Poly self and ability drains

[Erebus]

Say my wizard (in natural form) is drained 6 points of Strength. Then he polymorphs into a troll. Does the Strength drain affect the Strength score of his new form?

In a similar vein, say while my wizard is in the form of a troll he is hit with the Strength drain. When he reverts back to his normal form, is he still drained?

I'm looking for official clarification of this if at all possible.

Thanks.

-E

 

[AuraSeer]

Polymorph's only healing effect is to restore some hp. It does not cure ability drain, neutralize poison, or remove any other form of damage.

Say you are a wizard (base Str 10) who has taken 5 points of Strength drain. When you poly into a troll (base Str 23), your effective strength is 18.

You then take 5 more points of drain, bringing the effective strength of your troll form to 13. If you then return to your natural form, the ability drain remains in place; you now have effective strength 0, and are helpless.

 

[Erebus]

Well, I agree that polymorph doesn't cure ability damage. However, when you change forms, you gain the physical ability scores of the new form. Your natural form still has STR 5 from the drain, and I'm not disputing this. My dilemma is as follows:

A) Wizard w/ STR 10 is drained of 5 points of STR. STR now 5. He polymorphs into a troll. STR now 23. He reverts back to old self. STR again 5.

or...

B) Wizard w/ STR 10 is drained of 5 points of STR. STR now 5. He polymorphs into a troll. STR now 18. He reverts back to old self. STR again 5.

You're stating that ability drain (physical or otherwise) is essentially tied to "mind", so even physical ability stat drains follow the "mind" when a wizard polymorphs (as shown in B). Makes sense, but is this the official stance on this issue?

-E

 

[Celebrim]

Erebus: As a general rule, if you are having problems deciding between two interpretations of the rules, usually the most restrictive position is the correct one.

In this case, nothing suggests that a strength drained character polymorphed into a troll wouldn't be a strength drained troll. By the arguement that 'damage follows the body', there is no reason that a person polymorphing into another creature wouldn't heal ALL hit points, for who, being wounded, is going to deliberately transform into a wounded being?

Arguements about where the damage is going, ignore the real heart of the issue which is what the game mechanics say. In this case, they are largely silent, so you should assume that the strength drain transfers to the new form in an intuitive fashion and the only additional effects are those which are explicitly described in the rules.

Generally, ask yourself this question. If I was in trouble, which way would I not want my DM to rule? That is the correct ruling.

If you must come up with a justification, explain that attribute drain is damage to the characters 'life force' - a mystical source of power which does not vary regardless of form.

(Actually, as a side note, that could be justification for house ruling that Con did not vary with form either, which would help to restore balance to polymorph spells.)

 

[Caliban]

You polymorph from a Str 10 human with 5 points of Str damage to a Str 23 with 5 points of Str damage.

 

[AuraSeer]

You're stating that ability drain (physical or otherwise) is essentially tied to "mind", so even physical ability stat drains follow the "mind" when a wizard polymorphs (as shown in B). Makes sense, but is this the official stance on this issue?

For purposes of polymorph, there is no "following" involved. You still have the same mind and body, but the body's shape changes. Since you're not acquiring a new body, your body keeps any damaging conditions that are in effect. This includes hit point damage, ability damage, ability drain, poison, paralysis, unconsciousness, and so on.

If you're a paralyzed wizard, and some effect polymorphs you into a bugbear, you are now a paralyzed bugbear. Ditto for ability drain.

 

[Erebus]

Thank you all for your responses. On to some individual comments...

Celebrim:
"Generally, ask yourself this question. If I was in trouble, which way would I not want my DM to rule? That is the correct ruling."

I disagree. Sometimes the DM is simply wrong about how a particular rule works. Yes, I know, it's his game and he decides what goes and what doesn't. That said, to err is human. Besides, being fair should be the DM's concern, not automatically choosing the option that hurts his players the most.

BTW, I've DMed in the past and will once again soon, so this question is valid from both a player's and DM's perspective, as far as I'm concerned. I just want to be clear on how to handle such a situation in case I have to make such a ruling at some point.

AuraSeer:
"For purposes of polymorph, there is no "following" involved. You still have the same mind and body, but the body's shape changes."

I think you misunderstood me. By "mind" I mean precisely what you are referring to with your paralyzation example. It's the same way a +3 enhancement from a Bull's Strength would enhance a wizard's STR even if he were to take the form of a troll (i.e. his STR as a troll would be 26). Celebrim's notion of "life force" touches on this.

Once again, thank you all for your input. I'm still interested in hearing the "official" response to this issue if one exists. By way of the Sage, perhaps?

-E