Help building a balanced Master of Many Forms and its forms.

[Adumbration]

I could use some help with building a balanced MoMF. It's going to be a Druid level 5 and MoMF 7: this means that I will be able to turn into any tiny, small, medium, large or huge animal, humanoid, giant, monsterous humanoid, fey, vermin, aberation or plant and back again as a move action 8 times per day. The problem with this is that I have no idea what is a balanced thing to turn into - I'm still a newbie myself. What I've gathered so far as something I might use is spoilered below. At the moment I'm thinking using rhinoceros, elephant or will-o'-wisp for getting close to enemies, and then turning into tendriculos or some thing else to get the swallow whole ability. The others are mainly for fluff, roleplay and backup plan purposes. If someone could help me with getting a decent large-sized flying creature, I would appreciate it.

(By the way, I'm forfeiting my animal companion, so it won't be that unbalanced, I hope.)

Rhinoceros: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/rhinoceros.htm
Elephant: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elephant.htm
Rust Monster: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/rustMonster.htm
Will-O'-Wisp: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/willOWisp.htm
Shambling Mound: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shamblingMound.htm
Monstrous Scorpion: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/monstrousScorpion.htm
Whale (Orca): http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/whale.htm#orca
Treant: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/treant.htm
Mimic: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/mimic.htm
Tendriculos: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/tendriculos.htm
Dire Bear: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/direBear.htm
Hill Giant: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giant.htm#hillGiant
Cloaker: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/cloaker.htm
Chuul: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/chuul.htm
Giant squid: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/squidGiant.htm

My plead for help part two: How should I place these stats? I'll be playing an old killoren, so it means -2 to physical stats and +2 to mental stats. The stats I've rolled are as following:

18
6
14
12
7
15

How should I place them? Thanks beforehand,
~Adumbration

[lord_khaine]

i would place the 18 in Con, and the 14 in wis, the rest doesnt really matter since you wont use your own physical stats for combat anyway.

as for you list of things to turn into, dont forget you can get a lot of fun out of the big cats as well, especaly if you invest a few skillpoints in stealth skills.

[dyslexicfaser]

MoMF isn't all that broken, as long as you don't go hunting through every splatbook out there for the best forms. Keep in mind that the fluff suggests that you're supposed to have seen these beasties to transform into them, and it sets pretty reasonable limits on what you do.

Anyhow, Chuul is pretty solid. Various kythons (especially that impaler one) are good. Maybe even - if you feel confident your friends won't kill you out of instinct - a rust monster.

My personal favorite is probably the will-o'-the-wisp. Hard to hit, a solid touch attack, invisible and immune to most spells. Plus, it's a floating ball of light, which is just neat.

And, as far as I know, mental stats don't help MoMF. At all. And physical stats don't really help anything you wildshape into that is not humanoid or monstrous humanoid. So I'd say stick the 18 in constitution (since that doesn't change). Other than that, feel free to place them however you like.

[SoD]

18-con (reasons stated) [16]
6-cha (after spending that long away from people, your people skill aren't going to be that good) [8]
14-int (extra skill points are good for everyone) [16]
12-des (it's all that's left) [10]
7-str (unimportant, plus you're weak. Why else would you feel the need to turn into a bear?) [5]
15-wis (good for druids, it'll help with the few spells you get, not that you'll be focusing on them) [17]

May as well throw one point into wisdom, and two into con. Oh, he'll be 12th level, which means 3 ability increases.

Just my 2cp.