[CF-Devel] polymorph - worst exploit ever

[Andreas Vogl]

At first glance, polymorph seems like one cute little
spell, completely harmless, no big deal.
It turns out that this is completely wrong. Polymorph
is a huge problem!

The spell can be used in three different ways:

o Polymorph items:
  In terms of gameplay - TERRIBLE! Not only that one can
  get all sorts of items that might not even be available
  in shops, one can even transform artifacts! I once casted
  polymorph over a bonecrusher and received a kobold dagger.
  I'm sure I would get a wdsm and magic cloak if I tried
  hard enough. But those items are supposed to be unique!
  The player should solve long quests to get them, not just
  sit there and cast a spell.

o Polymorph monsters:
  This is the worst one by far! How can I defeat Gothwolte
  or Kasnuk (hardest monsters in the current mapset)?
  Fighting them? - Nooo... Much easier: Cast polymorph once
  and they end up as an orc, or maybe even as chicken! But
  they will still carry their original inventory of course.
  Do I have to say that this has certain negative effects
  concerning playbalance?

o Polymorph generators:
  Rather harmless compared to the issues above. But still
  not good. One can abuse this to create certain generators,
  hence endless supply of monsters for collecting their loot:
  For example: Postmen for readables, vampires for spell-
  books/rings etc. Second problem: Fog is a generator.
  So guess what happens when you cast Polymorph at a fog?
  - Yes, you get a random monster generator. Since one
  can summon fog, this is possible on any given map.
  Even in scorn, or on savebed places, or in shops. One
  could annoy low-levels real bad with this trick!



Hopefully all agree that we need to do sth. about that.
I see only two ways:

- Invent and code ideas to fix all the problems I mentioned
  above. That is HARD work, but who knows...

- Remove Polymorph. All we need to do is make it unavailable.
  And when someone managed to fix it, we can make it accessable
  again.


Andreas V.