I was reading the description of the 8th level Druid spell Animal Shapes and I’m not sure if I’m interpreting it correctly.
Its duration is concentration, up to 24 hours. The transformation lasts for the duration for each target, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies.
You can use your action to transform affected creatures into new forms.
Choose any number of willing creatures within range (30’).
So my questions are:
1) Can you transform all affected creatures with one action? The answer seems to be yes.
2) When a creature reverts to normal form because the transformed form is reduced to 0 hit points, can the druid retransform it with an action? Yes, as long as the creature in normal form is not dead or reduced to 0 hit points. It says the transformation ends, not that the spell ends.
3) When retransforming affected creatures, do they need to be within range (30’)?
4) How annoyed will your DM be when you turn an entire village of commoners into polar bears? I guess he could rule that most of them aren’t willing.
Has anyone used this spell or is it one of those spells that is more of a NPC spell.
Hi there you lover of druids (or at least there spells) lets answer some of those questions, bear (oh an animal pun already!) in mind this is opinion not fact as the sage advice errata makes fools of us all.
1) Can you transform all affected creatures with one action? The wording is a creature so a creature it will be. (sad face) At no point will anyone say i was attacked by a bear when they were set upon by twenty, they would say bears, not a. But that means you can after the original casting play animal farm and have different animals which is kind of cool.
2) When a creature reverts to normal form because the transformed form is reduced to 0 hit points, can the druid retransform it with an action? Yes as the spell doesn't mention it ends when a form reverts. (yes i know this means the eventual crushing of your enemies under a sea of angry 'were' animals)
3) When retransforming affected creatures, do they need to be within range (30’)? Unclear due to no wording but it seems sensible that the original spell range applies considering no other distances are mentioned as counter to that distance.
4) How annoyed will your DM be when you turn an entire village of commoners into polar bears? Er... depends on your DM of course, but here's a thought, why use commoners with minimal natural hitpoint cushions when your a druid? No no, recruit your animal friends from the forest, a pack of wolves, squirrels and woodpeckers united in the destruction of interlopers might be more up your garden or woodland path.
First time doing this, so forgive me if there's a correct format:
I have 2 other doubts about Animal Shapes:
Q1: Can you target yourself? The spell suggest "others" in it's description only.
Q2: If you can and did transform, can you still retransform your targets? The spell says you can, at the same time that it says you're limited to the actions of the new form.
Btw, I loved the image of going to the woods and calling an army of animals to transform in, I would suggest, Giant Coral Snakes from GoS. With Tasha's Wild Companion or if you happen to pick Ritual Caster like the Shaman-themed Druid I'm building, you can also transform your Familiar and Phantom Steed, since they don't require concentration.
Q1. The spell does not exclude the casting Druid from being a target. It says "any number of willing creatures that you can see within range." As such, this can include the PC casting Animal Shapes.
Q2. Yes, because so long as the Druid caster retains concentration on the spell, it just takes an action to re-transform the creatures affected by Animal Shapes. Since the action does not include speaking or any special skills, any beast form the casting Druid takes does not prevent them from re-transforming others (or the caster).
I was reading the description of the 8th level Druid spell Animal Shapes and I’m not sure if I’m interpreting it correctly.
Its duration is concentration, up to 24 hours. The transformation lasts for the duration for each target, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies.
You can use your action to transform affected creatures into new forms.
Choose any number of willing creatures within range (30’).
So my questions are:
1) Can you transform all affected creatures with one action? The answer seems to be yes.
2) When a creature reverts to normal form because the transformed form is reduced to 0 hit points, can the druid retransform it with an action? Yes, as long as the creature in normal form is not dead or reduced to 0 hit points. It says the transformation ends, not that the spell ends.
3) When retransforming affected creatures, do they need to be within range (30’)?
4) How annoyed will your DM be when you turn an entire village of commoners into polar bears? I guess he could rule that most of them aren’t willing.
Has anyone used this spell or is it one of those spells that is more of a NPC spell.
Hi there you lover of druids (or at least there spells) lets answer some of those questions, bear (oh an animal pun already!) in mind this is opinion not fact as the sage advice errata makes fools of us all.
1) Can you transform all affected creatures with one action? The wording is a creature so a creature it will be. (sad face) At no point will anyone say i was attacked by a bear when they were set upon by twenty, they would say bears, not a. But that means you can after the original casting play animal farm and have different animals which is kind of cool.
2) When a creature reverts to normal form because the transformed form is reduced to 0 hit points, can the druid retransform it with an action? Yes as the spell doesn't mention it ends when a form reverts. (yes i know this means the eventual crushing of your enemies under a sea of angry 'were' animals)
3) When retransforming affected creatures, do they need to be within range (30’)? Unclear due to no wording but it seems sensible that the original spell range applies considering no other distances are mentioned as counter to that distance.
4) How annoyed will your DM be when you turn an entire village of commoners into polar bears? Er... depends on your DM of course, but here's a thought, why use commoners with minimal natural hitpoint cushions when your a druid? No no, recruit your animal friends from the forest, a pack of wolves, squirrels and woodpeckers united in the destruction of interlopers might be more up your garden or woodland path.
And remember, moon druids never sleep.
First time doing this, so forgive me if there's a correct format:
I have 2 other doubts about Animal Shapes:
Q1: Can you target yourself? The spell suggest "others" in it's description only.
Q2: If you can and did transform, can you still retransform your targets? The spell says you can, at the same time that it says you're limited to the actions of the new form.
Btw, I loved the image of going to the woods and calling an army of animals to transform in, I would suggest, Giant Coral Snakes from GoS. With Tasha's Wild Companion or if you happen to pick Ritual Caster like the Shaman-themed Druid I'm building, you can also transform your Familiar and Phantom Steed, since they don't require concentration.
To answer your questions...
Q1. The spell does not exclude the casting Druid from being a target. It says "any number of willing creatures that you can see within range." As such, this can include the PC casting Animal Shapes.
Q2. Yes, because so long as the Druid caster retains concentration on the spell, it just takes an action to re-transform the creatures affected by Animal Shapes. Since the action does not include speaking or any special skills, any beast form the casting Druid takes does not prevent them from re-transforming others (or the caster).
I see. Thanks for your insight!