Polymorph - What do I need to know?

[Olaf the Stout]

My campaign has gotten to the level now where Polymorph and Draconic Polymorph are starting to be cast by the Wizard of the party. I know that the Polymorph spell has seen many revisions and erratas. The trouble is that there have been so many that I'm not sure where to find the most recent rules for the spell.

So can my fellow EN Worlders help me out here. I don't want to ban the spell but I do want to try and use the most up to date version of the spell.

So is the 3.5E PHB version of the spell, with the changes mentioned in PHBII, what I should be using for Polymorph?

Or is there a more up to date version? Is there anything in particular I should pay attention to? Any loopholes to watch out for?

Thanks in advance,

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nebten]

The most resent is from Rules Compendium. But in the end it should be what ever resources is avaible to you and just play with those. I've never had a problem with it, but most of my players just use it as its intended. They don't try to go for some mega cheesy combo. You can adjust the rules as nessary for your and the players comfort.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

D'oh! I have the Rules Compendium. Why didn't I think of that first?

Olaf the Stout

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I hate the polymorph subschool and a lot of its stupid rules (I especially despise it when you lose qualities or attacks of your original form but don't gain those of the new form or vice-versa).

I'd reccommend just playing it as written. Limit him to monsters in the MM1 (later MMs and splatbooks have crazy-broken monsters), and require the appropriate knowledge check and DC for anything he's never encountered before. Or like one of my DMs ruled it, if he doesn't have a "piece" of the creature he's polymorphing himself/others into to use as a focus, require the knowledge check. Whatever he gains from the new form, he loses from his original form. In other words: he gains new attack routine, loses his (but he keeps his BAB and base saves, of course); he gains new natural forms of movement, loses the ones he had; he gains extraodinary special attacks and loses his; etc...

I allow gear that could be worn in the new form to not meld and become non-functional, but instead remain adorned if the spell recipient wishes. For spellcasting...he would need to be in a form capable of speech to use verbal components, and a form capable of manual manipulation (we made it simply a matter of if the creature could wield weapons)...at least that's how I handle it. Obviously he'd also need material components and foci when appropriate.

Shapechange and Poly Any Object can get pretty crazy, but I still think Polymorph itself isn't so bad with the abov restrictions. I had a caster who used it on homself a lot. And he did fairly well in melee, about as good as the party Fighter. But was also prone to be reminded of his d4 HD quite a lot.
I actually think Alter Self might be more problematic just because you can have it at level 3 and can give pretty sizable bonuses to AC and lasts 10x as long.
Ah well, back to your regularly scheduled "ban/nerf the hell out of Polymorph!" screed.

 

[Herzog]

I think the whole 'problem' with Polymorph is twofold:
1. A lot of spells and abilities refer to Polymorph as a starting point before specifying their own specific qualities.
2. The RAW for polymorph can be misused without any particular effort, just by opening the next release of the MM. In other words, with every new available splatbook and MM, the possibilities for Polymorph grew.

1. Has been 'solved' by errata to refer to another base ability (I think Alternate Form, but I'm not sure right now. Would have to look it up)
2. Is the actual 'problem' with polymorph itself.

Now, when your players tend to play 'nice', and don't abuse the polymorph spell, there is no reason at all to ban it.
To safeguard against future abuse, simply state that the RAW for Polymorph are flawed, and that the usual argument 'thats how the rules are written' does not hold in this particular instance to justify abuse.

This gives them the freedom to use the spell, gives you the freedom not to have to study all the variations on errata, and leaves the door open for you to reign your players in should they, in your opinion, start to abuse the spell.

 

[Thanee]

I would go with this...

Polymorphing Part One
Polymorphing Part Two
Polymorphing Part Three
Polymorphing Part Four

Polymorphing Revisited Part One
Polymorphing Revisited Part Two
Polymorphing Revisited Part Three
Polymorphing Revisited Part Four

Bye
Thanee

 

[Starbuck_II]

I hate the polymorph subschool and a lot of its stupid rules (I especially despise it when you lose qualities or attacks of your original form but don't gain those of the new form or vice-versa).

Then don't worry. The Polymorph Subschool has no effect on the old spells.
They only affect the new spells.