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War Shaper 2 gets the following ability:

Morphic Body (Su): At 2nd level and higher, a warshaper can use its precise control over its form to make itself stronger and heartier. It gains +4 to Strength and +4 to Constitution. (CW, p. 90)

But how does this interact with Wild Shape? Given that you get the Strength, Dexterity and Constitution of the new form, does Morphic Body add to the new form or is it overridden?

For example: a Wild Shape Ranger 5/Master of Many Forms 2/Warshaper 2 turns herself into a troll. Normally a troll has 23 Strength and 23 Constitution. But in combination with Morphic Body do these grow to 27 each because it's a Supernatural Ability? Or do they remain 23 because it's a bonus to the character's basic stats?

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2 Answers 2

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Added to New Form

Wild Shape

This ability functions like the alternate form special ability [...]

Alternate Form

  • The creature retains the [...] supernatural attacks of its old form [...]

In this case, Morphic Body is a supernatural ability of your original form. You retain the ability, so you can use it to apply the +4 bonuses to your new Strength and Constitution scores.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Supernatural Abilities are not necessarily Special Qualities. You want the bullet point beneath the one you quoted. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Feb 16, 2015 at 16:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ Alright. Incidentally, do you get bonus points to your HP every time you level up once you have Morphic Body? Or does it not count because it's an Supernatural Ability instead of a flat bonus to your stats? \$\endgroup\$
    – Thomas Jacobs
    Feb 17, 2015 at 12:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ It is an untyped bonus. It would give the additional +2 HP per HD. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ruut
    Feb 18, 2015 at 0:05
  • \$\begingroup\$ This is a nitpick, but according to the sample statblock in Complete Warrior, morphic body is a Special Quality. It's probably not a Supernatural Attack, since it's not listed as a Special Attack. It's a nitpick, however, because it still qualifies equally. \$\endgroup\$
    – Quadratic Wizard
    Jan 10, 2018 at 0:40
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All Warshaper abilties only work when shapeshifted, so they modify your new forms Ability Scores, but not your Originals. Its easy to miss because its in the header before the actual abilities are listed.

In the Complete Warrior, under the chart but before it describes Morphic Immunities, it states:

"All of the following are class features of the warshaper prestige class. The class features function only when the warshaper is in a form other than her own (which for doppleganger and phasm warshapers is most of the time."

Its on page 90.

So to be simple, your new forms Str and Con go up by 4 each, every time your in a form not your own. All related abilties rise to fit the new modifiers as well, EXCEPT you hit points which are based on the constitution of your original form.

So yes, if you turn into a troll, both the relevant stats raise to a 27, however your base stats are not chanhed by this ability.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Hi, welcome to the site! We may be a bit different than you’re used to: we’re hyper-focused on the whole Q&A thing, so Answers have to answer the question. This kind of hints at an answer, but taken on its own it doesn’t quite. Editing to include a kind of conclusion from the line you point out (e.g. “So it must work in wild shape, because that’s the only time it could work” or something) would make this a good answer. Or you could ask a mod to make this a comment on the question, but I think that answer is the better approach. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Jan 9, 2018 at 13:55
  • \$\begingroup\$ Hi Devin, and welcome. Check out the tour to see how we work here. I agree with what KRyan's advising -- one way to put it is we expect answers to fill in the blanks, join the dots, etc, and provide a complete answer rather than suggest pointers toward one. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Jan 9, 2018 at 14:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Devin Thanks for amending the answer and clarifying. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Jan 9, 2018 at 23:04

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