Holy Transformation? Holy Crap!

[tonberrian]

Holy Transformation is a pretty awesome spell, giving you a nice (sacred!) bonus to Strength and Constitution, a (sacred!) bonus to all saves, an aura to penalize evil creatures, and some other minor benefits, like the Archon subtype.

Then I noticed that the Archon subtype is actually not a minor bonus at all. Let's take a look, shall we? (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#archonSubtype)

Darkvision 60 ft. and low-light vision: The low-light vision is the only part that's above and beyond what the spell already gives you. Useful, but not great.

Aura of Menace: WANT. This is a great ability to have. It's almost like making someone shaken, except it trades the checks penalty for an AC penalty. Oh, and it doesn't have the [Fear] keyword - in fact, it lacks any keywords at all, making easy immunity impossible. Just try to keep them from hitting you, or the effect breaks.

Immunity to electricity and petrification: 'Nuff said.

+4 racial bonus to saves against poison: Okay.

Magic Circle against Evil: WANT. You effectively get +2 resistance to saves, +2 deflection to AC, immunity to possession and most charms and compulsions, and SR-applicable immunity to evil summoned creatures (except that since this is a supernatural effect, no, SR DOESN'T apply); and you can share these benefits in a small aura.

Teleport: Greater Teleport at will is pretty awesome, even if you can only take 50 lbs. of gear with you.

Tongues: pretty useful.

All this for a 7th level spell (that I can persist with DMM)? Sign me up!

On another note, the Infernal Transformation spells give you the Baatezu subtype, which is also pretty cool, if not as good as the Archon subtype.

[Lateral]

It's a seventh level spell, nothing there is really too out-of-line except for the Greater Teleport (also 7th level) at will, and that can only take you, not party members.

[HalfDragonCube]

Especially useful if you wish to scare some things in the dark which you don't speak the language of and they try to kill you with poison lightning that turns you to stone.

[tonberrian]

Let run some comparisons, then. Frightful Presence at 1 min/level is apparently worth a sixth level slot. Aura of Menace is based on HD rather than spell level, has a +2 racial bonus, has no HD cap, is neither [Mind-Affecting] nor [Fear], and doesn't drop if they get out of range (though it does drop if they hit you). We get Aura of Menace for 1 round/level for a sixth level slot. I'd definitely take Aura of Menace over Aura of Terror.

Energy immunity is a sixth level slot for 24 hours. Holy Transformation is higher level for much shorter, but it also gets immunity to petrification, which is harder to come by and nifty, if not very useful.

Magic Circle against Evil: Really great. This is a big part of Mind Blank right here, plus other useful effects, for a shorter duration but also a lower level. Of course, you can get a non-supernatural Magic Circle for a third level slot with a longer duration, but supernatural makes you pretty much immune to the physical attacks of summoned evil outsiders.

Tongues is worth a level 3 slot for longer.

The "main" effects of the spell are great abilities that synergize well with the [Archon] subtype and easily stack thanks to obscure bonuses.

Mostly, Holy Transformation is not awesome for any particular effect (except for the Greater Teleport), but because it has so many great abilities all at once.

[Chess435]

DO WANT!

What book is this spell from?

[Kaeso]

DO WANT!

What book is this spell from?

Spell Compendium

[Popertop]

Spell Compendium

do you know what book it is from originally,
or is it only found in the spell compendium?