Could you use True Polymorph to turn someone into an old age version of themselves with dementia?

Quote from Zyonchaos >>

Could you use True Polymorph to turn someone into an old age version of themselves with dementia?

No. The chosen form has to have a CR equal or less than the target's CR or Character Level. The DM would need to create a statblock of the target and re-evaluate it's CR. No DM can be arsed with that. Just pick a statblock from the book or one that is close enough and go with that.

And the spell cannot "give" dementia so that is not something you can specify (not everyone develops dementia in their senescence).

You be more interested in the Time Ravage. Which literally ages somebody until they have 30 days left of their lifespan. May be better to use that than to twist the TP spell.

If your intent is to just addle their brain for a while the lower level Feeblemind might serve you better.

Otherwise, you're in Wish territory, rather than TP.

I get the wanting to turn into a dragon, live long etc. But how does any of this become "permanent"? The spell clearly indicates Concentration up to 1 hour. Now, I guess some other high level magic user could "wish" the spell permanent. but otherwise the spell True Polymorph only lasts an hour. Reading the PHB, it indicates that where a spell requires Concentration, the spell specifies how long you can concentrate on it. (page 203 PHB 5e). Am I missing something here?

Quote from WilliamBagatelle >>

I get the wanting to turn into a dragon, live long etc. But how does any of this become "permanent"? The spell clearly indicates Concentration up to 1 hour. Now, I guess some other high level magic user could "wish" the spell permanent. but otherwise the spell True Polymorph only lasts an hour. Reading the PHB, it indicates that where a spell requires Concentration, the spell specifies how long you can concentrate on it. (page 203 PHB 5e). Am I missing something here?

 
From the spell:

. If you concentrate on this spell for the full duration, the spell lasts until it is dispelled.

Well this certainly sheds a new light on my spell durations. Thank you Cyb3rM1nd.

Theoretically, if you were to True Polymorph and avoid Dispel Magic, you could extend your lifespan drastically, possibly even into the realm of immortality. 

However, a more efficient way to achieve immortality with a spell without getting into Wish territory, would be through the use of Magic Jar. It lets you steal younger bodies and allows you to keep your class features. If you wait until a high level to do this, you can use a Demiplane to store your body and the jar, then upcast Contingency with the spell Demiplane attached and ready to trigger on the condition of your host body dying, allowing you to return to the jar or your body safely. Repeat to your heart's delight. In fact, you could even cast Clone on yourself before leaving your original body and then perform this process so that you don't have to have Contingency cast.

Good luck and may your adventures be glorious.

Quote from The_Mathlete >>

Theoretically, if you were to True Polymorph and avoid Dispel Magic, you could extend your lifespan drastically, possibly even into the realm of immortality. 

However, a more efficient way to achieve immortality with a spell without getting into Wish territory, would be through the use of Magic Jar. It lets you steal younger bodies and allows you to keep your class features. If you wait until a high level to do this, you can use a Demiplane to store your body and the jar, then upcast Contingency with the spell Demiplane attached and ready to trigger on the condition of your host body dying, allowing you to return to the jar or your body safely. Repeat to your heart's delight. In fact, you could even cast Clone on yourself before leaving your original body and then perform this process so that you don't have to have Contingency cast.

Good luck and may your adventures be glorious.

 
Contengency can only hold spells of 5th level and lower and must be able to target you - demiplane doesn't target you, or a creature or an object. It targets a point in space. 

May be better to cast Drawmij's Instant Summons on the jar and a Dimension Door or Mislead spell on yourself, via Contingency, to find safety - so you get to safety and summon the jar that way. 

If you're low on health and being chased - find a way to buy a little time, summon your 'jar', drink poison that you know will kill you in a few seconds then return the jar. The host dies before they have a chance to smash the jar or warn anyone. The people chasing you will think you succumbed to the wounds and as they near 'your body' attempt to possess them from the jar. 

Why poison? Because if you wait until the killing blow, even if your jar is nearby, you still have to make a saving throw to get back to it - whereas doing so willingly beforehand doesn't require such.

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Or just use the Clone spell. Seems easier.

Theoretically speaking there's nothing that says you couldnt true polymorph something into lets say a cr 9 or lower humanoid npc, such as a guard, noble, etc, and choose it to appear as and think like yourself. They dont have to be you exactly, just close enough in functionality.

Quote from SilverCrown >>

Theoretically speaking there's nothing that says you couldnt true polymorph something into lets say a cr 9 or lower humanoid npc, such as a guard, noble, etc, and choose it to appear as and think like yourself. They dont have to be you exactly, just close enough in functionality.

 
Yes but it wouldn't really be "yourself". You also don't get your class abilities and your stats will very likely be less in the areas you don't want want them to.

And if your form doesn't have counterspell then anybody can dispel this off of you (even a spellcasting ability mod of 0 still has a 10% chance to successfully dispel). And if you happen to walk into an Antimagic Field by accident? Oops.

True Polymorph is very inefficient way of prolonging your life considering alternatives. By this level you should have access to Wish and you can Wish for clones, safely stored in specially set up Demiplanes with various provisions, back up spell tomes and more. You can wish for a Simulacrum that can create Magen servants to protect your clones and even Sequester them. 

It's not entirely fool proof but it will be insanely difficult to ever fail. 

True Poly can prolong life - but at considerable cost in power and can be very easily thwarted. While the Clone spell is more secure and only costs some gold and a small piece of yourself - a small price to pay to cheat death, even age. And Wish can get you infinite clones, the ultimate security and the greatest protection from death shy of actually being a God, that any mortal can achieve, with no other cost than spending a few seconds a day and some spell slots. And it's still the basic "spell replication" use of Wish, so no risks at all.

In comparison to the other choices - True Poly is a very shit option for this. It's a fantastic spell, of course, but not for this purpose.

Easier to just wish that you suffer no ill effects from aging. I know that some DMs love the idea of always messing with every kind of wish, and I guess they could freeze you in carbonite or something like that, but if you have that kind of DM then they probably just won't give you a Wish in the first place.

Quote from Sanvael >>

Easier to just wish that you suffer no ill effects from aging. I know that some DMs love the idea of always messing with every kind of wish, and I guess they could freeze you in carbonite or something like that, but if you have that kind of DM then they probably just won't give you a Wish in the first place.

 
There is always this and personally, I'd just grant the wish. I wouldn't try to twist it against them. It ultimately has no real impact on gameplay. It's a pure RP thing. If anything, it opens up options for future storylines. Maybe the whole party are age-immortal and get trapped for a hundred years and finally escape to a world that has drastically changed? Perhaps this age-immortality can be overcome by magical aging - such as a sphinx encounter or years offered as part of a dark bargain or the Time Ravage spell? Or maybe they're immune to those - I mean, there are races you can turn that are immune to magical aging, so it's not like it's some OP or game-breaking thing. There's no real downsides. 

DMs who think "oh they use wish, now how can I punish them?" are disappointing. They should be thinking "oh they're using wish, now how can I turn this into a great adventure?"

If your campaign isn't going to last more than 10 years, why does any of this matter?

Quote from gabrielrockman >>

If your campaign isn't going to last more than 10 years, why does any of this matter?

I think that's totally a valid point for some characters. Campaigns can be motivated by the greater good, for your own self interests, or for greed(typically determined by the average alignment of the party, good, neutral, or evil). For the greater good and for your own self interests usually would not contain any seeking after immortality because, like you pointed out, it usually doesn't matter. But in some campaigns, even though it still doesn't matter, the greedy characters seek after anything to increase their power. It might be more money than you could ever spend, control over the entire world, or in this case, immortality. In short, it matters to some because wouldn't it be great to have immortality?

Quote from Unruly_Cow >>

 

Quote from VanZoeren >>

Follow up question: RAW, could you True Polymorph somebody else into a different class? Like could a Wizard True Polymorph a Fighter into a Sorcerer?

 

 No.  Polymorph changes your body, which is unrelated to your class.  They would keep whatever class levels they have in their new body.  Though some abilities might not function in an unusual body.

 But if I'm a caster and I true polymorph into a casting monster. Do I get my spells their spells or both? (How am I concentrating on true polymorph if I can't cast MY spells) if I level up can I add new spells? Do I level up in their class or mine, am I multiclassing now? 

Quote from Zod_El >>

Quote from Unruly_Cow >>

 

Quote from VanZoeren >>

Follow up question: RAW, could you True Polymorph somebody else into a different class? Like could a Wizard True Polymorph a Fighter into a Sorcerer?

 

 No.  Polymorph changes your body, which is unrelated to your class.  They would keep whatever class levels they have in their new body.  Though some abilities might not function in an unusual body.

 But if I'm a caster and I true polymorph into a casting monster. Do I get my spells their spells or both? (How am I concentrating on true polymorph if I can't cast MY spells) if I level up can I add new spells? Do I level up in their class or mine, am I multiclassing now? 

 
Just to clarify, Unruly Cow is very wrong.

You can, indeed, TP a Fighter into a Sorcerer if there's a monster statblock of a Sorcerer with a CR equal to or lesser than the CR/CL of the Fighter.

TP replaces everything - including class levels - with the statblock you're morphing into. Once morphed you can disregard your character sheet and now use the statblock, getting only what that statblock provides. 

So, while morphed, all of your class levels/abilities go bye-bye. If the statblock you now have includes class levels you have those now instead. However, most don't. So if the statblock says the monster you've become is a wizard - you have the wizard class at the level the statblock details. But you can't level up, you can't do anything, except what is in that statblock. 

Quote from Cyb3rM1nd >>

 

Quote from VanZoeren >>

I might end up making a new thread because I I having other questions, but I have another follow up;

Can I True Polymorph an object into myself, effectively creating a permanent simulacrum/a clone? Making two of me run around, if i were some 20th level caster

 

 No.

From the spell True Polymorph:

Object into Creature. You can turn an object into any kind of creature, as long as the creature's size is no larger than the object's size and the creature's challenge rating is 9 or lower. The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It acts on each of your turns. You decide what action it takes and how it moves. The GM has the creature's statistics and resolves all of its actions and movement.

If the spell becomes permanent, you no longer control the creature. It might remain friendly to you, depending on how you have treated it.

 

By the time you get access to this spell you are way, way, way beyond CR 9.

 Scrolls. A level 1 wizard can cast True Polymorph with an arcana check. The real trouble is finding a scroll.