NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emberashh" data-source="post: 8973381" data-attributes="member: 7040941">Facts. Plus, I think its pretty clear as far as the Druid goes that there is something being lost with templates, even if we assume they won't suck eventually. While I still think itd be better to just stick with statblocks and nerf casting (or skip this whole druid=shapeshifter business altogether), Id think the best compromise about it would probably be to use a template for general stats and then just have abilities key off the real statblocks, which are a lot easier to have a couple page reference for than full statblocks.From what Ive seen, the loss of the abilities is the main sticking point, and I think you could even get around variable health for different forms by including an HP modifier alongside the ability references. That way, you can have a standard statblock thats easy for anyone to use right out of the PHB, and can still include the principle things that differentiate the various beasts. No need to make up unique template abilities or a bunch of different ones. Even flavor-wise Id think that'd work out because Im pretty positive most depictions of shapeshifting in other fantasy typically have the Shapeshifter still fundamentally be different in some way from the real thing. In fact, if we lean into that idea, we could even balance out stealth questions. If Druids who shapeshift very obviously look like shapeshifted Druids to anyone who knows what to look for to tell the difference, then you can sell the ability to negate that disadvantage as a stealth boon at some later level. For instance, say we want to keep it simple and the Druids shapeshifted form will incorporate some elements of their natural form; lets say purple hair. This could even be flavored as an imperfect skill, ie, the Druid is still too green and needs experience to be better. But then they turn into a Rat. A purple rat is noticeable, so theres your chance of failure to ensure people actually run stealth mechanics. And then at some later level, the Druid can negate this issue, precisely taking the form they want, representing their growth. It doesn't have to be strictly linked; DMs and Players can work out how this imperfection manifests, but mechanically I think it'd be sound.</blockquote>

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