This is just curiosity, but I'm wondering about the reason behind this change in Wild Shape and some spells (e.g. Animal Shapes, Shapechange, or Polymorph), where you now "retain your creature type."
If the reason is known from an article, interview or UA, I mean.
Maybe it's to fix some problems or loopholes in the 2014 rules? Or to match the updates in the 2024 rules, features, spells?
And sorry if this has been discussed before. I have a vague feeling it was, but I wasn't able to find a similar topic about it in this or another subforum.
It looks like the designers wanted the idea of Shape-Shifting to be sort of varied and customizable instead of just defining one exact thing that happens that is always used. The rule for Shape-Shifting just says that "If an effect . . . lets you shape-shift, its description specifies what happens to you". This allows each such effect to be a bit different from each other and thereby possibly allowing for some of these effects to be relatively stronger or weaker than each other.
Note that the True Polymorph spell does not allow the creature to retain its creature type.
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This is just curiosity, but I'm wondering about the reason behind this change in Wild Shape and some spells (e.g. Animal Shapes, Shapechange, or Polymorph), where you now "retain your creature type."
If the reason is known from an article, interview or UA, I mean.
Maybe it's to fix some problems or loopholes in the 2014 rules? Or to match the updates in the 2024 rules, features, spells?
And sorry if this has been discussed before. I have a vague feeling it was, but I wasn't able to find a similar topic about it in this or another subforum.
PS. I'm fine with this change, by the way.
I suspect it's to prevent certain creature-type specific spells working or not working on you, but I don't recall anything specific.
It looks like the designers wanted the idea of Shape-Shifting to be sort of varied and customizable instead of just defining one exact thing that happens that is always used. The rule for Shape-Shifting just says that "If an effect . . . lets you shape-shift, its description specifies what happens to you". This allows each such effect to be a bit different from each other and thereby possibly allowing for some of these effects to be relatively stronger or weaker than each other.
Note that the True Polymorph spell does not allow the creature to retain its creature type.