Wildshape Really is that Crazy

[Username17]

Remember that ancient argument about whether Elemental Wildshape is supposed to turn you into anything that is a Large Elemental, or if it's just supposed to turn you into the generic Large Elemental on page 100 of the Monster Manual?

The Halfling Druid substitution level gives them "undersized wildshape", that allows them to turn into tiny elementals. There are no generic tiny elementals. Elemental Wildshape really is that crazy-go-nuts.

-Username17

[Crissa]

Flame kittens!

-Crissa

[Josh_Kablack]

1142404458[/unixtime]]Remember that ancient argument about whether Elemental Wildshape is supposed to

Actually I remember that debate being more about what the RAW actually said. Of course, that might just be because I refuse to beleive that the designers intentionally said, "Druids get Win Game as a 16th level ability", not even with Ed Stark's crazy tree hugger powerups.

[MrWaeseL]

I thought WIldshape added templates now? That means you can break the game as soon as you get it, and this point is moot?

[Fwib]

Alternate Form now has no-templates wording, so Wild Shape is still no-templates.

[Username17]

Alternate Form now has no-templates wording, so Wild Shape is still no-templates.

That may or may not have been the intention, but that isn't what it says.

Alternate Form is an ability that won't let you assume the form of a creature with a template. Wildshape functions like that ability except that it lets you transform into an elemental typed creature.

Thanks to poor use of sentence by sentence errata, Wildshape's ability to transform into an elemental is still an exception (only now to Alternate Form, which has no built-in restrictions against being an elemental rather than to polymorph which does). So if it's an elemental in the size and hit die range, you can transform into it even if Alternate Form would normally prevent you from doing so.

And that means that templatted forms are still legal for wildshape, just not for most other form changing magic. All rules changes are required by law to favor druids.

-Username17