The transform spell lets your transform one living thing into another, but does not really touch upon what comes with it.
If a character is transformed into an orc, does he get its physical stats? Its body points? Its mental stats? Access to any special abilities, such as the petrifying gaze of a medusa?
And, more importantly, can he cancel its effects before the spell runs out, and can he continue casting spells in his new form?
Likewise, how much control does the caster have over these effects?
Great question,
Transformation is a bit open to GM interpretation as far as how to handle each type of transformation. Here's one way to judge it that I use (your methods may vary):
Transform doesn't heal you. Damage carries between transformed states. If you're down by 17BP and transform into an ogre, you are still down by 17BP. If transforming causes your accumulated damage to exceed your form's BP maximum, you drop.
It's up to the GM how adjudicate complex situations. For instance, if a character has his STR boosted by an Aid spell and is then transformed into a creature with high STR, is his new STR still aided? Things like that are difficult to judge and should be the responsibility of the GM.
Elves have the special ability to cast spells in any armor. Does this allow them to ignore the usual penalty of not being able to cast spells in armor for which they do not meet the strength requirement, or is it a reference to another rule I have not found?
You got it right, mort. Elves don't have to worry about armor preventing them from casting spells. Yes, any elf spellcaster who can afford the gold to purchase plate armor can cast spells.
I have players that save their summon spell and end up not usuing it in a final encounter (for whatever reason). It seems very limiting if you can only cast something once per day.
Yep, sometimes the opportunity never comes up or the need just isn't strong enough to pull out the big spells. A spell's usage is an important part of balance. Spells like this are a gamble like that, but when you suddenly are able to supplement your 4-character party with a sizable force of 20 orcs, you'll be glad you used it.
If you'd prefer to give the summoners in your party more use of their spell, consider adding the following optional rule. Change the usage to "special" instead of 1/day and allow the spellcaster to summon only a number of ranks worth of creatures equal to twice his spellcaster level per day, divided up as desired. Thus, a level 5 spellcaster could summon a two rank 2 creatures (which totals 4 ranks) during an encounter, but then still have 6 ranks worth of creatures to summon that day. This is similar to how the spell functioned in the beginning before play testing evolved it to the form it was published.
I was playtesting your game and used repel to destory a bunch of rank 1 goblins. I have 2 levels in caster. It seems broken. It might be better served to allow the destruction of enemies at higher levels, maybe 4+
A level 2 spellcaster would not be able to destroy rank-1 creatures. The rank must be less than half. Even at level 6, you may only destroy up to rank-2 creatures.
It's also worth noting the caster may choose to destroy, he is not required to. Use your characters moral code as a guideline.
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