Concrete examples of how PaO is broken at all levels?

[noradetzky]

Let's say I had a commoner who had polymorph all objects as a SLA at will. Caster level equals HD.

What could he polymorph into at levels 1, 2, 3, ..., 19, 20 that's absolutely broken?

I'm just looking for concrete examples of dumb brokenness at every level.

[candycorn]

Well, let's see.

For starters, he could polymorph rocks into people, at level 1.

He could turn rocks into gold, breaking economy.

Given a week or so, he could essentially turn a field into a castle, and staff it via obscene amounts of gold.

There's breaking it at level 1.

[Acanous]

Polymorph all Objects??
that's a thing???

PAO usually refers to Polymorph Any Object.

Polymorph All Objects would be singularly broken in any case it can possibly be thought of. That's like making a spell called "Disintegrate Everything".

If you meant Polymorph any Object, though, I'll get back to you with a list.

I'm not trying to be demeaning or anything, but it's april first and there's a high probability that you're trying to pull something silly here :p

[noradetzky]

Well, let's see.

For starters, he could polymorph rocks into people, at level 1.

He could turn rocks into gold, breaking economy.

Given a week or so, he could essentially turn a field into a castle, and staff it via obscene amounts of gold.

There's breaking it at level 1.

I'm thinking along the lines of personal power. Like making himself stronger. Permanently.


snips

Any indeed.

[Yora]

Since it's an 8th level spell, it normally doesn't become available until level 15 and has a minmum caster level of 15th. I am sure you still could do hilariously outrageous things with it at lower caster levels, but in regard to balance, only 15+ cases really matter. At which point it probably is even much worse, I assume.

[Yuki Akuma]

He could permanently polymorph himself into a Troglodyte.

Suddenly, he's more powerful than his base form, permanently.

It's not really that hard. Just find a form that's close to your current one, and turn into it. Almost everything is innately more powerful than a human/elf/whatever your race is.

[kardar233]

You can permanently Polymorph into a more powerful creature. An INT-focused character can get some impressive INT scores from certain forms; Sarrukh for INT30 comes to mind.

[noradetzky]

Since it's an 8th level spell, it normally doesn't become available until level 15 and has a minmum caster level of 15th. I am sure you still could do hilariously outrageous things with it at lower caster levels, but in regard to balance, only 15+ cases really matter. At which point it probably is even much worse, I assume.

If I were to rule 0 in PaO on a commoner as an SLA, the rules state that it's cast at CL=HD.

I was just asking, is there anything useful at lower levels?

[Yora]

That is of cause a viable thought experiment, I was just mentioning that everything gained from it would not be egible as evidence for or against the spell being broken.

[Eisenfavl]

Starting at fifth level with reserve of strength/any three clvl buffing they can do the ethergaunt shuffle into level nine spells.

[noradetzky]

That is of cause a viable thought experiment, I was just mentioning that everything gained from it would not be egible as evidence for or against the spell being broken.

Oh, alright. I understand.