BIG GUY 4 U

only summons dogs

and only if close enough hear to hear it make squeaky noises

I say we make all checks life or death. 

Fail a nature check? You are pinned underneath a tree.

Fail a history check? You are immediately killed by a famous historical figure.

Fail an acrobatics check? You sprain all of your joints.

Fail a concentration save? as you short-term memory is cleared from your mind, you briefly forget where you are and what you are doing, mentally stunning yourself.

A dinosaur has scales, which probably provide better natural protection from weaponry than feathers, so the AC could be lowered a bit. Also, the pounce ability of the deinonychus allows an attack with a claw to be followed by an attack with a bite, but the shape of a cassowary makes it more plausible for both claws to be used against the same target. In addition, as compensation for a loss to AC, you could increase HP (marking weapons getting *caught* in feathers rather than unable to pierce them) and possibly increase the DC of the Pounce Strength check as the bird can use its mass more effectively.

However, this has a solution. When you attack, the weapon will only go as deep as possible before it is pushed back. Now, as assumed previously, the antimatter must not interact with the air, so we can assume that by divine power it is effectively in a vacuum. However, it we allow the dagger (or other weapon) to be repelled by air, it will experience knockback. Thus, we can allow the weapon to be knocked away with an energy that will be applied equally in all directions out from the wound. Because this would only allow the use of a small fraction of the weapon, even a dagger will have so many uses it may be more likely to break for unrelated reasons like being caught in a trap.

Still, in any homebrew world I run, and probably any 5e game I run, this would be impossible. I believe the world is supposed to be comprised of the five classical elements, with the planet and moon made of fire, water, earth and air, and everything beyond being made of quintessence. This is a world where modern science cannot come about, simply because modern science would be wrong. There is no space for antimatter in this system, and even if there was, it would be very different. This elements are not made of the same subatomic particles, and they do not contain very much energy (this is important when you consider the balance between evocation spells that deal a bunch of energy damage and transmutation spells that make you heavier and denser, possibly turning things into heavier metals. These consume approximately the same amount of energy.

In that type of world, if antimatter were permitted, the state of materials would be difficult to identify clearly. Thus, an antimatter paladin may find themselves dissolving in fog or smoke, yet only producing enough energy to start a campfire.

In 5th edition, if you die in a polymorphed form, the spell doesn’t actually have the power to bring you back. It only has the power to restore lost hit points, which is only relevant if you are unconscious and making death saving throws. If you die instantly without death saves (like Power Word Kill or Disintegrate), then you really die.

To quote the 5e rules “A creature that has died can’t regain hit points until magic such as the Revivify spell has restored it to life.”

If they’re talking about 3.5 (Pathfinder offers many ways to restore life to someone who has died of old age), then Polymorph spells give no special resistance to death. If you die in any form, you are dead. Thus, there is no question that killing someone by old age in that game is a possibility.

If they’re talking about AD&D, then when they polymorph someone, that person has a chance of instantly dying from “system shock”. There is also a chance that they will assume the personality of the new creature (although the chance is based on the intelligence of the creature, so in this circumstance it is unlikely). In addition, they will have to make the same roll s death if they are transformed back, and will retain whatever personality the spell made them assume. In other words, this is a really really nasty spell. However, resurrection spells feature no clause about being unable to restore lost health whatsoever

HackMaster appears to have directly copied most of the AD&D rules for Polymorph Other (even going so far as to use the same example of transforming an orc into a white dragon). However, there is no risk of system shock. In addition, the resurrection description states it “cannot bring back a creature which has reached it’s allotted life span (i.e died of natural causes)”. This appears to signify that souls are given a specific amount of time on the world before the body is due to die, and that it cannot be cheated by spells such as Polymorph spells, but it is honestly up to interpretation.

GURPS has a Shapeshift Others spell, which gives you the whole racial template of your new form bar the Taboo Trait (Fixed IQ), and slowly decays your mind while you remain in a form less intelligent than your own (which in this instance is meaningless, as it requires you to remain in that form for over an hour). Resurrection works on anyone that has not been reduced to -10 x HP, but aging kills you by dropping one of your ability scores to 0. When the spell eventually ends, the loss of attributes caused by turning into that form will be undone, and thus it is extremely likely whatever attribute was reduced to 0 will be restored to a higher value. However, the ability loss is permanent until restored via a spell such as Youth (which undoes all aging over the past year).

I was gonna try to find a DC RPG to link it into my theme but this post is long enough already, and I had a point to make. Not everyone is playing D&D 5e, and most people playing D&D 5e do it by their own rules. Age is a subjective thing, especially in a game like that where the effects are poorly defined, so whether this spell works or not is likely a matter of how you present it. If you can cast a spell like this in a dramatically appropriate situation, you can likely pull it off. If you make it obvious you’re just trying to power-game, then you are just gonna look like an asshole.

Sure, having a king/queen is simple, but have you ever tried:

Democracy

Multiple nobles and they all have the same amount of power (lot of conflict potential)

You can become ruler by defeating the current ruler in a fight

The merchants run everything

A noble and a parliament rule

The most intelligent people rule

…

Anarchy: the social conscience maintains order, but there are no laws

Athenian Democracy: Every citizen can vote on every new law

Representative Democracy: Elected representatives form a congress or government

Clan: Pretty much whoever is older is in charge, traditions are strongly adhered to, and society as a whole is split cross many tribes that are generally similar (and usually allied) but with their own quirks and traditions

Caste: A lot like a Clan structure, but each clan has a set role in society that usually renders them co-dependent. These Castes usually follow a social heirarchy

Dictatorship: One person controls everything, and they will later pass the right to rule to someone else, whether by inheritance, election, duelling, or some other method. Not all dictatorships are bad, especially if they are formed in times of crisis or rebellion, but even those started with the best intentions may quickly corrupt.

Plutocracy: Whoever has money is in charge.

Technocracy: A group of scientists and engineers have complete control and do everything they can to run the country at maximum efficiency. The more competent they are, the more likely this is to be viewed as a good thing.

Thaumocracy: Like a technocracy, but run by a science-like form of magic (like wizards and arcanists rather than shamans and witches)

Theocracy: The Church controls everything, and their religious law is civil law. Whether this religion is real, is fake but knows it, or believes its own lies is up to you.

Corporate State: Powerful mercantile organisations have taken control of entire regions. This is a lot like a Technocracy, but with a corporate structure and a focus on maximum profitability (and no-one else is going to set them a minimum wage)

Feudal: A lot like a dictatorship, but subsidiary lords are assigned their own local power and can enforce their own law without notifying the larger state.

***VARIATIONS***

Bureaucracy: Government runs very slowly and the public has effectively no control. There is a lot of red tape and taxation is high.

Colony: Government is dependent on a mother society

Cybercracy: A computer system is the state administrator. Hopefully the programmers did a good job...

Matriarchy: Positions of authority are female-exclusive.

Meritocracy: Positions of authority require rigorous testing to qualify for.

Military Government: The Military control everything, usually but not always totalitarian

Monarchy: The person in charge may call themselves king or queen, but fundamentally this is either a dictatorship or a feudal society.

Oligarchy: A small organisation is in control, and it elects its own members.

Patriarchy: like a matriarchy, but for guys. what a novel idea

Sanctuary: A society that protects the people other societies hunt (that may be considered criminals or terrorists by other nations)

Socialist: The government directly manages the economy, education is easy to get, the government intervenes to get everyone possible a job. This is likely to collapse quickly without good technology or magic to assist it.

Subjugated: The society as a whole is completely controlled by an outside force.

However, what about a +1...

If you have a 40% chance of hitting normally, and then get a +1 weapon and someone gives you advantage on your roll, you have a 69.75% chance to hit and a 9.75% chance to nat 20. Averaging +1 damage, this will come to an average increase by the same metric of ~1.09 damage, plus 0.09 x regular weapon damage. If you are even less likely to hit, say normally a 25% chance, then without advantage you average 1.2 extra damage + 0.2 x regular weapon damage; and with advantage you would average 1.17 + 0.17 x regular weapon damage.

Let’s consider then, the perfect situation for this. Your attacker’s AC is higher than you can hit them with anything less than a natural 20 (and only then because it is an automatic hit). In this circumstance, whether you have advantage is of no consequence, as is the damage dice of your weapon. Instead, it’s simply on a hit, you do 2d6 extra damage.

This situation is likely quite rare, but some example possibilities may be:

You are trying to an old dwarven ruin now claimed by an Adult Dragon. However, there is only one way in, and it has blocked it off with the portcullis. As you try to approach, it stand from right up next to the portcullis, blasting you with its breath weapon from behind 3/4 cover. However, you are still holding onto a vicious halberd you found that could reach them from your current posiition. If only you were proficient with it...

You have sight rot, and a group of heavily armored bandits decide to attack you, taking advantage of your visibly confused vision and adding to it with the help of a hired illusionist...