Choose one creature or nonmagical object that you can see within range. You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into a nonmagical object, or the object into a creature (the object must be neither worn nor carried by another creature). The spell lasts for the duration, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies. If you concentrate on this spell for the full duration, the spell lasts until it is dispelled.
This spell has no effect on a shapechanger or a creature with 0 hit points. An unwilling creature can make a Wisdom saving throw, and if it succeeds, it isn’t affected by this spell.
Creature into Creature. If you turn a creature into another kind of creature, the new form can be any kind you choose whose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target’s (or its level, if the target doesn’t have a challenge rating). The target’s game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the new form. It retains its alignment and personality.
The target assumes the hit points of its new form, and when it reverts to its normal form, the creature returns to the number of hit points it had before it transformed. If it reverts as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to its normal form. As long as the excess damage doesn’t reduce the creature’s normal form to 0 hit points, it isn’t knocked unconscious.
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, unless its new form is capable of such actions.
The target’s gear melds into the new form. The creature can’t activate, use, wield, or otherwise benefit from any of its equipment.
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.
Creature into Object. If you turn a creature into an object, it transforms along with whatever it is wearing and carrying into that form, as long as the object’s size is no larger than the creature’s size. The creature’s statistics become those of the object, and the creature has no memory of time spent in this form, after the spell ends and it returns to its normal form.
* - (a drop of mercury, a dollop of gum arabic, and a wisp of smoke)
It is not cumulative though. someone being wizard and fighter using this method has two separate classes, they are not multi classing because they can only use one of their classes at a time. As a DM though I would probably say someone would have to delete your memory so you can level up in a different class.
That honestly makes the most sense.
have you heard about bards and glyphs of warding?
simply ask a bard to learn both awaken and glyph of warding (both are on the bard list) cast true polymorph on yourself, and the glyph will activate, turning you sentient.
otherwise simply turn level 20 and keep using wild shape forever and ever and ever if you do not wanna loose your spellcasting
may i point out the fact that i can create an person with this effect. Just polymorph your chair into an CR 0 commoner, and you have yourself an infinite supply of souls to your phlacyery as an lich, or if you wanna have a victim to do horrible magical experiments on, since you created them, nobody will miss them and nobody will come to save them, meaning that you can do some pretty evil things to them.
also, as an bard, learn find greater steed and tensers trasnformation as an magical secrets spells, and turn your steed into an CR 2 centaur, and now cast tensers transformation on yourself and your steed, giving you four attacks per turn for some fun massive damage.
also this is an shortcut to all the creatures NPC characters can make that you cannot, like certain constructs and fiends like shield guardians and succubi. And best of all if you do not want to cast imprisonment you can simply turn this elder evil beyond comprehension into a chair or an unimportant looking pebble. Permanently. Forever.
also ever wanted to make your familliar human? simply turn them from an CR 0 beast into an CR 0 commoner of any race you'd like. Gender, appearance and sexuality is still random i assume so just keep trying untill you find the right one.
the possibillities are endless, provided that you are evil enough
yes but remember, you loose all of your levels so it is kinda pointless
fireballs in the distance as you ready your hellfire orb
what you are looking for is the spell shapechage, that lets you keep your wizard levels
As has been said countless times on here, you cannot turn yourself into a version of yourself with spellcaster levels through a dragon's innate shapechanging ability. You cannot have the cake and eat it too. Not that easily.
What you CAN do, though, is true polymorph into said dragon, level yourself up to 20 in a class of your choice (I would just stick to the one I was), and now you have both the physical body of a dragon and the mental state of a level 20 character. You can establish a lair and use legendary/lair actions in your new form, assuming the dungeon master allows you to gain those abilities (not RAW), plus you are a level 20 character on top of that.
"But grinding back to level 20 will be sooo hard"
Really? You're a CR 20 dragon, meant to be a challenge to a small party of level 20 characters. Go kill an entire village of goblins or something and jump a ton. But since the CR isn't your level, you can still bump your level up until the 20 cap. Congratulations, you are now a CR 20-whatever (again, assuming you can and do boost that) body PLUS a level 20 character.
Mix that with some other fun permanent things, like the soul jar + true polymorph method to become proficient in all skills, and you're just kicking butt. And that's all completely RAW, possibly RAI (you can start as a weak monster that can gain levels, so why can't a level 17-20 character restart as a cool monster that can gain levels?), and totally possibly in a somewhat quick amount of time. And even if you slow down leveling up in your new form and end up a few levels behind your party, just remember your class levels are all icing on the cake because you're STILL A CR 20 DRAGON.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Next time we'll talk about exploiting simulacra for infinite spell slots, for free. Remember folks, you can take Wish and True Polymorph both as soon as you get 9th level spells!
(One last note, while it's not RAW, your CR might increase from 20 if you are not only a CR 20 monster but also a level 20 character. You could propose to your DM (which is completely up to them because it's not RAW) that your CR goes above 20 and you can True Polymorph into even stronger creatures, then start the process over again.)
Assume turning myself into an Adult Gold Dragon means I can become an Ancient Gold Dragon if I can stay alive that long. Geez. Ancient Gold Dragon who is a level 20 Bard? Beyond god-level much?
Um... Can you True Polymorph a Familiar?
Unfortunately, the MM intro states:
That's kinda dumb though, why can't I do a wing attack? Do I just have to do it on my turn?
Ah, you caught me. I had actually planned that out differently but didn't explain it.
My argument to that, which is not RAW, is that as the dragon you could "become" the legendary creature and make a lair over hundreds or thousands of years to eventually gain those abilities. You are correct in that you do not get those from the True Polymorph. I'll go back and edit my post accordingly.
If atomic theory exists in the world you play in just turn your enemy into a single atom and concentrate on it for an hour and now they are trapped like that for all eternity.
For clarification: can a lvl 20 character turn themself into a CR 20 Monster?
Or could the same character turn themself into a version Witz netter stats?
Is nobody pointing out how you can turn a CR 8 or lower creature into a CR 9 or lower creature of higher CR than the original by doing Creature into Object until it's permanent, then doing Object into Creature the next day on the object that used to be a creature? The only other limit on this is you cannot increase the size from the size of the original creature.
So like you could turn a horse into a rowboat, then the next day change that rowboat into a young silver dragon.
However, the rules say absolutely nothing about what happens if you change an object into a creature that was a creature before it became an object, so the DM could rule either
A. A creature's personality, alignment, and memory are not taken into the transformation into an object, so the creature you change the object into will not have the personality, alignment, or memory of the creature the object was before (i.e. the dragon wouldn't remember when it served you as your horse). This would be supported by having no memory of time as an object if the spell ends.
or
B. A creature's personality, alignment, and memory are taken into the transformation into an object (it just can't make new memories bc it has no brain or senses), so the creature you change the object into regains the personality, alignment, and memory of the creature it orignally was before being an object (i.e. the dragon would remember it was a horse, and now it's suddenly overseas as a dragon). This would be supported by the object being able to be changed back to its original creature form if the spell is dispelled.
or anything in between, such as retaining personality, but forgetting who you are. I would personally like to rule B, but if you don't like the idea of your players being able to turn their loyal and beloved steed into a more powerful, smarter version of itself, you could rule A to mess with them and make them feel the consequences of their actions.
I completely disagree with the initial statement, as there is nothing saying you can't retain your class abilities if your new form is capable of using them, and you retain your personality and (heavily implied & common sense) your memories. As most class features from most classes are things you simply remember how to do, not things that your training has done to your body and mind (there are many exceptions, such as inured to undeath and ability score improvements), I wouldn't force my players to lose their classes that they worked so hard on. (I'd require them to train to regain the features where the class altered their body and mind, however).
This basically just leaves it all up to the DM's interpretation of what the player's "game statistics" entails, unless the rules actually state that.
HOWEVER, it sounds like a lot of fun to allow the whole party to change into dragons, then have them all lose their class features (and maybe even memories, probably through plot) and have them start basically a whole new campaign from level 0 (Magic Initiate feat or something), but as dragons. Considering one of the BBEGs of my campaign is an ancient red shadow dragon 20th-level paladin of vengeance, it would be really fitting for my PCs to gain a class as dragons.
So thank you for the idea XD
True Polymorph is a spell which changes the target's type and stat blocks. It states that the target retains their alignment and personality. Nothing else is specifically retained. Since spells only do what they say they do, the target does not retain anything else. So no class levels or abilities.
Alright, so now it's kept going until it's permanent. That does not mean that the target has become that sort of creature. It means that the target remains the original creature, under the continuing effect of a spell which changes its type and stat block into that of a different creature. The spell lasts until dispelled, but the conditions of the spell itself says that the transformation ends if a creature drops to 0 hit points or dies. So, even if you wanted to argue that the spell is permanent until dispelled, the transformation is not.
What this means is that, for example, a lvl 17 wizard who has polymorphed himself into an adult gold dragon is not an adult gold dragon. He is a wizard polymorphed into an adult gold dragon. He can not age into an ancient gold dragon, because he is not an adult gold dragon. He is a lvl 17 wizard. He can not gain class levels as an adult gold dragon to become an adult gold dragon wizard, because, as stated, he is simply a wizard under the effects of a spell that has not yet ended. He could, as a wizard polymorphed into an adult gold dragon, use the adult gold dragon action to change shape back to his original form, but would not regain any wizard class features or change the underlying reality of the situation.
Still offers some pretty insane fun from a GM perspective. Like, imagine fighting an adult blue dracolich, then when you manage to kill it, it turns into a demilich and the punishment continues.
i'd like to point out that as fun as this is. all it takes is one dick player, or an upset or done with your shit DM to cast 'dispel' on you, and all that progress is lost. you can become a dragon again sure, but those levels don;t come back. :/. if we're going purely by RAW
Wait just one second... if I cast true polymorph on myself to change into an adult gold dragon, then use my racial change shape action to become a human, gain XP until my human form is a level 20 wizard, does that mean that I can then change into an elf and become a ranger that I can level up to level 20? Because that could be awesome and very terrifying.