Shifter

Requirements

Feats: Alertness, Endurance

Spells: Able to cast 3rd-level spells.

Special: Alternate Form—must either know polymorph self or have a natural alternate form, alter self, polymorph self, shapechange, or wild shape ability.

Summary

The shifter has no form that she calls her own. Instead, she clothes herself in whatever shape is most expedient at the time. While others base their identities largely on their external forms, the shifter actually comes closer to her true self through all her transformations. Of necessity, her sense of self is based not on her outward form, but on her soul, which is truly the only constant about her. It is the inner strength of that soul that enables her to take on any shape and remain herself within.

At first, the shifter can risk only humanoid forms and familiar animal shapes. As she grows more comfortable with her own true shapelessness, however, she can assume more outlandish forms. Eventually, she knows herself so well that she feels just as comfortable in the shape of a completely different creature type as she does in her own. At that point, her past—even her race—becomes irrelevant, since external form no longer matters to her.

Role: Spell Utility

Characteristics: Wild shape focused adventurers that have a variety of powerful forms

Source: Masters of the Wild

Game Rule Information

The Shifter has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Wisdom for your survival skills. Constituttion for staying alive and getting more hit die. This class isn't super stat dependent.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Shifter's class skills are Animal Empathy (Cha, exclusive skill), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowl�edge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int) Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Shifter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Shifter is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Greater Wild Shape Sp: Beginning at 1st level, the shifter can take the form of another creature. Greater wild shape works like wild shape, with the following exceptions. As she rises in level, the shifter gains the ability to assume the forms of creatures with types other than animal, though she cannot choose a form that normally has more Hit Dice than she herself does. She can designate at the time of the change which pieces of her equipment meld into her new form and which do not. Nonmelded equipment alters its size to match that of her new form, but retains its functionality. The shifter cannot, however, use any equipment unless she has either an appropriate appendage or a magical means of compensating for the lack of one. Any piece of equipment that is separated from her reverts to its original form.

At 1st level, the shifter is limited to humanoid forms of Small and Medium-size. Thereafter, she can use greater wild shape two more times per day for every two shifter levels she gains, and her range of available creature sizes and types increases as shown on Table 5—15. When she gains the ability to adopt an undead shape at 5th level, she may become incorporeal if she chooses the form of a creature with that subtype.

If the shifter already has the wild shape ability from another class, she may convert her uses per day of wild shape to uses per day of greater wild shape on a one-for-one basis. She may also mix and match the benefits of the two abilities as desired to gain the maximum advantage for any daily use. Thus, a Drd8/shifter1 has up to four uses per day of greater wild shape, and she could use the ability to become a Large humanoid (because an 8th-level druid can become a Large creature and a 1st-level shifter can adopt the form of a humanoid). In the same manner, a Drd8/Shifter2 could become a Large monstrous humanoid if she wished.

Supernatural Ease: At 6th level, the character's greater wild shape ability becomes supernatural rather than spell-like. It still requires a standard action and can be suppressed in an antimagic field, but its use no longer provokes attacks of opportunity and never requires a Concentration check.

Evershifting Form: At 10th level, the shifter has reached the pinnacle of her shapechanging abilities. From this point on, she can use greater wild shape once per round, as a move-equivalent action, as many times per day as she wishes. Her type changes to shapechanger for determining what effects and items can affect her, and she gains darkvision (60 feet), which remains in effect regardless of her form.

In addition, the shifter no longer suffers ability penalties for aging and is not subject to magical aging, though any aging penalties she may already have suffered remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the shifter still dies of old age when her time is up.

Table 1-1: Shifter Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+2	+2	+0	Greater wild shape 1 /day (Small or Medium-size, humanoid shape)
2nd	+1	+3	+3	+0	Greater wild shape (animal shape, monstrous humanoid shape)
3rd	+2	+3	+3	+1	Greater wild shape 3/day (Large or Tiny, beast shape, plant shape)
4th	+3	+4	+4	+1	Greater wild shape (giant shape, vermin shape)
5th	+3	+4	+4	+1	Greater wild shape 5/day (Diminutive, magical beast shape)
6th	+4	+5	+5	+2	Greater wild shape (aberration shape, ooze shape), supernatural ease
7th	+5	+5	+5	+2	Greater wild shape 7/day (Huge, dragon shape)
8th	+6	+6	+6	+2	Greater wild shape (undead shape, construct shape)
9th	+6	+6	+6	+3	Greater wild shape 9/day (Fine, elemental shape, outsider shape)
10th	+7	+7	+7	+3	Greater wild shape (Gargantuan), evershifting form