Alright, so I was suddenly struck with this question - does the size/severity of an injury stay the same as you morph between forms? I assume you arn't gonna automatically heal to full health when you morph into something, but how does injury work?

Alright, for example, if Hattie were hit by something and broke her leg and had a bruise like, the size of an apple, and she changed into an elephant, what would happen? Would the damage remain the same? Like only a tiny part of the elephant's leg was broken, and the bruise was the same size?

This seems to be the most logical answer, but that would mean that a mage with a lot of mana could extend their metaphorical health bars exponentially by changing into larger and larger animals. (Like, a pound of blood loss would kill a mouse but not a blue whale). And you'd have some bizarre happenings if you turned into something smaller than your wound.

Or does the damage sustained become proportional to the creature's size? That is, if I were to stick with my first example, would the elephant's entire leg be broken? Or if you had a cut, it'd turn giant? Like you suddenly get a lot more injured? Or...What if you were a bird, broke your wings, turned into a human, and then a bird again? Logic says that the bird would be near full health since the structure of the injured bird was totally deconstructed and then...reformed again when you changed back. And of course, the wings would be whole and hale, yes? I mean, they're like...new wings, entirely. But then I get confused with stuff being deemed "fair" or not, so i thought I'd ask.

I know it says RIGHT THERE ABOVE THIS WINDOW nto to do this, but, while I'm nto certain, I DO recall that in D&D, perhaps not every edition, Polymorph Self Actually healed your wounds, but they came back when you returned to your original form when the spell wore off.

I'm almost certain Lothy's gonna say that the wound remains the same size. Of course, with your question we might also ponder what happens when Hattie breaks her leg, and turns into a snail - or some other leg-less critter!

I've had this question too since I play as a shape shifter (even though its not the polymorph spell I'm using). When wounded, as a general rule of thumb, I think it would be very bad to turn into something smaller than the form that recieved the wound. Like if I recieved a gash to the shoulder as a man, changing into let's say a cat, would increase the severity of the wound since proportion would stay the same. It kinda depends on if the mass you are creating is real mass, or the illusion of mass.

Hm. Y'know, in Animorphs (a teen book series by K. A. Applegate), morphing or demorphing (returning to your natural form) actually does heal wounds. Basically, you're reforming the structure of the animal or body you're in - kinda like what you said in your post, Hattie. Of course, it didn't heal natural diseases or anything. Plus, it was set in the modern world (as opposed to a Tolkein-based one). Regardless, I don't see why the same thing couldn't be applied here - except that there are healing spells that are separate from the polymorphing spells, but other than that, I think it could work to heal the wound as long as it wasn't too grievous.

But I don't know. I would go with the older members on this. The above is just my opinion. *Shrug.* :ph34r:

Omg, animorphs... :lol: Haha.

The problem with the healing factor in shape-shifting is that many characters can change their form at will, as often as they like. So, if they're injured, all they'd need to do is change into an elephant and be nearly (or completely) healed. It would be a terribly unfair advantage over other characters who can't shapeshift. Gotta think about the balance of power, ya know?

Either way, it's up to Lothy.

Like I said. :ph34r:

As May said, I suspect that the wound remains proportional to the form you're in. So if you were a cat and broke your leg, polymorphing into a human would result in a human with a broken leg. Equally, polymorphing into an ant would break one of the legs. Unless the spell specifically states it is capable of healing damage, it isn't. Then again, I could be way off. Just my two cents. ^_^

That actually makes very little sense, when you think about it. Polymorphing rearranges your cells, allowing you to heal.

However, if your wounds are severe, you shouldn't be able to polymorph period. It takes energy and concentration to polymorph, and if you have a gash the size of a baseball bat running down your back, then...I highly doubt you'd be able to concentrate enough to turn into anything more than a blod.

For things such as fractured bones, minor cuts, and bruises, polymorphing would indeed heal them. Especially the cuts and the fractured bones, since you are conciously controlling how you turn out.

I play as a shapeshifter as well, mostly because it gives me a nice combat form, but generally, I'll use polymorph maybe one to three times during a fight, if that? It takes skill to do it, and really people should be regulating how MUCH they use it, rather than the extent of the effects.

Okay, I didn't read all the replies in here because I don't have the time. XD

To address the original post: Your damage is proportional to your size. If you break your leg in human form, when you turn into an elephant your elephant will have a broken leg. If you are the size of a mouse and get a gash across your shoulder, when you change into a human you will still have a painful gash across your shoulder. There is no healing done.

Then...what happens if you change into a form that omits an injured body part, and then back into a form with that body part? Like, if a cat broke its tail and turned into a human, I assume the human's gonna be fine. But when he/she changes back into something with a tail, and completely regrowing it, wouldn't it be fully healed?

You would be injured in some other way, none of your damage will ever go away through the use of Polymorph.

So if your tail broke as a catt, you'd have say, a broken cocyx as a human? (the last five vertebre of the spine, located below the hip, which many beleive indicate an ancestor who had a tail.) Broken wing would become a broken arm, and so on.

Now then, here's a hard one. Waht if the creature lacks the smae number of a part as a human. For example, snakes have one lung It get's punctured. When you change back, is only one lung punctured, which would be fixable with a good bit of magic, or are both lungs punctured which is basicly a death sentence?

I'll leave that up to you to determine. Clearly there's not an exact match for everything, but I'm not going to sit and think up all the alternative explanations for you. :p