polymorphed in a Force cage

[cocalight]

hi,
my transmuter wizard (lvl 8) and his group has been teleported into a forcecage ("bars" version, 20 cubic feet).
Bars are half an inch wide.
We're mostly out of spells, except - noticeably - for my polymorph one. We don't have any mean of using gaseous form, or something similar, we can only rely on the memorized polymorph and - as a last ditch to read both polymorph and enlarge from my spell book, as well as dimension door (but I could only bring 2 other people with me, and we're 5 in total)

I was wondering: can I polymorph in a, let's say, 8 headed hydra and destroy the force cage from within? Force cage spell description says this: "Creatures within the area are caught and contained unless they are too big to fit inside, in which case the spell automatically fails".
Does a huge sized hydra fit in that description of a "creature too big to fit inside" in a 20 feet cube? And also - since I never saw an hydra in game - lets say the DM doesnt allow me to transform in a hydra, can I polymorph my barbarian in a Huge (or even Gargantuam) Barbarian, just for the sake of destroying the force cage?
And also, if huge size is not enough, can I transform the same Barbarian into a Huge humanoid creature, and then enlarge it to increase his size to Gargantuan?

help is appreciated
thanks!

 

[Persiflage]

hi,
my transmuter wizard (lvl 8) and his group has been teleported into a forcecage ("bars" version, 20 cubic feet).
Bars are half an inch wide.
We're mostly out of spells, except - noticeably - for my polymorph one. We don't have any mean of using gaseous form, or something similar, we can only rely on the memorized polymorph and - as a last ditch to read both polymorph and enlarge from my spell book, as well as dimension door (but I could only bring 2 other people with me, and we're 5 in total)

I was wondering: can I polymorph in a, let's say, 8 headed hydra and destroy the force cage from within? Force cage spell description says this: "Creatures within the area are caught and contained unless they are too big to fit inside, in which case the spell automatically fails".
Does a huge sized hydra fit in that description of a "creature too big to fit inside" in a 20 feet cube? And also - since I never saw an hydra in game - lets say the DM doesnt allow me to transform in a hydra, can I polymorph my barbarian in a Huge (or even Gargantuam) Barbarian, just for the sake of destroying the force cage?
And also, if huge size is not enough, can I transform the same Barbarian into a Huge humanoid creature, and then enlarge it to increase his size to Gargantuan?

help is appreciated
thanks!

I doubt your "increasing something's size" approach would work: the forcecage caveat aboute enclosing a creature too large for it could easily be ruled to apply only at the time of casting. The spell description says the bars are "similar to a wall of force" and the latter spell description states:

The wall must be continuous and unbroken when formed. If its surface is broken by any object or creature, the spell fails.

Certainly that's exactly how I'd rule it, otherwise forcecage would be even more trivial to defeat than it currently is. Enlarge person is also a definite no-no:

If insufficient room is available for the desired growth, the creature attains the maximum possible size and may make a Strength check (using its increased Strength) to burst any enclosures in the process. If it fails, it is constrained without harm by the materials enclosing it- the spell cannot be used to crush a creature by increasing its size.

As a forcecage is immune to all damage, it can't be burst with a successful Strength check and therefore all you'd achieve is making the cage incredibly uncomfortable to be in for all concerned as you now have a "maximum possible size" creature stuck in there with you. Personally, although there's nothing stated one way or another, I'd use the enlarge person example as a standard for any magical effect that increased size: you could only transform into something that would fit.

If your DM's feeling nasty though, he could readily say that the higher-level spell effect doesn't have such a limitation... and that a creature thus can be crushed by growth, if the growth is caused by polymorph. The forcecage is still immune to damage, so the results are not going to be pretty.

Do you have the Assume Supernatural Ability feat by any chance? That would help... although if your DM is ruling you can only turn into things you've personally seen, even that probably isn't going to get you out of your fix.

Situations like this are why I always carry spells like regroup, dimension step and dimension hop in my repertoire. With only the spells you've listed available, I can't see any way for you to get everyone out. Do you have any other resources available to you at all? Nobody's got a potion of gaseous form or something knocking about at the bottom of a backpack that you've all forgotten about, have they? I don't know about other people's gaming groups, but every bunch I've ever played with tends to accumulate vast numbers of potions, scrolls and other one-shot items that get completely forgotten about until they're in extremis!

 

[Jack Simth]

hi,
my transmuter wizard (lvl 8) and his group has been teleported into a forcecage ("bars" version, 20 cubic feet).
Bars are half an inch wide.
We're mostly out of spells, except - noticeably - for my polymorph one. We don't have any mean of using gaseous form, or something similar, we can only rely on the memorized polymorph and - as a last ditch to read both polymorph and enlarge from my spell book, as well as dimension door (but I could only bring 2 other people with me, and we're 5 in total)

I was wondering: can I polymorph in a, let's say, 8 headed hydra and destroy the force cage from within? Force cage spell description says this: "Creatures within the area are caught and contained unless they are too big to fit inside, in which case the spell automatically fails".
Does a huge sized hydra fit in that description of a "creature too big to fit inside" in a 20 feet cube? And also - since I never saw an hydra in game - lets say the DM doesnt allow me to transform in a hydra, can I polymorph my barbarian in a Huge (or even Gargantuam) Barbarian, just for the sake of destroying the force cage?
And also, if huge size is not enough, can I transform the same Barbarian into a Huge humanoid creature, and then enlarge it to increase his size to Gargantuan?

help is appreciated
thanks!

A couple of questions....
1) Why are you subject to a 7th level spell when you're at 8th level? The caster is, at a minimum, 5 levels above you - that's an 'impossible' encounter.
2) Are you specifically in a hurry to get out? You could just rest up eight hours, prepare spells again, and this time have enough Gaseous Form to get everyone out.
3) Polymorph lets you do Fine sizes (defined as "six inches or less"), and Vermin. Have you tried turning someone into a regular old Insect?

 

[cocalight]

thank you for your answers!
Now that I've re-read the spell description, thanks to your analysis, I realize that Polymorph and enlarge are - if I choose the "too big to be fit in" option - a complete no-no. Unfortunately we don't have anything like a hidden potion of gaseous form that can help us.

With regards to Jack Smith suggestions, it's our fault that we ended up subjected to a levl 7 spell, which was part of an elaborated trap by THE Villain of our campaign, and we fall into it like idiots, cause our DM gave us many hints to avoid it but we didnt understand them... as I said, complete idiots! Also, We can't rest unfortunately and need to get out asap - otherwise, being a Wizard of the Arcane ORder, I could have found some 3rd level spell our of the spell pool that might have helped us, or memorize 3 dimension doors and take everyone out.

In any case, I think I'll do the following:

A) my memorized Extended Polymorph (lasting 16 rounds instead of 8) to one of our PC, transforming him in an insect, allowing him to escape through the bars
B) read Dimension door from my spell book and bring with me another 2 fellow PC.
C) have the polymorphed PC changing into a massive flying form ,like a cloaker, to carry all of us on its back for a while - if the DM allows it (I never saw a cloaker in the game!); otherwise we'll escape by running like hell

The remaining 5th Pc is actually an NPC, cause the player is no longer playing with us, therefore - although reluctantly - we are going to leave him to his fate (we're a bunch of chaotic bastards, after all )

 

[Jack Simth]

Cool. I mean, it'd be easier if you could stuff someone into a bag of holding and have that absorbed by the Polymorph, but eh, you have a character you need to dump anyway....

 

[Jhaelen]

1) Why are you subject to a 7th level spell when you're at 8th level? The caster is, at a minimum, 5 levels above you - that's an 'impossible' encounter.

Eh. There's lots of ways for something like this to happen, without the encounter qualifying as 'impossible':

- it's a trap: e.g. in the DMG there's a CR10 example trap:
Forcecage and Summon Monster VII trap

- the spell was cast from a scroll:
A Forcecage scroll costs 'only' 3775 gp, i.e. it's well within npc wealth guidelines of an appropriate level.

- it was cast as a spell-like ability by a monster:
I currently cannot think of a monster that has forcecage, but imagine something like the Hezrou (CR11):
It has caster level 13 and can cast blasphemy (a 7th level spell)

So, having to deal with a forcecage spell is something a level 8 party can definitely expect.