D&D 5E Druid's Wild Shape

[Jaracove]

The druid's Wild Shape ability looks overly powerful. At 2nd level, you can change into a brown bear, gain an extra 4d10+12 hit points, and this can be done twice per short rest?

Has anyone considered changing this to twice per long rest?

 

[MerricB]

It's great... until you realise how low the druid's AC is.

Short rests tend not to be as common as you think, either.

Cheers!

 

[Jaracove]

Might this low ac be offset by having the ability to change into something with more hp and a better ac at higher levels? I assume so

 

[green_destiny]

Might this low ac be offset by having the ability to change into something with more hp and a better ac at higher levels? I assume so

Yes by changing into another beast that has better HP and AC as long as:

1. You still follow the CR rating limitations of wild shape with respect on the CR rating of the chosen beast.
2. You have seen that beast before.

I think that's it? But its easier said than done in-game, especially if the beast is not common in your area.

Essentially Wild shape Druids are meat shields, but still awesome. Good thing is their ability scales thru levels (CR rating increases).

 

[miniaturehoarder]

The druid's Wild Shape ability looks overly powerful. At 2nd level, you can change into a brown bear, gain an extra 4d10+12 hit points, and this can be done twice per short rest?

Has anyone considered changing this to twice per long rest?

Thing is, while it balances out supposedly in the long run it can be very powerful to broken for a long stretch of levels, out fights the main combatants and it certainly attracts Character Optimizer types. It is on wotc's watch list for potential errata. You would not be the first who's altered it, but I recommend just disallowing that version of the druid since altering a significant ability is easy to mis-adjust and leave the character too little power.

 

[green_destiny]

Thing is, while it balances out supposedly in the long run it can be very powerful to broken for a long stretch of levels, out fights the main combatants and it certainly attracts Character Optimizer types. It is on wotc's watch list for potential errata. You would not be the first who's altered it, but I recommend just disallowing that version of the druid since altering a significant ability is easy to mis-adjust and leave the character too little power.

True. In our table no one has picked to be a Druid yet but personally I either I don't allow Wild shape druids at my table or the player is really persistent, we have an agreement that its twice per long rest. It wouldn't under power the Druid since Wild Shape is not its ONLY ability. Worse thing is he'll revert to casting spells and/or attacking normally.

 

[Fanaelialae]

The druid's Wild Shape ability looks overly powerful. At 2nd level, you can change into a brown bear, gain an extra 4d10+12 hit points, and this can be done twice per short rest?

Has anyone considered changing this to twice per long rest?

IME, it's not overpowered. Moon Druids have some ability to stand in the front-line, but I've found it to be much more limited than that of a fighter due to low AC. The extra HP are nice, but they tend to go FAST, and the damage can be a little meh. Admittedly, my players don't take a short rest after every fight, so the druid didn't start every encounter with 2 wild shapes ready to go.

I've found druid spells, such as Entangle, to have a much bigger impact on encounters than Wild Shape. While a Moon Druid certainly has spells, he isn't casting them if he's Wild Shaped (at least not until very high levels). On the other hand, we haven't played beyond 10th level, with most play at level 6 or below, so it's possible my opinion might change at higher levels.

 

[Cernor]

I'm currently playing a moon Druid (from 1st to almost 6th level), and I'm finding that I'm using Wild Shape in more of a utility than combat capacity. Giant Spider form is one of the better forms that I have, because I can use it to ferry my party up and down vertical cliffs without having to make Athletics checks... In combat I was overpowered at 2nd and 3rd levels, but we progressed past those quickly enough that I started relying on my other abilities. Now that the martials have extra attack my damage output has dropped quite a bit compared to the rest of the party.

Am I still powerful? Yes. With Conjure Animals, Spike Growth, and Call Lightning, I'm able to dish out a lot of damage (especially when conjuring Giant Poisonous Snakes against creatures that don't resist poison). However, my nova damage is still lower than a blaster's, and the amount of damage I can maintain indefinitely is pretty low (7-9 average per turn, while the ranger gets an average of 24 per turn).

 

[ppaladin123]

It's great... until you realise how low the druid's AC is.

Short rests tend not to be as common as you think, either.

Cheers!

Over on the character optimization boards, folks have noted that the monk's AC bonus appears to work while wild=shaped so a one-level dip in monk solves that problem.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The druid's Wild Shape ability looks overly powerful. At 2nd level, you can change into a brown bear, gain an extra 4d10+12 hit points, and this can be done twice per short rest?

Has anyone considered changing this to twice per long rest?

True. In our table no one has picked to be a Druid yet but personally I either I don't allow Wild shape druids at my table or the player is really persistent, we have an agreement that its twice per long rest. It wouldn't under power the Druid since Wild Shape is not its ONLY ability. Worse thing is he'll revert to casting spells and/or attacking normally.

Um...how can you say it's true if no one at your table has actually played it?

This topic has been argued to death. My advice? Actually play the moon druid, because it's not nearly as powerful as you think it is just by glancing over the description. Heck, in my in-game experience, the barbarian had a lot more staying power in combat than a wild shaped moon druid due to resistance.