Re: session re****t

In article <1169576275.127809.22260@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
DougL <lampert.doug@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>My solution was to declare that Polymorph type spells change your
>SHAPE, and virtually nothing else. You get limited size based bonuses
>or penalties to strength and dex, you may get natural armor, movement
>modes or speed, natural weapons, and some senses, but all of those are
>limited to typical values for the size of the final creature. Magical
>gear changes form with you and if at all possible remains functional in
>the new form.

Water-breathing?  Non-breathing (as for a zombie)?  Ability to live
on what the critter naturally eats?  Sonar?  Tremorsense?  Tunnelling?

I'd fuss over those edge cases a bit, but basically, this makes sense
to me.  To fully change into a powerful magical creature should take
a dedicated spell, so that it can be leveled properly. 

I had one PC party which was fond of using Polymorph as an area-effect
weapon.  They would Polymorph something very big, like a whale, into
a mouse and keep it in a little bamboo cage.  Then they'd use Dispel
(nowadays I think you could just Dismiss) to turn it back inside a
tight space.  It's hard to argue that a blue whale appearing in a
10' square room will be anything less than catastrophe for the
occupants; if it's upstairs, it will probably destroy the whole
building.

I got very tired of this strategy after a while.  It's particularly
hard to rule against because you are *not* trying to Polymorph something
into a shape which doesn't fit in the available space (which the GM
might rule as a failure); instead, you are Dispelling an existing
spell, and it's not clear that Dispel should respect available space.
The main limit was availability of whales, though elephants and rhinos
produce a fairly dramatic effect too, and big monsters are of course
spectacular.

It's hard to write Polymorph so that the fun, colorful uses remain
and strategies like this one don't.

Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]