Antimagic vs. Form altering spells

[ShadowNemisi]

I'm curious, lets say a dragon is polymorphed/shapechanged into a human and is walking through some narrow passage in a cave..now..suddenly put him/her in an antimagic field. What happenes? I don't think antimagic should dispel it, but it should keep them from changing shapes further. I mean, it seems a little unfair..but then, I guess it isn't supposed to be. I'm pretty sure you EnWorld guru's will set me straight.

 

[gfunk]

Spells such as Enlarge Person will increase a person's size but cannot crush them to death in the process. For instance, if an individual was in a cage and you Enlarged them then they would grow up to the limits of the cage.

Similarly, I believe the dragon would grow to sufficient size to navigate in the cave, but it couldn't get stuck or damaged.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Spells such as Enlarge Person will increase a person's size but cannot crush them to death in the process. For instance, if an individual was in a cage and you Enlarged them then they would grow up to the limits of the cage.

Similarly, I believe the dragon would grow to sufficient size to navigate in the cave, but it couldn't get stuck or damaged.

This is difficult. While enlarge person creates the effect, the antimagic field will stop an effect in effect. So it can well be that this will result in a really messed up downtown

 

[Norfleet]

Spells such as Enlarge Person will increase a person's size but cannot crush them to death in the process. For instance, if an individual was in a cage and you Enlarged them then they would grow up to the limits of the cage.

Similarly, I believe the dragon would grow to sufficient size to navigate in the cave, but it couldn't get stuck or damaged.

Yes, but this isn't the same: The individual isn't being enlarged: The individual HAS been altered in size, and fits comfortably in this size: Now the effect which causes this size no longer exists. As a result, the object is no longer able to BE in that size: Bad things happen.

This is the principle behind the "pipe bomb": An object is shrunk, then fitted comfortably and snugly into a pipe. When the effect wears off, the object reverts to its previous size, bursting the pipe, which then is thrown out in pieces as shrapnel.

 

[andargor]

I'm curious, lets say a dragon is polymorphed/shapechanged into a human and is walking through some narrow passage in a cave..now..suddenly put him/her in an antimagic field. What happenes? I don't think antimagic should dispel it, but it should keep them from changing shapes further. I mean, it seems a little unfair..but then, I guess it isn't supposed to be. I'm pretty sure you EnWorld guru's will set me straight.

You're right, antimagic just suppresses the effect. It does not dispel it.

I haven't found any specific references to what happens in this situation. So it's house rules time. However, the spirit of the rules dictate that normally you shouldn't be able to instakill a creature by a spell (unless it is specificly designed in that way) or by suppressing an effect on it (see Fly or Enlarge Person). Therefore, you could rule:

- that the dragon reverts to its true shape, but not full size. It would be allowed to squeeze out.
- As above, but it's stuck.
- that the dragon reverts to its true form and pops out at the nearest safe location
- etc.

Andargor

 

[Norfleet]

I haven't found any specific references to what happens in this situation. So it's house rules time. However, the spirit of the rules dictate that normally you shouldn't be able to instakill a creature by a spell (unless it is specificly designed in that way) or by suppressing an effect on it (see Fly or Enlarge Person). Therefore, you could rule:

Actually, Fly hitting an antimagic spell *DOES* result in the misunfortunate sucker plummetting to his doom:

PHB v3.5, p232: "Should the spell duration expire while the subject is still aloft, the magic fails slowly...but not if it is negated by an antimagic field."

Therefore, there *IS* a precedent for nasty things happening when a durational effect runs into an antimagic field.

 

[andargor]

PHB v3.5, p232: "Should the spell duration expire while the subject is still aloft, the magic fails slowly...but not if it is negated by an antimagic field."

I sit corrected. Was it the same for 3.0? That may be where I got my impression.

Andargor

 

[Norfleet]

PHB v3.0 does not state the effect of what happens if the spell encounters an antimagic field, merely what happens if the spell expires or is dispelled: "Should the spell duration expire while the subject is still aloft, the magic fails slowly...the subject also falls in this way if the spell is dispelled." No clarification regarding antimagic, so either interpretation could work, but the slowly effect sort of contradicts the nature of antimagic, where no magic functions inside: In order fail slowly, it still has to function to some extent, which is not possible inside of an AMF.

The v3.5 clarification therefore supports the idea that Bad Things happen in the case of an Enlarge.