D&D 5E Druid Gender Change?

[Jennifer Creek]

I've been looking up some various animals in the past few days and I've seen some that can change their genders so I was wondering, If a druid were to wildshape into one of those animals (like a hawkfish) could they as well be able to shift/change genders too, and if so would that one aspect shift back into their base form (human, dragonborn, elf, ect...) with them?

 

[Pauper]

I suspect this is one of those "ask your DM" things.

In my own game, I'd probably allow it for a Wild Shaping druid, but not from a spell effect (like Polymorph). Also, I'd probably limit the effect to only things that don't have a mechanical benefit, like gender, rather than things like natural weapons or ability scores.

--
Pauper

 

[ExploderWizard]

It could be a lot of fun. Imagine Vaarsuvius from OOTS as a wild shaping druid. Each time humanoid form is assumed roll a die to determine gender.

 

[Al2O3]

I assume that by "gender" you are referring to physical sex, as in having the reproductional characteristics of male or female.

This is probably covered by page 5 of the DMG in the description of Part 3 of that book, "Master of Rules": "The rules don't account for every possible situation that might arise during a typical D&D session."

So the DM decides if the druid could change sex while wild shaped. If the DM decides that the druid can change the DM also decides if that carries over. If you are the DM and looking for advice on how to handle a question from a player I would advice to go with what seems most fun (probably say yes).

If you want to argue that "this fish can do it in real life, so my druid should be able to do it as well" it might be good to remember that it probably takes a while for a fish to do it. The question then becomes if the druid is wild shaped for long enough (could work as a downtime activity maybe). It could also be argued that "this is a game with dragons and the long time needed for a real fish to change sex is boring, so let's just say that my druid can do it during a short rest while wild shaped or something".

 

[Jennifer Creek]

I suspect this is one of those "ask your DM" things.

The only problem with asking the DM is that this is a tiny game (3 people) and we all take turns being the DM so everyone gets a chance to actually play their characters (we need a bigger group lol). So I have two DM's and I am a DM as well.

 

[Sacrosanct]

wildshape allows you to change into a beast. And when you're done, you go back to your normal form. So I suppose you could change gender when going into beast form, since I don't see how that would impact anything. You're going back to your original gender when it ends anyway, per how the power is described.

 

[Jennifer Creek]

You're going back to your original gender when it ends anyway, per how the power is described.

I suppose the question to ask with this is what exactly does "Normal form" actually mean. "Normal form" could simply mean your race/class or it could mean EXACTLY how you were when you first wildshaped meaning everything from race, class, gender, and so forth.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I suppose the question to ask with this is what exactly does "Normal form" actually mean. "Normal form" could simply mean your race/class or it could mean EXACTLY how you were when you first wildshaped meaning everything from race, class, gender, and so forth.

I think it's pretty clear that is your biological form. If you're not normally a female human, then coming out of wildshape wouldn't let you be a female human. Because that's not what you normally are. I.e., "normally" = "normal". if it allowed you to swap gender (or something else as major as that), it would be called out specifically as such.

 

[RobotElder]

Due to sexual dimorphism, I would definitely allow druids to wildshape into different sexes of beasts. For example, male gorillas are much larger and stronger than females, female raptors are typically larger (and it is suspected that female carnosaurs were larger as well), male narwhals have horns, etc.

 

[Mercule]

I suppose the question to ask with this is what exactly does "Normal form" actually mean. "Normal form" could simply mean your race/class or it could mean EXACTLY how you were when you first wildshaped meaning everything from race, class, gender, and so forth.

I have a hard time interpreting it as anything other than a big RESET button -- back to how you were before shifting.

That said, I don't see any way another interpretation could "break" the game, so I wouldn't break a sweat if a player wanted to use it as some sort of girdle of femininity and masculinity. It would never have occurred to me, and I'd say "no" if told I had to interpret the rules as written to the best of my ability, but whatever.