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2013-03-17, 02:45 PM
I'm in an evil campaign, and I'm playing a druid. I really like the effects of Exalted Wild Shape, but can't qualify, so I figured I'd try my hand at Homebrewing the evil equivalent. I was hoping the play ground would help me with ideas and balance before I presented it to my DM.

Exalted wild shape is available as a ninth level feat, and requires 8 lvls of a class that grants Wild shape in addition to the wild shape class feature itself. It grants five magical beast forms, as well as access to the the celestial template for other forms, and grants access to all extraordinary and supernatural abilities of such forms. The specific forms granted are below:

Blink Dog
A medium magical beast, 4HD, grants blink and dimension door. CR 2

Giant Eagle and Giant Owl
Large Magical Beasts, 4HD, flying mounts more or less.

Pegasus
Large Magical Beast, 4HD, faster than the owl and eagle, worse maneuverability. Has a few spell-likes if you have some way to gain access to them, though they aren't great.

Unicorn
Large Magical Beast, 4HD, protection from evil, a bonus to wild empathy, and more spell likes that you can't use.

And you can add the Celestial template to any animal form you could normally take. This gives spell resistance, damage reduction, resistance to acid, cold, and electricity, a smite attack, and darkvision. And access to Ex and Su abilities like scent and blindsight.

So, for the evil version we can start with:

Vile Wild Shape[Vile, Wild]
Prerequisites: Wild shape class ability, wild shaping class 8th level or higher.
Benefit: When you wild shape you may take the form of a _____, _____, _____, _____, or _____. In addition you may apply the fiendish template to any animal form you could normally take. (At the DMs option other magical beast forms may be available to you. In general only creatures of CR 3 or lower are possible) You gain the Extraordinary and Supernatural abilities of the creature. This uses one use of you Wildshape ability and functions the same way.

Now, first lets look at what fiendish gives us: Same as celestial, except they resist cold and fire, which is one less element than their good counter parts. This is made up for by the fact that they resist the most common element in the game.

Now, for the five magical beasts. To maintain balance we need forms with 4 HD, CR 3, and limited (Su) abilities. Also, they should be some flavor of evil. One thing that springs to mind is the Black Unicorn from MoF, which fits thematically, meets the criteria, and offers a single use of Greater teleport. I'm iffy about this because it is setting specific, (even if it would work for me sense my game is in the forgotten realms) and because its 3.0 material. A Displacer beast is just above the HD and CR range, but offers a unique ability. Chimeras are well beyond the HD and CR cap, but are a staple of fantasy as evil creatures, though their breath weapon is likely to powerful for the price of a single feat, particularly when you can choose the perfect element for your opponent with each wild shape. I also feel compelled to mention the cockatrice, because it meets the CR requirement, but isn't evil. And petrification is basically save or die usable every round. The other monster manuals didn't provide anything on a quick once-through either.

So, play grounders, what do you think? what forms are likely to work for this feat? I would consider non-magical beasts, but they would have to be thematically appropriate. Dragons and abberations should also not be used, simply because other feats exist to grant access to them. Let me see what you got!