You assume a different form. When you cast the spell, choose one of the following options, the effects of which last for the duration of the spell. While the spell lasts, you can end one option as an action to gain the benefits of a different one.
Aquatic Adaptation. You adapt your body to an aquatic environment, sprouting gills and growing webbing between your fingers. You can breathe underwater and gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
Change Appearance. You transform your appearance. You decide what you look like, including your height, weight, facial features, sound of your voice, hair length, coloration, and distinguishing characteristics, if any. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your statistics change. You also can't appear as a creature of a different size than you, and your basic shape stays the same; if you're bipedal, you can't use this spell to become quadrupedal, for instance. At any time for the duration of the spell, you can use your action to change your appearance in this way again.
Natural Weapons. You grow claws, fangs, spines, horns, or a different natural weapon of your choice. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, as appropriate to the natural weapon you chose, and you are proficient with your unarmed strikes. Finally, the natural weapon is magic and you have a +1 bonus to the attack and damage rolls you make using it.
I wish there where more things to choose from, like frog legs for jumping large distances, huge ears to get advantage on perception checks using hearing, a squirrel's tail to get advantage on acrobatics, a moles' paws for digging earth and so on.
The promise of the spell to my mind is to allow funny and situationally useful boons to the wizard. And I kind of feel like the limited choices don't live up to it. Especially using concentration to get better at melee combat is just bad wizarding.
If this would be to powerful I would just prefer it to be a higher level spell.
Or add a "at level XX you adapt to a new environment". XX could spell level 4,6 &8
I'd allow something like that, short of full Resistance. Advantage on the Con saves at the least.
Druids really should have access to this spell. YES, specifically Moon Druids get this as an at will spell at 14th level, but this is a 2nd level spell. All Druids get access to 2nd level spells at level 2. But they don't get the ability to wildshape creatures with a swim speed until level 4. So they're basically screwed out of two levels of not being able to breathe underwater.
Ok so this gives me ideas about the Dhampir race. Would this give you an improvement to your fanged bite ability?
Would a Cambion be able to lose its wings to appear like a normal human?
The description should be worded a little more openly, Perhaps introducing options in line with Simic Hybrid race with negative co-effects.Including:
Appendage adaptation like manta glide or grappling appendages requiring not wearing armour.
Adding internal organs for allowing Any Spit attack may require a Con Save vs your Con save. A fail inflicts half its damage to the caster.
Skin adaptations like carapace may take 1d4 minutes to take effect fully. but offering a resistance to one damage type or +1 AC.
Allowing Adaptation to mental capacity or resistance to Psychic damage or advantage on Specific ability checks or Saving throws.
Upcasting allowing one more adaptation for every 2 levels above 2nd, with the caveat of requiring an action per alteration. You could choose to extend the duration of the one alteration.
Annoyingly, not according to the spell wording. Cambion's wings are clearly separate limbs and can't be removed with this spell.
Which makes me ask why they even gave Cambions this spell as an ability.
Listing through the MM, I found they could impersonate: Aaracocra, Deva, Cambion, Erynis, Gargoyle, Harpy, or Succubuss/Incubuss.
And that's without accounting for tail. If we counted the tail as a separate limb, rather than an extension of the spine, then only Cambion, Gargoyle and Succubuss/Incubuss are available.
alter self as an eldritch invocation is OVERPOWERED!!!!
The description should be worded a little more openly, Perhaps introducing options in line with Simic Hybrid race with negative co-effects.Including:
Appendage adaptation like manta glide or grappling appendages requiring not wearing armour.
Adding internal organs for allowing Any Spit attack may require a Con Save vs your Con save. A fail inflicts half its damage to the caster.
Skin adaptations like carapace may take 1d4 minutes to take effect fully. but offering a resistance to one damage type or +1 AC.
Allowing Adaptation to mental capacity or resistance to Psychic damage or advantage on Specific ability checks or Saving throws.
Upcasting allowing one more adaptation for every 2 levels above 2nd, with the caveat of requiring an action per alteration. You could choose to extend the duration of the one alteration.
If I was a Aarakocra an I alter my wings into a claw. does that sound unreasonably
It's a druid option for Circle of thr moon
I want to try and argue that my kobold alchemist could use his Alter self experimental elixirs to grow wings like a winged kobold and use his claws like finess weapons. Otherwise, I would basically have no use for this elixir with my 2 foot 7 inch size and 8 strength.
I doubt it, but could you change your appearance by.. creating wings and being able to fly?
Yes
how would i customize the attack for alter self 1d6 + str +1
But for the purpose of roleplay, like changing into a more female form to seduce someone, yeah you pass female to any normal npc.
could you use this spell to transform yourself into a duck?
can alter self give you dark vision or true sight?
Only if you are the same size category as a duck (tiny), and even then, you don't really transform into a duck, but you might look like one.
It doesn't say it can, therefore it can't. Change appearance is purely cosmetic, and the other options are specific on what they do.
There are other spells for dark vision and true sight.