Editing Familiarity Question (section)

==What to do as a player==
Players have three things to do when making such a character, and they have to stick with them all the way.

===Oath of Humility: aka Don't Be a [[Munchkin]]===
Few things are more annoying in a game than to have one player solve all of the problems the party faces without anyone else getting a say in this. As such, players will have to state to everyone (both the DM and the [[party]]) that yes, they are aware they can do a lot of things and they must SWEAR to not use their powers to break the game or overshadow the other party members. Aka: don't solo the game. This will garner a lot of goodwill with the rest of the party.

===Write up your bestiary===
Having someone go through several books to see what they can turn into to help the party, or write up a new form for a situation is VERY ANNOYING for it grinds the game to a halt. If you want to turn into a variety of things, you have two ways of doing this.

* Write down all your forms. In case that you can generate infinite forms on your own, make sure you have a form ready to go. Order them by name, by type, by species; whatever works for you as long as it is fast to look up. Use sticky notes for various types if you need them.
* When you want to use critters from the [[Monster Manual]] or other physical books, know where they are. Don't go turning pages to see what works best: know what you want to turn into, then flip to that page. And please, use your own books for this effort. As a rule of thumb, if it takes longer than a turn (6 seconds or so) to look something up you're doing it wrong.

Additionally, you might find it useful to keep notes with several forms fit to a specific solution. For example:

* Fighting: War [[Troll]], Cloud Giant, [[Baatezu|Chain Devil]]
* Flying: [[Pegasus]], Roc, Air [[Elemental]], Gargoyle, Young Red [[Dragon]]
* Social: [[Succubus]], Nymph, [[Changeling]]
* Swimming: Dragon Turtle, Water Elemental, Sahuagin, Plesiosaurus

If the rules indicate that your stats contribute to the creature's stats, make sure to calculate this along the way. Make tables if you need them to determine things like your new AC if you have armor that contributes to this.

===Justify your character knowing these things===
Both the easiest and the hardest part. Have a reason for your character to know all these creatures. Maybe he was raised by a circle of druids who taught him all about the creatures of the natural world? Maybe your grandfather was a renowned [[ranger]] who wrote some great almanac of the monsters of the world, from which he read to his beloved granddaughter. Maybe your parents were Aberration hunters who wanted their child to know of the monsters they faced? Or maybe you're playing a GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER who is in it to hunt and bag all the great beasts of the world. Make something up, something fun and with hooks for the DM and you'll be set.

===Take ranks in Knowledge skills===
Later Monster Manuals explicitly state that a knowledge check of 10+CR allows you to identify a monster, and per the knowledge skill that means you're remembering what it is. Since a Wizard is already rocking knowledge skills and a Druid should have max ranks in Nature, this means you aren't likely to be hindered by this too much unless you're a Sorcerer or other caster that somehow got polymorph spells on their spell list. Simultaneously the most explicit and least restrictive solution.