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Dragon shape

Type of feat: general (available every three level-ups) (epic)
Prerequisite: 21st level, wisdom 30+, either wild shape 6x/day or greater wildshape IV

Specifics: The character may use wild shape to change into a dragon. The transformation has a duration of 1 hour per class level.

Use: selected. After selecting, the character must choose what type of dragon they will appear as.

Dragon forms[]

Dragon shapes are huge polymorphs that merge properties from the items in the armor slot, helmet slot, and (if it's a shield) the off-hand slot. (Unlike wyrmling shapes, miscellaneous items are not merged.) Whether or not the merged properties stack depends on whether or not those properties would stack when placed on the same item. Typically, this means that only regeneration will stack.

As with many polymorphs, dragon shapes override the character's strength, dexterity, and constitution, as well as provide temporary hit points, a new armor class, and natural weapons. The following stats are shared by all available dragon types.

Str Dex Con THP AC Attack
modifier
Damage
48 36 32 +100 41 claw: +23
bite: +17
claw: 2d8+25
bite: 2d8+19

In addition, dragon shapes have spell resistance 20, true seeing, damage reduction 40/+6, and immunity to mind spells, sneak attack, and paralysis.

The armor class comes from the standard base (10), plus the dexterity modifier (13), a dodge bonus included in the polymorph (20), and the size modifier (-2). This will be further modified by the highest bonus from the merged items. The type of the bonus does not matter, as all item bonuses are converted to deflection as part of the polymorph. In addition, other modifiers from non-item sources still apply (these are not converted to deflection by the polymorph).

The natural weapons consist of two claws and one bite; the game randomly chooses one of these weapons for each attack. The listed attack modifier for the claws includes the strength modifier (19), an enhancement bonus (6), and the size modifier (-2). The bite is similar, but lacks the enhancement bonus. This modifier is added to the other normal modifiers to attack rolls; in the simplest case, these other modifiers consist of just the character's base attack bonus.

Natural weapons come with some caveats that are applicable to dragon shapes. First, the dragon's natural weapons will be able to bypass X/+6 damage reduction thanks to the dragon's own X/+6 damage reduction, even though the bite lacks an enhancement bonus. Second, natural weapons interact inconsistently with weapon-specific feats. Notably, improved critical (unarmed strike) and overwhelming critical (unarmed strike) work while using natural weapons. However, weapon focus (unarmed strike), epic weapon focus (unarmed strike) and devastating critical (unarmed strike) do not work.

There are three types of dragon available through this feat. Aside from cosmetic differences, these types differ in their breath weapon, damage immunity, and damage vulnerability. The breath weapon of a dragon without at least 10 levels of shifter suffers a -4 penalty on the DC and has the number of damage dice reduced by 4.

Dragon Breath Immunity Vulnerability
Blue, ancient lightning electrical 100%  
Green, ancient gas acid 100%  
Red, ancient fire fire 100% cold 50%

Notes[]

  • Requires Hordes of the Underdark.
  • This feat can only be acquired when advancing in druid or shifter levels.
  • Despite the description the duration is permanent.
  • This is the only epic shape feat that is available to druids without shifter levels.
  • This form of shapeshifting cannot be dispelled.
  • Unlike normal dragon monsters, a character will not gain a fear-aura when shapeshifted to a dragon.
  • Due to the high wisdom requirement of this feat, a single monk level — with its associated wisdom-based monk AC bonus — can greatly benefit a character with dragon shape. Furthermore, the monk level provides the monk's unarmed attack progression, stunning fist (with a decent DC), and discipline and tumble as class skills. Moreover, a character can equip a shield before assuming dragon form, which will cause the shield's properties to be merged but will not — while shifted — disable those monk bonuses that are normally disabled when a shield is equipped.
  • A common way to quickly meet the wisdom requirement of this feat is taking levels of champion of Torm after level 20; this class gets a bonus feat every two levels (up to class level 10), and great wisdom is one of the choices (for epic characters).
  • This feat can only be used three times a day (despite the description stating that the character is "using wild shape" to turn into a dragon).
  • Because of the dragon's huge size, he may not fit through small doors or corridors, etc. Thus, one must use the limited daily uses wisely.

Previous versions[]

  • Prior to version 1.69, this feat only required wild shape 5x/day, not 6x/day as stated in the in-game description.
  • When the Hordes of the Underdark was originally released, this creature had only meager damage reduction (5/+1), and its claws only did 2d6 damage, lacking the +6 enhancement.

Custom content notes[]

  • A custom class must have this feat in their feat list, or that class will not be able to select it as a general feat.
  • script: X2_S2_GWildShp
  • breath attack script: X2_S2_EDragBrth
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