Polymorph and equipment

[jasin]

How much does polymorph adjust your equipment?

SRD says (acutally, it from alter self, but applies to polymorph too):
"Your equipment, if any, either remains worn or held by the new form (if
it is capable of wearing or holding the item)".

Most magic items resize to fit the wearer, so if a human polymorphs into
a troll, he'd be able to keep his ring of protection despite it not
being custom made for troll-use.

But what about weapons and armour? Sure, a troll is capable of "wearing
or holding" a longsword... but will it be a Medium longsword or will
polymorph scale it to troll-size? Will a chain shirt be melded (as
trolls are incapable of wearing Medium chain shirts) or resized (as
trolls are capable of wearing chain shirts)?

Enlarge person and righteous might, which are sort of similar, do resize
equipment, but there the point is the resizing itself, not changing
shape, so that's hardly conclusive.

What about if no resizing is necessary, but common sense suggests some
incompatibility between old equipment and the new form? Say a human you
polymorphs into a satyr or a winged elf? Would he be able to keep using
his designed-for-humans half-plate despite his new goat legs or elf
wings?

 

[shilsen]

AFAIK, equipment resizes, but now that you mention it, I can't find a specific aspect of the Polymorph (or Alter self, since the other spell works off it) spell description that actually spells it out.

 

[jasin]

AFAIK, equipment resizes, but now that you mention it, I can't find a specific aspect of the Polymorph (or Alter self, since the other spell works off it) spell description that actually spells it out.

There was a sentence in 3.0 polymorph which said the equipment changes to match your new form if the new form uses equipment, and melds if it doesn't.

Now it just says you keep your equipment if the new form is capable of using it, and that it melds if it isn't.

I'm not sure if this is just a rephrasing meant to say the same thing, or is this meant to say that a wizard with a chain shirt and a longsword who polymorphs into a troll loses his chainshirt and keeps his Medium longsword, gaining him a -2 penalty because he's now Large.

 

[WCrawford]

If you check out the errata for the DMG (I know) may be slightly useful.

 

[Diirk]

Magical armour and weapons don't resize themselves to fit the user anymore either, that went out with 3.0

 

[GodPhoenix]

Magical armour and weapons don't resize themselves to fit the user anymore either, that went out with 3.0

Is that spelled out somewhere in 3.5? (that they don't)

 

[jgsugden]

Polymorph has many problems. Back when Andy Collins was answering questions, he addressed these issues.

If an item can be worn or held by the new form, it remains. There is never an option. If it can remain, it does. If it can't, it doesn't.

It does not need to be the appropriate size if it is to be held. A medium human holding a medium longsword that polymorphs into a large troll will be holding his unchanged medium longsword.

If the item is nonmagical and is too small for the new form, it melds with the form. For instance, a medium human in nonmagical gloves that polymorphs into a troll will have his gloves meld into him. Objects that are too large for the new form should also meld, even though they could technically be worn by the new form. For example, a medium human in nonmagical platemail that polymorphs into a bat will have his platemail merge with him.

As magical armor does not resize, it will merge with any change in size and with any significant change in form. A human polymorphed into an orc would not lose his magical armor, but bt he would if he polymorphed into a hill giant or a medium wolverine.

Armors with the wildshape quality merge with the caster as normal during a wildshape, but continue to provide their armor bonus when merged. They do not provide other bonuses. For example, a fire resistant wildshape hide armor will provide an armor bonus while the druid is wildshapes, but not fire resistance.

There are no official guidelines on what may and may not be worn in a given form. The DM must logic those out for themself. Andy Collins did recommend being as permissive as reason would allow.

I hope this information helps.