Anyone remember the Animorph books?

[BCOVertigo]

So a friend of mine wants to make one of those for an ECL 8 campaign. The DM is pretty liberal about allowed materials but 3rd party should be avoided if possible. Basically what im asking is if there is a better build for this than druid>master of many forms.

He's told me that he isn't really interested in the spells and wants to be a physical combatant. Preferably he should be able to stay in animal form as long as possible(all day). I'm currently reading up on wildshape because I'm not the group expert on druids and any help you guys can provide is appreciated.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

PH2 Druid. All the way. At level 8 he can pick between a small predator (wolf/panther/etc), flying (eagle/hawk/etc), and large predator (tiger/bear/what have you) form. He can switch in and out as a swift action, and decide the specific look each time (although the three types of forms each have a set stat regardless of how you look in them). You can't cast while shapeshifted as a PH2 druid, but that's not a problem in this case.

[BCOVertigo]

PH2 Druid. All the way. At level 8 he can pick between a small predator (wolf/panther/etc), flying (eagle/hawk/etc), and large predator (tiger/bear/what have you) form. He can switch in and out as a swift action, and decide the specific look each time (although the three types of forms each have a set stat regardless of how you look in them). You can't cast while shapeshifted as a PH2 druid, but that's not a problem in this case.

I feel stupid for forgetting this, thanks.

Anyways, is there some variant that trades out spellcasting for martial ability or some regeneration nonesense? Cause that would be the cherry on the whipped cream.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Heh. This might not be what you're looking for (since it also loses new shapeshifting forms--treant and elemental), but the Warshaper might be what you're looking for.

[Edit:] And Here is a thread I just started recently about it. It's abilities are described there, plus pros and cons.

[Ulzgoroth]

Not the shapeshift variant, if you want to hold to any part of the source other than 'turn into big things, kill stuff' minimum. Standard PHB wildshape is a much better fit, and MoMF makes that as flexible as it needs to be to fit (though the level you need to become a diminutive vermin sure looks funny, considering how useful bug forms are)...

Actually, other than being able to talk in animal forms instead of getting telepathy, MoMF is about as good a fit as imaginable.

Yes, I remember far more of those books than is healthy.

[Piccamo]

I feel stupid for forgetting this, thanks.

Anyways, is there some variant that trades out spellcasting for martial ability or some regeneration nonesense? Cause that would be the cherry on the whipped cream.

You could go with the Simple Variant of the Ranger from Unearthed Arcana:

Simple Variant
A ranger might forgo training in weapon combat in exchange for the ability to take animal form and move swiftly through the woodlands.
Gain
Wild shape (as druid; Small or Medium animals only), fast movement (as barbarian).
Lose
Combat style, improved combat style, combat style mastery.

You have some basic spells, but if you want to get rid of those, too you could use the Complete Warrior Nonmagic Ranger variant, too. The ranger spells fit in pretty well, especially if you use the Spell Compendium.

[BCOVertigo]

Apparently he's just going to go with a human druid spamming Extra Wildshape because the ranger can't do large animals and the shapeshifter's forms don't get any abilities.

Anyways as an alternative would it be a bad idea to swap out his spellcasting for maybe a larger hd and better bab and something else? Like I said the DM is pretty flexible as long as it doesn't get stupid and he's giving up full casting for this.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

At level 8, he can only take Extra Wildshape once (at level 6). Hardly spamming it. But w/e.

d10 and full BAB seem reasonable enough.

[Fizban]

Keep in mind the biggest difference between DnD shape-shifting effects and Animorphs: in DnD, you generally don't get any of the creatures special qualities and attacks. No poison, senses, etc. The PHBII variant simplifies what you can actually get from shapeshifting, and gets rid of the mess of cheesing up your creature choices.

But, since he's already made his decision, it doesn't really matter now.

What this could really use is a Shapeshifter class. It's a cool idea, and it would solve the problem of "X ability or spell is too strong because it grants more abilities than a whole class", because that would be all it would do. One could even incorporate a favored morph aspect. But it's unlikely anyone here wants to put in the effort (I know I don't) to make a whole class.

[BCOVertigo]

d10
+1 bab
move wildshape to first level
remove elemental shape
remove spells
remove companion
add bonus feats(wild feats and extra wildshape only)
Favored form(no idea what it should do)

Doesn't seem like it'd take much work and I'd be willing to play one. Maybe we should go cry to the homebrewers?

[ClericofPhwarrr]

And telepathic bond with nearby allies while wildshaped!

[Tyrael]

Am I the only one who think that an Andalite would be a seriously badass player race? Just take a Centaur, lower the STR/CON, give it a 1d10 or 1d8 tail attack, and message at will.

Ding, playable Andalites.

*scurries off to the homebrew forum*

[mikeejimbo]

Am I the only one who think that an Andalite would be a seriously badass player race? Just take a Centaur, lower the STR/CON, give it a 1d10 or 1d8 tail attack, and message at will.

Ding, playable Andalites.

*scurries off to the homebrew forum*

I believe they've actually been statted up before. But I love to see different takes on things, so have fun.

[Ashes]

What this could really use is a Shapeshifter class. It's a cool idea, and it would solve the problem of "X ability or spell is too strong because it grants more abilities than a whole class", because that would be all it would do. One could even incorporate a favored morph aspect. But it's unlikely anyone here wants to put in the effort (I know I don't) to make a whole class.

I actually made that class once. I was so scared of making it overpowered, that it sucked major rocks. But I did it. I wanted to shapechange without spells.

[lumberofdabeast]

*pokes head in*

Why would your friend want to spend all day in animal form? What happened to only being able to spend 2 hours in an animal form before getting locked into it permanently?

[Kaerou]

Apparently he's just going to go with a human druid spamming Extra Wildshape because the ranger can't do large animals and the shapeshifter's forms don't get any abilities.

I wouldnt really blame him for this. In the effort to make this variant 'balanced' they made it pointless. When you become an animal you expect to -be- that animal. Lacking the abilities you may as well not bother.

[PlatinumJester]

Storm Druids are pretty cool.

[Duchess_of_Elysian]

After reading this thread, I had to go and do this. It's not playtested or anything and is probably overpowered (or underpowered, I'm not very good at telling) but here you go.

The Animorph

[Bagera]

Ask the dm about getting the feat metamorphic transfer from the XPH, it'll allow you to get some of the the forms special abilities.

[Fenix_of_Doom]

taking the new class(or some other alternative) is probebly a good idea.
Think about the suggestions made here: you give up spells for full BaB and D10 hit dice and some better form(permanent, earlier, improved) of wildshape. Now that sounds good, might even be a bad trade.
however as your wild shaped all day, you don't need physical stats, you don't cast spells either so no high wis needed, you've never needed high int or cha in the first place(although mental stats do retain some use) so you basicly need no or avarge stats.....somehow that sounds like a bad idea for a class.