D&D 5E Update avaliable

[Atomo]

You can only wildshape once between long rests until 8th level, then twice between long rests after that.

SHORT or long rest, Kinak. So, about one wild shape per hour until 8th level.

 

[gyor]

Short rest should be 10 minutes, not an hour. Most parties will be taking a short rest between battles realistically.

 

[1of3]

I hadn't noticed the new Arcane Recovery before I had a look at the new Natural Recovery. Looks much more versatile than before.

As for Wildshape, I would use spell slots for it.

 

[Kinak]

SHORT or long rest, Kinak. So, about one wild shape per hour until 8th level.

Wow. You are quite right.

Talk about reading what you want to read

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[the Jester]

Short rest should be 10 minutes, not an hour. Most parties will be taking a short rest between battles realistically.

I think the one-hour short rest is designed to discourage this- if you're under time pressure, it's a meaningful length of time to let pass, and if you're in enemy territory, it's long enough that you aren't necessarily safe from wandering monsters.

EDIT: I think the idea is to take a short rest once or twice per adventuring day, when the party's significantly depleted, not after each encounter.

 

[Mistwell]

I think the one-hour short rest is designed to discourage this- if you're under time pressure, it's a meaningful length of time to let pass, and if you're in enemy territory, it's long enough that you aren't necessarily safe from wandering monsters.

EDIT: I think the idea is to take a short rest once or twice per adventuring day, when the party's significantly depleted, not after each encounter.

My PCs have gotten in the habit of a short rest after most encounters, which was irritating. So when I rolled a wandering monster in the midst of their short rest, what was intended as an easy encounter with skeleton guards turned into a difficult one for them.

So, my experience agrees with your analysis. The one hour allows for more complex sets of encounters than the short time frame, which can discourage resting after every single battle.

 

[Li Shenron]

I really like the mechanical changes to wildshape.

But I do not understand the rationale behind making all forms available immediately at level 2. This is clearly wrong, to be able to fly and breath underwater for 1 whole hour so soon. I think the previous breakdown into hound/steed/rodent/fish/bird was very good - room for improvement sure, but unlocking new applications at higher levels was so much better than having them all at once.

Also, I hate the decision of moving the choice of subclass earlier, and slimming subclasses further to the point that at only level 10th, you're done with your druid subclass. No more features (4 automatically prepared spells are very thin features). These are steps backwards... With only 3 levels at which to place subclass features, and with the additional constraint that the highest level features must be appropriate for level 10 max, the design of new druid subclasses later will have limited room.

I can only hope that they already have something in mind but didn't want to release it yet, perhaps it's not ready. Because these sound like basic design mistakes to me.

 

[Salamandyr]

I believe the limitations inherent in having to breathe water as a fish, and fly as a bird more than adequately override the advantages they confer. Yes, you can breathe water, and yes you can fly, but what can you actually do in those forms? The answer is, a lot of course, but not the kind of things that really overshadow other party members. The druid is going to be a great scout, but his ability to fly isn't going to help the party overcome a cliff.

No...if the druid were to be limited in the forms he could take more than just "basically inoffensive forms" those forms would need to be stronger to justify being a whole special ability.

 

[Kobold Stew]

But I do not understand the rationale behind making all forms available immediately at level 2. This is clearly wrong,

I would have thought for the non-combat forms a very simple fix would be that you start with 2 and gain 1/level -- so you achieve all 12 by level 12, and each time you level up you pick one more of the non-combat forms.

Also, I hate the decision of moving the choice of subclass earlier, and slimming subclasses further ... With only 3 levels at which to place subclass features, and with the additional constraint that the highest level features must be appropriate for level 10 max, the design of new druid subclasses later will have limited room.

This parallels the choices they have made with Paladin design, as discussed here.

 

[Li Shenron]

I would have thought for the non-combat forms a very simple fix would be that you start with 2 and gain 1/level -- so you achieve all 12 by level 12, and each time you level up you pick one more of the non-combat forms.

For me it's not so much about how many forms, but about what those forms enable: enhanced carry capacity, enhanced vision, enhanced hearing, scent, very small size (for sneaking, hiding, eavesdropping...), blindsight, flying, high land/air/water speed, underwater breathing.

Your idea of granting them over many levels is certainly better than all at once, but still flying at least is much better than the others. Nobody else can fly at 2nd level, IIRC the Fly spell is available at 5th level, and even that level was often considered too early in previous editions (although at least the Druid can't use it for fighting).