As a sorcerer, quickening polymorph on yourself so you can attack the same turn or twinning to hit your two combat-terrible companions to hulk up IS living the dream.
The mental image of a fire shielded great ape who keeps bamphing in and out of the material plane using Blink is a concept I cannot pass up on. It's such a strong mental image, oh my lord.
My friend turned a manticore into a lizard, then wildshaped into a bird and carried him into the air - then promptly dropped him. 20d6-1 bludgeoning damage carried over, and then I promptly killed it. Funny little strategy.
While it doesn't come online until level 13, you can auto kill with divine word, assuming you polymorph them into something with 1 Cha and don't have less than a 16 in your casting stat.
I find the Moorbounder is one of the best utility options, because it has a 70ft move speed and is large enough to ride. The Giant Eagle is even better, as it has an 80ft fly speed and is also Large enough to ride.
I like Giant Ape especially because it's int 7. Can't talk, but there's a pretty decent chance whoever you just polymorphed only lost a few IQ points in the process. Heck, a Giant Ape is smarter than Grog from Critical Role. That's a pretty decent advantage to have over a Int 2 dinosaur.
Bonus points for the green lantern reference. For me a favors finishing move for polymorph is to turn them into a worm and then throw them in the bag of holding. Seems like a few days in there should do the trick.
Thoughts on the Sperm Whale from Rime of the Frost Maiden? You could turn an enemy on land into a sperm whale and potentially pin several other enemies underneath it, or you could turn an ally into one at sea and watch them sink a ship! Also one of the only 2 Gargantuan beasts
Missed that one, but it's excellent underwater with 120' Blindsight and 60' Swim, plus size and HP! And on land it's intereresting if the DM signs off on the tactics you mentioned. Some have suggested that Sperm Whale can be killed by Sickening Radiance exhaustion, though I'd say that's a DM call as well.
fun thing with polymorph, if you turn an ally into a giant huge crab, you can remove the paralyzed, charmed or frightened condition, and a ton of hit points, making greater restoration a much more situational spell, given its cost
Another good add on to polymorph forms is from GGR, animals from the Rubblebelt, under the Gruul territory can gain reckless and / or siege monster traits. so half dragon reckless t-rex. Also worth noting that a half dragon brontosaurus can have a better breath weapon than t-rex, because of the size. But, the siege monster polymorph is a decent utility application, IMO.
\o/ POLYMORPH! One of my favorite spells to Twin. Crag Cat is one of my favorite low CR beasts for Wild Shape too. I've heard of some shenanigans with using the spell Magic Aura, to change a PC into a "beast" so you can polymorph them into themselves as a way to essentially full heal them. I'm not sure how legal that is or how I would feel as a DM if my players were doing that on the regular. But I believe that by RAW it works...
Magic Aura just changes how something appears to magic, not what it actually is. It fools spells that "detect" creature types, but Polymorph I sent actually detecting anything, so Magic Aura can't make a creature a valid choice to polymorph into.
@@soldierswitheggs Mask. You change the way the target appears to spells and magical effects that detect creature types, such as a paladin's Divine Sense or the trigger of a symbol spell. You choose a creature type and other spells and magical effects treat the target as if it were a creature of that type or of that alignment. That last sentence though... it's a helluva mind twist if you think you already know how the spell works.
I dunno. Our party Druid seems to really like becoming a giant gorilla and smashing everything in sight when the wizard asks him if he wants to become it.
Everyone in my party has access to Polymorph, so I'm considering as a sorcerer to pass this one up. I mean, as long as we have at least 1 member with Polymorph, I think we are in good shape... and it's a party of 4.
The only other instant death spell I could find is divine word. They get a charisma save but plenty of beasts will have a 0% chance of making it. It also might be worth preparing outside of the polymorph combo depending on the campaign as an aoe banish against extraplanars.
I'm confused about the changing of the mental ability score, but the keeping of the personality. So if I change an ally, who has a mean attitude and likes to kill enemies and harvest their organs, might that ally then kill all of us as well as the enemies?
I wish there was a giant T Rex to make polymorph at a little bit high levels. A giant bear that's cr 7 or 8 as completion for things to turn into. Kind of hard to beat the giant ape in offense though.
In the video, you mention a specific creature as an alternative to Disguise Self. Are you sure? What part of the description covers "specific creature" assuming 5e?
Since when do any of those items offload concentration on spells? I’m pretty sure you still have to concentrate. Only one I know of can bypass it is the glyph of warding
As a sorcerer, quickening polymorph on yourself so you can attack the same turn or twinning to hit your two combat-terrible companions to hulk up IS living the dream.
As a Sorc, I have a very hard time even using Polymorph w/o Twinning. It almost feels like a waste!
The mental image of a fire shielded great ape who keeps bamphing in and out of the material plane using Blink is a concept I cannot pass up on. It's such a strong mental image, oh my lord.
My friend turned a manticore into a lizard, then wildshaped into a bird and carried him into the air - then promptly dropped him. 20d6-1 bludgeoning damage carried over, and then I promptly killed it. Funny little strategy.
While it doesn't come online until level 13, you can auto kill with divine word, assuming you polymorph them into something with 1 Cha and don't have less than a 16 in your casting stat.
Nice... thanks for calling that one out!
If you can leverage a a free fog cloud spell or have your party member cast it... Giant scorpian works very suprisingly well
I find the Moorbounder is one of the best utility options, because it has a 70ft move speed and is large enough to ride. The Giant Eagle is even better, as it has an 80ft fly speed and is also Large enough to ride.
I like Giant Ape especially because it's int 7. Can't talk, but there's a pretty decent chance whoever you just polymorphed only lost a few IQ points in the process. Heck, a Giant Ape is smarter than Grog from Critical Role. That's a pretty decent advantage to have over a Int 2 dinosaur.
Bonus points for the green lantern reference. For me a favors finishing move for polymorph is to turn them into a worm and then throw them in the bag of holding. Seems like a few days in there should do the trick.
Thoughts on the Sperm Whale from Rime of the Frost Maiden? You could turn an enemy on land into a sperm whale and potentially pin several other enemies underneath it, or you could turn an ally into one at sea and watch them sink a ship! Also one of the only 2 Gargantuan beasts
Missed that one, but it's excellent underwater with 120' Blindsight and 60' Swim, plus size and HP! And on land it's intereresting if the DM signs off on the tactics you mentioned. Some have suggested that Sperm Whale can be killed by Sickening Radiance exhaustion, though I'd say that's a DM call as well.
Once again, thanks for this video, Bilbron. I already know which spell my Wizard will get first by level 7.
You bet, my pleasure! Don't forget about Summon Greater Demon!
Taking six levels of exhaustion is also an instant kill.
fun thing with polymorph, if you turn an ally into a giant huge crab, you can remove the paralyzed, charmed or frightened condition, and a ton of hit points, making greater restoration a much more situational spell, given its cost
Another good add on to polymorph forms is from GGR, animals from the Rubblebelt, under the Gruul territory can gain reckless and / or siege monster traits.
so half dragon reckless t-rex.
Also worth noting that a half dragon brontosaurus can have a better breath weapon than t-rex, because of the size.
But, the siege monster polymorph is a decent utility application, IMO.
Interesting! I'll run them by my DM, thanks!
Great! Thank you!
Let’s not forget the giant shark for underwater encounters!
\o/ POLYMORPH! One of my favorite spells to Twin. Crag Cat is one of my favorite low CR beasts for Wild Shape too.
I've heard of some shenanigans with using the spell Magic Aura, to change a PC into a "beast" so you can polymorph them into themselves as a way to essentially full heal them. I'm not sure how legal that is or how I would feel as a DM if my players were doing that on the regular. But I believe that by RAW it works...
Magic Aura just changes how something appears to magic, not what it actually is. It fools spells that "detect" creature types, but Polymorph I sent actually detecting anything, so Magic Aura can't make a creature a valid choice to polymorph into.
@@soldierswitheggs Mask. You change the way the target appears to spells and magical effects that detect creature types, such as a paladin's Divine Sense or the trigger of a symbol spell. You choose a creature type and other spells and magical effects treat the target as if it were a creature of that type or of that alignment.
That last sentence though... it's a helluva mind twist if you think you already know how the spell works.
I dunno. Our party Druid seems to really like becoming a giant gorilla and smashing everything in sight when the wizard asks him if he wants to become it.
google docs are the bomb 10/10
Everyone in my party has access to Polymorph, so I'm considering as a sorcerer to pass this one up. I mean, as long as we have at least 1 member with Polymorph, I think we are in good shape... and it's a party of 4.
The only other instant death spell I could find is divine word. They get a charisma save but plenty of beasts will have a 0% chance of making it. It also might be worth preparing outside of the polymorph combo depending on the campaign as an aoe banish against extraplanars.
Crag cat was changes to a monstrosity in September 2020
I’ve had my storm kings Thunder boom since 2018 and it’s listed as monstrosity in there
Super useful video 🙏🏼
Edit: unfortunately it seems the spreadsheet link is down now
I'm confused about the changing of the mental ability score, but the keeping of the personality. So if I change an ally, who has a mean attitude and likes to kill enemies and harvest their organs, might that ally then kill all of us as well as the enemies?
I wish there was a giant T Rex to make polymorph at a little bit high levels. A giant bear that's cr 7 or 8 as completion for things to turn into. Kind of hard to beat the giant ape in offense though.
To be honest, I would rule as a dm that no spell auto kills a polymorphed target. I think that wasn't intended to work this way :P
I have a level 7 trickster cleric just wanted some ideas as to how I could be using this spell 😅
Didnt the Crag Cat get errataed to a Monstrosity in Rime of the Frostmaiden?
Yes it did 😢
@@Captainbigmike86 Good to know, thanks!
It was changed to monstrosity back when storm kings Thunder came out in 2016
In the video, you mention a specific creature as an alternative to Disguise Self. Are you sure? What part of the description covers "specific creature" assuming 5e?
The giant ape also has a 10 foot reach so you could probably move up the things hit them and then move away
Place two captive enemies in a pit. Polymorph one into a Giant ape and the other into a T Rex. “Two men enter, one man leaves!” 😁
🦖🦍
Since when do any of those items offload concentration on spells? I’m pretty sure you still have to concentrate. Only one I know of can bypass it is the glyph of warding
Your familiar does the concentration.
@@Bilbrons-and-Dragons, oh, I get it. The familiar can use the ring of spell storing. That’s a great idea!
How did you come up with your name, Bilbron Bafflestone? What's the story?
Divine word also autokills doesn't it?
I believe so, yes.
No Huge Giant Crab?