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Problems with Polymorph, True Polymorph, and Shapechange
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<blockquote data-quote="Hawk Diesel" data-source="post: 8126217" data-attributes="member: 59848"><p>Because then it not only adds complexity, but the need to create additional spells for every imaginable creature type. The original Polymorph is already among one of the most complicated spells due to its reliance on the Monster Manual and any other officially released beast. My version allows the spell to be self-contained. Additionally, with a spell called Polymorph I wouldn't imagine it to be limited in terms of kinds of creatures one could assume. In fact, there's nothing inherent about a spell called Polymorph that would indicate for it to be limited to changing into only beasts. Which tells me the designers understood the balance issues a spell like Polymorph could cause if they opened it up to any creature type.</p><p></p><p>So I believe my version is the most parsimonious way to achieve the effect of changing a creature's form towards a desired purpose, eliminating the spell's reliance on the monster manual, standardizing the spell capacities to make it easy to balance compared to similar-level spells, while also giving the player character wide leeway to determine what that form looks like.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps other players might want a separate spell for each possible creature type or every possible iteration of a combination of mechanics (which we already arbitrarily assign to the creatures they are meant to represent. I mean, what about a skeleton's stat block makes it inherently a skeleton and not a wild boar or baby drake?). And for those players, more power to them. But that's not really my design goal and doesn't solve the problems I see as I've tried to define them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hawk Diesel, post: 8126217, member: 59848"] Because then it not only adds complexity, but the need to create additional spells for every imaginable creature type. The original Polymorph is already among one of the most complicated spells due to its reliance on the Monster Manual and any other officially released beast. My version allows the spell to be self-contained. Additionally, with a spell called Polymorph I wouldn't imagine it to be limited in terms of kinds of creatures one could assume. In fact, there's nothing inherent about a spell called Polymorph that would indicate for it to be limited to changing into only beasts. Which tells me the designers understood the balance issues a spell like Polymorph could cause if they opened it up to any creature type. So I believe my version is the most parsimonious way to achieve the effect of changing a creature's form towards a desired purpose, eliminating the spell's reliance on the monster manual, standardizing the spell capacities to make it easy to balance compared to similar-level spells, while also giving the player character wide leeway to determine what that form looks like. Perhaps other players might want a separate spell for each possible creature type or every possible iteration of a combination of mechanics (which we already arbitrarily assign to the creatures they are meant to represent. I mean, what about a skeleton's stat block makes it inherently a skeleton and not a wild boar or baby drake?). And for those players, more power to them. But that's not really my design goal and doesn't solve the problems I see as I've tried to define them. [/QUOTE]
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Problems with Polymorph, True Polymorph, and Shapechange
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