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A.A.King
2014-02-16, 06:45 PM
How many things can people fake to be or try to be. I like for example the idea I had for a character who studied magic under a vampire and aspired to be like him and to try and make him as vampire like as possible without becoming one. Things I thought of were for example a bat familiar (because it fits thematically) and the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat. I found however that the best options for trying to be like a vampire were hidden away as spells with stuff like: Vampiric Touch and the even better Kiss of the Vampire (which mentions a bunch of other spells which are Vampiric abilities that you should learn).

But now I wonder how many other things there are that a character from any race could aspire to be like. The most obvious thing you can try to be is of course a dragon. You'd have start with the "Dragon touched Feat" in this case if you go sorcerer/wizard (looking at the "dragonic power as a result from your spiritual connection with dragons" bit of fluff not the ancestry bit) because starting with a Dragonblooded race is cheating in this exercise. There are just so many options for Arcanists wanting to be Dragons that I'll just name my favorite spell, Hoard Gullet (I like how it thematically fits with the dragonic greed) . Or you can of course go for either Dragonfire Adept or Dragon Shaman but I find it's less fun when it comes in an instant package.

But other then Dragon or Vampire, what other things can you build a character around to try and be without actually becoming it? (Shifters in this case don't count for fake-lycanthropes because that requires a specific race)

Jack_Simth
2014-02-16, 07:03 PM
Well, of course, there's always Alter Self, Polymorph, Polymorph Any Object, and Shapechange for most of your monstrous needs. The Bite of the Were[X] line (Spell Compendium) will handle most lycanthropes' Hybrid forms. You mentioned Kiss of the Vampire, but there's also Living Undeath (makes you something like a zombie), the Visage of the Diety line, the Holy Transformation line (Celestial / Half Celestial), the Infernal Transformation line, ....

Actually, Spell Compendium is a really great resource for this sort of thing.

Callin
2014-02-16, 07:06 PM
Stop bathing and wear fur toga's. Carry a club and eat roadkill. Pretend to be a small Ogre.

malonkey1
2014-02-16, 07:11 PM
Stop bathing and wear fur toga's. Carry a club and eat roadkill. Pretend to be a small Ogre.

Get Enlarge Person & Permanence. Be a regular-sized ogre.

Gavinfoxx
2014-02-16, 07:16 PM
I like the Druid who takes Dragon Wild Shape and pretends to be a Dragon 24/7...

Jack_Simth
2014-02-16, 07:34 PM
I like the Druid who takes Dragon Wild Shape and pretends to be a Dragon 24/7...

Checking... Draconomicon... that's a rather strong feat. Thanks to Wildshape errata, you keep most of your own special qualities, and then gain all the Dragon ones on top of that. Burrow (or swim) and flight and special senses and many attacks and good ability scores and decent AC. Oh yes, and because dragons are natural spellcasters, you don't even need natural spell to cast that way (but it does help with focuses and things).

Gavinfoxx
2014-02-16, 07:35 PM
And Dragons are natural language talkers too!

And check this out:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080214233434/http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-404381

And a Level 16 Druid who is a Young Adult Steel or Shadow Dragon... that's pretty powerful. Of course, Level 16 Druids are pretty powerful in GENERAL...

Fable Wright
2014-02-16, 07:39 PM
Be a Totemist. Dressing in the furs of the monsters you kill optional. Seriously, from the options they get, they can mimic huge swaths from monster manuals without effort.

Alternatively, be a Druid and just get things like Aberration Wild Shape and spend your life in your preferred form of that creature type, but that's less being a fake monster and more being a real one.

Forrestfire
2014-02-16, 07:56 PM
Changeling Warshaper can pretend to be almost any humanoid monster pretty well.