Help a new GM out?

[TheHud]

Hello, new to the forum, need some advice. I have been playing D&D since the 80's, but not much over the last 10 years. My kids are interested, so I am running a 5e adventure for them (only my 16yo and 10yo in the group other than me as GM). I have never GM'd before.

My youngest is playing a sorcerer and was reading through spells and got really excited about eventually getting polymorph, thinking he could change himself into some amazing creatures. After I looked into it, I realized it only allows changing into beast types.

I am looking for advice on how to allow the spell to let him attain other creature types. Perhaps increased chance of wild magic results? Something like that? Any and all advice is appreciated. I don't want to stomp on his enthusiasm, but I want to make the options fit in with "realistic" game mechanics.

[Man_Over_Game]

Hello, new to the forum, need some advice. I have been playing D&D since the 80's, but not much over the last 10 years. My kids are interested, so I am running a 5e adventure for them (only my 16yo and 10yo in the group other than me as GM). I have never GM'd before.

My youngest is playing a sorcerer and was reading through spells and got really excited about eventually getting polymorph, thinking he could change himself into some amazing creatures. After I looked into it, I realized it only allows changing into beast types.

I am looking for advice on how to allow the spell to let him attain other creature types. Perhaps increased chance of wild magic results? Something like that? Any and all advice is appreciated. I don't want to stomp on his enthusiasm, but I want to make the options fit in with "realistic" game mechanics.

Beasts are generally pretty simple compared to creatures of equal CR. So you could just make it so that you can Polymorph into other creatures at a reduced CR value. I'm thinking 1/2, rounded down, seems reasonable (since a lot of low CR creatures come with spellcasting). So a level 9 Sorcerer can Polymorph into a CR9 Beast or a CR4 Demon.

[kobo1d]

Do you have an idea on the type of things he was most excited about? Like specific monster manual stat blocks, or general concepts?

Depending on that, you might be able to "reskin" one of the existing Beasts to match the idea. It is narratively whatever he was imagining, but mechanically it has the stats of whatever Beast is closest to that concept.

If his excitement is actually turning into specific things from the Monster Manual, you can point him at True Polymorph for the real hype. 9th level spells are definitely hype-worthy.

[Evaar]

Shapechange and True Polymorph offer that level of flexibility, though they are level 9 spells - unless you're going to get them up to high level very fast, it will take a long time to get that.

You can always just houserule Polymorph to allow transforming into non-Beast creatures but at some reduced power level. Perhaps instead of a challenge rating equal to character level, it's equal to 1/2 the character level when it's not a Beast. Or you could just try it without limits and see how it goes - it shouldn't be completely broken, since he's still limited by challenge rating.

One thing to keep in mind is that Polymorph requires him to maintain his concentration on the spell, so if he turns himself into a Giant Ape and gets hit a lot, he has a good chance of losing his concentration on the spell and turning back into a Wizard. Polymorph works best when cast on an ally.

You might point out to him that Druids can use Wild Shape starting at level 2, and Moon Druids focus on that. Starting at level 10, they can transform into Elementals instead of Beasts. There's also the "Circle of the Forge" Druid that was just released in the unofficial Exploring Eberron book which adds options for basically being a robo-beast if that's what strikes his fancy.

[MrStabby]

If you know what they want, it might be better to homebrew a different spell for it - possibly at a level up.

As an extra spell the sorcerer will have to trade off a spell known for the flexability this provides.

[Unoriginal]

Hello, new to the forum, need some advice. I have been playing D&D since the 80's, but not much over the last 10 years. My kids are interested, so I am running a 5e adventure for them (only my 16yo and 10yo in the group other than me as GM). I have never GM'd before.

My youngest is playing a sorcerer and was reading through spells and got really excited about eventually getting polymorph, thinking he could change himself into some amazing creatures. After I looked into it, I realized it only allows changing into beast types.

I am looking for advice on how to allow the spell to let him attain other creature types. Perhaps increased chance of wild magic results? Something like that? Any and all advice is appreciated. I don't want to stomp on his enthusiasm, but I want to make the options fit in with "realistic" game mechanics.

My advice: have the sorcerer go on (side)quests to get Boons that allows you to Polymorph into other creature types, one creature type per Boon.

For example, go where the Master of the Aberrant Shape lives and beat their challenge to learn how to turn into Aberrations.


And don't hesitate to make this a part of the world. NPCs talk about rumor of someone turning into a Giant, a scholar recognizes the PC using the Boon and comment on where they learned it, an enemy gets curious about the ability and could even try to acquire it on their own, and the PC gets famous for possessing this rare power.

[OldTrees1]

Have them tell you which creatures they want to turn into. Maybe have them learn 1 non beast form every level (or every other level). That should give you time to evaluate that specific creature to see what level it would be reasonable at. Set expectations by telling them the 1 per level restriction is to give you time to do the balancing math. If they choose one that is too high, let them pick another monster but let them know that it might take a bit to calculate.

[Magicspook]

My advice: have the sorcerer go on (side)quests to get Boons that allows you to Polymorph into other creature types, one creature type per Boon.

For example, go where the Master of the Aberrant Shape lives and beat their challenge to learn how to turn into Aberrations.


And don't hesitate to make this a part of the world. NPCs talk about rumor of someone turning into a Giant, a scholar recognizes the PC using the Boon and comment on where they learned it, an enemy gets curious about the ability and could even try to acquire it on their own, and the PC gets famous for possessing this rare power.

I agree with Unoriginal. These kinds of perks are generally awarded through character/story progression in my group.