Spells that "set" attributes

[Hypersmurf]

How do spells like Feeblemind (Int=1), Divine Power (Str=18), and Polymorph (Physical Attributes = average), that set attributes to a "fixed" value, interact with bonuses and penalties?

What bonuses or penalties can the spells "see"?

eg - Feeblemind cast on a character wearing a +6 Headband of Intellect. Is his intelligence 1 or 7 for the duration of the spell?

eg - Feeblemind cast on someone who has suffered a point of temporary Int damage due to Id Moss Poison. Int 1 or 0?

eg - Someone (base Int = 10, say) suffering a point of temporary Int damage after Feeblemind is cast. Int 1 or 0?

eg - Divine Power cast on someone who is exhausted. Strength 18 or 12?

eg - Divine Power cast on someone already under a Bull's Strength spell (+2 enhancement). Strength 18 or 20?

eg - Divine Power cast on someone with a +2 inherent bonus to Strength. Strength 18 or 20?

eg - Polymorph cast on someone with a +2 inherent bonus to strength. Strength [Average] or [Average + 2]?

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Oops. Ignore Divine Power, I forgot that it's a variable enhancement bonus. Maybe replace the DP examples with polymorphing into an Orc for 15 Str instead of 18.

Feeblemind and Polymorph, I'm still curious about

-Hyp.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Those spells (except divine power) just change the stat, then add any applicable modifiers. So lets say Joe the Fighter has 15 Strength, and drank a potion of bull's strength, giving him 18 Strength. Then a wizard polymorphs him into a troll (23 Strength base). Add the +3 points of Strength from the potion, giving them a total Strength of 26. And that's it!

As for feeblemind, lets suppose Alisa the wizard has an Intelligence of 18, and wears +2 headband of Intellect, giving a +2 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, for a total of 20. An evil wizard feebleminds her. Alisa's base Intelligence is now 1, then she gains +2 for the headband, for a total of 3. I'd let her talk, but no spellcasting!

Feeblemind cannot reduce your Intelligence below 1, so if Alissa lost her headband and suffered Intelligence damage from an id moss, she would have an Intelligence score of 1. However, if Alisa lost her headband, then got poisoned with id moss, her Intelligence would drop to zero, and she would now be unconscious.


eg - Divine Power cast on someone who is exhausted. Strength 18 or 12?

Lower Strength, since they're really strong but still exhausted. Exhaustion doesn't cause an enhancement penalty to Strength, so both modifiers stack.

eg - Divine Power cast on someone already under a Bull's Strength spell (+2 enhancement). Strength 18 or 20?

18, since divine power is an enhancement bonus.

eg - Divine Power cast on someone with a +2 inherent bonus to Strength. Strength 18 or 20?

20. Give the enhancement bonus first (raises Strength to 18), then add the inherent bonus. They're not the same type of bonus, so they stack.

eg - Polymorph cast on someone with a +2 inherent bonus to strength. Strength [Average] or [Average + 2]?

An inherent bonus always applies, there is no reason to take it away, so they get Strength [Average]+2.

Hope that helps.

 

[Malin Genie]

I disagree with one of the calls made:

If you have 12 ST and a +2 inherent bonus, you have 14 ST. divine power gives an enhancement bonus to ST sufficient to raise it to 18 - in this case, +4.

If you have divine power in effect, your ST is always 18, unless your ST would be greater than 18 without the spell, in which case it is unaffected (as divine power cannot give an enhancement penalty.)

It is worth noting that the bonus from Divine Power is actually variable over the duration of the spell. It is not 'set' at the beginning of the spell (otherwise I could bestow curse and ray of enfeeblement myself to reduce ST to 1, cast divine power granting a +17 enhancement bonus, then dispel the two earlier spells...!)

At any given point in time, you can ask 'what would be the character's ST without the spell?' If greater than 18, divine power has no effect at that instant. If 18 or less, then divine power sets it to 18.

 

[Hypersmurf]

It is worth noting that the bonus from Divine Power is actually variable over the duration of the spell. It is not 'set' at the beginning of the spell. At any given point in time, you can ask 'what would be the character's ST without the spell?' If greater than 18, divine power has no effect at that instant. If 18 or less, then divine power sets it to 18.

And yet I'm sure you don't feel the same way about the temporary hit points that Divine Power grants.

If a 10th level cleric with 50 hit points casts Divine Power, he gains 10 temporary hit points. If he is hit for 6 damage, Divine Power doesn't say "hang on - he only has 4 temporary hit points" and reset to 10...

-Hyp.