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Polymorph doesn’t say what?
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As opposed to mass polymorph or true polymorph which both explicitly say that you choose.
I always feel like even True Polymorph should require some sort of check or a pseudo-spellbook of studied creatures so that the user can only turn into creatures it knows well enough. Turning into anything the player can pull a stat block for is not only overpowered, it's downright immersion breaking.
Well, true polymorph and mass polymorph at least aren't overpowered for their levels. Comparatively polymorph as commonly interpreted to be a "caster decides" effect, is routinely considered the best 4th level spell overall. It has better single-target save-or-suck disabling ability than banishment, it rival arcane eye in terms of scouting utility, and as emergency temporary healing or a combat buff it outperforms the 6th level Tenser's transformation.
The only other 4th level spell that even comes close is the "caster decides" interpretation of conjure woodland beings, mostly because you get eight polymorphs for the price of one.
Yeah it's weird pixies can caste polymorph, like why do they need that spell at their CR. I don't think it makes sense for lore ether.
A way to fix the banishment type effect is make it so it can only be cast on a creature who is not a threat (like being tied up, unaware, or several levels below you) so its more balanced and keeps the idea of a witch/wizard curseing someone to become a frog. Scouting I'm fine with because it is a common fantasy trope. My only solution for being a combat buff is capping the health you can have per level or stronger forms have a lesser duration.
I mean... if you're homebrewing a fix anyway, just make it CR up to the CR of the target or up to half their level if they don't have a CR, to keep its power in line with other spells of that level. If the unbalanced save-or-suck is an issue at your table, give an unwilling target advantage on the save if they're not incapacitated. Unless you rebalance other things, it's just going to mean people won't take/prepare polymorph as much though.
The way you can nerf it, if needed, and still keep it RAW (for those AL DMs out there) is spelled out in the meme. 😁
Either way, let your players know how you're going to run polymorph before they design their character around certain expectations.
true
True but you should be able to choose a little. When things like woodland creature are so random( and I guess know polymorph) its hard to form tactics around become rather useless. If you have a mean DM it can be a hazard like turning into something useless and not contributing to combat or summoning something that ether dies immediately or just clogs the initiative not helping.
If you have a mean DM, get a new DM. D&D isn't an adversarial game where a DM plays to win or turn every player plan on their head like an evil genie. Even if they get to decide what kind of creature the players get, they should pick whatever would be the most fun to introduce to the scene, not whatever would be the worst for the players. If they can come up with something that isn't the most obvious good pick and surprises the players while being useful in their own way, it's a good pick. Not to mention, usually forcing the players to improvise parts of their strategy on the fly leads to more fun play than just letting them steamroll an encounter using a predetermined, infallible plan.