D&D 5E What are the limits of True Polymorph?

[slachance6]

[h=2]Would a 17th level caster be able to..

Turn a bacteria into a diamond?
Turn an ant into a mountain?
Turn an ant into a mountain of gold?
Turn an ant into a mountain of diamond?
Turn an ant into a gladiator?
Turn an ant into a castle?
Turn an ant into a vorpal greatsword?
Turn an ant into a +9001 greatsword?
Turn an ant into a spaceship?
Turn an ant into a star?
Turn an ant into a black hole?

If if all of this is true, I'm pretty sure I found the 5e Pun-Pun.​

 

[MonsterEnvy]

[h=2]Would a 17th level caster be able to..

Turn a bacteria into a diamond?
Turn an ant into a mountain?
Turn an ant into a mountain of gold?
Turn an ant into a mountain of diamond?
Turn an ant into a gladiator?
Turn an ant into a castle?
Turn an ant into a vorpal greatsword?
Turn an ant into a +9001 greatsword?
Turn an ant into a spaceship?
Turn an ant into a star?
Turn an ant into a black hole?

If if all of this is true, I'm pretty sure I found the 5e Pun-Pun.​

No (You could turn an Ant into a Diamond however. You can't see the Bacteria so you can't transform it)
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

 

[iserith]

Would a 17th level caster be able to..
Turn a bacteria into a diamond?
Turn an ant into a mountain?
Turn an ant into a mountain of gold?
Turn an ant into a mountain of diamond?
Turn an ant into a gladiator?
Turn an ant into a castle?
Turn an ant into a vorpal greatsword?
Turn an ant into a +9001 greatsword?
Turn an ant into a spaceship?
Turn an ant into a star?
Turn an ant into a black hole?

If if all of this is true, I'm pretty sure I found the 5e Pun-Pun.[/INDENT]
[/COLOR]

No. There are some rules about changing an object into a creature with regard to size. I would apply those rules to changing creatures into objects as well.

 

[slachance6]

But by RAW, it's legal, right? Surely any DM would shut down Pun-Pun if any character tried to play him in a serious game; he's just an exploit of the rules as written. Same here, right? If I was DM, I sure wouldn't let my player turn an ant into a black-hole gun.
Oh, and your comment about size? What about turning a rabbit into a black-hole gun? Or an ant into a pebble that makes the first creature to touch it completely omnipotent, then the pebble disappears from existence forever? By RAW, nothing's stopping that from happening. RAI is a different matter.

 

[iserith]

I don't know. I don't bother with distinctions like "legal by RAW" because all that matters are rulings in this game. Some DMs will rule you can turn an ant into a mountain. Others will not. The rest is meaningless in my view.

The Dungeon Master is the Master of Rules. They serve at his or her pleasure.

 

[CapnZapp]

Wrong edition. There's no such thing as "but the RAW says I can" here ☺

 

[I'm A Banana]

The basic question is: are these things you're turning the ant into "objects?"

For most of those, the answer is DM dependent, and in most cases probably "no." ("A mountain isn't an object, its millions of tiny objects!")

There's no explicit prohibition in TP against turning people into magical items, so a +9001 sword is RAW fine, but so are skeleton armies - 5e presumes that you don't want to ruin the game and wreck people's fun because otherwise why are you there? Thus, the DM is leveraged as a sanity check.

 

[Blue]

There's no explicit prohibition in TP against turning people into magical items, so a +9001 sword is RAW fine, but so are skeleton armies - 5e presumes that you don't want to ruin the game and wreck people's fun because otherwise why are you there? Thus, the DM is leveraged as a sanity check.

Just playing around with the thought. Could you turn a creature in another creature with a spell on them? No, that's not part of it. By the same logic, I'd think that an object is "a sword", while a +ISO 9001 Sword has magic on it that you can't auto-add.

Now, changing someone into a statue of diamond of themselves and selling it before the hour is could work. Just be wary of annoying someone with the funds to buy a diamond statue.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The basic question is: are these things you're turning the ant into "objects?"

For most of those, the answer is DM dependent, and in most cases probably "no." ("A mountain isn't an object, its millions of tiny objects!")

There's no explicit prohibition in TP against turning people into magical items, so a +9001 sword is RAW fine, but so are skeleton armies - 5e presumes that you don't want to ruin the game and wreck people's fun because otherwise why are you there? Thus, the DM is leveraged as a sanity check.

You can't make a 9001 Sword because they don't exist in the game. Not that you can make a Magic Sword by raw anyway. You can turn something into an Object not a magic item.

Also for people who talk about turing into a Dragon using True Polymorph you have to have seen what you are turning something into.

 

[hbarsquared]

Although previous (at least 3->4) had some form of "Rule 0," I would say that 5e does a fantastic job of doing away with the whole concept of "Rules As Written."

There is an infinite rationalization of both sides, no matter what.

Can a molehill be made into a mountain? Only if it's good for the story.