According to the lore for Psurlon Ringer in BAM, the Ringer's magical transformation into the last humanoid they ate can be undone only by a Wish spell. This seems to mean that a Ringer can only transform once in their lifetime, which puts pretty heavy limits on how many times it might be able to infiltrate a community of humanoids.
Is there anything from stopping a Psurlon Ringer from consuming another creature while in the form of its first humanoid shape and transforming again? I've searched for ideas about this but haven't found anything.
I ask as I'm designing an adventure where a Ringer villain might need to change shape more than once in order for the story to work.
Yes, as written, the transformation being permanent doesn't make too much sense from a story standpoint -- or thinking through how a Ringer might be useful to Psurlons over a longer period of time. Unless maybe their lifespans are very short? No info on that.
Psurlons have a longer history than just 5e, but there's no real need to jump into that for your purposes. If you are interested, check out some of the references in this article. I particularly enjoyed the 3.x "Lords of Madness" supplement.
Is there anything from stopping a Psurlon Ringer from consuming another creature while in the form of its first humanoid shape and transforming again?
No. The word "permanent" here doesn't mean they're stuck in one form, it just means the form doesn't go away until they actively replace it with a new form by eating a new creature
A psurlon can use magic to assume the form of a specific Medium Humanoid. First, the psurlon must consume the creature it wants to imitate. It then enters a psionic trance for 8 hours, at the end of which it takes on the appearance of the creature it ate. The psurlon gains that creature’s memories and languages, but none of its class features or other abilities. The transformation is permanent and can be undone only by a wish spell. Despite appearances, the psurlon ringer is still an Aberration, and other psurlons recognize it for what it is.
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Psurlons have a longer history than just 5e, but there's no real need to jump into that for your purposes. If you are interested, check out some of the references in this article. I particularly enjoyed the 3.x "Lords of Madness" supplement.
Is there anything from stopping a Psurlon Ringer from consuming another creature while in the form of its first humanoid shape and transforming again?
No. The word "permanent" here doesn't mean they're stuck in one form, it just means the form doesn't go away until they actively replace it with a new form by eating a new creature
A psurlon can use magic to assume the form of a specific Medium Humanoid. First, the psurlon must consume the creature it wants to imitate. It then enters a psionic trance for 8 hours, at the end of which it takes on the appearance of the creature it ate. The psurlon gains that creature’s memories and languages, but none of its class features or other abilities. The transformation is permanent and can be undone only by a wish spell. Despite appearances, the psurlon ringer is still an Aberration, and other psurlons recognize it for what it is.
Thanks -- that's how I wanted to interpret the text but couldn't find any other references about how people have worked with them in adventure/campaign design.
Is there anything from stopping a Psurlon Ringer from consuming another creature while in the form of its first humanoid shape and transforming again?
There's nothing preventing a Psurlon Ranger from using their magic to assume the form of creature again. They can do so at-will.
Permanent is a duration, not a usage frequency, which usually say ''you must finish a long rest before you can use it in this way again'' or often ''once per day/week''.
Note that if the psurlon ringer wants to transform again, they'd have to consume a corpse while in a humanoid form. That might not be a super easy process.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Note that if the psurlon ringer wants to transform again, they'd have to consume a corpse while in a humanoid form. That might not be a super easy process.
Ehh, their creature type is still aberration and not actually humanoid when in humanoid form, so I'm sure they can manage
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Note that if the psurlon ringer wants to transform again, they'd have to consume a corpse while in a humanoid form. That might not be a super easy process.
Psurlons are known to eat many sentient creatures during a seven-year-long ceremony so the process must not be very hard for them or at least enough for it to be mention specifically in the description.
The last sentence also infer that they can assume the form of consumed creatures repeatedly.
Psurlons: Psurlons live for thousands of years because they spend most of their time in the Astral Sea. Every hundred years or so, psurlons leave their astral strongholds, invade Wildspace systems, and indulge in a seven-year-long ceremony called the Feast of Worlds, during which they consume as many sentient life-forms as they can before returning to the Astral Plane. Psurlons prefer the flesh of humans and halflings but don’t mind feasting on other folk. They use their spellcasting abilities to infiltrate the settlements of their intended victims.
Ah I missed that earlier text about the 7 year ceremony and the thousands-year lifespans. They all cast disguise self and suggestion innately, so their MO is pretty clear. The Ringers have the additional ability to "turn into" their last meal.
Thanks, everyone for your responses. Creating a 1-4 adventure where a traveling circus run by a space clown comes to the players' town on Toril. Among the circus troupe/participants are two rogue psurlon ringers who help the circus fit in by devouring and impersonating locals to draw more people in for the space clown (and themselves) to feed ... by the time most places know what's hit them, the circus usually moves on -- but the players will start investigating at the behest of a few skeptical locals, amidst other sidequests where they might find other clues (eg, the hidden spelljamming vessel that the circus travels in).
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According to the lore for Psurlon Ringer in BAM, the Ringer's magical transformation into the last humanoid they ate can be undone only by a Wish spell. This seems to mean that a Ringer can only transform once in their lifetime, which puts pretty heavy limits on how many times it might be able to infiltrate a community of humanoids.
Is there anything from stopping a Psurlon Ringer from consuming another creature while in the form of its first humanoid shape and transforming again? I've searched for ideas about this but haven't found anything.
I ask as I'm designing an adventure where a Ringer villain might need to change shape more than once in order for the story to work.
Seems that it is permanent RAW. But for your game, let it transform whenever it needs to, RAW be damned.
Yes, as written, the transformation being permanent doesn't make too much sense from a story standpoint -- or thinking through how a Ringer might be useful to Psurlons over a longer period of time. Unless maybe their lifespans are very short? No info on that.
Psurlons have a longer history than just 5e, but there's no real need to jump into that for your purposes. If you are interested, check out some of the references in this article. I particularly enjoyed the 3.x "Lords of Madness" supplement.
No. The word "permanent" here doesn't mean they're stuck in one form, it just means the form doesn't go away until they actively replace it with a new form by eating a new creature
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Thanks for the link!
Thanks -- that's how I wanted to interpret the text but couldn't find any other references about how people have worked with them in adventure/campaign design.
There's nothing preventing a Psurlon Ranger from using their magic to assume the form of creature again. They can do so at-will.
Permanent is a duration, not a usage frequency, which usually say ''you must finish a long rest before you can use it in this way again'' or often ''once per day/week''.
Note that if the psurlon ringer wants to transform again, they'd have to consume a corpse while in a humanoid form. That might not be a super easy process.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Ehh, their creature type is still aberration and not actually humanoid when in humanoid form, so I'm sure they can manage
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Psurlons are known to eat many sentient creatures during a seven-year-long ceremony so the process must not be very hard for them or at least enough for it to be mention specifically in the description.
The last sentence also infer that they can assume the form of consumed creatures repeatedly.
Ah I missed that earlier text about the 7 year ceremony and the thousands-year lifespans. They all cast disguise self and suggestion innately, so their MO is pretty clear. The Ringers have the additional ability to "turn into" their last meal.
Thanks, everyone for your responses. Creating a 1-4 adventure where a traveling circus run by a space clown comes to the players' town on Toril. Among the circus troupe/participants are two rogue psurlon ringers who help the circus fit in by devouring and impersonating locals to draw more people in for the space clown (and themselves) to feed ... by the time most places know what's hit them, the circus usually moves on -- but the players will start investigating at the behest of a few skeptical locals, amidst other sidequests where they might find other clues (eg, the hidden spelljamming vessel that the circus travels in).