Alien Archive 2 will have rules for polymorph spells. How do you think they will work?
Paizo opted to not put any spells that grant +X to ability scores/AC in their core rules, so it seems unlikely that they would add spells that do so now, as the classic beast shape, elemental body, etc did. However not changing ability scores at all would be very strange for turning into tiny or huge creatures, and immersion-breaking for a lot of people.
I wouldn't be terribly surprised if these spells limited you to within 1 size category of your normal form, and simply added type/subtype grafts and natural attacks as their boost. That would hit all the important parts of polymorphing while being simple and not too powerful compared to other spells.
Yeah, I imagine it would be mostly about the added features and abilities rather than straight up additive bonuses.
I could maybe see bonuses, but only if they are very rigorous in making sure that the polymorph options come with real limits.
After all, ability score boosts DO exist in the game via augmentations, but they're not mandatory (or even necessarily the best investment given the need for upgrading weapons and armor).
I have a feeling that it'll work like the Summon Creature spell. Every spell level, you'll get to pick some number of 'forms' from a pre-determined list, and you'll only get specific abilities of those forms. The low level spells may only grant you something like a bite atttack or thicker skin or a small boost to an ability score, the middle ones maybe humanoid or near humanoid shapes, while the higher level ones may also grant full shape transfer.
I do wonder if it will also include *offensive* Polymorph spells. AFter all, while "save or die" is largely eliminated, Polymorph Other doesn't *have* to be save or die. It could, like Polymorph Self, have a list of valid form alterations with greater and greater debuffs. Low level offensive polymorph is limited to stuff like ability score and skill penalties. Higher level offensive polymorphs can eventually do stuff like change or eliminate limbs or senses.
Great spells for Kuthonite mystics to have!
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I could see there being a menu of adjustments:
Level 1 polymorph: Pick one ability out of a list of minor things.
Level 2 polymorph: Pick two of those abilities
Level 3 polymorph: pick 3, or pick one from this better list
and so on.
With the endless variety of alien life, you could simply let the player choose their form as long as it fits the options chosen.