Timeline for What happens when a creature possessed by an intellect devourer is true polymorphed?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
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| May 10, 2023 at 2:58 | comment | added | Lino Frank Ciaralli | @MJ713 - to me, the explicit mention of the requirement to regain the brain via Wish is what makes polymorph not an option. Otherwise any other restoration spell that replaces the brain would have worked and they wouldn't have needed to add Wish explicitly. By doing so it restricts the regrowth specifically to Wish and not to something like Regenerate or a lesser spell like Poly. | |
| May 9, 2023 at 4:35 | comment | added | MJ713 | ...I suppose we could interpret it as: because polymorph is not a sufficiently high-level spell, it cannot regrow a living brain. It can reshape a living brain, but when it tries to create a brain from scratch, it creates a lump of dead matter. A bit like a computer that's not plugged in. There's nothing physically wrong with the brain per se, but it's simply not able to do the things that a brain should do. (2/2) | |
| May 9, 2023 at 4:30 | comment | added | MJ713 | "Once you attempt to polymorph the host, a new brain forces the ID out of its spot. When this happens the host is no longer alive to be a viable target for poly so it fails." I don't think I can get on board with this interpretation. The ID description says "[t]he body then dies, unless its brain is restored within 1 round." The clear implication is that the creature dies if the ID leaves because a creature can't live without a brain. To say that the ID's departure is deadly because the creature has regained the wrong kind of brain doesn't make sense to me...unless... (1/2) | |
| May 6, 2023 at 18:13 | comment | added | Lino Frank Ciaralli | @MJ713 - Speculatively, perhaps the poly persists because of the new brain until the spell runs out/concentration is broken. At which point the host dies as soon as they revert. Either way, the ID is forced out because it wasn't targeted by the spell, and there's no cavity for it to fill. DM wise, you could just rule the ID and host are the same creature at this point though. | |
| May 6, 2023 at 18:11 | comment | added | Lino Frank Ciaralli | @MJ713 - In my opinion based on the wording of polymorph, the creature is dead once the ID leaves the brain area. Since the ID ability stipulates that only Wish can regrow the brain and save the creatures brain that the ID replaced, this leaves the scenario in which you have two valid and distinct targets. The creature host, and the ID acting as brain. Once you attempt to polymorph the host, a new brain forces the ID out of its spot. When this happens the host is no longer alive to be a viable target for poly so it fails. Two specific rules overlapping here. | |
| May 3, 2023 at 20:41 | comment | added | MJ713 | I'm not sure what you mean by "the Polymorph spell will fail within one round" or "the newly polymorphed creature's brain is destroyed, and it dies." If polymorph causes creatures to grow a new brain, then pushing out the ID won't kill the creature; if polymorph doesn't cause creatures to grow a new brain, then the ID won't be pushed out at all. Unless...maybe polymorph can only grow a new brain when the ID is not in the way? So: polymorph #1 (still no brain) -> ID leaves voluntarily when it realizes the body is no longer humanoid -> polymorph #2 (brain regrown)? Is that what you meant? | |
| Sep 16, 2016 at 16:34 | comment | added | Lino Frank Ciaralli | Well since the character can be restored, they aren't an object because they aren't actually dead yet. The Intellect Devourer ability doesn't say that it changes your character into an object, so you're still a player, but under control of something else. This isn't all that different from being possessed by a ghost, except for the incredible lethality attached to this. I would, as the DM, allow for the player to be revived, especially since the ID is a CR 2. | |
| Sep 16, 2016 at 11:52 | comment | added | Chepelink | The problem that I have with 5e is that the way creatures are "defined" (a corpse is an object, a corpse with a tiny bit of magic is a creature). Unless something happen in the first round after the ID is expelled, the host is basically a corpse (an object). This is: Host + ID = Creature with the physical attributes of the host and the mental attributes of the ID. When polymorphing a creature you substitute the mental attributes of the creature, and these are given by the ID, not by the original host. Thus, would it "grow a brain" or would it "polymorph" the ID as if it were the brain? | |
| Sep 15, 2016 at 20:06 | history | answered | Lino Frank Ciaralli | CC BY-SA 3.0 |