Love Your Body-Type
Today’s comic strikes close to home. That’s because I ran a dragon campaign not so long ago, and I had to make the tough call about which items worked with the draconic body type.
This was a Pathfinder 1e game, and I was using some fun third party rules for dragon PCs. Happily, that supplement comes complete with its own Draconic Physiology entry under the racial info, so I knew exactly what items my fire-breathing PCs could work with (armor, belt [saddle only], chest, eyes, headband, neck, shoulders, and wrist). Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the story.
After that campaign ended, it fell to me to roll up a dragon antagonist for some of the same players. And if you’re not using fun third party rules, and if your’e trying to stick to first party RAW, you run face-first into a problem. There’s no listing for dragons on the Magic Item Slots for Animals chart. (Presumably some elder wyrm on the Paizo editing staff refused to be classed as an animal.) My scaly antagonist had kidnapped one of my PCs are robbed her, and so he had an unusual variety of magical gear that I wanted to use against the party. Maniacal laugh and such, sure, but my aforementioned issue was still unresolved. My fun plot moment was being stymied by precedent, and I didn’t want to be accused of inconsistency.
What followed was a harrying chase across the Mage’s Forum. Rules for wildshaping came into play. Rangers discussed their animal companions. Paladins had questions about their mounts. The 3.5 version of the Draconomicon came up in conversation, and the always tricky question of in-game justification reared its horned head: “Such external dependencies are mortal crutches unbecoming of a true dragon!”
In the end I simply let my dragon wear its captured maw of the wyrm and nobody called me on it. Happy day. But since overthinking things is what we do here at the Handbook, I want to hear from the rest of you. What magic items do you allow your critters to wears? Do you slip boots of speed onto your horses? Do you force your druids to drop their magic swords before wildshaping into dire apes, thus preserving the useful weapon from melding into the form? Corner cases and judgement calls abound, so I’m curious to hear how the rest of you guys do it. Sound off in the comments with all your weirdest body-type problems!
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More often than not, when I have a familiar one of their first items will be the humble Bah of holding. 15 pounds is a lot of tiny sized creatures though, and depending on how the GM rules encumbrance that could be anywhere from “pretty much half your carrying capacity” to “this owl ain’t going no where”.
Though more commonly for advance familiars such as my imp, I often equip them with a hat of disguise. Putting aside the ramifications of a companion creature attuning tl magic items, it’s also generally accepted by most DM’s that a hat of disguise, while physically a hat, tends to stay attached to the head more akin to a headband of sorts. Thus that usually gets around the issues of horns being awkwardly fitted underneath headwear.
Things are still pretty blurry with animal forms though. My Paladin has no personal need for boots of striding, but perhaps my summoned mount may. An easy enough issue to solve if it’s a horse: just find a wizard to turn the boots into horseshoes. But what if my mount took in the form of a dolphin or wolf? Such things require more flexibility as a DM. And that’s assume you play with one who allows summoned or beast companions to be capable of attune to magic items.
I love the carrying capacity rules in 5e. My imp was strong enough to carry my shrunken-down ass around the battlefield. Nothing quite as much fun as a mobile artillery platform.
I mean, No. Horseshoes of Speed exist so that you don’t have to use Boots of Speed. ;p
My group mostly avoided this until I introduced Karia and Sasha. Karia was a Druid back in the old 3.5 rules, and Sasha was her wolf companion. The fun came when one, I got to the level that the wolf entry listed “wolves become large at this level” and became the size of a horse, and two when we found a redundant Belt of Strength +4.
Me: “So, [Crusader] and [Cleric] already have strength boosting items, right?”
GM: narrows eyes “Yes…”
Me: “Wolves can wear belts, right?”
Crusader: Eyes go wide “Yes!”
Later…
Me: “So no one has a use for these Bracers of Dexterity, right?”
GM: Glares
Cleric: “No…wait, what evil do you have in mind?”
Me: “Sasha has Combat Reflexes…”
I was allowed to use Bracers, a Belt and an Amulet. The GM ruled Sasha had no further slots after I added the Amulet of Fists. In Pathfinder, I’d just take Inscribe Magical Tattoo. ^.^
I was just about to come here to say that I’ve been trying to find a way to give my sorcerer’s snake companion horseshoes of speed. Inscribe Magic Tattoo sounds like an ideal solution, thanks!
Actually, a character designed around that feat could be really fun to play. Perhaps a mystic from a remote tribe with a lot of ink and not a lot of possessions…
Ima need some clarification.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-creation-feats/inscribe-magical-tattoo-item-creation/
Is it intended that you can only use items intended for that slot? Can you adapt any item into any tattoo, regardless of its slot? Or are we only intended to use the “sample tattoos” and make up similar stuff without infringing on the power of that slot’s traditional powers (e.g. mental stats for headbands)?
Hm. In D&D, there was a price for altering the slot of an item. Did that rule not make it over in Pathfinder? Not going to lie, haven’t really looked at it that hard. I’m often on the GM’s side when the game gets high enough level to matter and my group is oddly adverse to having a crafter for anything but weapons.
By rule of logic, check out Craft Shadow Piercing. It explicitly states that new items must follow “Slot Themes”. By inference, Magical Tattoo does not have that language. The argument could be made that Magical Tattoos do not have to follow that, though expect table variance.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-creation-feats/craft-shadow-piercing-item-creation/
Unpack that shadow piercing business. What does it do for me? Does it allow my wolf to “wear” horseshoes?
The argument could be made that the tattoos and Shadow Piercings can be put on something that couldn’t wear more traditional representations of the slot. For example, Wolves wouldn’t wear shoes and can’t wear horseshoes, but you could put weird magical piercings in its legs to make it run faster cause magic.
Also, there is an avatar of Zon-Kuthon that’s a wolf.
My own preference as a GM is a two-fold approach:
To my mind there’s two factors that are relevant for whether someone can use a magic item.
Firstly there’s an aspect of the Soul/animus/essence/whatever (I haven’t made a judgment whether it’s the same thing that can become a ghost/raised after death, the important bit is that it is inherent to you). This is the thing that makes it so that you can only use two rings at once despite having 10 fingers (plus toes).
This limit is strict, but I normally don’t worry about which slots a given creature has and mostly default to “the same as a human” particularly for intelligent creatures.
The second is that you have to be able to physically wear a magic item to get it’s effect (or wield for weapons/wands/whatever). This depends on a common sense judgment on my part, for instance no boots for horses, they have to use horseshoes.
That said since this part isn’t an inherent part of the magic I allow custom orders to fit non-standard bodies, so you could have some Burglar’s Horseshoes made for your centaur ninja buddy if you want. In addition I allow shape-shifting magic items to be made which automatically fits whatever body-plan they are put on. some found magic items will do that, others won’t, essentially by fiat. (through there’s a tendency in my mind for items intended to be heirlooms to change while other ones don’t). Ordering one costs a symbolic amount extra something like 100-250 gp or so. Enough to be real but not so much that it shatters the wealth-by-level curve for a high-level character to have one made.
As a player it isn’t important enough for me to contradict whatever way the GM wants to run it.
Shape shifting magic items are a staple in certain campaigns of my acquaintance. The werewolf-esqua Lunar Exalted take most of their artifacts as “moonsilver tattoos” that change with their forms. I always dug that as a fun thematic solution.
In most additions, Moonsilver Artifacts automatically shapeshift with the Lunar. you only need the tattoos if you want it active in animal form (deadly Beastman is already covered). Of course, it sacrifices stealth, since you are now a tiger with Moonsilver tattoos like a chain shirt.
I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t god-kicking boots as a squid.
In general, if somebody wants a magic item for an animal for whatever reason, they have to have it custom made. Most shapeshifting spells will actually specifically tell you what happens to your gear when you shape shift (generally either “nothing” or “you cant see it, but you still get its effects”), so its only ordinary animals that need special treatment. When in doubt, I turn to the K.I.S.S. principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. Magically resizing or not, a horse wont ever wear a chain shirt made for humanoids. A badger will never be able to wear gloves. But a hat or something? Sure, as long as it has a head and doesn’t violently reject it. Use a wire to get it to stay in place. If somebody has to search through some obscure errata or something to justify something dumb happening against logic, I throw the PHB at them. That’s what its for, right?
Also, aren’t horseshoes of speed already their own magic item? Why would a horse need boots of speed? That sounds uncomfortable.
I think we’ve found out why the badger gets rage: https://2e.aonprd.com/AnimalCompanions.aspx?ID=1
Okay, this irks me; why would we collectively categorize creatures that are “Like Dwarves but…” as “Humanoids”. Ape-folk (Or humans as they insist on being called. “Twiceling” is also a better name for them than human if you listen to the Hin.) are Dwarfoids. As are Elves, as are Gnomes, as are Dwarves.
“Humanoid” should be used like “Goblinoid” to refer to Ape-folk, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Tieflings, etc.
Dwarves didn’t write D&D.
I’ve let a druid keep a shield in an ape wildshape before after taking an action to adjust the straps; I’ve also said they could use weapons in that form (with the same restrictions that would appy to their humanoid form, like proficiency and such). By extension, I’d say they could probably continue to use other sorts of magical equipment, but mundane items would be forced to drop or merge with them. Additionally, I’d say that druids are uniquely advantaged here — other people who wanted to change into non-humanoids (like with Polymorph) would not have enough control over the transformation to keep using equipment (though they might be able to put them on afterwards, depending).
Basically, I tend to follow the transmutation rules from Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, a roguelike I’ve enjoyed playing in the past. In that game, most transformations disable all equipment save for jewellery, plus certain anatomies prevent the use of some types of armor (if you have bird feet, you can’t wear boots).
This is, of course, all up to interpretation. If one of my players came up with a creative way for them to use an item while non-humanoid, I’d probably allow it, though it might not work quite as well as usual. Magic items are designed to fit the humanoid form, so anything that has a generally humanoid shape will often be able to wear it (though it might not be comfortable to shove your bird feet into those boots of elvenkind).
Oh, whoops. I meant to start a new comment thread instead of replying.
How dare!
Now this is interesting to me. Why would a druid have better control than a transmutation specialist with easy access to polymorph?
Good point about the Transmutation specialists. They’d probably have the same advantage.
It’s worth noting, though, that in just about every world of D&D, people speak common, not english; I’ve always figured humanoid to simply be a translation, and that the actual word in common is less etymologically influenced by humans.
That does raise an interesting question about the languages of the other races, though; would the dwarven word for humanoid translate to dwarf-like? And the same with elves, gnomes, halflings etc.; and would the elven and dwarven words for orc, given the racial enmity, be descended from a slur, leading to tensions when half-orcs have a go at learning the languages?
Also… why would humans be called ape-folk? Given the creation process of most races, it seems unlikely that humans are descended from apes; and what makes humans more ape-like than any of the ambulatory races? If anything, elves would be the closest to apes, given their habitat, but as one of the older race, they likely had great influence over the evolving languages of old, in particular that it is generally seen as unwise to call people names, if those people have a Legolas on their side.
Cat-folk aren’t descended from cats, they’re just a species of Dwarfoid that is like a cat.
Apes are stronger than Elves and have thicker limbs. Better hygiene too. Humans have limbs that are the appropriate length and thickness to be a perfect half-way point between the baseline for all Dwarfoids set by Dwarves, and your average ape. (Apes are distinguished from monkeys by size, strength, intelligence, and the ape’s lack of a tail. There aren’t a lot of slender apes. Elves have proportions more like that of a monkey than an ape.)
And where the problem with inconsistency would be? Inconsistency only mean that people didn’t know about a change in the rules, or that they can’t recognise a little foreshadowing. In a game while ago there was this character that was the king of a small kingdom and the patriarch of a nasty family. Necromancers, alchemists, liches, vampires, sociopaths and serial readers the lot of them. Now the guy in charge of this country wasn’t the suppose heir of this kingdom, he was the founder. After some decades of rulership the infamous king died repentantly and his heir, who looked exactly like the late king, got the throne. Lots of times. In a hall there was paints from all the “different” kings, the king was the same in all the portraits, so the room, the pose and the props, only the style and the paints changed depending on the painter. In fact once there was king that only reigned a few days before being depose by his “son” and killed. In a gesture of good will and to calm down the old king loyalists he commissioned a portrait for his late “father”, it was the very same portrait than for him. So with this situation and knowing how much his family was in love of undeath the rest of the group started guessing which kind of undead monster was him. Vampire? Don’t, he eats normal food and looks alive. Lich?, he looks quite alive. Immortality elixir user? Nope, spells tell there is something wrong with him. Clon? Too sci-fi for the setting and there is a taint of otherworldliness on him. And so they keep guessing and guessing. He wasn’t a werewolf, a demon or a any other kind of monster. Yet any ward, scry and spell keep screaming monster each time they were casted at him. And so as the bunch of sore losers that they are they start complaining that the game they themselves made was rigged. So to make them stop waning we advance the plot a little and reveal the dark truth about him. In his kingdom necromancy was quite legal. The volume of books on that art, only on that art, in the principal academia was more than many other seats of learning got on many other topics. And yet that collection was little compared with what this family got in their own private library. Necromancers, poisoners, assassins, if you wanted to learns something dark and/or illegal you were to this kingdom to learn. Except demonology, for a country so liberal with the dark arts mingling with the infernal was quite forbidden. Many times this country have helped even his rivals and enemies against demonic incursions. They hated demons more than their enemies. Why? Because their king the fifty or seventy of his name, for he even have lost count, was in fact a Nephilim, a half-demon more precisely, the offspring of a Servant and a human. They rest of the party feel the revelation was lacklustre, the DM respected their opinion and assured them that the following battle with the half-demon king was not related at all. And so the rest of the group learned to not complain from inconsistency unless they want for a half-demon king to use his wings and punch them into exile so they don’t talk his secrets 🙂
That’s the fun thing about plot holes. They’re only a problem if you fall into them.
In other words, if no one notices them, there’s no problem. It’s when people make a big deal of this stuff that is starts becoming a headache. In the case of my latter dragon not following the rules, I was very likely making problems for myself. I doubt anyone at my table cares about this sort of stuff, but it bugs the shit out of me. And so, as is usually the case, I am the source of my own problems.
If the player start making problems about anything just make rocks fall over their characters and declare a TPK. That will make them shut up 😛
And don’t make that much problem, don’t over-think things, enjoy the game too. And keep boulder tokens at hand just in case 😀
In one 3.5 game, I had an awakened fox NPC who accompanied the party on some adventures. I ruled that she could use some magical items designed for humanoids like amulets and cloaks that didn’t require too much adjustment, and most other items came with appropriate analogues (e.g. while she couldn’t wear Gloves of Dexterity, Fore-Shoes of Dexterity were fine, and she could get special rings that fit over her toes). The only thing she couldn’t really do was wield weapons or other things that require grasping, but when the Magic Fang and Permanency spells are available, it’s not too big a loss.
I wouldn’t think an awakened fox would be very good with a greatsword anyway.
Our group didn’t have many pets that weren’t mere pack mules or mounts, so no story in that regard. But this comic does present a different issue regarding anatomy and equipment – different scale items! As any Halfling, Gnome, Ratfolk or Kobold would tell you, it sucks not being medium size when it comes to looting your taller foes for useful equipment. And if you’re fighting creatures larger than the norm (e.g. giants), any equipment they have is likely going into the sales pile, on account of nobody being able to wield it without serious problems.
In our group, we have a simple rule regarding such equipment – if it’s magical, it resizes to fit the wearer/wielder, as long as they have the right slots for it. Clears up SO many headaches and instances of loot the PCs are meant to utilize, but can’t due to racial choices at level 0.
An added wrinkle recently came to my attention in Starfinder. Meet the kasatha:
https://starfinderwiki.com/mediawikisf/images/thumb/4/40/Data_jockey.jpg/250px-Data_jockey.jpg
Poor bastard. Good luck finding random armor drops when you look like that!
Well, the Kasatha in Starfinder are a common enough race that they might actually find a suitable armor off another Kasatha. And the technological advancements means there’s plenty of production chains or corps to make it for them, or that magic armor, coupled with technology, can allow or take into account Kasatha arm hole need modifications.
I wonder if they can wear four rings, though. That’s pretty powerful. Normally only monkey-like Vanara can, with a Meridian belt (wearing the rings on their hand-like feet).
Kasatha are screwed in regular Pathfinder, though, where they’re a rare race.
For any shape-shifting or polymorph-utilizing PCs, they usually are left with a few choices when it comes to equipment.
A) Their stuff melds with them, passives and wild enchants are the only things preserved. Tough, but the bog standard.
B) They drop whatever they want to ‘keep’ with them before they shift, then pick it up again.
C) They use feats like Natural Spell or Eschew Materials to remove the need for physical gear in their alternate forms.
D) They cheat with magic items! Notably, a Ring of Eloquence lets one talk in animal/non-talking forms, and a Polymorphic Pouch is essential for any Druid that needs to keep some pieces of gear with them in animal form, as it’s a mini Bag of Holding that never melds with the rest of you.
https://aonprd.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Polymorphic%20Pouch
I’ve often wondered if the “cubic feet” descriptor denotes a cubic space. I mean, can you stick a polearm into a “4 cubic feet” polymorphic pouch, or do the long dimensions mean you’re SOL? The mind boggles.
I think the volume measure is, if anything, an indicator how big the opening of the bag would be, which helps determine if you can even put the objects inside to begin with. Or a handy way to determine how much liquids/catfolk/adventurers you can put inside.
If neither of those are valid, then I’m afraid we need to use…
M A T H.
Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that the mouth of a bag of holding is directly related to its volume? As in bags of holding connected to larger extradimensional spaces automatically have larger apertures?
I’m not sure I agree with that premise, but you do have my curiosity. How do you calculate the relationship of volume-to-aperture on a Type 1 vs. a Type 3 bag of holding?
Well I’m not sure on the math, but it makes sense when you take into account how heavy the bags are at all times (even when empty) and the difference of weight between their types. A BoH type I weighs 15 pounds and is the size of a large handbag on the outside. The biggest BoH type IV weighs a whopping 60 pounds (a whole person’s weight!) and is probably as big externally as the cargo you carry on your back in Death Stranding. So going by that, they’re obviously bigger (on the outside and inside) and would have a bigger opening by their different types.
On a balance/power/wizard designer perspective, it also makes sense. A bag capable of carrying 250cubic feet loses much of its potential utility if you can’t fit anything of such larger scale into its mouth – so why wouldn’t the wizard inventing it allow for the mouth to stretch a little extra over its outside norms? It’s already breaking physics by existing anyway.
Ideally, it’s designed to accommodate a cylindrical, spherical or cubical object that can fill out that entire volume, if you need to transport one big thing over a lot of little ones (coins in a dragon’s hoard vs a gigantic adamantine royal throne in the king’s palace).
There’s also the possibility that the mouth can only open as far as its volume remains unfilled. So if a bag is half-full, it can only open to half of it’s actual capacity. When it’s empty, it can open as far as its actual carry dimensions would be.
https://external-preview.redd.it/ek051v230L3t7QmBGXdKQWVbr8TaGOjlKJbsTOCcbyY.png?auto=webp&s=3904a07aed0fbd6cc66b9a862e51eac968892837
I assumed Dragons could use the same body slots as a typical Humanoid.
As an aside and somewhat related, I’m curious how Owlcat will handle body slots for Animal Companions (including Evolved Animal Companions) in their upcoming Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous game. The Kickstarter’s on now.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous
Were you not able to outfit animal companions in Kingmaker?
Nope, they didn’t even have an inventory (though they did contribute to your carry capacity), or animal gear to use, really. I think they compensated by making them innately strong or scaling or something
My GM let me put rings onto Mick the boar by having them be legbands instead. That way he wouldn’t be the only one without a Ring of Sustenance. But I was only allowed to give him two since that’s what humans got. And he wasn’t allowed a wrist slot.
You mean you don’t use tusk rings? For shame! 😛
That slot was taken up by his Tusk Blades. Gave them Keen to open up his crit range for more AoOs.
I allow items to shapeshift to fit whatever creature wants to use it as long as it’s A) possible (so horses can’t use swords because no hands) and B) a rule doesn’t already say how to handle it. (I don’t know about other editions but I’m pretty sure 5e answers how to handle magic items while Wild Shapeing.)
My reason for this is…. that items are already obviously doing this. Magic rings or boots would never work otherwise. If it fit one person in the party it’d be guaranteed nobody else would have the right finger/foot size to wear it. This also applies to armor, especially plate armor. So obviously magic items already change shape to fit the wearer.
Now in the case of a horse and boots of speed they’re probably still only being worn on two feet, but that shouldn’t have any effect on the magical properties.
Some 3.X reference for perspective:
https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#sizeAndMagicItems
That’s probably one of the (though likely not the main) reasons 5e went with Attunement rather than “slots”.
Though I still feel they could have been a bit more generous with amount of attunements you can have. (And in fact in my own games I completely ignore the attunement system and it’s just a “you can have as many magic items I’ll give you that can reasonably be worn together” most of the time. Which is probably largely a reaction on my part to how few magic items games I play in tend to dole out.)
So what is your current dude wearing magic-item-wise?
Out of my currently (goes and actually counts) 3 currently alive pbp D&D games, 2 of my characters have 1 whole magic item. One of which is a ring of spider climbing (like the slippers, but a ring) and one is an item the GM allowed me to custom make that follows the general model of a mid-tier magic staff and is also a heavy crossbow that deals psychic damage.
This is hardly indicative of my general experience where it’s 6 games and 0 magic items. sigh
On the other hand the players in my long running game have about four or five magical items apiece. (Admittedly some are a little bit cursed but they quite literally asked for that.) And this doesn’t count the custom giant spider mount, minicorn familiar, and about a dozen magic potions and arrows.
re: your dire-ape wildshape problem
I think I‘d rule that stuff held in hands does not meld into the shape shifted into. Of cause if you end up in a shape without means to keep holding whatever is in your hands you will have a different problem.
That’s the permissive ruling, and saves druid types a move action to pick their kit back up off the ground. Seems like a reasonable option to me.
I‘d ask how the player wants to handle this the first time it comes up and then nail it down.
Then it’s going to cost a move action to put items in the hand away if they shouldn’t drop to the bottom of the ocean when the hands turn to fins.
Oh, I gotcha. So it comes back into play the other way. Neat.
In practice, this kind of thing is probably not worth the mental energy, even if it is occasionally fun to think about. Like, I remember when my megadungeon was first starting, and I was trying really hard to run RAW. If we’re in the dungeon, do we assume that everyone is always walking around with weapons drawn? What happens if they fall into a pit and need to climb out? Do they have to waste a move action stowing the weapon? Let’s make a policy!
After a few sessions of negotiating that kind of thing, I just defaulted to calling the interaction in the player’s favor. It might lose a little verisimilitude, but I think the trade is worth ease of play.
Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone try to shift into an ape and then wield a sword (though I have seen someone shift into a chimp in order to throw poo at nobles with less social backlash for it).
Sword-ape sounds cool though. Maybe I’ll give it a shot myself. I probably will insist that I have to drop the sword first, though. It feels right that way.
I ran a search and was amused to discover this page:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/bestiary-levels/ape-gorilla-awakened/
Paraphrasing from my copy of the 3.5 draconimicon: Many items (capes, amulets, rings, headbands, belts) can be used by nearly anything with little difficulty. For everything else, the same magic that lets it change size to fit the wearer also alters shape to accommodate (gloves of dexterity becoming clawguards of dexterity on a dragon, for example).
WTF is a clawguard? Are those dragon press-ons?
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/8c/bd/9d8cbdef914a0df4ff67b33443f2d1ee.jpg
More like fingerless gloves shaped for dragons.
Heh. Found another precedent in Temeraire: https://naominovik.fandom.com/wiki/Draconic_jewellery
And this, ladies, gentlemen, and those if nonstandard identity, is one of the many reasons why I use eidolons. Same slots, same rules, much more simple. Besides the common sense ruling of serpentine bodies not having boot slots, it’s generally smooth sailing.
….then again, quadrupeds get a boots slot. I am now imagining a fantastical equine creation with large sized human feet and I have a one-off NPC idea for later.
those of*
Ahem: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/6/6c/The_Luggage_%28Discworld%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161023091425
Yes. Yes this is beautiful.
When my group was playing through Serpent’s Skull (Pathfinder 1E), I worked with my DM to homebrew a were-snake variant heritage for the Skinwalker race. Part of it was that when my Skinwalker shifted, her entire lower half became snakey, akin to a lamia.
When it came to dealing with boots, I made the in-character decision to go barefoot, which worked because she was a Druid. I also petitioned my GM to reflavor magical boots as ankle bracelets which would resize themselves to fit over her tail when she shifted.
Reflavor is best flavor.
Was there a surcharge for the convenience, or was it a purely aesthetic change?
Well, in one PbP game I got to play a werewolf character, who worked as a process server for the local magistrate. That is, his job was to hunt down people and, instead of eating them, serve them their court papers.
Of course that means that he had to balance equipment, since clothes and stuff most emphatically don’t make the transition (hey, I get to play a civilised werewolf, there has to be some give). So he wears only a tunic, loosely fitting pants and sandals (the kind without something going between your toes, so he can keep them on when he wolfs out). Also a neck guard (most emphatically not a collar) where he could attack his ID-card/Passport to. Also a scroll case with the papers he is supposed to deliver.
Oh and a vial of wolvesbane, as the law mandates, in case he accidently ends up biting someone (he may be civilised (levels in Urban Barbarian), but the Curse of Lycanthrophy is still a thing).
So usually, he’d travel very light, just use a campfire bead and a bedroll for the night. Curl up by the fire and that’s it. So as for bling, it’s only amulets, belts and headbands, and that sash of something or other. GM ruled he can use magic rings though.
My newest 2e character is a Paladin Champion with the Magical Warrior archetype/prestige class. (He’s like a regular Paladin, except he turns into a leopard BEFORE he smites you.) Figuring out how items work when you are transformed is indeed confusing (item bonuses do not apply, but passive effects do, so a +1 striking handwrap of mighty blows PROBABLY doesn’t give you the +1 to hit, but does give you a second damage die, I think? A flaming rune definitely increases your damage. But does a shifting rune allow you to turn your claws into tentacles? ‘Cause I’d be okay with that.).
Also, your STR and DEX don’t really apply when you are in 2e animal form (high STR can make you slightly more accurate, but it won’t increase damage, and DEX doesn’t affect AC), so any animal-morph build (including Wild Shape Druids) really just needs to max CON and then do whatever mental stats they want, becoming a wise, frail old sage who also can turn into a bear and wreck people. It’s a little weird, but probably fun. (I still have no idea how a Monk/Magical Warrior works, since it isn’t clear how much you can use the Monk’s special unarmed strike abilities as an animal. I think Flurry of Blows works, but the stances might not, since they say “the only Strikes you can make are crane wing attacks [or whatever]”. A grappling build would still probably work fine, but if you use the Crushing Grab Monk Feat, does it use your regular Strength modifier, or the Strength modifier implied by the animal form? So many questions. And your unarmored defense proficiency doesn’t apply, which I really think it should. I JUST WANT TO TURN INTO A GIANT FROG AND WAIL ON PEOPLE, GUYS!!)
Wait… a frog battle form has 15-foot reach with its tongue, which means 15-foot grappling…