Whats the latest rules on how polymorph works?

[darthkilmor]

Specifically, I want permanently polymorph one of my players(or say, an NPC) into say, a Troll. Whats the resulting creature's capabilties? Does it have regeneration? Whats its physical and mental stats? Should it gain a level adjustment ? From the bit I've looked at in PHB2, it seems like he would pretty much have the stats of the troll as they are in the MM? but this doesnt quite seem right , am I just confused or ?

 

[Christian]

Specifically, I want permanently polymorph one of my players(or say, an NPC) into say, a Troll. Whats the resulting creature's capabilties? Does it have regeneration? Whats its physical and mental stats? Should it gain a level adjustment ? From the bit I've looked at in PHB2, it seems like he would pretty much have the stats of the troll as they are in the MM? but this doesnt quite seem right , am I just confused or ?

He'd have the physical stats, attacks (including extraordinary attacks, but not supernatural or spell-like abilities), size, natural armor, mundane movement capabilities, and racial skill bonuses and bonus feats.

So, a human polymorphed to a troll would become size Large (with the associated 10' reach), have Str 23, Dex 14, and Con 23 (regardless of his normal scores, even if they're higher), gain a +5 natural armor bonus, 2 primary claw attacks and a secondary bite attack. He does not gain regeneration, darkvision, scent, etc.

You can get this from the PH spell entries for alter self and polymorph.

 

[darthkilmor]

You can get this from the PH spell entries for alter self and polymorph.

Except whats printed in the PHB has changed in the PHB 2 with the introduction of the polymorph subschool I thought?, which was the point of my question. Whats the Latest ruling on how a permanent polymorphing works, especially regarding things like level adjustment(is there a faq entry i'm unaware of or ? )

 

[Christian]

PHB2 are optional rules. My answer was based on the PHB and the PHB errata ...

 

[Arkhandus]

Yeah. And anyway, WotC's official opinion is that Polymorph effects are broken and they can't fix them, so you shouldn't use them at all. Because it's just easier for them to say that than to actually just fix whatever little problems exist in how they keep rewording and reworking the entire stupid suite of Polymorph-esque effects.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Just ignore the errata and use the original. The errata is pointless, unnecessary, and confused. Unless you've specifically had problems with the PHB version just go with it.

 

[eamon]

Except whats printed in the PHB has changed in the PHB 2 with the introduction of the polymorph subschool I thought?, which was the point of my question. Whats the Latest ruling on how a permanent polymorphing works, especially regarding things like level adjustment(is there a faq entry i'm unaware of or ? )

The PHB2 alterations explicitly don't apply to any PHB spells. PHB2 introduces a simpler polymorph mechanic for new spells which replaces most abilities with those of the new form - so you lose class abilities etc. The subschool is explicitly not applicable to polymorph itself.

 

[darthkilmor]

The PHB2 alterations explicitly don't apply to any PHB spells. PHB2 introduces a simpler polymorph mechanic for new spells which replaces most abilities with those of the new form - so you lose class abilities etc. The subschool is explicitly not applicable to polymorph itself.

The polymorph subschool is not applicable to polymorph....Thats...jeez, thats not confusing at all! Thanks WotC! Stupid PHB2! <sigh>.

 

[gnfnrf]

The polymorph subschool is not applicable to polymorph....Thats...jeez, thats not confusing at all! Thanks WotC! Stupid PHB2! <sigh>.

To be inanely precise: The polymorph subschool does apply to the spell polymorph, but none of the general effects (the rules that make it sane to run) that are true for all PHBII and later polymorph subschool spells retroactively apply to earlier ones.

And remember, kids, if you polymorph into a Lumi, your head falls off, because Floating Head is an extraordinary special quality.

--
gnfnrf

 

[King-Panda]

Use Rich Burlew's Polymorph rules. They have worked very well in my game. Although they reduce the power of polymorph (which in my opinion is a good thing), they make it a lot more balanced in relation to the power of similar-level spells.

http://www.giantitp.com/Gaming.html