Variant Druid: no wildshaping

[Kobold Stew]

The 5e druid has hit points galore with its wildshaping in battle, but what would be an acceptable swap-out if you wanted a druid without wildshape? This is based on something in the d20srd that I've always liked. It also cleans up the wooden shield weirdness, and other oddities that put me off druiding. I think this is the druid I would most like to play.

Non-Wildshaping Druid

Lose:
* all armour and shield proficiencies
* all wild shape abilities
* may chose Circle of the Land only.

Gain:
* level 1: unarmored defense (as Monk, level 1)
* level 2: unarmored movement (as Monk, level 2, improves at level 9)
* level 4: advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track a creature
* level 8: Aspect of the Beast (as Barbarian, TotemWarrior, level 6)

Thoughts?

 

[SkidAce]

I would have kept the armor and shield profs, but otherwise I kinda like it.

Might need to come up with something else for gaining at level 1 and 2 if you keep the armor.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I would have kept the armor and shield profs, but otherwise I kinda like it.

Might need to come up with something else for gaining at level 1 and 2 if you keep the armor.

Thanks for the feedback! Keeping the armour proficiencies would be irrelevant with unarmoured defense in many cases anyways. I took out the shield just because of the stupid metal-weapons rule that is just a legacy form previous editions, and really makes little sense anyways.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Is this something for which you could crib a tidbit or two (Natural Explorer and Primeval Awareness come to mind) from the Ranger? Also, hunter's mark sounds like it might be a flavorful addition to your variant druid's spell list.

Maybe say something about why you want to drop wildshape and armor and shield proficiency? What's the focus of the variant druid? Gunning for the "swift and deadly hunter" archetype mentioned by the d20 SRD, or something else? Personally, I've never felt compelled by either the druid or the ranger. I like both just fine, but both leave me with a bit of a "meh" feeling. But the idea of a ranger/druid hybrid class, a hunter...well, that's exciting.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Yeah -- that would be great. I'm a little concerned about taking the defining elements of the ranger class. (Even the tracking ability was adapted from the Ranger's Favored Enemy ability.) So Monk movement abilities, but not the martial arts. (And Hunter's Mark is another distinctive Ranger ability .)

And yes, I really like this idea of the druid.

 

[tuxgeo]

Is this search inspired by a dislike of wildshaping, or is it inspired by a love of being a "swift and deadly hunter?"

If it's just the wildshaping you want to get rid of, you might want to consider some more druidly alternatives such as:
• Vegetative Awareness. Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your action and expend one druid spell slot to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute per level of the spell slot you expend, you can sense whether the following types of plants are present within 1 mile of you -- but you would need to provide a list of possibilities for this to make sense.
• Animal Companion. That's an idea sometimes associated with druids.
• Summon Plants. I imagine a dwarf druid might like to spend a lot of time summoning barley. A high-level druid with this feature could summon an instant grove to consecrate as sacred ground. More to the point, you wouldn't need to locate the (vegetative) ingredients for potions, but instead could make those ingredients come to you.
• Oneness with plants -- if you like feeling like a "sap."

 

[Kobold Stew]

Is this search inspired by a dislike of wildshaping, or is it inspired by a love of being a "swift and deadly hunter?"

Honestly, it's a bit of both, but the mechanics of wild shaping I find uninteresting -- and so it's Nature cleric, or something like this.

If it's just the wildshaping you want to get rid of, you might want to consider some more druidly alternatives such as:
• Vegetative Awareness. Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your action and expend one druid spell slot to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute per level of the spell slot you expend, you can sense whether the following types of plants are present within 1 mile of you -- but you would need to provide a list of possibilities for this to make sense.
• Animal Companion. That's an idea sometimes associated with druids.
• Summon Plants. I imagine a dwarf druid might like to spend a lot of time summoning barley. A high-level druid with this feature could summon an instant grove to consecrate as sacred ground. More to the point, you wouldn't need to locate the (vegetative) ingredients for potions, but instead could make those ingredients come to you.
• Oneness with plants -- if you like feeling like a "sap."

Hilarious.

 

[Angel of the Dawn]

I quite like the idea of a "shiftless" druid as well. Definitely mining some of this for my games.

 

[Angel of the Dawn]

(Sorry, double-post.)

 

[coolgamertagbro]

I'd like to see this developed into its own archetype rather than be a re-write of the base class. Or maybe as a variant of the whole class...but, either way, would like to see more to distinguish this based on what it is rather than what it isn't.