A Genie Offers To Change You Int A Member Of A Different Race

[The Human Target]

Whoever said LeShay has a good (and power hungry) head on their shoulders.

I agree.

 

[Kelleris]

I was about to pick Elan too (immortality--wooh!), but they are sadly Aberrations and thus unreachable for this thread. Thus, I would pick some sort of fey. Any sort would probably do--even pixies can Polymorph themselves, although Nymph is nice for the 7th-level Druid caster ability, if not for that girl-only thing.

Yeah, but if you think like a guy (whatever that means) and have shapechanging abilities, can you really even be considered to be female anymore? Especially in a world like ours that does not have any way to discern your "true" form through the polymorph. Err, other than killing you off, I suppose...

But I agree that the LeShay's the way to go. Super-powerful, immortal, and you can pull a pair of +10 bastard swords out of your butt. A DC 53 gaze to charm everyone you meet, and the ability to use alter self, heal, greater teleport, and water breathing all at will. Sounds like a good deal to me, eh?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Yeah, but if you think like a guy (whatever that means) and have shapechanging abilities, can you really even be considered to be female anymore? Especially in a world like ours that does not have any way to discern your "true" form through the polymorph. Err, other than killing you off, I suppose...

But I agree that the LeShay's the way to go. Super-powerful, immortal, and you can pull a pair of +10 bastard swords out of your butt. A DC 53 gaze to charm everyone you meet, and the ability to use alter self, heal, greater teleport, and water breathing all at will. Sounds like a good deal to me, eh?

I guess that's true. Of course, Leshay falls under my "any fey" loose requirement, but I'm not quite that greedy

 

[Kelleris]

Did I mention you'd have a +22 racial bonus to Intelligence, a +12 to Wisdom, and a +36 (!) to Charisma? Eh? Eh?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Did I mention you'd have a +22 racial bonus to Intelligence, a +12 to Wisdom, and a +36 (!) to Charisma? Eh? Eh?

That's a lot of Charisma. Sure makes the Nymph's +8 look like nothing

 

[Kelleris]

I'm sayin'. Then all you need is two levels of Paladin.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I'm sayin'. Then all you need is two levels of Paladin.

Ah, but a Nymph Paladin can add double her Charisma bonus to saves and 1x the bonus to AC

So with 18 + 8 (racial)= 26 + 16 (stat raises, tome, enhancement) = 42, a non-epic Nymph Pal2 could have +16 to AC and +32 to saves. The Leshay Paladin could have 18 + 36 (racial) = 54 + 11 (tome, enhancement) = 65, so +27 to saves.

Nymph wins!

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

The Djinn does not need to twist the Wish. The consequences of such a Wish are dire enough.

You were elven. Now you are human. Something called Mortality weighs on you with the weight of a 200 ton locomotive.
You were human. Now you are elven. Suddenly values and ethics are yours that never existed before, and all your world up til now is alien and hostile.
You were dwarven, now you are human. You now exist in a horrifically lonely world, one without family, family ties, and clan, a neutral world devoid of ethics and reason. And when you try your hand at the forge, your muscles fail and your skills falter.
You were human, now you are dwarven. Goodbye freedom, hello obligations to family and clan. The sun is now frightful, but the clausterphobic rock is now delightful.

You were male, now you are female.
Congratulations, everything now looks and feels completely wrong. You feel differently towards most situations. You even think differently towards many situations (whether you want to or not.)
Oh, and you want to have children. Minor point.
And guys are hitting on you. Another minor point.

You were female, now you are male.
You are now seized by aggression hormones you never had and don't know how to cope with. The world looks and feels radically different. You can no longer cope with certain aspects of your own children, perhaps.
And now you are seized with this sudden, incredible desire for ... females. A reaction you do not understand, but which is constant and enough to drive you out of your mind.

-

Of course, it gets worse.

You were an elf. Now you are a dwarf. Welcome to the Twilight Zone. Everything, from your feelings and thoughts, to the world around you, is utterly alien and frightful.
You were a dwarf. Now you are an elf. Welcome to the Twilight Zone. See above.
You were a human. Now you are an orc. Can you learn to behave like one before the orcs kill you? You can't stay with your fellow humans!
You were an orc. Now you are a human. Uh ... and you have to act like one?! You DO?!

Of course, changing from a demihuman to a monstrous entity requires a much greater adaptation yet. The dragons, fey, illithid, beholders, phaerimm, planars ... all have profoundly inhuman mindsets. But hey, you'll adapt, right?
Yes, you will. Because if you don't, you will go stark raving mad.

One of the most interesting things about being a druid, mage, or sorcerer, is that you can shapeshift and experience the mindsets of other races and sexes, and even attempt to comprehend the monstrous mindset.
But it's no easy task!

-

I could see a half-elf becoming fully elven (or, in rare cases, fully human.)
I could definitely see a half-dwarf of Athas becoming a full dwarf.
And I could see a half-orc becoming a full human (or, in rare cases, a full orc.)
In these cases, the change might be entirely welcome, and entirely pleasant (although not necessarily entirely good.) Even then, it is a massive, life-altering affair.

-

It's a matter of roleplaying. I would think a character accustomed to being both male and female, and of being elven, human, dwarven, halfling, and some of the monstrous races, would be a character forged in a pit of molten steel to have very extremely high wisdom and insight.
Such a character would have to maintain a colossal sense of Self, so as not to be blown away on the wind of all those changes. And he'd need a colossal amount of self-discipline, to maintain his sense of Self.

 

[Kelleris]

Ah, but a Nymph Paladin can add double her Charisma bonus to saves and 1x the bonus to AC

So with 18 + 8 (racial)= 26 + 16 (stat raises, tome, enhancement) = 42, a non-epic Nymph Pal2 could have +16 to AC and +32 to saves. The Leshay Paladin could have 18 + 36 (racial) = 54 + 11 (tome, enhancement) = 65, so +27 to saves.

Nymph wins!

Oh well, I guess I'll have to console myself with the LeShay's 50 racial Hit Dice. I feel so foiled!

I will admit that the druidic spellcasting the nymph comes with is tempting, though. But being able to heal and greater teleport at will softens the blow, as it were.

The real problem is that the LeShay's flavor text is crazy-angsty - they're precursor elves that had to delete themselves from the timestream because they mucked something up royally. So now they wander around pouting and being elvener than the elves all the time. I'm not sure I could handle that nonsense.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Oh well, I guess I'll have to console myself with the LeShay's 50 racial Hit Dice. I feel so foiled!

I will admit that the druidic spellcasting the nymph comes with is tempting, though. But being able to heal and greater teleport at will softens the blow, as it were.

The real problem is that the LeShay's flavor text is crazy-angsty - they're precursor elves that had to delete themselves from the timestream because they mucked something up royally. So now they wander around pouting and being elvener than the elves all the time. I'm not sure I could handle that nonsense.

That's true. It would probably be more fun to be a Nymph and live as one with nature or be a Pixie and play tricks on people As someone mentioned above, the Sirines are pretty cool too, and if I could choose races other than those released by Wizards in 3.X, I'd choose the Sidhe race I use in my homebrew. Now they're cool.