I imagine this question has already been done to death, but I can't find exactly what I need.... So if you become polymorphed whilst concentrating on a spell, Sage Advice has said you maintain that concentration. However, if the thing you are concentrating on requires you to take an action to do something with it, can you take that action in your polymorphed form?
The polymorph spell says = "The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can't speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech." That by the nature of its new form is doing some heavy lifting. E.g., by it's nature, a mouse can't speak a command word, sure. But, let's take Call Lightning as an example - "When you cast the spell, choose a point you can see under the cloud. A bolt of lightning flashes down from the cloud to that point." Is a mouse capable of "choosing a point"?
So I could see ruling that if you become polymorphed while you are concentrating on Fly, the target of your Fly spell can still fly. But if you are polymorphed whilst Calling Lightning, its unclear whether you can call those bolts down in your new form. Maybe it's up to your DM to decide if your new form is smart enough to know what you are in fact a druid concentrating on a spell?
The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can't speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech.
The target's gear melds into the new form. The creature can't activate, use, wield, or otherwise benefit from any of its equipment.
IMHO I think you've read it correctly. Once a spell requiring concentration is cast it's cast and the V,S,M components relating to that casting are completed. Unless the action/bonus action set tells you that it requires some use of appendages or sense you no longer have in the polymorph form then I don't believe it would breach the restrictions on actions "it can perform by the nature of its new form". An example of where this would not work is "Arcane/Bigby's Hand" which states: "The hand lasts for the spell's duration, and it moves at your command, mimicking the movements of your own hand." or the secondary function of the Sunbeam spell that notes a bright light in your hand. As your form would be lacking a hand, this would be impossible unless you turn into an ape or equivalent creature and the DM rules you still have the equivalent of hands. If you've summoned something that doesn't act without verbal commands then obviously you'll loose that as well.
I note the second point in case the spell notes that use of a material component or enchanted item is required in subsequent turns. I couldn't immediately see any concentration spell that continues to use it's material component for the subsequent actions but there were certainly enchanted weapons and quivers, etc which would become inaccessible.
After all that there are spells which alter your physical form to consider, such as Alter Self and Draconic Transformation or even something more extreme such as Gaseous Form. I suspect that RAW if the spells continue then their effects on you would continue, simply effecting your new form until you revert from the polymorph instead. But a DM might argue that Polymorph overrides them.
I think this is a DM call and would depend on what the action required by a spell might be.
There are two factors:
- "The target's game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. It retains its alignment and personality."
- "The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can't speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech."
The creature retains only its alignment and personality, however, its mental ability scores are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. The creature is also limited to the actions that can be performed by its new form, including any constraints imposed by the change in mental ability scores and the fact that it retains only alignment and personality but, in my opinion at least, not the ability for higher reasoning.
The polymorphed form can't look at a battlefield, assess the most important threats, place itself strategically for opportunity attacks or otherwise make decisions that would be beyond the capability of the chosen form. The creature IS a beast .. a cat/dog/wolf/bear/T-rex. It won't attack its friends but it lacks knowledge and understanding of spells and how to use them (at least in my opinion :) ... again, why I would consider this a DM decision). It only retains "alignment and personality" ... neither of these includes the knowledge needed to assess a battlefield or utilize a spell.
The beast form CAN continue to concentrate on a spell but I would personally rule that for any actions allowed by a spell that require the creature to think about where to place the effect or tactically decide what creature to help or make any sort of reasoned decision in taking that action then those would be actions that the new form would be unable to perform because it lacks the mental capacity and knowledge to make such decisions.
A different DM could decide differently but if someone polymorphed a target that had cast Call Lightning then, in my opinion, the beast form would not be capable of appropriately deciding where to place subsequent effects since it lacks the fundamental abilities to perform that action.
I imagine this question has already been done to death, but I can't find exactly what I need.... So if you become polymorphed whilst concentrating on a spell, Sage Advice has said you maintain that concentration. However, if the thing you are concentrating on requires you to take an action to do something with it, can you take that action in your polymorphed form?
The polymorph spell says = "The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can't speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech." That by the nature of its new form is doing some heavy lifting. E.g., by it's nature, a mouse can't speak a command word, sure. But, let's take Call Lightning as an example - "When you cast the spell, choose a point you can see under the cloud. A bolt of lightning flashes down from the cloud to that point." Is a mouse capable of "choosing a point"?
So I could see ruling that if you become polymorphed while you are concentrating on Fly, the target of your Fly spell can still fly. But if you are polymorphed whilst Calling Lightning, its unclear whether you can call those bolts down in your new form. Maybe it's up to your DM to decide if your new form is smart enough to know what you are in fact a druid concentrating on a spell?
Being polymorphed doesn't prevent you from concentrating on a spell or choosing a point and using an action to activate a spell's effect.
IMHO I think you've read it correctly. Once a spell requiring concentration is cast it's cast and the V,S,M components relating to that casting are completed. Unless the action/bonus action set tells you that it requires some use of appendages or sense you no longer have in the polymorph form then I don't believe it would breach the restrictions on actions "it can perform by the nature of its new form". An example of where this would not work is "Arcane/Bigby's Hand" which states: "The hand lasts for the spell's duration, and it moves at your command, mimicking the movements of your own hand." or the secondary function of the Sunbeam spell that notes a bright light in your hand. As your form would be lacking a hand, this would be impossible unless you turn into an ape or equivalent creature and the DM rules you still have the equivalent of hands. If you've summoned something that doesn't act without verbal commands then obviously you'll loose that as well.
I note the second point in case the spell notes that use of a material component or enchanted item is required in subsequent turns. I couldn't immediately see any concentration spell that continues to use it's material component for the subsequent actions but there were certainly enchanted weapons and quivers, etc which would become inaccessible.
After all that there are spells which alter your physical form to consider, such as Alter Self and Draconic Transformation or even something more extreme such as Gaseous Form. I suspect that RAW if the spells continue then their effects on you would continue, simply effecting your new form until you revert from the polymorph instead. But a DM might argue that Polymorph overrides them.
I think this is a DM call and would depend on what the action required by a spell might be.
There are two factors:
- "The target's game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. It retains its alignment and personality."
- "The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can't speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech."
The creature retains only its alignment and personality, however, its mental ability scores are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. The creature is also limited to the actions that can be performed by its new form, including any constraints imposed by the change in mental ability scores and the fact that it retains only alignment and personality but, in my opinion at least, not the ability for higher reasoning.
The polymorphed form can't look at a battlefield, assess the most important threats, place itself strategically for opportunity attacks or otherwise make decisions that would be beyond the capability of the chosen form. The creature IS a beast .. a cat/dog/wolf/bear/T-rex. It won't attack its friends but it lacks knowledge and understanding of spells and how to use them (at least in my opinion :) ... again, why I would consider this a DM decision). It only retains "alignment and personality" ... neither of these includes the knowledge needed to assess a battlefield or utilize a spell.
The beast form CAN continue to concentrate on a spell but I would personally rule that for any actions allowed by a spell that require the creature to think about where to place the effect or tactically decide what creature to help or make any sort of reasoned decision in taking that action then those would be actions that the new form would be unable to perform because it lacks the mental capacity and knowledge to make such decisions.
A different DM could decide differently but if someone polymorphed a target that had cast Call Lightning then, in my opinion, the beast form would not be capable of appropriately deciding where to place subsequent effects since it lacks the fundamental abilities to perform that action.