POLYMORPH | Flesh Pokeball - Spell A Day D&D 5E +2

Alrighty day 258! Today is Polymorph. Yep, that wording does not get better written down in a title. Honestly the lack of restrictions or direction on which beasts can be picked is only part of the conflicts on this spells interpretation. Slug to T-Rex, let's discuss polymorph. Oh extended spell with sorcerer is nice here. Also yes I forgot to put the int scores in the video, they're now in a pinned comment. Now I just look daft in that clip.

Classes Available:
PHB: Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard

Do they keep their intellect (in the sense of control and awareness)?

[Zaktact]

Hi, hello. There was a little screw up in displaying the INT scores of a wizard and a duck in the video. Any who, here are the scores.

INT: 18 Wizard
INT: 2 Duck (based off owl)

[carlosvillanueva]

All I can say is anything you make the target of a polymorph into your druid will be able to change into wild shape because they then can say they've seen the animal. So a practice ankylosaur, or Quetzalcoatlus are great beasts to have in the memory of a druid.

[aetherwolf]

Be careful with this spell because of wording. Most beast have an INT of 3. Which makes them a target for Awaken. So you can pet anything except shapechangers or the creature has no lvl or CR (such as the avatar of death DMG or the summons from the summon spells). So Dms remember if you create gods remove the CR from them to give them immunity from Polymorph shenanigans. Because of wording you can make creatures more vulnerable towards intellect devourer (either keep them around in a jar or turn a illith into a beast and watch the horror unfold). RAW wouldn’t even know they are in danger as they, as they don’t retrain their mental abilities. So basically if you turn someone into a cat that someone has only the intellect of a cat.
With this spell you get basically a second health pool. This is interestingly not abusable due to the wording that you cant transform creatures with 0 HP (so healbombs aren’t possible by casting multiple polymorphs unlike Aid where such things are possible). Depending on how you rule stuff at your table you can willingly fail the save, then catapult you via something like a catapult through the air and then choose to resist your spell. Either it forces a Save (gamble time!) or it just reverts you back so this can be a form of fast travel in your world (reverting back could prevent fall damage). If this doesn’t work (understandably), you can transform into a flying creature and take of with catapult start. I love the image xD.
The specification that you can’t use items even though you have hands is something commonly houseruled against, which boosted this spell by a fair bit.
Melding equipment is forced to prevent easy access to the bosses items.
Concentration up to 1 hour is huge for this spell and allows for some neat stuff mentioned in the video (loving the image as well xD).
The fact that the spell works on any creature type is ginormous.
Disguise your pet tarrasque as a simple rat.
Or turn the bbeg into a great shark rendering it useless or potentially dead after a while. So its the best example of a save or suck spell.
For rating.
This is a powerful niche spell (5 points).
It forces the user to be creative (1 point).
It is easily available (lots of classes gets it, even a background, so another point here).
It has good combopotential (Powerword Kill, a simple jar for another point).
Worldbuildingwise this spell has some huge impacts (no rats in my meeting so there is the final point).
9/10
Have a nice day
AEther

[frantisekvrana]

Well, there once was a situation when a Druid and a Vengeance Paladin decided to ambush the party by flying to them as flies, then turning into the regular forms and attacking.
The Druid was good, but the Paladin was Polymorphed into a fly and was thus not intelligent enough anymore to follow complex plans. So he just attacked the party member he was most vengeful towards (while he as still a housefly). He was immediately Dominated and sent back to scout on the Wyvern they flew in on.
When the Druid entered the fight and the spell was dropped, he dropped out of the sky and the Dominate Beast was broken.

About fall damage, I'd say they would take the same damage as if that creature fell on them from that height. So a slug for falling off a cliff would only break the slug form. But a bunny form falling off a cliff could do 5d6 damage total. A rhinoceros could do 60d6 total.

[rezonpokemon]

Still find it hilarious that a 7 Int Barbarian that gets polymorphed ito a giant Ape keeps the same intelligence.
Or the fact they become SMARTER if they become a giant eagle. Thats fucking hilarious to me and I love it

[bombzyq]

I want to make a mission where there’s this mystery around missing children and where they’re going and in that town there is a twisted shepard, but every single sheep he has is a all of the missing children that have been disappearing due to him polymorphing all of them and hiding them in plain sight
and to answer the description question, probably not no

[ilonafleischer]

Our party was attacked by some remorhazes. My bard got bitten and grappled by one and was down to 13 HP. On my turn the following exchange occurred:
DM: Okay, you are grappled. You can try to escape by making a strength check or-
Me: I cast polymorph and turn into a T. rex
DM:..you are no longer grappled

Then on the cleric's turn they asked how my character looked (i.e., how badly hurt she was) and I just said, "she looks like a T. rex"

[brandond]

Polymorph is phenomenal. You got you emergency "pokeball", a ton of utility, and a great save or suck feature. The only real weakness is dm scaredy cats homebrewing weaknesses into it. It works off of imagination, there you go, don't need to have seen the beast before.
Anyways, Fun combo time. Polymorph a tough miniboss or even your bbeg into a owl or some other tiny bird. Have your Bard/Druid/Ranger cast Animal Messenger and specify some target destination over an hour away. There is no saver. I repeat, there is NO SAVE.
Now just hold concentration while the problem flies an hour away and then has to trudge back(maybe with some additional fall damage).
9/10

[icecrystal]

Since you don't have to have seen the creature..

That means the spell, in lore, works through the imagination of the caster

Meaning, any beast..
Not necessarily limited to the monster manual, or even the dm's personal homebrew beasts

[skipy.]

For me, 10/10 it's easily the best 4th level spell. It brings utility, hp, and strength all in one spell. When I dm I have to take note every time a player takes this spell. It's that busted.

[gongolongo]

Algorithm comment

Ten outa ten jo
Abdolut classic and epicly good
Also good balancing with the level and CR correlation

[luizfelipe]

I was surprised that u dont mentioned the Power Word Kill spell with this one

[targetdreamer]

Hehe I just thought of something if someone has Polymorph and Sleep. Think about it, all the Optimizers say how Sleep is a great spell at lower levels but it is trash the higher level you play. If multiple people can cast Polymorph and catch multiple enemy creatures with the Polymorph spells you are practically guaranteed to put them all to sleep.
Is it overkill? Yes.
Is it practical? Not really but it'd be so cute seeing two or three sleeping foxes.

[miquando]

Best 4th lvl spell period. It's best used as superheal.

[dorca]

beyond how busted this spell is, im kinda pissed that it uses the target's CR/level instead of the caster's, not only would this make the spell more balanced (conjure woodland beings is not longer the stupidest spell in the game) but also add more flavor. Of course a mighty wizard would be able to turn their meek familiar into a raging behemoth with a simple polymorph spell.

[crowsenpai]

With people spamming Egg, that got me thinking: by DND terminology, is an Egg a object, or a creature? Can you polymorph a man into an Egg?

[saucierspoon]

Day 210 of waiting for him to cover Zone Of Truth