Alter Self & the poly sub-school

[mikebr99]

Hi there,
What does the Polymorph sub-school (PHBII) actually do to the alter self spell?

thank you,

Mike

 

[MarkB]

Nothing. The effects described in the Polymorph sub-school do not override the descriptive text of pre-existing spells of that subschool.

 

[Banshee16]

Nothing. The effects described in the Polymorph sub-school do not override the descriptive text of pre-existing spells of that subschool.

Does that mean that you can have Polymorph, Shapechange, *and* Dragonshape? Dragonshape doesn't eliminate the others?

I'm really not a fan of these changes, as I never found the spells to be a problem in the first place. It would be nice to know they're not outright eliminating the spells.

Rather than spells that turn you into a specific creature, I'd almost prefer a Summon Monster type arrangement of each spells, one for each level, and with each, you could turn into any creature with a corresponding CR.

Banshee

 

[MarkB]

Does that mean that you can have Polymorph, Shapechange, *and* Dragonshape? Dragonshape doesn't eliminate the others?

More accurately, dragonshape overrides the others. Aside from a few features you completely become a mature adult red dragon, whatever you were polymorphed into before.

I'm really not a fan of these changes, as I never found the spells to be a problem in the first place. It would be nice to know they're not outright eliminating the spells.

I think the main problem with them (aside from book-keeping) is that they're tied to Hit Dice as a means of limiting their power curve, and Hit Dice are only loosely related to creatures' actual power levels.

Rather than spells that turn you into a specific creature, I'd almost prefer a Summon Monster type arrangement of each spells, one for each level, and with each, you could turn into any creature with a corresponding CR.

I think that would probably work rather well.

 

[glass]

Hi there,
What does the Polymorph sub-school (PHBII) actually do to the alter self spell?

If you use the polymorph subschool variant from PHBII, all it does to alter self is add a little '(Polmorph)' after the Transmutation school. All the other special rules are overrriden by the spells own description.


glass.