Shifter

From HGWiki

• Shifter information on NWNWiki

Shifters are masters of versatility with access to curse song, damage, stoning and instant kill abilities, among many others.

Contents 1 HG Customizations 1.1 Shifter Overview 1.2 Shifter Mechanics 1.3 Legendary and Paragon Progression 2 Shifter Forms 2.1 Construct Shape 2.2 Dragon Shape 2.3 Greater Wild Shape 1 2.4 Greater Wild Shape 2 2.5 Greater Wild Shape 3 2.6 Greater Wild Shape 4 2.7 Humanoid Shape 2.8 Outsider Shape 2.9 Undead Shape 3 Building a Shifter 3.1 Race selection 3.2 Feat selection 3.3 Class combinations 3.4 Skills 3.5 Form Focus Selection 4 Types of Shifters 5 See Also

HG Customizations

• Legendary BAB: +12

Shifter Overview

• Forum Class Ability Board
• All shifter forms have been redone on Higher Ground. In addition, additional forms are available to players with HG Enhanced.
• Shape Shifting: Unarmed weapon focus feats now benefit unarmed forms while shifted. This makes an item with OC/DC Unarmed (e.g. Sign of Orcus although in this case the restrictions need to be overcome with a high level of UMD) exceptionally valuable as it transfers to all armed forms whereas a weapon specific OC/DC would only work when shifted into a form that uses that weapon.
  • Legendary shifters can also improve their abilities with armed weapons with unarmed weapon feats.
  • Characters with the Wild Shape feat may take Weapon Specialization and Epic Weapon Specialization in creature weapons in legendary levels.
• Equipment Merging: All equipment merges when you shift, with the exception of Shield AC. The attributes of your primary weapon will be applied to all weapons when you shift. All weapon buffs transfer to Humanoid shifter forms, Risen Lord (Undead), Demonflesh Golem (Construct), and Leonal (Outsider). In other cases, the only weapon buffs that will transfer are keen and enchantment bonuses. Spells like Darkfire or Flame Weapon will not transfer between forms other than those mentioned above, but if cast on an armed form will remain until the shifter changes shape. It is worth noting that some item benefits related to HG specific effects do NOT transfer over to shifted forms e.g. Mammon's Wrath non tear splitting and Frostweb's Freedom Arachil web immunity
• Wisdom AC no longer applies when shifted from any source. While shifted, Druids and Shifters receive 2 + ((Shifter level including LLs / 10) * 2) Natural AC. This AC does not stack with Barkskin, but is undispellable.
• NOTE All shifter forms will be functional as long as base dexterity and strength are 20 or lower. This means any subrace can be used for a shifter and not break any forms all the way to level 80 and 2x demigod so long as the subrace does not give more than +4 strength or +4 dexterity (taking into account base races with higher starting values for strength or dexterity). The simple rule being do not start with 15 (or greater) in either of these stats after you log in and subrace changes are taken into account or you may encounter issues later when you get to higher levels.

Shifter Mechanics

• Polymorph Level (PL) is defined as Druid level + Shifter level + Ranger level (including legendary levels if the character's control class is Druid, Shifter, or Ranger).
• Base DC for non-spell abilities is equal to 10 + Form Rank (listed with each form) + Wis modifier + (foci * 3). Foci are described further below. For spell abilities Form rank is substituted by Spell level.
• For spells cast in shifted form, caster level (CL) is Druid level + Shifter level (including legendary levels if the character's control class is Druid or Shifter).
  • Animal Empathy: For spells cast while shifted, Shifters use Animal Empathy instead of Lore for damage bonuses. In addition, most Shifter abilities can receive up to a 100% damage bonus from the Animal Empathy skill.

• Essence Points (EP): These point are used as energy to use the numerous form's abilities.
  • Each form type have a separated Essence Point Pool.
  • Your EP poll is equal to your PL.
  • Whenever you shift into a Wild or Humanoid form, your Essence Point (EP) pool is refilled for that form.
• Many forms use Shadow Attack as a touch attack power. The actual effect of Shadow Attack depends on the form you assume.
• There are a few SIMTools commands useful to help to manage shifters numerous abilities:
  • !!qb poly X! (X is a number) the game will automatically put the 3 morphed abilities into a quick slot bar every time you morph (i.e. with !qb poly 2, you'd get each form abilities into 2, 3 and 4)
  • !cancel poly instantly returns the shifter to his original shape.
  • !cancel aoe can dispel some persistent effects like the web spell.
  • !pcscry whilst not specifically for shifters this command gives you access to the PCScry device even when shifted and saves you having to unshift to use it

Legendary and Paragon Progression

• Legendary Progression: Most shifter forms improve in AB and AC between PL41 and PL60. The AB increase comes from increasing Strength or Dexterity, and the AC increase comes from the addition of Shield AC.
• Legendary Form Foci: Legendary Form Focus I, II and III feats are available for Wildshape, Construct Shape, Dragon Shape, Humanoid Shape, Outsider Shape, and Undead Shape. Each shape has three ranks of focus feat. These feats can only be taken during legendary levels.
  • Taking the first rank of any focus feat grants a more powerful base form, usually with additional abilities. Every focus rank grants +2 to AB and AC, and +3 to the DC of all DC-based abilities while in a form covered by that focus. In addition, other factors may be improved by focus ranks, depending on the particular form assumed.
  • For limited-use forms, such as Construct Shape, each focus rank grants +100% additional EP to those shapes.
  • For armed forms, legendary focus feats allow unarmed weapon focus feats to be translated to weapon focus feats:
    • With LFF1, Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, and Improved Critical are translated.
    • With LFF2, Epic Weapon Focus and Overwhelming Critical are translated.
    • With LFF3, Legendary Weapon Focus and Devastating critical are translated.
  • Prerequisites are the corresponding epic feat (construct shape, dragon shape, outsider shape, undead shape) or infinite humanoid shape (shifter 13 class levels) for LFF Humanoid or infinite greater wildshape (shifter 16 class levels) for LFF Wildshape.
• Legendary BAB: +12
• Paragon Form Foci - Paragon Form Focus feats are available for all the shapes that have Legendary foci. They require Legendary Form Focus in the shape, and add 2 dc to all abilities for the shape.
• Paragon Form Defense requires Legendary Form Defense, and adds an additional 3 ac to all forms.

Shifter Forms

Construct Shape

• Shifters in Construct Shape are immune to amnesia effects.
• All these forms also have Immunity to Mind Spells, Disease, Paralysis, Negative Levels, Sneak Attacks and Death Magic.
• Construct Shape now offers Crystal Golem and Marut with HG Enhanced.

• Demonflesh Golem (Rank 5)
  • Demonflesh golems can survive in fire-permeated areas (Survival Firewalking).
  • Weapon buffs on the shifters base weapon shift over to enhance Demonflesh Golems.
  • With LFFC1 Demonflesh Golems get an additional attack per round.
  • [5 EP] Rage - Grants +(CL / 5) Str/Dex/Con and -2 Dodge AC. Grants base physical damage bonus equal to Wis modifier.
  • [1 EP] Infesting Touch (Shadow Attack) - Decreases target Conc/Disc by (Foci) for (Foci + 1d3) rounds. Requires LFFC1.
  • [1 EP] Focused Immunity (Protection Aura) - Grants 100%/100- against a single elemental type, toggle with !damXX (if CC is shifter). Requires LFFC1.

• Iron Golem (Rank 5)
  • Iron Golems can breathe underwater (Survival Waterbreathing) and in dust choked areas (Survival Passwall).
  • [5 EP] Poison Breath - All targets in a Small cone who fail a Fort save lose (CL / 5) Con. Any target reduced to 0 Con is slain.
  • [1 EP] Crumple Armor (Shadow Attack) - Decreases target AC by (Foci) for (Foci + 1d3) rounds. Requires LFFC1.

• Stone Golem (Rank 6)
  • Stone Golems can breathe underwater (Survival Waterbreathing) and in dust choked areas (Survival Passwall) and are immune to petrification.
  • [1 EP] Hurl Rock - All targets in a Medium radius receive CLd6 bludgeoning damage, with a Reflex save for half.
  • [1 EP] Siege Mode (Protection Aura) - Increases the user's physical/elemental immunities by (10 + (5 * Foci))% and makes the user immune to knockdown. The user is immobilized. Damage on Hurl Rock is increased to CLd8. Requires LFFC1.

• Crystal Golem (Rank 7)
  • Crystal Golems can breathe underwater (Survival Waterbreathing) and in dust choked areas (Survival Passwall).
  • Crystal Golems are immune to all mind effects except Fear.
  • [2 EP] Prismatic Spray - as the spell.
  • [1 EP] Daze Aura - All targets in a Large aura must make a Will save each round or be dazed. Requires LFFC1.
  • [1 EP] Crystalline Matrix - Adds soak x/+y where x is 20 + (4 per LFFC) and y is Shifter Level /3 (max of +16).

• Marut (Rank 5)
  • Maruts can breathe underwater (Survival Waterbreathing) and in dust choked areas (Survival Passwall).
  • [3 EP] Grappling Chain - The target must make a Reflex save or be paralyzed for (CL / 3) rounds. Requires LFFC1.
  • [2 EP] Lightning Pulse - All targets in a Large radius receive CLd6 electrical damage, with a Reflex save for half.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Construct 3)

Construct	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Demonflesh Golem	71	12	17	100% Fire Imm, -50% Cold Imm, Immunity to Critical Hits
Iron Golem	71	12	17	Size: Large, 100% Elec Imm, -50% Fire Imm, Immunity to Critical Hits
Stone Golem	63	12	12	Size: Large,-50 Acid Imm, Spell Immunity: Flesh to Stone, Immunity to Critical Hits
Crystal Golem	60	12	7	100% Fire Imm, -50% Sonic Imm, Feat: * Critical Reduction
Marut	70	12	17	Size: Large, 100% Elec Imm, -50% Cold Imm, Immunity to Critical Hits

Dragon Shape

• Dragon Shape now offers White Dragon and Silver Dragon with HG Enhanced. The size of the largest Dragon forms has been reduced to improve party playability.

• Blue Dragon (Rank 8)
  • Enhanced Melee Damage - adds 1d6/2d6/4d6/7d6 electrical damage on hit, based on foci.
  • [Variable EP] Dragon Breath - All targets in a Medium cone receive CLd10 electrical damage, with a Reflex save for half.
  • [3 EP] Wing Buffet - All targets in a Huge radius must make a Reflex save or be knocked down for 1d3 + 1 rounds. Requires LFFD1.

• Green Dragon (Rank 8)
  • Enhanced Melee Damage - adds 1d6/2d6/4d6/7d6 acid damage on hit, based on foci.
  • [Variable EP] Dragon Breath - All targets in a Medium cone receive CLd10 acid damage, with a Reflex save for half.
  • [3 EP] Wing Buffet - All targets in a Huge radius must make a Reflex save or be knocked down for 1d3 + 1 rounds. Requires LFFD1.

• Red Dragon (Rank 8)
  • Enhanced Melee Damage - adds 1d6/2d6/4d6/7d6 fire damage on hit, based on foci.
  • [Variable EP] Dragon Breath - All targets in a Medium cone receive CLd10 fire damage, with a Reflex save for half.
  • [3 EP] Wing Buffet - All targets in a Huge radius must make a Reflex save or be knocked down for 1d3 + 1 rounds. Requires LFFD1.

• White Dragon (Rank 8)
  • Enhanced Melee Damage - adds 1d6/2d6/4d6/7d6 cold damage on hit, based on foci.
  • [Variable EP] Dragon Breath - All targets in a Medium cone receive CLd10 cold damage, with a Reflex save for half.
  • [3 EP] Wing Buffet - All targets in a Huge radius must make a Reflex save or be knocked down for 1d3 + 1 rounds. Requires LFFD1.

• Silver Dragon (Rank 8)
  • Enhanced Melee Damage - adds 1d6/2d6/4d6/7d6 sonic damage on hit, based on foci.
  • [Variable EP] Dragon Breath - All targets in a Medium cone receive CLd10 sonic damage, with a Reflex save for half.
  • [3 EP] Wing Buffet - All targets in a Huge radius must make a Reflex save or be knocked down for 1d3 + 1 rounds. Requires LFFD1.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Dragon 3)

All dragon forms have immunity to mind spells (?), sneak attack, and paralysis; spell resistance 20; true seeing; and damage reduction 40/+6.

Dragon	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Any Dragon form	68	36	14	Size: Very Large

Greater Wild Shape 1

• All Wyrmlings can use Inflicting Breath, except Green which receives Weakening Breath.
• All Wyrmlings can fly (Survival Levitation).

• Black Wyrmling (Rank 6)
  • [1 EP] Inflicting Breath - All targets in a Small cone receive (CL / 2)d6 acid damage, with a Reflex save for half. In addition, 5% acid vulnerability is inflicted for (1 + Foci) rounds.

• Blue Wyrmling (Rank 6)
  • [1 EP] Inflicting Breath - All targets in a Small cone receive (CL / 2)d6 electrical damage, with a Reflex save for half. In addition, 5% electrical vulnerability is inflicted for (1 + Foci) rounds.

• Green Wyrmling (Rank 6)
  • [1 EP] Weakening Breath - All targets in a Small cone have their physical damage lowered by ((CL / 10) + (Foci * 4)) points for 1 minute. Targets with Evasion receive a Reflex save to avoid this effect.

• Red Wyrmling (Rank 6)
  • [1 EP] Inflicting Breath - All targets in a Small cone receive (CL / 2)d6 fire damage, with a Reflex save for half. In addition, 5% fire vulnerability is inflicted for (1 + Foci) rounds.

• White Wyrmling (Rank 6)
  • [1 EP] Inflicting Breath - All targets in a Small cone receive (CL / 2)d6 cold damage, with a Reflex save for half. In addition, 5% cold vulnerability is inflicted for (1 + Foci) rounds.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Wildshape 3)

All Wyrmlings are small sized creatures and have Paralysis Immunity

Greater Wildshape I	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Black Wyrmling	31	17	10	100% Acid Imm, -50% Cold Imm
Blue Wyrmling	31	17	10	100% Elec Imm, -50% Acid Imm
Green Wyrmling	31	17	10	100% Acid Imm, -50% Elec Imm
Red Wyrmling	31	17	10	100% Fire Imm, -50% Cold Imm
White Wyrmling	31	17	10	100% Cold Imm, -50% Fire Imm

Greater Wild Shape 2

• Greater Wildshape 2 now offers Fairy and Troll with HG Enhanced.

• Gargoyle (Rank 4)
  • Gargoyles are immune to petrification.
  • Damage Reduction - Gargoyles receive (Shifter level)/+16 DR with LFFW1 maxing at 30/+16.
  • Parry - Gargoyles receive +(Shifter level including LLs) Parry with LFFW1.
  • SF Parry - Gargoyles receive Skill Focus (parry) with LFFW2.
  • ESF Parry - Gargoyles receive Epic Skill Focus (parry) with LFFW3.

• Harpy (Rank 7)
  • Harpies can fly (Survival Levitation).
  • Harpy Song - Harpy Song is the equivalent of Bard Curse Song. Bard song level is equivalent to Shifter level (including LLs).
  • Animal Empathy is used in place of Perform, with 6 points of Animal Empathy being equivalent to 5 Perform; hence, AE 120 is sufficient to reach song level 50 at Shifter 50.
  • Each focus rank extends the duration of the Curse by 5 rounds.
  • See the Bard documentation (!doc bard) for more information on Curse Song.

• Minotaur (Rank 4)
  • [5 EP] Rage - Grants +(CL / 5) Str/Dex/Con and -2 Dodge AC.
  • [40 EP] Maze (Dominate Monster) - as the spell. Requires LFFW1.

• Fairy (Rank 6)
  • Fairies can fly (Survival Levitation).
  • A Fairy gains 20 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [3 EP] Spill Potion - The shifter rolls (Shifter level including LL) + (Pick Pocket skill bonuses) + (Foci * 5) vs (30 + enemy Spot). This skill requires 1 point of Pick Pocket skill to use to best advantage. If successful and the enemy has a pickpocketable potion, it will be spilled.
  • [1 EP] Mock - When a Fairy uses Taunt, if his base Taunt skill is less than (Shifter level including LL), it will be raised to that amount.

• Troll (Rank 5)
  • Regeneration - Trolls receive (Shifter level + (Foci * 5)) regeneration (to a maximum of 45 with 30 shifter levels) three times each round.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Wildshape 3)

Greater Wildshape II	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Gargoyle	60	20	14	Weapon: Falchion, 25/- Piercing, Stun Immunity, Spell Immunity: Flesh to Stone, Feat: Power Attack, Feat: Improved Power Attack
Harpy	32	12	6
Minotaur	62	12	28	Size: Large, Weapon: Greataxe, Immunity to Confuse, Feat: Knockdown, Feat: Improved Knockdown
Fairy	10	49	0	Feat: Weapon Finesse
Troll	52	12	23	Size: Large

Greater Wild Shape 3

• Greater Wildshape 3 now offers Wyvern and Xorn with HG Enhanced.

• Basilisk (Rank 6)
  • [8 EP] Death Gaze - All enemies in a Small cone must make a Fortitude save or be slain.

• Drider (Rank 6)
  • Driders are completely immune to Knockdown and can walk on sand (Survival Levitation, Survival Passwall) without danger.
  • A Drider gains 10 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [1 EP] Darkness - as the spell.
  • [2 EP] Web - as the spell.
  • [3 EP] Magic Missile - as the spell; increases to ILMS in the Epic upgrade and IGMS with LFFW1.

• Manticore (Rank 7)
  • [1 EP] Manticore Spikes - A total of (Shifter level including LL / 2) spikes are launched in a Large cone, each doing (Shifter level including LL / 2)d4 piercing damage.

• Wyvern (Rank 5)
  • [2 EP] Poison Sting - The target's Strength and Dexterity are reduced by (CL / 4) + (Foci * 2) for CL rounds on a successful touch attack.
  • [5 EP] Wyvern Snatch - The Shifter grabs the target with a touch attack and failed Reflex save, lifting them into the air and dropping them for damage and knockdown.

• Xorn (Rank 5)
  • Xorns can pass through rock without danger (Survival Passwall).
  • [1 EP] Petrification Touch - Enemies struck by the Xorn in combat must make a Reflex save or be petrified.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Wildshape 3)

Greater Wildshape III	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Basilisk	29	17	6
Drider	47	17	16	Size: Large, Weapon: Spear, Paralysis Immunity, Freedom of Movement
Manticore	32	19	10	Size: Very Large, Feat: Power Attack
Wyvern	16	53	3	Size: Very Large, Feat: Weapon Finesse
Xorn	53	10	24	Size: Large

Greater Wild Shape 4

• Greater Wildshape 4 now offers Beholder and Gelatinous Cube with HG Enhanced.

• Dire Tiger (Rank 4)
  • [5 EP] Knockdown Pounce (Shadow Attack) - The target is knocked down for 1d3 +1 rounds on a successful touch attack. If the touch attack is a critical hit the target is knocked down for 1d3 + 3 rounds. Requires LFFW1.

• Medusa (Rank 7)
  • [5 EP] Petrification Gaze - All enemies in a Small cone must make a Fortitude save or be petrified.

• Mind Flayer (Rank 8)
  • Mind flayers are immune to all mind effects except fear.
  • [5 EP] Mind Blast - All enemies in a Small cone must make a Will save or be stunned. Any already-stunned enemy receives CLd3 psionic damage.

• Beholder (Rank 8)
  • Beholders can levitate as if they were wearing a Ring of Levitation (Survival Levitation).
  • [8 EP] Antimagic Cone - All creatures in a Small cone are the target of a dispel effect at a level equal to CL. If they fail a Will save, they will suffer 100% spell failure for a short time.
  • [1 EP] Inflict Ray - Inflicts CLd4 negative damage on a successful pseudotouch attack.
  • [1 EP] Freeze Ray - Inflicts CLd8 cold damage on a successful pseudotouch attack.

• Gelatinous Cube (Rank 5)
  • [2 EP] Gelatinous Disarm - On a successful touch attack, the target must make a Reflex save or be disarmed. Even if it saves, the target will be slowed by residue from the cube.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Wildshape 3)

Greater Wildshape IV	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Dire Tiger	61	17	26
Medusa	31	19	10
Mind Flayer	31	17	6	+8 Int, +2 Wis (fall into magic bonus limit)
Beholder	36	16	6
Gelatinous Cube	56	6	16	On hit: Slow

Humanoid Shape

• Humanoid Shape now offers Kenku and Sahuagin with HG Enhanced.
• All these forms also have Freedom of Movement.
• Weapon buffs cast on the Shifters base weapon shift over to enhance all Humanoid forms.
• All Humanoid forms get an extra attack with LFFH1.
• Humanoid forms can use the Player Tool 2 feat to resurrect dead party members, consuming rez scrolls and rods in their inventory.

• Drow (Rank 5)
  • Body Adjustment - Will automatically use a Saintsblood Pearl, Amorian Berries, or Grapes of Plenty in the user's inventory for Restoration. Requires LFFH1.
  • A Drow gains 0 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [1 EP] Mortal Strike - as the Assassin ability, with the standard Shifter DC. Requires LFFH1.
  • [1 EP] Darkness - as the spell.

• Kobold (Rank 4)
  • Body Adjustment - Will automatically use a Saintsblood Pearl, Amorian Berries, or Grapes of Plenty in the user's inventory for Restoration. Requires LFFH1.
  • A Kobold gains 15 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • Sneak Attack - Kobolds receive ((Shifter level / 3) + Foci)d6 Blackguard Sneak Attack.
  • [10 EP] Set Trap (Rogue's Cunning) - When this spell is used it sets a trap full of stinging insects which do 1d10 per shifter level of pierce and acid damage (Fort save for half). Those affected also suffer -1 to fort and reflex saves, with another -1 per LFFH to a max of -4. You can set multiple traps then unshift, reshift and set more allowing an impressive amount of AoE damage similar to traps or Delayed Blast Fireball. Note: The Traps are Lootbreaking and have an impressively large AoE be careful if using near un-popped loot.

• Lizardfolk (Rank 4)
  • Body Adjustment - Will automatically use a Saintsblood Pearl, Amorian Berries, or Grapes of Plenty in the user's inventory for Restoration. Requires LFFH1.
  • [1 EP] Lash Infliction - Inflicts vulnerabilities on the target as a Lash of Hatred, to a maximum of (5 + (Foci * 5))%.
  • Gains Disarm & Improved Disarm for free allowing use of this ability, note however if you want to upgrade to use Legendary/Paragon Disarm you will need to take both Disarm & Improved Disarm as feats.

• Kenku (Rank 4)
  • Kenku can levitate as if they were wearing a Ring of Levitation (Survival Levitation).
  • Body Adjustment - Will automatically use a Saintsblood Pearl, Amorian Berries, or Grapes of Plenty in the user's inventory for Restoration. Requires LFFH1.
  • Bow - Kenku use a bow, with the damage types from the user's weapon automatically transferred.

• Sahuagin (Rank 5)
  • Sahuagin can breathe water as if they were wearing a Ring of Water Breathing (Survival Waterbreathing).
  • Body Adjustment - Will automatically use a Saintsblood Pearl, Amorian Berries, or Grapes of Plenty in the user's inventory for Restoration. Requires LFFH1.
  • [2 EP] Web - as the spell. (this ability is slated for upgrade)

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Humanoid 3)

Humanoid	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Drow Warrior	54	24	17	Weapon: Morningstar, Feat: Improved Evasion, Feat: Cleave, Spell Resistance: 10 + CL
Kobold Commando	16	59	5	Weapon: Shortsword, Feat: Improved Evasion, Feat: Hide in Plain Sight, Feat: Weapon Finesse
Lizardfolk Whipmaster	61	20	24	Weapon: Whip, Feat: Improved Disarm (not selectable via radial menu), Feat: Whirlwind Attack
Kenku	14	63	3	Weapon: Shortbow
Sahuagin	54	14	22	Weapon: Trident (2h damage boost)

Outsider Shape

• Outsider Shape now offers Modron and Leonal with HG Enhanced.

• Azer (Rank 7)
  • Azer can survive in fire-permeated areas (Survival Firewalking).
  • [1 EP] Burning Hands - as the spell, after taking a legendary form focus, this ability becomes Fire Pulse, which does CLd6 fire damage in a large radius, with a reflex save for half.
  • [1 EP] Fire Blast - All enemies in a Colossal cylinder receive CLd8 fire damage, with a Reflex save for half, Lootbreaking.
  • [1 EP] Fire Protection Aura - All allies in the aura receive 30/50/70% immunity to fire depending on foci. Requires LFFO1.

• Death Slaad (Rank 8)
  • Death Slaad are immune to confusion.
  • [1 EP] Chaos Spittle - Inflicts CLd4 magical damage on a successful pseudotouch attack.
  • [1 EP] Acid Spittle - Inflicts CLd6 acid damage on a successful pseudotouch attack.
  • [1 EP] Anti-Confusion Aura - All allies within the aura receive immunity to confusion. Requires LFFO1.

• Rakshasa (Rank 9)
  • A Rakshasa gains 30 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [1 EP] Ice Storm - as the spell.
  • [1 EP] Acid Breath - as the spell.
  • [3 EP] Great Thunderclap - as the spell. Replaces Acid Breath with LFFO1.
  • [1 EP] Dispel Magic - as the spell.
  • [2 EP] Area Spell Breach - as Spell Breach in a Small area of effect, but dispels 2/3/4 effects depending on foci, and reduces SR by 1 more than that amount. Replaces Dispel Magic with LFFO1.

• Modron (Rank 6)
  • Modrons are immune to Time Stop.
  • Modrons Automatically disable traps in The Hive area when they cross the activation points.
  • Crossbow - Modrons use a crossbow, with the damage types from the user's weapon automatically transferred. They receive Rapid Reload with LFFO1.
  • [4 EP] Construct Wall - As Wall of Fire (Stone).
  • [5 EP] Immobilization Trap - When triggered, stuns all nearby for d6+1 rounds if they fail a will save (requires LFFO1)
  • [8 EP] Coruscating Beam Trap - Plant up to two laser beacons which inflict fire and positive damage on any hostiles passing between them if they fail a reflex save

• Leonal (Rank 5)
  • Leonals are immune to fear.
  • Weapon buffs on the shifters base weapon shift over to enhance Leonals.
  • Leonals get one extra attack with LFFO1.
  • [5 EP] Fear Howl - All enemies in a Colossal radius must make a Will save or be stricken with fear.
  • [1 EP] Anti-Fear Aura - All allies within the aura receive immunity to fear.
  • [5 EP] Leonal Rage is the equivalent of Bard Song. Bard song level is equal to Shifter level (including LLs). Animal Empathy is used in place of Perform, with 6 points of Animal Empathy being equivalent to 5 Perform; hence, AE 120 is sufficient to reach song level 50 at Shifter 50. Each focus rank extends the duration of the Song by 5 rounds. See the Bard documentation (!doc bard) for more information on Bard Song.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Outsider 3)

Outsider	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Azer Chieftain	50	12	19	Weapon: Dwarven Waraxe, 100% Fire Imm, -50% Cold Imm
Death Slaad Lord	44	19	11	Size: Large, Immunity to fear, 10/- resistance to Fire,Cold,Elec,Acid,Sonic
Rakshasa	29	18	0	Weapon: Quarterstaff, Immune to spells of level 8 or lower
Modron	12	60	0	Size: Small, Weapon: Light Crossbow
Leonal	68	16	27

Undead Shape

• Risen Lord (Rank 5)
  • Risen Lords can breathe underwater (Survival Waterbreathing) and in dust choked areas (Survival Passwall) and are immune to Breach spells.
  • Weapon buffs on the shifters base weapon shift over to enhance Risen Lords.
  • Risen Lords gets one extra attack with LFFU1.
  • [1 EP] Slay Living - Any enemy struck in combat by the Risen Lord must make a Fortitude save or die. Requires LFFU1.

• Spectre (Rank 7)
  • Spectres can levitate as if they were wearing a Ring of Levitation (Survival Levitation).
  • A Spectre gains 20 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [1 EP] Shadow Touch - On a successful pseudotouch attack, the target must make a Fortitude save or lose (Foci + 1)d4 levels.
  • [4 EP] Bestow Curse - as the spell. Requires LFFU1.

• Vampire (Rank 6)
  • Vampires can fly with LFFU1 (Survival Levitation).
  • Drain Life - Vampires drain life from their targets on hit.
  • A Vampire gains 5 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [5 EP] Domination Gaze - Targets in a Small cone must make a Will save or be dominated. If the user already has a dominated creature, targets who fail the save will be dazed.
  • [1 EP] Vampiric Touch - as the spell.
  • [1 EP] Gaseous Form (Protection Aura) - As Greater Sanctuary. Requires LFFU1.

• Baelnorn (Rank 9)
  • Baelnorns can breathe underwater (Survival Waterbreathing) and in dust choked areas (Survival Passwall) and can levitate (Survival Levitation) with LFFU1.
  • A Baelnorn gains 30 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [2 EP] Positive Energy Strike (FoD) - As Finger of Death, but does positive damage.
  • [3 EP] Sunburst - as the spell.
  • [15 EP] Empower Ally - The target receives one temporary caster level (to a maximum of 3) for (5 + (Foci * 5)) rounds. Requires LFFU1.

• Banshee (Rank 8)
  • Banshees can breathe underwater (Survival Waterbreathing) and in dust choked areas (Survival Passwall).
  • A Banshee gains 20 + (5 / 5 Shifter levels inc LL) points of conceal.
  • [5 EP] Death Howl - All enemies in a Colossal radius must make a Fortitude save or be slain.
  • [1 EP] Sonic Howl - All enemies in a Huge radius receive CLd6 sonic damage, with a Will save for half.
  • [1 EP] Fear Aura - Enemies within the aura suffer a penalty of (1 + Foci) to all saves. Requires LFFU1.

Level 60 Form with Legendary Form Focus (Undead 3)

All these forms also have Immunity to Mind Spells, Poison, Disease, Paralysis, Negative Levels, Sneak Attacks, Critical Hits and Death Magic. They also heal from negative damage.

Undead	Str	Dex	Shield AC	Special
Risen Lord	65	12	17	Weapon: Scythe, 100% Negative Imm, -50% Positive Imm
Spectre	48	14	6	100% Negative Imm, -25% Divine Imm, -25% Positive Imm
Vampire	56	20	8	100% Negative Imm, -50% Positive Imm, +5 Regeneration
Baelnorn	10	7	0	100% Positive Imm, -50% Negative Imm
Banshee	24	9	0	100% Negative Imm, -50% Positive Imm

Building a Shifter

All shifters should optimize their DC, so almost all builds will get 10 Great Wisdom feats and 3 legendary form focus feats in the shapes the want to use.
Shifters have excellent saving throws, and can wear any armour without penalties to dexterity bonus wile polymorphed, allowing good defences.

Race selection

Base races modifiers don't apply. So a gnome shifter don't lose 2 points of strength nor would they get 2 points of con while shifted. However sub-races bonuses apply normally to Con, Wis, Int and Cha.

• Being an elf is good for getting able learner, thus getting cross skills to rank 63 at legendary levels.
• Being an orc, dwarf or human give the possibility to get 2 Legendary Skill Affinity feats.

Feat selection

• Defensive options: Heavy armour proficiency, Armor Skin, Legendary Skill Affinity (for tumble, disciple or parry), Expertise, Toughness, Epic Reflexes, Legendary Form Defense and Paragon Form Defense.
• Offensive options: Epic prowess, Weapon focus: Unarmed (and the Epic and Legendary versions), Improved critical Unarmed.
• Whilst it is not practical to take the amount of Strength required to get access to Overwhelming and Devastating Critical any item with added OC/DC Unarmed will be of extremely high value to any melee based shifter. Note: The Sign of Orcus can only be used by Shifters with a Monk splash or those with enough Use Magic Device skill to bypass the use restrictions.
• Other: (Epic) Skill focus animal empathy (to reach 120 rank with low Cha modifier), Spell penetration (can be granted by a tome of ancient lore)

Class combinations

• All shifters need at least 5 druid levels and alertness feat. This limits the splashing to one additional class.
• If one choose to splash in epic levels (for a skill dump), a few form's abilities will lose some effectiveness. The most notable loss being -5% on conceal in all forms that have it.
• Splashing in pre-epic levels, is useful to increase BAB and get additional physical attacks. But it might cost Polymorph levels and/or Caster levels and will not allow a skill dump, but may provide invaluable feats and access to restricted skills like pickpocket and still provide cross-class skill access trough elves' able learner.
  

Favored combinations Multiclassing druid and ranger provides less penalties than other classes.

• Druid: This combination provides both Polymorph Level (PL) and Caster level (CL) losing only effects based on Shifter Class level. Thus using more than 10 druid levels is possible, especially if you want to cast the construct destroying spell "Crumble", which doesn't use spell penetration.
• Ranger: Multi-classing ranger provides no (PL) penalty, and grants access to Martial Weapons, Discipline, Hide, Parry, Search and a bonus feat, if the level is taken at epic level. This allows maximum modifier to Str and Dex polymorphed and access to good skills.
  

Unfavored combinations Using the following classes provide benefits at the cost of Polymorph levels, Caster levels and even Shifter levels. However some players find the benefits worthy. A polymorph level is worth 0-2 points on Str, Dex and Shield AC, depending on how high the shape value is.

• Monk: Grants Evasion, Cleave, Flurry and improved attack progression for unarmed shapes. Also provides access to Tumble, Discipline and Parry skills.
• Paladin/Blackguard: Provide bonuses to all saves and access to Discipline, Parry and Taunt.
• Rogue/Assassin/Shadow dancer: Provide feats like evasion and uncanny dodge and skills like UMD and Tumble.

Skills

Shifters get 4 skill points per level and usually can spare putting extra points in intelligence, however many useful skills are cross class for them, making skill selection tricky and unless Elf base with the Able Learner ability limiting you to a maximum of 41 points. They generally should seek increase following skills:

• Animal empathy: It counts as lore for damaging spells and abilities. It also counts as Perform for bard song-like skills, reaching lvl 50 effect at 120 points.
  
• Concentration: To avoid casting failure in shapes that use spells.
  
• Craft Armor: To increase AC from 1-3 points depending on your final value.
  
• Craft Weapon: To increase AB from 1-3 points depending on your final value. NOTE: This doesn't work for unarmed shapes
  
• Discipline(crossclass): To avoid disarm, knockdown and other melee effects while tanking, this is important as being disarmed will automatically unshift you! NOTE: unarmed shapes can NOT be disarmed.
  
• Listen: To decrease conceal effect on opposing enemies.
  
• Parry(crossclass): To mitigate critical damage. It's worth noting Constructs and Undead shapes are impervious to critical hits.
  
• Pickpocket(requires training, crossclass): Just 1 rank needed. Without at least 1 rank, the spill potion ability won't work properly.
  
• Search Class skill for Ranger characters crossclass for Druid or Shifter. Enables you to search for secret items, if you find one whilst in shifted form it will force you to unshift.
• Tumble(crossclass): To greatly increase AC.
  

Form Focus Selection

A Shifter can usually afford to get full ranks in 2 Legendary Form Foci from feats and can get a third set using an Epode of Form Mastery from Locathah Depths. Wildshape is mandatory choice since it offers such a versatile range of shapes and is the requirement for using an epode.

• Construct: Provides many useful unique abilities, but have low DC, Dex and AC. Not recommendable for open subraces or builds with many levels of splash.
• Dragon: Very high DC with high damage elemental breaths and with wing buffet. Provides strong attributes for tanking (Str/Dex/AC) but poor melee damage. Colossal size is rather problematic for most parties.
• Humanoid: While packing a low DC, this set of shapes provide great versatility. It allows you to mimic features associated with Lash of Hatred, Arcane Archer and Assassins. A BAB of 16+ is recommended therefore best suited to shifting Ranger builds.
• Outsider: Have several damage types, several unique attacks/abilities and many spells. Making it a poor choice for builds with many levels of splash.
• Undead: Having mostly high dc and several SR ignoring spell-like skills make this set quite powerful. It's a valuable asset with necromancer-like spells/abilities and the unique ability to provide temporarily CL to other players. It does require Harm potions to heal whilst in these forms although unlike undead creatures they do not take damage from Mass Heal spells cast in their vicinity.

Types of Shifters

Ability Mage:

• Shifter - Ability Mage (Dr10 Shf29 Rng1) (Open subrace version) - The build that popularized shifters, it's somewhat outdated due to introduction of Form defense and Paragon levels.
• Primal Retribution (Dr10 Shf30). - This build can use all abilities at full power, which is specially important for a few abilities based on Shifter levels like poison gas, spells and concealment.
• Four Focus Shifter (Dr10 Shf29 Mnk1). - This build attempt to use 4 focuses, but completely disregard melee attacks.

This type of Shifter seeks to increase versatility, with little attention towards regular attacks. Sometimes they splash Ranger or Monk for better skill access, feats and defensive bonuses like any mage.

Splashed shifters:

• Heavy Claws (Dr10 Shf29 Mnk1) Sacrifices 1 PL to increase several key skills and can do decent melee damage by combining flurry of blows with monk's extra unarmed attacks, while retaining maximum DC. Construct and Outsider offer synergy with monk progression.
• Cunning Shifter (Dr8 Shf27 Rng5) Sacrifices 5 CL, to increase BAB to 16 and achieve good attacks with Humanoid shapes and Risen lord while maintaining maximum DC.

These builds focuses on optimizing bonuses from splashed class into forms capable of tanking losing very little effectiveness as shifters.

Fighter shifter:

• Swiss Army Tank (R42, Dr5, Sh13) By using Ranger as control class, this kind of shifter have much higher AB and can use many ranger spells and features to augment their impressive tanking skills, and is even capable of disarming/knockdown foes reliably. It's able to change their Str/Dex stats with both humanoid and possibly Risen Lord (Undead) at will, making it a very adaptable tank. This is offset by a lower Wisdom Score leading to lower DC for any abilities that use this.

See Also

• Shifter Builds Forum