Favorite Forms of Polymorph and related questions.

[Joker]

First off I was wondering if it was reasonable to use wish to give someone polymorph as a spell-like ability. That's what the poll is for. I had seen some of the more powerful NPC's in the Forgotten Realms Setting having used wishes to become immune to certain spells and I thought using wish to grant someone a spell-like ability would be right up there in terms of what wish can do. But I wanted some input as it seems quite powerful.

Furthermore I have some rather noobie question regarding polymorph because in my six years of gaming I have never seen it used, oddly enough.

1.) When you polymorph into a creature do you actually take on the creature type? I.e. if you polymorph into a plant, do you become immune to mind-effecting spells, critical hits etc?
2.) It says that upon changing you are healed as if you had rested. Does this mean that you heal twice, once for changing into something and once for changine back?

Furthermore, what are your favorite forms to polymorph in? From a min-maxing, flavor or just coolness point of view.

 

[kmdietri]

I'm pretty sure you only heal once when you assume the new form.

Can't remember where it says that though.

 

[Pinotage]

You only heal once, when changing into the new form, not when reverting back to the original form. States that clearly in the spell description. Polymorph as a spell-like ability -once sounds reasonable to me.

Pinotage

 

[Plane Sailing]

Current favourite polymorph form?

Treant.

Getting immune to criticals is excellent (through gaining plant type) and the treant is big and strong for two-fisted action - especially if you want to assault objects/buildings

 

[Testament]

For combat its hard to beat the Hag forms.
Although at 10HD not much can compete with the roper, the unsoakable Str damage is just nuts.

 

[Joker]

How about forms that can use weapons and armor? I.e. humanoid forms with great physical stats. The ettin and troll seem like nice choices but I haven't gone through the whole MM.

Yes, plants seem to be really good in some situations. A will o wisp also seems cool.

Speaking of weapons and armor. Do they resize to fit the new form or does that require a special enhancement?

 

[Cyrik Skylark]

Weapons and armor do resize to fit the new form - check the description of Alter Self, last paragraph. Polymorph is essentially a higher-level form of Alter Self, so anything Alter Self can do, Polymorph does as well.

As far as forms go, I rather favor the stone giant - 27 Str, 14 Dex, 19 Con, +11 Nat armor, and you're Large, giving you 10' reach and base movement of 40. Fire giants are a nice alternative - you lose out on 6 points of AC, but your Str and Con both go up by 4. They clock in just at the HD limit (14 Stone, 15 Fire). Unfortunately, you don't get the fire immunity of fire giants. For great fun, combine one of these with a spiked chain, or some other reach weapon, and have fun controlling the battle field. Add a generous helping of Combat Reflexes for even more enjoyment.

Dragon forms are also good, though you're limited to Juvenile forms of most dragons. They're not really combat-suitable, though depending on whether the DM believes the Draconomicon or not you can still wear most of your magical items. Mostly they're useful for when mobility is more important than sheer damage potential.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Polymorph is a great spell. The thing to remember is that magical gear will resize, but not reshape. So you need a similar shape to keep using most of your magical gear. My favs are troll and, when you have the HD, the stone giant. I've heard the Annis hag is good, though I've never been willing to change into an Annis hag, even for the combat bonuses.

As far as the Wish is concerned, I'd allow it to bestow Polymorph once per day.