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Mike_Lemmer
2007-08-08, 12:03 AM
My players have just captured a male scout from a reptilian humanoid species (troglodyte) they've never seen before. The party's transmuter wants to Alter herself into a female troglodyte to sweet talk him into helping them out. Now, in my campaign, I've house ruled that you can't polymorph into a creature you've never seen before. They've seen a troglodyte now, so they could polymorph into that. But should they be able to polymorph into a female troglodyte if they've only seen a male troglodyte?

Note that this is also the first reptilian humanoid the PC's seen, and she failed the corresponding Knowledge check as well, so she has no clue what a female reptilian humanoid should look like. ("Aren't they the brightly colored ones? Dammit, I can't remember if they're supposed to have breasts or not...")

Josh the Aspie
2007-08-08, 12:05 AM
Allow them to try... then take a look either at random magic tables, or make her an anthropomorphic animal (like from the monstrous manual), or a male troglodyte.

Chronos
2007-08-08, 12:19 AM
Here's a question: How do the players even know that the trog they captured is a male?

I'd say that the Knowledge check was the right way to handle it. Having failed the check, the player can still make the attempt, but is likely to end up looking ludicrous (to the trog, at least, and possibly to the other characters as well).

kjones
2007-08-08, 12:21 AM
Think: Elan's illusionary half-orc. That's how it should look - but only another troglodyte would notice it.