Unlimited Polymorph Class?

[Pippin]

Hi everyone,
it occured to me that the best way to morph into any creature any time you want is the Shapechange spell, available for Druids and Wizards only. Psionic classes have a lesser version of it with Metamorphosis, Greater. I was looking for a class focused on such an ability. I found the Warshaper PrC (Complete Warrior) as well as the Master of Many Forms PrC (Complete Adventurer), but neither of them are that great. I mean, even the Master of Many Forms does not allow you to morph into any creature, and you cannot go beyond Gargantuan. And you cannot morph at will.

So once again I'm turning to you. Does anyone know a (Prestige) Class letting you morph as freely as Shapechange does ? Or even better (that 25 HD limit...) ? I don't care if that class is crappy as long as it allows total freedom in that particular field.

[sirpercival]

Shifter (Masters of the Wild) or Shapeshifter (OA) maybe?

[Pippin]

Shifter looks cool as you can use Greater wild shape at will as a move action at level 10 !
But still:

• he cannot go beyond Gargantuan.
• he cannot morph into any creature in the game.
• he does not get the supernaturel abilities of the creatures he morphes into.
• Shapechange lets you morph as a free action.

Is there really NO classes as powerful as this spell ? o_o

[linklord231]

Don't forget about the various feats that let you expand the creatures you can Wildshape into.
Frozen Wild Shape, Draconic Wild Shape, Aberrant Wild Shape, Exalted Wild Shape...
Planar Shepherd lets you WS into any creature native to the plane you choose.

[Demelain]

Master of Many Forms PrC?

[nijineko]

do recall that metamorphosis, greater allows objects, something that shapechange does not.

i think what you are looking for is the salient divine ability shift form. note the prereqs. also, M-greater can still do something that no other ability in the game allows.


as mentioned already, the shifter prestige (3.0) will get you the closest, mix in the various enhancement feats and you can overcome most of the limitations you pointed out (swift wild shape, metamorphic transfer, etc.). i think you are mistaken about not being able to become any creature in the game, a shifter 10 has access to all creature types, and therefore, by definition, can become any creature in the game... so long as your HD is high enough. though, having said that, i just recalled that living construct was published after, so or course it is not included in the list.

[Pippin]

Don't forget about the various feats that let you expand the creatures you can Wildshape into.
Frozen Wild Shape, Draconic Wild Shape, Aberrant Wild Shape, Exalted Wild Shape...
Planar Shepherd lets you WS into any creature native to the plane you choose.

I'd have a question.

You can use your wild shape ability to change into a Small or Medium dragon. You gain all the extraordinary and supernatural abilities of the dragon whose form you take, but not any spell-like abilities or spellcasting powers.

Is it possible to morph into a Gargantuan Dragon (because I'm level 10) and still be allowed to use all supernatural abilities ? I would say no but I have to ask. I will read the Planar Shepherd's description soon, but if memory serves, I recall that you can even use the spellcasting powers of the creature you change into, therefore the MD might say no to such a PrC.

Additionnal Comment:

I think what you are looking for is the salient divine ability shift form. note the prereqs. also, M-greater can still do something that no other ability in the game allows.

Interesting, what book is this from ?

as mentioned already, the shifter prestige (3.0) will get you the closest, mix in the various enhancement feats and you can overcome most of the limitations you pointed out (swift wild shape, metamorphic transfer, etc.). i think you are mistaken about not being able to become any creature in the game, a shifter 10 has access to all creature types, and therefore, by definition, can become any creature in the game... so long as your HD is high enough. though, having said that, i just recalled that living construct was published after, so or course it is not included in the list.

Well I admit that I did not check whether all creature types were included in the creature types that the Shifter can change into. I reckoned they were not numerous enough. If I'm wrong, then that would be great as living construct creatures are not that interesting, are they?

[nijineko]

Is it possible to morph into a Gargantuan Dragon (because I'm level 10) and still be allowed to use all supernatural abilities ? I would say no but I have to ask. I will read the Planar Shepherd's description soon, but if memory serves, I recall that you can even use the spellcasting powers of the creature you change into, therefore the MD might say no to such a PrC.

with enough feats, you could.

[Demelain]

having said that, i just recalled that living construct was published after, so or course it is not included in the list.

Wouldn't it fall under "Construct Shape"? Living Construct is a subtype of Construct, IIRC.
I haven't glanced at Wild Shape since my first D&D character so I'm not terrible familiar with its limitations, but if the class allows you to wildshape into a Gnoll without explicitly giving you a "Humanoid(Gnoll) Shape" ability, I don't see why you would need "Construct(Living Construct) Shape" separate from "Construct Shape".

[Pippin]

Don't forget about the various feats that let you expand the creatures you can Wildshape into.
Frozen Wild Shape, Draconic Wild Shape, Aberrant Wild Shape, Exalted Wild Shape...
Planar Shepherd lets you WS into any creature native to the plane you choose.

Just read the Planar Shepherd description. The PrC is really good indeed... but you cannot wild shape at will T_T
I'm sure some planes are worth taking though, like any plane where 1 Material Plane minute = 1 Home Plane hour. Is there a feat letting you wild shape at will for the Planar Shepherd ?

Also nijineko, I modified my post but I'm not sure you saw it.

[altpersona]

are we talking about a class/prc that replicates what a custom magic item of Shapchange will do for you?

[Pippin]

Are we talking about a class/prc that replicates what a custom magic item of Shapchange will do for you?

Sort of. I am currently looking for a Class that morphes at will, with no limit but maybe its own HDs. For what I've seen, either you can morph at will but you are limited by size and / or by the powers of the creature you changed into, that you can use (like the Shifter) ; or you can morph a finite number of times per day, but you have fewer limits, if at all (like the Planar Shepherd).

It was my understanding that you can remove some limits by getting the appropriate feats, but even with those I am still under the impression that any stupid level 17+ wizard casting Shapechange gets more freedom for 10 minutes/level.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Master of Many Forms combined with all 5 levels of Warshaper would let you keep changing forms on the same Wild Shape usage (Multimorph) thus, between that and wild shape's duration and uses per day, would effectively be infinite shape changing and then some.

But yeah, MoMF is pretty weak, especially at the very high levels such a build would come together.  Not just limited forms, but also no Su access, unlike Shapechange (some wild shape feats granting Su of a few specific forms like Exalted Wild Shape).  And the horrific, stupid "polymorph subschool" rules (which don't even affect the core poly spells) made it based on alternate form.  Which means you strip naked every time you wild shape, among other bs and absurdities.

[nijineko]

Additionnal Comment:

I think what you are looking for is the salient divine ability shift form. note the prereqs. also, M-greater can still do something that no other ability in the game allows.

Interesting, what book is this from ?

deities and demigods, & the SRD, take your pick.

as mentioned already, the shifter prestige (3.0) will get you the closest, mix in the various enhancement feats and you can overcome most of the limitations you pointed out (swift wild shape, metamorphic transfer, etc.). i think you are mistaken about not being able to become any creature in the game, a shifter 10 has access to all creature types, and therefore, by definition, can become any creature in the game... so long as your HD is high enough. though, having said that, i just recalled that living construct was published after, so or course it is not included in the list.

Well I admit that I did not check whether all creature types were included in the creature types that the Shifter can change into. I reckoned they were not numerous enough. If I'm wrong, then that would be great as living construct creatures are not that interesting, are they?

the 3.0 version had all creature types existent at the time, one of the charms of the class. the master of many forms was the 3.5 update, iirc.

in any case, i think it would take a rather extreme mix of classes and feats to come near to what you get from the salient divine ability. which, or course, requires having divine rank... a problem all of its own.