Animal Shapes: Unbridled Chaos

Usable By: Druid

Spell Level: 8

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 24 hours

Components: V, S

Your magic turns others into beasts. Choose any number of willing creatures that you can see within range. You transform each target into the form of a Large or smaller beast with a challenge rating of 4 or lower. On subsequent turns, you can use your action to transform affected creatures into new forms.

The transformation lasts for the duration for each target, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies. You can choose a different form for each target. A target’s game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast, though the target retains its alignment and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. The target assumes the hit points of its new form, and when it reverts to its normal form, it returns to the number of hit points it had before it transformed. If it reverts as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to its normal form. As long as the excess damage doesn’t reduce the creature’s normal form to 0hit points, it isn’t knocked unconscious. The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can’t speak or cast spells.

The target’s gear melds into the new form. The target can’t activate, wield, or otherwise benefit from any of its equipment.

Review by Sam West, Twitter @CrierKobold

Have you ever wanted to grant every friendly creature you know triple multiattack, flight, blindsight, sixty hit points a round, a swim speed, darkvision, and more?

May I introduce Animal Shapes. Animal Shapes might sound like something you read to a toddler before bedtime, but trust me when I say this spell will live in your DM’s nightmares.

To grasp how game warping Animal Shapes can be you need to understand the scope of its effect. On a battlemap, creatures within 30 feet of you make up a total of 168 spaces just on the ground. When you add on familiars and small or smaller creatures you can easily transform over **200** creatures. You could literally transform them into three of every printed beast in the base rules that qualifies. If you start adding lots of flying allies like Pixies, these numbers balloon to absurd territories.

Next, consider that you can transform them into any beast you want as an action **every round**. If you transform them between two high hit point qualifying beasts each round (the Plesiosaurus and Giant Scorpion, for example), you’re looking at around 60 HP refreshing every round for each creature. 60 HP, in terms of dice, is around the 17d6 damage, or 3d6 more damage than a 9th level Fireball can deal.

This functionally negates all incoming damage from something lower than CR 20. It’s like you took Regeneration from trolls and multiplied its power times six, then gave it to everyone at your birthday party this year and every birthday party you’ll have for the rest of your life.

The only way people will die is if they take damage exceeding their normal hit points in addition to all the bonus hit points you’re providing in a single round; even if they do you will probably still have dozens, if not hundreds, allies transformed ready for action.

Imagine a swarm of fifty tiny little badgers burrowing below the enemy big bad; with just a passing thought from the druid, they can pop up as a swarm of Giant Scorpions and Vultures surrounding the villain for a surprise thirty or more attacks.

One word of warning; make sure you maintain concentration. It’d be a real shame if those two-hundred commoners you transformed into giant owls spontaneously turned back into commoners and plummeted to their death.

To close out my thoughts, here are some highlights of base rules beasts that can do really disgusting things when you have twenty or more in a group.

Giant Scorpion: They get three attacks per turn, two of which come with free grapple checks while the third deals between 3d10+2 and 5d10+2 damage. They also have a massive 60 ft. blindsight, and the second highest HP of applicable beasts in the base rules at 52 HP.

Giant Vulture: Vultures make two attacks each dealing 2d4+2 and 2d6+2 damage. To make them bonkers, though, they have pact tactics for advantage on every single one of those attacks as long as they have friends. There will be MANY critical hits if you’ve got a large swarm at your command. Oh, and they have a 60 ft. fly speed, making them crazy efficient murder machines.

Giant Spider: Spiders have a ranged weapon attack that restrains on hit, and keeps them restrained until they spend an action to break free. These restraints give every other attack against them advantage. When transforming a large group, grab a group of spiders for lock down and support; you won’t regret it.

Giant Toads: These get a mention for the sheer silliness of a squad of enormous amphibians devouring their foes. If you want to take an encounter and solidify it in your book of “What Even Was That?” moments, turn your posse into massive ravenous toads.

5e Spells

Animal Shapes: Unbridled Chaos