D&D 5E Druid Idea: Wild Shape Costing Spell Slots

[Falling Icicle]

I just had an idea that I thought I'd throw out there and see what people think. What if instead of getting Wild Shape a set number of times per day, Druids paid for it with spell slots instead? For example, turning into a hound could cost a 1st level spell slot, while turning into a bird of prey could cost a 3rd level slot. I can think of several advantages to doing it this way:

* Druids would still be limited in how often they can use Wild Shape, but instead of being limited to doing it 1-5 times per day, they could do it as often as the number of spell slots they're willing to sacrifice. This gives druids more flexibility but also a strategic choice.

* Some shapes are simply more powerful than others. Why should turning into a fish cost the same resource as turning into a dire behemoth? By having Wild Shape cost spell slots, better forms could use higher level slots, so there's a cost advantage to using weaker forms, and more powerful forms would be more expensive, encouraging players to use them sparingly.

* Druids would have to split their overall power between forms and spellcasting, rather than being full casters plus mighty melee combatants. Just as clerics have to spend spell slots in order to be powerful in melee, so too would druids.

* Forms could be "augmentable", like spells. For example, you could have the option of turning into a more powerful hound by using a higher level spell slot. Using spell slots makes something like this possible.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with it... although looking at it objectively, I would suspect that it might rub some people the wrong way. Mainly because it would seem like wildshaping equals spellcasting. So wildshape would be nothing more than just having a whole bunch of Polymorph Self spells on your spell list.

Now granted, indeed that's pretty much what wildshaping is-- just a whole bunch of polymorph abilities-- so having one resource pool (spells) rather than two (spells and wildshapes per day) is just shrinking mechanics down for ease-of-use. But in order to get across that wildshaping is really meant to be a wholly different thing than spellcasting... you really need to keep them separate. It's the fluff coming through. Spellcasting implies and feels like one thing within the fiction. Other class abilities feel different. And thus they should have their own resource.

It's the same reason why many players like having Channel Divinity abilities separate from spells-- they just feel like different things. They tried Turn Undead as a spell... it apparently didn't feel right to many players, and so they changed it back.

The urge to condense abilities down into smaller and smaller pools of resources is normally a good one-- it results more often than not in cleaner and easier-to-use design... but there comes a point where it loses it's flavor when it does. IE in 4E when a Fighter's Daily exploit is written out in block form exactly as a Wizard's Daily spell is... and both of them use the same formatting and gridded table mechanical results. While the fiction says they are meant to be different... for many people it doesn't feel that way.

Sometimes keeping things different is actually a good thing.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

If they're going to keep limiting the use of Wild Shape then I think it makes sense to use spell slots in exchange for using the ability. The trick will be making it clear that it's not a spell (though it obviously would work just fine as one you have always prepared, with the level you cast it at determining what form you can take).

When I saw what they had in mind though, I thought it would be better that the druid be able to wildshape whenever they like - with the forms they know being limited, I think this makes more sense.

 

[Kinak]

I'd almost rather the wild shapes were just spells, but being able to spontaneously cast them (like 3e cleric's cure spells) could be fairly cool.

The benefit of just making them spells is that it lets druids specialize. With wild shapes as spells, druids can do as much or as little wild shaping as they want (just like they can dial their healing, utility, and blasting). Whereas if it's spontaneous, druids can't specialize away from wild shape.

In any case, I prefer either of those solutions to the current per day limitation.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[KidSnide]

I like wildshape as a class ability. It's iconic aspect of what makes a druid and the current rules do a good job at dividing druids into "druids who wild shape in combat" and "druids who wild shape just for utility."

I think there is room for more druid variants than the two presented in the packet, but I don't see the ability to specialize away from wild shape as good reason to rework the ability into spells.

-KS

 

[Falling Icicle]

I'd almost rather the wild shapes were just spells, but being able to spontaneously cast them (like 3e cleric's cure spells) could be fairly cool.

The benefit of just making them spells is that it lets druids specialize. With wild shapes as spells, druids can do as much or as little wild shaping as they want (just like they can dial their healing, utility, and blasting). Whereas if it's spontaneous, druids can't specialize away from wild shape.

In any case, I prefer either of those solutions to the current per day limitation.

Cheers!
Kinak

Another advantage to having wild shape as spells is that you can always add new forms later. New spells could introduce plant forms, elemental forms, and so forth.