Shifter Question

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:34 pm

For shifters,when it comes to ab in shifted forms essential stat is STR or WIS?because it seems that with both high i get same ab...can anyone give me some tips on them as ive never made a good one..

Post by **TheBestDeception** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 8:07 pm

When you shift, your STR, CON, and DEX are set to pre-determined amounts. WIS stays the same, therefore allowing monks to benefit from an AC bonus...unfortunately, monk/shifters are forbidden in NS4, making WIS unnecessary beyond casting Druid spells.

INT and CHA stay the same, as well, allowing you to use them for skill bonuses.

IMO, shifters simply aren't worth it in NS4.

Zhorn · Post by **Zhorn** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 10:12 pm

If you want to take any Epic forms besides Undead Form, you need to pump Wisdom through the roof. I.e. 25(?) Wis for Outsider form, 27 for Construct and 30 for Dragon. So if you do want to take those forms then you need to start with 16 or 18 wisdom IMO.

You could have some fun with a Shifter/Druid/Fighter and turn into a Risen Lord at level 21 (+5 scythe, immune to crits, death magic, mind spells, 50% immunity to slashing/piercing weaps, etc) but your AB would probably suck. So yeah not being able to multiclass to monk weakens the hell out of the class.

Rakasha form is fun for getting up the noses of Wizards/Sorcs......

Builders, any chance in hell please of making Monk a class for The Circle??? I normally one just play Shifter/Druid/Monk for the fun factor, rather than being "uber". It'd mean less innocents PKed by my wizard......

This FAQ is pretty damn handy, though not being able to take Monk puts you at rather a large disadvantage!!

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/ ... hifter.txt

deathdearler1 · Post by **deathdearler1** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:39 am

was i wrong, but wasn't the 1.64 patch supposed to make a shifters gear stay equipped when they shifted. i could very well be mistaken about that part. my shifter still unequips when he takes a form then reequips when he comes out of form, making me have to rechoose bonus spells and stuff like that.

Epistaxis · Post by **Epistaxis** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:19 am

Not all shapes merges all your equipment. The wyrmlings only merge your weapons and armor and not boots, belts, amulets and rings. Only the humanoid shapes like kobold, drow, drider, vampire, risen lord merges the misc equip. Have not testet if the bonus spells is lost when using one of the shapes that merges rings, amulets and cloaks.

AlienOverlord · Post by **AlienOverlord** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:51 am

Pretty sure they didn't fix you losing spells when you shift, even if the form keeps the ammy you will still unequip it. Also, even though the server save bug is fixed you will still unequip and re-equip very quickly when the server saves (from what i have read in the bioware forums...would be hard to test that unless you can track a hit to you in the split second).

Your ab remains the same from before shifting but your bab may go up a bit from increased str or dex (for the kobold commander). To make a good shifter you only need to boost stats high enough to use desired feats and int for skill points and wis for spells and all the epic shapes. I posted two shifter builds in the circle forum you could check out.

Post by **Flailer** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 12:34 pm

Well, and of course the shifter fixes *were* too good to be true. Looks like it introduced some other bugs to shifters in this patch that cripples them again. Oh well. Maybe someday it'll be a playable class. Here's a post on the Bioware forums about it.

http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic ... ht=shifter

In addition, everytime the server autosaves your char, it apparently experiences a weight gain equal to the weapon of that shifted form, which keeps adding up every time you shift.

Shade

Post by **TheBestDeception** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:06 pm

AlienOverlord wrote:Pretty sure they didn't fix you losing spells when you shift, even if the form keeps the ammy you will still unequip it.

If you have enough Druid lvl's to get a decent Owl's insight bonus, ALWAYS cast that before shifting to avoid losing spells.

dond · Post by **dond** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 1:08 am

Flailer wrote:Well, and of course the shifter fixes *were* too good to be true. Looks like it introduced some other bugs to shifters in this patch that cripples them again. Oh well. Maybe someday it'll be a playable class. Here's a post on the Bioware forums about it.

http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic ... ht=shifter

In addition, everytime the server autosaves your char, it apparently experiences a weight gain equal to the weapon of that shifted form, which keeps adding up every time you shift.

Shade

i dont think they're worse off now.......the only shapes with weapons worthwhile is the epic drow and risen lord really (cant use heals in risen lord form though)

the new dragons are nice with +6 claws and dam reduction. epic gargoyle has nice pierce reduction too. but yea, sucks that bioware couldn't get it right after so long :/

AlienOverlord · Post by **AlienOverlord** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 8:07 am

Those bugs only happen on servers that have a custom shifter script, which is absent on this server. The dr from items seems to work fine as my shifter has slashing and bludgeoning resist on his armor and shield and does fine against treesmashers but gets ripped against blood drinkers (who use piercing). The biggest problem is that after a server save and the quick shift you lose any actions you were going to perform, but this was there before the patch. Also, I think if you lag out while shifted and log back in you will still be shifted but it appears you have lost merged items.

Epistaxis · Post by **Epistaxis** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 3:41 pm

Are any of you shifters able to quick shift in NS?

My shifter experience the weight gain bug and when I try to direct shift I end up unshifted.

I have noticed that the xp bug for having 3 classes with the prc the highest is solved as long as I am not choosing the drow shape?!?

scruffyspellslinger · Post by **scruffyspellslinger** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:46 am

I have noticed that the xp bug for having 3 classes with the prc the highest is solved as long as I am not choosing the drow shape?!?

I seem to remeber reading about this somewhere else. Drow is a race, so your favourite class has changed.

AlienOverlord · Post by **AlienOverlord** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 8:41 am

Can't direct shift, weight gain and a bug that actually makes me a tuff mofo - the lizzie shock damage, 3 poins piercing from kobold, 3 slashing from drow all stay on my weapon once the server has saved while i am in those shapes. Meaning even in human form my scimitar that normally already has 2d6 slashing, 1d6 cold now also has 1d6 electric, +3 piercing and +3 slashing :shock:

this stays thru a rest but goes away when i log out.

Epistaxis · Post by **Epistaxis** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:01 pm

Hehe, that is correct. But all those extra damage added because of the shifter bug is much needed if you want to use any other shape than the kobold or drider. The risen lord do not do much dam with his slashing scythe except when he lands a crit hit.
The risen lord barely able to take down a few drows when all extra dam has been added from all the other shapes. And the extra 12 pounds of weight added each time you are saved means you have to relog allot.

I would not call this an exploit since it is not making your shifter overpowered but usefull. I will rather call it buffing the shifter when going through all the shapes after a rest

Post by **TheBestDeception** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:13 pm

Problem is, people can get pissy (*cough* Frum) when you walk around in caster form immune to sneaks, crits, mind spells, paralysis...

On the other hand, it is entirely unrealistic to expect shifters or druids to log eveytime they unshift...guess its up to bioware to make a quick fix.