Should they change the rules or release something 'official' in regards to this, then I would abide by that, but at the end of the day, it still all comes down to what the individual DM decides works or doesn't work. the druid, not the beast form, drops to 0 hp. It uses this ability to turn into a CR 12 Archmage, which has the Spellcasting feature, allowing it to cast spells using as an 18th level spellcaster, using its intelligence score. Wild Shape also comes into the game much earlier than those spells. The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Dont expect the target to do math or make tactical decisions. Which reverse polarity protection is better and why? The shapechange spell says you retain your class features and can use them if your new form is physically capable of doing so. DnD 5e - Practical Guide to Polymorph | RPGBOT Hex and Polymorph/ShapeChange - Warlock - Class Forums - D&D Beyond RAW can creatures with Innate Spellcasting cast spells while using their Change Shape ability? * (a drop of mercury, a dollop of gum arabic, and a wisp of smoke). If a dragon under my control uses Change Shape to turn into an Evoker, can I choose the Evoker's race, and benefit from its racial traits? It can cripple enemies, turn the caster or an ally into a ferocious beast, or provide you with utility options which are difficult to replicate without relying on numerous other spells at once. You could see it as one of two things, though they both have very similar end results: a) The body simply disintegrates, and stays that way. DnD 5e - New Practical Guide to True Polymorph and Shapechange But sometimes you want to break the world in other interesting ways, and True Polymorph is a great way to do so. ok, yep, so the definitions of Truesight and True Seeing are different. If it is misused, it should be addressed. The doppelganger can use its action to polymorph into a Small or Medium, What source is that? Yeahhh.. What are you talking about? On the other hand, if you go for any printed stat block of appropriate CR, suddenly I can turn myself into named beings like Ogremoch. You also maintain your mental ability scores, which is a slightly double-edged sword but at least means youre not going to hose yourself if you do turn into something dumb and burly. Others won't. The wording is different than the wording for the spell in the. True Polymorph, Dragon Change Shape, and True Sight interaction. Sort of sucks. You can't use any special senses you have (for example, darkvision) unless your new form also has that sense. True polymorph and the dragon Change Shape feature Now use the ghost to magically age the shadow dragon into an ancient gold shadow dragon. CR 0 has better scout and disable forms, and nothing here is useful as a combat form. I hardly consider turning into a monster permanently as cheese. An Answer for Everything: The 3.5 Shapechange Handbook ( direct link) 3.5 Summoned Creature SLA Lists (indexed by SLA) 2017-03-11, 03:37 AM (ISO 8601) Spoilers. This links in to the "what happens when you are reduced to 0 HP" rule. All of that is part of the pile of dust. That target almost certainly cant speak or understand speech unless its also under some other effect like Comprehend Languages. This answer favors Disintegrate because it bypasses, or renders null and void, considerations of the "unconscious" state at 0 HP. But if you save against the BW? If it reverts as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to its normal form. Additionally, with both of these spells, Legendary Resistance is a perfectly valid tool you gain access to. Being hungry, and animal stuff, I dont know. Manage Settings The GM determines whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature's shape and size. Apparently, RAI is in opposition to my other answer. Should be about cr 27 if I remember correctly or atleast ancient gold dragon cr. :). For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. @JeremyECrawford What happens if a wild shaped druid is reduced to 0 by disintegrate? Polymorph (both regular and true), Shapechange, and Wildshape all have a consistent rule of reverting to original form when 0 HP are reached, and can be summarized as follows: If you revert as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to your normal form. Has the Melford Hall manuscript poem "Whoso terms love a fire" been attributed to any poetDonne, Roe, or other? Yes, Disintegrate turns you to dust. Next paragraph: The targets gear melds into the new form. If you transform into a Marilith, you can still speak and have hands to make Somatic gestures for those types of spells. Your equipment doesnt change shape or size to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form cant wear must either fall to the ground or merge into your new form. your normal form. (Later printings state instead that "The spell has no effect on a shapechanger".) Which takes precedence? By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. by Althasizor Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:26 pm, Post You need to look carefully at what you choose, but most high-level things have Innate and not regular so expect to be able to use everything unless you are, for instance, looking at the Diviner stat block. Is there any reason in dnd 5e to pick shapechange over true polymorph If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. The lowest CR that you should realistically consider combat forms. True Polymorph and Polymorph both say target assumes the hit points of its new form, and when it reverts to its normal form, the creature returns to the number of hit points it had before it transformed. We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we cant assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. It retains its alignment and personality. This means that when your wizard polymorphs themselves into a tyrannosaurus, their Intelligence drops from 20 to 2. Can a Wizard polymorph low-level PCs into over-powered beasts? When the spell states that you take the form of "any creature with a challenge rating equal to your level or lower", does this mean the players class level, spell-caster level, or total level from all classes. Jeremy Crawford on Twitter: "The shapechange spell says you retain your So then. a lvl 20 can potentially shapechange into an Ancient Brass Dragon. given that they've seen one before? If it reverts as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to its normal form. Of course, many groups will simply allow whoever got turned into a T-Rex to do as they please. And true polymorph allow changing creatures into objects and vice versa. True Polymorph only lets you use the abilities of the thing you change into and you lose your race and class features while transformed. Shapechange only turns you into another creature. Granted, if the carry over HP from disintegrate reaches your max HP total, the dead the PC will be. Would that then let it take priority? You decide what action it takes and how it moves. However, it does offer useful forms that your allies can ride. @Orethalion You cannot use lair or legendary "actions", but it says nothing about legendary "saves" and most of the upper tier dragons have 3 of those. The new form can be of any creature with a challenge rating equal to your level or lower. #DnD The creature can be restored to life only by means of a true resurrection or a wish spell. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Like would a player with 17 levels of Druid and 3 levels Barbarian be able to become a CR of 17 or 20? If a Dragon under the effects of their Change Shape feature is cloned, can the cloned Dragon revert to their true form? The tweet favors the "specific" of polymorph/Wild Shape/Shapechange/True Polymorph, rather than the specific of disintegrate, requiring the exhaustion of both HP pools before being turned to dust by that spell. Can I true polymorph into an Ancient Brass Dragon, and then use its Change Shape ability? Was Aristarchus the first to propose heliocentrism? True polymorph and the dragon Change Shape feature. This spell seems to me to be a worse true polymorph. If the intent was to include all things legendary I believe it would have been writen that way. You cant use any legendary actions or lair actions of the new form. What if, again, its a golem that you ordered to protect something and it sat for an hour doing absolutely nothing? The creature cant be a construct or an undead, and you must have seen the sort of creature at least once. Does a Clone spell work on a (True) Polymorphed creature? I would personally try to fall between the two but closer to the lax end (because this is a 9th level spell and the game left the rails behind long ago at that point). If I can be a golem, they dont have species so what happens there? You lose class abilities, feats, racial traits, etc. Lets take a look at each paragraph in turn here. at 0 hit points for the purposes of an effect like disintegrate until 2023 Wizards. What is the symbol (which looks similar to an equals sign) called? All of this detail diving violates KISS principle, which is why I tried to focus on the "spell effect" and its unusual " and your equipment too" detail as significant. If the null hypothesis is never really true, is there a point to using a statistical test without a priori power analysis? Shapechange targets self, where true polymorph can target others. During this spells duration, you can use your action to assume a different form following the same restrictions and rules for the original form, with one exception: if your new form has more hit points than your current one, your hit points remain at their current value. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? True Polymorph didn't exist before 5th edition and is an odd combination of Polymorph Any Object and Shapechange that has the notable distinction of being permanent if you can concentrate on it for the full hour. added, Joshua Maxman @Orethalion The other big difference is that polymorph is one and done while shapechange allows you to continuously change what you've shapechanged into. A level 50 druid with 10 skill in shapechange obtains 2/3 of the duration as a level 50 wizard with 10 skill in polymorph. What is the meaning of 'permanent' in description of True Polymorph? We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we cant assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. normal form. The creature can't be a construct or an undead, and you must have seen the sort of creature at least once. I definitely see the argument there. Theres nothing really surprising here, although one thing can be a bit confusing. If we are going to follow SRD for almost everything as a standard, then we should adapt it for shape change. It seems clear that Polymorph restricts you to doing things your new form is inherently capable of doing, whereas Wild Shape and Shapechange allow you to do anything you're normally capable of as long as your new form is physically able to do it. The GM has the creatures statistics and resolves all of its actions and movement. What should I follow, if two altimeters show different altitudes? The "or dies" can be applied to all creatures that are not a PC; those creatures usually die when dropped to 0 HP. You go to the 0 HP rule if you are a PC. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Does the Way of the Long Death monk's Mastery of Death feature protect against the Disintegrate spell? It retains its alignment and personality. Can you get infinite spells through True Polymorph and Change Shape? Continue with Recommended Cookies. You assume the form of a different creature for the duration. Can you only turn into the age category of Brass Dragon that you, personally, have seen? In contrast, the intent (RAI) is that a druid isnt considered to be That's over a day of straight shapechange. The spellcaster level is also used for any cantrips included in the feature. If the creature has the same proficiency as you and the bonus listed in its statistics is higher than yours, use the creatures bonus in place of yours. Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the chosen creature, though you retain your alignment and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. Another nod to Disintegrate's power, and thus why it should take precedence, is that it takes a Wish or True Resurrection to come back from that. "Legendary Resistance (3/Day). It acts on each of your turns. Shapechange Vs. Polymorph - Forgotten Kingdoms Forums A few last thoughts. Shapechanging You assume the form of a different creature for the duration. If you revert as a result of The Sage Advice Compendium supports this answer from a RAW perspective: What happens if a druid using Wild Shape is reduced to 0 hit points by disintegrate? The ability is usable a few times per day, but it is based. (That's powerful magic). ), its going to behave differently. As a kill spell, this is incredible functionality, although we run into suddenly needing to know things like how many hitpoints a 5ft cube of rock has because, once again, reducing the block to 0 hitpoints will end the spell. and have only 1 hit point left, you revert and take 9 damage. With the target creature's stats in it. Allies may need to use Animal Handling to direct the target (they are a best now, after all). Obviously the chain gets broken if they fail a Concentration saving throw, but they'd get the Adult Gold Dragon's Legendary Resistance to help them out, there - and it'd get reset every time they True Polymorph themselves, too. Your DM will probably be interested to hear what the dev had to say on this. The 3.5 Shapechange Handbook - giantitp.com