I adore shapeshifting in games and wish it were done more often, and better. I think it's great fun and love the classes that can use these abilities to turn into animals and what not to sneak, claw, rip, bite and tear at their foes. Games which I know have a shapeshifting mechanic, to one extent or another:
- Baldur's Gate 2: Druids and high level mages get spells/abilities to transform into animals, elementals and magical beasts, gaining their natural attributes and abilities.
- Neverwinter Nights (1 & 2): As with BG2, Druids and arcane spellcasters get such abilities. NWN1 also had the Shifter prestige class that was all about the ability to take other forms, with powerful bonuses including limitless transformations. Also, my favourite NWN2 class, the Warlock has a high level spell to change into an awesome Demon.
- WoW: The druid is fantastic, my favourite class back when I played this game years ago. Switching between forms in combat to make use of bear/cat abilities, or normal form for spells was fun and satisfying.
- Dragon Age: Origins: It's underpowered in the vanilla game but mods really help here, making the forms more useful, more balanced and many, many more of them (Sloth Demon!)
- Skyrim: The vanilla game has werewolves and the Dawnguard DLC adds a Vampire Lord. Both have their uses and fun but mods make them both better. There are also mods that add other forms to play with (varying from clunky to superb).
- Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines: Not really a major example, but the Gangrel clan's signature ability, Protean grants claws at level one and at five, turns you into a full on claw-whirlwind.
- Divinity 2: You are a Dragon Knight, a unique soldier with the ability to shift into a mighty dragon. There is a lot of gameplay for both human and dragon forms with enjoyable RPG questing/exploration, the odd puzzle, boss fight etc.
- Baldur's Gate 2: Druids and high level mages get spells/abilities to transform into animals, elementals and magical beasts, gaining their natural attributes and abilities.
- Neverwinter Nights (1 & 2): As with BG2, Druids and arcane spellcasters get such abilities. NWN1 also had the Shifter prestige class that was all about the ability to take other forms, with powerful bonuses including limitless transformations. Also, my favourite NWN2 class, the Warlock has a high level spell to change into an awesome Demon.
- WoW: The druid is fantastic, my favourite class back when I played this game years ago. Switching between forms in combat to make use of bear/cat abilities, or normal form for spells was fun and satisfying.
- Dragon Age: Origins: It's underpowered in the vanilla game but mods really help here, making the forms more useful, more balanced and many, many more of them (Sloth Demon!)
- Skyrim: The vanilla game has werewolves and the Dawnguard DLC adds a Vampire Lord. Both have their uses and fun but mods make them both better. There are also mods that add other forms to play with (varying from clunky to superb).
- Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines: Not really a major example, but the Gangrel clan's signature ability, Protean grants claws at level one and at five, turns you into a full on claw-whirlwind.
- Divinity 2: You are a Dragon Knight, a unique soldier with the ability to shift into a mighty dragon. There is a lot of gameplay for both human and dragon forms with enjoyable RPG questing/exploration, the odd puzzle, boss fight etc.
