[PF] Monstrous Physique Undead Anatomy

[Anderlith]

So I'm playing a Magus in a pathfinder game. I can't find a guide or handbook to help with building a Magus, so I'm turning to the playground. Which is better, Monstrous Physique or Undead Anatomy? & what kind of shenanigans can I pull off with them? Could I, say turn into a crawling hand & skitter about casting touch spells?

[grarrrg]

I know little about the Magus.
But you mentioned being unable to find a decent handbook.

Here is a link to a Handbook>Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233029).
Bookmark it.

[Anderlith]

The magus guide is an empty page with a header...

[Cog]

The magus guide is an empty page with a header...
You might want to check your browser settings or such. It's there, but it's some sort of embedded document.

[Benly]

I took a quick glance over the two spells, and here are some thoughts.

First, Undead Anatomy specifies that the creature "must be vaguely humanoid shaped", and the higher versions do not contradict this. So turning into a Crawling Hand is probably out. Furthermore, although Undead Anatomy mentions skeletons and zombies as examples of humanoid-shaped undead, it is not actually possible to turn into one; the rules for polymorph spells forbid templated creatures, so you can't be a zombie, skeleton, vampire, jiang shi, or whatnot.

On the up side, the Undead Anatomy line gives you defensive abilities a fair bit earlier, and weirdly gives a claw/claw/bite even if the creature you're turning into doesn't have one. (No word on how a phantom armor bites you, but okay.)

Monstrous Physique's big problem is that even though Monstrous Physique III permits you to turn into a Huge monstrous humanoid, no such thing exists - monstrous humanoids only go up to Large, and everything bigger than that so far has been a giant instead. That said, you can turn into a four-armed gargoyle with MPII and rip things up pretty hardcore with six natural attacks and a decent flight speed, so you've got that going for you.

[Ravens_cry]

Giants are actually Humanoids in Pathfinder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/creature-types#TOC-Giant).

[Benly]

Giants are actually Humanoids in Pathfinder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/creature-types#TOC-Giant).

Huh, how 'bout that! There are still little changes that sneak up on me after this much time.

I guess it's just a coincidence, then. Regardless, I don't think there are any published PF monstrous humanoids bigger than Large.