jmax
2018-05-22, 07:19 PM
Hey everyone!
I've finished going through Monster Manual II and Monster Manual III to add all of the worthy abilities to my Shapechange Handbook. Lots of good stuff I'd never seen mentioned anywhere.
Click here for Shapechange awesome-sauce! (https://docs.google.com/document/d/127el4KqlL2ALu1chZ9WLPGFOu1InVTJ2pmxAmYAARbE/edit?ts=59f7dabb#)
Weighing in at 143 pages, at this point the handbook is starting to get pretty thick, so I'm open to suggestions on things sufficiently redundant to remove.
Some general philosophy on how I choose what stuff to keep and what stuff to ditch because there are "better" options.
In any category or subcategory (e.g. different types of effects under "Incapacitate, Misc"), always keep the best Core option with 17 or fewer Hit Dice. These are the things that everyone can access, period, unless their DM bans specific creatures.
In general, keep the best Core option overall regardless of Hit Dice.
In general, keep the best option with 17 or fewer Hit Dice.
Never displace an option with 25 or fewer Hit Dice in favor of one with 26-28. Reserves of Strength is great for shapechange but should not be mandatory.
Favor options with fewer rolls determining success. No save and no attack roll is better than an attack roll with a save, but of which are better than an attack roll without a save. Balance this with the expected save DC.
Try to maintain at least one option per category (Core options at 17 or fewer Hit Dice if possible) that doesn't require high Charisma to be useful.
Deduplicate substantially similar abilities. When two options are more or less equivalent in efficacy and access (source book and Hit Dice), keep the one with better defenses.
All other things being roughly equal, pick the more stylish option. I am the sole arbiter of style.
Don't include anything that would never be worth using or is so situational that it will probably never come up in most games.
Anything truly campaign-smashing belongs in "Cheese".
Anything that requires more than a single easily-accessed buff spell to be effective is not worth mentioning. No dependency on specific class features or feats other than Reserves of Strength and Natural Spell.
One area in which I have difficulty deconflicting is when there are many minor permutations across the same ability types. I also tend to leave in things that would be really cool if only the save DC was higher. If you see things in either category and think they just aren't worth including, please call them out.
Future plans:
Merge some redundant categories into their consolidated analogs.
Finish going through Monster Manual IV, Monster Manual V, Fiend Folio, Book of Exalted Deeds, the Fiendish Codices, Draconomicon, and Book of Vile Darkness in that order. If anyone has specific books they think I've missed that either (a) have lots of good content or (b) have some good content but only a small number monsters to go through, please call them out.
I've finished going through Monster Manual II and Monster Manual III to add all of the worthy abilities to my Shapechange Handbook. Lots of good stuff I'd never seen mentioned anywhere.
Click here for Shapechange awesome-sauce! (https://docs.google.com/document/d/127el4KqlL2ALu1chZ9WLPGFOu1InVTJ2pmxAmYAARbE/edit?ts=59f7dabb#)
Weighing in at 143 pages, at this point the handbook is starting to get pretty thick, so I'm open to suggestions on things sufficiently redundant to remove.
Some general philosophy on how I choose what stuff to keep and what stuff to ditch because there are "better" options.
In any category or subcategory (e.g. different types of effects under "Incapacitate, Misc"), always keep the best Core option with 17 or fewer Hit Dice. These are the things that everyone can access, period, unless their DM bans specific creatures.
In general, keep the best Core option overall regardless of Hit Dice.
In general, keep the best option with 17 or fewer Hit Dice.
Never displace an option with 25 or fewer Hit Dice in favor of one with 26-28. Reserves of Strength is great for shapechange but should not be mandatory.
Favor options with fewer rolls determining success. No save and no attack roll is better than an attack roll with a save, but of which are better than an attack roll without a save. Balance this with the expected save DC.
Try to maintain at least one option per category (Core options at 17 or fewer Hit Dice if possible) that doesn't require high Charisma to be useful.
Deduplicate substantially similar abilities. When two options are more or less equivalent in efficacy and access (source book and Hit Dice), keep the one with better defenses.
All other things being roughly equal, pick the more stylish option. I am the sole arbiter of style.
Don't include anything that would never be worth using or is so situational that it will probably never come up in most games.
Anything truly campaign-smashing belongs in "Cheese".
Anything that requires more than a single easily-accessed buff spell to be effective is not worth mentioning. No dependency on specific class features or feats other than Reserves of Strength and Natural Spell.
One area in which I have difficulty deconflicting is when there are many minor permutations across the same ability types. I also tend to leave in things that would be really cool if only the save DC was higher. If you see things in either category and think they just aren't worth including, please call them out.
Future plans:
Merge some redundant categories into their consolidated analogs.
Finish going through Monster Manual IV, Monster Manual V, Fiend Folio, Book of Exalted Deeds, the Fiendish Codices, Draconomicon, and Book of Vile Darkness in that order. If anyone has specific books they think I've missed that either (a) have lots of good content or (b) have some good content but only a small number monsters to go through, please call them out.