“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,” she said. “Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.”
Hello everyone, and welcome to the eighth in a series of 9 (well 10, as 1 article has been split into two, due to length) articles covering the basics of each of the various schools of spells for a Sorcerer, Wizard or other Arcane caster in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, focusing on the spells available in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook (and possibly any that stand out from elsewhere). The goal for each of these is to provide you with a quick overview of useful spells at each level as well as the people who use these spells.
That said, welcome to this week’s article on the arcane school of Transmutation.
As before we start by looking at the description of the Transmuter, and the Pathfinder Core Rulebook tells us that “Transmuters use magic to change the world around them.” – This is a half-truth, because just as often, they use magic to change themselves. Even their natural abilities, given as they level up, enhance their own physical attributes, making them stronger, quicker or tougher.
Transmutation only has the subschool of Polymorph, which allows you to take on the appearance and traits of other creatures (the self-change that I mentioned above). It normally allows only the physical transformation, but may in some cases also affect the mind of the subject, causing it to believe that it IS the creature into which it has been polymorphed.
Let’s get into the spells then, shall we? It should be noted that Transmutation, like Conjuration before it, has a great deal of overlap in its spells, so if you find a spell to be missing, look for one that’s like it, and it will probably be able to do the same things. The same goes for spells like Open/Close where the use is either limited or obvious enough that I don’t feel that it warrants inclusion here.
Mage Hand
Mage Hand is capable of moving objects of up to 5 lbs, though its range is limited, and it’s obvious that you’re moving it, as you’re waving your hands in the general direction. To give a film example, this is what Luke is doing in the Wampa’s cave on Hoth, when retrieving his lightsabre, or what Anakin is doing when he’s trying to impress Padme on Naboo when showing off his powers during dinner. But what exactly can you do with this spell? Well, my favorite use, since there’s no saving throw, is to steal someone’s weapon. Most weapons do not weigh that much (a longsword weighs 4 lbs. for example) and with the range, you could easily grab the sword and either propel it towards yourself, or just throw it up to 15 feet away from the owner. This could give you a critical advantage against a weapon using opponent, requiring that they at least spend a round retrieving the weapon or an action getting out a new one. Even then, you might have deprived them of their primary weapon.
Mending
Known in my group as the “Wizarding Seamstress,” Mending allows you to restore hit points to a damaged object, and you can even repair it from the broken condition, provided it has more than half its hit points left when you are done, though that might require multiple castings. Remember as well that while it can repair damaged magic items (such as those damaged with sunder combat maneuvers), it cannot restore the magic to the item, if the item has been destroyed (i.e. below 0 hit points).
Message
An often-overlooked communication spell, this spell allows the caster to function as an information relay, in a similar manner to a radio operator on a battlefield. He can send whispered messages to creatures, who can replay back (if they’re in range), allowing him to send information from one person to another, though these people cannot communicate with each other directly. As their lips must still be moving though, while it is silent, it is not invisible, and someone observing them directly will be able to see that they’re talking, though they might assume that they’re talking to themselves.
Enlarge Person
This spell doubles your height and multiplies your weight by 8, meaning that it increases your size by one (from Small to Medium to Large etc.). It also changes your stats, due to the size increase, something which STACKS with things like bull’s strength as it is a size bonus, where these other spells are an enhancement bonus. Finally, it also increases your weapon (and unarmed) damage based on your size, increases either the dice type or the number of dice by one step, as per the below table as per this:
1d3→1d4→1d6→1d8→2d6→2d8→4d6→+1d6 per step beyond this point.
This thankfully also increases the size of your equipment, so that you avoid the “Attack of the 50 foot woman” issue with clothing.
It is worth remembering though, that you do NOT change type, so even if you’re the size of a giant, you do not BECOME a giant, so you do not gain a bonus to disguise checks for attempting to be a giant if you’re a humanoid.
One thing to remember though is that you ARE quite likely to set off traps that are designed with a max weight before activating (like pit traps) and that most humanoid dwellings are not designed to contain a 10-14 foot tall person who weighs more than 1,000 pounds.
Erase
Erase is a slightly strange spell in that it only removes any written text, but that is not its main strength. Its strength is in the fact that it can remove the Symbol spells (I’ve mentioned them in previous articles) without the need for Dispel Magic. (You still need a caster level check, but this is against a lower DC than it would be to sort the situation with Dispel Magic). This makes Erase very useful in specific circumstances, but for the wizard who likes to be prepared (or who wants to REALLY mess with an enemy spellcaster – especially a recurring villain, as this could potentially render their arsenal useless), this is a good spell to bring along.
Expeditious Retreat
This spell increases your base land speed by 30 feet, but what many seem to forget is that this is your BASE speed that it affects, meaning that if you charge, you now gain an extra 60 feet charge ran, or if you run, an extra 120 feet. That means that for a typical human that is doubling their speed, or even more, if they’re encumbered, and of course this also stacks on things like jumping, where you now have an extra speed boost. Quite handy for getting both into, and out of, trouble.
Feather Fall
Reducing your fall speed to to 60 feet per round and with a casting time of 1 immediate action, this spell is the thing for safe climbing, although if you’re REALLY far up, you may want to wait with casting it until you’re somewhat closer to the ground, such as falling off a mountain or a gigantic cliffside. This spell can be used to make the equivalent of an aerial assault, dropping down upon your enemy in near silence, from a direction they’re very unlikely to expect. It is good if combined with Invisibility, as the Invisibility spell already prevents them from seeing you closing in, so Feather Fall can do just fine on it’s own, due to the sheer unexpectedness of the assault.
Reduce Person
The exact opposite of Enlarge Person, I refer you to the chat for it there, and just turn it upside down. 🙂
Alter Self
It allows you to change your appearance within certain limitations, in that you can take the shape of any Small or Medium humanoid, and you’ll gain some of the abilities (as well, as possible stat bonus).
Critically though, this does NOT state that you can take the form of a specific humanoid, BUT it does state that you can take the form of “any Small or Medium humanoid,” so this is definitely a possibility (but probably one you should discuss with your GM).
Bear’s Endurance / Bull’s Strength / Cat’s Grace / Eagle’s Splendor / Fox’s Cunning / Owl’s Wisdom
Since these spells all work in a similar manner, though for different stats, I’m going to keep them under one umbrella. They all grant you a +4 enhancement bonus to their respective stats, and increase to the modifier of +2, which can make quite a difference. They’re all relatively longlived, having a duration of 1 minute / level, but their most critical role is in the effects of making magic items. If you’re intending to craft magic items for your group, I’d have to say that I consider these spells a necessity, even if you normally avoid them on the battlefield. They do make for excellent buffs, to everything from damage to save DCs, so you and your allies would be wise to bring along at least one of them. – Just bear in mind that they do not stack with other enhancement bonuses, though Bull’s Strength in particular, really comes into its own when combined with Enlarge Person, for a total +6 increase to Strength.
Darkvision
This grants darkvision obviously, but critically it does NOT increase darkvision if you already have it. However, if you’re wanting to sneak in unnoticed during the night somewhere, this spell allows you to do so, without any betraying lights. It is a good idea to note that darkvision does not allow you to see in color, only in black & white. (Crucially, it can also be made permanent).
Knock
Simply put, this spells opens locks. But in previous editions it opened them automatically; here it allows you to open locks as if you were a rogue, but instead of using a Disable Device check you roll a caster level check with a +10 bonus, against the DC of the lock. If a door (or anything else) has multiple locks, it’ll only open 2 of them. And it crucially does NOT disarm the traps… Which means it could trigger them. Time for GMs to be creative. 😉
Levitate
Levitate is the poor man’s Fly spell, in that it only allows you to move straight up or down. Crucially however it is NOT the recipient who’s able to control the movement, but the caster. And that can cause trouble for the recipient, as they can’t control the movement on their turn, so it’s not a great spell for combat (especially with the cumulative penalties on to-hit rolls).
Make Whole
This is Mending writ large. And even handier than Mending as this allows you to repair your broken magic items! Keep this handy; even if it’s not part of your “combat repertoire,” it should at least be in your spellbook.
Rope Trick
Probably one of my favorite spells, in that it allows your campsite relative security, if nothing else, at least against animals, as the rope still hangs down. Even intelligent creatures might be confounded, as you can still make the rope invisible or use camouflage to hide it.
Spider Climb
This spell doesn’t just allow you a bonus to your Climb check, but also gives you Climb Speed, which allows you to do things like double move, charge and things on sheer walls, which you would not normally be able to do.
Whispering Wind
Similar to message, except with a MUCH longer range, this only allows a single one sentence communication to go through, but this can be up to 25 words. As it can be up to 25 words, GMs should allow players a bit of time to put together the message, so that they can get their meaning across.
Beast Shape I – IV
These spells allow you to take on the shape of various animals, and gain the abilities that these creatures might possess, provided that the physical form of the animal has that ability. Otherwise that ability is not available, just like you cannot gain abilities that the form doesn’t have (so no bears with pounce for example).
Blink
One of the better defensive spells out there, Blink provides you with a 50% miss chance (20% if the opponent can see invisible creatures, and none if they can see and streak ethereal creatures, which is a rare combination). That means that incoming attacks have a good chance of missing, even spells (at least those that require an attack roll (i.e. individually targeted ones). It is also a good offensive spell in many ways, in that it gives you +2 on attack rolls against creatures that can’t see invisible opponents, reduced your falling damage by half, and you can move through solid objects (well, 50% of the time). That means that you could on one round, step through a closed door, make your attack and then go back (provided you have Spring Attack) meaning that you’d be effectively impossible for an opponent to attack without exposing themselves. – The only drawback is that you have a 20% miss chance with your attacks, but crucially not with your spells. They still work normally.
Fly
One of the most commonly used movement spells, Fly gives you a fly speed of 60, and good maneuverability. More importantly though, is that it allows you to reach areas and creatures that you would not normally be able to engage, like the “Fly-By Dragon” for a barbarian character and so on. The spell is versatile enough, and the duration long enough, that you could even use it simply to make the Small characters in your party able to move faster, for a while at least, or the heavily laden fighter in his armor, to be able to keep up. Just be wary of flying around when there are people with Dispel Magic and Antimagic Field spells around. You might just come crashing down.
Gaseous Form
Giving you not only an immunity to poison, sneak attack,s and critical hits, you also gain a damage reduction of 10/magic, and the ability to fly (slowly) and move through small cracks. In many ways it is the equivalent of the mist that is so common to vampire tales, where they disappear back to their coffins to regenerate. It is a very effective retreat spell, or good for breaking and entering for the roguish types. Just remember that you cannot attack anyone yourself, but while it has a relatively long duration (2 minutes per level), you can dismiss it at will.
Haste
Haste used to be one of the best spells out there, giving you either double attacks or extra attacks each round. Now though,while it increases your movement speed(s) by 30, and gives you a +1 bonus on attack rolls, AC and reflex saves, it ONLY adds an extra attack, when you take a full attack action. Thankfully, unlike older versions, it no longer ages you a year. That said, while it used to be a complete no-brainer (what adventurer ever lived to retire?), it is now simply very, very good.
Keen
This spell doubles your threat range. A threat range of 20 becomes 19-20, a threat range of 19-20 becomes 17-20, and a threat range of 18-20 becomes 15-20. While it only affects piercing and slashing weapons, it increases their damage potentially hugely, though it unfortunately does not stack with other threat range effects. – It’s also a requirement for making Keen and Vorpal weapons., so worth keeping around at higher levels.
Next week, we continue our look into Transmutation spells. Let me know in the comments below of any creative uses you have found for Transmutation spells, or times where they have failed you dramatically.
Kim Frandsen
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