Skeletal Form (sorc. spell) [PEACH]

[Skjaldbakka]

Skeletal Form:

Transmutation
Level: Sorc/Wizard 4
Components: V.S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 10min/level (D)

You assume the form of a skeleton, gaining all the following traits, for the duration of the spell:

DR 5/Bludgeoning
Cold Resistance 15
Light Fortification
+2 Dexterity
+4 Initiative
+1 temporary HP/level

You also gain a bonus to natural armor and claws based on your size:

Natural Armor:
Tiny or Smaller: +0
Small: +1
Medium or Large: +2
Huge: +3
Gargantuan: +6
Colossal: +10

Claws:
Diminutive or Fine: 1
Tiny: 1d2
Small: 1d3
Medium: 1d4
Large: 1d6
Huge: 1d8
Gargantuan: 2d6
Colossal: 2d8

[BisectedBrioche]

Shouldn't the castor also become undead?

[Skjaldbakka]

A) undead is not a subtype
B) gaining the undead type is really powerful, so I gave him partial immunity to crits instead (via light fortification)

[Ziren]

I'm not playing D&D and know only little about the rules, but shouldn't having no flesh, from a logical standpoint, give you extra resistance to pierce damage?

[Obrysii]

I rather like this.

And what DR 5/bludgeoning means that if you have a slashing or a piercing weapon, it has damage reduction 5 against you. If you use a bludgeoning weapon, like a hammer, it has no DR against you.

[Ziren]

I see. In that case, pay no attention to my unjustified complain.

[lord of kobolds]

This Should Come With A Bonus To Intimidate And A Penalty To Diplomacy, As Most People Are Afraid Of Skeletons.

[Collin152]

This Should Come With A Bonus To Intimidate And A Penalty To Diplomacy, As Most People Are Afraid Of Skeletons.

And yet one gets no penalty to diplomacy for casting Polymorph and turning into a monster.

[Mando Knight]

Shouldn't the castor also become undead?

How about the effect getting dispelled if the caster is hit with an otherwise successful Turn/Rebuke Undead attempt?

[Flickerdart]

Why does a Skeleton gain Dex bonus? Take that off, give him things a Skeleton would have instead, like Immunity to Disease or reversing Healing and Negative Energy. Or maybe even a penalty to Dex but an Aura of Fear.

Like the Summon Undeads, maybe this can scale with level? A shoddy low-level caster gets the lame stuff and a high-level one gets the goods.

[Collin152]

Why does a Skeleton gain Dex bonus? Take that off, give him things a Skeleton would have instead, like Immunity to Disease or reversing Healing and Negative Energy. Or maybe even a penalty to Dex but an Aura of Fear.

Like the Summon Undeads, maybe this can scale with level? A shoddy low-level caster gets the lame stuff and a high-level one gets the goods.

Skeletons get a dex bonus.
Look at the template.
It makes total sense.

I think the spell is just right, good work.

[The Necroswanso]

A note that could be adressed. Since you do not gain the type 'undead', you are thus immune to turning, while that's all well and good, the only way to prevent this spell from going off is to coutnerspell. That make's it a little pwoerful, especially for a Sor/Wiz of the respective fourth level casting, especially with a ten minute duration. Afterall, at 4th level casting Sor/Wiz are just now getting Animate Dead.

I would suggest going to the duration=rounds per caster level.
Make it turnable with a +4 Turn Resistence.
You'd also want to up the casting time. This can become a very seriously overpowered spell in conjunction with Enlarge Person and the like.

[Skjaldbakka]

Trollshape is rnds/level, and gives you much more potent abilities. I could see a 1 rnd casting time though.

[The Necroswanso]

Never heard of troll shape, sounds like it's from a suplemental book. And everyone knows bringing up the overpowerdness of supplemental books is redundent.

[Job]

Spell look pretty solid to me.

[Skjaldbakka]

Not in this particular instance, since Trollshape is part of WotCs fix for polymorph.

[The Necroswanso]

You trying to tell me that WoTC has posted something to fix something produced by WoTC? I has a bridge to sell you dude.

[Skjaldbakka]

That line works better if you include the geography.

I would also like to introduce you to PHBII wildshape, which similarly addresses balance issues.

[The Necroswanso]

I gots to tell you dude, everything about D&D is unbalanced. And all the extra books they keep releasing to possibley help fix said problems, only create bigger ones.
Wild shape and polymorph are just bad. They're evil, unchecked and only getting stronger. I can only imagine what horrors 4th edition will bring to the table with wildshape and polymorhp. But I digress.

[Skjaldbakka]

You want some help digging that hole? Here's a shovel. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20060216a)

[lord of kobolds]

And yet one gets no penalty to diplomacy for casting Polymorph and turning into a monster.
so you're saying that just because it happens in POLYMORPH, it is right?
i'm pretty sure we have already established that it is broken

[Collin152]

so you're saying that just because it happens in POLYMORPH, it is right?
i'm pretty sure we have already established that it is broken

Castign Disguise Self to become a twisted old crone with maggots falling from your eye sockets will also have no effect on your Diplomacy check.
Are you telling me Disguise Self is broken?