D&D 5E Druid wildshape...

[Desmodaeus]

Ok, we are having an argument in my group about how wildshape works. Is it correct that a druid can wildshape, take damage enough to kill the wildshaped creatures hit points, revert to normal form, and the next round wildshape again back to the full hp of the creature he is turning into as long as he has another use of it? This seems insane and OP but a couple players insist this is how it works. After consulting the PHB, it seems vague.. Input is appreciated.

 

[Boarstorm]

Seems correct by my limited understanding. How are you interpreting it?

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

That's right! You can use wild shape to soak up damage; the tradeoff is that you can't do that much else in animal form.

 

[Desmodaeus]

Then at level 20 when you can use it unlimited times per day, you are pretty much unkillable. Wow... I just really found it hard to believe as the level 2 druid I am running Hoard of the Dragon Queen for ended up soloing a supposedly nigh unbeatable foe

***SPOILER******

He went against the half-dragon who challenges one pc and actually killed him due to wildshape.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Are you accounting for the damage the druid himself takes? When he's "killed" in wildshape form and reverts to normal, any excess damage transfers over. I can't imagine it'll be too often that his animal form is dropped to exactly zero.

 

[FadedC]

Moon druid wildshape definitely appears very overpowered at least at low levels. The CR 1 beast you can turn into at lvl 2 is going to be dramatically more powerful than anyone else even ignoring the fact that it gives you a 30+ hp damage shield twice, rechargeable after only a short rest.

 

[Juriel]

Yes, Wildshape acts as a huge temporary hitpoint armor. Twice.

 

[MightyZehir]

Yes, Wildshape acts as a huge temporary hitpoint armor. Twice.

Until you get to 20 level. Then there is no limits.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Until you get to 20 level. Then there is no limits.

I'm not entirely convinced that anything that breaks the game at 20th level is a huge deal.

That said, I don't think this does.

It's extremely impressive, yes. But it's not infinite. The druid's likely going to take some "real" damage each time he reverts; it'l be a rare occasion that a druid in animal form is dropped exactly to zero hp. So while it'll take a while, attrition is still a possibility.

But let's not forget the other possibilities. Anything that kills the druid outright, without going through hit points, will still work. Most beast and elemental forms have fewer than 100 hp, so power word kill works. So do any of the "make X saves or die/be petrified" effects. Disintegrate will do it, too, what with the "big pile of dust at 0 hp" thing.

I'm not saying it's not powerful. I'm not even saying it's balanced. I just don't think it's an ultimate game-breaker.

 

[FadedC]

I'm much more worried about the moon druid at low levels than I am at 20th level. There is no question that he is extremely overpowered at early levels, that seems to balance out as the druid levels up but I'm not familiar enough with high level characters to judge when or if it evens out.

At the very least I'm probably going to rule that a lvl 2 moon druid only wild shapes into a CR 1/2 creature. I'll probably judge the rest from there, my players are still figuring 5e characters out, I'm hoping nobody makes a druid so I don't have to worry about it.