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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8867631" data-attributes="member: 6877472">It does raise a few questions when it comes to variant creatures.&nbsp; You encounter a Firenewt Warlock of Imix.&nbsp; You attempt to Polymorph into one.&nbsp; What do you become?&nbsp; Is the &quot;Warlock of Imix&quot; a distinct creature?&nbsp; Should you become a Firenewt Warrior instead?What are the stats for &quot;generic Firenewt&quot;?Or how about a Cloud Giant Smiling One?&nbsp; The creature has Innate Spellcasting, so it's obviously not the same as a regular Cloud Giant, but is that saying Smiling Ones are distinct creatures, or it gained this ability through some other means?Especially problematic since the spell uses CR as a metric for what you can turn into.&nbsp; Since the spell says you gain the statistics of the creature, this can often include things like &quot;Multiattack- you can make two attacks with a scimitar&quot;.&nbsp; Now unless the creature was born with this knowledge, it's not an ability innate to it's form...but the spell doesn't ask you to make value judgements about what is or is not an innate ability.If you Polymorph into a Giant Ape, you can throw big rocks at people with surprising accuracy- irregardless of your own ability to throw big rocks.&nbsp; Surely, a real Giant Ape has to practice chucking boulders around to gain this ability.But the spell wouldn't be very useful (or fun) if you were unable to use all the abilities the monster possesses, so there is apparently a limit to how specific we're intended to rule on the spell.&nbsp; Just where that line is, unfortunately, isn't very clear.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8867631, member: 6877472"] It does raise a few questions when it comes to variant creatures. You encounter a Firenewt Warlock of Imix. You attempt to Polymorph into one. What do you become? Is the "Warlock of Imix" a distinct creature? Should you become a Firenewt Warrior instead? What are the stats for "generic Firenewt"? Or how about a Cloud Giant Smiling One? The creature has Innate Spellcasting, so it's obviously not the same as a regular Cloud Giant, but is that saying Smiling Ones are distinct creatures, or it gained this ability through some other means? Especially problematic since the spell uses CR as a metric for what you can turn into. Since the spell says you gain the statistics of the creature, this can often include things like "Multiattack- you can make two attacks with a scimitar". Now unless the creature was born with this knowledge, it's not an ability innate to it's form...but the spell doesn't ask you to make value judgements about what is or is not an innate ability. If you Polymorph into a Giant Ape, you can throw big rocks at people with surprising accuracy- irregardless of your own ability to throw big rocks. Surely, a real Giant Ape has to practice chucking boulders around to gain this ability. But the spell wouldn't be very useful (or fun) if you were unable to use all the abilities the monster possesses, so there is apparently a limit to how specific we're intended to rule on the spell. Just where that line is, unfortunately, isn't very clear. [/QUOTE]

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