Hello,
I think I understand the polymorph rules, but I still have a couple questions about the miscellaneous things my character gains from the creature he morphs into:
1) Does he gain the creature's natural armor bonus? It would be reasonable to think so, because (a) he morphs into a creature with a thick skin, (b) all his armor bonuses cease to function, and (c) his AC doesn't otherwise follow the power curve for his level.
2) Does he gain the creature's attacks as listed? Since some of the creature's abilities come from feats that he doesn't have (INA, mostly), I initially thought that I had to carefully deconstruct the creature's stat block, but it goes against Pathfinder's will to simplify polymorph rules (and nerfs the Dire Tiger to the point where it equals the regular Tiger).
3) Does he gain the creature's racial modifiers to skill? I recently re-read the FAQ and it seems that he doesn't. However, I have some doubts: for instance, a Tiger's ability to hide efficiently comes primarily from its striped coat. Why wouldn't he gains its Stealth bonus?
4) Would it be reasonable to allow Natural Spell and the Wild enchantment to work for any polymorph effect and not just the druids' Wild Shape? Barring a heavily specialized combat build, self-polymorph spells aren't that useful to a wizard otherwise.
5) What about allowing the Multimorph discovery to work for druids, too?
Thanks in advance.
--
Louis
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1) No, they gain what the spell/ability that allowed them to change shape states they get. NA is definitely something based on physical form so, the polymorph school states it would be lost when changing to a new form.
2) No they get the attack routine, you need to figure it out for your character (with the new stats from changing shape). It is more simple than having a second book of all different creatures you could change into, less book keeping involved if everything is based on the characters stats.
3) No racial skill bonus is gained. You might gain a modifier from the size change however. If the racial was strictly a 'physical thing' it would be stat'ed up as an ability and listed as something gained in the spell.
4) RAW, no. In your home games feel free to house rule away.
5) See 4.
While I agree with everything you've said, I have a couple thoughts.
1) No, they gain what the spell/ability that allowed them to change shape states they get. NA is definitely something based on physical form so, the polymorph school states it would be lost when changing to a new form.
I wasn't writing about losing natural armor (=NA?), but gaining natural armor from the creature. As it is written, it seems that we (1) lose whatever armor we have, and (2) don't gain whatever the target creature has. Lose-lose?
2) No they get the attack routine, you need to figure it out for your character (with the new stats from changing shape). It is more simple than having a second book of all different creatures you could change into, less book keeping involved if everything is based on the characters stats.
We still need those books to determine the attack routine. And list the special abilities allowed by the spell used. About the attack routine: do we gain damage as listed, as-listed-but-deconstructed, or do we use the standard-damage-per-natural-attack table from the bestiary?
All in all, the various polymorph spells might incur less bookkeeping, but a lot more spreadsheet-keeping...
3) No racial skill bonus is gained. You might gain a modifier from the size change however. If the racial was strictly a 'physical thing' it would be stat'ed up as an ability and listed as something gained in the spell.
In most (if not all) Bestiary entries, all modifiers to skills have been written as racial modifiers.
I wasn't writing about losing natural armor (=NA?), but gaining natural armor from the creature. As it is written, it seems that we (1) lose whatever armor we have, and (2) don't gain whatever the target creature has. Lose-lose?
No, you get the natural armor that the spell gives you. For example, Beast Shape I gives you a +2 Natural Armor if you take the form of a medium animal.
1. You get the spells say you get. Even if the creature has +10 NA, you don't get that +10.
2. You get the standard routine and base damage that the creature has, but you have to figure out your own attack bonus and str modifier to the damage.
3. You don't get the racial skill bonus because you are not that race. You just have that form.
4. You only get what the spells say you get. Polymorph is not like it was in 3.5 where you actually became the creature.