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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 2450792" data-attributes="member: 2020">SHAPE CHANGE (Artifice, Geometry, Alteration)Range: Self - Components: V, S, M - Duration: 10 turns/levelCasting Time: 1 standard action - Area of Effect: The caster - Saving Throw: None  This is truly the Spell of Goodies, if ever there was such a spell.  Like other 9th level spells, it remakes reality to suit the whim of the archmagistress.  -  This spell enables the archmagistress to assume other shapes.    -  Each change of shape takes an instant, and confers no penalty:  the archmagistress can take her full action on one round, change shapes, then take her full action next round.  She cannot shapeshift more than once per round, however, unless a Wish is used to further alter reality (in such a case, she could then change shapes as a Free Action.)  -  Whatever shape the archmagistress takes, it has her Intelligence, and all of her abilities.  Whether she can use her assorted Feats, skills, spells, melee capabilities, and so on depends on the form taken (as a general rule, if the form is human, demi-human, or humanoid, the archmagistress can use all her spells, abilities, and other capabilities normally.)  -  The archmagistress can choose to merge her items into the new form (in which case they cannot be used) or to leave them on the first shapeshift.  In this case, they simply are transported aside, and are not damaged in any way, regardless of the initial form the archmagistress takes.  If the archmagistress takes an appropriate form, she can pick up and use her items afterwards (any human, demi-human, or humanoid form would allow this automatically.  With other forms, it depends on the form.)   -  The archmagistress is granted familiarity with the creature's form assumed, as if she had been that creature all her life.  Thus, all Feats, skills, innate spell abilities (such as a dragon's ability to cast verbal only spells, or a phaerimm's ability to cast spells with no components at all) are granted.  Exotic vision, exotic hearing, senses not normal to the mage, strange and normally unfamiliar body configurations and parts, multiple arms and legs, and even two or more heads are all familiar and comfortable for the archmagistress.  -  The archmagistress gains, basically, ALMOST ALL of the abilities of the creature in question.  The exceptions:  Spell Resistance, and SOME powers based on the mind, since the mind of the creature is that of the archmagistress (DM's rulings are required, but the DM should always rule in the player's favor, bending over backwards to do so, unless it is patently obvious the power could not be gained.  For example, the memorized spells of a phaerimm would not be gained, nor it's 40 levels in wizardry/epic levels.  An illithid's psionic abilities would not be gained.  However, the archmagistress would gain familiarity with phaerimm and illithid customs and ways, and she would gain illithid telepathy - the spell grants this knowledge and lesser known powers (such as telepathy) to the archmagistress, and this knowledge/these abilities are lost when she changes shapes from illithid/phaerimm to something else.  Note that the archmagistress could not become a sage in this way:  the spell does not grant large amounts of indepth knowledge and historical knowledge, just general social and personal customs.)  As for abilities that are always gained, these include, but are not limited to:  All physical monster attacks (a dragon's claw, bite, tail, mass (if used as a weapon), breath weapon, etc.)  All innate special abilities (a dragon's wingover, flight, ability to exist for long periods without eating, special diet (eating gems), innate spell abilities, special spell abilities, dragonfear aura, damage reduction, armor class, and of course it's assorted breath weapons.  If a tarrasque's shape was assumed, a Sphere of Annihilation would only take a small chunk out of the archmagistress, just as with the normal tarrasque.  The archmagistress would gain it's regeneration, the requirement to kill it by dropping it to - 20 and Wishing it dead, and so on.)  All innate weaknesses (if the archmagistress becomes a specter, she can be turned or destroyed by high level clerics.)  All normal and special senses of the being.  All normal and special ways of movement of the being.  All normal and special means of breathing of the being.  All normal and special immunities of the being.  All unique aspects of the being regarding it's existence (partially on two planes, innate to the Outer Planes, etc.)  -  The archmagistress needs to know the name of the creature.  That is all she needs to know, and she is assumed to know the names of all the creatures in:  All the books, boxed sets, supplements, and other things in OD&D, 1st edition, 2nd edition, 3rd edition, 3.5 edition, all the d20 books/supplements/boxed sets/etc., Hackmaster, Role-Aids, Dragon magazine, Dungeon magazine, Polyhedron magazine, Imagine magazine, White Dwarf magazine, Judges Guild materials, and very likely even creatures from other gaming systems such as Vampire the Masquerade, Warhammer, and Exalted.  Exceptions should be truly freakish, since the archmagistress is assumed to be very learned from her years of study and adventuring.  In short, the player can pick up any book in the D&D genre (and more), pick a monster - any monster - and her character will become that monster in every way, with a few exceptions due to the mind extrapolated as favorably towards her as possible by the DM, and in addition her character will retain all her own abilities, Feats, skills, spells, and so on in addition to this.  -  The archmagistress can become a mundane object of any sort, from rock to soil to water to a puff of air, or an exotic item such as a bit of Ether, a whiff of the Astral Plane, a ball of Fire or Frost, or the like.  Any form of construct (golem, etc.) can be duplicated.  -  The archmagistress CANNOT assume the form of a Deity, Demi-Power, or any being of which only one exists in reality (not one per country, or one per continent, or one per world, solar system, galaxy, or even universe:  ONE in the multiverse, period.  If there are Alternate Realities and alternate versions of this one being exist there, that does not count and the archmagistress still CANNOT assume that form.  There are some other limits on the form assumed:  - The form cannot be larger or heavier than Godzilla (about 1,000 feet tall and/or 1 million tons) or smaller than a quark.  No, the archmagistress cannot turn into a Toril-sized dragon and eat the planet for breakfast, nor can she turn into a Black Hole and suck the planet in.  - The form cannot be hotter than 10,000 degrees or colder than absolute zero.  No, the archmagistress cannot turn into a billion degree object and with radiant heat fry half the planet of Toril instantly.  -  The form can move at any speed.  For example, becoming a beam of light would allow the archmagistress to travel at lightspeed.  If she can find a creature that can travel faster than light, she can assume that form and travel at faster than light.  However, were she to assume a form with mass, she could not even approach the speed of light, since her mass cannot exceed 1 million tons.  -  The form cannot be in the form of an explosion.  No, the archmagistress cannot become a hydrogen bomb that blows up the whole planet of Toril.  Nor, for that matter, a Fireball that does a mere 6d6 points of damage - if the form assumed ALLOWS her to create explosions, THAT is fine.  Note that lightning is not considered an explosion:  the air rushing away from it is an explosion, but the lightning itself is not.  Such interpretation should be used for all situations (for example, the archmagistress could become a hydrogen bomb per se, but could not go off ...)  -  The form CANNOT be any sort of worked material.  It cannot be a caveman's crude stone knife.  It cannot be a sword.  It cannot be a suit of armor.  It cannot be a house or a castle.  It cannot be an arquebus.  It cannot be a machine gun, a tank, or a computer.  It cannot be the space shuttle or an oil pipeline or an automobile.  Taken to extremis, the archmagistress cannot become the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek:  the Next Generation.  The material component of Shape Change is a jade circlet worth 5,000 gold pieces (on Krynn, 5,000 steel:  on Athas, 5,000 clay:  etc.) which cannot be touched, moved, or affected by the archmagistress herself in any way after the Shape Change begins.  Others can pick up, protect, destroy, or affect the circlet in any way.  If the circlet is badly damaged or destroyed, the Shape Change spell is instantaneously cancelled (which could prove fatal for the archmagistress.)  Otherwise, it shatters of it's own accord when the spell is ended.  The shattered remains can be magically repaired, but that particular jade circlet can never again be used as the material component for a Shape Change spell (unless a Wish is used to alter this.)  -  The almost Godlike power of Shape Change allows the archmagistress to do many things, but it presents many hazards.  Consider:  The archmagistress is outdoors in the middle of a village.  She decides to become a million ton rock that crushes the village.  This works fine:  the village is destroyed.  The archmagistress suffers 20d6 of impact damage (or, in 3E, the maximum possible allowed impact damage) as her change in form causes high speed collisions with every building, every other object, and the ground itself.  A clever archmagistress would, of course, render herself immune to mere physical damage through the use of another spell, before attempting this stunt.  And of course, destroying villages by becoming million ton rocks attracts a lot of attention, so she had better be prepared when the King sends his finest champions to deal with the threat she poses.  The archmagistress cannot become an explosion, but a fire is not an explosion.  So she could become a small fire, and proceed to attempt to torch the village given above.  The problem is, how does she move?  A normal, small fire cannot move itself ... it spreads through normal means as a fire would spread.  She needs to think of a way to become a moving fire:  she cannot simply become a normal fire that floats around, since normal fire does not do such things.  Needless to say, if the archmagistress becomes a Fire Elemental, this point is moot.  If the archmagistress becomes a black pudding, she could grow to gigantic proportions as she devours the countryside, and eats villages for breakfast.  But she is still limited to the size restriction, regardless of what she eats.  And in black pudding form, she cannot cast spells or even see (she can see as a black pudding would see, but not as a human would see.)  The archmagistress is limited to the form assumed:  she cannot become a black pudding that has eyes, ears, a nose, and pudding 'legs' and 'arms.'  Likewise, she cannot become a normal tree that talks and walks (becoming a treant, however, would grant her both abilities and a lot more.)  The archmagistress could become a beam of light, and travel at lightspeed to some other destination.  But, unfortunately, she could not see, hear, smell, or otherwise detect anything at all, since light has no senses.  On the other hand, if Light Elementals exist (a Lightning Elemental, for that matter, would do just fine), then she could become such and travel with all that being's senses and go where she pleased.  OR, the archmagistress could cast OTHER spells priorhand that gave her sight, hearing, touch abilities, and so on BEFORE she cast the Shapechange, so that whatever form she took, she would retain those senses.  The archmagistress can use the Shape Change to gain generic knowledge of locales, and even obtain the brief ability to speak the local languages.  She could write down this information for later use, making this spell very useful indeed.  For example, she could become a 'generic' Waterhadvian, and learn the local languages, customs, attractions, festivals, religions, generals on the government (she'd learn that mysterious masked, unknown people ruled the city), general laws, and so on.  She'd know the general layout of the city streets, the local of prominent inns and bars, shops, the location of the noble district, the location of Castle Waterdeep, the general layout of the harbor, and so on.  But, she would not learn the identity of the Lords of Waterdeep.  She would not learn any restricted information, such as passwords, codewords, local magics, the specific way in which the Watchful Order of Protectors worked, the location of Thieve's guilds or their means of operations, the existence of Skullport, or the fact that Khelben and Laeral are Chosen of Mystra.  She would not learn of secret faiths, secret languages, secret ways and passages and hideouts, or even knowledge of the upstairs or cellars of common inns, much less the ways of Castle Waterdeep.    Learning 'generic' information is very dangerous, for many cultures are well aware of Shapechange and it's power to accomplish this feat, and they have Contingency spells to protect themselves.  In Waterdeep, this Contingency would alert Khelben to the archmagistress's location and situation, and he would likely appear at once, demanding an explanation.  In Luruar, Alustriel would appear, friendly but requesting the archmagistress disclose her nature.  In Undermountain, Shape Change used in this way would immediately attract the attention of Halaster, with disastrous results.  Attempting to become a 'generic' mage of Larloch's necropolis, in order to gain 'generic' information about him and his secret city, would result in a VERY INFURIATED Larloch, who might or might not chase the archmagistress across the Planes to inflict a gruesome death.  Obviously, powerful wizardly societies like Halruaa, Thay, and Dambrath, not to mention the phaerimm, sharn, and illithid, are going to know of the attempt to learn 'generic' information about them, and react appropriately.  This is not to say that ALL societies have a defense against this aspect of Shape Change:  most do not.  And of those that do, not all will be hostile.  But the archmagistress who uses Shape Change to learn of foreign lands and foreign ways, should be aware that not all foreign peoples and beings take kindly to unauthorized 'research' into their generic customs and ways.  And remember this knowledge disappears the moment the archmagistress changes her shape.  If she becomes a 'generic' member of Menzoberranzan, she'll gain generic information about that city while she remains a 'generic' drow of that city (this generic information is needed, if the archmagistress is to understand the mannerisms and ways of the form assumed - to effectively have been that creature for years and to know all it's ways and procedures for doing things - which is why it is granted.)  The moment the archmagistress changes form, she loses ALL knowledge gained, except what was communicated to others and what was written down, and of course what was learned 'normally' through adventuring and communication while in that form.    A Wish cannot 'grant' or 'regrant' generic knowledge from a Shape Change to the archmagistress permanently, but it could prolong the knowledge in the archmagistress's mind for several tens of minutes.  Please note that learning 'generic' knowledge of certain subjects, such as generic knowledge of the Minions of Cthulu and their culture of the Elder Ones, will probably result in permanent insanity for the archmagistress with no saving throw allowed.  This insanity will persist indefinitely, even after the generic knowledge is lost.  The archmagistress can become a superpowerful monster, and start destroying the campaign world.  Want to be an ancient dragon?  She's an ancient dragon.  Want to be a tarrasque?  She's a tarrasque.  Want to be a Minion of Cthulu?  She's a Minion of Cthulu.  Want to be a specter and start the world's greatest undead plague?  She's a specter and can do just that.  If she can withstand physical damage, and has spells to augment her senses, she can probably become one million pound objects and destroy lots of things, then become a quark sized object to hide from infuriated people seeking vengeance.  But ...  Any archmagistress worth her spells would know that such behavior will attract the attention of kings, lords, other archmagistresses and archmages, powerful monsters, extraplanar beings and forces (perhaps Cthulu himself if the form of a Minion of Cthulu is assumed), and the Deities (if Deities exist in the campaign world.)  Yes, the archmagistress CAN use Shape Change to attempt to destroy the entire Campaign World, but the Campaign World is not going to sit idly by and be destroyed.  It is going to fight back, and fight back hard.  Historically, some wizards and liches HAVE attempted to use Shape Change to destroy entire regions.  Sometimes, they were successful, sometimes not.  In every case, however, this destruction provoked a massive war, as the enemies of the wizard fought back for their lands and their lives.  Sometimes they won and killed the wizard, sometimes they lost, but they always fought.  So ... it is up to the archmagistress.  Will she use this spell to start destroying entire regions?  Will she use it in subtle ways?  Will she use it otherwise, perhaps even as a tool for studying cultures and mysteries?  The answer is:  it is up to her.</blockquote>

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