Taking a nap with a polymorphed enemy?

[MrUberGr]

During our session last night this came up mostly as a joke, but now that I think of it, it seems more and more a good idea. The theory is: fighting a single boss enemy, if you can get a polymorph across, you could get a short rest. Turn him into a snake, frog, bird etc, put him in a box, and then take a nap. Get some hit die and other short rest benefits. As soon as you're done with munching and playing cards, the boss turns back to its normal form and then you can continue the combat.

Any reasons why this wouldn't work?

[rlc]

i guess i'd say that, unless it was a random encounter, then anything worth doing it to should probably have resistance or immunity, though it could probably work for a prank or something.

[Pramxnim]

By RAW, there is no reason why this shouldn't work, provided you can rest immediately after casting the spell (a short rest does take 1 hour after all).

If I were the DM, I'd allow you to do it the first time it came up to reward thinking outside the box, but situations in which this event actually comes up is pretty rare. To start, the target has to fail their save and not have Legendary Resistance or some other way of breaking free of the spell before the duration ends. Most boss fights have a sense of urgency to them, and a lot of bosses come with minions that you have to take care of before you can Polymorph the big bad. If your party encountered the boss inside his lair, you probably won't be able to relax after turning the bad guy into a frog if any of his minions are still alive and kicking. If a DM is particularly crafty, he could let you rest, then have the big bad's minions launch an attack to free him halfway through your rest. Now the PCs suddenly have to deal with enemy reinforcements while their resources are still depleted.

All in all, I think it's a neat use of the Polymorph spell, but situations where you can afford to use this tactic rarely occur, and if they do, rarely more than once. In the end, it depends on your DM, like a lot of things do in this edition. Granted, it'll be pretty awesome if it works, but be prepared to deal with a pissed off enemy that you just turned into a frog.

[infinitetech]

it would work, so long as the target fails the save first, its not a normal kind of spell that they plan against, and if multiple people in the party have the spel and work togehter you could take a full rest by alternating who is working and refresh all your spells including that one while someone keeps the bbg from getting sleep

[infinitetech]

and why into a snake when you could turn him into a glass bell and just ring him and not worry about bites?

[Ferrin33]

and why into a snake when you could turn him into a glass bell and just ring him and not worry about bites?

Because polymorph only allows beasts, not objects, you'd need true polymorph.

[infinitetech]

yeah, though that's a fun tactic at that point too, also if you turn them to stone then use something to change them into a stone turned version of a mouse, when it wears off would that be a permanent form of this exploit until you reversed all spells? just curious, using a non skill based shaping method of course, like a minor miracle type deal or something weird

[jkat718]

@infinite

Do you mean petrifying them, then using Shape Stone or just an old-fashioned hammer and chisel to sculpt them into something? Or the other way around: turn them into a mouse with Polymorph, then petrify them? I would say that the first method kills them (loss of that much body material will kill almost anything), and the second one just prolongs the Polymorph by the duration of the petrification. That, or the mouse statute turns back into the BBEG, but still stone, if the Polymorph end before the petrification does. On a related note, is there any easy way for PCs to gain access to petrification?

[infinitetech]

flesh to stone spell, then maybe minor wish if that still exists to turn the statue into one of an animal without shaping it, see my other posts for ruels on shapestone to change life

[Slipperychicken]

Polymorph doesn't say anything about dying because of a spell effect. What if you just Polymorph the boss into a rabbit, then cast Power Word Kill? The boss should automatically die because it has less than 100 hit points. For a less-efficient version, you could combo True Polymorph with Blight? Turn the creature into a plant, then automatically kill it. There should be other nasty "you're screwed if you have fewer than X hit points" effects, but I'm having trouble finding them.

Similarly, my reading of the spell indicates that conditions should carry over, even if damage doesn't. You could easily have him restrained, prone, and grappled, with whatever nasty spells you can think of to layer on top of that (i.e sleep, charm, blind, deaf, calm emotions so he doesn't attack upon reverting, etc). Also stuff him in a Silence area so he probably can't cast spells when he turns back. And also surround him with friendly fighters to perforate him.


As for the OP: why couldn't you just put the boss inside an iron maiden or similar painful contrivance? That should inflict a great deal of damage when the target reverts to his normal form, particularly if you put sharpened metal rings (Like handcuffs, but with sharpened insides) around the target's neck, wrists, and other extremities, to inflict really deep lacerations and hopefully dismember him when his body expands back to normal. Obviously, you could replace the metal with adamantium if possible. Since this contraption would only need to be big enough to hold a rabbit, you could conceivably summon it with Minor Conjuration.

[infinitetech]

or give a poison injection then put them in a hole JUST big enough to shove them into in the rock/a metal wall then fill in behind them, what happens when you grow from bunny to ogre without room to spread?

[GorinichSerpant]

or give a poison injection then put them in a hole JUST big enough to shove them into in the rock/a metal wall then fill in behind them, what happens when you grow from bunny to ogre without room to spread?

I want to say, a gory explosion. I also imagine having a single hole in this box, that has a tube on it, which would result in the most horrific cannon ever.

[infinitetech]

the tube could have a latched door, with the amount of pressure from an ant -> giant change the release would be like hitting someone with a blood variant of a water jet rock cutter

[jkat718]

[on rapid growth in limited space] the release would be like hitting someone with a blood variant of a water jet rock cutter

May I put this in my signature?

[infinitetech]

absolutely Jkat haha, didnt think that that would be the first thing quoted from me