it says that the spell can polymorph a enemy into a beast of the same CR or lower. thats very clear :D
now, when its used on a PC (party member or self) its not overpowered to be able to morph into a 18hd mammot for example?
also imagine this...the warrior in the party has 5hps left, i polymorph him into said mammot, now it have more than 100hps :S
maybe im missing some ruling here, player lvl must be converted to CR somehow? (maybe dividing the lvl between 4, because a CR1 createure its supposed to be a threat to 4 lvl 1 characters.
The new form can be any beast whose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target's (or the target's level, if it doesn't have a challenge rating)
Works for enemies and allies, though enemies get a saving through (allies choose to fail, it is assumed).
So yes, CR is important in all instances. Also - remember it is beasts only ... that limits things a lot when you are about level 8 or so. The extra HP is a large part of the point for polymorph.
Beasts top out at 8 CR (other than Traxigor), and you'll find that by the time you're casting Polymorph to turn your friends into Mammoths or T-rexes or whatever... it's a useful spell for exploration, or topping off their HP when they're in a bind, but the Beasts' armor classes and attack bonuses are unusually low for characters of that tier, and won't be overpowered.
Remember that a Fighter who is polymorphed into a Mammoth does not keep any of their fighter features in the new form, they're just a mammoth out of the Monster Manual. A Druid's Wild Shape feature works very differently than Polymorph does.
I generally prefer to rule that max CR is the level of the spell (unconnected to target CR or level), but yeah, the fact that beast CRs just don't go all that high limits the abuse potential.
It's a powerful spell. But it has limitations. Using it for a bag of hit points is a good use. But keep in mind that it's a concentration spell. Not only does the target of Polymorph substitute the Mammoth attacks for its normal PC abilities, but the caster is unable to cast another powerful concentration spell that might do ongoing damage. Or if you cast it on yourself, then when you run into melee as an AC 13 Mammoth, you're likely to take a lot of hits, and each hit makes you roll a concentration save. Regardless of whether you cast it on yourself or a party member, enemies can target you to attempt to break your concentration. They don't have to do 126 hp of damage to the Mammoth to end the spell. They just have to do 1 hp of damage to the caster and the caster be unlucky on their Con save.
Hello, i have a doubt about the Polymorph spell.
it says that the spell can polymorph a enemy into a beast of the same CR or lower. thats very clear :D
now, when its used on a PC (party member or self) its not overpowered to be able to morph into a 18hd mammot for example?
also imagine this...the warrior in the party has 5hps left, i polymorph him into said mammot, now it have more than 100hps :S
maybe im missing some ruling here, player lvl must be converted to CR somehow? (maybe dividing the lvl between 4, because a CR1 createure its supposed to be a threat to 4 lvl 1 characters.
someone know for sure?
thanks.
The new form can be any beast whose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target's (or the target's level, if it doesn't have a challenge rating)
Works for enemies and allies, though enemies get a saving through (allies choose to fail, it is assumed).
So yes, CR is important in all instances. Also - remember it is beasts only ... that limits things a lot when you are about level 8 or so. The extra HP is a large part of the point for polymorph.
Beasts top out at 8 CR (other than Traxigor), and you'll find that by the time you're casting Polymorph to turn your friends into Mammoths or T-rexes or whatever... it's a useful spell for exploration, or topping off their HP when they're in a bind, but the Beasts' armor classes and attack bonuses are unusually low for characters of that tier, and won't be overpowered.
Remember that a Fighter who is polymorphed into a Mammoth does not keep any of their fighter features in the new form, they're just a mammoth out of the Monster Manual. A Druid's Wild Shape feature works very differently than Polymorph does.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I generally prefer to rule that max CR is the level of the spell (unconnected to target CR or level), but yeah, the fact that beast CRs just don't go all that high limits the abuse potential.
It's a powerful spell. But it has limitations. Using it for a bag of hit points is a good use. But keep in mind that it's a concentration spell. Not only does the target of Polymorph substitute the Mammoth attacks for its normal PC abilities, but the caster is unable to cast another powerful concentration spell that might do ongoing damage. Or if you cast it on yourself, then when you run into melee as an AC 13 Mammoth, you're likely to take a lot of hits, and each hit makes you roll a concentration save. Regardless of whether you cast it on yourself or a party member, enemies can target you to attempt to break your concentration. They don't have to do 126 hp of damage to the Mammoth to end the spell. They just have to do 1 hp of damage to the caster and the caster be unlucky on their Con save.
Don't forget that the target now has the intelligence of that beast too.
An Int 3 Mammoth.. is surprisingly not a tactical genius.
Thanks to all of you people!!!, help me a lot to understand the pros and cons and make my mind.
now i understand that its not an overpowered spell.
thanks again!!