Gnaeus
2013-05-21, 03:03 PM
Continued from a thread about changes in Pathfinder where we discussed the Polymorph line. OP asked us to move to another thread.
That's how it works in 3.5 - it replaces your physical stats entirely, which is a huge incentive to cast it on yourself since you will get the biggest bonus from doing so. (e.g. mages typically have crap physical stats, so polymorphing themselves makes it so they can duplicate the physical party members' jobs.) PF changed spells like this to augment stats rather than replace them, so you get the biggest benefit by casting them on people that are already good at their jobs. So yes, it is better to incentivize the opposite, and that's just what PF did.
But they didn't. Which spell can I use to turn my fighter into a giant? None. It was a valid use of Polymorph in 3.5, because you made good use of the Fighter or Monk's feats and BAB when you turned your chain tripper into a war troll. Now, you can't do that at any level.
3.5, you could polymorph your rogue into a mouse to scout at level 7 (4th level spell). You could polymorph yourself into a mouse at level 7 (4th level spell). PF, you can do it at level 13 (7th level spell). You can still polymorph yourself into a mouse at level 9 (5th level spell). Note that by the time you can turn the rogue into a scouting mouse, you can Ethereal Jaunt, and scout yourself from the safety of another plane.
So, the first incentive is to drop polymorph altogether. It is higher level, with less effect. This encourages wizards to just dump it and memorize a less party friendly attack spell instead.
The second incentive is to use the relevant polymorph line spell (Beast Shape 3 for example) on yourself, since you can't use it on your rogue or fighter.
That's how it works in 3.5 - it replaces your physical stats entirely, which is a huge incentive to cast it on yourself since you will get the biggest bonus from doing so. (e.g. mages typically have crap physical stats, so polymorphing themselves makes it so they can duplicate the physical party members' jobs.) PF changed spells like this to augment stats rather than replace them, so you get the biggest benefit by casting them on people that are already good at their jobs. So yes, it is better to incentivize the opposite, and that's just what PF did.
But they didn't. Which spell can I use to turn my fighter into a giant? None. It was a valid use of Polymorph in 3.5, because you made good use of the Fighter or Monk's feats and BAB when you turned your chain tripper into a war troll. Now, you can't do that at any level.
3.5, you could polymorph your rogue into a mouse to scout at level 7 (4th level spell). You could polymorph yourself into a mouse at level 7 (4th level spell). PF, you can do it at level 13 (7th level spell). You can still polymorph yourself into a mouse at level 9 (5th level spell). Note that by the time you can turn the rogue into a scouting mouse, you can Ethereal Jaunt, and scout yourself from the safety of another plane.
So, the first incentive is to drop polymorph altogether. It is higher level, with less effect. This encourages wizards to just dump it and memorize a less party friendly attack spell instead.
The second incentive is to use the relevant polymorph line spell (Beast Shape 3 for example) on yourself, since you can't use it on your rogue or fighter.