Chaosmancer
Legend
Are you seriously saying an awakened ape with weapons and armor proficiency can't wear armor? That's the ruling you'd make? Because that's what a druid in wildform effectively is.
It's more grounds for having wildshape focused armor/spells than just giving them that stuff for free.
OKay but... why? Like, sure, be an, grab your shield. But you are already dealing 1d8+mod WITHOUT a one-handed simple weapon which is going to be weaker than 1d8+mod. And it takes time to put on the armor, so that isn't viable unless you transform early, and you don't get the multi-attack...
So is the entire point to just increase the AC? At that point just get barding and have your allies put it on any animal you turn into. It isn't an exploit as much as just... more effort for little gain.
Casters should never equal a non-caster at what the non-caster does, because the non-caster is bound by reality and doesnt get to repick their superpowers after a nap. I don't even think casters should get skills, but sadly that ship has sailed. Versatility needs a price. ALL casters need to be seriously dropped in power (or non-casters need to go full mythic and be throwing mountains or stealing memories, but we all know that won't happen). This is a decent first step.
That ship has sailed so far the docks have rotted away.
Entangle could be more effective at reducing party damage than anything a martial can do. I don't disagree that the gap needs to be bridged. But I far prefer to increase the power of martials than to nerf Casters to the point of being useless.
And it will never make the martials better to play, if you make the others worse to play.
I've never seen a cleric tank like a druid, but it wouldnt necessarily surprise me, because 5E is such easymode it has more or less obliviated the need for any amount of tactics. That doesnt mean it is good design. It's supposed to be a team game, yet we still have some classes able to fill any role with ease. Why even bother with non-casters?
5e is not easy-mode
Yes, you still need tactics if the DM brings a fight that requires tactics. If you just copy-paste the monster manual you aren't being a hardcore DM, so you shouldn't expect a Hardcore experience.
It is still a team game, even if a class can cover different rolls. Having a thief act as a medic with the healer feat doesn't make the cleric useless, just like playing a heavily armed and armored cleric doesn't make the paladin useless, and playing a Paladin sniper isn't going to make the rogue useless. Classes having multiple roles they can fill is a good thing, because it creates a diversity of experience. All it requires is to talk to your party and coordinate a little. If you are going to have two tanks, they should be aware of each other from the start, and you should plan fights that let them shine as two tanks.
And if the druid is shining brighter because they can tank AND do spells, then the solution isn't to snuff the druid, but to find ways to have the barbarian shine brighter. Give them more cool super powers and let them break the rules.