Enhance Wild Shape: What Ex Abilities Are Worth Having?

[ShriekingDrake]

I was thinking about the Enhance Wild Shape spell and started thinking about how to best use its benefit of enabling the caster to "Gain the extraordinary abilities of the new form."

I thought it might be useful to establish a list of some of the more unique or useful extraordinary abilities a druid might wish to gain. I'll start with:

Dire Tortoise's Lightning Strike ability (Sandstorm)


Please help me add to this list.

[Piggy Knowles]

Well, the most classic one I see is to take the Aberration Wild Shape feat, and turn into a Will-O'-Wisp, giving you magic immunity and natural invisibility.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You already get the extraordinary special attacks of the creature whose form you take. Lightning Strike is listed as a special attack, so you'll get it without even using Enhance Wild Shape.

The type of abilities you want would be strictly special qualities, such as Regeneration, Fast Healing, Spell Resistance, DR/Adamantine, Scent, etc. Considering Wild Shape is limited to animals, plants, and elementals, and you already get everything an elemental form would have anyway.

Enhance Wild Shape is mostly used to get an extra +2 Str/Dex/Con on top of your high-stat animal form plus whatever Bite of the Werecreature spell you use. It also lets you double-up on the benefit from Ability Enhancer in Dragon Compendium.

[Piggy Knowles]

Shambling Mound's electricity immunity could be fun, for crazy Con-boosting hijinks. Earth Glide from the Earth Elemental is also pretty cool.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Shambling Mound's electricity immunity could be fun, for crazy Con-boosting hijinks. Earth Glide from the Earth Elemental is also pretty cool.

You already get Earth Glide from the basic Wild Shape (Elemental) ability.

You pretty much need to spend one or more feats (Aberration Wild Shape, Frozen Wild Shape, Dragon Wild Shape, etc.) for Enhanced Wild Shape's (Ex) mode to be worthwhile. I'd probably go with Frozen Wild Shape for a Cryohydra and get Fast Healing 22.

[Piggy Knowles]

You already get Earth Glide from the basic Wild Shape (Elemental) ability.

Does it? The ability only references gaining the elemental's Ex/Su/Sp abilities, not qualities, so I've always assumed that it does not grant things like Earth Glide. Is there something I'm missing? (I haven't really kept up to date on all errata...)


At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a Small, Medium, or Large elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day. These elemental forms are in addition to her normal wild shape usage. In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape, but she retains her own creature type.

[hymer]

Blindsight from the Desmodu bats is a nice addition. Normal bats only get blindsense.

[tyckspoon]

Does it? The ability only references gaining the elemental's Ex/Su/Sp abilities, not qualities, so I've always assumed that it does not grant things like Earth Glide. Is there something I'm missing? (I haven't really kept up to date on all errata...)

'Abilities' covers both Special Qualities and Special Attacks; it's the general game term for 'interesting things this creature has/can do'.

[Piggy Knowles]

'Abilities' covers both Special Qualities and Special Attacks; it's the general game term for 'interesting things this creature has/can do'.

Fair enough, that makes sense. I guess I always read that line as only applying to special attacks.

[ShriekingDrake]

Ahh...quite helpful to be distinguishing between the attacks and those that are not. Thanks, BF.

I suspect this spell really shines, then, when it is combined with Aberration Wild Shape and the like.

[Necroticplague]

I suspect this spell really shines, then, when it is combined with Aberration Wild Shape and the like.

Yep. Aberration Wild Shape works pretty well, because of the wide variety of abilities you could get. Become a choker for improved action economy. Become a mimic to help your grappling (or harvest the glue you secrete, or a disguise). Will o' wisp is a good one

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Yep. Aberration Wild Shape works pretty well, because of the wide variety of abilities you could get. Become a choker for improved action economy. Become a mimic to help your grappling (or harvest the glue you secrete, or a disguise). Will o' wisp is a good one

I don't think so, Quickness (Su).

[Snowbluff]

I don't think so, Quickness (Su).

You can get Su with Assume Supernatural Ability from SS

[ShriekingDrake]

It's funny, cuz the Druid Handbook really heralds this spell. But--at least for animals and plants--it's not looking like you'd prepare it all that often. I had just taken the "Enhance Wild Shape is fantastic" mantra is a given. But, at least based on this thread, I'm thinking it would be the exception and not the rule to prepare this spell. It seems if one dumps two feats into getting Aberration Wild Shape that the benefits of the spell might wax quite a bit, but even then, we don't seem to have an engorged list here.

[eggs]

I swear I've heard feats are extraordinary abilities, but I can't find a better source on that than the FAQ.

A couple interesting options that are available by default:

The octopuses' Ink Jet is a free action area of blackness.
The battle briar's Thorn Field is Combat Reflexes wrapped in with a thicket of blades lite.
Myconids let you animate non-undead zombies under your control. And a couple other weaker abilities.

[Coidzor]

Racial bonus feats, those might be (EX)?

[ps377]

so, lets say im a lvl 6 druid, lvl 4 sorcerer and lvl 10 arcane hierophant (that means, im drood caster lvl 16, src caster lvl 14 and i can wild shape as a lvl 16 drood?) (correct me if im wrong).
lets say now, i can wild shape into choker for Quickness (Su).
With "natural spell" feat, i can cast while in wild shape.
As a lvl 14 src, i can access "arcane fusion" spell (lvl 5 spell) from complete mage.
With Quickness, can i cast 2 "arcane fusion" spells in my 2 standard action?

(the question is if i can. if u asked what i would use, i may use "Wings of Flurry" from races of the dragon. And i know im missing more powerfull spells..)