Metamorphic Transfer - is it broken?

[Yair]

My player wants to take on the "metamorphic transfer" feat from the XPH, which is

Metamorphic Transfer [Psionic]

You can gain a supernatural ability of a metamorphed form.
Prerequisite

Wis 13, manifester level 5th.
Benefit

Each time you change your form, such as through the metamorphosis power, you gain one of the new form’s supernatural abilities, if it has any.

You gain only three uses of the metamorphic ability per day, even if the creature into which you metamorph has a higher limit on uses (you are still subject to other restrictions on the use of the ability.) The save DC to resist a supernatural ability gained through Metamorphic Transfer (if it is an attack) is 10 + your Cha modifier + ½ your Hit Dice. No matter how many times you manifest the metamorphosis power on a given day, you can gain only a total of three supernatural ability transfers per day.
Normal

You cannot use the supernatural abilities of creatures whose form you assume.
Special

You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time, you can gain one additional supernatural ability.

He's intending to use it with his polymprpth racial ability - he'll be playing a pixie. Yes, he's a bit of a power gamer.

I'm worried he'll go drawing out all sorts of crazily powerful supernatural abiltiies. Do you think the feat is balanced? If not, what solution would you recommend?

 

[Wintergreen]

Pixie's don't get any polymorph ability do they? They can turn invisible but they can't change form.

But even if they did have such a thing, we are talking about a 9th level or higher character (Pixie LA +4 or +6 if they can use irresistible dance, then the feat requires 5 levels of a manifester class. I guess the soonest he could take the feat would be as a 6th level manifester so at least 10th level then). At that sort of level other characters are going to be doing some pretty impressive things a lot more often than 3 times a day.

 

[Yair]

Pixie's don't get any polymorph ability do they? They can turn invisible but they can't change form.

Eh, you're right. Still, he's going to use it, somehow...

But even if they did have such a thing, we are talking about a 9th level or higher character (Pixie LA +4 or +6 if they can use irresistible dance, then the feat requires 5 levels of a manifester class. I guess the soonest he could take the feat would be as a 6th level manifester so at least 10th level then). At that sort of level other characters are going to be doing some pretty impressive things a lot more often than 3 times a day.

Hmm, I think he was going to use it on his spell-like ability, which has a caster level of 8 so the feat applies. However, as you say above, he doesn't have this spell-like ability...

At any rate, he's gonna get the feat. (And use it... somehow.) He'll be a level 6 or 7 character.

 

[Someone]

It's a psionic feat; you can't choose it unless you are a psionic character (the easiest way for him would be to get the Wild talent feat). Anyway, I don't like the feat very much; it makes polymorph-style spells and powers worse than already are. Probably he's planning to change shape into a choker (and gain Quickness, 3.0 style Haste) or maybe a dryad.

 

[Wintergreen]

Eh, you're right. Still, he's going to use it, somehow...


Hmm, I think he was going to use it on his spell-like ability, which has a caster level of 8 so the feat applies. However, as you say above, he doesn't have this spell-like ability...

At any rate, he's gonna get the feat. (And use it... somehow.) He'll be a level 6 or 7 character.

Well a requirement for the feat is a manifester level of 5 (not caster level) so the feat doesn't apply. So I would certainly enforce that. Of course if he doesn't have any way to change form then let him take the feat. Whenever he says he's changing form and gaining a supernatural ability then ask him how he's changing form. It's certainly not a pixie spell-like ability. (Plus I don't think that any spell-like ability ever has a caster level of more than the hit dice/level of the creature. It does sound like he's trying to pull a fast one and not even bothering to justify it by the rules. In which case you can do the same and just say it doesn't work if he ever tries to do anything you're not happy with.

So the conversation could go:
"I assume choker form and gain their extra action
Alas, the strange magics that you are drawing upon fail to achieve that effect."
"But I've got metamorphic transfer, I can get that ability when I change form."
"Yeah, but how are you changing form?"
"Just...somehow"
"Well, 'somehow' it doesn't work like that."

 

[pawsplay]

Do you think the feat is balanced?

No. This is a Pun-Pun enabling ability.

 

[Yair]

This is very strange. The SRD listing for pixie here and here doesn't list polymorph self, but the Monster Manual (v3.5, p. 236) does! Going by the MM, he can polymorph (self only) once per day.
Edit: Got it, it's in the errata.

Well a requirement for the feat is a manifester level of 5 (not caster level) so the feat doesn't apply.

We are working under a psionics-magic transparency rule (which is the standard option), so manifester level counts as caster level and vice versa.

It does seem the feat is unbalanced as presented. Hmm.
I think I'll limit it by DM fiat - I'll allow him to take the feat, but some supernatural abilities may be off-limits, as decided by the DM (me) on a case-by-case basis.

Thanks all.

 

[Plane Sailing]

It has the potential for giving the character game-breaking benefits, because it is not only hugely open-ended, but there are some REALLY powerful supernatural abilities out there.

 

[Terraism]

We are working under a psionics-magic transparency rule (which is the standard option), so manifester level counts as caster level and vice versa.

Even so, I'd suggest the feat requires a general caster/manifester level of 5, not with a handful of abilities that will never change. Which would then require the pixie to be at least ECL10 before he could pick up the feat - and with only 5 HD, there probably aren't that many things he could shift into that would have horribly broken Supernatural abilities.

Yes, the choker switch would be a little abusive, but he'd only be able to utilize the quickness ability for three rounds per day - while it's powerful, I don't know if it's so bad that I'd be worried about it in that case. Finally, I'd consider ruling that he has to be familiar with a creature to take it's form, though that's not entirely RAW. It's a handy way of handling the DM fiat method of determing what he gets that you mentioned you're considering.

 

[pawsplay]

We are working under a psionics-magic transparency rule (which is the standard option), so manifester level counts as caster level and vice versa.

I do not believe transparency works that way.