Player wants to research a spell?

[Jarmen4u]

So I have a wizard player in my game who recently died. He pulled up and showed me a homebrew class (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?398152-Familiar-Souljack-%283-5-PrC-needs-a-better-name-become-your-familiar%29) that basically put his soul into his familiar. Now that the novelty of being a hawk is wearing off, he wants to research a spell that would allow him to turn into his original form a la Polymorph, but with more exact specifications a la Alter Self. He also wanted it to be a semi-long term spell, most likely so he doesn't have to waste a lot of spell slots to keep himself going.

Any ideas for making the spell? Right now the party is 8th level, about half-way to 9th level. Due to him taking the homebrew though, he's a CL behind, so he won't be getting 5th level spells for another level. I don't want to necessarily give him everything he wants perfectly, at least with the duration, but since he's spending time researching it, I feel like he would be able to attain a spell that does more or less exactly what he wants. I was thinking making it a 5th level spell, lasts an hour for every 2 caster levels, but only lets him turn into himself (something about it allowing him to channel his physical form from his soul, as opposed to polymorphing into his form), that way he can't use it for unintended uses.

I'd love any and all feedback.

[Bullet06320]

cute class, I like the idea of it

extend spell, then persist spell when high enuf level

he could research a higher level version of alterself that only increases the duration, from 10mins a level, to 1 hour a level, make it a 3rd level its a minor change so only 1 level increase IMO, then he would be able to apply extend spell for another level
he would still have to expend the resources to research it, and spend a feat to extend it, but still seems pretty straight forward
and IMO he would need to have alterself in his spellbook first before he could research a better version

[Kelb_Panthera]

There are several rituals in savage species that could get him back to his natural form in a more permanent, non-dispellable way.

With a 7th level caster to perform the ritual it will cost 7k gold and either his most recently gained level or his next 1000xp. In either case he ends the day long ritual in his original form or that of any other basic race without a level adjustment.

Otherwise, I'd peg it as about 5th level for an hours/level effect or 6th for a 24hr duration. The desired effect is somewhere in between polymorph and alter self, far as I can see it, making a 3rd level effect then add a level each for stepping the duration up to minutes, then hours per level. Skipped the 10 minutes /level step since it's not hugely different from hrs/lvl in this particular application.

I'd go with the ritual and then retrain the souljack levels in this situation though.

[ericgrau]

So the main benefit is that he gets his prestige class features in humanoid form. Taking a look at the prestige class nothing seems that abusable in humanoid form, especially at the cost of a caster level. So I think this could be a low level spell. If you're afraid of the player never going back to familiar form, you could make it 10 min/level or 1 min/level instead, or remove some of the prestige class benefits when he goes into his original form. Since the effects seem to be mostly fluff I would make it a level 2 or 3 spell. Perhaps even if it's hour/level and he keeps all the prestige class benefits.

Worst abuse I see might be a gish using it for the natural armor, evasion and SR. Even optimizing for it at -1 caster level and vulnerability to dispel those benefits are not super powerful. You get your opposable thumbs back, but one successful dispel and you drop all your expensive handheld gear.

[Jarmen4u]

I appreciate all the replies! It's not so much that I'm afraid he will permanently change back, it's more that that's not what he asked for. He just wanted a long-term polymorph type spell. If he wants a more permanent solution, I will look into this SS stuff and offer the options to him.

Do you have a name for that specific ritual so I can find it faster?

[Crake]

Also remember that researching a spell costs 1000gp and 1 week per spell level, and that's just to make the spellcraft check to TRY and research it, it's not a guarenteed outcome. The GM also doesn't tell you whether such a spell is possible until AFTER the check, so if you decide such a spell doesn't exist, then you aren't technically supposed to tell him until after he tries to research it.

Hawk to humanoid is a pretty big step in terms of changes though. Maybe let him instead take improved familiar to get something more humanoid looking, like maybe a petal, imp or quasit or something (I know petals aren't actually TECHNICALLY usable for familiars, but I think they're about on par with other things like imps and quasits, all of them have humanoid form though), then let him research something like a double strength enlarge person (to bring him from tiny to medium), paired with a hat of disguise to make himself look like his old self, though he'd have the added wings and possibly tail depending on the kind of familiar he picked.

Nevermind, can't have improved familiar :\

[Jarmen4u]

Also remember that researching a spell costs 1000gp and 1 week per spell level, and that's just to make the spellcraft check to TRY and research it, it's not a guarenteed outcome. The GM also doesn't tell you whether such a spell is possible until AFTER the check, so if you decide such a spell doesn't exist, then you aren't technically supposed to tell him until after he tries to research it.

Yeah, I gotcha. Honestly though, I don't have a problem letting him get the spell. I try to not say no unless I have a good reason.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Ss pages 149-150 the rituals of unlearning and vitality.