Murder frog

redridesagain:

prokopetz:

It occurs to me that the current Pathfinder SRD’s version of baleful polymorph may leave its caster in for a rude surprise if they try it on a high-level fighter.

Like, okay, you’ve been turned into a frog. You’ve got an effective Strength score of 1, you’re five inches long, and all of your magic item bonuses and such go away. Life sucks, right?

Well, hold on now. Being five inches long technically gives you a size category of Fine, which confers a +8 attack bonus against Medium targets (e.g., most humans). The attack penalty for Strength 1 is only -5, so your attack rolls actually come out three points ahead.

Of course, your Reach is also 0, so you have to enter your target’s space to attack, eating an attack of opportunity in the process – but your size also grants you a +8 AC bonus versus Medium opponents, so you’ll probably be able to tank that AoO just fine.

Then there’s the matter of damage. A frog’s bite almost certainly has a base damage rating of 1, there’s that -5 Strength penalty to contend with, and you don’t get bonuses from worn or wielded magic items while polymorphed, so you’re probably stuck doing the minimum one damage per attack… except you’ve got Power Attack, and since a frog has only a single primary natural weapon, you’re getting an extra three points of damage for every point of attack bonus you pour into it. That’s five points of damage per attack (1 base + 9 Power Attack -5 Strength) without even touching your base attack bonus, just by eating the net +3 you ended up with from being Fine – and the wizard who polymorphed you probably has a terrible AC, to boot, so you can likely afford to just max Power Attack out and hope for the best.

So basically what I’m saying is that if you’re a high-level fighter and an evil wizard turns you into a frog, get in there and start biting.

@kitsapphiri SHOW THAT TO ANDREW