Fantasy Craft Polymorph?

[aegis]

I don't know if anyone else is having trouble with this. I will be starting a FC game soon, and one of my players was a psion in the previous adventure, an "egoist" to be precise. He did rely on a spell in particular, of course: polymorph. I can imagine this spell was "omitted" in FC because of its highly unbalanced nature. Though, it was one of the most fun spells of the OGL. I took a look at the Pathfinder alternative: I don't like it. It's not what I'm looking for. So, can anyone help me with this?

I was thinking of limitations based on XP value of the mimicked monster, but I was wondering what value would be balanced or not for, say, a 4th or 5th level spell. And there are plenty of other considerations, including size, number of "known" or "available" forms, types, Disguise, etc. What would you do?

[Morgenstern]

Off the cuff I'd work it exactly like the various summons spells - several series of spells with different XP caps, each series lets you turn into only one general type (there wold be a polymorph to animal series, seperate form a polymorph to construct series). I'd make the player keep their own mental attributes and vitality point total in any form, and I'd give the critter stats they are borrowing a -2 Threat level, but allow the character to take weapon proficiencies (1 per form) to really practice up with that form, bringing it up to normal threat level.

And if they are using the spell to disguise themselves as someone in particular, make a Disguise check. The spell counts as a kit and might allow them to ignore certain penalties like shifting hieght and weight, but their attention to the details and nuances required to impersonate someone is already clearly described on their sheet by their disguise bonus .

[Desertpuma]

I like that Morg ... the Disguise skill ... perhaps Paizo should examine that as a possibility too. ... To me, Polymorph is a spell that can be overused at times making people into one trick ponies, and as most people who know me remember I'm not fond of one trick ponies as a fellow players because they are too overspecialized. As a GM, they are easily taken out of their element. In either of those two cases, to me, they weaken the party/team too much.

[aegis]

Thanks, but the player finally decided to try a new character concept. I guess we'll see if anything new comes out when Spellbound: the Trickster is released.