D&D 5E Is this power gamey?

[Chris James]

Half-Orc Circle of the Moon Druid. Shifted into Brown Bear. At level 2 you have 34hp, can use Relentless Endurance to stay in form an extra round, and multi-attack gives you two attacks a turn to try and crit for Savage Attacks.

 

[Thank Dog]

Relentless Endurance would only affect your normal form, not your wildshape form.

 

[Paraxis]

I don't think it is power gamey. As a DM I might rule that since you are not dropping to zero h.p while in wild shape Relentless Endurance wouldn't trigger, your wild shape form ends when that form has 0 h.p, you still have whatever h.p you had before wildshaping.

I might go Dire Wolf sure it is only one attack, but you have advantage on it if an ally is within 5' so the same chance to crit but higher base damage.

Giant Hyena though is pretty damn nice, with the monsters you will be fighting at level 2 rampage should be triggered often.

Oh just noticed this was your first post, welcome to the boards.

Half-Orc honestly would be a bad power gaming choice, the ability scores don't match up. You will never need to use your strength score.

I would go human and get a cool feat, mobility might be nice, I might go with Observant it gives you a +1 Wis that can stack with a +1 from human, and +5 to passive perception stacks with the +5 to passive perception for having advantage on perception checks in some animal forms, dire wolf would have a passive perception of 18 and 23 on things based on hearing or smell.

 

[evilives]

Relentless Endurance would only affect your normal form, not your wildshape form.

PHB, Wild Shape page 67: "You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so."

Wild Shape is a bit more permissive in what mixes with the beast form than polymorph.

Is it power gamey? What isn't power gamey in D&D? This is the special thing that half-orc druids bring to the table.

 

[Paraxis]

PHB, Wild Shape page 67: "You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so."

Wild Shape is a bit more permissive in what mixes with the beast form than polymorph.

Is it power gamey? What isn't power gamey in D&D? This is the special thing that half-orc druids bring to the table.

Wild Shape rules are not what would make me question if relentless endurance would trigger. It is the rules for that ability.
"When you are dropped to 0 hit points" Disrupting wildshape by reducing that form to 0 h.p is not the same as dropping the half-orc to zero h.p.

 

[evilives]

I see Relentless Endurance as an interrupt (for lack of a better word) based on this wording: "you can drop to 1 hit point instead." The feature gives you a choice: go to 0 hit points like you were going to or use the feature and go to 1 hit point instead. For me, the wording of the half-orc feature puts the continuation of Wild Shape in limbo until the player decides whether or not to use that feature.

 

[transtemporal]

Wild Shape rules are not what would make me question if relentless endurance would trigger. It is the rules for that ability.
"When you are dropped to 0 hit points" Disrupting wildshape by reducing that form to 0 h.p is not the same as dropping the half-orc to zero h.p.

Well, hold on a second. If you accept that the relentless endurance ability can be used with wildshape because the "new form is physically capable of doing so" then the second part of that ability (which you ignored) applies: "...but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead." The second part takes precedence over the first, therefore you don't drop to 0, therefore you don't come out of wildshape.

Plus, he probably gets an extra round out of it, then goes down once he comes out of wildshape. Is that really so overpowered?

 

[MortalPlague]

Is it power gamey? What isn't power gamey in D&D? This is the special thing that half-orc druids bring to the table.

My initial thought was 'no, that doesn't work in wild shape'.

But then I thought it over. Why not? The power is only useable once between long rests, so it isn't like they could use it again if they get down to 0 in regular form. Also, that's what distinguishes a half-orc druid from any other druid, especially when a half-orc isn't the most potent racial pairing. I like the idea that half-orc toughness extends to the shape they take.

Furthermore, as Mearls and co have suggested, the rules of 5th edition are meant to be interpreted at the table. So by the RAW, either interpretation is correct. It all depends on how the group wants to play the game.

 

[GMMichael]

Half-Orc Circle of the Moon Druid. Shifted into Brown Bear. At level 2 you have 34hp, can use Relentless Endurance to stay in form an extra round, and multi-attack gives you two attacks a turn to try and crit for Savage Attacks.

Is it power-gamey when he strolls into a human town, covered in blood, immediately drawing the attention of 10+ accuracy-bounded watchmen (for being a half-orc druid, or still a bear)?

 

[Paraxis]

Is it power-gamey when he strolls into a human town, covered in blood, immediately drawing the attention of 10+ accuracy-bounded watchmen (for being a half-orc druid, or still a bear)?

Why would the town watchmen care about a half-orc, or a druid? I assume anyone drenched in blood comes under scrutiny, so most people do the common sense thing and don't walk around town drenched in blood.

In a fantasy world I can even see people not caring about people with bears as pets, I mean in russia on earth the traveling bear show was a thing.