Polymorph Best Choice

[daBooj]

5 headed hydra looks good, breathe fire and 5-10 attacks a round. Fast healing of 15 (ogre mage is regen +5). You would lose in some areas, but I think the hydra would be a good bet.

troll wouldn't work as it has 6HD, but even so... the gains wouldn't be that great. Same regeneration, and while the troll is better it's not THAT much better.

another idea might be a phase spider. The stat's aren't that much better, but it gets etherial jaunt as a free action and has poison damage. It's attacks get the same bonus, but do less damage. But it bites and runs. If the party has few force type spells and can't cast true seeing...

a rust monster has 5HD. If the ogre isn't afraid of being killed in one shot (AC 18, HP 27), he could do some nasty damage to weapons and armor before going back to ogre.

 

[Scion]

5 headed hydra looks good, breathe fire and 5-10 attacks a round. Fast healing of 15 (ogre mage is regen +5). You would lose in some areas, but I think the hydra would be a good bet.

I guess I wasnt clear enough above. When you shift to another form like this you lose your regen (which is very strong) and do not gain the special qualities of the new form (unless they are attacks, so no fast healing).

Also, hydras do not breathe fire unless it is the pyro kind. I am unsure if you are able to choose that sort.

I also believe that poison will not work (given the text in alter self).

All in all, the ogre mage just doesnt polymorph well. They have good physical stats to begin with and a lot of nice abilities.

Basically you wont be useing it much for pure combat on yourself, on allies it might be nice however. Or as a disguise, but you lose a lot while doing it.

So no etheral jaunt, although you could get the rust ability of the rust monster. Losing your ability to regen and a bunch of stats seems like a poor tradeoff however


Note that you also keep your own hp.

 

[daBooj]

I should have read alter self. I guess you're right about the HP, I didn't get that from the polymorph spell until reading the alter self description.

I did read this:

It also gains all extraordinary special attacks possessed by the form but does not gain the extraordinary special qualities possessed by the new form or any supernatural or spell-like abilities.

which I now notice differs from alter self in that the polymorphed creature gains the special attacks of the new form. I would assume this would include the poison of the spider, but I guess not the etherial jaunt, a special quality.

so.. the hydra would retain the breath weapon (pyro, cyro, whatever type...), but not the fast heal. It would retain the five heads, but would it be able to grow new heads? And more importantly, would you be able to attack with each head? See below:

You acquire the physical qualities of the new form while retaining your own mind. Physical qualities include natural size, mundane movement capabilities (such as burrowing, climbing, walking, swimming, and flight with wings, to a maximum speed of 120 feet for flying or 60 feet for nonflying movement), natural armor bonus, natural weapons (such as claws, bite, and so on), racial skill bonuses, racial bonus feats, and any gross physical qualities (presence or absence of wings, number of extremities, and so forth). A body with extra limbs does not allow you to make more attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks) than normal.

(bold facing added to indicate the important line)

my thoughts (first thanks, I should have read more carefully): poison would stay, jaunt would not. hydra would be limited to 1 attack per round and no regrowth of heads, but keeps the breath weapon. ogre should fight the way he is.

 

[Scion]

you would get the poison attack of course, but as soon as any part of you leaves your body it reverts to normal, so it is no longer the poison.

What this actually does is up to the dm, but it certainly doesnt do the same thing anymore

The ogre mage is just a powerhouse of abilities that go away in polymorph, he tends to be much better off not useing it in combat. Strangely enough.

Although there could be situations where it is good to have. But since he can already fly, has regen, a good str score, and reach.. he will likely mainly use it for things like burrow and such I guess.

 

[nimisgod]

My group has found the Wartroll (12HD) and the Cave Troll (8HD) to be awesome battle forms for Polymorph/Metamorphosis.

 

[Vraister]

Slight off-topic, but as the hydra is mentioned here:

Is the fire breathing of the hydra an:
a) extraordinary
b) supernatural
c) just a normal attack

The ability leaves this open for argument.

Vraister

 

[Egoslayer1]

Polymorph

Remember the polymorphed form is limited to the LESSER of 15HD, caster level (in HD) or the target creatures HD. So the caster level wouldn't be the limiter here, it would be the original HD, unless the Ogre Mage has some class levels somewhere.

For 5HD, you can't get too cool.
You also need to specifiy if it is important that the ogre magi can use his gear, not all creatures can use thier equipment (like a hydra) but some can (like a troll). So if you have really cool equipment, that could be an important consideration.

For keeping the ability to wear gear A forest troll might be your best bet
(limited to MM I, II & III)
A forest troll - MM III - poison, wear gear, 21CON = more HP, climb speed, NAC5

If your not worried about your equipment, you have a few more options,
Gelatenous cube - CON 26 so lots of spare HP
Ankheg - NAC9 + burrow speed could make for an easy escape
Spider Eater - the implant ability could make for a fun hit-and-run tactic

ES

 

[Thomas Percy]

The ogre mage is just a powerhouse of abilities that go away in polymorph, he tends to be much better off not useing it in combat. Strangely enough.

Maybe I don't see every opportunity of efficient melee fight of Ogre Mage, but when I'm comparing:
CR 7 Ogre, 4th-Level Barbarian
&
CR 8 Ogre Mage
I think the first one is more powerful in melee as the second.
The only thing, which seems to be weakness of Barbarian (above) is lack of Spell resistance, which can be easily improved by relatively cheap Spell Resistance scroll from cleric ally.

 

[Scion]

I am not sure what you mean.

You cannot polymorph into a ogre barbarian.

While it is quite possible for the first guy to be overall better than the second it has no bearing on a guy who already has a race and is wanting to find polymorph options

Still though, the SR and regen make the guy a powerhouse of doom. Unless your first guy has a way to deal fire and/or acid damage he'll never beat the ogre mage! lol

 

[pbd]

Hands down, an Ogre mage is better than a 4th level barb regular Ogre. The Ogre Mage has regeneration 5, that ain't cr@p, and can fly! There's a reason why they are CR 8