Kolsus Hayl's page

When polymorphed into a plant creature using this spell, do you gain Plant Traits...

"Traits: A plant creature possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).

Low-light vision.
Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms).
Immunity to paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep effects, and stunning.
Proficient with its natural weapons only.
Not proficient with armor.
Plants breathe and eat, but do not sleep."

Im guessing the answer is sadly no, but I thought Id put it out there. I realize there is a limited list of things you get from each version of the spell, but I also know there are other exceptions, such as gaining movement modes and natural attacks. I wasn't sure if these exceptions extended to gaining the traits of the creature type. Thanks!

EDIT: Im also unclear about movement modes. Do I gain all movement modes of the creature whose form I assume?

Is there any way to sunder a wall of force, as the spell? Definitely want to do this with a weapon...not interested in using spells to dispel or negate the wall.

Wall of Force has hardness 30 and around 200 HP.
Magic Adamantine weapon has hardness 20 and around 50 HP.

That's all I've got, but Thog really wants to smash through this shimmery nonsense between him and the squishy wizard. Help Thog Smash!

I have now played about as much Pathfinder at lvl 10 and up as I have DnD 3.X. So far, I am seeing the same problems...
1) Full attack actions of CR 10, 11, and 12 creatures can RELIABLY kill average, undamaged PCs of similar level.
2) NPC casters of this level can throw around a few save or die effects, giving average NPCs a 50/50 shot of DYING outright.
3) Traps of CR 10, 11, and 12 can RELIABLY kill average, undamaged PCs of similar level.

I love the possibility of PC death as an ever-present concern. Personally, I love to crunch numbers and optimize my characters. At the same time, I respect the other dedicated gamers and role-players at my table who don't try to squeeze and stack every possible bonus. Every time our party gets somewhere between level 9-11, we hit a wall of PC deaths that crash the campaign or slow the action down to an unbearable, almost silly pace. People dying once in a while is cool, and there are ways to deal with it, but someone dying every session is just not fun because continuity is part of the pleasure of this role-playing game.

I am writing this because I believe it to be a system problem, not a player or DM problem. I mentioned that some players in this scenario are not 'optimized,' but they aren't stupid! They give themselves good prime stats and understand that Dex/Con/Wis are all crucial survival stats. Tactically, they aren't perfect, but they know how to concentrate fire, pursue flanks, and avoid attacks of opportunity. Our DM limits the CR of our encounters to our level+1, though most of our encounters are on-level or lower. He also doesn't run monsters 'smarter' or more devious than they should be.

So, the purpose of this post? First, to find out if other groups have similar experiences. Second, to evaluate some possible solutions (mine and yours).

I think the 'HP death point' of PCs needs to be tied to something that increases every level (unlike your Con score).
I also think that the 'full attack action' is an awkward, unbalancing mechanic (I'm not the first one to say it). It is a multiplicative effect rather than an additive one, and that's what makes it SO dangerous.
Finally, save or die effects are cool, but they need to be moderated. For example, maybe they knock you down for that fight on a failed save, but you get additional saves to avoid DEATH.

Searched some threads on poison and didn't find a discussion of this issue.

1. My villain (who has Poison Use) wants to smear contact poison on his doorknob. How do I determine the DCs for finding it and disabling it?
2. If a PC misses the poison, touches the knob, but is wearing a glove, what happens? I would say that there is a chance each round for the PC to notice the poison and a chance to poison himself. If he does notice it, I would use the rules for handling poison without the Poison Use ability.

Thoughts?

I've been trying to read up on Golarion for the contest and find myself puzzled by the pricing of various PDFs. I happily paid my $10 for the Inner Sea Guide, but then the Faction Guide cost $14, and was a fraction of the size. This needs some 'splaining.