Baleful polymorph

Baleful polymorph was a transmutation spell that could change the form of a creature against its will.

Effects
The spell changed the form of a creature into that of an animal of small statue like that of a dog or ape at the choice of the caster. The target retained its philosophical orientation. The same applied to its hardiness and its capacity to understand languages. The target remained a shapechanger if it was so in the first place and could shape themselves back at any time.

The target lost all its other capacities and because only the body was changed, the target's equipment fell to the ground.

If the new chosen form was one that was unable to live in the current environment the creature was in,&mdash;for example, the form of a fish on the ground&mdash;the creature had an easier time to resist the forceful shapechange.

Once changed, the target remained in the new form for an indefinite time. Whatever form the new one was, if the target did not find a way to revert its form for twenty-four hours, its mental faculties degenerated to the ones of the new form.

Creatures with gaseous or with incorporeal bodies were immune to the spell.

Components
Baleful polymorph was a spell that required only verbal and somatic components.