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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 1381620" data-attributes="member: 2629">Positional summary:The Sage: Skip said he couldn't see a reason why con would not change HP. That infers he never saw the Alter Self restriction. Further, he never went so far as to say that hp do change, but the inference was there.Custserv: Split answers - somr say yes, some say no.Andy Collins (3.5 PHB lead designer): Andy never said directly what was intended, but a post inferred that in his campaigns the hit points of a druid do not change.Internet community: Split. In general most DMs favor no change, most players favor a change. This is just a trend I noticed. It is not true of every case, but it is true in a majority of the ones I noticed.Balance/Game issues:Changing hp with a change in con increases the utility of the spell dramatically. A wizard using polymorph can gain a lot of hit points for a short period of time. If there is a cleric available for healing after the battle, these extra hit points are effectively free.It also decreases the utility of the spell in a small fashion. Many forms become poor choices because they will reduce the caster's hit points. There are few creatures with a con less than 10, but there are some ... and there re many with a 10, which is a significant reduction in hit points for many characters.Changing shape with polymorph already slows the game down *a lot* PCs constantly need to recalculate their AB, saves, etc ... Recalculating hit points can be a large burden on top of the other issues. Example: Tom has a 13 con normally and 35 hit points maximum at character level 10 (a wizard). He has taken 10 points of con damage (reducing his con to 3 and his max hit points to 10 due to a mimimum of 1 hp per level). He has also taken 7 points of normal damage (leaving him with 3 hit points). Tom wants to polymorph into a form that normall has a 17 con. The math to figure out his current hit points is not hard, but it involves many steps and a lot of back cecking on how damage was dealt and in what order.Polymorph is inherently problematic. Gaining a +24 to strength is a bit of a stretch in increasing power. Changing hit points could be just another of the inherent flaws in the spell. If you're truly worried about balance issues, I suggest a house rule limiting polymorph with a LA limit as well as a HD limit. This will involve creating LAs for many creatures, but it is worth the trouble. I find that an LA limit of +1 per 4 levels of the caster (max +4) keeps the spell in check.</blockquote>

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