D&D (2024) New Wild Shape

[Gorck]

As far as the new Wild Shape predetermined stat blocks go, I’m okay with the Animal of the Sea and the Animal of the Sky. But I think the Animal of the Land should be like the Summon spells from TCoE, where each spell gives you a suboption that slightly alters the stat block. They could keep the existing Animal of the Land stat block, but give the choice between Tank, Striker, or Stalker. The Tank option could give higher AC and HP, the Striker could do more damage, and the Stalker could be small and have a bonus to stealth checks (and maybe be faster, but have a lower AC and HP).

 

[Clint_L]

Given what we heard from WotC today there's a good chance they split the difference and keep wild shape more or less as is, with the druid shaping into a variety of animals and using those stat blocks, but choosing from a much more narrow selection. Any speculation about what animals they might make available for A) druids in general, and B) moon druids? And which sub-class gets owlbear (because you know it's gonna be one of them).

Edit: I think it would be fun if moon druids unlocked one new animal each level, in addition to the standard druid options. And that would allow for better control of the CR rating so that the moon druid's overall power stayed consistent and balanced.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Given what we heard from WotC today there's a good chance they split the difference and keep wild shape more or less as is, with the druid shaping into a variety of animals and using those stat blocks, but choosing from a much more narrow selection. Any speculation about what animals they might make available for A) druids in general, and B) moon druids? And which sub-class gets owlbear (because you know it's gonna be one of them).

Edit: I think it would be fun if moon druids unlocked one new animal each level, in addition to the standard druid options. And that would allow for better control of the CR rating so that the moon druid's overall power stayed consistent and balanced.

I am still not convinced about certain animal forms... now you will hae people who complain, why they can't turn into animal x at level y. Then it will clutter the PHB...
players going through the Monster Manual does not sit right with me.
Also, making a class dependend on a different book limits the design space of the other book.

SO what I see here as a compromise is having a template with aspects like the various summon spell templates or tge ranger companions from tasha.

 

[James Gasik]

What I found telling was while Crawford was all excited about talking about "sure, we'll probably let you build your own monster out of options", he didn't say much about the hit point debate (save for how it worked with tiny animals).

 

[mellored]

What I found telling was while Crawford was all excited about talking about "sure, we'll probably let you build your own monster out of options", he didn't say much about the hit point debate (save for how it worked with tiny animals).

He was thinking that you could use abdurartion spells (i.e. shield) to keep your defenses up.

In which case he needs to add it as an extra known spell.

Still don't like it though, and your still better off using sheleighleigh and booming blade.

I do like the bonus action trip/grapple though. Druids controlling the battlefield makes more sense than them dealing damage.

Still need something for concentration checks though.

 

[Clint_L]

I don’t see templates happening in anything like the current play test form. It’s too divisive which will likely mean sticking with something more or less like status quo

 

[DEFCON 1]

If I had to guess... I suspect that what will eventually be given to druids for wildshape are a specific list of animals per CR for which the druid can change into using said animal's statblock (rather than a generic one). But only those animals given in the list, thereby allowing the designers to keep things in relative balance and stop some druid players from combing through dozens of monster books looking for the uber-statblocks that truly trivialize things. So you might get Wolf, Elk, Giant Boar, Constrictor Snake, War Horse, Giant Spider, Brown Bear and so on... but only those statblocks at your disposal. And if you want different animals besides those in the list... then you have to select the animal statblock you want and refluff it to the weird animal type of whatever you choose. So if you want to wildshape into a Camel, you use the War Horse statblock but just call yourself a camel.

 

[Gorck]

If I had to guess... I suspect that what will eventually be given to druids for wildshape are a specific list of animals per CR for which the druid can change into using said animal's statblock (rather than a generic one). But only those animals given in the list, thereby allowing the designers to keep things in relative balance and stop some druid players from combing through dozens of monster books looking for the uber-statblocks that truly trivialize things. So you might get Wolf, Elk, Giant Boar, Constrictor Snake, War Horse, Giant Spider, Brown Bear and so on... but only those statblocks at your disposal. And if you want different animals besides those in the list... then you have to select the animal statblock you want and refluff it to the weird animal type of whatever you choose. So if you want to wildshape into a Camel, you use the War Horse statblock but just call yourself a camel.

On that note, there are a bunch of beasts in the back of the 2014 PHB. They could do the same thing with the 2024 PHB and limit Druids to just those ones.

 

[Captain Panda]

Crawford talking about Shield, which is not on the primal list, is kind of silly to me. Why is he even bringing up this interaction? You have to use a feat to take it, and it's one feat option of many.

 

[James Gasik]

Crawford talking about Shield, which is not on the primal list, is kind of silly to me. Why is he even bringing up this interaction? You have to use a feat to take it, and it's one feat option of many.

It just goes to show you that WotC playtesters are playing a very different game than the rest of us.