Polymorph houserules?

[dejarnjc]

I mean, the Druid spell list is lacking, but in regards to Druid in particular.

Commune with Nature, Conjure Elemental, Scrying, and Wall of Stone are pretty amazing 5th level spells. In particular, Conjure Elemental is one that particularly draws my attention as being way more powerful then Polymorph.

Conjure Fey and Wind Walk are the solid 6th level spells I was able to find. Druids have quite a few other 6th level spells available, but they seem much more niche.

These are spells that are available to all Druids; are you a Moon Druid or a Land Druid? What else do you have in your party in regards to higher level spell casters?

Druid spell list lacking? Hah, no. It isn't. I mean sure, it's not the wizard's spell list but considering druids have full and immediate access to every spell on their list upon leveling, it's pretty awesome.

Conjure elemental is awesome and all and I gladly use it but it is not even comparable to polymorph. Turn your near dead ally into a T-Rex with a simple action or have a CR5 elemental ally that will turn on you if you lose concentration... easy choice.


Wall of Stone, scrying, commune with nature etc. are always great but pretty situational. Polymorph is pretty much always useful.



Anyway. OP I'd still tentatively recommend the spell despite the house rules. Polymorph is great for out of combat shenanigans. It's also great as a type of "banishment" spell whereby you neutralize one creature so that your party can focus fire another.

[Vogonjeltz]

Wanted to see how other 5E GMs and players handle the Polymorph spell, as I am considering picking it up for my Bard.

My GM informed me that I could Polymorph targets/PCs/myself into Beasts "that I have seen." If my PC hasn't seen/encountered it, I can't do it. I did some reviewing, and that eliminates a lot of the beasts that are not 'usual animals' like elk, wolf, crocodile, etc. The highest CR thing I could find that my PC has personally seen is the Cave Bear, CR 2. The GM also said swarms are not OK, so that eliminates those as well. I did the math, and I have seen about 35% of the Beasts, and all of those are CR 2 or lower.

Should I still pick the spell up, or maybe go for something else?

Makes sense, the DM is differentiating between character knowledge and player knowledge.

If you want to expand the utility of the spell, why not have your character, in their down time, research different kinds of fauna? Presumably there's at least a couple books out there that detail what kind of beasts exist in the world, or a few NPCs who could convey enough information about the creatures they're familiar with that you could emulate it.

[Coidzor]

If you want to expand the utility of the spell, why not have your character, in their down time, research different kinds of fauna? Presumably there's at least a couple books out there that detail what kind of beasts exist in the world, or a few NPCs who could convey enough information about the creatures they're familiar with that you could emulate it.

Yeah, there's a real possibility a DM that would make this change would allow research to circumvent the nerf.

[Vogonjeltz]

Yeah, there's a real possibility a DM that would make this change would allow research to circumvent the nerf.

It's unclear why you think any change has occurred. It's all a question of knowledge. If you, as a player, don't know an animal exists, you could never think to change into it.

If the character doesn't know an animal exists, they should never think to change into it either.


The only ways for a character to expand their knowledge is experience or research.

[Rhedyn]

It's unclear why you think any change has occurred. It's all a question of knowledge. If you, as a player, don't know an animal exists, you could never think to change into it.

If the character doesn't know an animal exists, they should never think to change into it either.


The only ways for a character to expand their knowledge is experience or research.

that's not how the spell works.

[Byke]

that's not how the spell works.

QFT– RAW does not require any foreknowledge of the creature.

If you need a narrative or RP reason for the creature. The players saw pictures as child, heard stories from his parents, read a book describing it or heard a bard’s tale. At the end of the day imposing this type of rule takes away from the game, the player experience and fun. It doesn’t matter if T-Rexs don’t exist in your “world”, it could be a mythical creature that the character heard of, much like unicorns and dragons 

I will say that between 7th - 10th levels that polymorph is an extremely powerful spell, it can win or turn around any encounter, especially if the players are min –maxers. That being said there are many counters from dispel/countering, concentration or just having the enemy use it as well.
In my experience polymorph open up a lot of opportunities for player to have fun and have memorable encounters. If player are “abusing” it, encounters can be design to take polymorph into consideration, IE players are underground, in tight tunnels, enemies have a caster who can dispel ect..ect.ect...It’s up to the DM to challenge the player, not limit them.