I know it's stated in the rules that players do not receive/obtain Legendary Actions when polymorphing (of any form) into such creature. However, if you turn an object into a creature, say, a Leviathan, would the "object" gain the Legendary Actions of the Leviathan? Or would it still be restricted to regular actions?
The spell in question is True Polymorph.
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1 Monk and a bard manage to get an entire city drunk and render them defenseless for the army's attack...
The monster manual errata you are referring to is:
"If a creature assumes the form of a legendary creature, such as through a spell, it doesn’t gain that form’s legendary actions, lair actions, or regional effects.”
True polymorph says the following about polymorphing objects:
"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 DM 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."
RAW, it would seem that objects transformed into legendary creatures could retain legendary actions. However, objects are limited to CR9 and I think the only legendary creature in the MM with a CR of 9 or less is the Unicorn at CR5.
So, RAW, an object true polymorphed into a creature could potentially retain legendary actions at the DMs discretion. However, with the CR9 limit, there aren't many choices of legendary creatures.
As far as RAI goes ... I'd guess that the intent would be that all targets of polymorph should not acquire legendary actions but that is again a DM call.
P.S. In the monster manual describing creature information at the beginning, STATS is one heading while LEGENDARY CREATURES is a separate heading. Reading true polymorph strictly, it states that the transformed creature takes on the creature's "statistics". Legendary, lair and regional actions are not listed under the statistics heading in the monster manual so a DM could easily choose to rule that these are not included when a creature is polymorphed and the MM errata is just clarifying this.
P.S. In the monster manual describing creature information at the beginning, STATS is one heading while LEGENDARY CREATURES is a separate heading. Reading true polymorph strictly, it states that the transformed creature takes on the creature's "statistics". Legendary, lair and regional actions are not listed under the statistics heading in the monster manual so a DM could easily choose to rule that these are not included when a creature is polymorphed and the MM errata is just clarifying this.
I agree with this as far as lair actions and regional effects are concerned, but legendary actions are listed the same as actions/reactions.
P.S. In the monster manual describing creature information at the beginning, STATS is one heading while LEGENDARY CREATURES is a separate heading. Reading true polymorph strictly, it states that the transformed creature takes on the creature's "statistics". Legendary, lair and regional actions are not listed under the statistics heading in the monster manual so a DM could easily choose to rule that these are not included when a creature is polymorphed and the MM errata is just clarifying this.
I agree with this as far as lair actions and regional effects are concerned, but legendary actions are listed the same as actions/reactions.
On page 6 of the monster manual is a section labelled "STATISTICS". It then goes through all of the sections that are included in the stat block except for legendary, lair and regional actions. The section on creature actions in the stat block on page 10-11 does not list Legendary/Lair/Regional actions. All Legendary/Lair and Regional actions are included under a section on Legendary Creatures starting on page 11. The Legendary Creatures section is not a sub-section of Statistics so are not included in what are considered creature "statistics" which the polymorph spell duplicates.
In addition, the "Legendary Actions" section is always listed separately at the end of the creature description. It is not listed under "Actions". It is listed under "Legendary Actions", at least for the monster manual entries I have looked at.
So since Legendary Actions are not listed as part of the "statistics" section at the beginning of the monster manual and are listed in a separate block at the end of the creature descriptions in the monster manual (not listed under actions), I think a reasonable case could be made that "legendary actions" are not part of the creature statistics.
However, the point is pretty moot since the monster manual errata makes it very clear that a creature transformed into a legendary creature does NOT get legendary actions.
"If a creature assumes the form of a legendary creature, such as through a spell, it doesn’t gain that form’s legendary actions, lair actions, or regional effects.”
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I know it's stated in the rules that players do not receive/obtain Legendary Actions when polymorphing (of any form) into such creature.
However, if you turn an object into a creature, say, a Leviathan, would the "object" gain the Legendary Actions of the Leviathan? Or would it still be restricted to regular actions?
The spell in question is True Polymorph.
1 Monk and a bard manage to get an entire city drunk and render them defenseless for the army's attack...
The monster manual errata you are referring to is:
"If a creature assumes the form of a legendary creature, such as through a spell, it doesn’t gain that form’s legendary actions, lair actions, or regional effects.”
True polymorph says the following about polymorphing objects:
"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 DM 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."
RAW, it would seem that objects transformed into legendary creatures could retain legendary actions. However, objects are limited to CR9 and I think the only legendary creature in the MM with a CR of 9 or less is the Unicorn at CR5.
So, RAW, an object true polymorphed into a creature could potentially retain legendary actions at the DMs discretion. However, with the CR9 limit, there aren't many choices of legendary creatures.
As far as RAI goes ... I'd guess that the intent would be that all targets of polymorph should not acquire legendary actions but that is again a DM call.
P.S. In the monster manual describing creature information at the beginning, STATS is one heading while LEGENDARY CREATURES is a separate heading. Reading true polymorph strictly, it states that the transformed creature takes on the creature's "statistics". Legendary, lair and regional actions are not listed under the statistics heading in the monster manual so a DM could easily choose to rule that these are not included when a creature is polymorphed and the MM errata is just clarifying this.
I agree with David42. Here's a link to the quoted rules for reference:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/monsters#LegendaryCreatures
I agree with this as far as lair actions and regional effects are concerned, but legendary actions are listed the same as actions/reactions.
On page 6 of the monster manual is a section labelled "STATISTICS". It then goes through all of the sections that are included in the stat block except for legendary, lair and regional actions. The section on creature actions in the stat block on page 10-11 does not list Legendary/Lair/Regional actions. All Legendary/Lair and Regional actions are included under a section on Legendary Creatures starting on page 11. The Legendary Creatures section is not a sub-section of Statistics so are not included in what are considered creature "statistics" which the polymorph spell duplicates.
In addition, the "Legendary Actions" section is always listed separately at the end of the creature description. It is not listed under "Actions". It is listed under "Legendary Actions", at least for the monster manual entries I have looked at.
So since Legendary Actions are not listed as part of the "statistics" section at the beginning of the monster manual and are listed in a separate block at the end of the creature descriptions in the monster manual (not listed under actions), I think a reasonable case could be made that "legendary actions" are not part of the creature statistics.
However, the point is pretty moot since the monster manual errata makes it very clear that a creature transformed into a legendary creature does NOT get legendary actions.
"If a creature assumes the form of a legendary creature, such as through a spell, it doesn’t gain that form’s legendary actions, lair actions, or regional effects.”