Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 vladthelad Aug 02, 2011 13:34:45	I am playing a 20th level sorcerer for a one shot where only infinite loops are not allowed. Now I consider myself a competent optimizer by I have very little experience with this level range and having so few restrictions. I have decided upon my build, most of the spells known and some magic items, but as I was looking over my spells I noticed I had never actually learned the specifics of how to use the shapeshift spell. So the question is what are the typical ways a high level character uses shapeshift? I guess Iron Golem for the immunities, Medusa for the gaze, Balor for stats? Is there a shapeshift handbook or guide? I haven't found any in the links thread though.
#2 Tempest_Stormwind Aug 02, 2011 16:29:35	This should help. The big Shapechange advantage is supernatural abilities and instant re-shifting. Good examples of how to abuse that include the Chronotyrn (Fiend Folio) or Choker to get extra actions, which are in turn combined with spells like Time Stop for extreme instant buff-ups or for general combat prowess. Exactly what form you take depends on the rest of your character (Hydras come to mind - each AoO an N-headed hydra takes is N separate attacks, which means per-hit damage buff effects goes up that much higher - but there are better forms out there).  That said, Wizards themselves admitted "we screwed up" on Polymorph-style effects, and essentially wrote it out of the game, replacing it with the polymorph subschool and much simpler spells. Similarly, I actually hate polymorphing - it tends to slow the game down, rewards obscure book lore rather than general system proficiency, and can easily break the game with next to no effort - so I'm probably not the best person to be talking to about this.
#3 Slagger_the_Chuul Aug 03, 2011 3:08:21	Similarly, I actually hate polymorphing - it tends to slow the game down, rewards obscure book lore rather than general system proficiency, and can easily break the game with next to no effort - so I'm probably not the best person to be talking to about this. Well,  the polymorph subschool does already cut out most of the abuse and mechanical slowdown, but you could possibly "fix" the rewarding of obscure book lore by building standard lists, similar to the summon monster lists (the polymorph subschool already makes it a bit like a self-summon). That's assuming you didn't want to just follow the official option of making individual polymorph spells for different forms.