D&D 5E Converting Druid to Warlock Chassis

[Lanliss]

Gonna convert Druid over to Warlock chassis as well, after I get more work done on the Cleric. For now, I have some ideas I want to get down and get input on.

Shapeshifting will be for Moon Druids.
This is a big one, because of how many levels it affects. 2, 4, 8, 18, and 20th level features are all for Wild Shape, and all of those will be moved exclusively to the Moon. What can I use to replace those things for Land?

Invocations
The best part of the Warlock Chassis, and I already have a few good ideas for this one. A number of choices for Moon Druids that open up their wildshape to other Monster types (Fiend, Monstrosity, Celestial, etc.), with the same limitations they already have on CR. Some ones for Land Druids that give at will spells (Moon druid will get very few-to-none of these), and bonuses restricted to their Land choice. For example, an Arctic Druid could have resistance to cold damage, and ignore Extreme Cold altogether, while a Coastal Druid could get a Swim speed, and have no disadvantage on attacks while in water. More differentiation between Land types is important, IMO.

Half-Lycanthropy
I think one of the invocations for Moon Druid will allow a half-change, basically giving them Lycanthrope stats, without the Resistances and Vulnerabilities. Think this is too strong, or does it fit well?

Land Druid Natural Recovery
Land druid gets to recover some spells on a short rest already. What should I give them to replace this? I am thinking of going the simple route and just giving them an extra spell slot over their counter part. That extra slot-per-rest will certainly make them feel different from other Warlock-style characters.

My next target for this will be Sorcerer, who should get some interesting stuff.

 

[tglassy]

I like that thought, actually, giving them invocation type choices. Lycanthropy works, i think, because in 2e, or at least Baulder's Gate EE, the Shapeshifter is a Druid Kit where he infects himself with Lycanthropy, but can control it. It makes it so he can only transform into a werewolf with his wild shape, but it's pretty cool and makes the druid into a tank.

 

[Satyrn]

You could give the land druid back the animal companion he had in 3e (might wreck the beastmaster ranger completely, though) or focus on summoning/calling animals to aid, and transforming the land itself for combat.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

So your thread title is about your crusade against long rests, but then the thread is about completely changing the druid.

Why such a large change? What specifically is your issue with long rests? I ask because I had my own issues, but my solutions might not resolve your issues.

I also have a new Sorcerer and Bard. The Bard uses a mix of the warlock and Mystic formats. The sorcerer uses an entirely new spell system. Just curious so I have a better idea of what you're trying to fix.

 

[Lanliss]

So your thread title is about your crusade against long rests, but then the thread is about completely changing the druid.

Why such a large change? What specifically is your issue with long rests? I ask because I had my own issues, but my solutions might not resolve your issues.

I also have a new Sorcerer and Bard. The Bard uses a mix of the warlock and Mystic formats. The sorcerer uses an entirely new spell system. Just curious so I have a better idea of what you're trying to fix.

Kind of a personal joke. The "Crusade" is converting the Long rest full casters to the Short-rest Warlock Chassis, because I love the Warlock chassis's flexible nature, while still being balanced and interesting. Not so much "fixing" as changing, then adding invocations. My first shot was a Cleric thread I have going, that I feel worked well enough to get started on another. It does amount to a bit of a power boost, since some of the invocations inevitably do more than the base class, but I do not think it is enough of a boost to shift the balance.

Although, in this case I am making a large change in the form of the Wildshape move. That is a personal opinion thing, kind of a gut feeling that there should be more that makes the subclasses feel different. I think only having one able to shapeshift will help that a lot, and give me design space to make the Land Druid more interesting in it's own right. At a glance, there just isn't a lot that makes it "big".

For example, at 3rd level the Land druid gets 2 spells. There are two spells that set it apart from every other druid. Meanwhile, Moon druid gets a huge boost in the variety of its wild shapes. I am thinking that the Land based invocations will help a lot, much like the Domain ones I have set up for my Cleric changes. Also, I just love the design capabilities of Invocations, and feel that more classes should have similar things. I often have an idea for a character that fits class X pretty well, but should have this one little thing that adds some flavor, and an Invocation makes for a great place to put that, as well as anything my players come up with.

I can't really put it to words, exactly, but several of the classes feel much more enjoyable in my head with this style. That said, I actually feel like Wizard and Bard will be excluded from this style, because they both feel like they should recharge on a long rest, as their abilities feel like they should take time. All purely personal opinion.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

For land, you could give them the power to manifest their chosen terrain (with specific powers) in a aura around them and, as he levels, give more power to the aura.
Something like:
Walk with the Land: At level 2, the natural world warp arounds you to gain the aspect of your favored land as a bonus action. A coastal druid might be followed by the constant smell of sea water and the sound of seaguls, while a desert druid is always surounded by whirling sands and burning air. You gain an aura 15'' centered aroung you, and it gains the following power based of you favored terrain.
Forest: Difficult terrain
Coast: Extra Moves
Underdark: Dim light
etc

 

[Lanliss]

For land, you could give them the power to manifest their chosen terrain (with specific powers) in a aura around them and, as he levels, give more power to the aura.
Something like:
Walk with the Land: At level 2, the natural world warp arounds you to gain the aspect of your favored land as a bonus action. A coastal druid might be followed by the constant smell of sea water and the sound of seaguls, while a desert druid is always surounded by whirling sands and burning air. You gain an aura 15'' centered aroung you, and it gains the following power based of you favored terrain.
Forest: Difficult terrain
Coast: Extra Moves
Underdark: Dim light
etc

Ooh, that's interesting. I could then have Invocations that add different things, like advantage on medicine checks for the Forest Druid, and creatures inside his aura, as it "strengthens the healing power naturally found in herbs". That is definitely on the drawing board.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

Kind of a personal joke. The "Crusade" is converting the Long rest full casters to the Short-rest Warlock Chassis, because I love the Warlock chassis's flexible nature, while still being balanced and interesting. Not so much "fixing" as changing, then adding invocations. My first shot was a Cleric thread I have going, that I feel worked well enough to get started on another. It does amount to a bit of a power boost, since some of the invocations inevitably do more than the base class, but I do not think it is enough of a boost to shift the balance.

Although, in this case I am making a large change in the form of the Wildshape move. That is a personal opinion thing, kind of a gut feeling that there should be more that makes the subclasses feel different. I think only having one able to shapeshift will help that a lot, and give me design space to make the Land Druid more interesting in it's own right. At a glance, there just isn't a lot that makes it "big".

For example, at 3rd level the Land druid gets 2 spells. There are two spells that set it apart from every other druid. Meanwhile, Moon druid gets a huge boost in the variety of its wild shapes. I am thinking that the Land based invocations will help a lot, much like the Domain ones I have set up for my Cleric changes. Also, I just love the design capabilities of Invocations, and feel that more classes should have similar things. I often have an idea for a character that fits class X pretty well, but should have this one little thing that adds some flavor, and an Invocation makes for a great place to put that, as well as anything my players come up with.

I can't really put it to words, exactly, but several of the classes feel much more enjoyable in my head with this style. That said, I actually feel like Wizard and Bard will be excluded from this style, because they both feel like they should recharge on a long rest, as their abilities feel like they should take time. All purely personal opinion.

Gotcha. I originally went to the Warlock chassis for the Bard because I didn't like that the bard now had access to 9th level spells. Warlock limited the highest level spell slot to 5th.

However, the warlock spells are very specifically tied to the idea that you'll be casting everything at your highest spell slot level, and that you'll have all of your magic available during nearly every encounter. That proved a bit more problematic with the bard. Particularly since I prefer the idea of a bard as an arcane caster, which means they learn and cast spells like a wizard. So I swapped out the spell progression for the Mystic (up to 5th level) but kept the Bardic Lore (Invocations). The reason I really like that aspect is that no two bards will be alike.

Onto the druid - I'm not a fan of the current shapeshifting rules, simply because it changes the nature of the world quite a bit. Before, only a few druids ever reached a high enough level to shape change. It made it rare, and it was a class that I think is generally better suited to NPCs, being loners in the wild.

So, keeping in mind these sort of abilities might not appear until much later in my campaign if I used them, here are some suggestions for invocations for druids.

First, the warlock chassis significantly reduces spellcasting capabilities. So invocations that allow you to cast a spell at will, or a certain number of times a day, are useful. The warlock has several like this as examples already, some of which require you to be a certain level. I prefer a limited number of uses, but if you're balancing against the warlock, just consider the existing options when you pick similar spell options for the druid.

Separating the shape-shifting druid from non-shaping varieties sounds reasonable. Having said that, it might require you to come up with some additional abilities instead of just beefing up their shapeshifting abilities. I also highly recommend the UA variation on druidic shapeshifting.

Instead of a companion for land druids, I would leverage the land and the creatures around it. Essentially start with something similar to a ranger's favored terrain. Then build on it. While I'm not a fan of teleportation abilities, I think that it fits with a druid in the forest very well. So an ability like:

Tree Step. As an bonus action, you can step into a tree, and exit a different tree up to 30 feet away.

The various camouflage abilities that have appeared for the ranger is another one.

I like to have a distinction between conjuration spells, and summoning spells. Summonings attract nearby creatures. I think this would be a very powerful ability for a land druid.

Summon Animals. You can call the creatures around you for assistance. As an action, you put out a call to the creatures of your favored terrain. This summons creatures from within 1 mile equal to 1/2 your druid level in total combined challenge rating (just pulling a number out of the air, you'd have to figure it out). Each creature appears in 2d4 rounds. You cannot control the creatures, but they will do their best to defend you and your allies.

Nature's Spies. The animals of your favored terrain act as your eyes and ears. When in your favored terrain, you cannot be surprised. In addition, you can spend 1 minute communicating with the animals to learn of local (within 1 mile) threats. This includes the creature types and relative number of creatures.

In 1e, they had the ability to identify plants, animals, and pure water, along with passing through overgrown areas without a penalty or leaving a trace.

Climbing abilities, the ability to imitate animal calls, and calm native animals would all fit very well too.

 

[Lanliss]

Gotcha. I originally went to the Warlock chassis for the Bard because I didn't like that the bard now had access to 9th level spells. Warlock limited the highest level spell slot to 5th.

However, the warlock spells are very specifically tied to the idea that you'll be casting everything at your highest spell slot level, and that you'll have all of your magic available during nearly every encounter. That proved a bit more problematic with the bard. Particularly since I prefer the idea of a bard as an arcane caster, which means they learn and cast spells like a wizard. So I swapped out the spell progression for the Mystic (up to 5th level) but kept the Bardic Lore (Invocations). The reason I really like that aspect is that no two bards will be alike.

Onto the druid - I'm not a fan of the current shapeshifting rules, simply because it changes the nature of the world quite a bit. Before, only a few druids ever reached a high enough level to shape change. It made it rare, and it was a class that I think is generally better suited to NPCs, being loners in the wild.

So, keeping in mind these sort of abilities might not appear until much later in my campaign if I used them, here are some suggestions for invocations for druids.

First, the warlock chassis significantly reduces spellcasting capabilities. So invocations that allow you to cast a spell at will, or a certain number of times a day, are useful. The warlock has several like this as examples already, some of which require you to be a certain level. I prefer a limited number of uses, but if you're balancing against the warlock, just consider the existing options when you pick similar spell options for the druid.

Separating the shape-shifting druid from non-shaping varieties sounds reasonable. Having said that, it might require you to come up with some additional abilities instead of just beefing up their shapeshifting abilities. I also highly recommend the UA variation on druidic shapeshifting.

Instead of a companion for land druids, I would leverage the land and the creatures around it. Essentially start with something similar to a ranger's favored terrain. Then build on it. While I'm not a fan of teleportation abilities, I think that it fits with a druid in the forest very well. So an ability like:

Tree Step. As an bonus action, you can step into a tree, and exit a different tree up to 30 feet away.

The various camouflage abilities that have appeared for the ranger is another one.

I like to have a distinction between conjuration spells, and summoning spells. Summonings attract nearby creatures. I think this would be a very powerful ability for a land druid.

Summon Animals. You can call the creatures around you for assistance. As an action, you put out a call to the creatures of your favored terrain. This summons creatures from within 1 mile equal to 1/2 your druid level in total combined challenge rating (just pulling a number out of the air, you'd have to figure it out). Each creature appears in 2d4 rounds. You cannot control the creatures, but they will do their best to defend you and your allies.

Nature's Spies. The animals of your favored terrain act as your eyes and ears. When in your favored terrain, you cannot be surprised. In addition, you can spend 1 minute communicating with the animals to learn of local (within 1 mile) threats. This includes the creature types and relative number of creatures.

In 1e, they had the ability to identify plants, animals, and pure water, along with passing through overgrown areas without a penalty or leaving a trace.

Climbing abilities, the ability to imitate animal calls, and calm native animals would all fit very well too.

More good thoughts. Glad I came here for help, as the only Class I have thought less about than the Cleric is the Druid. I generally wouldn't know the first thing to do with it, but am liking the general direction this is leading in.

I will need to settle on a track eventually, but until then everyone feel free to come up with new ideas for this.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Ooh, that's interesting. I could then have Invocations that add different things, like advantage on medicine checks for the Forest Druid, and creatures inside his aura, as it "strengthens the healing power naturally found in herbs". That is definitely on the drawing board.

At level 8 I'd give them all the possibility to manifest the ''zone'' at distance, and at lvl 18 the ability to cast from any point in their zone. Level 2 gives you access to a specific land with extanded spell list and your first aura effect, lvl 4 could be an area increase. Capstone I'd give the ability to create a druidic philactery: If you die in your zone your body is teleported to your favored land for 1d4 Day, after this time you respawn to life.