Polymorphing Animal Companions

[Storme]

Say, your mage bought a scroll of Polymorph Any Object. Can a druid have the mage cast this spell on the druids wolf and turn him into...say...a Dire Wolf? Or a Pegasus? My guess is yes, as long as his HD stays lower than the Druid.


Storme

 

[Storme]

Anyone want to field this one?

 

[Bagpuss]

Say, your mage bought a scroll of Polymorph Any Object. Can a druid have the mage cast this spell on the druids wolf and turn him into...say...a Dire Wolf? Or a Pegasus? My guess is yes, as long as his HD stays lower than the Druid.

Polymorph any object fuctions as Polymorph...

From the SRD on Polymorph

The assumed form can’t have more Hit Dice than your caster level (or the subject’s HD, whichever is lower), to a maximum of 15 HD at 15th level.

A Dire Wolf is 6 HD, so if you were a 1st to 5th level druid nothing would happen as the wolf animal companion doesn't have enough hit dice.

If you were a 6th to 8th level druid your animal companion would have 6HD and so could become a dire wolf, and due to the similarities the transformation would be permanent.

Of course you could just get a dire wolf at 7th level anyway. The real question is do you have the -6 level adjustment penalties for if you got it normally or do you get the benefits as if it is a wolf?

Pegasus is a different issue.

You can transform your animal companion into a Pegasus earlier it's only 4 HD after all, the duration is less, 1 week as a Pegasus is more intelligent than a wolf. But it becomes a magical beast. Thus it isn't an animal so can't be your animal companion during that time, so gains none of the druid benifits.

 

[eamon]

I see no reason why an animal companion couldn't be polymorphed like anything else, and I don't see why there should be a limitation such as that it can't exceed the HD of the druid.

However, if you polymorph the animal companion into something that doesn't qualify as an animal companion, then it ceases to be an animal companion (compare to awaken).

I'd probably let the animal revert to being an animal companion once it shifts back into an animal, unless "too much" time has elapsed, but that's campaign-world dependant, i.e. not specified by the rules, as far as I can tell.

 

[eamon]

Polymorph any object has different limitations on the assumed form and the examples listed in the spell transform things like lizards into manticores - so the HD limit certainly doesn't apply in any straightforward sense. This could also lead you to the implication that the HD limit of 15 HD doesn't apply either, which would be worrisome. hmm....

 

[Bagpuss]

Text trumps tables when there is a disagreement. I think the table is just examples to show variation in types, they didn't bother to think about the HD requirement.

 

[Bacris]

I wouldn't impose the -6 Druid level restriction - as a casting of PaO isn't exactly cheap. You're talking about a 3,000 gp investment - which can be dispelled, since its duration is permanent, not instantaneous.

 

[Bagpuss]

So would it then gain the +4 HD to become a 10 HD Dire Wolf?

 

[Bacris]

No, becuase you've already applied the +4 Hit Dice to make the Wolf viable to become a Dire Wolf - otherwise, it's double-dipping.

 

[eamon]

Text trumps tables when there is a disagreement. I think the table is just examples to show variation in types, they didn't bother to think about the HD requirement.

True enough, but Polymorph any object isn't polymorph. It's polymorph, except with different restrictions on form. These new restrictions replace the old ones - but to what extent?

I'm pretty sure that the idea of polymorph any object is that you can turn a pebble into a human, even though a pebble has no HD. I'd say the restrictions on forms based on the target object or creature are restrictions which are replaced by those of polymorph any object. Restrictions based on caster level are not, since those aren't restrictions about the target.

If you do apply the HD limit, then I'm left wondering what the point of polymorph any object is at all...