D&D 5E Polymorph and Questions

[Flamestrike]

Bonus: Cast fly, then cast polymorph to turn into a whale at 300'. Also fun to see the DM struggle about what to do when you turn a creature into a bug and have someone eat it.

Bonus points if you turn another critter into a bowl of petunias.

Re eating the creature, this would reduce its HP to 0 and it would regain its normal form. Pretty sure this would kill the person that ate the bug as the creature would burst through the stomach and flesh of the thing that ate it.

Personally I would just rule the magic shunts it out, with both unharmed but hey.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

That's the entire point, having a whale suddenly fall out of the sky is tons of fun for everyone except whoever is directly beneath it.

. . . and the whale.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The whale would probably die and you revert to normal form. On the other hand, 300ft is a lot 100m and it takes the whale about 4,5 secs (or more if you regard friction) to come down. So if you pull that off on someone, you could have kiled him anyway.
I really think to surprise someone that way he needs to be blind and deaf and even if you win inititative I would allow a saving throw dex vs 10 to avoid it. If someone wins initiative I would just let him go away on its turn.
Notice that 10m or 30 fr should be enough and even then it is more than a second it takes the whale to fall down. But now you don't turn back immediately because the whale should survive.
I would still call for an easy dex saving throw and would never make it auto kill.

 

[mellored]

Just to be a wet blanket: nothing in the rules indicates that an eating-size bug would actually count as a 'beast' for the purpose of the spell. A DM could rule that only creatures in the PHB or MM are valid forms. Your best bet then is probably a frog or scorpion, but you can't obviously swallow either whole.

(This isn't totally unreasonable, you have to draw a line somewhere or else let people turn into bacteria or whatever.)

Plenty of larger creatures can eat a frog whole.

Like turning a whale into a frog and then feeding it to a terrasque.

Bonus points if you turn another critter into a bowl of petunias.

You need to be lucky, but a wild sorcerer can do just that by rolling a 41-42 on it's surge table.

The whale would probably die and you revert to normal form. On the other hand, 300ft is a lot 100m and it takes the whale about 4,5 secs (or more if you regard friction) to come down. So if you pull that off on someone, you could have kiled him anyway.

A whale has 90 HP (i think...)
Max falling damage is 20d6 (70 average) damage.
So you got about a 99.5% of surviving the fall.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

How do people reconcile the whole 'you take on the characteristics of the chosen creature, INCLUDING MENTAL ONES, but retain alignment and personality'? I see too many people who play polymorph as an extension of Wildshape. I quickly disabuse people of that. "You know a Giant Scorpion has an Int of 1, right? Well, that's not exactly good news for how you are interpreting the situation'.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

How do people reconcile the whole 'you take on the characteristics of the chosen creature, INCLUDING MENTAL ONES, but retain alignment and personality'?

By focusing on the "retain alignment and personality" part, which suggests being able to maintain philosophical ideals (since that is what alignment is) and traits which actual beasts are only considered capable of through anthropomorphism (which some, but not all, personality traits are).

That indicates the change in mental characteristics being one that is only applicable in the rules mechanics sense.

 

[jaelis]

How do people reconcile the whole 'you take on the characteristics of the chosen creature, INCLUDING MENTAL ONES, but retain alignment and personality'? I see too many people who play polymorph as an extension of Wildshape. I quickly disabuse people of that. "You know a Giant Scorpion has an Int of 1, right? Well, that's not exactly good news for how you are interpreting the situation'.

I'd say your goals and your awareness of who you are remain the same. Your capacities to reach those goals can be different though. So as a player I still know who my enemies are and that I want to defeat them. But I should roleplay my approach based on the intellect of the new form. So a giant scorpion would probably just rush into battle, I wouldn't try to follow any complicated plan.

But as a DM I wouldn't do something like say the scorpion decides to start eating a dead creature, just because it is hungry and not smart enough to realize that would be a bad idea right now.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Normal Giant Scorpion: "I want to sting things that annoy me."
Lawful Good Giant Scorpion: "I want to sting orcs."
Chaotic Evil Giant Scorpion: "I want to sting babies."
Lawful Neutral Giant Scorpion: "I want to sting things that aren't part of the hive."
Chaotic Neutral Giant Scorpion: "I sting anything that tries to catch me!"
Pompous Paladin Giant Scorpion: "I refuse to sting, that's the job of my minions."
Wild Mage Giant Scorpion: "I sting...(rolls dice)...myself."
Murderhobo Giant Scorpion: "I sting everything until they all give me their money and maybe pledge undying loyalty to me."
Kender Giant Scorpion: "I sting him in the eye as a way of saying hello!"
Dwarf Giant Scorpion: "I sting evil while uttering a battlecry in a bad scottich accent and holding a mug of ale with my left claw."
Elf Giant Scorpion: "I make an acrobatic leap from the treetops, twisting in midair, landing so that my exotically colored and perfectly coiffed hair falls around me majestically, and sting, slaying the balor instantly."