Important PSA: Shifters, please read!

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Daemona
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Important PSA: Shifters, please read!

Post by Daemona » Sun Feb 14, 2016 8:32 pm

The below is a cut and paste from Avlis. Apparently it is also true for Druids and Wildshape.
I already mentioned it to three shifters and they knew nothing about it so I am posting here.
I know a lot of our code came from Avlis but do not know if this holds true on Arkaz as well.
RCon wrote:Do you have a Shifter? Have you ever noticed that every once in a while when transitioning or unshifting, you suddenly go into the bleedscript? If so, I suspect your shifter was wearing CON boosting gear. Bear with me here, but put simply...

CON boosting gear can kill shifters

Yup, that's right. If you're wearing CON gear that merges, it might kill you. Wait, what? CON gear gives me more HP and keeps me alive longer! Well yes, normally that's true, except... When you unshift, all the bonuses from your mergeable gear briefly disappears then is reapplied in your normal form (oddly, this doesn't happen when shifting, only when unshifting). For most bonuses, this is no big deal. Say you're wearing a +3 STR ring and you unshift; your effective STR might go from 13 to 10 then back to 13 in a split second. Meh, no problem. Ditto for DEX, AC bonuses, your battle bands, etc.

But... for a CON bonus, in the semi-rare situation where you are low on HP, it is possible that you unshift, lose your CON bonus, and end up dying before it gets reapplied. For example:

* PC is level 30
* PC is wearing a +2 CON ring and is shifted into a form that merges rings
* PC is down to 25 HP (bravely run away, Sir Robin!)

If you unshift at this moment, you will lose 30 HP when the CON bonus from the ring is unapplied. The CON bonus would normally be reapplied immediately thereafter, but in this case it is too late because the bleedscript has already fired when 25 - 30 = -5 HP.

Having fun yet? Wait, it gets worse. Ever notice how every once in a while when you transition from one area to another while shifted, you briefly unshift and reshift? Awesome, because the Temp HP bonus from your shape gets reapplied, right? Right. Except if you're low on HP and wearing CON gear. This can also send you into the bleedscript if the brief loss of HP drops you below 0 HP.

But wait, don't call the number on your screen yet, there's more! What, seriously? That's not bad enough? If you were holding a weapon when you shifted, and the above happens to you, AND that brief loss of HP drops you below -10 HP, your weapon might disappear. I'm not sure if this happens to all weapons or only plot weapons, but either way, it sucks.

By the way, the unapply/reapply thing also affects gear that grants bonus spell slots and bonus spell slots granted via ability score bonus.


tl;dr version... If you are a shifter, do NOT wear CON boosting gear (unless you're one of those Dru'Elites that like to party in the death plane).

Tel
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Re: Important PSA: Shifters, please read!

Post by Tel » Sun Feb 14, 2016 9:56 pm

Yes it does hold true. I'm fairly sure the item properties are added to your creature hide, which is then removed when you un-shift before your items are added as equipped back in your normal form.

Because shape changes affect your physical stats (Str/Dex/Con) you can actually experiance this without any equipment. If you change areas or drop shape in a form that has more Con than you do natively you need to be aware of your HP.

I have had plenty of issues with spells having +12 casting stat in gear, getting that in spells for when I change is hard! So I frequently lose spells depending on if I only got to +8/9 or 10/11 (Which you can't see at +12), and even more if I'm dispelled.

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