Anti-climactic BBEG battle

[tennyson]

Hi Everyone,

This past Saturday my group and I held an extra long gaming session (15 hours - we don't get to play that often!), and finally confronted the villian the group had been chasing for months.

At the time of the confrontation, we had been playing for a long time, so please excuse any lack of rules accuracy. Here's what happened:

The entire party is 7th level. Our gnome wizard, upon seeing the BBEG, casts his newly acquired Polymorph spell. He turns into a storm giant and proceeds to wipe the castle walls (literally) with the remains of the villian. There was absolutely no hope for the evil guy this time.

As I said, we were all tired, and the thought of the spell being incorrect didn't cross our minds (well, actually it did, but we were all too tired to argue). Long story short, the battle lasted about three to four rounds - not very satisfying for a "final" battle.

I'm sure our gnome wizard was not trying to break the rules, but no one in our group had the physical capacity to discuss the point. Can someone please shed some light on this? Was the spell executed wrong, or did the BBEG get what he deserved? Thanks in advance!

 

[dungeon blaster]

Here's my 2cp: never play for 15 hours straight, and NEVER do a climactic battle after playing for 15 hours straight.

I wish I could really answer your question, but I've got no idea.

 

[Pielorinho]

The assumed form can’t have more Hit Dice than your caster level (or the subject’s HD, whichever is lower), to a maximum of 15 HD at 15th level.

Daniel

 

[Gentlegamer]

I'm not up on my 3e . . . in the old days, such a feat would require the high level Shapechange spell, I believe . . .

 

[calypso15]

"The assumed form can’t have more Hit Dice than your caster level (or the subject’s HD, whichever is lower), to a maximum of 15 HD at 15th level."

Daniel

Well... a 19 HD Storm Giant isn't that far away from 7 HD... oh wait.

Calypso

 

[tennyson]

Here's the Polymorph description:

This spell functions like alter self, except that you change the willing subject into another form of living creature. The new form may be of the same type as the subject or any of the following types: aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or vermin. The assumed form can’t have more Hit Dice than your caster level (or the subject’s HD, whichever is lower), to a maximum of 15 HD at 15th level. You can’t cause a subject to assume a form smaller than Fine, nor can you cause a subject to assume an incorporeal or gaseous form. The subject’s creature type and subtype (if any) change to match the new form.
Upon changing, the subject regains lost hit points as if it had rested for a night (though this healing does not restore temporary ability damage and provide other benefits of resting; and changing back does not heal the subject further). If slain, the subject reverts to its original form, though it remains dead.
The subject gains the Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores of the new form but retains its own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. It also gains all extraordinary special attacks possessed by the form but does not gain the extraordinary special qualities possessed by the new form or any supernatural or spell-like abilities.
Incorporeal or gaseous creatures are immune to being polymorphed, and a creature with the shapechanger subtype can revert to its natural form as a standard action.

If Polymprph does behave like Alter Self, wouldn't that automatically prevent the size category change?

 

[tennyson]

Here's my 2cp: never play for 15 hours straight, and NEVER do a climactic battle after playing for 15 hours straight.

I wish I could really answer your question, but I've got no idea.

I agree, and we normally don't. However, we hadn't played for 4 months (I live 5 hours away), and we wanted cram as much gaming goodness into one day as possible.

 

[Pielorinho]

If Polymprph does behave like Alter Self, wouldn't that automatically prevent the size category change?

You assume the form of a creature of the same type as your normal form. The new form must be within one size category of your normal size.

Edit: D'oh! Storm Giants are huge: you're right!

Daniel

 

[Thanee]

Nope, Polymorph has no real size restrictions. Can be anything from fine to colossal.

The HD limit does prevent the above, tho, as has been mentioned already.

Bye
Thanee

 

[shilsen]

Nope, Polymorph has no real size restrictions. Can be anything from fine to colossal.

The HD limit does prevent the above, tho, as has been mentioned already.

Bye
Thanee

Since the polymorph spell description says that it behaves like alter self except for the following info, and the following says nothing to change the size clause, wouldn't that restriction still apply?

Has that been dealt with in the FAQ or one of the RotG articles?