D&D (2024) New Wild Shape

[Enrahim2]

Some observations:
Barbarian is the class that was designed to be the hulk. That they made druid effectively the hulk class was likely not intended. This is the thing I believe they are trying to change by removing temp hp.

Rouge is the class that is designed to be the ultimate infiltrator/scout. That they made the druid a better short time infiltrator was likely not intended. I believe this is why they change tiny.

Wild shape was a very player unfriendly ability, as the standard player resources did not contain what was needed to use it properly. That is fixed by standard stat blocks.

My guess is that the intention is for third parties to provide a load of new templates. This seem to cover the lack of mechanical flexibility many are calling for here.

I think the changes fixes my main beefs with druid. It make it easier to get into for beginners, it do not scale unpredictably based on access to material intended for DM use for other purposes. It make the class more distinct - stepping less on other classes' primary domains.

And seriously, I feel the image of the unsuspicious deer in the background suddenly turning to a long bearded man with lightning crackling around their fingers is a much cooler druid-themed start of combat than the wannabe werewolf style dominating in 5ed now.

 

[Minigiant]

There really should just be 5-7 base forms and that's it.

Land
Sea
Sky
Huge Earth
Tiny Shadows
Fey

And give subclasses the other form. Moon gets Battle. Wildfire gets Fire. Etc.

 

[Bolares]

It's no longer a near mandatory ability; there are two other Channel Nature options. One of which is Find Familiar and the other healing.

I disagree with this. Sure, you get two other Channel Nature options, but wild shape is the sole feature (aside form spellcasting) you get in levels 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 18. 8 levels where your features focus solely on wild shape. To me this is the most wild shape focused druid we ever had, and having such a disapointing stat block for it is really problematic. Also, the base class being wild shape focused makes the moon druid lose a lot of its purpose.

 

[gametaku]

I disagree with this. Sure, you get two other Channel Nature options, but wild shape is the sole feature (aside form spellcasting) you get in levels 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 18. 8 levels where your features focus solely on wild shape. To me this is the most wild shape focused druid we ever had, and having such a disapointing stat block for it is really problematic. Also, the base class being wild shape focused makes the moon druid lose a lot of its purpose.

How is it anymore wild shape focused then the current druid?
The current PHB Druid gives

• Wild Shape Improvement at 4
• Wild Shape Improvement at 8
• Beast spells at level 18
• Archdruid and 20th level

and the only non Wild Shape features (aside from Spells)

• Timeless body at 18th level

 

[Bolares]

How is it anymore wild shape focused then the current druid?
The current PHB Druid gives

• Wild Shape Improvement at 4
• Wild Shape Improvement at 8
• Beast spells at level 18
• Archdruid and 20th level

and the only non Wild Shape features (aside from Spells)

• Timeless body at 18th level

well, they are moving away form "empty" levels in this update, and are filling them up with a lot of wild shape features.

 

[gametaku]

well, they are moving away form "empty" levels in this update, and are filling them up with a lot of wild shape features.

Again, how is that different than how the druid is currently?

 

[Bolares]

Again, how is that different than how the druid is currently?

Well, it's different because before, even if you had 4 levels where you got wild shape features, you still had a lot of flexibility in how you use it, so it was never useless. Now you have 8 levels where you get only wild shape features, that don't really improve (except for being able to cast spells) the mediocre at best wild shape stat block. So, if you don't use your wild shape in combat because it's much better to cast spells, and you dish out comparable damage with a cantrip, 8 of your levels are completelly dead. And for exploration, well, you can use find familiar and still have all of your full caster spells to use.

 

[TwoSix]

Again, how is that different than how the druid is currently?

Personally, I'd rather have empty levels than levels filled with features I'm not going to use. That's power budget being assigned that could have gone into more generic features or allow for stronger subclasses.

My personal view is that wildshape, or at least combat wildshape, shouldn't be a core druid feature.

 

[Bolares]

Personally, I'd rather have empty levels than levels filled with features I'm not going to use. That's power budget being assigned that could have gone into more generic features or allow for stronger subclasses.

My personal view is that wildshape, or at least combat wildshape, shouldn't be a core druid feature.

all those features also take a lot away from the moon druid, or other wild shape focused subclasses.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The idea that the temp hp was what made the wildshape good shows just how badly they missed the mark with the old wildshape. It was honestly the least thematic thing I could think of. At least they're trying something other than "I shrug on my bear coat as ablative armour". And not making every druid try to wild shape. Also "Make the rogue redundant by being a better scout" needed to go.

Yes, I agree that it needs more. But it's still an improvement over the old version.

Wildshape's function in combat was that it made you more robust, like you'd expect a large bear to be. The free HP was just how it was done. If the new wildshape gave you AC equal to 10+2xWIS it would still do that, but AC that caps out at 15 and a d8 hit dice just doesn't make for a viable melee frontliner.