Earliest way to cast polymorph

[Rebel7284]

So I have been thinking about Master Transmogrifist.

It's not a great class, but it can allow for some curious shenanigans if entered early.

The requirements are as follows:

The easy part

Alignment: any nonlawful
Skills: Bluff 2 ranks , Disguise 5 ranks
Feats: Eschew Materials


The harder part
Spells: Able to cast alter self and polymorph.


I am fairly sure that using spell like abilities for these spells would work.

Alter self is actually pretty easy to get with the Momentary Alteration [Spelltouched] feat. You don't even really need to be a spellcaster as long as you can UMD a scroll of Alter Self for the exposure prerequisite.

However, I haven't found any easy way to get Polymorph as a spell or SLA. Is there a low level playable race that gets Polymorph before 7 HD+LA? Is there any way to pick up Polymorph as a spell or SLA somewhere?

[Ramza00]

Transformation Domain Cleric and then use DMM Heighten to get a 5th level spell slot. Also requires the Spontaneous Domain option from PHB2 where you can then Swap this 5th level heightened spell slot to your Domain Spellist which has Polymorph.

Thus with Changeling and a flaw you can enter Master Transmogrifist at level 2 and thus get Infinite Variety at level 11 (with 7 levels of casting, but remember you can always use DMM to simulate higher level spell slots.)

Of course while you are at it I would try to get your DM to houserule Polymorph is your 4th level Domain Spell, and that Draconic Polymorph is your 5th level slot. It goes well with the rest of the spells in this domain being shapechange yourself in nature or having a polymorph / alter self / shapechange component. Draconic Polymorph being from Draconmicon and it is a personal version of Polymorph but now with 20 HD forms, and a +8 boost to strength and +2 to con.

[OgresAreCute]

If items are okay, an artificer could make a scroll of (Divine Crusader) Polymorph from the Transformation domain, which would be spell level 5 + caster level 5 or 6. I don't quite remember how artificers work, but IIRC you craft at CL = artificer level +2, so you could theoretically make a scroll and UMD it at level 3 if you have enough money/XP for the crafting. Can always get that money/XP from a little bit of human sacrifice as portrayed in the BoVD.

[Crake]

Transformation Domain Cleric and then use DMM Heighten to get a 5th level spell slot. Also requires the Spontaneous Domain option from PHB2 where you can then Swap this 5th level heightened spell slot to your Domain Spellist which has Polymorph.

Thus with Changeling and a flaw you can enter Master Transmogrifist at level 2 and thus get Infinite Variety at level 11 (with 7 levels of casting, but remember you can always use DMM to simulate higher level spell slots.)

Of course while you are at it I would try to get your DM to houserule Polymorph is your 4th level Domain Spell, and that Draconic Polymorph is your 5th level slot. It goes well with the rest of the spells in this domain being shapechange yourself in nature or having a polymorph / alter self / shapechange component. Draconic Polymorph being from Draconmicon and it is a personal version of Polymorph but now with 20 HD forms, and a +8 boost to strength and +2 to con.

DMM doesn't work with heighten, as heighten doesn't have a spell slot adjustment, it simply changes the spell level to be whatever slot you prepare it in.

That said, even if it did, doing so doesn't give you a 5th level spell slot, and since DMM is done spontaneously, the spell is still prepared as a 1st level spell, so you wouldn't be able to convert the spell into a 5th level domain spell, just a 1st level one.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Spontaneous Divination Transmutation domain wizard + Versatile Spellcaster might work. That'd allow you to enter with five wizard levels. The bootstrapping version (some form of spontaneous casting at level 1, then domain bonus slot shenanigans up to 9ths) would work even better, of course, but is significantly cheesier.