Ok so I just came up with a potentially game breaking idea and I want to know if there's anything in the rules preventing it from happening. With Conjure Woodland Beings you can summon 8 fey of CR 1/4 or lower. Pixies fit this description, and I found a statblock for pixies showing that they can cast polymorph once a day. Does this mean I could summon 8 pixies and have them each cast polymorph on a member of my party? Seems too good to be true lol
Longer answer: These spells allow the player to specify the CR and number of creatures summoned but it is up to the DM to decide what creatures appear. The "DM has the creatures statistics". Some DMs will allow the caster to choose and others choose based on locale or campaign setting depending on what is appropriate (for example pixies might not even exist in a particular DMs game world). This means that in practice, it is up to the DM to decide whether to allow this or not. Many DMs won't allow it given the potentially encounter breaking issues involved since the swarm of pixies could neutralize half or more of the opposition rather than polymorphing your party members. (There are also other good choices possible with this spell).
Not to mention that summoned creatures would still be technically controlled and RPed by your DM, so a DM who sees this polymorph tactic being abused could choose to RP the pixies as being uncooperative, like polymorphing the PCs into whales instead of carnivorous dinosaurs in a land campaign.
I'd like to suggest an alternative approach. The information in the MM on Pixies talks about how they are friendly tricksters who'd rather flee then get into a fight. Conjure Woodland Beings talks about the creature being friendly to you and obeying your commands, but how they follow those commands is up to the DM. So a summoned Pixie asked to help in battle with Polymorph might decide the best thing to turn you into is a creature that can run away. I'd have the Pixies turn everyone into owls who have flyby and then lead the way to a safe retreat!
At that point, if you have not already, you'll be having a discussion with your players about how that spell works and can probably come to a cooperative decision on future uses. :D
I'd like to suggest an alternative approach. The information in the MM on Pixies talks about how they are friendly tricksters who'd rather flee then get into a fight. Conjure Woodland Beings talks about the creature being friendly to you and obeying your commands, but how they follow those commands is up to the DM. So a summoned Pixie asked to help in battle with Polymorph might decide the best thing to turn you into is a creature that can run away. I'd have the Pixies turn everyone into owls who have flyby and then lead the way to a safe retreat!
At that point, if you have not already, you'll be having a discussion with your players about how that spell works and can probably come to a cooperative decision on future uses. :D
I gave an exaggeratedly bad use of Polymorph as an example of what Could happen if a party Abuses the tactic. Obviously, it would be bad DMing to put the party in a helpless position without warning them first that overuse of a particular spell that cheeses encounters messes with the DM's encounter-planning.
On a similar line of thought, what if the Pixies cast sleep on the enemy? What level can they cast it at? Given their innate spells (polymorph!) they are functionally high level casters. Could they cast sleep at level 4?
On a similar line of thought, what if the Pixies cast sleep on the enemy? What level can they cast it at? Given their innate spells (polymorph!) they are functionally high level casters. Could they cast sleep at level 4?
Unless it specifically says otherwise, all slotless casting is done at lowest level.
Ok so I just came up with a potentially game breaking idea and I want to know if there's anything in the rules preventing it from happening. With Conjure Woodland Beings you can summon 8 fey of CR 1/4 or lower. Pixies fit this description, and I found a statblock for pixies showing that they can cast polymorph once a day. Does this mean I could summon 8 pixies and have them each cast polymorph on a member of my party? Seems too good to be true lol
Short answer: Yes
Longer answer: These spells allow the player to specify the CR and number of creatures summoned but it is up to the DM to decide what creatures appear. The "DM has the creatures statistics". Some DMs will allow the caster to choose and others choose based on locale or campaign setting depending on what is appropriate (for example pixies might not even exist in a particular DMs game world). This means that in practice, it is up to the DM to decide whether to allow this or not. Many DMs won't allow it given the potentially encounter breaking issues involved since the swarm of pixies could neutralize half or more of the opposition rather than polymorphing your party members. (There are also other good choices possible with this spell).
There is already an existing thread on this in Tips and Tactics that has been exhaustively discussed.
As mentioned above, it is only overpowered if the DM doesn't know the ruling for it.
Not to mention that summoned creatures would still be technically controlled and RPed by your DM, so a DM who sees this polymorph tactic being abused could choose to RP the pixies as being uncooperative, like polymorphing the PCs into whales instead of carnivorous dinosaurs in a land campaign.
I'd like to suggest an alternative approach. The information in the MM on Pixies talks about how they are friendly tricksters who'd rather flee then get into a fight. Conjure Woodland Beings talks about the creature being friendly to you and obeying your commands, but how they follow those commands is up to the DM. So a summoned Pixie asked to help in battle with Polymorph might decide the best thing to turn you into is a creature that can run away. I'd have the Pixies turn everyone into owls who have flyby and then lead the way to a safe retreat!
At that point, if you have not already, you'll be having a discussion with your players about how that spell works and can probably come to a cooperative decision on future uses. :D
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I gave an exaggeratedly bad use of Polymorph as an example of what Could happen if a party Abuses the tactic. Obviously, it would be bad DMing to put the party in a helpless position without warning them first that overuse of a particular spell that cheeses encounters messes with the DM's encounter-planning.
On a similar line of thought, what if the Pixies cast sleep on the enemy? What level can they cast it at? Given their innate spells (polymorph!) they are functionally high level casters. Could they cast sleep at level 4?
Unless it specifically says otherwise, all slotless casting is done at lowest level.
thanks