Abusing Mind Switch

[Lysander]

This seems pretty damn exploitable. True Mind Switch, for a one-time 10,000xp cost, lets you permanently occupy another person's body. You don't get their SLA or supernatural powers, but it gives you all of their extraordinary abilities and physical stats (str, dex, con).

How can you exploit this fully? Which creatures should you take over?

[Gralamin]

This seems pretty damn exploitable. True Mind Switch, for a one-time 10,000xp cost, lets you permanently occupy another person's body. You don't get their SLA or supernatural powers, but it gives you all of their extraordinary abilities and physical stats (str, dex, con).

How can you exploit this fully? Which creatures should you take over?

Sandwiches.

More seriously, it depends on how often you wish to interact with society. Taking over the Tarrasque (Via some tricks) would be quite optimal, but would leave you utterly unable to interact with society.

[PhoenixRivers]

Sandwiches.

More seriously, it depends on how often you wish to interact with society. Taking over the Tarrasque (Via some tricks) would be quite optimal, but would leave you utterly unable to interact with society.

Please. You're a telepath. You should have no trouble convincing people that the tarrasque is their pet dog.

[Koury]

Epic Warblade? Their maneuvers are (Ex) after all

EDIT: Of course, he'd just Iron Heart Surge you out.

[vegetalss4]

class levels goes too (on the brigth side you get to keep your own)

[Mystic Muse]

Please. You're a telepath. You should have no trouble convincing people that the tarrasque is their pet dog.

I don't think most people have hundred foot long 50 foot high monstrosities as pets.

Not saying a Psion couldn't convince somebody of this, just saying.

[PhoenixRivers]

I don't think most people have hundred foot long 50 foot high monstrosities as pets.

Not saying a Psion couldn't convince somebody of this, just saying.

Exactly my point.

[Emperor Ing]

Why try and convince people that the tarrasque is your pet when you can be the tarrasque?

[Slayn82]

^: No, you misunderstood. See, he is trying to convince the people around him that the Tarrasque whose body he has taken is a pet of those people.

Trolls. Specially War Trolls. Specially Monster of Legend War Trolls, while we are on that line of reasoning.

[Solarn]

Why try and convince people that the tarrasque is your pet when you can be the tarrasque?

Because the last person who followed that line of reasoning just got kicked out by an upstart Psion.

[Emperor Ing]

There's nothing wrong with a high level telepath who might've dumped on a few physical stats wanting a little boost.

[elonin]

A telepathic terrasque sounds quite scary.

[shadow_archmagi]

So, this raises an interesting question to my mind.

The tarrasque is 70 feet long and 50 feet tall.

Spells and Powers tend to have ranges in the 25-200 range.

That means that a spellcasting tarrasque could find himself in a situation where he cannot cast a power on his own foot because it is too far away.

[Emperor Ing]

There's plenty of optimized builds that rely solely on buffs, and characters that have a friendly character or themselves buffing them can choose to ignore SR. The result that would turn a normal human caster into a somewhat decent warrior for their level would turn a tarrasque into an unstoppabler juggernaut of death.

And Range? By 10th level the range on your spells/powers pretty much doubles, and Mind Switch is a 9th level psionic power, by then you've almost tripled your spells' range.

edit: When you consider Tarries have a reach of 20 ft, suddenly you find that ALL your spells/powers actually have increased range.

[PhoenixRivers]

Why try and convince people that the tarrasque is your pet when you can be the tarrasque?

Commoner 1 (Rob): Hey Jaso...WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?
Commoner 2 (Jason): Oh, hey Rob. What? Spot there? He's put on a bit of weight, sure, hasn't he?
Rob: That's not Spo... Oh wait, yeah... Yeah... He's got the collar and everything... What have you been FEEDING him, Jason?
Telepath in Tarrasque: <<Tee hee>>

That should clarify the point.

[Evard]

There is also a few feats out there that lets you increase the range of your spells ain't there?

Also if you use yourself (say your foot) do you actually have to hit your foot or can you just hit yourself? like cure X wounds, you just have to hit the target not where they are actually hurt (say leg or arm).

[Beelzebub1111]

http://kdingo.net/champ/pics/main.php?g2_itemId=9839
If only there was a way to do this...maybe willingly fail the save for a mindseed of yourself before you switch?

[2xMachina]

Wonder what happens when you Mind Switch with a Sharn or Phaerim? Do you get their casting lvls?

[Jack_Simth]

This seems pretty damn exploitable. True Mind Switch, for a one-time 10,000xp cost, lets you permanently occupy another person's body. You don't get their SLA or supernatural powers, but it gives you all of their extraordinary abilities and physical stats (str, dex, con).

How can you exploit this fully? Which creatures should you take over?

It can be, yes. A Shaper can do it at a 15th with Astral Seed and regular Mind Switch (by way of that nifty feat to add powers), although you lose a level in the doing.

But basically, you want something with really nice Ex abilities. Regeneration, Fast Healing, Darkvision, spell resistance, immunities, and the like. Crafty use of Polymorph also lets you get magic immunity (Stone to Flesh a Stone Golem to negate it's magic immunity for a round, then Polymorph it into something with a mind, then mind switch with it, and have the Polymorph dismissed, as an example). That needs a friendly Wizard / Trickery Domain Cleric to pull off properly, though, unless you're Gestalt, or can convince your DM that Magic Immunity can be dropped in the same manner as spell resistance (and even then, you need a Polymorph from somewhere).

Oh, and if you get yourself into something that can't be Raised, you NEED Astral Seed. Badly.

[Volthawk]

Wonder what happens when you Mind Switch with a Sharn or Phaerim? Do you get their casting lvls?

Not with Phaerim, their casting are through SLAs, which you don't get.