Ironsides’ Shifter Handbook

[Ironsides]

I am a big fan of Spheres of Power (http://paizo.com/products/btpy96pr?Spheres-of-Power) and I am glad I have something to contribute to it. I was inspired to make this handbook after reading through the options in The Shapeshifter's Handbook (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/196160/The-Shapeshifters-Handbook?term=the+shapeshifter%27s&test_epoch=0). It took me a long time to make this handbook for the Shifter class but now I have finally finished enough of it for me to post it for all to see.

Link (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jpy3PJAarCDdM_2t5k6RzcwLLgrBCXTFqOgTZjFmnlM/edit?usp=sharing)

If anyone has comments or suggestions please leave a comment here or in the google doc. My English skills are not the best and I would appreciate any help you can give me.

[stack]

Still reading but wanted to make a couple notes. Graft weapon letting you treat the weapon as a natural attack also lets the weapon benefit from your amulet if mighty fists as well as giving you a natural attack option for special materials.

When rating class abilities, I would recommend a split rating for with permanent transformation and without since you can't assume advanced talents in all games.

The cheesy packmaster trick of having a horde of 1 hd companions with draconic transformation for a mass blast off doom breath is perhaps worth acknowledging.

When transforming objects, you use the base stats for animated objects of that size.

[Ironsides]

Still reading but wanted to make a couple notes. Graft weapon letting you treat the weapon as a natural attack also lets the weapon benefit from your amulet if mighty fists as well as giving you a natural attack option for special materials.

I did not think of that interaction. I'll add that to the handbook.


When rating class abilities, I would recommend a split rating for with permanent transformation and without since you can't assume advanced talents in all games.

That is fair but I have not run into a GM yet that bans Advanced Talents wholesale.


The cheesy packmaster trick of having a horde of 1 hd companions with draconic transformation for a mass blast off doom breath is perhaps worth acknowledging.

That is a funny trick actually. I'll put it in.


When transforming objects, you use the base stats for animated objects of that size.

I was wondering about this I'll add that into the guide.

If you have any other suggestions Stack Ill put them into the handbook.

[EldritchWeaver]

That is fair but I have not run into a GM yet that bans Advanced Talents wholesale.

Not banning advanced talents wholesale is not something one can rely on. I at least have seen some people on the board considering for their game.

[weckar]

Here I thought this would be about the race...

[ZamielVanWeber]

Here I thought this would be about the race...

Same actually. This gives me insight regardless at least

[HughJ]

Great guide but are you planning on putting up any builds? A section on the other talents that might benefit a Shifter would be handy as well.

[Ironsides]

Great guide but are you planning on putting up any builds? A section on the other talents that might benefit a Shifter would be handy as well.

Thanks for the praise HughJ. I have been thinking of build ideas but I haven’t stated many of my ideas out. Since there is some interest I’ll put that out with the new Shifter archetype when I get the chance. As far as going into other useful Spheres I’ll think of putting in mid-caster friendly Sphere guide.

[Domar]

Sacred Fist Warpriest is one of the best dips for the Shifter.
AC bonus, Flurry of Blows, Freedom of Movement and quicken self targeted buffs with two levels. The Gift for Magic trait compensates for the lost Alteration caster level. For archetypes that lose Quick Transformation I can't think of anything better.

[Ironsides]

Sacred Fist Warpriest is one of the best dips for the Shifter.
AC bonus, Flurry of Blows, Freedom of Movement and quicken self targeted buffs with two levels. The Gift for Magic trait compensates for the lost Alteration caster level. For archetypes that lose Quick Transformation I can't think of anything better.

That is a worthy suggestion Domar and I'll try to add a tips and tricks section to the handbook.

Also, I just updated the handbook's archetypes section with the Beastlord archetype. I'll start working on the build ideas section soonish tm.

[NomGarret]

I like Aquan Transformation as a debuffer talent. Zap the bad guy with your FishRay 3000 and watch him flop around.

[HughJ]

Incanter 1 is always worth a dip for a sphere caster. The extra talents, bonus feat or specializations bring a lot to any build. Also, sphere magus is a great dip for any melee sphere caster for mobility in conjunction with warp.

[HughJ]

Thanks for the praise HughJ. I have been thinking of build ideas but I haven’t stated many of my ideas out. Since there is some interest I’ll put that out with the new Shifter archetype when I get the chance. As far as going into other useful Spheres I’ll think of putting in mid-caster friendly Sphere guide.

No prob Ironside . The Shifter is one of my favorite classes. Have you looked at the warshifter archetype? If your dm allows SoP they probably allow PoW. It makes for a really fun combination.

[Ironsides]

No prob Ironside . The Shifter is one of my favorite classes. Have you looked at the warshifter archetype? If your dm allows SoP they probably allow PoW. It makes for a really fun combination.

I have looked at the Warshifter arhetype. I didn't go into too much detail because Elricaltovilla has done such a wonderful job with his own guide to the Dicsiplines (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k8AO1HL5H-BASvWdx3XsHfyTHHGdb0iBJHmt6cRmj_M/edit). The weakness that the Shifter gets from the Warshifter Archetype is that the Shifter can't keep its Alteration Buffs up all the time and has fewer available traits for its shapeshift. Losing all Bestial Traits hurts because you cannot free up those Alteration Traits for more cool abilities. Despite these weaknesses I think this archetype has the most in combat versatility from the Path of War maneuvers.

@NomGarret I too like the idea of making my enemies into a Tuna. Also, I believe that you can kill them by just leaving them in that state since they are a fish out of the water. I think that the drowning rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/environment/environmental-rules/#Drowning) would start to apply to them.
Oops the Amphibious subtype allows them to survive on land.

I have added two builds to the Builds Ideas section of my handbook. One is a spider themed Shifter with multiple themed modes and the other is my boogeyman build. Hope you guys enjoy them and I'll try to add more as I go along.

[Ironsides]

I have updated the handbook with the Martial Sifter archetype and the two new bestial traits from the Champions of the Spheres book. Do note that for whatever reason the wiki changed Gish feats to Champion feats but they are functionally the same.

[stack]

I have updated the handbook with the Martial Sifter archetype and the two new bestial traits from the Champions of the Spheres book. Do note that for whatever reason the wiki changed Gish feats to Champion feats but they are functionally the same.
Gish is an informal term with roots in a WotC product identity race. It was decided it was best not to use it in a published book.

[stack]

Link goes to a doc without the updates.

Edit- I see the updates now.

[Elricaltovilla]

You may want to edit the title of your guide and this thread to specify that this guide is for Spheres of Power, since I believe Paizo recently released a class called the shifter as well. Wouldn't want people to get confused.

Happy to see more people writing guides though, good work!

[Ironsides]

You may want to edit the title of your guide and this thread to specify that this guide is for Spheres of Power, since I believe Paizo recently released a class called the shifter as well. Wouldn't want people to get confused.

Happy to see more people writing guides though, good work!

Thank you for the kind words! Yeah, I think I do need to change the title. I really wish Paizo named their Shifter class anything else.

[stack]

The paizo shifter, the diet coke of shifters...

[Elricaltovilla]

The paizo shifter, the diet coke of shifters...

You mean the diet, caffeine free RC Cola of shifters.

[EldritchWeaver]

Thank you for the kind words! Yeah, I think I do need to change the title. I really wish Paizo named their Shifter class anything else.

For whatever reason this affected only the title of the first post, not the actual thread title.

[stack]

You mean the diet, caffeine free RC Cola of shifters.

Which has gone both warm and flat.