Wild Shape Question

[ASBERON88]

One of my players is playing a ranger variant that allows him to wild shape and also took the prestige class, master of many forms. Something that has always stumped me is how do you explain the logic in turning into something you've never seen before. For instance he just turned into a soldier Abeil last session, and I've never mentioned them being on the continent at all. So how does one explain that he can take these forms, when he's never truly seen one?

[DrMotives]

By RAW, he can't. From the PH section on wild shape:
"The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar
with. For example, a druid who has never been outside a temperate
forest could not become a polar bear.

[Bronk]

One of my players is playing a ranger variant that allows him to wild shape and also took the prestige class, master of many forms. Something that has always stumped me is how do you explain the logic in turning into something you've never seen before. For instance he just turned into a soldier Abeil last session, and I've never mentioned them being on the continent at all. So how does one explain that he can take these forms, when he's never truly seen one?

If he hasn't seen one, he could either make the appropriate knowledge check for that creature type or summon one to study it.

[Urpriest]

One of my players is playing a ranger variant that allows him to wild shape and also took the prestige class, master of many forms. Something that has always stumped me is how do you explain the logic in turning into something you've never seen before. For instance he just turned into a soldier Abeil last session, and I've never mentioned them being on the continent at all. So how does one explain that he can take these forms, when he's never truly seen one?

Does he have ranks in relevant Knowledge skills? If so, he's probably familiar enough to know about the relevant creatures. IIRC Wild Shape does require some amount of familiarity, but that's what most people interpret it as referring to.

Note that knowing what the creature looks like would be essentially irrelevant, since it wouldn't tell you anything about what's inside it, which is most of what Wild Shape is emulating. The only way for Wild Shape and other polymorph effects to make sense is if the magic supplies most of the information you'd need for the transformation, only requiring a vague idea of your goal creature.

[Eloel]

If he hasn't seen one, he could either make the appropriate knowledge check for that creature type or summon one to study it.

Can a Druid summon a polar bear if he has no idea what a polar bear is?

[ASBERON88]

I like the idea of Knowledge checks, it will be something I will go with. Thanks guys.

[eggynack]

Can a Druid summon a polar bear if he has no idea what a polar bear is?
Don't really see why not.

[Eloel]

Don't really see why not.

When you cast the spell, you probably need to go "I summon THAT" and if you don't know what THAT is..?

I know RAW doesn't have the restriction, but I'm trying to figure out the fluff reason of how a polar bear appears if the druid doesn't know anything at all about what a polar bear is.

[eggynack]

Well, the way I figure it, knowledge of a spell comes with some knowledge of its parameters. So, just as your character just intuitively knows the area of entangle, or specific targeting restrictions of various spells, so too do you have a decent idea of what you can summon, and what those summons are capable of, even if you don't know the exact physiology of a polar bear.

[Red Fel]

When you cast the spell, you probably need to go "I summon THAT" and if you don't know what THAT is..?

I know RAW doesn't have the restriction, but I'm trying to figure out the fluff reason of how a polar bear appears if the druid doesn't know anything at all about what a polar bear is.

I figure it's not a case of summoning a specific thing, as much as summoning a thing with certain traits, and nature-slash-magic just provides the rest. So, in the case of the Polar Bear, you're basically asking for something massive and grabby, and you pour a little extra effort into the summon or wild shape (indicative of the increased HD, etc., over a Brown or Black Bear) and... out comes a Polar Bear.

And then once you try it out and realize how awesome it is, you basically want that thing again next time, and get that thing, since you have a better idea of what that thing is.

Makes sense to me, anyways. Or at least about as much as anything else D&D magic touches.

[Eloel]

Well, the way I figure it, knowledge of a spell comes with some knowledge of its parameters. So, just as your character just intuitively knows the area of entangle, or specific targeting restrictions of various spells, so too do you have a decent idea of what you can summon, and what those summons are capable of, even if you don't know the exact physiology of a polar bear.

How'd that work with UMD and wands?

[eggynack]

How'd that work with UMD and wands?
I'd figure that getting some general idea of what you can summon would be a part of UMD'ing the thing. If you're blindly using the wand, then it's random anyway, and if you're not activating it blindly, then that lack of blindness would presumably include that baseline knowledge.