My Wizard player is asking if he can use the level 5 spell Polymorph on himself, it does say ‘Your touch reshapes a…

My Wizard player is asking if he can use the level 5 spell Polymorph on himself, it does say ‘Your touch reshapes a…

My Wizard player is asking if he can use the level 5 spell Polymorph on himself, it does say ‘Your touch reshapes a creature entirely’ what does the term creature mean?

16 thoughts on “My Wizard player is asking if he can use the level 5 spell Polymorph on himself, it does say ‘Your touch reshapes a…”

  1. Hold on 🙂

    The entirety of the sentence quoted is: “Your touch reshapes a creature entirely, they stay in the form you craft until you cast a spell.”.

    “They” indicates something other than “YOU”, so to get all rules-lawyery, I say, no, the rules don’t allow the caster to polymorph himself.

    In practice, I would ask the wizard how the spell works. If the Wizard indicates he can Polymorph himself, he can. Be certain to ask any follow up questions that arise from this discussion. 🙂

  2. I don’t have an answer at this time other than to say that Polymorph has been written about extensively in D&D forums because it causes so many problems. I have not yet faced it in DW as a DM, but I’m interested in this discussion because I’m sure I will!

  3. I think, like with a lot in DW, it comes down to “How do you want Polymorph to work in your game?” In this case, to be a fan of the player, the obvious answer is Yes, he can polymorph himself. However, that leads to new questions, like what is required of the Wizard to cast a spell? Can he cast in the new form? Must he restrict his forms to something that can cast under your concept of what is required to cast a spell? What happens to the Wizard if he rolls a 6-? etc.

  4. Ooooh, I’m much more interested in when the wizard fails the spell roll to polymorph themselves.  ‘Brave’ anyone? Oh and ‘they’ can apply to a single person, no? 

  5. I think Lord Khaalis summed it up nicely. In my games Polymorph turns you into an animal. If that animal is not normally sentient, then the subject of the spell is no longer sentient. This isn’t a Druid shapeshift so the purpose and utility of the spell has a drastically different focus. If you have a different vision, then whether the spell works or not depends on it. I do feel that as long as the Wizard can touch themselves, they can cast the spell.

    If whether you allow it comes down to the word they then there should be no issue with the Wizard casting the spell on themselves. From dictionary.com:

    1. nominative plural of he, she, and it.

    2. people in general

    3. Usage Note: Long before the use of generic he  was condemned as sexist, the pronouns they, their,  and them  were used in educated speech and in all but the most formal writing to refer to indefinite pronouns and to singular nouns of general personal reference, probably because such nouns are often not felt to be exclusively singular. Such use is not a recent development, nor is it a mark of ignorance.

  6. First of all, I did indicate that the GM should ask the wizard how the spell works, and then follow up with more questions.

    Secondly, it’s not just the word “they”, it’s the context of the word in the sentance. “”Your touch reshapes a creature entirely, they stay in the form you craft until you cast a spell.”.

    Third, I need to check with Bill C about the meaning of “is”

    Fourth, this was a rules-lawerly question that appeared to be easily answered with a rules-lawerly answer. I was wrong. See point 3

    Fifth – GAHHHHH!!!

    🙂

  7. I wasn’t paying enough attention Tim. I had Druid on the brain =P. What I was trying to point out was the importance of a distinction between sentient and non-sentient forms.

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