This means that items which boost your AC, your attacks, etc. There are three types of bonuses, and item bonuses are left out. If you take on a battle form with a polymorph spell, the special statistics can be adjusted only by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. You can turn into “a dog” or “a dwarf”, but you can’t turn into “Joe’s dog Fido” and you can’t turn into “Joe the dwarf”. Unless otherwise stated, polymorph spells don’t allow the target to take on the appearance of a specific individual creature, but rather just a generic creature of a general type or ancestry. You can’t use weapons or cast spells, so without this creatures with damage resistance to nonmagical attacks would be a massive problem for Wild Shape. This is helpful for overcoming damage resistances. While not specifically relevant to Wild Shape, it does mean that other spellcasters will have trouble polymorphing your while you’re using Wild Shape.Īny Strikes specifically granted by a polymorph effect are magical. If it succeeds, it takes effect, and if it fails, the spell has no effect on that target. If it comes under the effect of a second polymorph effect, the second polymorph effect attempts to counteract the first. These effects transform the target into a new form.ĭescriptive text, but not actual mechanics here.Ī target can’t be under the effect of more than one polymorph effect at a time. While its text amounts to two paragraphs, it’s extremely dense text. The Polymorph trait is described on page 301 of the Core Rulebook. Before we go further, let’s disect the text of both so that we clearly understand exactly how the spell works. The spell Wild Shape is complicated, and it inherits rules from the Polymorph trait.

This guide will briefly explain how polymorph spells work in general, then will delve into options which affect Wild Shape. However, the mechanics of Wild Shape (and the spells which it replicates) are complicated. From level 1 it immediately offers access to a complex shapeshifting mechanic, allowing you to adopt a new form to suit nearly any situation.

Wild shape magic weapons