Shapechange Spell Guide: 5e

[@WildVii]

Actually Chris I would love a video on making money in 5e. I have played with too many stingy DMs that make gathering cash very hard. As a result, high level spells with expensive components are hard to use.

[@snazzyfeathers]

That's kind of bogus. If your party has a creation bard or a forge cleric or even an illusionist wizard with a high enough level (hear me out) y'all could make money. The wizard method is kind of sketch though. It involves using malleable illusions to make whatever it is you're selling real, and then try to make money as fast as you can before getting out of dodge before the illusion fails

[@youtubeseagull]

I find this interesting b/c i often forget to take opportunities to pick up useful items, forgetting to make a list, forgetting to engage when the group is noisy about their own shopping. Issues around time saving are a big big deal and get in the way of fleshing out my fun and character with trinkets and even expensive components. I love tips on useful things as well. A recommendation on how to do mgc items would be great as currently they are super hard to find the way we (current game) do it, and yet players wouldn't want items to be too easy to shop for either. Would they?

[@xthebumpx]

Resource management in DnD is a chore both for players and DM, whether it's money or the right amount of spells for you OotS Wizard. I'm not a fan of any of it (at least magic items are optional compared to 4e).

[@WildVii]

In my own game I’m tempted to just say “fuck material components entirely”. Though I know if I do that I’m opening the door to some pretty widespread abuse. Alternatively, it would be nice if fewer spells consumed the casting components. Particularly expensive ones. Edit: Adding to this frustration is when one party member is playing the character that hoards or has sticky fingers. Which makes the financial resource problem all the worse.

[@matthewdebeer8453]

@@snazzyfeathers for a more reliable return as a wizard just pick up proficiency with Weaver’s tools and cast Fabricate to create linen. PHB says it’s a trade good (usable in lieu of cash) with a value of 5gp per *square yard*, and Fabricate creates a 10ft *cube* of the stuff. So lets assume you get a bunch of 10x10’ sheets stacked on top of each other. You’ll have to discuss with your DM how thick each sheet would be (which determines how many sheets it takes to fill the height of your 10’ cube), but each sheet is 11 square yards and therefore worth 55gp. If we say worst case scenario, the sheets might be 0.03” thick which means you’d get 4000 of them. That’s 220000gp worth of fabric for a single casting of Fabricate. And remember, you’re a wizard who has access to all the planes of existence. So you effectively can’t tank the market/price of linen because the size of your market is infinite.

[@deltavictor8369]

Shapechange -> Purple Worm does *terrible* things to underground adventures. Though I have noticed that the tactic greatly increases the amount of volcanic activity near any caves the party explores, as evidenced by the prevalence of lava very near the surface.

[@cmckee42]

Sounds like you had a grumpy DM

[@godsamongmen8003]

When you're a 17+ level wizard, is there any such thing as an 'underground' adventure? You can go where you want and change the rules of reality.

[@cmckee42]

@@godsamongmen8003 well, since you can go anywhere you want, if you want to go underground, presumably you can have underground adventures

[@mattdespard6576]

Not to mention that casting Shapechange or True Polymorph is just more fun for you and your party than the Wish spell. I just finished a tier 4 campaign and my bard loved being able to ride an Adult Gold Dragon into battle :)

[@vanessam93900]

My Druid just hit Level 17, so this came out just in time.

[@youtubeseagull]

19 here. Never too late.

[@leandroaugusto1479]

Shepered Druid lv3. Runing Princes of the Apocalypse. I'll never see this spell. lol

[@evans178]

Marilith Bladesinger is fun and strong(you get up to 35 extra dmg cause ur adding Int on each hit) and tanky since you can shield and parry while bladesinging

[@JoschiChr]

You just have to keep all those heavy large sized blades on you.

[@jakubguziur7522]

@@JoschiChr Bag of Holding

[@JoschiChr]

@@jakubguziur7522 Doesn't it take an action for each item to get it out of there? Put of combat that shouldn't be a problem naturally.

[@RaggedVentures]

I like the *shadow dragon* _shapechange_ for the Shadow Breath that generates *shadows* under your control.

[@senorelroboto2]

A Planetar gives you proficiency in Constitution saving throws.

[@airhan8465]

How you guys all play beyond Level 10-14 dazzles my mind :D

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Become an archmage patron! We are playing level 19 this month, level 20 next month.

[@pedrodarosamello64]

I've been said ppl hype Wish too much for a while, this spell is the true MVP of 9th level spells, my Druid is level 18 atm and it's amazing to turn into a Dragon Turtle or a Planetar, or eventually a Pit Fiend

[@maltheopia]

True Polymorph, Shapechange, and Prismatic Wall are almost as good as Wish. Astral Projection and Gate if your DM plays strictly RAW, which few do. And honestly, Wish really isn't all THAT good if your DM doesn't let you use it to full potential. I know a lot of DMs who will never, say, let my Illusionist Wish for a Mirage Arcana and put the entire battlefield into an endlessly looping death maze my allies are immune to. Or won't let my Necromancer Wish for Animal Shapes on their undead army.

[@ethans9379]

A lot of great points. Another 9th level spell that seems to get ignored a lot is Prismatic Wall, which I feel is pretty useful

[@lemeow8102]

along with reverse gravity, youre gonna be removing things from the battlefield pretty fast

[@jgalt99]

Prismatic Wall is a great way to apply damage at high levels without putting yourself at risk, especially if there are others in the party who can also use forced movement effects. Given that you only have the 1 spell slot, though, it's difficult to justify preparing vs Shapechange or Wish which are much more flexible in their utility. Given the fact that you're basically never going to find 9th level scrolls and likewise spellbooks containing 9th level spells will be exceptionally rare, you're not going to have PW until maybe lvl 19 or 20. You absolutely want Wish, & True Polymorph asap, Shapechange and Time Stop next, (imo). If you didn't take a dip at lvl 1 you can pick up PW at 19, otherwise it's going to be at 20. At that point it's probably worth preparing from a meta standpoint since your DM is now used to you wrecking difficult encounters with wish/shapechange and semi-permanent downtime casts of true polymorph on the entire party and has prepared counters.

[@jamiejammss]

Arcana clerics can also get shapechange!

[@snazzyfeathers]

That's neat and something I didn't know

[@TheFirstLanx]

7:28 Humble request for an optimancy video: Optimancing our finances. What if I want to play a character who is RICH? What character would score best on DPR (Dough Production Rate)? What miracles could we manifest for the greater glory of almighty currency? We always think of adventure rewarding us with riches, but what if we instead used our riches to purchase adventuring holidays from groups of monsters each eagerly tendering for the rich rewards of being beaten by us? Or what if we solved our problems mostly with money? Such a world to unpack! Or what if the BBEG of the campaign is the personification of poverty itself? Or perhaps we have a REALLY big debt to Mammon, archfiend of greed?

[@maltheopia]

Play a wizard. Fabricate and Transmute Rock already break fantasy economies. And we can get way more nutso than that once we start talking about the labor and capital-saving possibilities of Mordenkainen's Mansion, True Polymorph, Imprisonment,

[@TheFirstLanx]

​@@maltheopia Aahh but what about early levels? Must we slug through poverty until 7th level before we can break the bank? Nay I say! Even at 1st level shall we make big bucks by ritual casting Purify Food and Drink to provide clean drinking water to a city! We shall use Mold Earth to dig graves, foundations and more! We shall use Goodberry to feed the masses! Using the magic items creation rules in Xanathar's Guide we can make spellwrought tattoos of Find Familliar to sell the greatest pets to the aristocrats! And what about lore bards and their magical secrets selling Find Steed to knights? And we shall charge them for it. Oh and how we shall charge them for it! Such opportunities for enterprise! But which businesses produce the best ROI?

[@maltheopia]

@@TheFirstLanx "Aahh but what about early levels? Must we slug through poverty until 7th level before we can break the bank?" Chad Wizard Face: Yes. It's the fate of a weakling. Your schemes with Mold Earth? Goodberry? Purify Food and Drink? Kid shit. You're barely producing more than a team of motivated peasants. Enjoy a perpetual middle-class lifestyle while the real wizards get to level 7 as quickly as possible for the REAL spells.

[@LeonJagerWulf]

@@TheFirstLanx I can see a bard running a Find Steed scam. They pretend to be a poor farmer looking to sell a strong horse to a noble knight in need of a good steed, after selling it off they leave town and cast the spell again causing the first horse to disappear and a new one to show up next to the bard where they make their getaway.

[@TheFirstLanx]

@@LeonJagerWulf Definitely a lot less effort than making a Find Steed spellwrought tattoo to sell. =P

[@kaemonbonet4931]

Haha the sword in the stone has probably the best wizard duel ever put to the silver screen

[@gavinerickson9392]

What excellent timing, I'd recently been fantasizing about the possibilities of Shapechange (it's probably my favorite 9th level spell). Without you, I otherwise wouldn't have realized I'm actually a wizard whose thoughts materialize in reality.

[@cmckee42]

I would love to see a video on True popymorph to highlight the differences

[@DanimalCannonOfficial]

I think the hardest part is figuring out how to encounter all these OP creatures so that you've seen them

[@perlygatekeeper]

Me TOO!

[@smbakeresq]

Shapechange also has mundane uses for players and DMs, most times during downtime. Shapechange into Beholder and use that disintegration ray to carve out 600 ten foot cubes of stone for your stronghold dungeon as an example. This can help explain things to DM.

[@docnevyn5814]

purple worm would be quicker

[@chrisriego8549]

Ever since I started following you I've been waiting to pull out some level 7-9 spells but every campaign we have has never run that far. This is now on my bucket list

[@comfortablegrey]

Great video! High level spells require the greatest expertise to use, and nobody shares it better than Chris.

[@caiusofglantri5513]

I'd throw the Androsphinx - or Army-Wrecker as I call it - into the mix. The first Roar is good, but the 2nd Roar, that forces each creature within 500 feet to make a DC 18 Wisdom save or by be paralyzed for up to a minute, can have an epic impact - probably more on storytelling than on combat, because, how many times to you have 1000 + combatants that this power can deal with?

[@johngleeman8347]

Shapechange is a cool spell because it lets you harness the power of all the custom monsters the referee throws at you (assuming they aren't one of a kind).

[@1Sundy1]

My wizard just hit 17th level. How could he go about becoming familiar with all of the creatures suggested here? The spell says I "must have seen the sort of creature at least once".

[@DanimalCannonOfficial]

this video is great

[@archieoneill2202]

Shapechange is better than Wish... in oneshots, at level 20. You can use Shapechange to transform into the CR 20 archfey Iggwilv the Witch Queen, which has access to wish. And maze. And negate spell (basically counterspell.) And infinite teleports. And more! All for one 9th level spell slot. Of course, shapechange requires you to have seen the creature before, so this only works in oneshots or an extended Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign.

[@FlutesLoot]

At about nine minutes in, I passively thought a Rakshasa would be cool. Then you showed a Rakshasa. GET OUT OF MY HEAD! :P

[@BrunofanofK]

Honestly, both Simulacrum and Clone can be resolved with Mashoon cautionary tale. The guy is the reason wisdom should not be your bump stat when you can bend reality.

[@gavinerickson9392]

Shapechange into a Pit Fiend and treat a 6th level Fireball like a cantrip.

[@seekingfurtherlight34]

why would the fireball be 6th level?

[@gavinerickson9392]

@@seekingfurtherlight34 Challenge rating divided by 3 rounded down, it's from the Innate Spellcasting rules for dragons, but It applies to every monster if you use it.

[@EpifanesEuergetes]

I'd love to see more of these deep dives into the options provided by a particular spell.

[@clenzen9930]

Great video. Someday maybe do true polymorph.

[@epicazeroth]

Just a note, a Planetar is already proficient in Con saves.

[@evanborchardt1862]

I threw an illithilich with shapechange at my party. I love this spell.

[@victorpitts8027]

Thank you for the video. Good points! I like this spell and plan to use it. My only concern with it is that it takes an ACTION to change shape. An action during a battle, instead of dishing out damage is a big cost. Wish it instead would require a BONUS ACTION to change forms, like with Wildshape.

[@andrewmcmillan229]

Fighting a lich or demilich? Shapechange into a beholder and have your barbarian casually stroll over and grapple it. Also the Red Abashai has a bite attack that does a ton of damage (average of 60 total damage from bite) but is in a multiattack with two lesser attacks. However if you have extra attack from bladesinger or valor/swords bard, you can attack with the bite twice!

[@TheRagnarok428]

A problem you might run into there is that liches and demiliches are immune to nonmagical weapons. So while you've shut down their magic, you've also made your barbarian unable to damage them

[@deathtoexistance]

This is probably too late a comment, but I'd like to bring up for both shapechange and true polymorph, the Deva is an excellent option. The reason for this is it has a pretty unique change shape ability of its own, which doesn't have class ability restrictions on it, plus all its attacks do 4d8 radiant damage extra for any form it can take. This means it can abuse an extra 4d8 per attack on cr10 and below things with multiple attacks, Personally I like the Githzerai enlightened, although many options have 3 attacks maybe more. The enlightened is good because it gets 3 attacks, all of which normally still do 5d8 plus 4 damage, now being 9d8 + 4 3 times per round, or it can do a temporal strike for some cc. The main reason this option is superior to say the Saguahin Champion which gets 3 attacks at advantage per round is that the enlightened also has innate spellcasting of blur and shield (blur is for true polymorph only) and gets a bonus to its ac equal to its wisdom, which is +5 due to the deva, giving it a 19 ac with shield available and blur if done through true polymorph, making it very tanky while also doing a tonne of damage every turn.

[@seacliff217]

I never considered innate spellcasting still be accessible. If someone wanted Wish just for the sake of being able to replicate spells, it seems like Shape change might be the better alternative, as you can cast multiple 8th and lower spells during the duration.

[@Lastofthesigilites]

That infinity wizard combo you could flavor it as making a wizard school or using your copies to do a bunch of stuff you need to get done.

[@FrumpybutSuperSmart]

I would really love to hear your thoughts on True Polymorphing a Found Greater Steed.

[@bwhit7919]

Doesn’t wish give Wizards find greater steed?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

True.

[@nyanbrox5418]

and scrying and commune for those shapechange targets xD

[@gavinerickson9392]

Every 8th level and lower spell to be exact.

[@jiiaga5017]

Are there spells in the game that are good, just not at the level you get them? I'm thinking of something like bestow curse - requiring concentration makes it not great at 3rd level, but NOT requiring concentration and lasting 8 hours makes it situationally a pretty decent option at 5th level? Yes its save or suck, but there are still lots of enemies that you have a decent chance of landing it on, especially with all of the new additions in Xanathar's and Tasha's that make spells potentially easier to land.

[@nickm9102]

Didn't use shapechange but True Polymorph on a Celestial Warlock that had a couple of champion fighters?, I think is the monster stat block, team up on me so I went Planetar and without trying wrecked an Adventure League module. The combat ability turned me into the front line for the fight and the Truesight saw through the illusion of an alley that the boss was using. The funny part was I chose the spell minutes before we started over Forsight.

[@gavinerickson9392]

Foresight is Shapechange's still great but much less interesting cousin, however it is compatible with Glyph of Warding...

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Foresight is good too, but it's a lot less interesting

[@chrislyngar9081]

Next campaign is going to 20. Already decided to go full bard. Want to go almost full support, buff/debuff. Glamour bard dancer, who dances to buff allies or give them other moves or heal them like a classic JRPG dancer. Was really thinking greater summon steed to dance across the sky on a Pegasus. Haven't gotten that far in spell selection yet, and this is giving me more thoughts on that. Though I don't think this spell fits my theme that well.

[@VTheTuber]

Oh perfect I was debating what 9th level spells I was taking and you said you thought shapechange was underrated.

[@roscoeivan8739]

I feel like the wording of find steed means you pick one shape and (if valid )it may apply to both rider and steed.

[@Darrow96]

Lol what happens when you kill a creature as a sibriex with its warp creature feature and get a abyssal wretch? Do you only get to control it as a sibriex or can you still control it when you turn back to normal? Lol

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I would assume only as a Sibriex since you lose the feature if you change forms.

[@devin5201]

A bard grabbing this spell to bring the tales they tell to life maybe?

[@jthompson7175]

If you change forms into something like a Planatar, which has healing you could heal yourself before changing into the next form.

[@dhaas4698]

Fantastic video

[@MrMagyar5]

Hey Treant, I really enjoyed this video as I've always felt that Shapechange was incredible but never had the information on some fun ways to use it. I was curious about something you said about the wish spell which, I must be missing. When you use the wish spell to cast Simulacrum, you expend the 9th level spell slot and if, my understanding is correct for Simulacrum, the copy would lack any 9th level spell slots to propagate this OP combo. It can't cast wish, and can't regain spell slots. What am I missing?

[@LeChaosRampant]

The *broken* combo is to cast simulacrum with your normal 7th level slot, and then have the simulacrum cast wish to get a simulacrum of *you* (not itself), including your 9th level slot. The resulting simulacrum still having a 9th level slot (because you still have it too), you can repeat the operation *ad infinitum.* However, any reasonable DM will rule against that so… just some nice theorycrafting.

[@MrMagyar5]

@@LeChaosRampant Awesome. I wouldn't rule against it. I mean, it's in the game and the developers know about it so they would have changed the wording if it really got out of control. However, I could see that this could break a players game. What would be interesting is having an infinite amount of your enemies doing the same thing ;)

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I see this got answered a few times, but yes, if you watch again you'll see I say to cast Simulacrum to copy yourself than have the simulacrum use wish to copy you (who still has the 9th level slot), and so on.

[@TheTacetTroubadour]

Hey treantmonk, I was wondering if you ever do optimized builds that don't use optional rules like feats and multiclassing. The thought process is different and there are tables out there that run this sort of game, so I wanted to know your thoughts

[@talkinggibberish]

Im curious how the monters as presented in MotM changes the spells you can cast. Since spellcasting is no longer a trait, but an action, some monsters loss the word "innate" and the spells just moved to a Spellcasting action. But others had Spellcasting as a trait and moved to an action. The Ki-rin had both happen to it. Innate spellcasting is gone, but also, its base spellcasting is now under actions.

[@danniheggie9956]

i got a custom capstone feature in my current games that lets me cast shape change twice per long rest with no concentration check required and it requires no material or somatic components.

[@auronheimdall1072]

Great vid, thanks !

[@rogerwilco2]

Shapechange has all the issues that Wildshape has. But it depends even more on monster stat blocks and the CR system than any other mechanic.

[@phillipheaton9832]

How about features (like breath weapons) that have to recharge? If you switch to a different creature, is its weapon fully charged? I would assume so.

[@TPaether]

4:22 wait, but isn't it on the Warloc spell list?

[@Raiighn]

Warlocks get True Polymorph for their 9th level Mystic Arcanum spell list, but not Shapechange.

[@biojay]

Level 18 druid, and a massive battle coming up against warforged. First, Antipathy/Sympathy to get as many of the warforged in a bunch, then a massive breath weapon attack from a dragon? Sounds like fun to me.

[@KnotSavage]

sooooooooooooo, could a rakshasa not walk though a tunnel made by passwall? if it can just walk through a stone wall it stands to reason that physical things made manifest have no effect either so is a tunnel a physical thing made by magic?

[@ThirtytwoJ]

Fire elemental. Fire absorb. Displacer beast holding armor of agathys or resistance. Or ... a damage sponge via warding bond.

[@jeremysmith9291]

I was chewing on a concept for a far realm being character, mechanically a changeling druid. I feel like my backstory would be a little broken.

[@envytee9659]

To me, "you can use your action to assume a different form" doesn't read like either of your interpretations. Instead it just says that you take a form different to the shapechanged form you are currently in. If you are shapechanged into an Ancient White Dragon, you cannot use an action to assume the form of an Ancient White Dragon. However you can shapechange from an Ancient White Dragon to a Pit Fiend, then back to an Ancient White Dragon, sinde you are in a Pit Fiend Form and the dragon is now a different form.

[@danskdd4099]

The rakshasa have Limited Magic Immunity. So any spells under 6th lvl csn hit it, so no countrr spell or dispelled magic

[@DramaticScholar]

Wait the spell says that you can't use legendary actions, so are you even able to use your legendary resistances?

[@abedrahman4519]

Well, my wizard is about to get 9th-level spells in the game I am playing now. I wonder what will happen?

[@nameymcnameface6657]

Have you ever considered doing a video on how to multiclass with the Warlock, without taking Hexblade? Everywhere I go I see people talking about how Warlock is a great class to dip into, because of the Hexblade, and never about the other options you get. Btw this was a good vid

[@LeakysTV]

if i have see a white dragon can i become every dragon or just white?

[@BobbyKnuckles21]

If I cast shapechange using a 9th level glyph of warding, could I concentrate on another spell from a creature’s stat block?

[@rainfyre2694]

This reminds me of a changeling Druid I wanted to play who viewed random people as “skinwalkers”. In reality he was a skinwalker himself, just kind of scizo

[@mcparks1968]

Level 20, Ogremoch if you can find your way over to the Elemental Plane of Earth. 500 ft for Boulder Attack Summon Earth Elemental Magic Resistance Legendary Resistances 526 HP 50 ft movement including burrow speed +15 Con save Blindsight and tremorsense

[@maxsvensson9341]

Rewatching this and I came up with a question. Let’s say you assume the form of a giant, would the spell provide you with a giant sized weapon our would you be doing unarmed attacks?

[@johnsaunders7257]

If you turn into hey creature that has innate spell casting abilities you can still cast spells

[@becomeanastronaut6232]

Isn't Dispel Good and Evil a concentration spell?

[@youtubeseagull]

wow that was a fast upload after hearing it was a possibility.

[@arsarma1808]

Longstrider is a nice spell to put on an elder brain.

[@nyanbrox5418]

I really like shapechange, while I think it's funny to use true polymorph, as a buff for a wizard, I would much rather shapechange I mean, we are already playing the god wizard, so no other creatures spells will compare anyway, will not turn down unending legendary resistance, and wow I did not know this spell gave you that

[@deanthelis5578]

Chris, In a relevant Polymorphing 9th-level spell vein, are there any creatures you'd consider worth permanently turning into via True Polymorph?

[@gavinerickson9392]

Nothing if you're a wizard.

[@gavinerickson9392]

@@sharkforce8147 I'm well aware of its other uses, I was just saying you should never use it on yourself if you're a full caster.

[@maltheopia]

@@gavinerickson9392 Unless the creature you're True Polymorphing into has Dispel Magic or a way to change into a creature that has Dispel Magic. It then just becomes another layer of ablative defense. I.e. True Polymorph into an Ancient Silver dragon, then change shape into some kind of spellcasting monster. Once you run out of spell slots and need them NOW, you can either change back into an Ancient Silver Dragon and change back into something else, or you can just dispel True Polymorph altogether and pop back into play with all of your spell slots minus the one used to cast True Polymorph. Or perhaps not even then, if you're using Astral Projection or Simulacrum shenanigans.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Not on myself, but I could do the monk a favor and turn them into an adult gold dragon, definitely a trade-up.

[@mrbean3470]

The implications of this are like the Supreme Strange from Marvel's What If.

[@BlakeMoye]

I thought you don't get the creatures spell?

[@optimus2200]

2 things I really wished changed in the spell Being a bonus action having something to fortify the Concentration / dispelling . This spell cant be dispelled or Taking damage doesnt break concentration on this spell.

[@Dactylus]

Just change into a creature with legendary resistance.

[@JoschiChr]

Why?

[@optimus2200]

@@Dactylus @JoschiChr Ok so you take an action to transform you dont do anything you wait a whole turn you might use up 1 or 2 legendery resistnace when playing is such high level campaign where creatures can do 40+ damage on a hit. or even worse being dispelled and you just wasted an action. now its your turn you use an action to transform again ? or actually use the form and then lose it and thus you only took advantage of 1 action of that form.

[@kevinelston404]

True polymorph better?

[@BobGrimminger]

How similar is True Polymorph (some dragon) -> Change Shape? I guess you don’t retain your class race or other special features if you use True Polymorph. Is that a dealbreaker or still an OK facsimile for Bards who don’t want to use magical secrets on it and warlocks?

[@TheFirstLanx]

Shapechange is far better in the moment, due to the ability to continuously swap to whatever you need, and retain most of the benefits of your class. True polymorph does have the advantages of being permanent if you pre-cast it, and being able to affect allies or even create "minions" out of everyday objects. The two spells may seem very similar, but they have very different strengths. It's really up to your own judgement as to whether either of them will better suit your campaign. If you have plenty of time between adventuring arcs, True Polymorph may allow you to start whatever adventure arc you go to next with a massive advantage because all your party members are in the shape of adult dragons to begin with. If your DM is putting you on the spot with sudden and diverse challenges, Shapechange will allow you to adapt to those really well. Another less quantifiable advantage to Shapechange is that it retains more of your character's original abilities, and so makes them feel a lot more individual. True Polymorph is cool and all, and most barbarians would love to be a mighty dragon rather than just a particularly buff humanoid. However when they, the fighter and the wizard are ALL the same mighty dragon, it'll probably get less enjoyable.

[@gavinerickson9392]

A wizard should never want to use true polymorph on themselves, but it is the perfect spell to cast on any simulacra that are out of spell slots.

[@BobGrimminger]

I guess that change shape has the limitation of humanoids and beasts.

[@BobGrimminger]

@@gavinerickson9392 I specifically didn’t mention wizards and only mentioned the classes that don’t get the spell by default. I was asking about options for the classes that don’t get the shapechange spell. In fact, I don’t think the other commenter got that either.

[@gavinerickson9392]

@@BobGrimminger Variant Warlock from Tasha's gets shapechange, problem solved.

[@dcyphermanplays8233]

I hope you didn't cover this in the video but if you took the shape of some kind of celestial angel or whatever could you still use your blade song as a obviously blade singer wizard? In your new form

[@antongrigoryev6381]

Yup, apparently. It's a class feature, and you get to keep them.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yes, you keep your class features in the new form

[@dcyphermanplays8233]

Oh very nice 🙂 Yes Planetar form is pretty perfect for the Bladesinger ❤️ And I forgot about Angelic Weapons 😱

[@Darkwolf_GR]

i'm curious which spells give you 1500gp? (as a druid)

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Storm of Vengeance, destroy an entire town, walk into the ruins, take 1500 gp, leave the rest?

[@wilfredofigueroa7970]

Need a video on animal shapes. if your druid has a staff of the woodlands and goes around awakening stuff for 30 days then casts animal shapes on 30 awakened buddies.... insta army.

[@alanschaub147]

I’ve never had a character reach 17th Level. 😔

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

Is a simulacrum a creature or objeckt?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Creature

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

@@TreantmonksTemple so can they true polymorph themselves into adult gold dragons permanately?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

@@skullkrusher-dx4kg No, because they are using their 9th level slot on Wish to create another simulacrum. Soon as one casts true polymorph the loop is broken

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

@@TreantmonksTemple i wasnt meant in that context. If i use simulacrum just normal can i or the simulacrum polymorph the simulacrum into an adult gold dragon. Thats a hell of a familiar and kinda fits a cool mad scientist vibe with creating life.

[@ryancparker]

This is so funny. In every build video you make you always automatically take Wish and I’m always yelling at the screen, what about Shapechange?!? 🤣😂🤣

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I mean, I would probably take wish too.

[@yanivkop1]

I don't think proficiency in con saves would transfer over.

[@antongrigoryev6381]

It does. You keep all your saves proficiency, in addition to those of the monster.

[@Codarius]

Shit. Now I regret going cleric for the 17th level one shot I did a couple of months back

[@PatPeez]

I am now playing a Stars Druid SOLELY so that I can Shapechange into a Zodar

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

I'm not sure how I feel about shapechange for the same reason I'm not sure how I feel about druid wildshape. Ideally players shouldn't be paging through DM resources like the monster manual, and for that reason I would be hesitant to take it. Even if I just keep a cheat sheet of a few relevant high CR enemies, it does feel a little like cheating to be like "oh that enemy, I have that on my shapechange cheat sheet; I know what all of its damage immunities are and what all its attacks are and whether or not it has legendary resistances."

[@fiadhjuniper4153]

a wizard with wish can also easily get greater steed

[@chrisdin4109]

Not even sure how you'd challenge a party using shape change.

[@aureliomanalo]

Algorithm comment!

[@ThirtytwoJ]

Yiu could do white dragon twice if you saw two or more or male and female at least. You may have talked me out of wish. One great spell.. or 1000 in an hour with abuse potential. Ok i wanna take one to the high levels now..fk. was gonna do druid 2 wsrlock 14 but .wow maybe 17 or 1th.

[@bojangleslive]

starting a 20th level campaign and before even starting my 300yr old Circle of Moon Archdruid is being neutered by my DM because of the one line "must have seen the sort of creature at least once" #comeonman

[@Deal101]

True polymorph when ?

[@kylerumble]

But nobody talks about Simulacrum and Magic Jar.

[@yosharian]

Wish being able to replicate 8th-level spells without components is just stupid, as is the 'roll dice to never cast this spell again' mechanic.

[@kylerumble]

According to the offical dnd league simulacrum + wish is banned.

[@Year2047]

I’ve played plenty of lvl 20 games. I don’t know anyone who has this option who doesn’t take it. Wish is overrated. Take this anytime you can.