Controlling Polymorph Self

[Kevin O'Reilly]

Here's our house rule.

If a Wizard changes into a form that is "common" or that he has studied, he may increase his physical abilities by a maximum of +level. Thus an 8th level Wizard with 8 STR, would only be able to improve his STR to 15, no matter the form chosen. Of course, if the form has a lesser value, use that value.

A Wizard gains all feats (not supernatural abilities) and skills as per the spell description

If the Wizard is changing into a form that is "rare" and he has not studied, he may only increase his physical abilities by level/2.

Regarding skills he may only benefit from half the skill value, and must make a Knowledge(Arcana/Nature) roll DC15 for each feat.

The definition of "rare" and "common" will vary from campaign to campaign. I use anything that is not animal, beast, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, plant and giant as rare.

 

[Spatzimaus]

If the wizard is changing into a form he's not familiar with (the "rare" thing), it should be far worse than just having a smaller bonus.

Anyway, I've mentioned this before, but here's what we do IMC:

Polymorph Self:
When you change into a new form (either as part of the initial casting or as an action), roll on the Polymorph table (an exact duplicate of the Teleport table).

The Familiarity categories from Teleport translate easily here; "Viewed Once", etc., translate directly, replacing "been to" with "encountered" and so on.

So, if you roll anything other than On Target, you end up in a less powerful form. If you get On-Target, no problem, you've got your new form and can dispel the spell at will. If you choose to change forms, re-roll.

Off-Target turns you into a form of the same family but with a CR 1d3 less. You lose the ability to change forms, although you can still choose to end the enchantment. (Example: instead of a Stone Giant, you ended up as a Hill Giant)

"Similar Area" turns you into a form of the same basic creature type but a CR 1d6 less. Again, you're stuck in the form, but at least you can end the spell still. (Example: Ogre instead of Stone Giant)

"Mishap", well, you're hosed. Not only do you end up in a really weak form (CR at least 2d6 less), you're stuck in it; you can't even end the spell. The form will always be an Ooze, Aberration, Plant, or Vermin; whatever the DM finds funniest. It'll never be a form that can cast spells or use equipment.

Polymorph Other: similar, but reverse it. If you were trying to make them small, each category off increases their CR instead of decreasing, and a Mishap results in a form that DOES use spells and/or equipment. Instead of a toad, you just made a Tyrannosaurus. Instead of a squirrel, you just made an advanced fiendish dire squirrel.
Also, it's only permanent if you were On Target. Off Target is 1 hour/level, Similar is 1 min/level, Mishap is 1 round/level.

Note that templates and HD advancement can be used to pad CRs for this. Also, I also added Polymorph Self Without Error and Polymorph Other Without Error at level 6, those work exactly as the PHB spells. But the nice part is the uncertainty; someone who uses Polymorph Self might not push their luck too far, because being stuck as a Giant Slug for a day can be really bad.

 

[DreamChaser]

some of this stuff isn't needed...

In Tome and Blood, the Polymorph spells are officially errataed. With Polymorph Self, you can no longer change form as much as you want. You change to one form and stay that until you end the spell or cast a new polymorph.

The other stuff, that sounds interesting. I think it might be more interesting to have the wizard/sorcerer spend some skill points on a Knowledge (shapechanging) skill. Each rank is a single form that they can use well. A feat might give specialization (some of the benefits that were mentioned by KO, maybe). If a wizard turned into a form that he hadn't taken a rank in, they would suffer a -2 or 4 to all actions.

Just my thoughts.
DC

 

[Cheiromancer]

Spatzimaus,

Thanks for reposting your House rule. I had missed it the first time around. It is very neat- very ingenious.

Given that polymorph self no longer allows one to change form each round, perhaps polymorph self should last the full duration of the spell if anything other than "on target" occurs.

With polymorph other, I'd increase the mishap chance if the form was inappropriate for the current environment. If you try to turn your enemy into a carp on dry land, say.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Yeah, that errata really screwed up the balance of my version. Plus, a lot of people seem to play with a rule that Polymorph Other isn't permanent, just 1 hour/level. So, you'll have to adjust to your campaign.

By adding the uncertainty, I don't think it's broken to let people change forms any more with Polymorph Self, so I used every part of the errata except that limitation. Let's crunch some numbers.

Bob the Transmuter wants to turn into some animals. The DM rules that the only forms he's "very familiar" with are Human (he is one), Elf and Dwarf (his party), and toad (his familiar), because they're the only form he sees up close on a constant basis.
For "Studied Carefully", most of the common creatures. He had a dog growing up, he sees songbirds every day from a distance, horses, cows, that sort of thing. He's fought Orcs, and been around most of the humanoid races. "Seen Casually" covers most of the uncommon creatures; eagles in the distance, for example, or the more common monsters like Trolls. "Viewed Once": well, he once saw a dragon. "Description": he's never seen an Umber Hulk.

Okay, so let's say Bob wants to go Human-eagle-horse-Troll-Umber Hulk. Turning into an eagle, he has an 88% chance of success with a 2% chance of Mishap. To horse, he has a 94% chance of success with a 1% chance of Mishap. To troll, 88% success, 2% Mishap. To Umber Hulk, 52% chance of success, 8% Mishap.

So, he has only a 73% chance of getting to Troll in the first place, and about a 4% chance of being stuck in a really nasty form instead. He only has a 38% chance of getting to Umber Hulk, and now his chance of mishap are around 10%. With these sort of odds, and the fact that changing forms is a full-round action, it's not something he'd do lightly, and it doesn't end up superior to wildshape.

Part of the key is how the DM rules things. Most of the powerful forms would be in the "Viewed Once" category, because it's not something you'd see from day to day. For rare/hostile creatures, only give them a good category if they spend in-game time researching the creatures, and even then limit it to specific forms.

Oh, and I forgot two other notes:
1> If you're using Polymorph Other to make an ally stronger (if the target form has a higher CR than the original OR if the target forgoes their saving throw), subtract CRs on bad rolls just like for Polymorph Self.
2> When using the spell to gain a bonus to Disguise rolls, you only get the bonus for an On-Target roll. Anything else and you get something warped to the point where everyone knows it's not right.
For example, if you were trying for a Stone Giant and got Off Target, I said you'd be a Hill Giant. You'd actually be something with the STATS of a Hill Giant, that looked like a warped Stone Giant.