3.5 Wildshape

[Halaster]

I've been searching the forum here, but I didn't find anything on the topic. I DM a 3.5 campaign, and one of my players chose ranger/druid as her class combo, for reasons of fluff. So now she's wondering what to do about wild shape. She says all her calculations came up with less AC, marginally better attack bonus, and less damage (since, as a ranger, she can use a longsword).

We're playing core only, the character is level 6 (rgr1/drd5). That, as far as I can tell means medium animals. So, is it just a matter of waiting for bigger beasts to become available, or is there anything in the way of feats or magic that can enhance the wild shape?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Depends on stats. The main advantage of Wildshape is the fact that you can have Str and Dex of 2 and go into melee(natural Con still determines HP). That in turn means a Druid with a 16 Con is better in melee than many Fighters with 18 Str, 16 Dex, and 16 Con. If she put a lot of points into her Physical stats, she won't get nearly the boost from Wildshape.

Also remember that all magic items other than weapons and armor she can drop before changing shape and equip afterwards. It really picks up after level 7, but it's good anyways.

[Starscream]

Wildshape can be cool when used right, but it is pretty game-breaking. A druid can turn into a dire-whatsit, pummel the party fighter in melee combat, and still have all the benefits of an animal companion and a full spellcaster.

I usually take two different routes with it.

First, I frequently ban it outright and let them take Shapeshift instead. It is much less broken, and harder to abuse. If your player gave himself good physical stats, maybe he'd be better of with with Shapeshift because it augments your strength rather than replacing it.

Second, if a player really wants to be a Wild Shaper, I let them take it so long as they multiclass to Master of Many Forms as early as possible. That way they can turn into all sorts of cool stuff (which they like), but lose most of their spellcasting and stop advancing their animal companion.

[wadledo]

@Starscream: Core only, and the problem is that shape shifts pretty much useless to this character, not too powerful.
Read the damn OP before you post next time please.

Edit: Natural Spell of course, and like Sstoopidtallkid said, if her str and dex are higher than the animals, then she's not going to get much use out of it.
Bears are the best thing you can go with as of now, and my only real other suggestion is to beat everything up ASAP.

[Chronos]

At that level, your best forms are probably leopard, for Pounce, or a medium viper, for venom (note that the DC will probably be higher than listed there, since you've probably got a better Con). You can also get some good use out of flying forms like the eagle, or depending on campaign, aquatic forms like the shark.

[Eldariel]

At that level, your best forms are probably leopard, for Pounce, or a medium viper, for venom (note that the DC will probably be higher than listed there, since you've probably got a better Con).

Also, higher HD. Save DC for monster special abilities is 10+½ HD (rounded down)+Stat. That said, as you don't retain your own Con, the only advantage you have over the snake is possible Bear's Endurance. That would get you DC 14 poison, but as the damage is rather low, it's still not good enough. As a rule of thumb, don't take a form specifically for the poison without access to Venomfire (Fleshraker just gets poison as a bonus; the true awesome of it is the Leaping Pounce-ability, although having multiple poisonous attacks doesn't hurt either).

[Jack_Simth]

(note that the DC will probably be higher than listed there, since you've probably got a better Con)

Actually, your Con changes to match the form. That particular con change, however, doesn't affect your hit points.

[Fitz10019]

Throw in a situation where the versatility of Wildshape comes in handy. Flying, swimming, climbing, burrowing... dire badgers create a usable 5foot diameter tunnel when they burrow through earth. Wildshape is also useful as a disguise. You can also communicate with animals of similar type.
Forward scout as a bird. Dire Hawk (RoS?) is handy medium sized raptor.