Forgotten Kingdoms Forums

Would there be any way to provide a bit of leeway as far as polymorph is concerned when it comes to carry weight?

Stealing from a polymorphed character is considered code abuse because we play that the items are absorbed into the form. Well, then shouldn't they not affect our carry weight as well?

Suggestion - Set carry weight to 0 when you are changed to another form.

As it currently is, I have to go and dump everything I own to be able to take advantage of animal forms.

I'd second that. You can't move either when you have all your ninety-nine items in your inventory all of a sudden, which is confusing...

I knew about the no stealing thing, but I thought that was just more of a courtesy thing. I didn't realize that the items were supposed to be considered 'absorbed' into your form. I certainly wouldn't complain if this is changed, but it makes sense to me that if I know I am going to go change into a rat, that a rat would not be able to handle all of the crap that Gesine carries around. Some beings are naturally weaker than others, and I'll admit to having been frustrated a few times when Gesine has changed into something and I didn't realize her strength would go down, and then suddenly she can't move. But I just think that is part of her learning and studying. She should have put more research into that form before giving it a go, and been more prepared. I think the spell is fine the way it is personally. Again, I wouldn't complain if it was changed. If you are wanting to change into something that you know will drop your strength to the floor, and you do not have the time to put your things away at that moment (I've had this happen to me, so I really can sympathize) I either just will not change right then, or I'll use a form that has more strength. Or even alternatively, move somewhere a little less crowded, and use one of those handy floating discs to dump some things onto. A good suggestion really, but I just don't see that it is necessary.

An excellent suggestion!
As it stands now, its really hard to use the polymorph spell in certain ways. For example, I know players that really want to use that spell to turn into a bird instead of use the fly spell for their roleplay, but they are unable to do it because the weight prevents them from moving. The only thing they would be able to do is dump their things on the ground, which makes the whole point of traveling somewhere kind of moot in animal form. There are also issues with things on the ground being erased during code updates that people have to worry about. I think it would be a great addition and perhaps a finalization of the spell.

This has my support as well. I was just trying to explain to someone the other day that the spell absorbs everything into the new form for the duration of the spell and the code kind of counters my point. It would be VERY useful if this worked as it is supposed to in PnP.

Unfortunately, part of the problem is that even the floating discs...can be astonishingly hard to drag. The alternative is to leave the equipment behind in a disc, which I would feel to be very odd. I'm not sure what the rules are about stealing from an abandoned disc lying around (since it's technically a cart?) but I don't think it would make a lot of sense to do that from an rp viewpoint at the very least.

To add to this, I personally had -no idea- that all equipment was absorbed, and certainly with ape and occasionally wolf the new form is often -still wearing- the old gear. (Yup, that's a wolf, in a robe, breeches and tiara. No really.) I jump up and down on the 'fix this' bandwagon!

Slightly off topic, but I concur that the floating disc weight as Elke said in a previous post can get really really heavy. I had to give up being a merchant because I couldnt haul around enough stuff on the disc to make a profit because I had to keep resting all the time, and a few plat profit wasn't worth the hours of real time it took. In fact, as I understand it, polymorph is greatly used by wizards (I have seen maybe two situations where it was not used this way) who have to haul around stuff on the disc, and even as an ape the stamina runs out as if you were pulling the disc through thick mud, not the air.

Just coming back to this, I spent a little while testing the forms in the Polymorph helpfile and I'd say it's pretty clear just how all over the place they actually are. Specifically I note the fully-dressed ape, panther, pig and wolf.

Ape - equipment all remains on. Ape attacks with quarterstaff still held in hands.

Bat - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Bear - all equipment dumped in inventory

Beetle - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Bird - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Cat - all equipment dumped in inventory

Cow - 'You are not skilled enough to polymorph into that'.

Crab - all equipment dumped in inventory

Dog - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Fish - all equipment dumped in inventory

Frog - all equipment dumped in inventory

Horse - all equipment dumped in inventory

Insect - 'You can't polymorph into that!'

Lizard - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Owl - all equipment dumped in inventory

Panther - all equipment still being worn and staff still in 'hands'. Ioun stone
removed from floating and ends up in inventory.

Pig - all equipment still being worn and staff still in 'hands'. Ioun stone removed
from floating and ends up in inventory.

Rabbit - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Rat - all equipment dumped in inventory

Scorpion - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Snake - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Spider - all equipment dumped in inventory, apart from ioun stone which remains
floating.

Wolf - equipment all remains on, -except- for the ioun stone, which ends up in
inventory. Wolf attacks with quarterstaff unless removed.