Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Check out our Patreon for our podcast, bonus vids, and more! Patreon.com/webdm Or our Twitch channel for live streamed ttrpgs every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! Twitch.tv/webdm Or our live play archive on RUclips: RUclips.com/webdmplays
Bonus XP to Jim and Pruitt for a Pee Wee Herman reference, if for no other reason than it made me picture Cowboy Curtis- a.k.a. Samuel L. Jackson- sitting at the D&D table shouting, "I cast shapeshift on these mother****ing goblins on my mother****ing battlefield!"
I'm just sad that he went and had all that plastic surgery. He used to look distinguished; now he just looks too young for the job. Don't get me wrong - definitely after having all that work done, by far he's the best looking DM of all of them... I'm just sorry it had to come to this.
Don't forget that Glibness increases ALL of your charisma checks. This means that a lore bard with Glibness will instantly succeed on ANY counterspell no matter what level he casts it at. That combo alone makes up for the 8th level price tag imo
I'm 24 and 2 Sessions at the time of this comment into my first D&D Homebrew Campaign where I'm the DM myself. I also forward my gratitude to you guys, Web DM, for the wealth of knowledge
The issue, I think, comes from Transmutation not being as offense-based as something like Evocation. It's effects are geared heavily towards the utilitarian, which can cause them to be lost in the shuffle compared to the flashier schools. But it's also the school that gives spells like Fly, Haste, and Disintegrate. So, aside from the various flavors of Polymorph, it's got a lot going for it. I just sort of wish the Transmutor subclass could employ its 2nd level ability - to change materials into other materials - more quickly. I totally understand the flavor it was going for, but it kind of falls behind compared to other powers available to wizards of the same level in other schools.
@@Bluecho4 you can transform about 280 ml in six seconds it's farly effective. If you want to bring down a wall it will take some time, but otherwise...
"For an 8th level spell I want everything you say to be believed" When you're a Bard with Advantage[Minimum 15]+19[+5 Cha, Ioun Stone Mastery + Expertise]+d12+d4 to all your Persuasion checks, as my bard was, that's basically what it was.
The discussion on Glibness reminded me of the prison scene in the Order of the Stick webcomic. The bard had a potion of glibness that gave +30 to all bluff checks for an hour. His plan was to drink it so he and the rogue with max ranks in bluff could lie their way past one guard. She heard this, grabbed the potion, and downed it. They walked right in the prison and got past every guard with the rogue telling outlandish lies like; This prison break is all part of a test which you passed. Anything written in your operations manual that contradicts what I'm telling you is just another part of the test. You don't see or hear us. You don't work here anymore. You're actually a yellow footed rock wallaby. Your operations manual is a pack of treasonous lies writen by separatist muskrats. A guard shouted intruders and she just said "Nope." The guard then shouted false alarm.
One spell I've wanted for a while is just an "Animate Weapons" spell, that works like the Cleric's Spiritual Weapon. But instead of creating a weapon from energy, it telekinetically controls any weapon that doesn't have the Heavy property. A spell version of that one Flying Sword magic item, that works on different weapons. A prelude to the Animate Objects spell, where you're bringing a whole slew of objects to life and making them fight for you. I just love the image of a wizard who walks around, but they carry a sword on their belt. So everyone assumes he's just a fighter. That is, until he grips the sheath, mutters a magic word, and the sword flies out of its own accord, to attack someone. And now the wizard is using their bonus actions to harry people with this floating sword, while using his actions to cast other spells. The Castlevania Netflix series didn't give me this idea, but I loved how the show handled it with Alucard. Hell, he's also levitating, using Haste, and polymorphing himself into a wolf. So, yes, Alucard is obviously a Transmuter.
As someone who much prefers low fantasy settings, this video has helped me establish a good guideline on where high fantasy and low fantasy begin and end. I think having low fantasy deal only with magic as *energy* like fire, lightning, wind, etc. and high fantasy as being able to manipulate magic as *matter* like shape change and mold earth is a good divide.
So our Druid awakened a cat and that cat started learning magic. It was just a joke in our group till I got killed and my soul eaten by our lich enemy. I decided to play the cat. We ended and I was a 18 level diviner cat who bent the laws of time and reality around me.
I'm imagining a transmuter going up to tables and chairs and petting them or talking to them. When asked he would explain that in the event the table was transformed into a giant then the giant would remember his kind words.
Glibness is great because it applies to Charisma ability checks, if you’re a bard/warlock it’s pretty much an automatic dispel magic or counter spell on even 9th level spells with a +4 CHA modifier which would give you a 19 on your check. I believe that’s why it’s an 8th level spell, because it grants CHA casters the ability to become auto Spell Breakers.
Got to meet y’all this weekend during PAX South. Had to interrupt your lunch to do it, so thanks for being gracious. Definitely appreciate the dice and web DM token! Def my favorite PAX souvenir! Really enjoy ya’lls content! Keep it up!
I actually have a concept for a transmutation wizard halfling named Mouse who used to be a literal mouse rooting around a messy wizard's tower. The wizard, seeing the mouse, turned it into a halfling and had her clean up the mess for him, and he decided to keep her around because she was useful. In order to make sure a simple dispel magic wouldn't change her back into a worthless mouse, he trained her in transmutation to lock her into her new form permanently.
When my group played tomb of annihilation we had a furbolg druid that had an awakened flying monkey as his familiar. Then we moved onto a spell jammer game where the same player played as the awakened monkey as a divination wizard. The monkey recently died. Now my wizard uses his skull as a arcane focus. Thought you guys might appreciate this.
I think that in D&D worlds, unless otherwise stated, physics and everything works the same as the real world but magic let's you circumvent that. Like Time Stop or Fly
Make variant human druid with magic initiate, decent charisma. Spells: cantrips - guidance - shillelagh * 1st level - jump - longstrider Magic initiate sorcerer: - friends - mage hand choose between: - expeditious retreat - charm person Now you have first level jedi! * there’s your lightsaber
In my setting at least in part transmuters have a hand in creating magic. See in my world the origin of things and the very nature of the gods themselves is ambiguous, and some people hate that, they just NEEDED to know. So they resorted to chronomancy (a subschool of transmutation in my world) and each of them either working on each other’s notes or independently throughout time worked out that with enough magic they can go ALL the way back and maybe see the gods as they make the world. To get this amount of magic you need to actually cut out a piece of the Weave and bind it to yourself. One problem with that much power, normal people can’t use that much without damaging themselves. Their bodies were incinerated and their spirits and the magic go back. And there at the dawn of time all the people who traveled back join together and become the Weave. But hey, they did see the start of things, they just can’t share it
For Glibness, I think Jim has a good point even if you're a bard with tons of bonuses to charisma checks. Its completely within your DM's authority to say "There's no roll you could make that would allow you to lie successfully about this". Kinda goes back to the whole "Don't roll if there's no chance of failure, or no chance of success" thing. So it would be good if there was a sentence in the spell that explicitly states that you can lie about ANYTHING, even without making a check.
One of my players got himself killed last session, so now he's rolling up a transmutation wizard. You guys could not have uploaded this at a better time!
New to 5e DnD and was researching what to play in Baldurs Gate 3. Your discussion of how transmuter's are likely the most akin to physicists/scientists sealed the deal for me. I was looking for a mad scientist analog and you helped me confirm it. Thanks and great video!
My eladrin Druid was high level at one point, he was drunk, and decided to go around, awaken some random animals, go to a grave and bring back people to (reincarnate) life as different creatures. That poor town was never the same as they now had some random deer and rabbits that had no idea what to do and some newly dwarfs and high elves trying to reconnect with their human parents. It was great
Jim's points about a soldier with transmutation magic remind me of my great disappointment when I learned an Eldritch knight was limited to abjuration and evocation when I wanted to make a battlefield controller with transmutation magic.
My undying patron warlock used Mold Earth and Tiny Hut (which I called the Tiny Tomb) to dig herself a grave every night to "sleep" in. She just sat down there and read her tome, communing with her patron. Her raven, Harbinger, hung out up top and warned her of danger.
Less than a week away from the start of the first campaign I'm going to run, and I think I'm ready. I was dumb/ambitious enough to make it a mega dungeon thanks to your guys, and my players are stoked, 'cause none of them have done that sort of d&d before. Thank you all for the inspiration, and wish me luck.
You guys should do a video on vehicles! Talk about carriages, ships, wagons, etc . . . You guys could talk about how to include them in your games and spice things up with them, perhaps talk about an "Oregon Trail" type campaign where you have to upkeep your wagon as you keep moving forward. You could also talk about horses and donkeys and stuff too!
Great video guys! Remember that for charisma casters having the glibness effect makes any dispel magic and counterspell an automatic success regardless of what level you're trying to dispel/counter as a minimum check of 15 plus a charisma bonus of at least +4 is enough for 9th level spells.
One of my player's first character was a stone sorcerer who took mold earth, basically became a staple of his as he multiclassed to paladin. Molding earth to form walls and such in combat or even taking a week to bolster the main cities defenses. Very useful spell with time on your side or on the fly
I just learned about Netheril and why there are rules to magic in general, and it transformed my D&D experience. I think people need to know about Netheril and how 10th, 11th, and 12th level spells do/did exist, but no one can cast them.
Another really interesting use for Tenser’s Transformation, for those that think it isn’t very good, is to put it in a Glyph of Warding to buff up your Barbarian, Paladin, or Fighter. Or, if you’re a Bladesinger, you step on the Glyph (which means, no concentration required), and you just use your spell slots for Song of Defense, when needed, and have your Simulacrum cast spells for you. Requires a lot of setup and it gave me an idea for an interesting twist on the wizard villain boss fight.
The kid was adorable and funny. That he had a hard time saying games workshop as a whole phrase, but could say them piecemeal reminds of a video where a father is trying to get his little girl to say ice cream. She can say the two words by themselves, but trying to say ice cream together just comes out as gibberish.
So for the first time I am playing a Transmutation Wizard. All my magic is reskinned as mutations. Flying grows wings, Featherfall is flying squirrel skinflaps , stuff like that. It’s pretty awesome.
I wish you guys could've discussed the challenges of keeping up with stat changes when using transmission spells and effects. When you can change into countless things, that tends to give you countless homework to do before game which can be very intimidating!
What I love about transmutation is when you want to build a castle or other structure that is the central pit design you can have a single druid at 11th level that can prepare the appriate spells and utterly change how you allocate work and time expense
Transmutation: "Morphing" is my favourite magic. At the highest levels its the most plausibly scientific AND can do all other magics when you over think it! Love the Vivimancy! I love shapeshifting (self and others) including partial/adaptive morphing such as claws, long more effective legs, gills and other underwater adaptations, wings and hollow bones etc! Easy for DM's to counter the double T-rex by making flying enemies with ranged attacks, or large areas of water, crumbling terrain, etc. etc. Just needs a decently creative DM! I love MORE options and lore personally! Great episode thanks!
My favorite transmutation character i ever made was a Chaotic Evil Anarchist whose mission was to literally destroy all the great buildings and forts in the Empire/Country they were left in. Mold Earth around a giant wall and slowly watch it collapse as a an army of Gnolls start attacking the city... MMM! Priceless fun!
Hey, this is a long post, I know, but I noticed Pruitt mentioned in the video the concept of dragons having a "third lung"with some lighter than air molecule that they use to lighten themselves enough to fly that they can also combine with another substance in order to use their breath weapon. I once watched a hypothetical documentary about IF dragons had existed in real life, how would they most likely have evolved on our planet to include all the standard traits for dragons in local myth as well as a variety of different dragon traits. For example, it explained that in prehistoric times, they would perhaps have had a similar appearance to what we might call Wyverns. Two hind legs and two large, leathery bat-like wings, with the head shape similar to other carnivorous dinosaurs of the time. They would have a bone structure similar to birds to keep them light, but they also would have had a second stomach with a gut bacteria that broke down food and produced hydrogen as a by-product. This hydrogen would help make them lighter and allow them to glide and fly farther. They would also have an affinity for platinum which would cause them to scavenge it when they could find it close to the surface of mountains. The platinum would stick to molar like teeth in the back of their mouth so that when they belched the hydrogen from their flight bladder it would cause a chemical reaction on the platinum and ignite allowing them to breathe fire. The documentary goes on to explain how that dragon then evolves into a handful of other real life mythological versions of dragons in our real life, It's a solid documentary and I suggest anyone curious on some truthy sounding ideas for dragons should check it out. The documentary is called : "The Last Dragon - A Fantasy Made Real" It's available here on RUclips by searching for it and it is WELL worth the watch for anybody who likes documentaries.
Adorable 10/10 intro. Talking about Polymorph though, in our last campaign, once he got the spell our wizard would pretty consistently attempt (and usually succeed) at turning our enemies into turtles, which we would then flip on its back so that it's suddenly now prone and we all have advantage to just wail on this thing lol.
I'm playing in Tomb of Annihilation, and we met with the King of Feathers. We charmed him the first time we met him to avoid the fight, and my new mission is to Awaken him and teach him to defend the jungle. That's my new true objective.
Oh! So, the ranger made it so he could talk, and the DM roleplayed the King of Feathers with this really laid back, non-chalant voice. We still laugh when she had him tell us, "Uh, yea, so I can shoot wasps out of my mouth. That's pretty cool."
A school analysis isn't complete without a "what would an evil mage of this school be like?" section. The answer for transmutation can be found in Jack Vance's books, bc geez dude, those are some bad eggs with godlike power
Conjure Trogdor 8th-level conjuration Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V (shouting "Trogdoooooor!" at the top of your lungs), S, M ( 1 homestar, 1 strong bad letter that are consumed by the spell) Duration: Conc. Up to 1 hour Trogdor the Burninator appears in an unoccupied space in range that you see. You have no control over Trogdor but you can as an action make Trogdor burn a countryside or peasant you can see. The beefy arms of the Trogdor gives it advantage on Strength Checks and Strength Saving Throws. At Higher Levels: If you cast this spell using a 9th-level slot, Trogdor eats you. You are eaten and dead. Make like a new character or something.
On Glibness, it also has great synergy with spells that might call for a (charisma) spellcasting ability check, like counterspell and telekinesis, giving you a 100% success chance to counterspell at any level, and a near-guaranteed success with telekinesis.
Such a good conversation. You guys are really great about pushing the metaphysics of D&D to its limits and thinking through consequences - it's always helpful and fun to listen to you
one of my favorite characters ive ever played was a warforged alchemist that liked to alter the metallic composition of his body through special transmutations in a process he called "metalmorphosis".
My Tiefling college of swords bard uses shapechange to turn her into Maralith. Not the strongest thing you can turn into but it's really thematic and cool. The fact that you can still use class feature s as well is awesome.
I am really enjoying this spell school series. Super keen to hear your thoughts on Conjuration, I love the idea of the school. Bringing effects, objects and creatures from other places, which raises the question. Where is the place these icy and acidic tentacles appeared from? The great wheel cosmology with the intermediate elemental realms help (between earth and water somewhere near the chaotic spheres is where the plane of acid lies, that's where I conjure my acid splash from). It is one school where I generally have the temptation to expand the wizards access to other class spells e.g. the ranger spell "conjure barrage". I love the idea of this spell either drawing on displacement of time. Conjuring the same projectile again and again in the confined space/cone, or conjuring 1000 daggers out of holsters all around the multiverse for only 6 seconds. I'll keep watch all the same, just hanging out for conjuration.
I agree on Tenser's Transformation. In my opinion I think it should turn you into some kind of ancestral warrior. Armor, weapons, skills, feats of some ancient warrior that Tenser himself used. I imagined when he created this spell he had a really powerful warrior that he cast some kind of powerful, complex ritual and from then on, if you cast Tenser's Transformation, its that warrior you turn into basically. As for polymorph self I feel like the animal you choose should influence your personality during and as a draw back to the spell for a limited time afterward. If you choose a bear you become stubborn, fearless and aggressive. If you choose a rat you become clever, deceptive and paranoid.
Transmutation is hands down my favorite school of magic. It's kind of the quintessential school (one could also argue Evocation) with the ability to change the property of things in the world around you. It's by far the most versatile magic and therefore also quite powerful. I love all the buffs and debuffs, polymorphing, and changing the world. You have the classics like Fly, Haste, Slow, Waterbreathing, Polymorph, and all the other spells like Bull's Strength/Bear's Endurance, etc. and Enlarge and Reduce (Enhance Ability and Enlarge/Reduce are unfortunately next to useless in 5th) and Passwall and Time Stop. One spell that I've always considered should be in Transmutation that isn't is Invisibility. I understand that the Illusion school gets all the spells related to how things are sensed/perceived and all the glamers, granting it the Invisibility spell, but transmutation is the school of changing the properties of something. I'm glad you touched on this since most people never seem to think about it.
The one wizard that i got to level 20 in a campaign ended it by casting shape change into an ancient brass dragon to become a 20th level wizard dragon lol. It was fucking epic, unfortunately wasnt able to play with it any, but it did definitely feel the crown jewel of my wizards rise to power. Transmutation fucking rules lol
Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Check out our Patreon for our podcast, bonus vids, and more! Patreon.com/webdm
Or our Twitch channel for live streamed ttrpgs every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! Twitch.tv/webdm
Or our live play archive on RUclips: RUclips.com/webdmplays
Oh so that's why a rapier does more damage than a scimitar or an improvised weapon (chair leg) does as much damage as a 12" dagger? MAGIC!
Bonus XP to Jim and Pruitt for a Pee Wee Herman reference, if for no other reason than it made me picture Cowboy Curtis- a.k.a. Samuel L. Jackson- sitting at the D&D table shouting, "I cast shapeshift on these mother****ing goblins on my mother****ing battlefield!"
@@rowanhawklan9707 daggers probably more like 8 inche blade, 5 in he handle
Any chance you'll post a 5e Vivimancer somewhere? Sounds very interesting to me!
Cowboy Curtis was Lawrence Fishburne, not Samuel Jackson. You’ve got the wrong black guy
Just when I thought Jim Davis couldn't get any cuter, you got to go and prove me wrong
I'm just sad that he went and had all that plastic surgery. He used to look distinguished; now he just looks too young for the job.
Don't get me wrong - definitely after having all that work done, by far he's the best looking DM of all of them... I'm just sorry it had to come to this.
Best. Intro. EVER!!! He's so freakin' cute!!
1) That kid is adorable.
2) That setting is beautiful.
3) You guys are awesome/helpful/responsible proponents of the hobby!
Keep on keeping on!
Took me over a full minute to stop laughing at the thumbnail before I could start this video.
Of course, because we all know Pruitt is a blue ranger.
Same
Don't forget that Glibness increases ALL of your charisma checks. This means that a lore bard with Glibness will instantly succeed on ANY counterspell no matter what level he casts it at. That combo alone makes up for the 8th level price tag imo
That opening was super cute!
BURNINATING THE TOWN, BURNINATING THE PEOPLE, BURNINATING THE COUNTRYSIDE!!! TROGDOOOOOR!!!
30+ years old and I am now 5 sessions into my first D&D campaign. I have you guys to thank for reigniting my interest, these videos are awesome!
I'm 24 and 2 Sessions at the time of this comment into my first D&D Homebrew Campaign where I'm the DM myself.
I also forward my gratitude to you guys, Web DM, for the wealth of knowledge
The most adorable intro ever. But also a great examination of an oft-overlooked school of magic.
Now I just want to homebrew a "transmute baby" spell
I've never been really impressed with Transmutation... thank you for changing my mind!
Isn't that the point though.
Absolutely. :)
The issue, I think, comes from Transmutation not being as offense-based as something like Evocation. It's effects are geared heavily towards the utilitarian, which can cause them to be lost in the shuffle compared to the flashier schools.
But it's also the school that gives spells like Fly, Haste, and Disintegrate. So, aside from the various flavors of Polymorph, it's got a lot going for it. I just sort of wish the Transmutor subclass could employ its 2nd level ability - to change materials into other materials - more quickly. I totally understand the flavor it was going for, but it kind of falls behind compared to other powers available to wizards of the same level in other schools.
@@Bluecho4 you can transform about 280 ml in six seconds it's farly effective. If you want to bring down a wall it will take some time, but otherwise...
Transmutation is all about versatility and changing things to be the way you want them to be. That makes it really powerful.
Web DM intros just keep getting better
Love my boy Trog so much
"For an 8th level spell I want everything you say to be believed"
When you're a Bard with Advantage[Minimum 15]+19[+5 Cha, Ioun Stone Mastery + Expertise]+d12+d4 to all your Persuasion checks, as my bard was, that's basically what it was.
The discussion on Glibness reminded me of the prison scene in the Order of the Stick webcomic.
The bard had a potion of glibness that gave +30 to all bluff checks for an hour. His plan was to drink it so he and the rogue with max ranks in bluff could lie their way past one guard. She heard this, grabbed the potion, and downed it.
They walked right in the prison and got past every guard with the rogue telling outlandish lies like;
This prison break is all part of a test which you passed. Anything written in your operations manual that contradicts what I'm telling you is just another part of the test.
You don't see or hear us.
You don't work here anymore.
You're actually a yellow footed rock wallaby.
Your operations manual is a pack of treasonous lies writen by separatist muskrats.
A guard shouted intruders and she just said "Nope." The guard then shouted false alarm.
Man I haven't read Order of the Stick in a while. I lost my place and kind of lost interest. I'll have to give it another shot.
One spell I've wanted for a while is just an "Animate Weapons" spell, that works like the Cleric's Spiritual Weapon. But instead of creating a weapon from energy, it telekinetically controls any weapon that doesn't have the Heavy property. A spell version of that one Flying Sword magic item, that works on different weapons. A prelude to the Animate Objects spell, where you're bringing a whole slew of objects to life and making them fight for you.
I just love the image of a wizard who walks around, but they carry a sword on their belt. So everyone assumes he's just a fighter. That is, until he grips the sheath, mutters a magic word, and the sword flies out of its own accord, to attack someone. And now the wizard is using their bonus actions to harry people with this floating sword, while using his actions to cast other spells.
The Castlevania Netflix series didn't give me this idea, but I loved how the show handled it with Alucard. Hell, he's also levitating, using Haste, and polymorphing himself into a wolf. So, yes, Alucard is obviously a Transmuter.
That beautiful window backround... bruh real magic
Love the thumb nail and opening, also, mold earth is so great for prep and and setting up camp!
Combine it with move earth and you have an instant trench for your ranged characters and mages to blast fools from afar with relative protection.
I had to watch this is as soon as I saw the thumbnail.
having an low level druid. First sign of something bad happening, pull a chunk of earth out, jump into ditch and start throwing rocks.
Watch out you guys, there's a deadly gazebo just outside your window!
Oh no. Let's get it and...have a picnic or something
Gazebos are harmless, so long as you don't anger them. Treat nature with respect, friends.
Bluecho4 I shoot a arrow at it.....what dose it do?
@@Recardoguy007 What did I just say!?
A mimic gazebo?
As someone who much prefers low fantasy settings, this video has helped me establish a good guideline on where high fantasy and low fantasy begin and end. I think having low fantasy deal only with magic as *energy* like fire, lightning, wind, etc. and high fantasy as being able to manipulate magic as *matter* like shape change and mold earth is a good divide.
Best. Intro. Ever. Instalike
Same here, insta like after the intro XD
Loving the change of scenery guys. It's all cold and dead where I am at the moment. Seeing some green is refreshing.
Same!
Also same.
What a perfect spot for playing some DnD. Also a phenomenal set for a very well framed video.
So our Druid awakened a cat and that cat started learning magic. It was just a joke in our group till I got killed and my soul eaten by our lich enemy. I decided to play the cat. We ended and I was a 18 level diviner cat who bent the laws of time and reality around me.
Schrodinger's cat
Just of curiosity, how do you gwt proficiency as the cat?
Oh I didn’t have the weapons or armor training, but I was a wizard so no big deal. I did however create by the end a tiny robe of the Archmage.
Oh no,not the weapons
I meant the skills
I mean the cat was there for a while before we I died and took over.
I'm imagining a transmuter going up to tables and chairs and petting them or talking to them. When asked he would explain that in the event the table was transformed into a giant then the giant would remember his kind words.
“FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BUILD HERE I COME”
I’ve been waiting for this since I subscribed, thanks guys
Glibness is great because it applies to Charisma ability checks, if you’re a bard/warlock it’s pretty much an automatic dispel magic or counter spell on even 9th level spells with a +4 CHA modifier which would give you a 19 on your check.
I believe that’s why it’s an 8th level spell, because it grants CHA casters the ability to become auto Spell Breakers.
Got to meet y’all this weekend during PAX South. Had to interrupt your lunch to do it, so thanks for being gracious. Definitely appreciate the dice and web DM token! Def my favorite PAX souvenir! Really enjoy ya’lls content! Keep it up!
It was so great to meet you!
I actually have a concept for a transmutation wizard halfling named Mouse who used to be a literal mouse rooting around a messy wizard's tower. The wizard, seeing the mouse, turned it into a halfling and had her clean up the mess for him, and he decided to keep her around because she was useful. In order to make sure a simple dispel magic wouldn't change her back into a worthless mouse, he trained her in transmutation to lock her into her new form permanently.
When my group played tomb of annihilation we had a furbolg druid that had an awakened flying monkey as his familiar. Then we moved onto a spell jammer game where the same player played as the awakened monkey as a divination wizard.
The monkey recently died. Now my wizard uses his skull as a arcane focus. Thought you guys might appreciate this.
I imagine a gnome that animates a chair and uses it as its mount.
I think that in D&D worlds, unless otherwise stated, physics and everything works the same as the real world but magic let's you circumvent that. Like Time Stop or Fly
OMG I want's expecting this intro and rolled 1 in my cuteness saving throw
Make variant human druid with magic initiate, decent charisma.
Spells:
cantrips
- guidance
- shillelagh *
1st
level
- jump
- longstrider
Magic initiate sorcerer:
- friends
- mage hand
choose between:
- expeditious retreat
- charm person
Now you have first level jedi!
* there’s your lightsaber
In my setting at least in part transmuters have a hand in creating magic.
See in my world the origin of things and the very nature of the gods themselves is ambiguous, and some people hate that, they just NEEDED to know. So they resorted to chronomancy (a subschool of transmutation in my world) and each of them either working on each other’s notes or independently throughout time worked out that with enough magic they can go ALL the way back and maybe see the gods as they make the world. To get this amount of magic you need to actually cut out a piece of the Weave and bind it to yourself.
One problem with that much power, normal people can’t use that much without damaging themselves. Their bodies were incinerated and their spirits and the magic go back. And there at the dawn of time all the people who traveled back join together and become the Weave. But hey, they did see the start of things, they just can’t share it
For Glibness, I think Jim has a good point even if you're a bard with tons of bonuses to charisma checks. Its completely within your DM's authority to say "There's no roll you could make that would allow you to lie successfully about this". Kinda goes back to the whole "Don't roll if there's no chance of failure, or no chance of success" thing. So it would be good if there was a sentence in the spell that explicitly states that you can lie about ANYTHING, even without making a check.
21:40... Jim's reaction is priceless!!!!!!
One of my players got himself killed last session, so now he's rolling up a transmutation wizard. You guys could not have uploaded this at a better time!
New to 5e DnD and was researching what to play in Baldurs Gate 3. Your discussion of how transmuter's are likely the most akin to physicists/scientists sealed the deal for me. I was looking for a mad scientist analog and you helped me confirm it. Thanks and great video!
My eladrin Druid was high level at one point, he was drunk, and decided to go around, awaken some random animals, go to a grave and bring back people to (reincarnate) life as different creatures. That poor town was never the same as they now had some random deer and rabbits that had no idea what to do and some newly dwarfs and high elves trying to reconnect with their human parents. It was great
Super cute opening!
I hyperventilated quite a bit when i saw this, finally my favorite school of magic!!! You guys rock!
Jim's points about a soldier with transmutation magic remind me of my great disappointment when I learned an Eldritch knight was limited to abjuration and evocation when I wanted to make a battlefield controller with transmutation magic.
The power of glibness is a counterspelling as a bard
My BBEG truly suffered
Pruit - way ahead of you, my Divine Soul is already spreading her gospel around the Forgotten Realms (in AL games, including at conventions)
TROGDOR THE BURNINATOR!
Timothy Heimbach burninating the country side! Burninating all the peasants! Burninating the people... TROGDOOOOORRRRRR!!!!!
AND HE SETS FIRE TO COTTAGES!
ESPECIALLY COTTAGES!
My undying patron warlock used Mold Earth and Tiny Hut (which I called the Tiny Tomb) to dig herself a grave every night to "sleep" in. She just sat down there and read her tome, communing with her patron. Her raven, Harbinger, hung out up top and warned her of danger.
Less than a week away from the start of the first campaign I'm going to run, and I think I'm ready. I was dumb/ambitious enough to make it a mega dungeon thanks to your guys, and my players are stoked, 'cause none of them have done that sort of d&d before. Thank you all for the inspiration, and wish me luck.
Parker Dixon-Word Good luck!
@@jimdavis141 I already got to add a Fairy Dragon named Blitz Peanutbrittle, so I think I'm off to a firm start.
You guys should do a video on vehicles! Talk about carriages, ships, wagons, etc . . . You guys could talk about how to include them in your games and spice things up with them, perhaps talk about an "Oregon Trail" type campaign where you have to upkeep your wagon as you keep moving forward. You could also talk about horses and donkeys and stuff too!
The promo image for this episode is THE BEST
Best Web DM intro so far... Maybe all of RUclips...
IT'S MORPHIN TIME
I love the change of scenery and back ground! Great refreshing look, guys
Great video guys! Remember that for charisma casters having the glibness effect makes any dispel magic and counterspell an automatic success regardless of what level you're trying to dispel/counter as a minimum check of 15 plus a charisma bonus of at least +4 is enough for 9th level spells.
One of my player's first character was a stone sorcerer who took mold earth, basically became a staple of his as he multiclassed to paladin. Molding earth to form walls and such in combat or even taking a week to bolster the main cities defenses. Very useful spell with time on your side or on the fly
I just learned about Netheril and why there are rules to magic in general, and it transformed my D&D experience.
I think people need to know about Netheril and how 10th, 11th, and 12th level spells do/did exist, but no one can cast them.
"THE DOOR IS A JAR!"
- really, really old Transmuters' joke
LOL
Pruitt... you missed Jesus turning water into wine!
Another really interesting use for Tenser’s Transformation, for those that think it isn’t very good, is to put it in a Glyph of Warding to buff up your Barbarian, Paladin, or Fighter. Or, if you’re a Bladesinger, you step on the Glyph (which means, no concentration required), and you just use your spell slots for Song of Defense, when needed, and have your Simulacrum cast spells for you. Requires a lot of setup and it gave me an idea for an interesting twist on the wizard villain boss fight.
The kid was adorable and funny. That he had a hard time saying games workshop as a whole phrase, but could say them piecemeal reminds of a video where a father is trying to get his little girl to say ice cream. She can say the two words by themselves, but trying to say ice cream together just comes out as gibberish.
Jim and Pruitt, have you guys ever released your homebrew content before? I’d love to see it, you guys just have so much inspiration to offer!
Ethan McBride not yet, but keep your eyes peeled!
So for the first time I am playing a Transmutation Wizard. All my magic is reskinned as mutations. Flying grows wings, Featherfall is flying squirrel skinflaps , stuff like that. It’s pretty awesome.
I wish you guys could've discussed the challenges of keeping up with stat changes when using transmission spells and effects.
When you can change into countless things, that tends to give you countless homework to do before game which can be very intimidating!
What I love about transmutation is when you want to build a castle or other structure that is the central pit design you can have a single druid at 11th level that can prepare the appriate spells and utterly change how you allocate work and time expense
Transmutation: "Morphing" is my favourite magic. At the highest levels its the most plausibly scientific AND can do all other magics when you over think it! Love the Vivimancy! I love shapeshifting (self and others) including partial/adaptive morphing such as claws, long more effective legs, gills and other underwater adaptations, wings and hollow bones etc! Easy for DM's to counter the double T-rex by making flying enemies with ranged attacks, or large areas of water, crumbling terrain, etc. etc. Just needs a decently creative DM! I love MORE options and lore personally! Great episode thanks!
Loving the new Set! It is permanent?!
Also hey Trogdor!!!
Not permanent!!
My favorite transmutation character i ever made was a Chaotic Evil Anarchist whose mission was to literally destroy all the great buildings and forts in the Empire/Country they were left in.
Mold Earth around a giant wall and slowly watch it collapse as a an army of Gnolls start attacking the city... MMM! Priceless fun!
Hey, this is a long post, I know, but I noticed Pruitt mentioned in the video the concept of dragons having a "third lung"with some lighter than air molecule that they use to lighten themselves enough to fly that they can also combine with another substance in order to use their breath weapon. I once watched a hypothetical documentary about IF dragons had existed in real life, how would they most likely have evolved on our planet to include all the standard traits for dragons in local myth as well as a variety of different dragon traits.
For example, it explained that in prehistoric times, they would perhaps have had a similar appearance to what we might call Wyverns. Two hind legs and two large, leathery bat-like wings, with the head shape similar to other carnivorous dinosaurs of the time. They would have a bone structure similar to birds to keep them light, but they also would have had a second stomach with a gut bacteria that broke down food and produced hydrogen as a by-product. This hydrogen would help make them lighter and allow them to glide and fly farther. They would also have an affinity for platinum which would cause them to scavenge it when they could find it close to the surface of mountains. The platinum would stick to molar like teeth in the back of their mouth so that when they belched the hydrogen from their flight bladder it would cause a chemical reaction on the platinum and ignite allowing them to breathe fire.
The documentary goes on to explain how that dragon then evolves into a handful of other real life mythological versions of dragons in our real life, It's a solid documentary and I suggest anyone curious on some truthy sounding ideas for dragons should check it out.
The documentary is called : "The Last Dragon - A Fantasy Made Real"
It's available here on RUclips by searching for it and it is WELL worth the watch for anybody who likes documentaries.
I remember watching that a decade ago.
"You're a wizard, Jesus"
Adorable 10/10 intro.
Talking about Polymorph though, in our last campaign, once he got the spell our wizard would pretty consistently attempt (and usually succeed) at turning our enemies into turtles, which we would then flip on its back so that it's suddenly now prone and we all have advantage to just wail on this thing lol.
The thumbnail and that intro, my heart can’t take it.
I'm playing in Tomb of Annihilation, and we met with the King of Feathers. We charmed him the first time we met him to avoid the fight, and my new mission is to Awaken him and teach him to defend the jungle. That's my new true objective.
Oh! So, the ranger made it so he could talk, and the DM roleplayed the King of Feathers with this really laid back, non-chalant voice. We still laugh when she had him tell us, "Uh, yea, so I can shoot wasps out of my mouth. That's pretty cool."
A school analysis isn't complete without a "what would an evil mage of this school be like?" section. The answer for transmutation can be found in Jack Vance's books, bc geez dude, those are some bad eggs with godlike power
Holy crap, Trogdor is adorable. Great video as always guys, good to hear some love for an all-too-often overlooked school of magic.
Conjure Trogdor
8th-level conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V (shouting "Trogdoooooor!" at the top of your lungs), S, M ( 1 homestar, 1 strong bad letter that are consumed by the spell)
Duration: Conc. Up to 1 hour
Trogdor the Burninator appears in an unoccupied space in range that you see. You have no control over Trogdor but you can as an action make Trogdor burn a countryside or peasant you can see. The beefy arms of the Trogdor gives it advantage on Strength Checks and Strength Saving Throws.
At Higher Levels: If you cast this spell using a 9th-level slot, Trogdor eats you. You are eaten and dead. Make like a new character or something.
On Glibness, it also has great synergy with spells that might call for a (charisma) spellcasting ability check, like counterspell and telekinesis, giving you a 100% success chance to counterspell at any level, and a near-guaranteed success with telekinesis.
Such a good conversation. You guys are really great about pushing the metaphysics of D&D to its limits and thinking through consequences - it's always helpful and fun to listen to you
The introduction was great! The set is also so pleasurable to look at.
one of my favorite characters ive ever played was a warforged alchemist that liked to alter the metallic composition of his body through special transmutations in a process he called "metalmorphosis".
It's been too long that i've seen a Trogdor reference. Take all my upvotes.
I gotta say, I love the set. Such a beautiful backdrop
My Tiefling college of swords bard uses shapechange to turn her into Maralith. Not the strongest thing you can turn into but it's really thematic and cool.
The fact that you can still use class feature s as well is awesome.
Dungeon Master: "It's magic; I ain't gotta explain shit."
I am really enjoying this spell school series. Super keen to hear your thoughts on Conjuration, I love the idea of the school. Bringing effects, objects and creatures from other places, which raises the question. Where is the place these icy and acidic tentacles appeared from? The great wheel cosmology with the intermediate elemental realms help (between earth and water somewhere near the chaotic spheres is where the plane of acid lies, that's where I conjure my acid splash from). It is one school where I generally have the temptation to expand the wizards access to other class spells e.g. the ranger spell "conjure barrage". I love the idea of this spell either drawing on displacement of time. Conjuring the same projectile again and again in the confined space/cone, or conjuring 1000 daggers out of holsters all around the multiverse for only 6 seconds. I'll keep watch all the same, just hanging out for conjuration.
Your new location is very soothing. And your new co-host is very charming 🌺
Pruitt is either adorkable, terrifying, or both.
Summer: "Dad you cant just endow a creature with consciousness and then strip it from it"
Jerry: "Why not"
Summer: "I dont know... it's indian giving"
Hands down, this was the best intro. Well done guys!
I gotta say, always kinda looked down on the Transmuter. I learned something today! Hazaa!
I agree on Tenser's Transformation. In my opinion I think it should turn you into some kind of ancestral warrior. Armor, weapons, skills, feats of some ancient warrior that Tenser himself used. I imagined when he created this spell he had a really powerful warrior that he cast some kind of powerful, complex ritual and from then on, if you cast Tenser's Transformation, its that warrior you turn into basically.
As for polymorph self I feel like the animal you choose should influence your personality during and as a draw back to the spell for a limited time afterward. If you choose a bear you become stubborn, fearless and aggressive. If you choose a rat you become clever, deceptive and paranoid.
Warforged Transmuter who goes about their life gradually replacing parts of their own construction with gold.
Transmutation is hands down my favorite school of magic. It's kind of the quintessential school (one could also argue Evocation) with the ability to change the property of things in the world around you. It's by far the most versatile magic and therefore also quite powerful. I love all the buffs and debuffs, polymorphing, and changing the world. You have the classics like Fly, Haste, Slow, Waterbreathing, Polymorph, and all the other spells like Bull's Strength/Bear's Endurance, etc. and Enlarge and Reduce (Enhance Ability and Enlarge/Reduce are unfortunately next to useless in 5th) and Passwall and Time Stop.
One spell that I've always considered should be in Transmutation that isn't is Invisibility. I understand that the Illusion school gets all the spells related to how things are sensed/perceived and all the glamers, granting it the Invisibility spell, but transmutation is the school of changing the properties of something. I'm glad you touched on this since most people never seem to think about it.
The best cover picture you guys have ever put together.
Thanks!
Merlin from The Disney Sword in the Stone absolutely comes to mind as the iconic transmuter.
The one wizard that i got to level 20 in a campaign ended it by casting shape change into an ancient brass dragon to become a 20th level wizard dragon lol. It was fucking epic, unfortunately wasnt able to play with it any, but it did definitely feel the crown jewel of my wizards rise to power. Transmutation fucking rules lol
This channel is so good... Always look forward to the intros, those little skits add so much.
Another killer vid. Also, Jim's hoodie looks super stylish and comfy. I want one!
Amazon!
ok you almost perfectly described me so no wonder i love transmutation.
I love Trogdor so much
Pruitt just single handedly started the second satanic panic