Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

I've noticed that wizards got baleful polymorph spell.

Would be nice to have this available for warlocks, because this would match the lore/rulebooks.

Originally warlock's invocation "word of changing" was acting like baleful polymorph, and worked like this:

Word of Changing: Dark, 5th; Baleful Polymorph for 24 hours, at which point the creature makes a second Will save at the original bonus or remains in the new form permanently until restored by other means.

So, it would make sense to add polymorph invocation with the functionality Word of Changing was supposed to have. Now, 24h and permanent on failed save is probably an overkill, but the spell would work well enough with duration of several minutes, or even rounds.

P.S. I'm just throwing an idea and most likely will not be discussing it.

Wizards/Druids get the second willsave to make it permanent (until a rest happens), so that seems fine.

Though, I recommend warlocks get a new shapeshifting invocation to replace their lost one. Or maybe Hellspawned Grace can be used to replace it (now with multiple forms!).

metaquad4 wrote:Wizards/Druids get the second willsave to make it permanent (until a rest happens), so that seems fine.

Though, I recommend warlocks get a new shapeshifting invocation to replace their lost one. Or maybe Hellspawned Grace can be used to replace it (now with multiple forms!).

I haven't heard of lost invocation, so perhaps I missed it.

It is possible to keep existing "Word of Changing" invocation as is, and then add a new invocation that acts like Baleful Polymorph (it can be simply called "Baleful Polymorph").

Or it is possible to rename Word of Changing into something else ("Infernal form" or something), and add a Word of Changing invocation that acts the way it is supposed to work (like "Baleful Polymorph").

As far as I can tell, Baleful Polymorph in the game already have correct stats (arcane level 5), so it should be relatively easy to plug it into warlock's dark invocation list.

Hellspawned Grace is a 3rd level invocation that turns you into a hellhound. Since polymorphs are apparently getting new shapes, Hellspawned Grace could take the horned devil (along with shadow demon, and a few others) and Word of Changing could become baleful polymorph.


Imo, the horned devil isn't so OP to a warlock that moving it to hellspawned grace would be a bad idea. Its actually pretty mediocre for them. So, it wouldn't be too bad.

metaquad4 wrote:Hellspawned Grace is a 3rd level invocation that turns you into a hellhound. Since polymorphs are apparently getting new shapes, Hellspawned Grace could take the horned devil (along with shadow demon, and a few others) and Word of Changing could become baleful polymorph.


Imo, the horned devil isn't so OP to a warlock that moving it to hellspawned grace would be a bad idea. Its actually pretty mediocre for them. So, it wouldn't be too bad.

Both of them are completely worthless. Without Guttural Invocations they are like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Wyatt wrote:It might be neat to add some other shapes to warlock shape changing that are not demonic/devilish in nature. Something more akin to a fey pacted warlock of CG or CN alignment. I'm not well versed in warlock lore but surely there are options out there in the feywild or wherever else a pact might be made to offer options.

THIS! 100%

Wyatt wrote:I'm not well versed in warlock lore but

The only shapeshifting invocations warlocks get are:

Shrouding Transformation: Least, 2nd; Alter Self on self for 24 hours, but can not be a different size category than your normal size.

Hellspawned Grace: Greater, 6th; Gain the form of a Hellcat for 1 round per 2 CL. If reduced to 0 or fewer HP in Hellcat form, you can't use this invocation again for 1 hour.

Dark Discorporation: Dark, 8th; Become 8 squares of Diminutive shadow bats for 24 hours; Str = 1, Dex +6; Lose armor and natural armor bonuses to AC, +4 size and + Cha to AC; Diminutive size swarm and Fly 40ft. (Perfect); Swarm subtype traits; Swarm Attack for 4d6 to any creature in your space at end of turn as magic weapon of your alignment; Distraction on any living creature vulnerable to your swarm attack starting turn in your space makes Fort save or be nauseated for 1 round and spellcasting in your space requires Concentration; All possessions are nonfunctional and absorbed into your new form.

And that's it.

If you want shapeshifting warlocks, you'll need to implement alter self and grant it to warlocks with different duration.

An equivalent of alter self has been implemented on sigil. On Sigil you could create multiple alternate forms and customize them, then shift between them at will.

Personally I'm much more interested in getting access to baleful polymorph instead, although Shrouding Transformatiosn would open some new playstyles too.