in almost every campaign I've ever DM'ed, and is not particularly thrilled with rolling a new character, because she misses some of her old ones. She's most interested in playing a rogue (her favorite class) or an oracle. The main thing she wants is the power to turn into a cat, which I let one of her old rogues have in a high level campaign.

Here's the problem: The old DM in me says "Sure! She can have that power and I'll give everyone else something good, too," but I know that I'll never quite be able to give everyone a power that will be equal. I know from experience that while she's not a power gamer, she's creative, intelligent and able to use shape shifting to accomplish incredible role-playing feats.

Here's my question(s): 1). Can you think of any ways a low level character could have the ability to shape shift into a housecat? 2). If not, what would be a fair, balanced, reasonable "cost" to be able to have that ability (giving up racial abilities, a feat, skill points, money)?

[Lateral]

She could be a Tibbit (Dragon Compendium). It's 3.5 and not PF, but the two are compatible. (Paizo actually published Dragon Magazine, so...)

[Psyren]

Tibbit is indeed perfect for this concept. It's a very balanced race too.

[Old_Nemrod]

Could give her a magic item that works like the druid's beast shape, except she can only shift to housecat. Then offer everyone a CL 5 or lower magic item or one similar to her items power level. With these abilities on items instead of inherent everyone in the group can theoretically benefit from each one.

Who knows? Maybe the Paladin might need to be a house cat at some point in your game.

[BlueInc]

::digs up Dragon Compendium, mouth falls open::

Well, that's about perfect. Change "Spot" to "Perception" and "Jump" to "Acrobatics" and it's golden. I might give her an additional +2 to one stat of her choice that would make sense (perhaps Charisma), but other than that...

Thank you so much!

[BlueInc]

Could give her a magic item that works like the druid's beast shape, except she can only shift to housecat. Then offer everyone a CL 5 or lower magic item or one similar to her items power level. With these abilities on items instead of inherent everyone in the group can theoretically benefit from each one.

Who knows? Maybe the Paladin might need to be a house cat at some point in your game.

Actually, I considered that... there's an item called Druid's Vestments that allows you to use Wild Shape 1/day, but I was hesitant about handing everyone in the party a 4000g magical item to start with.

[Infernalbargain]

Actually, I considered that... there's an item called Druid's Vestments that allows you to use Wild Shape 1/day, but I was hesitant about handing everyone in the party a 4000g magical item to start with.

Well, it's one thing to give them 4k to spend on magic items and it's another to give them a 4k magic item. You'll just need to make sure that it isn't something they'll likely sell, which means it'll need to be something they'll use.

[Psyren]

An item that could only let you WS into a cat probably wouldn't cost as much as one that lets you WS freely. However, your friend probably wants to do this more than 1/day, and that would push the cost back up.

So yeah, Tibbit.

[Thefurmonger]

+1 for tibbit.

[subject42]

I would look at some sort of chain based on minor magic and major magic.

Based on most of the Archetypes, I would suggest removing two rogue talents and replacing them with minor magic (mending), then major magic (reduce person). For the actual cat transformation, you would likely need to replace trapfinding or trap sense as is the case with all of the rogue archetype abilities.

[jmelesky]

Another approach is to make it a power that comes over time. For example, Druids have a number of (Creature X) Shaman archetypes. These characters get a power starting at 2nd level called "Totem Transformation". For the Bear Shaman, that means:



Totem Transformation (Su) At 2nd level, a bear shaman may adopt an aspect of the bear while retaining her normal form. She gains one of the following bonuses:


movement (+10 enhancement bonus to land speed, +4 racial bonus on Swim checks)
senses (low-light vision, scent)
toughness (+2 natural armor bonus to AC, Endurance feat)
natural weapons (bite [1d6] and 2 claws [1d4] for a Medium shaman, +2 to CMB on grapple checks)



So it's not an actual transformation into a (bear|eagle|lion|...), but it does involve taking on an aspect of that creature.

Then, of course, at 4th level they get Wild Shape (which, for a Shaman, is better at WSing into a (bear|eagle|lion|...) than WSing into anything else).

Don't get me wrong -- it sounds like the Tibbit is a good solution. But if you want to stay within Pathfinder's SRD, Lion Shaman might work well.

[Scribble]

Lets her play as a cat Hengeyokai. They're from Oriental Adventures, and a dragon magazine upgraded AO to 3.5 and turned them into a +0 LA race, they can change into a single small animal (like a cat) a number of time equal to 1+ their class level. Aslo they get some other minor bonuses based on what animal they turn into.