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Challenge: Pure core wizard melee combatant
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<blockquote data-quote="SgtHulka" data-source="post: 2977203" data-attributes="member: 34322"><p><strong>The Problem with Polymorph</strong></p><p></p><p>I'm pretty sure the current interpretation of Polymorph doesn't allow the Hydra trick. I think it's in the "rules of the game" article describing polymorph (pre-shapechange errata). Iirc, the interpretation is based on the fact that the 5+ heads aren't treated as secondary weapons in any way (i.e. there's no reduction in attack or damage and no multi-attack feat) so they aren't "normal gross physical qualities" and they also aren't defined in the Special Attacks section as Extraordinary Abilities so they are some undefined special ability that is not provided by Polymorph.</p><p></p><p>The problem with a dwarf polymorphing into an Annis Hag is that the dwarf uses so many hit points in the transformation. The Annis Hag has only a 15 Con.</p><p></p><p>Starting with Enlarge Person to Enlarge your weapon (say, a greatsword) and then immediately polymorphing into a Hill Giant might be more effective. You don't get Improved Grab, which is a huge bummer, but you keep a good Armor Class, keep your 18 con (actually boosting to 19), and now have reach with a base damage of 3d6+10. With Greater Mage Armor your AC is 23 (+9 nat, +6 mage armor, -1 Dex, -1 Size). If you have a quickened shield you could boost it to 27.</p><p></p><p>That takes two rounds of buffing, though, and by the time you're that level you could very well be dead before that two rounds is up.</p><p></p><p>Another way to go might be with touch spells instead. A maximized shocking grasp does 30 hit points and gives a bonus against guys in metal armor. Empowered Vampiric Touches could be interesting, too. With Alter Self you could gain a respectable AC without losing all your nifty magic items (like headband of intellect).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SgtHulka, post: 2977203, member: 34322"] [b]The Problem with Polymorph[/b] I'm pretty sure the current interpretation of Polymorph doesn't allow the Hydra trick. I think it's in the "rules of the game" article describing polymorph (pre-shapechange errata). Iirc, the interpretation is based on the fact that the 5+ heads aren't treated as secondary weapons in any way (i.e. there's no reduction in attack or damage and no multi-attack feat) so they aren't "normal gross physical qualities" and they also aren't defined in the Special Attacks section as Extraordinary Abilities so they are some undefined special ability that is not provided by Polymorph. The problem with a dwarf polymorphing into an Annis Hag is that the dwarf uses so many hit points in the transformation. The Annis Hag has only a 15 Con. Starting with Enlarge Person to Enlarge your weapon (say, a greatsword) and then immediately polymorphing into a Hill Giant might be more effective. You don't get Improved Grab, which is a huge bummer, but you keep a good Armor Class, keep your 18 con (actually boosting to 19), and now have reach with a base damage of 3d6+10. With Greater Mage Armor your AC is 23 (+9 nat, +6 mage armor, -1 Dex, -1 Size). If you have a quickened shield you could boost it to 27. That takes two rounds of buffing, though, and by the time you're that level you could very well be dead before that two rounds is up. Another way to go might be with touch spells instead. A maximized shocking grasp does 30 hit points and gives a bonus against guys in metal armor. Empowered Vampiric Touches could be interesting, too. With Alter Self you could gain a respectable AC without losing all your nifty magic items (like headband of intellect). [/QUOTE]
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Challenge: Pure core wizard melee combatant
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