Druid Wild Shape question(s)

[TheMeanDM]

Howdy,

Never tried a druid before, and am hoping to play one.

Question about the wild shape ability, though.

I see that there is mention of "Beast Shape" in some of the feats.

Is there actually a "Beast Wild Shape" or is this just the shortened form of Magical Beast Wild Shape.

Most of the regular animals...well...they suck...so any advice on building a druid is much appreciated (7th level, btw).

[Armads]

There is a Beast Shape

[TheLogman]

Regular Animals do not suck.

Black Bears have great Grappling and BaB, Small Birds have huge fly speeds for scouting, small mammals like Foxes and Dogs can track and get into tight places, if even on sea, there are a host of awesome sea monsters, and if you need Land speed, the cheetah is your man.

Beast Shape is different than Magical Beast Wild Shape. And for feat selection, Natural spell is an obvious, as it allows you to tank, spell, and heal. This page details the master of Many Forms class, which is good for shapeshifting, and allows some fun stuff, but the page also has a few great animals in the beginning.

[Fixer]

If you are playing 3.0, Beast was a Type for creatures (like Animal). Druids could change into these creatures.

It is not present in 3.5.

[TheSteelRat]

Check out the "Druid Handbook" or something similar on the WotC CharOp boards, they have a list of wildshape, companions, and I think summons by purpose. Wanna Grapple? Lvl 7? X-Critter's best for you.

Also includes information on abusable stuff. Beast Shape I believe is mostly used to get access to a single Magical Beast that can be a totem. Think there's a hydra of some variety.

Regular animals don't suck if you're looking at their attributes. They're grapple monsters, got great speed, and an underlooked quality - are great spies.

Seriously, it's a cow in a field. Who's going to think a cow's suspicious? How about a small bird? A horse, pack animal etc. Impersonating someone's horse is also a very amusing way of catching someone off-guard. All sorts of uses.

Edit: Yeah, you've go to get Beast Totem, and with Beast Shape it's advised to select either the Gorgon (AoE Petrify) or Hydra. Once you go epic though, it doesn't matter.

Edit 2: Or, go Planar Shepherd. And make your DM cry. For 1 feat, instead of the two above, you get all the Magical Beasts / Outsiders / Elementals on an entire plane to chose from. And the plane's effects. With no loss of spellcasting / animal companion / wildshaping. Access is easy too, and by level 8 you'll have all magical beasts for the plane of your choice.

[TheMeanDM]

Well, here he is.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=32490

The campaign is going to be (roughly) about Evil Outsiders and Good Outsiders clashing on the PMP.

Thus, the 1 level of Ranger and access to favored enemy.

Also, Nature's Warrior just seemed to call to me, given the fact that he's very, very, motivated to get the outsiders off the PMP. Their war has mucked up the balance of nature, severely...especially the Evil outsiders.

I noticed in 3.5, the Gorgon and Hydra are now Magical Beast.

[Meynolds]

Here is the Druid's handbook.

Scroll down, and it has an overview of Beast Shape, which is from Eberron Campaign Setting.

Hope that helps.

[Chronos]

It [the Beast type] is not present in 3.5.

...Huh. I never noticed before that they took that out. I guess I don't spend much time looking at owlbears and the like.

[cvbnmme5th]

But what is beast wild shape used for? I have been wondering this for some time. What does it allow you to shape into that you couldn't already? Magical beast wild shape is a separate feat and some people have mentioned the totem thing that BWS is a pre-req for but that doesn't explain the use of BWS in the first place. It says allows you to use wild shape to turn into 'beasts' but nothing has 'beast' as a type.

[Volthawk]

But what is beast wild shape used for? I have been wondering this for some time. What does it allow you to shape into that you couldn't already? Magical beast wild shape is a separate feat and some people have mentioned the totem thing that BWS is a pre-req for but that doesn't explain the use of BWS in the first place. It says allows you to use wild shape to turn into 'beasts' but nothing has 'beast' as a type.

Basically, first you take the Beast Totem feat, where you choose a magical beast out of a set of choices. Beast Shape lets you change into the magical beast once a day, not using Wildshape uses up for it.