So I had just thought about this today. For context I'm currently playing a level 2 goliath genie warlock, and I was given the staff of the python at the beginning of the campaign (with some limited uses. Until level 4, I can only use it once a day).
Is possible to use Polymorph/True Polymorph on my staff, in snake form, to take on my character's appearance. And would it have my class abilities, and spells?
I was thinking that, in later levels my staff isnt going to be as viable, so I was just looking int seeing if this option was possible.
Polymorph, no, but True Polymorph would be able to transform your staff into a humanoid identical to your PC, but it would be the default adult Goliath and would not have any of your class abilities or skills. Polymorph is limited because you can only turn your Python into another creature of the same CR, but True Polymorph you could turn it into like... a Bronze Dragon or something.
Polymorph, no, but True Polymorph would be able to transform your staff into a humanoid identical to your PC, but it would be the default adult Goliath and would not have any of your class abilities or skills. Polymorph is limited because you can only turn your Python into another creature of the same CR, but True Polymorph you could turn it into like... a Bronze Dragon or something.
Ah. Darn. That would be kinda broken I guess if you turned a creature into an identical copy of your character. Well any creatures you would suggest for polymorphing my python though?
Well, just for context... I looked into the magic item, and it explicitly creates a Giant Constrictor Snake and not just a simple Python... it's already a Huge sized creature with 60 HP and some solid abilities. So if you look at a list of Beasts any of them CR2 or lower are viable options. Rather than have a specific thing to turn your Snake into again and again, I think the best thing to do would be to treat it as something you can alter based on what environment you're in. I was going to say you could Polymorph them into a Hunter Shark if you were underwater... but reading the Giant Constrictor Snake's stats, it has a swim speed as well and deals about as much damage. Uh... you can turn it into an Allosaurus, which has a little less HP but hits harder.
True Polymorph, Staff is an Object: Any creature whose CR is 9 or less. PCs do not have CRs, so the staff can't be changed into the PC caster, as the caster won't have a CR of 9 or less.
Transmorpher is sort-of correct, but you're not limited to "generic adult Goliath" (which isn't even a statblock and hence has no CR). You can use True Polymorph to turn the snake into a humanoid, and if you do, you can choose any humanoid that fits the CR criteria. As an example, you could turn the snake into a goliath bandit captain or berserker.
For polymorph, giant constrictor snake is already among the best available, but here are some other options:
swarm of poisonous snakes (many DMs will ban this, as the rules are clear as mud on swarms - if this counts as a creature with the beast type, it's a valid option)
All of these can be half-dragons, including polymorphing the original gcs into a half-dragon dcs. I suggest half-silver.
True Polymorph, Staff is an Object: Any creature whose CR is 9 or less. PCs do not have CRs, so the staff can't be changed into the PC caster, as the caster won't have a CR of 9 or less.
Transmorpher is sort-of correct, but you're not limited to "generic adult Goliath" (which isn't even a statblock and hence has no CR). You can use True Polymorph to turn the snake into a humanoid, and if you do, you can choose any humanoid that fits the CR criteria. As an example, you could turn the snake into a goliath bandit captain or berserker.
For polymorph, giant constrictor snake is already among the best available, but here are some other options:
swarm of poisonous snakes (many DMs will ban this, as the rules are clear as mud on swarms - if this counts as a creature with the beast type, it's a valid option)
All of these can be half-dragons, including polymorphing the original gcs into a half-dragon dcs. I suggest half-silver.
Are you legitimately arguing that goliath isn't a creature? Of course you can (true) polymorph someone/thing into a goliath.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Thanks for clarifying, I particularly forgot that True Polymorph still has the CR restriction.
I read True Polymorph in more detail, and I realized a weird thing you can do is turn the Staff itself into any tiny creature of CR9 or lower, since True Polymorph requires any object transformed to have the same size as the transformed object, and most hand-held items are considered Tiny... although as a Staff you might be able to argue up to a size Small. I guess if you spent a couple days you could True Polymorph your Snake into a giant... I dunno, chair or some nonsense. Hell, you could True Polymorph it into a House, then the next day you could True Polymorph that house into a Cloud Giant. Or I guess you could just turn any random tree into a Cloud Giant and you'd just have to negotiate with them a little, which will probably be easy, since it just now popped into existence... although I guess you can talk to trees with magic, so I suppose they already have some degree of sentience...
I'm realizing I'm tying myself in a logic knot trying to figure out all the shenanigans someone could get up to with True Polymorph.
I'm realizing I'm tying myself in a logic knot trying to figure out all the shenanigans someone could get up to with True Polymorph.
I can imagine an evil spellcaster using the last function to good effect collecting 'trinkets' from their travels.
How many people are out there, just... locked/sealed away in the form of an item? Waiting for a dispel that may never come.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
True Polymorph, Staff is an Object: Any creature whose CR is 9 or less. PCs do not have CRs, so the staff can't be changed into the PC caster, as the caster won't have a CR of 9 or less.
Transmorpher is sort-of correct, but you're not limited to "generic adult Goliath" (which isn't even a statblock and hence has no CR). You can use True Polymorph to turn the snake into a humanoid, and if you do, you can choose any humanoid that fits the CR criteria. As an example, you could turn the snake into a goliath bandit captain or berserker.
For polymorph, giant constrictor snake is already among the best available, but here are some other options:
swarm of poisonous snakes (many DMs will ban this, as the rules are clear as mud on swarms - if this counts as a creature with the beast type, it's a valid option)
All of these can be half-dragons, including polymorphing the original gcs into a half-dragon dcs. I suggest half-silver.
Are you legitimately arguing that goliath isn't a creature? Of course you can (true) polymorph someone/thing into a goliath.
No, how did you come to that conclusion? There are numerous goliath creatures, and I gave two examples.
Alignment is a creature statistic, so one shenanigan is turning BBEG’s good by changing them to a good-aligned NPC stat block that still looks like their old form (retaining their memories etc.). Necromancer can be any alignment and race, no one is beyond redemption even if they keep many of their powers and memories! Think Adventure Time’s Sweet P, or even Heroes’ Sylar!
ugh: just realized TP “retains its alignment and personality,” never mind :(
True Polymorph, Staff is an Object: Any creature whose CR is 9 or less. PCs do not have CRs, so the staff can't be changed into the PC caster, as the caster won't have a CR of 9 or less.
Transmorpher is sort-of correct, but you're not limited to "generic adult Goliath" (which isn't even a statblock and hence has no CR). You can use True Polymorph to turn the snake into a humanoid, and if you do, you can choose any humanoid that fits the CR criteria. As an example, you could turn the snake into a goliath bandit captain or berserker.
For polymorph, giant constrictor snake is already among the best available, but here are some other options:
swarm of poisonous snakes (many DMs will ban this, as the rules are clear as mud on swarms - if this counts as a creature with the beast type, it's a valid option)
All of these can be half-dragons, including polymorphing the original gcs into a half-dragon dcs. I suggest half-silver.
Are you legitimately arguing that goliath isn't a creature? Of course you can (true) polymorph someone/thing into a goliath.
So swarm of poisonous snakes is a no no. Lol got it
Alignment is a creature statistic, so one shenanigan is turning BBEG’s good by changing them to a good-aligned NPC stat block that still looks like their old form (retaining their memories etc.). Necromancer can be any alignment and race, no one is beyond redemption even if they keep many of their powers and memories! Think Adventure Time’s Sweet P, or even Heroes’ Sylar!
ugh: just realized TP “retains its alignment and personality,” never mind :(
Well there is always the spell ceremony. so you can still redeem someone. But I think it definitely helps with balancing that the alignment stays the same.
Alignment is a creature statistic, so one shenanigan is turning BBEG’s good by changing them to a good-aligned NPC stat block that still looks like their old form (retaining their memories etc.). Necromancer can be any alignment and race, no one is beyond redemption even if they keep many of their powers and memories! Think Adventure Time’s Sweet P, or even Heroes’ Sylar!
ugh: just realized TP “retains its alignment and personality,” never mind :(
Well there is always the spell ceremony. so you can still redeem someone. But I think it definitely helps with balancing that the alignment stays the same.
The biggest issue with both of these is that alignment reflects your character not dictates it. Even if you could switch someone's alignment from evil to good, they'd probably just quickly become evil again once they start the murdering back up.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Alignment is a creature statistic, so one shenanigan is turning BBEG’s good by changing them to a good-aligned NPC stat block that still looks like their old form (retaining their memories etc.). Necromancer can be any alignment and race, no one is beyond redemption even if they keep many of their powers and memories! Think Adventure Time’s Sweet P, or even Heroes’ Sylar!
ugh: just realized TP “retains its alignment and personality,” never mind :(
Well there is always the spell ceremony. so you can still redeem someone. But I think it definitely helps with balancing that the alignment stays the same.
The biggest issue with both of these is that alignment reflects your character not dictates it. Even if you could switch someone's alignment from evil to good, they'd probably just quickly become evil again once they start the murdering back up.
For a player character, sure, player agency drives the bus not the alignment on the character sheet. But for an NPC, if you (somehow) successfully change Malchor the Malevolent's alignment from CE to LG, no DM worth their salt is going to have them go on eating babies.
Doesn't sound like True Polymorph is the way to do it, and I doubt that Ceremony's Attonement option is intended to make an ancient Lich remember the carefree innocence of their childhood eons ago before they became evil.... but if you were to Wish for Malchor to care as much about the wellbeing and happiness of all others as he does for himself? Or to hold "do no harm to others" as his core value? Yeah, if that lands, its going to have some real changes on his behaviors, in a way that the DM needs to respect.
The biggest issue with both of these is that alignment reflects your character not dictates it. Even if you could switch someone's alignment from evil to good, they'd probably just quickly become evil again once they start the murdering back up.
For a player character, sure, player agency drives the bus not the alignment on the character sheet. But for an NPC, if you (somehow) successfully change Malchor the Malevolent's alignment from CE to LG, no DM worth their salt is going to have them go on eating babies.
You can be derogatory about it if you like. But I firmly disagree. If you changed an NPCs alignment, that doesn't do anything whatsoever to their personality or decision making process. As far as I'm concerned, alignment is the moral tab, the bill to pay, the list of dirty deeds... not the moral compass. Your alignment follows from your choices, not the other way around. So just changing someone's alignment does almost nothing. You'd have to change the person's ethical perspective and decision making process, their moral compass and... that's not something that has a hardline mechanic, nor should it.
Doesn't sound like True Polymorph is the way to do it, and I doubt that Ceremony's Attonement option is intended to make an ancient Lich remember the carefree innocence of their childhood eons ago before they became evil.... but if you were to Wish for Malchor to care as much about the wellbeing and happiness of all others as he does for himself? Or to hold "do no harm to others" as his core value? Yeah, if that lands, its going to have some real changes on his behaviors, in a way that the DM needs to respect.
Yeah agreed. Wishing someone was Lawful Good would swap their alignment with virtually no other effect on their behavior. But wishing they "had a change of heart and became a caring person" or whatever would change their moral outlook, which potentially would eventually lead to an alignment change.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
It’s always fuzzy what alignments “do,” if they’re the result of actions (a karma balance) or the compass guiding them (a system of values and beliefs). I would say that the “compass” belief is the more commonly practiced one (CG people might be described as valuing freedom and compassion, not just as people who have acted chaotically but nicely in the past)… and if that’s what we mean when we say “alignment”, im not sure why changing that compass to one that steers towards the greater good rather than self interest wouldn’t be expected to change behavior.
I think we’re disagreeing more about what alignment “is,” than on the effect of magic changing one’s personality and values. No big deal, like I said, alignment is a fuzzy concept that different editions and DMs have varying views of.
So I had just thought about this today. For context I'm currently playing a level 2 goliath genie warlock, and I was given the staff of the python at the beginning of the campaign (with some limited uses. Until level 4, I can only use it once a day).
Is possible to use Polymorph/True Polymorph on my staff, in snake form, to take on my character's appearance. And would it have my class abilities, and spells?
I was thinking that, in later levels my staff isnt going to be as viable, so I was just looking int seeing if this option was possible.
Polymorph, no, but True Polymorph would be able to transform your staff into a humanoid identical to your PC, but it would be the default adult Goliath and would not have any of your class abilities or skills. Polymorph is limited because you can only turn your Python into another creature of the same CR, but True Polymorph you could turn it into like... a Bronze Dragon or something.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Ah. Darn. That would be kinda broken I guess if you turned a creature into an identical copy of your character. Well any creatures you would suggest for polymorphing my python though?
Well, just for context... I looked into the magic item, and it explicitly creates a Giant Constrictor Snake and not just a simple Python... it's already a Huge sized creature with 60 HP and some solid abilities. So if you look at a list of Beasts any of them CR2 or lower are viable options. Rather than have a specific thing to turn your Snake into again and again, I think the best thing to do would be to treat it as something you can alter based on what environment you're in. I was going to say you could Polymorph them into a Hunter Shark if you were underwater... but reading the Giant Constrictor Snake's stats, it has a swim speed as well and deals about as much damage. Uh... you can turn it into an Allosaurus, which has a little less HP but hits harder.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
True Polymorph works differently on creatures and objects, and a staff of the python can be either. Polymorph is even more limited:
Transmorpher is sort-of correct, but you're not limited to "generic adult Goliath" (which isn't even a statblock and hence has no CR). You can use True Polymorph to turn the snake into a humanoid, and if you do, you can choose any humanoid that fits the CR criteria. As an example, you could turn the snake into a goliath bandit captain or berserker.
For polymorph, giant constrictor snake is already among the best available, but here are some other options:
All of these can be half-dragons, including polymorphing the original gcs into a half-dragon dcs. I suggest half-silver.
Are you legitimately arguing that goliath isn't a creature? Of course you can (true) polymorph someone/thing into a goliath.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Thanks for clarifying, I particularly forgot that True Polymorph still has the CR restriction.
I read True Polymorph in more detail, and I realized a weird thing you can do is turn the Staff itself into any tiny creature of CR9 or lower, since True Polymorph requires any object transformed to have the same size as the transformed object, and most hand-held items are considered Tiny... although as a Staff you might be able to argue up to a size Small. I guess if you spent a couple days you could True Polymorph your Snake into a giant... I dunno, chair or some nonsense. Hell, you could True Polymorph it into a House, then the next day you could True Polymorph that house into a Cloud Giant. Or I guess you could just turn any random tree into a Cloud Giant and you'd just have to negotiate with them a little, which will probably be easy, since it just now popped into existence... although I guess you can talk to trees with magic, so I suppose they already have some degree of sentience...
I'm realizing I'm tying myself in a logic knot trying to figure out all the shenanigans someone could get up to with True Polymorph.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I can imagine an evil spellcaster using the last function to good effect collecting 'trinkets' from their travels.
How many people are out there, just... locked/sealed away in the form of an item? Waiting for a dispel that may never come.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
No, how did you come to that conclusion? There are numerous goliath creatures, and I gave two examples.
Alignment is a creature statistic, so one shenanigan is turning BBEG’s good by changing them to a good-aligned NPC stat block that still looks like their old form (retaining their memories etc.). Necromancer can be any alignment and race, no one is beyond redemption even if they keep many of their powers and memories! Think Adventure Time’s Sweet P, or even Heroes’ Sylar!
ugh: just realized TP “retains its alignment and personality,” never mind :(
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
So swarm of poisonous snakes is a no no. Lol got it
Well there is always the spell ceremony. so you can still redeem someone. But I think it definitely helps with balancing that the alignment stays the same.
The biggest issue with both of these is that alignment reflects your character not dictates it. Even if you could switch someone's alignment from evil to good, they'd probably just quickly become evil again once they start the murdering back up.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Also, True Polymorph overtly states that the target's Alignment and Personality do not change.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I think the spell you want is simulacrum.
For a player character, sure, player agency drives the bus not the alignment on the character sheet. But for an NPC, if you (somehow) successfully change Malchor the Malevolent's alignment from CE to LG, no DM worth their salt is going to have them go on eating babies.
Doesn't sound like True Polymorph is the way to do it, and I doubt that Ceremony's Attonement option is intended to make an ancient Lich remember the carefree innocence of their childhood eons ago before they became evil.... but if you were to Wish for Malchor to care as much about the wellbeing and happiness of all others as he does for himself? Or to hold "do no harm to others" as his core value? Yeah, if that lands, its going to have some real changes on his behaviors, in a way that the DM needs to respect.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
You can be derogatory about it if you like. But I firmly disagree. If you changed an NPCs alignment, that doesn't do anything whatsoever to their personality or decision making process. As far as I'm concerned, alignment is the moral tab, the bill to pay, the list of dirty deeds... not the moral compass. Your alignment follows from your choices, not the other way around. So just changing someone's alignment does almost nothing. You'd have to change the person's ethical perspective and decision making process, their moral compass and... that's not something that has a hardline mechanic, nor should it.
Yeah agreed. Wishing someone was Lawful Good would swap their alignment with virtually no other effect on their behavior. But wishing they "had a change of heart and became a caring person" or whatever would change their moral outlook, which potentially would eventually lead to an alignment change.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
It’s always fuzzy what alignments “do,” if they’re the result of actions (a karma balance) or the compass guiding them (a system of values and beliefs). I would say that the “compass” belief is the more commonly practiced one (CG people might be described as valuing freedom and compassion, not just as people who have acted chaotically but nicely in the past)… and if that’s what we mean when we say “alignment”, im not sure why changing that compass to one that steers towards the greater good rather than self interest wouldn’t be expected to change behavior.
I think we’re disagreeing more about what alignment “is,” than on the effect of magic changing one’s personality and values. No big deal, like I said, alignment is a fuzzy concept that different editions and DMs have varying views of.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.