True Polymorph — Complete D&D 5e Spell Guide

Table of Contents

• •Quick Answer
• •Overview
• •Stat Block
• •The Three Transformations
• •When NOT to Use This
• •Spell Slot Efficiency
• •Pro Tips
• •Common Mistakes to Avoid
• •Usage Tips
• •Rules Notes
• •Synergies
• •Anti-Patterns
• •Tactical Modules
• •Countermeasures
• •True Polymorph in the 2024 Rules
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Answer

True Polymorph is a 9th-level transmutation spell for Bards, Warlocks, and Wizards. Choose a creature or nonmagical object within 30 feet. You can turn a creature into another creature, a creature into an object, or an object into a creature, for up to 1 hour (concentration). If you concentrate for the full hour, the change lasts until dispelled. Unwilling creatures make a Wisdom save. A creature's new form can't have a higher CR than the target's CR or level, and an object can become a creature of CR 9 or lower.

Overview

Polymorph turns a creature into a beast for an hour. True Polymorph removes almost every limit on that idea.

The new form can be any kind of creature, not only a beast. A 17th-level fighter can become an adult red dragon. A creature can also become an object, and an object can become a creature that fights for you. Hold concentration for the full hour and the transformation stays until someone dispels it.

The limits are the CR cap, the Wisdom save for unwilling creatures, a 30-foot range, and an hour of concentration for permanence. In the 2014 rules the spell also has no effect on shapechangers or creatures at 0 hit points.

Stat Block

The Three Transformations

The object must be nonmagical and can't be worn or carried by another creature.

When NOT to Use This

• •The target is a shapechanger and you use 2014 rules. A vampire or doppelganger is unaffected.
• •The target has Legendary Resistance. A lich can turn a failed Wisdom save into a success.
• •The enemy is more than 30 feet away. The range is half of Polymorph's.
• •You can't hold concentration. The transformation ends when concentration does, until the hour is up.

Spell Slot Efficiency

When worth the slot: A permanent upgrade or ally made out of combat, or removing a single dangerous enemy with a weak Wisdom save.

Upcasting

True Polymorph is a 9th-level spell, so it can't be cast at a higher level.

Pro Tips

Tip #1: Make it permanent out of combat.

Why it works: "If you concentrate on this spell for the full duration, the transformation lasts until it is dispelled." Cast it at the start of a long rest or a quiet hour, guard your concentration, and the result stays.

This avoids the mistake of: Casting it mid-fight and losing it to the next concentration save.

Tip #2: Turn enemies into objects, not weaker creatures.

Why it works: A creature turned into an object takes the object's statistics. The 2024 glossary says an object without assigned ability scores "can't make ability checks, and it fails all saving throws." A frog can still hop away. A stone can't.

This avoids the mistake of: Turning a giant into a small monster that your party still has to chase down.

Tip #3: Animate an object into a CR 9 ally.

Why it works: Any object at least as big as the creature works. A cart is a Large object in the SRD's object table, which fits a Large young blue dragon (CR 9, 152 hit points, a fly speed of 80 feet). A Huge statue or boulder fits a Huge fire giant or cloud giant.

This avoids the mistake of: Forgetting the object mode exists.

Tip #4: Count the CR from the target, not from you.

Why it works: The creature-into-creature limit uses the target's CR or level. A 20th-level wizard turning a 17th-level fighter into a dragon is capped at CR 17. Casting it on yourself at 20th level allows CR 20, such as a pit fiend.

This avoids the mistake of: Promising an ally an ancient dragon their level can't support.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Expecting a permanent form to survive 0 hit points (2014)

Why it's bad: In 2014 the transformation lasts "for the duration, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies." The permanence sentence replaces "for the duration" with "until it is dispelled," but it doesn't remove the 0-hit-point clause, and the Creature into Creature paragraph describes reverting at 0 hit points with no time limit. Read together, a permanent 2014 form still ends when the form drops to 0 hit points. The creature reverts with the hit points it had before, and the form is gone for good.

Do this instead: Treat the dragon's hit points as a one-time pool. Keep a permanent dragon ally out of fights it can lose.

Targeting a shapechanger (2014)

Why it's bad: The 2014 spell has no effect on a shapechanger. Check the stat block for the Shapechanger trait.

Do this instead: Use Banishment or Wall of Force on those targets.

Expecting to cast your own spells in the new form

Why it's bad: In 2014 the target's game statistics, mental scores included, are replaced, and it can't speak or cast spells unless "its new form is capable of such actions." Whether a capable form can cast the target's own class spells is not stated; that is a DM ruling, not rules text. In 2024 the target simply can't speak or cast spells.

Do this instead: Put martial characters in the big forms. Keep the casters as themselves.

Usage Tips

• •Worked example (enemy): A 17th-level wizard with 20 Intelligence has spell save DC 19 (8 + 6 + 5). A fire giant has a +2 Wisdom save in both editions, so it needs a 17 and fails 80% of the time. Turn it into a small stone and hold concentration for an hour. A 2014 lich has a +9 Wisdom save, so it needs a 10 and fails 45% of the time, and it can spend Legendary Resistance on a failure anyway.
• •Worked example (ally, 2014): A 17th-level fighter becomes an adult red dragon: AC 19, 256 hit points, a fly speed of 80 feet, and Fire Breath for 63 (18d6) fire damage, DC 21 Dexterity save. When the dragon drops to 0, the fighter reverts with the hit points it had before, and excess damage carries over.
• •Worked example (ally, 2024): The same fighter keeps its own hit points and gains 256 temporary hit points. Fire Breath deals 59 (17d6). The 2024 dragon has a Spellcasting action, but the target can't cast spells.
• •Dispelling it: A permanent True Polymorph is a 9th-level spell. Dispel Magic cast with a lower slot needs an ability check against DC 19. A caster with a +5 modifier needs a 14 and succeeds 35% of the time. Dispel Magic cast with a 9th-level slot ends it automatically.
• •Related: Dispel Magic and the spell guide index.

Rules Notes

These are the 2014 rules. The 2024 changes are in their own section below.

• •One creature or nonmagical object you can see within 30 feet. An object can't be worn or carried by another creature.
• •No effect on a shapechanger or a creature with 0 hit points. Only an unwilling creature makes the Wisdom save.
• •The transformation ends when the duration ends or the target drops to 0 hit points or dies. A full hour of concentration makes it last until dispelled; read strictly, the 0-hit-point and death endings still apply, because the permanence sentence doesn't remove them.
• •Creature into creature: the target uses the new form's statistics and hit points. Excess damage carries over when it reverts at 0 hit points, the same as Polymorph. Gear melds into the new form and can't be used.
• •Object into creature: you decide its actions and movement, and it acts on your turns. Once the spell is permanent, you lose control, and it "might remain friendly" depending on how you treated it.

Synergies

• •A guarded hour: Allies on watch, or an ally's Wall of Force dome around you, protect your concentration while the spell becomes permanent.

Anti-Patterns

• •Casting it on a boss with Legendary Resistance as the opening move.

Tactical Modules

• •Statue prison: Turn a hostile giant into a statue and keep concentrating for an hour.
• •Instant guard: Turn a Huge statue into a fire giant to hold a gate.

Countermeasures

• •Threat: An enemy uses True Polymorph on your party. Response: Break the enemy caster's concentration before the hour is up, or Counterspell the casting. Fallback: Dispel Magic, DC 19 if cast below 9th level.

True Polymorph in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 version keeps the level, classes, 30-foot range, components, 1-hour concentration duration, Wisdom save for unwilling creatures, CR caps, and permanence after a full hour. Much of the detail changed, in the same direction as the 2024 Polymorph.

• •No exclusions: The lines about shapechangers and creatures at 0 hit points are gone.
• •Hit points: In creature-into-creature mode, the target keeps its own Hit Points and Hit Point Dice and gains Temporary Hit Points equal to the new form's Hit Points. They vanish when the spell ends.
• •No early end at 0 temporary hit points: The 2024 Polymorph ends when those temporary hit points run out. True Polymorph doesn't have that line. It lasts until the duration ends or "the target dies or is destroyed." After the temporary hit points are gone, damage comes off the target's own hit points and the form stays.
• •Creature type: The 2024 Polymorph lets the target keep its creature type. True Polymorph doesn't list creature type among the things the target retains, so the new form's type applies.
• •Actions: The target can't speak or cast spells, with no exception for capable forms. It is limited by the anatomy of its new form.
• •Object into creature: The creature takes its turns immediately after yours and obeys your commands. You lose control "if the spell lasts more than an hour."
• •Creature into object: The object can be no larger than the creature.
• •Shape-Shifting: Under the 2024 glossary rule, conditions, spells, and other ongoing effects carry over between forms unless the spell says otherwise, and a creature reverts to its true form if it dies.

A permanent 2024 dragon form gets its temporary hit points once. After a fight drains them, the fighter keeps the dragon's body on the fighter's own hit points, and only death ends the form.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does True Polymorph do in 5e?

It turns a creature into another creature or an object, or an object into a creature, for up to 1 hour (concentration). If you concentrate for the whole hour, the change lasts until dispelled. Unwilling creatures make a Wisdom save.

How do you make True Polymorph permanent?

Concentrate on it for the full hour. After that, it lasts until dispelled, and you no longer need to concentrate.

What is the CR limit for True Polymorph?

A creature can become any creature whose CR is equal to or lower than its own CR, or its level if it has no CR. An object can become a creature of CR 9 or lower that is no larger than the object.

Can True Polymorph turn someone into a dragon?

Yes, if the dragon's CR is within the cap. A 17th-level character can become an adult red dragon (CR 17).

What is the difference between Polymorph and True Polymorph?

Polymorph is 4th level, has a 60-foot range, and only makes beasts. True Polymorph has a 30-foot range, makes any creature, works on objects, and can become permanent.

Does a permanent True Polymorph end at 0 hit points?

In 2014, read strictly, yes. The permanence sentence changes the duration but leaves the "drops to 0 hit points or dies" ending in place, so the creature reverts. The text never says permanence removes that ending; a DM who rules otherwise is making a DM ruling, not following rules text. In 2024 the 0-hit-point ending is gone: the form lasts until the target dies or is destroyed, or the spell is dispelled.

Can a True Polymorphed creature cast spells?

Not in 2024. In 2014 it can't unless its new form is capable of such actions, and whether that covers its own class spells is a DM ruling.

Can Dispel Magic end a permanent True Polymorph?

Yes. Cast with a 9th-level slot, it ends automatically. With a lower slot, the caster makes a spellcasting ability check against DC 19.

Citations: SRD 5.1 (2014 rules), SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules)

Includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under CC BY 4.0.