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One of my players intends to cast 'True Polymorph' on himself to turn into a CR 16 Creature.
What character level does he have in this form, if he has any at all? Is he level 16, and if so, can he start to level again until he is level 20 (kinda like multiclass)?
Thanks for your help!
True Polymorph doesn't remove class levels. Although some class abilities may be hard or impossible to use after being polymorphed, the target still has the same class and level as before the transformation.
Not sure that makes sense? Consider these lines from the spell:
The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can’t speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech unless its new form is capable of such actions.
If the polymorph did remove class abilities (like spellcasting), the text would not explain how you can continue to use class abilities after the polymorph.
If they continue their adventuring career after this transformative event, gaining levels would be merely continuing the levels in their existing class.
While true polymorphed into a monster, a PC has no class or level.
True Polymorph (PHB, p. 283):
The target’s game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the new form. It retains its alignment and personality.
Class and levels are game statistics, so those go away, along with all class features, racial and background abilities, and proficiencies. A 16th-level wizard who true polymorphs themselves into a marilith becomes a six-armed snake demon with no spellcasting abilities, and is no longer a wizard. The DM might allow a true polymorphed player character to gain levels in a character class (starting at level 1), or they might not, depending on what the new form is.
Contrast with Shapechange (PHB p. 275):
Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the chosen creature, though you retain your alignment and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. You also retain all of your skill and saving throw proficiencies, in addition to gaining those of the creature. If the creature has the same proficiency as you and the bonus listed in its statistics is higher than yours, use the creature’s bonus in place of yours.
...
You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them, provided that your new form is physically capable of doing so. You can’t use any special senses you have (for example, darkvision) unless your new form also has that sense. You can only speak if the creature can normally speak.
This ("you retain...") is the language used to indicate exceptions to the "game statistics are replaced" effect. No such language is used in the descriptions of true polymorph or polymorph.
This wording only mentions the features obtained from class (which are a function of level). But are class and level themselves game statistics? Is a 16th-level wizard who has been subjected to a true polymorph spell still a 16th-level wizard, albeit one with no class features?
Here's what we have in the text:
Step-by-Step Characters (PHB, P.11)
Your character is a combination of game statistics, roleplaying hooks, and your imagination.
Also, the DMG has a section on NPC Statistics (p. 92), which has a subsection "Using Classes and Levels."
Considering the wording in the PHB, class and level aren't roleplaying hooks, or part of the player's imagination, so, by disjunction, they must be game statistics. And the DMG lists "class and level" as part of the things you can specify when determining an NPC's statistics. So it seems that class and level are not separate from other "game statistics". This conforms to our simple intuitions; class and level are game-system concepts, and there's no reason to think they are somehow not "game statistics" in this sense.
You retain everything from your original character. You just cant use most of it.
True polymorph tells you what you replace, as other answers have detailed rather well. However what they left out is that it is still a spell, and can be ended even after it's made permanent.
A successful dispel of equal spellcasting level would remove the true polymorph. Your original caster would revert back to his/her previous level and class.
Also consider that if you didn't retain your class and level, and you didn't concentrate on the spell for an hour to make it permanent, you would lose your character. That's just inane.
So if you true polymorph while adventuring, just keep wracking up that experience on your character sheet to keep the levels progressing as per normal. Nothing in the book says anything about your use of polymorph hindering experience and level progression.
I was thinking along the same lines: a wizard could True Polymorph himself in a creature that has better physical abilities. Then I re-read the spell:
The transformation lasts for the duration, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies. If you concentrate on this spell for the full duration, the transformation lasts until it is dispelled.
The spell has to last for the full duration, which means the wizard has to continue to concentrate for one hour without his wizard ability if the new form does not allow it.
Because then there this statement:
The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can’t speak, cast spells, or take any other action that requires hands or speech, unless its new form is capable of such actions.
I would argue that such a violent change to your brain is likely to cause you to lose concentration on your spell. As a DM, I would require at least one DC 10 roll to make sure that the spell does not end right there.
The GM might also decide that certain environmental phenomena, such as a wave crashing over you while you’re on a storm‑tossed ship, require you to succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell.
That being said, if the wizard wanted to just change his race, that would certainly work. Any race can be a wizard. You'd be affected by the bonuses of your current race (subtract) and your new race (add.) Then I see no problem for the user to continue to live as that new race and continue as a PC with all the usual characteristics and leveling up.
Note, however, that the spell can be dispelled... if someone has True Sight they may notice that change and decide to cast Dispel Magic on the wizard... The one thing I would pay attention to, still, is the Intelligence statistic. If it drops, the caster may have to lose a few spells and he probably cannot decide which ones he forgets. Probably a roll of a die to select them. Although if it is True Polymorph, he will revert right back to his old self...
So as a DM I would allow the PC to change to any Creature that could normally have his wizard abilities and refuse anything else. Maybe he'd decide to become a Lich...
