I ran an Ace Attorney style one-shot in which the culprit claimed that he cast polymorph on the defendant to turn her into a giant toad, which enabled her to kill all three victims. The lead defense attorney raised an objection, claiming that the defendant was CR 1/8 while giant toads are CR 1. Such a casting of polymorph was impossible, unless, of course, the target of the spell was the caster himself. The culprit counter that it was possible if the defendant, at the time of the casting, had a weapon powerful enough to boost her CR to 1. Whether this was possible never came up, since A) the culprit was just making a desperate excuse, and B) his explanation included unrelated information that incriminated him further. This left me wondering, though.
Can giving a creature different, more powerful weapons increase the CR of a creature and, therefore, increase the highest CR of the beast they can be polymorphed into?
First off, love that ace attorney scenario. Sounds like the kind of stuff that would happen in those games.
Technically, it is plausible. Changing a creature's damage and/or AC would effect its CR, but that also assumes they have the proficiency for that equipment.
Assuming you gave them a +2 weapon they were already proficient with that did bonus damage (like bloodaxe) or just a +3 weapon and a +3 armor that they were already proficient in, that could boost a CR 1/8 to barely a CR 1. [Edit]Actually, they might still need an amulet of health to raise defensive CR to 1/2...
First off, love that ace attorney scenario. Sounds like the kind of stuff that would happen in those games.
Technically, it is plausible. Changing a creature's damage and/or AC would effect its CR, but that also assumes they have the proficiency for that equipment.
Assuming you gave them a +2 weapon they were already proficient with that did bonus damage (like bloodaxe) or just a +3 weapon and a +3 armor that they were already proficient in, that could boost a CR 1/8 to barely a CR 1. [Edit]Actually, they might still need an amulet of health to raise defensive CR to 1/2...
So what about the creatures that don't actually follow the CR rules? True dragons come to mind.
I ran an Ace Attorney style one-shot in which the culprit claimed that he cast polymorph on the defendant to turn her into a giant toad, which enabled her to kill all three victims. The lead defense attorney raised an objection, claiming that the defendant was CR 1/8 while giant toads are CR 1. Such a casting of polymorph was impossible, unless, of course, the target of the spell was the caster himself. The culprit counter that it was possible if the defendant, at the time of the casting, had a weapon powerful enough to boost her CR to 1. Whether this was possible never came up, since A) the culprit was just making a desperate excuse, and B) his explanation included unrelated information that incriminated him further. This left me wondering, though.
Can giving a creature different, more powerful weapons increase the CR of a creature and, therefore, increase the highest CR of the beast they can be polymorphed into?
First off, love that ace attorney scenario. Sounds like the kind of stuff that would happen in those games.
Technically, it is plausible. Changing a creature's damage and/or AC would effect its CR, but that also assumes they have the proficiency for that equipment.
Assuming you gave them a +2 weapon they were already proficient with that did bonus damage (like bloodaxe) or just a +3 weapon and a +3 armor that they were already proficient in, that could boost a CR 1/8 to barely a CR 1. [Edit]Actually, they might still need an amulet of health to raise defensive CR to 1/2...
So what about the creatures that don't actually follow the CR rules? True dragons come to mind.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯