As I mentioned
here, using
baleful polymorph in conjunction with
awaken turns any coherent corporeal
non-plant, non-ooze creature
with a constitution score (
baleful polymorph's only immunities are incorporeal and gaseous creatures. Shapechanger subtype is affected, but can change back to themselves at any time) into a magical beast. Since awaken is instantaneous, this change is not easily able to be canceled or removed.
Baleful polymorph affects everything that is not immune to magic or polymorph effects, making their type animal, and awaken turns them instantaneously into Magical Beast (Augmented Animal).
Awaken doesn't reference subtype, and this
is YBIYBI, so I'm unclear if you retain any you had before
awaken or regain your subtypes once the
baleful polymorph goes away. The most likely thing I see is that you retain the shapechanger subtype, but what about aquatic animals?
Some of the effects that I see:
- With repeated use, you can get an 18 Int and an arbitrarily high Cha. As well you gain 2 Magical Beast HD per cycle. Get a Wight as a pet, and you get to spend the XP from the highest HD on casting/crafting, and then the wight (or whatever) can eat the HD for you.
- With one cycle of casting, even humanoids can qualify for the Soul Eater PrC (BoVD p66). Keeping the animal form from baleful polymorph for the natural weapon (For the weapon focus Nat Weapon requirement) might be a problem, but if you can get a natural weapon otherwise (Caelic's Boogeyman does this very nicley), you get to eat souls by 6th level and have a wight army by 14th.
You can take the Emancipated Spawn PrC (SS p75) multiple times. (Actually only baleful polymorph is required for that)...or maybe not; Animals and Magical Beasts can be undead, but they may be precluded from many of the good spawn-producing undead. This will take research, and I'm too lazy right now. Baleful polymorph is not useful, so this line is no longer part of the trick here.
What'd I miss?
Edit1: Fixed where littha showed me I was wrong. I think that the ooze and plant rules need to be clearer, but it might stick.
Edit2: Fixed where I figured out that
polymorph was valid for the E-Spawn. It's not really part of this trick now.
Edit3: Scrap almost all of the above (Thanks littha, nijineko, sirpercival):
Aspect of the wolf (SpC) is 1st level, lasts 10mins/level (get as an Ioun Stone for ohh 6000gp (Sp lv 1 x CL 1 x 1.5 for dur x 2 for slotless x 2000 for continuous). Then you can use
awaken on anything. Even constructs or undead or oozes or plants (or sloths, orangutangs, breakfast cereals), since it's not a polymorph effect at all.
Just have to make a faster cheaper way to cast a Maximized, Empowered
awaken...