Beast Shape vs Monstrous Physique
Welcome to this mini-guide that will help you choosing (I hope) between Beast Shape and Monstrous Physique level-by-level, but also give you an overview of the various animals, magical beasts and monstrous humanoids you can assume with these spells.
The purpose of this guide is NOT to suggest you classes, spells, feats and magic items. There would be so many options to analyze that this document would be at least 200 pages long and, honestly, i don’t have the time, knowledge and patience to do something like that.
I will just limit myself to list the best polymorph shapes that these 8 spells have to offer, explaining why they are more noteworthy than the others, and then I will express my personal opinion about their strengths and shortcomings by comparing them against each other.
At the bottom of this guide you’ll find the two links for the spreadsheets I made with all animals, magical beasts and monstrous humanoids ordered by size, alongside every ability the spells grant you. The limits of the spells (i.e. which creature abilities you get) are color-coded according to this table:
Beast Shape I
Beast Shape II
Beast shape III
Beast shape IV
Monstrous Physique I
Monstrous Physique II
Monstrous Physique III
Monstrous Physique IV
IMPORTANT:
Some abilities, even if they are without any doubt an improved version of something that the spell would give you (for example see in darkness and darkvision, keen scent and scent, and so on), are not technically (RAW) related, and having access to the “improved version” does not give you automatically access to the “lesser version”. For example, if you are using Beast Shape (any) to assume the form of a creature with see in darkness ability but not darkvision, RAW you don’t get neither, as Beast Shape only grants darkvision, which the creature technically has not. In my opinion, however, related abilities should be treated inclusively, similarly to what happens when a creature has elemental immunity and the spell only grants elemental resistance. In the example, no creature with see in darkness would have any reason to also have darkvision, as the latter is included in the former and, therefore, Beast Shape should (RAI) grant you darkvision instead. In general, be sure to ask your GM. Please note that the spreadsheets are strictly RAW; but don’t worry, none of these abilities are so important to influence your choice and they are very rare anyway.
Before we begin, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to read the spells, which will be now referred as BS and MP:
Beast Shape (BS)
Monstrous Physique (MP)
Also, it’s REALLY important to familiarise with the Polymorph rules:
Transmutation (Polymorph)
The main difference between the two spells is that with MP you can continue to use your weapon, armor, activation items and, most importantly, you can keep casting in almost every case. With BS, instead, everything melds into your body and, in general, you lose the ability to speak and perform complex movements, which make the casting of spells with verbal and/or somatic components impossible (unless the form you are assuming is specifically able to perform such tasks, in which case be sure to have Eschew Materials, as your spell component pouch will meld too!).
Moreover, MP (from the II onwards) grants more than twice the number of abilities of BS.
“Wait, so Beast Shape is kinda shitty, why would I even consider it if there’s an overall better spell?”
The reason is the list of the forms you can actually assume and the focus of your character.
Just to start, BS offers a gamma of selection almost FOUR times larger and, obviously, higher versatility, but also very strong unique options. Secondly, if your plan is to change your shape to beat harder with your bare hands, maybe you don’t really care that much about in-combat spellcasting, do you? Plus, while it’s not real spellcasting, BS IV gives you access to REALLY awesome breath weapons and, as you perfectly know after reading the link about the Polymorph rules (I know you didn’t, come on, go read it), the breath weapon DC depends on your character, not the creature you stole it from, so high INT/CHA/WIS scores = high DC.
Of course, I will not comment about the almost 550 available forms, but only the most interesting and useful ones. Remember that, if you want to see all the forms, just go and follow the link at the bottom of this guide.
Beast Shape I
Not so many abilities at this level, so the selection is pretty simple.
Medium:
Digmaul: 4 attacks (3 primary), normal land speed and decent climb speed. Useful if you’re not sure walking would be enough.
Deinonychus: 4 attacks (3 primary) and a stunning land speed, the best combat form if you think walking will be enough.
Terror Wolf: the only medium animal with darkvision; pretty fast.
Giant Raven and Dimorphodon: the only 2 medium forms with fly speed. Honestly, unless you absolutely need the strength size bonus, the small sized eagle is better.
Monitor Lizard and Giant Frog: really good if you need to walk and swim. Keep in mind that (according to the Polymorph rules) if a creature gives you a swim speed, then you can breath underwater.
Asp or Venomous Snake: if you want a land, swim and climb speed at the same time.
Swamp Barracuda: the best aquatic form at this level.
Small:
Velociraptor: 3 attacks and excellent land speed, the best combat form in a common scenario.
Lynx: if you want to exchange some land speed for a climb speed.
Eagle: 3 attacks and a fly speed. One of the best. Unless you need to move really fast and pick the velociraptor, there are no other reason not to choose this form.
Dallo: the only small animal with darkvision. Kinda slow, but 3 primary attacks, so not bad.
Sea Snake: the one with the most versatile mobility.
Octopus: the best combat form underwater at this level. Remember that, unlike a normal octopus, you can keep breathing on land because the polymorphs don’t give you the aquatic subtype (Some may argue that you can’t, the community is split).
Monstrous Physique I
Medium:
Gargoyle: the iconic form of MP, and for a reason: 4 primary attacks, good land speed and fly speed. Plain and simple, what not to love? Well, the reason is...
Deathsnatcher: 6 primary attacks. Six. And he can fly too. He got see in darkness, not darkvision, so I hope you have a reasonable GM.
Sahuagin Four-Armed Mutant: with his 5 primary attacks is the best aquatic form.
Small:
Charda: 5 primary attacks and swim speed, just a little slow on land, but not bad at all. Too bad it’s the only decent form. If you really want to sacrifice 3 or 4 attacks for 10ft. or 20ft. land speed more, choose the Pukwudgie or the Formian Worker. There’s literally nothing more worth mentioning.
Beast Shape I vs Monstrous Physique I
Honestly, i would love to say something like “it depends on the use you want to make of it, there isn’t an overall better option” but, unfortunately, it would not be true. MP I beats BS I hands down despite its much smaller list. The only “almost exception” would be if you plan to build on dexterity and need small size forms, because the only MP I relevant form is the Charda, but BS I has more than 50 small animals. None of them with 5 attacks, but more versatile and mobile for sure. It’s up to you.
Beast Shape II
Medium:
Deinonychus: at this level it gets pounce; in terms of pure damage it’s still the best form.
Leopard: not as fast as the Deinonychus and with one less secondary attack, but it has got grab. It also has a climb speed, that does not hurt.
Cheetah: excellent form with 3 primary attacks, trip and very good land speed.
Terror Wolf: it’s still the only medium animal with darkvision and it gets trip too. Decent choice it you need to see in the dark.
Giant Raven: it’s still one of the 2 flying animals of this size, with BS II it flies slightly faster and nothing more, better off choosing a large form if you have enough space.
Monitor Lizard e Giant Frog: both get grab and are still a good choice for land/water environments.
Swamp Barracuda: if you’re sure you’ll not need the land speed, pick the Squid.
Squid: the best medium aquatic form of this level. 1 primary attack, 1 secondary, grab and 60ft. swim speed.
Small:
Lynx: the best land combat form. Very fast, decent climb speed, 3 attacks, pounce and grab. It’s a shame that grab only works on targets up to your size, so it will be unlikely to use it.
Dallo: it gets absolutely nothing at this level, but it’s still the only small animal with darkvision. 3 primary attacks, so it’s not really that bad… I guess.
Eagle: now it flies faster, but with its 3 attacks it can still compete with the other forms.
Jackal: the only small animal with trip.
Octopus: for combat, it’s still the best aquatic form and it gains grab (even if it’s not great on small creatures). If you want something fast, you have better options.
Large:
Tiger or Dire Tiger: 40ft. land speed, 3 primary attacks, pounce and grab. Unlike the Lion (that looks pretty much the same), Tigers have grab on ALL attacks. Really strong pick, probably the best for land combat.
Dire Hyena or Dire Wolf: if you want something with trip.
Gorthek: the only large animal with darkvision. But just like the Terror Wolf and the Dallo, you should really not use a 4th level spell just to see in the dark. It’s the last time I mention something for its darkvision.
Impaler Shrike: it flies at the maximum speed for this level and has got grab. Finally a good bird that is not the Eagle.
Giant Octopus: 1 primary attack and 8 secondary. Yes, eight, and all with grab and 20ft. of reach. Absolutely devastating. An unparalleled aquatic form (but not only, it’s not even that slow on land!); if you need something really fast underwater, however, choose something else.
Tiny:
Cat or Skunk: they’re the same, both with normal land speed and 3 attacks. The Cat has obviously a lower profile, but the Skunk has more style points. Honestly, nothing exciting, but there’s not anything better.
Hawk or Owl: very good winged forms for stealth scouting. They fly at the top of the BS II speed and have 2 primary attacks.
Blue-Ringed Octopus: the best tiny aquatic form for combat. 2 attacks and grab. Too bad grab will be 99% useless if you’re tiny.
Monstrous Physique II
Medium:
Gargoyle: now it flies slightly faster and has got the freeze ability. If you really need it, go for it. Otherwise, pick something else.
Deathsnatcher: the fly speed becomes 50ft. but, above all, it gets pounce. And pounce is a really juicy thing when you have 6 attacks.
Sahuagin Four-Armed Mutant: it swims faster and can… Talk with sharks! Jokes aside, still the best medium aquatic form.
Witchwyrd: 4 primary attacks, all with grab. Do not underestimate it.
Doppelganger: MP gives you a lot of strange and situational abilities that sometimes you don’t even remember they exist, one of them is mimicry. The doppelganger mimicry is so strong i MUST paste it here: “A doppelganger is proficient in all weapons, armor, and shields. In addition, a doppelganger can use any spell trigger or spell completion item as if the spells were on its spell list.” Ok, forget about the proficiency in all weapons (exotic included), armors and shields, who cares. This ability gives you, more or less, an infinite score in Use Magic Device.
Small:
Charda: now it just swims faster. but it’s still the best form of all the 5 ones.
Large:
Four-Armed Gargoyle: 6 attacks and freeze. Maybe a good alternative to the Deathsnatcher.
Tikbalang: only a primary attack and 2 secondary, but free hands. That means that none of its attacks are performed with its arms, so you can use them to wield weapons without losing any natural attack (although they would all become secondary) or even get more natural attacks by growing claws via Draconic Bloodline or similar abilities. It has got pounce, which is always great to have. The sound mimicry ability allows him to imitate voices. I guess it could have its use… Maybe.
Minotaur: the natural cunning ability could be very useful, seriously. Maybe you are a Sorcerer with 8 Int and victim of a maze spell: no problem. Your party gets lost in the underground and the character with the highest Survival score has a total bonus of -1? No problem.
Girtablilu: 3 primary attacks, 2 of them with grab, free hands.
Fen Mauler: if you need a large form with pounce and the highest number of primary attacks, which is 3.
Vouivre: 3 primary attacks (one with grab) and 2 secondary. It can fly and swim, one of the best aquatic forms.
Ichthyocentaur: it only has 2 secondary attacks, but free hands. It’s the only aquatic form with pounce.
Tiny:
You probably suspected it when I said there are only 5 small monstrous humanoids. There are NO tiny monstrous humanoids. Spoiler alert: no diminutive either. if you plan to build on dexterity, there’s only the Charda that gets slightly better at every level. Not sure if it’s worth though.
Beast Shape II vs Monstrous Physique II
The huge difference there were before between the two spells is mostly gone, MP doesn’t dominate the polymorph scene anymore: you can now actually feel the lack of number of monstrous humanoids compared to animals and, although there are some very high-performance forms, they’re practically the only ones worthy of note and can’t even cover all the skills the magic offers (for example, there are only 4 creatures in total with pounce and none with trip). BS definitely offers many more options, to the point that it was necessary to make a selection among the best ones, not just a list of “the only forms to have this thing”. But even if MP doesn’t even manage to approach the wide range of versatility offered by BS, the few forms available excellently do what they are good at, much better than the BS ones. So, it’s a bit awkward, but Monstrous Physique II is still better than Beast shape II for most of the cases.
Beast Shape III
From now on there are so many choices that it would be very tedious to mention them every time just because they gain a certain marginal ability. I will therefore mention them again only if they get huge improvements. If you need, for some reason, the creature with the better blindsense and small size or something that specific, you can search it on the spreadsheets at the bottom of this document.
Medium and small animals:
Stop. There is almost no reason to still use a form of a medium or small animal and ignore the huge size bonuses.
If you really have to go through a narrow tunnel just use a medium or small magical beast considering that you’re using BS III.
Large animals:
They’re the same from above with some slight improvement, nothing too special.
Honorable mention to the Giant Blowfish with a virtually lethal poison underwater.
Tiny animals:
Same as BS II.
Huge animals:
Allosaurus: excellent land speed, 3 primary attacks, grab, pounce and rake.
Warcat of Rull: it’s like the allosaurus, but with trample, a climb speed and no rake.
Giant Squid: 3 primary attacks and a secondary attack with grab and 30ft. reach. jet 260ft. and constrict. The best aquatic form.
Diminutive animals:
Of course there’s nothing for combat, they’re just stealthy scouting forms. For this purpose, consider eventually polymorphing into animals common in the setting you’re in (a cat in an urban environment, a bird in the wild, ...), and go around trying to appear as mundane and natural as possible.
Bat: the best fly speed and blindsense.
Salamander, Fire: if you need underwater scouting.
Medium magical beasts:
Su: 3 primary attacks, pounce, grab and rake. The best form for fighting.
Serpopard: The Su is slightly better (just for the climb speed), but it’s too cool looking to ignore it. Come on, just look at it: image.
Uraeus: 2 primary attacks, both with a VERY powerful poison (remember that the DC depends on your casting stat), it has a land speed, fly speed, climb speed, swim speed, darkvision, low light vision and scent.
Small magical beasts:
Aurumvorax: 5 primary attacks, all with grab. And a rake with FOUR more attacks. It has an ability called “grab”, but it’s a case of homonymy (and I’m not sure if you get it through BS, the spell says that you get grab, but this is not the common grab ability, so ask your gm). This ability makes it able to grapple with creatures up to medium size with a +8 bonus instead of the normal +4. It has ferocity and a burrow speed too. A form that makes you envy dexterity builds.
Voonith: 5 primary attacks, pounce and trip. Very good swim speed and normal land speed.
Monstrous Physique III
Just like BS, from now on I will repeat only the forms that gain something that matter (that doesn’t mean they’re useless, it’s just useless to repeat them).
Medium:
Deathsnatcher: it has now a pretty good poison, but nothing more.
Euryale: free hands and 6 secondary attacks with a strong poison, burrow 30ft. and all around vision. It’s worth to consider despite the medium size.
Sahuagin Four-Armed Mutant: it gains blindsense and blood frenzy, nothing else.
Small:
Charda: now with cold vigor, ferocity and overwhelming (it could be very strong if you plan to focus on it)
Large:
Girtablilu: it gains constrict and poison.
Huge:
Thriae Queen: very strong poison, but only 1 attack (but free hands).
Gegenees: 6 primary attacks all with grab. Not bad.
Tiny and Diminutive:
Error 404.
Beast Shape III vs Monstrous Physique III
Like I said before, MP doesn’t have enough forms to offer and the result is that you find yourself having a spell that gives you access to a handful of extra skills and only 5 new shapes (5 huge and 0 diminutive in total). It’s, more or less, a win by forfeit for BS, that at this level can boast of having access to some much stronger poisons and a lot of forms with rake, trample, pounce, constrict...
Beast Shape IV
Since the new abilities of this level almost exclusively concern the magical beasts (with the exception of rend and few other marginal things), I will not be bothered analyzing the animals.
Medium and Small magical beasts:
Uraeus: do you remember its devastating poison? Now it can spray it in a 30ft. line as a breath weapon. Creatures in the line must save against it of be blinded and exposed to his normal poison.
There’s nothing else here, just a bit of tremorsense here, a bit of elemental resistances there etc. Just look at the spreadsheet if you need something particular.
Large magical beasts:
Nue: 4 primary attacks and pounce, if you want a brutal combat form. It has a poison too, but it’s pretty bad.
Mngwa: another excellent combat form. 3 primary attacks, all with grab, pounce and rake.
High Girallon: 5 attacks and rend (even if rend triggered by 4 attacks sucks). It gives you energy resistance 20 to 4 out of 5 elements.
Cytillipede: really interesting poison.
Spider Eater: 2 primary attacks, 2 secondary and a terrifying poison that paralyzes for a minute.
Catoblepas: 2 primary attacks and 2 secondary, but the best part is its breath weapon: 60ft. cone that expose to a contact poison that does 1d6 CON damage. 3 consecutive saves to end the effect.
Gorgon: another very good breath weapon: 60 ft. cone that temporarily petrifies. A second exposure to the gas makes the petrification permanent.
Kamadan: 3 primary attacks and a secondary, pounce and, guess what, another huge breath weapon: this time it’s a 30ft. cone that puts to sleep.
Sleipnir: another awesome breath weapon. This one mimics a prismatic spray.
Dragon Horse: decent breath weapon (nothing too crazy like the others i just mentioned), but it has the best fly speed: 120ft. Could be useful.
Androsphinx: its roar has different effects at each use: the first time it scares, the second one it paralyzes and the third one does STR damage, a little hp damage and knocks down. It has grab, pounce and rake too, so it’s a good form for combat too.
Red Reaver: 3 attacks, rend and a roar that can panic everyone within 30ft. Honorable mentions: the Cerynitis with its 180ft. land speed and the Spark Nettle for the weirdest poison ever.
Diminutive magical beasts:
After all those beautiful large forms, this is kinda disappointing.
Dweomercat Cub: for the dexterity builds it can still be nice, I guess: 3 attacks, pounce and rake.
Monstrous Physique IV
This level doesn’t give you any new form, it just unlocks/upgrades more abilities. But the only monstrous humanoid that gets something cool is the Saurian for its roar. After that, only elemental resistances, tremorsense and rend.
Beast Shape IV vs Monstrous Physique IV
The initial situation has completely reversed. Not only there is no comparison between the two spells, but there’s actually no reason at all to choose MP IV instead of BS IV. No new forms and marginal abilities from one side; so many choices you can’t even handle from the other.
I hope this little guide has been useful, the links below are for the spreadsheets with all the forms.
Both this document and the spreadsheets are linked to my google account, so they automatically update. Your changes to the files are temporary and only visible by yourself, so don’t worry about order columns, rows and move things. If you want permanent changes, just download it and do it.
If you find any errors or notice the absence of an animal, magic beast or monstrous humanoid, do not hesitate to contact me and I will update the documents as soon as possible.
