are shifters the infinte glove of storing?

[skymage]

i've been playing a shifter for awhile now and i just relized that i carry almost nothing. most of it is melded into me most of the time. the only things that arn't melded into me are my quarter staff spellcomps and magic items that have to be worn. food rope thieves tools emergancy weapons and anything to heavy to carry such as plate armor we plan to sell is melded into me so we don't have to carry it or find room for it on the one mount. i usually have a 1 or 2 uses of GWS left at the end of the day to get what i need.

my questions are

can i walk around with 50lbs of stuff melded into me?

what about 100lbs or 1000lbs?

is this one of the over looked benifets of the shifter? or is this wrong?

should i still have to worry about weight?

is there a limit to the volume of stuff i can meld into me?

i can't find a limit to how much can be melded so i don't think there is one but i might have missed something.

it seems like it would be important especially with evershifting form just 2 levels away (for me anyways).



what about dispel magic?

i have scale armor with the wild ability from MotW.

can my armor or any item that is melded into me for that matter get dispeled while it's melded into me?

this one i don't know i have no opinion one way or the other but it has never come up. i just got my armor and i know that eventually i will have to face a dispel.


would i detect as magical if i have magic items melded in me?

same for this one never came up and i have no idea.


what about arcane spell failure?

i'm a sorcerer so i have to worry about it. my comon sense says that i don't have to worry about spell failure cause it is now a part of me, but somtimes i find out i have not so comon sense.

anyrules on any of these questions would be great.
on topic opinions are always welcomed.

 

[drnuncheon]

Based on my reading of the most recent wild shape and polymorph revisions, there is nothing in either of these abilities to indicate that the encumbrance of any carried items vanishes when they are melded to you - so I would still assess the encumbrance as if you were carrying all of the items. If you can carry 1000 lbs of stuff and you want to pay the penalties for it, please, go right ahead.

Dispel magic is an unusual case. I would rule that if you are gaining the benefits of the item, it can be dispelled. If the item is inert/nonfunctional, then it is safe. (I'd even let it be safe from disjunction, since when it's melded with you, it's not magical.)

Since greater wild shape is a spell-like ability (or later, supernatural), and you must use it to have items melded with you, you would detect as magical if you had any items melded (whether they were magic or not).

As for the last, I'd have to say again - if you get the benefits of the item, you need to deal with the penalties. So you'd get the armor check and arcane spell failure for the scale armor, even if it's part of you. (If you melded it and did not use it, you would only receive penalties as appropriate for your encumbrance level.)

J

 

[Antikinesis]

I think this is the first time I've disagreed with you, Dr. N. (Very cool story hour, btw!)

Encumbrance (sp?) isn't mentioned in the description, so I would expect "melded" eq to be effectively non-existant, until the character returns to a shape that can use the eq.

If a character morphed into a small bird, and kept his encumbrance from his original shape, he probably wouldn't be able to move... much less fly. I can't believe that this is how the spell/ability was intended to work.

-AK

 

[Dakhran the Dark]

I'd probably rule that you could only meld equipment you could possibly wear unmelded all at once, meaning that you'd have to stick to the "Limit on Magic Items Worn" list. If you've got a pair of boots melded, you couldn't meld another pair of boots, slippers, horseshoes, or any other footwear. Ditto for armor. Although if you also have a Bag of Holding, put stuff in it, then meld it, the stuff would still be "in" the bag...guess that's one way around it...

On the encumbrance bit, I can see how it could be ruled that it doesn't count if it's melded, since you can change your mass when you change forms...