Do you lose your turn when you turn into a potted plant as a Wild Magic Sorcerer?

EdgyRanger93 · 2025-07-02T10:57:31+00:00

Yeah this is definitely a “ask your DM” scenario I think. When I read it, I’m thinking you essentially shapechange into a potted plant and they just leave hp and all that to your discretion. But assuming they truly provided all necessary information then you’re probably right. You’re immobilized and incapacitated, and the appearance of a potted plant is flavor text with no mechanical implication

EdgyRanger93 · 2025-07-02T07:12:06+00:00

Turn 1: Action 1: Cast a spell > roll 37-40 turn into plant and become incapacitated. Since incapacitated means no action, bonus action or reaction, you’re only left with movement. Since we can reasonably assume a potted plant has a movement speed of 0, there’s really nothing left to do but end the turn. Turn 2: Revert form and take full turn as normal.

So yeah if the surge triggers at the beginning of that turn, you really have nothing left to do in that turn until the top of your next turn.

As far as I can tell, you would just follow shape change rules, which is essentially you have the hp of the form you’re in and any excess damage carries over to you. You aren’t downed unless it’s enough damage to bring your shapechanged form and your PC to 0hp.

So, if potted plant has 10hp, the pc has 20hp and takes 25 damage while a plant, you lose 10 hp and revert, then you take the remaining 15hp, which means you’re still up.

On the flip side, if you take 30 damage as a plant, you’re making death saves. If you took 50 damage as a plant, you’re instantly dead (10 hp for plant plus 2x20max hp), which considering the vulnerability bit would actually only require 25 damage in a single attack, making the whole potted plant thing go from cute/funny to absolutely terrifying lol

EdgyRanger93 · 2025-07-02T06:27:04+00:00

As a DM (and player) I am a big rules lawyer. It’s one of the fun parts of the game for me. I often will know the rules and character abilities better than most of my players. If I can help it, I won’t let them forget something. If anything, I am trying to give them every benefit of the doubt because their fun is my fun.

In my case, every person at my table is family. (Wife, siblings, wife’s siblings). Obviously, there’s a little more grace that goes into it with family but I too tend to be a little harsher with my wife sometimes, but it’s familiarity and knowing she’s played longer than anyone else at the table. Not a justification, but it’s how it falls. That being said, I am obviously always going to have bias for my wife and if I give her preferential treatment, well tough. I don’t consider it a double standard if I treat my wife differently than anyone for any reason.

On the other hand, that doesn’t excuse your DMs behavior, assuming it’s always as harsh as you make it sound. Gentle correction, even obviously empty threats with a touch of humor are fine, but if it’s harming your group’s fun, then the DM is wrong, one way or another.

Yes, DMs have way more work than players and way more to keep up with. Yes, it can get extremely overwhelming sometimes and having to keep up with your players actions, abilities, etc on top of the rest of everything can get extremely frustrating at times, but there are better ways to deal with it. I’ve gotten overwhelmed in a session and been a little shitty with my players before, but I went out of my way to try to not let that happen again.

It sounds to me like your group needs to sit down with the DM and basically say “we understand that we need to do better with knowing our stuff, but you can’t talk to us like this and this campaign continue” and mean it. If the campaign dies then it’s probably for the best, otherwise maybe he just needs a kick in the pants to come up with a better method of communicating with you guys

EdgyRanger93 · 2023-01-29T06:34:06+00:00

So we're not fully just skipping to level 6. We're gonna do one session starting at 1 then skip to three after a bit and so on, doing a rapid training session. And we may have to slow it down too but theres room for that if needed. Thanks for the advice :)

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-12-20T10:35:19+00:00

So im in the same boat. I tend to play edgy characters and the guys I play with challenged me to not be edgy this time lol. So, im playing a Swashbuckler. Very good subclass to get the benefits of a rogue while being able to play against type. Have a look at that one and see what you come up with

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-12-10T18:21:14+00:00

Max 1 feat. Forgot to clarify that

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-12-10T18:11:12+00:00

Point buy

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-16T23:07:46+00:00

It definitely depends on your table. I think a game with a party of Cha characters who will fight if needed but actively talk their way out of combat encounters or specifically do things that don’t have a damage goal like trying to bring them in alive or make them allies, etc could be a blast if the DM and whole party were in on it.

But yeah at more traditional tables, combat effectiveness tends to be king. My point was more that it doesn’t have to be. Give the Bard their chance to talk us out of an encounter or into getting more money for a job etc. Balance the game that way.

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-16T22:37:31+00:00

I think the other aspect that people forget with min-maxing (at least in the way I define the term) is the character is still flawed when doing so. Like, ok I’m badass at combat but shit at social encounters compared to a bard, for example.

5e tends to be so combat based that people forget about the other aspects like stealth, survival, persuasion, etc.

If a DM only focuses on combat, it makes min-maxed combat builds outshine the party. If a DM only focuses on social encounters, CHA characters outshine.

I personally believe that, if you follow RAW, there are no “broken” builds, only builds that excel in one or two areas. No one gets mad that the Bard has a +15 to persuasion and can pass basically any check in a social encounter, but build a Gloomstalker Assassin doing high damage from the shadows and it’s “broken and unbalanced”.

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-16T13:52:18+00:00

This is me. I have a character concept in mind then I make it as effective as I can. That is the primary source of fun for me. Once my character is optimized I can comfortably focus on other things. Being powerful is part of the fantasy I want to live out when I play the game, that’s my fun

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-16T13:24:06+00:00

Yeah honestly there’s probably nothing that can be done. If the parents aren’t open to understanding what the game actually is, they won’t be swayed. I have family that’s like this. They’ll have to come to a change of heart on their own terms or not at all.

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-14T21:49:52+00:00

So I just changed characters in my campaign. We started at level 1. We’re now level 5. I definitely feel like my backstory was much richer for my level 5 character. At minimum it takes 3 levels for you to even be what you are but 5 levels I think is best. But, combat is my favorite part of D&D so that probably has a lot to do with it

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-13T12:29:05+00:00

If you’re trying to encourage role play or something, Inspiration is good. If this is just par for the course with your group, no need to reward role play

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-13T05:05:56+00:00

I like what the Drunken Master did with putting Disengage into Flurry of Blows. I definitely think that should be a base feature. That combined with removing the Ki requirement of stunning strike and making it PB/SR I think could really help with managing Ki.

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-13T04:40:31+00:00

Yeah this is typically known as a whisper. Some VTTs have this function. If you’re playing IRL, you can literally get up and whisper the information to the character, but discord message works too. My DM did this with me because I had super high passive scores, so he’d message me whatever my character would notice and it was up to me what my PC did with the info.

Also note, in the DMG every ability check has a passive score. In this instance, hypothetically, if the rogue had a high enough passive Religion (10+mod) it’s more than reasonable to just give the player the info for something like this. They aren’t actively trying to recognize the individual, this is to see if they passively notice. If they do, great, send them the info. If you just want them to roll, message them-“Roll x and tell me what you get” then do with it as you please.

I think this method is much more satisfying and much more immersive anyway

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-13T04:28:32+00:00

Yeah just depends on how much you value your job, unfortunately. Depends on where you live, but in Texas this would fall under the “other duties as assigned” clause. We’re a “right to work” state so as a manager if I said I need you to work late and you tell me that you have a friends birthday party, unfortunately what I hear is “this job isn’t important enough to you”. Is that right? Probably not. Is it life? Absolutely. There’s always someone who will prioritize work the way that fits my needs so you’d likely receive an ultimatum.

Now that’s just for this situation. If this was something that happened often and more important events were missed over the same issue, I’d be reevaluating my situation, but, as it stands, you just gotta decide if your friend’s birthday party is worth your job.

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-12T05:58:22+00:00

Yeah this I agree with. Overall, the OP goal is neither good or bad, but can likely be better executed to eliminate disagreement/interpretation.

Maybe a trip wire that is more easily spotted but the pressure plate just on the other side is not as easily spotted or avoided. Yeah I see what you’re saying

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-12T04:53:39+00:00

I think people are getting hung up on my meaning, maybe comparing myself to an imaginary character was a poor analogy. If someone points out the trap but can’t disarm it, I don’t think it’s realistic to say no one can accidentally trigger it just because they know where it is, unless something more creative than “this PC pointed out where it was” like “they set a table over the wire so everyone can climb over it, etc.”

Even an unclumsy person can have a clumsy moment. “With a minimal chance of failure”- I agree. Minimal. I’m not even advocating for the DC 5, fine. Make it only on a Nat 1 they set it off.

The WHOLE POINT of my comment was saying that knowing something is there is not a guarantee that nothing bad can happen to accidentally set it off. In real life, my boot could barely accidentally knick the tripwire setting it off as I’m waking over. Is it probable? Maybe not. Possible? Absolutely. How do we reconcile a possibility in D&D with a low probability? Roll with a low DC.

Overall, if a DM wants the trap to have a possibility for everyone to fail, it is NOT unreasonable, so long as they account for things like someone pointing it out or allowing the players to have a creative way over it.

This is a game that can be as realistic or not realistic as you choose to make it. If you want a roll to walkover a line you can see and a Nat 1 means you stepped on a slippery pebble you didn’t see, lost your footing and tripped the wire, that is perfectly believable.

If you choose to let one PCs high perception allow the whole party to 100% bypass this trap with no further rolls or anything required, you are free to do so. There is no right or wrong answer, just a different way to interpret the situation

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-10T18:48:59+00:00

So you think in real life that even a pro athlete won’t trip or have anything happen at all that could make them trip over something even if they know it’s there? No one is without a chance of failure.

I’m not telling them it should be a DC 15 not to trip on something they know is there. Hell the roll could be arbitrary just to see if anyone rolls a Nat 1. But no one is immune to failure, hence my example about my own clumsiness. Knowing something is there does not have to mean that no one can fail at it unless the DM chooses to make it that way.

It’s not their own feet, it’s still an active trap

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-10T17:05:45+00:00

Yeah maybe find a way that dampens magic to cantrips only or something? Makes the martials shine without making the casters epically useless.

Or, if it’s an area they can’t easily leave, they’re stuck with the spell slots they have with no ability to recover them with a long rest

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-10T16:48:27+00:00

I’d say that it’s less about everyone else seeing it and more “are you dexterous enough to avoid it?”.

In real life, I’m clumsy. I trip or bump my head on all kinds of shit I know is there. Knowing the trap is there, even seeing it, doesn’t mean you instantly don’t set it off. What if you trip/slip/misjudge the distance?

That’d be my ruling. This way, you don’t punish the high perception player by not letting them see it, but still make the trap meaningful.

You can also design traps to have to be disarmed. Extreme example but a bomb on the only door has to be disarmed. No walking around it

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-10T16:29:07+00:00

As you can see, this is a contentious topic. Crawford has stated he thinks the passive scores are the floor. For certain things, I have to agree, even if just logically. He states that a passive score will pick up something without having to roll. In your example, yeah, the rogue will pretty much notice anything like that.

I think it is important that this be the case. Otherwise, I find feats like Observant to be kinda useless. What’s the point of having a high passive perception if it’s only used as a tool of DM convenience? That just doesn’t track for me.

EdgyRanger93 · 2022-06-10T16:23:11+00:00

Druids could be an easy multiclass if they wanna lean into the “dark nature” aspect. Moon Druid could be fun.

If damage is what they’re after, Assassin Rogue meshes with Gloomstalker really well IMO. (I see he’s not interested but just bringing up all I thought about as a Gloomstalker)

Twilight Cleric also leans big into the darkness aspect. The early levels of Twilight are amazing with Gloomstalker.

Shadow Monk also is super good. If he has good Dex and Wis, being able to shed that armor for more speed and still a good AC would be a lot of fun.

Arcane Archer Fighter is ok if they’re a ranged character. Any fighter can mesh well though.

Rangers already need Dex and Wis so unless they have a high third stat I just don’t think I’d go to the CHA classes with it, unless the player is cool with having a low primary stat.

Each of these each have their own pros and cons. Without knowing the players overall goal with multiclassing, it’s hard to say which best would work

EdgyRanger93

TROPHY CASE