Aging Effects (scroll 1/3 of the way down)
Situation:
Half Orc Bob is an 18th level wizard. He's 31 years old (middle age), and he has low self esteem about people picking on his gross green skin. He decides to polymorph himself into an Elf--everyone likes Elves, right? Using Polymorph Any Object, he turns himself permanently into an Elf. (An Increase Duration Factor of 13 (see spell))
Related questions:
1: Is Bob now a middle-aged Elf?
2: Can Bob choose to Polymorph into a younger/older Elf as part of the spell?
3: Will Bob live to be 354+ years old?
4: Random: If Bob dies (Sarenrae forbid), will his corpse be that of a Half Orc?
Clearly, Bob is not the equivalent of a 31-year-old Elf (unless the GM in question is childish)
Surely this is an age-old argument, but it'd be wonderful to hear the community's theories.
My answers here are best guesses, but I'll try to support them with logic/rules where I can...
1) Yes, otherwise a middle aged elf turned into an orc would immediately die if it went by age. Also, a 31 year old elf would basically be a toddler.
2) I would say that poly morph doesn't prevent you from changing your age category, though as a DM, I would rule that only your physical scores are effected by this since you aren't actually aging in such a way that would grant additional wisdom or intelligence. You become an Orc "trapped" in an elf's body, in a very similar way to the way reincarnate does not affect your physical stats. You could probably use this to become a younger elf, thus removing the -1 penalty to physical stats for free. (This is all just my interpretation and is obviously at DM discretion. It could be perceived as an attempt at finding a loophole to get free stats.)
3) Yes, Bob's body will live longer now that he is older. Technically, he still has the mind of an Orc though, so this could have some interesting effects, subject to how your DM interprets this.
4) His corpse will not change - it will still be that of an elf.
Just my 2 cp.
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As it stands the duration of the spell is Permanent which means, "The energy remains as long as the effect does. This means the spell is vulnerable to Dispel Magic."
You can choose to look like a middle aged elf, or a young elf, or an old elf but at the end of the day your still a middle-aged Half-Orc under that magic with a middle-aged half-orc's lifespan. You'll leave a elfin corpse until someone dispels the affect upon it. You don't get any of the powers of being an elf that aren't listed under the usual sources of other shapechanging spells that Polymorph Any Object defaults to.
By the rules and mechanics of the game your effectively just under the effects of a very long lasting Alter Self spell.
Well all my stuff seemed fun an open to interesting possibilities, it does seem that Morgen has the right idea here. It's a spell that can be dispelled all the same.