Polymorph and Swallow Whole

[Ieagleroar]

I've recently had a player who polymorphed into a create with the ability "Swallow Whole". He then swallowed an orc, but the polymorph spell's duration ran out before orc he swallowed had died from the digestive juices. Since he was a human, he was medium size, however, he now had a medium sized orc inside his stomach. Obviously, that can't be right, so is there a ruling on this anywhere? I can't seem to find anything, but the logic seems to dictate that either:
A) He would have to spit out the order while in the process of returning to his regular form or
B) The orc would be crushed or
C) The orc would repture the PC's stomach, causing all sorts of damage.

Thanks for any help.

[Necroticplague]

Option A would be most consistent with how similar things usually work. In his human form, he no longer has the Swallow Whole ability, so he would lose the ability to have the orc in his stomach. Thus, the orc would have to lose the swallowed status (since the player can no longer act as a source for it).

[Pleh]

IIRC a "swallowed" creature is still in a grapple, so maybe in addition to option A the Orc is still caught in a grapple by the player (if they aren't using their arms for something else).

[frogglesmash]

While we're on the topic, are there any official rulings for what happens if you polymorph while you are swallowed?

[Crake]

While we're on the topic, are there any official rulings for what happens if you polymorph while you are swallowed?

I dunno about official, but normally if you're too big to fit in an area, you need to make a strength check to break open whatever's constraining you (using your new form's modifiers). I think a reasonable extension to that while swallowed would be an opposed grapple check to escape the creature's gullet, again using your new form's modifiers.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

No rules as far as I know, but I'd say the character vomits up whatever's in his stomach just prior to reverting, and it "appears" in the space next to him.

That is, of course, assuming it's too small to fit in his stomach normally.

[Ieagleroar]

Yeah, I went with option A at the time, with the orc starting out prone. Looks like there's no official rules for it so common sense is the way to go. Thanks for the help:smallsmile:

[TheBrassDuke]

I don’t remember where it says this, but if I recall: say you are a male and polymorphed into a female; you get pregnant while in this form. I believe you’re actually stuck in this form, regardless of the spell duration, until that baby is taken care of (born or removed). I feel the rules should be similar if you’ve swallowed whole a creature. You’re stuck until it’s completely digested.

[Pleh]

I don’t remember where it says this, but if I recall: say you are a male and polymorphed into a female; you get pregnant while in this form. I believe you’re actually stuck in this form, regardless of the spell duration, until that baby is taken care of (born or removed). I feel the rules should be similar if you’ve swallowed whole a creature. You’re stuck until it’s completely digested.

This interpretation is rather vulnerable to exploitation.

People could swallow something immune to acid in order to get a free permanency on their Polymorph.

[TheBrassDuke]

This interpretation is rather vulnerable to exploitation.

People could swallow something immune to acid in order to get a free permanency on their Polymorph.

Pretty abuseable, yeah, but I’d allow it. If someone could figure it out.

[Rijan_Sai]

I don’t remember where it says this, but if I recall: say you are a male and polymorphed into a female; you get pregnant while in this form. I believe you’re actually stuck in this form, regardless of the spell duration, until that baby is taken care of (born or removed). I feel the rules should be similar if you’ve swallowed whole a creature. You’re stuck until it’s completely digested.

I'm not sure about Polymorph, but that is true for Changelings.

Changeling Reproduction

..If a changeling in a female form conceives a child, she loses the ability to change her gender until after the child is born.

Edit: Just found this: Rules of the Game: Magical Oddities (Part Four) (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20050510a)

Other Creatures: A polymorph effect usually transforms only one creature at a time. If a polymorphed subject touches, holds, or carries another creature when changing form, the other creature doesn't change along with the polymorph user. If the polymorph user can share the effect with the other creature (as a wizard can share an effect with his familiar) or the polymorph effect can transform more than one creature at a time, then the two creatures can change form together.

In cases where a change of form results in two creatures sharing the same space on the battlefield when they otherwise could not, it's usually best to have the smaller creature move to a space that can safely hold it and that is adjacent to the larger creature. If no space adjacent to the larger creature is available to hold the smaller creature, it winds up prone in the larger creature's space instead.

Use this rule even in unusual cases. For example, a human uses a polymorph effect to assume the form of some Colossal creature with the swallow whole special attack and then proceeds to swallow several foes of Large size. When the human reverts to normal (Medium) size, the human can no longer hold the Large foes inside. As the human reverts to normal size, just assume the Large foes are ejected from the human's changing body.