D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook Reveal: Shape of "New Druid"

Druid video today. Where will wildshape land?

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We saw three druids in the playtest, and each was meaningfully different. The most recent look at the class was in PT8 (UA Playtest document 8); with the Moon Druid in PT8, and Land Druid and Sea Druid in PT6, with the Stars Druid in Tasha's. What will change? What will be revealed? Will it be feasible to pick an combat animal shape and stick with it through 20 levels? Let's find out!

OVERVIEW

• "there is a ton of new in the druid": but it was all in the playtest materials. Very little to see here. "the final version has elements people didn't get to see" in the playtest, however everything they discuss was in the playtest documents.
• Primal order choice at level 1: Warden or Magician. Warden gives proficiency in Medium armor and martial weapons; Magician gives cantrip and nature checks (and so =PT8). Magician incentivizes not dumping Intelligence.
• no mention of metal armor; presumably any restriction is now gone.
• Druidic includes speak with animals prepared.
• Wildshape (as in PT8): as a bonus action; wild companion option from Tasha's for a familiar; you can speak; spellslot for another wildshift at 5.
• NO MENTION OF BEAST FORMS IN THE PHB.
• At level 7, Elemental Fury choice not determined by level 1 choice; you can mix-and-match. (would you want to?) Improved at level 15 -- extra range option works at range while flying, if you want.
• new cantrips: Starry Wisp (ranged spell attack in PT8) and Elementalism (PT6).

Overall, this is pretty disappointing in terms of a preview for people who have been invested in the playtest. No discussion of the beast forms in the PHB, no mention of distinctive Druid features (metal armor, though the silence is probably revelatory) or adjustements to canonical spells (any adjustments to Reincarnate so it might actually see play?).

Narrator: His questions would not be answered.

SUBCLASSES
Land

• Almost all as in PT6. This is "all about your spellcasting".
• you choose your land type every long rest. Arid, Polar, Temperate, Tropical (as in PT6).
• use wildshape at 3 to create "eruption of nature magic" (harms and heals). Expanded at 14 to include resitances.
• Two damage resistances at 10 (with flexibility: poison plus one determined by land type

Sea

• wanted to "make sure we don't have the Aquaman problem".
• NEW: Water breathing replaces Sleet storm on the subclass spell list.

Moon

• Almost everything exactly as in PT8: AC is "more reliable"; gain in temporary hit points instead of just taking over the creature's hit points. (a nerf, but a needed one). (Crawford ties it to abilities that activate when you get zero hp;
• NEW: subclass spell list given (it is different from PT8):
  • 3: cure wounds, moon beam, starry wisp (unchanged)
  • 5: conjure animals (replacing Vampiric touch)
  • 7: fount of Moonlight (new spell, as in PT8)
  • 9: mass cure wounds (replacing Dawn).

Stars

• like Tasha's, but starting now at level 3. Enhanced by core class, but no specific changes made.

 

[GarrettKP]

I think WotC really dropped the ball on Moon Druids.

The subclass as designed just doesn't work very well. It's nerfed at certain levels (especially levels 2-4), and the attempts at improving its DPR just don't harmonize with the beast it can actually use to wild shape.

They should have look at the honour Among Thieves and used that as their template.

Ah yes, let’s pass judgement on the Moon Druid before seeing the new and (hopefully) improved beasts in the Monster Manual (or hell, even the ones in the PHB).

Moon Druid will be fine as long as it has 2-3 good best forms at each CR it can transform into. How about we hold off before crucifying it?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Something something "Inclusive" something something no no words these days something.

Mod Note:

Something something "not as clever as you think you are" something something think again before proceeding something.

 

[TerraDave]

please stop!!

not everything more mystical than tying shoelaces needs to be coded as a spell.

When did I start? What does this have to do with the preview? Did you watch it?

Don’t blame me, blame WotC.

 

[Minigiant]

please stop!!

not everything more mystical than tying shoelaces needs to be coded as a spell.

Everything doesn't have to be a spell.

But this is what happens when you neither want to commit to new subsystems nor new classes.

Wild Shape, Wild Companion, Hunters Mark, and Beast Companion should all be Channel Nature.

The 2014 Druid was too complex and convoluted and so is the 2024 Druid. And other 3PPs just follow suit as well.

Maybe the community will get break the chains in 10 years.

 

[CapnZapp]

Biggest issue is they had split them into 'land/sea/air' instead of addressing the ACTUALY REASONS people use wild shape. What they needed is a separation based on purposes: Scouting (or infiltration), Travel, Tanking (with Moon druids getting a 'Predator' template for battle).

I skimmed the ten pages or so since this was introduced - did a discussion ever start?

Because this is exactly on point: if you want to scout combat ability just gets in the way, and so on.

You choose optimal forms for the intended function and everything else is just a distraction, or worse, something that brings the CR out of reach despite not needed.

 

[CapnZapp]

Everything doesn't have to be a spell.

But this is what happens when you neither want to commit to new subsystems nor new classes.

Wild Shape, Wild Companion, Hunters Mark, and Beast Companion should all be Channel Nature.

The 2014 Druid was too complex and convoluted and so is the 2024 Druid. And other 3PPs just follow suit as well.

Maybe the community will get break the chains in 10 years.

It isn't a new edition. It won't fix the edition's problems.

Expect a repeat of 3.5 and you won't be disappointed.

 

[Minigiant]

It isn't a new edition. It won't fix the edition's problems.

Expect a repeat of 3.5 and you won't be disappointed.

This is what I expected.

D&D has sacred cows it needs to kill. But it's a process. It takes steps.

The Druid touches so many of the steps there is no way you can fix it in a half edition. Not even a full.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Let me rephrase that.

BBEG with 500 HP
Turns into a cat, with 5 HP
Gets hit with a disintegrate, for 100 damage.
"If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, it is disintegrate".

Does the BBEG disintegrate or not?

If it was Schroedinger's Cat, the answer would be easy.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

This is what I expected.

D&D has sacred cows it needs to kill. But it's a process. It takes steps.

The Druid touches so many of the steps there is no way you can fix it in a half edition. Not even a full.

I think the burning of spell slots for wild shape uses is a step in the right direction. Sometimes it does not take too much effort.

 

[OB1]

I think WotC really dropped the ball on Moon Druids.

The subclass as designed just doesn't work very well. It's nerfed at certain levels (especially levels 2-4), and the attempts at improving its DPR just don't harmonize with the beast it can actually use to wild shape.

They should have look at the honour Among Thieves and used that as their template.

I'm a big 2014 Druid fan and was very against the original set of 24 Druid changes that moved to templates, largely because I knew how important changing into real beasts was to the Druid players I've DM'd for. But I disagree that the current implementation dropped the ball. While slightly less powerful level's 2-4, it scales much better throughout the Druid's career. I'm also not sure Doric is a moon druid, rather some new subclass that gives her access to the Owlbear. Let's take her iconic infiltration scene.

In that scene, she transforms from Fly, Mouse, self, Mouse, Hawk, Cat, Cockatrice Axe Beak, Deer. Because she's able to fly in wildshape, that put's her at 8th level at minimum. I'll use 8th as the baseline for comparison.

In the 2024 rules, those 7 transformations would give her a potential of 56 THP if she's not a moon druid, or 168 THP if she is (depending on how many THP were used before making the next tranformation). In either case, it would cost her her 2 Wildshape uses plus 4 1st level slots and 1 2nd. With the 14 rules, those 7 Wildhsapes would have given her at most 30-40 THP from the beast forms (and again, some of those would be lost due to transforming before she needed to), but also, she would never have been able to Wildshape 7 times in a scene anyhow. She would have needed at least 3 short rests in between to do so.

And while she's using spells to do this, getting 24 THP for a 1st level spell at 8th level feels pretty solid for Moon Druid, especially since the druid can cast spells and gains an additional 1d8 elemental damage on all attacks and has access to far more spells that allow the Moon Druid to be far more effective in combat instead of just tanking.

While it still needs to be seen what attack bonus the Moon Druid uses in Wildshape form, I'd say that overall the Moon Druid has become stronger than the 2014 class, and I'd be surprised if any of my players chose 14 over 24 when making their next druid. Certainly, if a player want's to emulate Doric, '24 is the far better choice.

Edit: Changed Cockatrice to Axe Beak