D&D 5E Countering the Druid's Wildshape (In Game...)

[Fanaelialae]

While it's not spelled out as such in the PHB, druids do have a metal armor restriction, so you could rule that wearing it prevents them from shapeshifting. And in heavy metal armor, they won't have proficiency, so they won't be able to cast spells either.

 

[Syntallah]

snip

Just make up rules for magic in your game, the druids learned their wild shape ability from the fey and so cold iron manacles with the proper runes on them prevent the ability, if it is necessary.

snip.

Thanks for all the input gang! I ended up taking the above advice, and created a consumable magic item:

- a cold iron nail about 4 inches long that the NPC cultist jabbed through the skin of his abdomen; kept him from wildshaping unless a Wis save [DC 25] was successful (I derived this number from mimicing the difficulty of an arcane locked average padlock).

Worked like a charm! The player was too scared to even try to wildshape...

 

[jgsugden]

Just to put it out there: How about not stopping the druid from wildshaping?

As DMs, we tend to want to tell a story. However, we need to remember that it isn't the DM's story to tell. It is the group's story. As such, we should be looking for ways to let the PCs use their abilities to contribute to the story, not ways to restrict their abilities so that they follow our story. That doesn't mean we need to give them a complete sandbox with no structure to a storyline, but it does mean that we need to build storylines that anticipate their abilities and let them use them - and that sometimes we need to accept that our story is going to be cut short because the PCs beat our puzzles better than we anticipated. Regardless, we want to tell the players 'Yes you can' as often as possible,

You said you wanted to keep the druid prisoner. Why? So that the other PCs would need to come rescue him? Couldn't you do that by letting him escape and letting his get away with news that required the full party to return (such as the presence of other prisoners they'd want to free)? Perhaps you wanted to have him interrogated by a bad guy and didn't want him to escape mid interrogation. Think about Black Widow at the start of the Avengers - perhaps you could drop clues that make the druid want to stay so that he can use the interrogation to gather information.

 

[Syntallah]

Just to put it out there: How about not stopping the druid from wildshaping?

As DMs, we tend to want to tell a story. However, we need to remember that it isn't the DM's story to tell. It is the group's story. As such, we should be looking for ways to let the PCs use their abilities to contribute to the story, not ways to restrict their abilities so that they follow our story. That doesn't mean we need to give them a complete sandbox with no structure to a storyline, but it does mean that we need to build storylines that anticipate their abilities and let them use them - and that sometimes we need to accept that our story is going to be cut short because the PCs beat our puzzles better than we anticipated. Regardless, we want to tell the players 'Yes you can' as often as possible,

You said you wanted to keep the druid prisoner. Why? So that the other PCs would need to come rescue him? Couldn't you do that by letting him escape and letting his get away with news that required the full party to return (such as the presence of other prisoners they'd want to free)? Perhaps you wanted to have him interrogated by a bad guy and didn't want him to escape mid interrogation. Think about Black Widow at the start of the Avengers - perhaps you could drop clues that make the druid want to stay so that he can use the interrogation to gather information.

Totally understand we're you're coming from.

I am running Hoard of the Dragon Queen and five out of the seven PCs were captured trying to infiltrate the Raider Camp. From previous encounters with the Party, Frulam knew that there was a guy that turned into a big nasty bear. She wanted to take steps to ensure that she had all of her captives present at the grand execution she had planned for the morning. Soooo, she needed a way to keep him from wildshaping.....

 

[Saeviomagy]

Small cell with spiked walls and a heavy object resting on him. Too big and he gets spiked. Too small and he gets crushed.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I don't see how any DM could reasonably assume the change involves anything else than ***poof*** new form. This isn't werewolf in london here, it is more like sword in the stone. The change happens in a fraction of a 6 second round, is instantaneous, and can include forms as diverse as a spider, lizard, triceratops, or an elemental. There is no slow steady gain or loss of mass it is instantaneous transformation, muscles and bones don't grow or shrink they just change *poof* it's magic. You can choose if your equipment comes with you or not, you can even pick and choose different worn or carried items to do different things. This ring merges with form, this one drops, my hat can stay on my head, my armor will meld with me, the potion bottle in my hand will merge, and so on. I doubt any of that would be possible if it just wasn't a magical instantaneous simple action.

Hahaha ... I would assume the precise opposite - that it is a quick morphing into the other shape, limbs stretching etc. I would definitely not use the "poof" you're a mouse approach. Too silly disney for my liking. A "natural" but quick morphing fits druids best imo.

 

[Lanefan]

Small cell with spiked walls and a heavy object resting on him. Too big and he gets spiked. Too small and he gets crushed.

This very thing came up in the session I just finished running - how to hold a captured shapeshifter - and our best answer was to let the shifter change shape to something small, then catch it and put it into a small sturdy metal box; thus ensuring a very messy end if it tries to shift back to normal form. (we have it that a shifter can't jump straight from one animal form to another, he always has to resume normal form in between)

That said, your idea adds some nice elements. Yoink!

Lan-"the heavy object wouldn't help much, as the shifter retains his h.p. in all forms and could move the object off"-efan

 

[Saeviomagy]

Lan-"the heavy object wouldn't help much, as the shifter retains his h.p. in all forms and could move the object off"-efan

The idea is that he can't shift small enough to escape through cracks in the cell without the large object smooshing him, and I wouldn't consider being trapped under a boulder to be a one-off damage roll.

 

[transtemporal]

From previous encounters with the Party, Frulam knew that there was a guy that turned into a big nasty bear. She wanted to take steps to ensure that she had all of her captives present at the grand execution she had planned for the morning. Soooo, she needed a way to keep him from wildshaping.....

Fair enough. I guess it makes sense that an evil cultist might know this. Be careful though. If every bbeg they come across knows exactly how to shut them down, they'll start to feel like its them vs you.

 

[Syntallah]

Fair enough. I guess it makes sense that an evil cultist might know this. Be careful though. If every bbeg they come across knows exactly how to shut them down, they'll start to feel like its them vs you.

Absolutely! I call my players out whenever they metagame or use player knowledge improperly (I game with friends I've known for 30+ years, it's all good). With that being said, I definitely set a good example by not using DM knowledge improperly on them as well...