Morphling [base] (Magipunk)

[Sneaky_Sable]

sirpercival, here's something to consider. Take a look at the summoner class from Pathfinder, then say to yourself...

"What if there was NO Eidolon, and you just kept applying the granted Evolution points to yourself?"

Springboard and discuss.

You mean like the Synthesist archetype?

Is that what I think it is? I'd look, but at work the Firewall won't let me browse gaming material (Yet this board is fine... go figure)

If that's what I think it is, or what I just suggested, then perhaps Sirpercival may want to springboard off of that, adding and such where needed. Mayhaps. Possibly.

[Noliar]

A factotum spends inspiration for discrete actions so spending them is always part of a specific encounter, martial maneuvers have a non encounter based refresh mechanism which can be included in the repeating sequence of actions if a Warblade wants to tunnel through rock with Stone Dragon strikes for instance. Morphing is an ongoing effect with finite, short duration - running all night with endurance requires that a new encounter start immediately each time the morphling runs out of points but if you play out the running all night in real time that's one encounter and if it happens off screen it's no encounter at all. Still worse is if the morphling tries to fly all night - after 3+con bonus rounds the morph ends and it's a standard action to enter a new one so best hope you were flying high. I can't think of any DM I've played with (including myself) who would allow the Morphling's powers as written to work for extended tasks. Plus can you imagine the player's reaction if their PC has been happily using the power for hours but as soon as the DM starts narrating they're on a short countdown to being exhausted. There will be  and and

[phaedrusxy]

In addition to addressing the point by Noliar, you should add the ability to boost their hide skill as a morph (or other class ability, like Blend In), akin to the Chameleon psi-power.

[sirpercival]

OK, I hear you, Noliar.  Here's my thought process.

~The morph & transformation abilities are basically souped up wild shape, with the duration and aftereffects of rage, useable any number of times per day.
~Since this is basically a mashup of WS ranger & barbarian, what do those two classes do outside of combat?  Well, the ranger has a bunch of skills and some spellcasting, and the barbarian... is tier 4, so nothing really.
~I could give morphling some more class skills & skill points to make it more like a WS ranger, but I modeled the BAB, HD, and skill points after the Magical Beast type.
~If I increase the duration, then there's essentially no downside to using morph/transformation, because encounters in general don't last that long.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but that's the effect.
~Tying up the morph points in an extended morph makes no difference, because either (a) it's one encounter so you wouldn't get those points anyway, (b) you're outside an encounter so you don't care about changing your morph, or (c) you just drop your morph when you need to change it and you get new points because it's a new encounter.

So... what do I do?

Phae, agreed, I'll add Hide to Blend In.

[Noliar]

OK, I hear you, Noliar.  Here's my thought process.

~The morph & transformation abilities are basically souped up wild shape, with the duration and aftereffects of rage, useable any number of times per day.
~Since this is basically a mashup of WS ranger & barbarian, what do those two classes do outside of combat?  Well, the ranger has a bunch of skills and some spellcasting, and the barbarian... is tier 4, so nothing really.
~I could give morphling some more class skills & skill points to make it more like a WS ranger, but I modeled the BAB, HD, and skill points after the Magical Beast type.
~If I increase the duration, then there's essentially no downside to using morph/transformation, because encounters in general don't last that long.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but that's the effect.
~Tying up the morph points in an extended morph makes no difference, because either (a) it's one encounter so you wouldn't get those points anyway, (b) you're outside an encounter so you don't care about changing your morph, or (c) you just drop your morph when you need to change it and you get new points because it's a new encounter.

So... what do I do?



Phae, agreed, I'll add Hide to Blend In.

It's wildshape + warshaper + MOMF which makes a very powerful build even without spellcasting and animal companion. At level 20 that's 165 hours of wildshape per day with free transformation as a standard action so I agree it makes sense to tone it down but...
I don't think you need to hew too closely to the magical beast structure - magical beasts are monsters or maybe minions and don't have to sustain PC levels of interest and utility.
I think it's a good thing if there is little to no downside to using morph/transformation - that is the schtick of the class, without using it you are a weaker melee combatant than a rage free barbarian with no greater OOC options. If you can change pretty freely albeit with a few minutes sit down between changes then you can contribute in a cool and unique way in many situations.
I think tying up morph points in long transformations will matter in play - transforming into a level appropriate form takes nearly all his pool leaving very little for morphic adjustments on the fly. Also it could be argued that the pool refreshes at the start of the encounter so if he is in a long transformation form when the encounter starts he misses his chance to refresh - may be too harsh - if you do include the rule you'll want to be explicit on this point. Even if he does get to renew his points when he ends the previous transformation he'll have to spend some overcoming the fatigue he's just incurred.

[sirpercival]

I'm inclined to make Enduring Morph and Long Transformation feats, except... won't pretty much every morphling take them?  It would be like Natural Spell for a druid.  Shouldn't something that EVERYONE takes be a class feature?

Meh.  I'm also toying around with the idea of making Morph->Endurance remove fatigue entirely, and/or drop exhaustion to fatigue.  I don't think that would help the long-duration stuff, though.

[sirpercival]

I changed Morph Endurance to Enduring Morph and added the Lasting Transformation feat; I also changed Morph --> Endurance so that it removes fatigue and drops exhaustion to fatigue.  Does that fix your issue?

[Noliar]

That looks playable. I think if the Endurance option is completely removing fatigue rather than letting it be ignored for the duration of the morph then perhaps it should be a separate ability powered by a morph point rather than an option on the Morph table - more a clarity issue than a rules or balance one - an annotation may suffice. I think you're at the point where you'd need actual playtest to see if the numbers need tweaking though my gut says Extra Morph could be more generous.

Stat priorities Con>Dex=Str>Cha>Int=Wis

Attitudes to other classes - in general they appreciate having teammates of other classes because they know how vulnerable they are if they have to use their powers all out. Advancing as a Morphling requires a natural talent plus exacting physical discipline and Morphlings respect that combination in others. They admire flashy powers. Towards skillful characters their attitude is typically more "I could have learnt that but I used my time better!"

[sirpercival]

Does anyone have suggestions for more Morphs?

[littha]

Off the top of my head:
-Breath Weapon
-Needle shooting attack
-Energy Resistance
-Size increase
-Stat increase (ala rage)

[sirpercival]

Excellent.  These shall be added.

[Nanshork]

We have size increases, any particular reason why not size decreases?

As written in the table the Ranged attacks are not natural attacks.  Is this intentional? 

Is there a cooldown on breath weapons?

Perhaps a way to improve flight maneuverability?

Would Morphic Body apply to a changeling who has used their alter self ability?  The description seems to imply yes.

[sirpercival]

We have size increases, any particular reason why not size decreases?

Oversight.  Fixed.

As written in the table the Ranged attacks are not natural attacks.  Is this intentional? 

Well... I had intended them to be similar to the Manticore's spikes, where it's a standard action and you get as many as you get.  Spikes is an (Ex) ability... this is about Morphic Weapons, I assume?  I think I'm ok with them being natural attacks, so I'll change the table heading to "Ranged Natural Attacks".  How's that?

Is there a cooldown on breath weapons?

Nope.  You can do it every round as a standard action if you want to, a la DFA.

Perhaps a way to improve flight maneuverability?

Hmm... yes.

Would Morphic Body apply to a changeling who has used their alter self ability?  The description seems to imply yes.

Well... the way it's written ("morphing or transformed") was meant to imply "while using either the Morph or Transformation class features".  However, as you can probably guess the ability was based off of Warshaper, which WOULD function for a changeling.  I dunno... do we think it's particularly OP if it applies, or UP if it doesn't?

EDIT: I also just added two more Morph feats, just to let you know.  They're included both on this thread and in the Magipunk Feats thread.

[Nanshork]

Since you have the +- symbol, you should probably change the table section heading to Size Increase/Decrease.

Yes, the spikes were about its interaction with Morphic Weapons.  That works just fine.   

I'm amused by the fact that you can increase your flight maneuverability before you can gain flight, but the cost looks good to me and I guess it can be used by those with a natural flight speed so that's alright.

I'm not sure if an altered self changeling getting those bonuses is OP or UP, I just wanted to point out the interaction.  Especially since you have Changeling racial substitution levels for the Morphling.

I like Skilled Morphling, and I like the fact that it isn't capped by ECL.   

[sirpercival]

Since you have the +- symbol, you should probably change the table section heading to Size Increase/Decrease.

I'm not sure if an altered self changeling getting those bonuses is OP or UP, I just wanted to point out the interaction.  Especially since you have Changeling racial substitution levels for the Morphling.

I like Skilled Morphling, and I like the fact that it isn't capped by ECL.   

Fixed the increase/decrease thing.  I'm not sure about the Morphic Body thing either, and I'm not going to decide until I get a third opinion.

Skilled Morphling is based off of Improved Binding, which isn't capped either

[Nanshork]

Hmm, how about morphs to gain the ability to survive in different environments?  The ability to breathe water for example?

[sirpercival]

Hmm, how about morphs to gain the ability to survive in different environments?  The ability to breathe water for example?

Swim speed grants that...

[Nanshork]

Hmm, how about morphs to gain the ability to survive in different environments?  The ability to breathe water for example?

Swim speed grants that...

That isn't stated anywhere in the table.  Dolphins have a swim speed but can't breathe water for example.

[sirpercival]

Hmm... I thought it was implied.  Well, I'll make that explicit then.

Do I have to worry about breathing with a burrow speed as well?

[Nanshork]

Hmm... I thought it was implied.  Well, I'll make that explicit then.

Do I have to worry about breathing with a burrow speed as well?

I wouldn't think so.  Breathing in water makes me happy.