Tieflings are carnivores. Shapechanging exists, from true polumorph, to wild shape, to lycanthropy.
If a carnivore shapechanges into an omnivore or herbivore.. can they safely eat vegetables?
I'm absolutely not asking because I am a tiefling, who has contracted rat lycanthropy, and has no control over my actions 3 days every month. Asking for a friend...
I will ask my DM too, and will use their judgement, but I am curious to hear the wider communities views on the topic purely out of curiosity.
It would probably depend somewhat on the type of shapeshifting, cosmetic changes that don't affect any other stats probably only have cosmetic effects on diet, but I'd say in the case of something like a wererat the rat form is capable of eating whatever a wererat normally eats.
It is left as an exercise for the reader what happens when a moon druid turns into a Giant Toad, swallows someone whole, and then transforms back into druid form.
Admittedly pretty old, but nothing has said its no longer true, but the question is still valid for say... a herbivorous race shapeshifting into a dragon.
I'm now imagining the wizard polymorphing their rabbit familiar into a T-rex... thanks.
Whoa, that's a throwback. That's from 2nd edition when teiflings weren't even playable. Now, if it doesn't say they are carnivores, they aren't.
However, I realize that's not very helpful. In your game, if they are they are carnivores, then they are. So we'll start with that assumption.
First, as far as as I know, carnivore can eat plants, they just don't. My (admittedly very limited) understanding is they actually do eat some plants, in the form of whatever was in the belly of the animals they are eating as prey. (For example, a mouse eats some grass, a cat eats the mouse, so the cat ends up eating that same grass.)
In game terms, I'd rule that when you change shape, its not just external, but also internal. Like, if you change into something really big, your heart would get correspondingly bigger to be able to keep pumping blood. I'd think along those lines, all of your various organs would change to allow whatever creature you turn into to survive in its normal state. So if you turn into a rat, while you are a rat, you can eat whatever a rat eats.
If a carnivore shapechanges into an omnivore or herbivore.. can they safely eat vegetables?
My answer to this is always, "This is a game. I'm not going there."
Same answer to "What happens to the food in the belly of a shapechanger?" and "What happens to the ticks and fleas and other parasites?" and "How about the gut bacteria?"
If they shapeshift into a creature that has a different diet then of course they can eat whatever that creature eats. Their digestive system has shifted internally, otherwise how could they fit their organs inside their body?
Change into a wolf? You can eat meat. Change into a Dartmoor Pony that doesn't get poisoned eating bracken? You don't get poisoned if you eat the bracken. Different horse? Poisoned.
I mean, you can breathe water when you change into a fish, I'm not sure why this would be an issue.
I've not seen anything in cannon that prevents Tieflings from being able to eat veggies without dying. That said, I'm sure your friend will be fine.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I imagine that this could be used for non-game changing effects, such as having a sore stomach after the event and wondering what you ate. Perhaps you're feeling incredibly bloated, and then find that the local bakery has been broken into and all the scones - hundreds of them, for the upcoming cream tea battle (where the two sides form up on opposite sides of the village square, apply jam and cream in the order of their choosing, then charge across to try and force-feed someone on the other side their version of a cream tea whilst chanting "Jam before cream!" or "Cream before Jam!", respectively) - have been eaten.
I wouldn't say "Your character, whilst teansformed into an omnivore, ate some omnivore food, so now you're sick", but I'd use it for storytelling, as above. You can piece the events together yourself - the sore stomach, and the impending cream-tea apocolypse.
If a carnivore shapechanges into an omnivore or herbivore.. can they safely eat vegetables?
My answer to this is always, "This is a game. I'm not going there."
Same answer to "What happens to the food in the belly of a shapechanger?" and "What happens to the ticks and fleas and other parasites?" and "How about the gut bacteria?"
I agree with ^
This isn’t something you need to spend game time on.
I think generally it's a question that a DM could probably rule on an individual basis, basically just saying for their table how they rule it. It's not a major deal. In the case of true polymorph, I would say it almost certainly changes the dietary expectations of the creature, but in cases like lycanthropy, wild shape, and other temporary(ish) forms of transformation, especially if the creature retains its mental stats, I would say it might have preferences but still needs to eat a diet appropriate to its shape.
Also, I would generally disregard obscure lore from more than two editions back. It's perhaps a personal paradigm of mine, admittedly probably biased by the fact that I began seriously playing D&D in 3.5e, but if you're digging back to AD&D or 2e for an obscure paragraph in a single source, you're probably spending way more time on it than necessary. Usually, I just write it off as recommended. There's a lot of official 5e content that openly contradicts previous editions, and that's fine. It sets a precedent (and not a bad one) for allowing DMs to interpret things freely or differently. I wouldn't, off of that source alone, say that my players couldn't have their tiefling enjoy a salad and have it be nutritionally meaningful. I will often use lore from earlier editions as "flavor" but I wouldn't worry too much about mechanics. If it feels natural, it's fine, if not, then discard it and go with DM interpretations.
So if you wanted to make it a RP challenge, sort of like some media have with vampires and any source of nutrition besides blood (some vampires in some lore can "pass" by being able to eat and drink normally, some can "pass" at the dinner table but are very uncomfortable with the food it can't metabolize in its body, and others have a very violent reaction if you put anything besides blood in its mouth ... which raises questions about vampires who can shapeshifter), you can. I suppose if a Tiefling or any being eats a food that isn't compatible with its nature you could put a poisoned condition on it for a period of time; but it's up to you.
I haven't read the '94 lore (and that statement is definitely more "lore as once written" rather than RAW) but I dunno if it'd stick with Tieflings as they're presented in 5e. I mean, the whole they eat the whole animal thing (including bone and marrow) makes it sound like Tieflings have their own cultural practices, or are just feral and eat "prey" without any manners. Thing is, in 5e I don't think there are any Tieflings "societies" at least on the prime material plane, and at least in the Forgotten Realms, it seems Tieflings are assimiliated into some of their birth cultures (you have Tieflings with some social prominence in most of the major cosmopolitan cities, Candlekeep's main planar expert is a Tieflings, etc). So maybe growing up a Tieflings might reject all but carnivorous sating food sources, but I don't think that has to be true.
Polymorph I guess adapts the transformed metabolism, though I suppose if you really wanted to for some sort of gastrointestinal gritty realism game you could deal with RP or poisoned condition consequences between forms unless prior cleansing took place... but do you really want to be the table that has as its signature most thought out space to be house rules on poop and vomit and gastric distress? I mean some tables are into that, but not many.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
First of all Tiefling's are generally like all other humanoids, some are Vegetarian, some are Omnivores, some might even be cannibals. It is simply a flavour thing you can determine one way or another.
Second lycanthropy is not the same as being a changling, it is more like having Polymorph applied to you, you turn magically into that wear creature, now turning into a rat you will be able to eat many many different things, from spoiled meat to raw leaves and plants. You might 3 days later feel a little ill, or maybe have a strange taste in your mouth, but this is something really you only need to worry about roleplaying and not the mechanics of it. However it can be worth thinking about it, especially if, as one player at my table was, you are a vegan character who suddenly becomes a wearwolf. There was a whole story thread about the player trying to find Meat Substitutes for when they transformed asking the players to help them not eat meat during the period they where a carnivorous beast.
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Tieflings are carnivores.
Shapechanging exists, from true polumorph, to wild shape, to lycanthropy.
If a carnivore shapechanges into an omnivore or herbivore.. can they safely eat vegetables?
I'm absolutely not asking because I am a tiefling, who has contracted rat lycanthropy, and has no control over my actions 3 days every month. Asking for a friend...
I will ask my DM too, and will use their judgement, but I am curious to hear the wider communities views on the topic purely out of curiosity.
It would probably depend somewhat on the type of shapeshifting, cosmetic changes that don't affect any other stats probably only have cosmetic effects on diet, but I'd say in the case of something like a wererat the rat form is capable of eating whatever a wererat normally eats.
It is left as an exercise for the reader what happens when a moon druid turns into a Giant Toad, swallows someone whole, and then transforms back into druid form.
Where are you getting tieflings are carnivores?
Or is that a house rule and we should use that assumption.
Forgotten realms wiki, referencing
Allen Varney, ed. (June 1994). Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix. (TSR, Inc.), p. 112. ISBN 978-1560768623.
Admittedly pretty old, but nothing has said its no longer true, but the question is still valid for say... a herbivorous race shapeshifting into a dragon.
I'm now imagining the wizard polymorphing their rabbit familiar into a T-rex... thanks.
Whoa, that's a throwback. That's from 2nd edition when teiflings weren't even playable. Now, if it doesn't say they are carnivores, they aren't.
However, I realize that's not very helpful. In your game, if they are they are carnivores, then they are. So we'll start with that assumption.
First, as far as as I know, carnivore can eat plants, they just don't. My (admittedly very limited) understanding is they actually do eat some plants, in the form of whatever was in the belly of the animals they are eating as prey. (For example, a mouse eats some grass, a cat eats the mouse, so the cat ends up eating that same grass.)
In game terms, I'd rule that when you change shape, its not just external, but also internal. Like, if you change into something really big, your heart would get correspondingly bigger to be able to keep pumping blood. I'd think along those lines, all of your various organs would change to allow whatever creature you turn into to survive in its normal state. So if you turn into a rat, while you are a rat, you can eat whatever a rat eats.
My answer to this is always, "This is a game. I'm not going there."
Same answer to "What happens to the food in the belly of a shapechanger?" and "What happens to the ticks and fleas and other parasites?" and "How about the gut bacteria?"
If they shapeshift into a creature that has a different diet then of course they can eat whatever that creature eats. Their digestive system has shifted internally, otherwise how could they fit their organs inside their body?
Change into a wolf? You can eat meat. Change into a Dartmoor Pony that doesn't get poisoned eating bracken? You don't get poisoned if you eat the bracken. Different horse? Poisoned.
I mean, you can breathe water when you change into a fish, I'm not sure why this would be an issue.
I've not seen anything in cannon that prevents Tieflings from being able to eat veggies without dying. That said, I'm sure your friend will be fine.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I imagine that this could be used for non-game changing effects, such as having a sore stomach after the event and wondering what you ate. Perhaps you're feeling incredibly bloated, and then find that the local bakery has been broken into and all the scones - hundreds of them, for the upcoming cream tea battle (where the two sides form up on opposite sides of the village square, apply jam and cream in the order of their choosing, then charge across to try and force-feed someone on the other side their version of a cream tea whilst chanting "Jam before cream!" or "Cream before Jam!", respectively) - have been eaten.
I wouldn't say "Your character, whilst teansformed into an omnivore, ate some omnivore food, so now you're sick", but I'd use it for storytelling, as above. You can piece the events together yourself - the sore stomach, and the impending cream-tea apocolypse.
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Okay
I agree with ^
This isn’t something you need to spend game time on.
I think generally it's a question that a DM could probably rule on an individual basis, basically just saying for their table how they rule it. It's not a major deal. In the case of true polymorph, I would say it almost certainly changes the dietary expectations of the creature, but in cases like lycanthropy, wild shape, and other temporary(ish) forms of transformation, especially if the creature retains its mental stats, I would say it might have preferences but still needs to eat a diet appropriate to its shape.
Also, I would generally disregard obscure lore from more than two editions back. It's perhaps a personal paradigm of mine, admittedly probably biased by the fact that I began seriously playing D&D in 3.5e, but if you're digging back to AD&D or 2e for an obscure paragraph in a single source, you're probably spending way more time on it than necessary. Usually, I just write it off as recommended. There's a lot of official 5e content that openly contradicts previous editions, and that's fine. It sets a precedent (and not a bad one) for allowing DMs to interpret things freely or differently. I wouldn't, off of that source alone, say that my players couldn't have their tiefling enjoy a salad and have it be nutritionally meaningful. I will often use lore from earlier editions as "flavor" but I wouldn't worry too much about mechanics. If it feels natural, it's fine, if not, then discard it and go with DM interpretations.
So if you wanted to make it a RP challenge, sort of like some media have with vampires and any source of nutrition besides blood (some vampires in some lore can "pass" by being able to eat and drink normally, some can "pass" at the dinner table but are very uncomfortable with the food it can't metabolize in its body, and others have a very violent reaction if you put anything besides blood in its mouth ... which raises questions about vampires who can shapeshifter), you can. I suppose if a Tiefling or any being eats a food that isn't compatible with its nature you could put a poisoned condition on it for a period of time; but it's up to you.
I haven't read the '94 lore (and that statement is definitely more "lore as once written" rather than RAW) but I dunno if it'd stick with Tieflings as they're presented in 5e. I mean, the whole they eat the whole animal thing (including bone and marrow) makes it sound like Tieflings have their own cultural practices, or are just feral and eat "prey" without any manners. Thing is, in 5e I don't think there are any Tieflings "societies" at least on the prime material plane, and at least in the Forgotten Realms, it seems Tieflings are assimiliated into some of their birth cultures (you have Tieflings with some social prominence in most of the major cosmopolitan cities, Candlekeep's main planar expert is a Tieflings, etc). So maybe growing up a Tieflings might reject all but carnivorous sating food sources, but I don't think that has to be true.
Polymorph I guess adapts the transformed metabolism, though I suppose if you really wanted to for some sort of gastrointestinal gritty realism game you could deal with RP or poisoned condition consequences between forms unless prior cleansing took place... but do you really want to be the table that has as its signature most thought out space to be house rules on poop and vomit and gastric distress? I mean some tables are into that, but not many.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
First of all Tiefling's are generally like all other humanoids, some are Vegetarian, some are Omnivores, some might even be cannibals. It is simply a flavour thing you can determine one way or another.
Second lycanthropy is not the same as being a changling, it is more like having Polymorph applied to you, you turn magically into that wear creature, now turning into a rat you will be able to eat many many different things, from spoiled meat to raw leaves and plants. You might 3 days later feel a little ill, or maybe have a strange taste in your mouth, but this is something really you only need to worry about roleplaying and not the mechanics of it. However it can be worth thinking about it, especially if, as one player at my table was, you are a vegan character who suddenly becomes a wearwolf. There was a whole story thread about the player trying to find Meat Substitutes for when they transformed asking the players to help them not eat meat during the period they where a carnivorous beast.