D&D General Wild Shape: Inefficient or Useless?

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Playing as a Druid has me feeling like the Wildshape feature, as written, is basically inefficient at best and basically useless at worse.

How can I feel that way when it allows my character to become an animal? Well, let's examine it

Level 2: Wild Shape​

The power of nature allows you to assume the form of an animal. As a Bonus Action, you shape-shift into a Beast form that you have learned for this feature (see “Known Forms” below). You stay in that form for a number of hours equal to half your Druid level or until you use Wild Shape again, have the Incapacitated condition, or die. You can also leave the form early as a Bonus Action.
Number of Uses. You can use Wild Shape twice. You regain one expended use when you finish a Short Rest, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
You gain additional uses when you reach certain Druid levels, as shown in the Wild Shape column of the Druid Features table.
Known Forms. You know four Beast forms for this feature, chosen from among Beast stat blocks that have a maximum Challenge Rating of 1/4 and that lack a Fly Speed. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can replace one of your known forms with another eligible form.
When you reach certain Druid levels, your number of known forms and the maximum Challenge Rating for those forms increases, as shown in the Beast Shapes table. In addition, starting at level 8, you can adopt a form that has a Fly Speed.
When choosing known forms, you may look in the Monster Manual or elsewhere for eligible Beasts if the Dungeon Master permits you to do so.

Druid Level	Known Forms	Max CR	Fly Speed
2	4	1/4	No
4	6	1/2	No
8	8	1	Yes

Beast Shapes

Rules While Shape-Shifted. While in a form, you retain your personality, memories, and ability to speak, and the following rules apply:
Temporary Hit Points. When you assume a Wild Shape form, you gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your Druid level.
Game Statistics. Your game statistics are replaced by the Beast’s stat block, but you retain your creature type; Hit Points; Hit Point Dice; Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores; class features; languages; and feats. You also retain your skill and saving throw proficiencies and use your Proficiency Bonus for them, in addition to gaining the proficiencies of the creature. If a skill or saving throw modifier in the Beast’s stat block is higher than yours, use the one in the stat block.
No Spellcasting. You can’t cast spells, but shape-shifting doesn’t break your Concentration or otherwise interfere with a spell you’ve already cast.
Objects. Your ability to handle objects is determined by the form’s limbs rather than your own. In addition, you choose whether your equipment falls in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it’s practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment based on the creature’s size and shape. Your equipment doesn’t change size or shape to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can’t wear must either fall to the ground or merge with the form. Equipment that merges with the form has no effect while you’re in that form.

"As a Bonus Action, you shape-shift into a Beast form that you have learned for this feature (see “Known Forms” below). You stay in that form for a number of hours equal to half your Druid level or until you use Wild Shape again, have the Incapacitated condition, or die. You can also leave the form early as a Bonus Action."

Now, being able to stay in a particular form for a number of hours equal to half your Druid level sounds nice, but it's very rarely useful. Early on you can't become anything powerful or even something that can fly. Most combat sessions tend to take mere rounds and, don't forget, unless you've already cast a spell you can't do it again until you leave the form. And even with temporary hit points, you'd probably do as well in combat (or better) with a weapon than with claws and fang.

The shape is also basically useless for scouting purposes. Sure, at 2nd level you can stay as a fox or dog or whatever for at least an hour and you'll...what? split the party? Sure, a keen sense of smell comes in handy, but unless you've arranged signals you need to transform back to tell the group what you've discovered, ending the effect almost certainly well-early of the total duration. So, after maybe a couple rounds of something that could theoretically last an hour it's over and you have to cast again to use it.

Now, remember, you can only do it twice before regaining one use by short rest. Unless your GM is pretty generous with short rests you're probably not regaining the use of the ability until you've finished a long rest. Alter Self gives much better options even if it doesn't technically last as long (and, again, unless there's something particular going on would you even need a shape longer than an hour?). If you're not getting any short rests, then it hardly matters that you need a long rest to recover since you're doing that anyway.

How do you all feel on this? Do you find wild shape a useful option for Druids or not? If not, what would be a good way to fix it without breaking things?

 

[Minigiant]

Wildshape is an exploration features unless your subclass makes it a combat or social feature.

It's basically a 1st level utility spell.

 

[Corinnguard]

Wildshape is an exploration features unless your subclass makes it a combat or social feature

In older editions of D&D and Pathfinder you could wildshape into Elementals and Plant Creatures. While you could only get these forms at higher tiers of game play, they were geared more toward combat.

 

[Corinnguard]

There ought to be Druid subclasses for 5e that focus on those two monster types. PF1 had the Treesinger Druid (which covered the Plant types) and Kobold Press had the Elemental Exarch Druid for PF1.

 

[Minigiant]

In older editions of D&D and Pathfinder you could wildshape into Elementals and Plant Creatures. While you could only get these forms at higher tiers of game play, they were geared more toward combat.

Personally I would have Wilhshape be a set of spells like the Power Words. Except let Druids (and a noncaster Shapeshifter class) cast through an alternate nonslot resources via subclasses.

Wild Shape
Moon Shape
Plant Shape
Elemental Shape
Star Shape
Fire Shape

 

[mellored]

You get access to a large variety of abilities. Just taking the basic suggested option.

Rat: Tiny, doesn’t provoke opportunity attack, climb speed.
Example use: Bonus action disengaged.

Riding Horse: speed 60
Example use: cast heat metal, ally archer hops on your back and you run around while they shoot things

Spider: darkvision 60', can climb on ceilings, +4 Stealth
Example use: can get most places that would need flying.

Wolf: knocks down on a hit, advantage to hit.
Example use: combat. Prone the enemy next to the fighter, and give them advantage on all their next attacks.

Personal choice: Badger: burrow 5'.
Example use: safely take a short rest.


Also: you can use it to summon a familiar, and the other subclasses get different ways to use it.


If you want more combat form, then moon druid can do that. Thought honestly I feel Barbarian would make a better "turn into beast" class.

 

[DragonLancer]

In one of the two 2024 campaigns I am running, I have a player with a (at present) 8th level Druid. Other than once a twice when it was used to become a wolf or bird, the Druid becomes a spider. That form is used for scouting and spying. It is never used for anything else because it just doesn't feel worth it.

We're more used to Pathfinder where the options for a Wildshape were far better and more useful.

 

[Tessarael]

I have been playing an A5E Druid with the Skinchanger archetype, essentially the equivalent of the 5E Circle of the Moon. In my opinion, there are a couple of things that the A5E Druid does really well to make being wild shaped more useful: you can talk; and you can cast range self or touch spells.

Last session, we were exploring some windy tunnels that went vertical as well. My character was in Giant Spider wild shape form, exploring ahead the vertical sections, then reporting back to the party in that spider form as to whether it was worth continuing. Likewise, I cast Detect Magic while wild shaped, rather than having to shift back to my original form, or being unable to do so because I wanted to maintain the wild shape.

At level 2, Wild Shape is quite powerful, but subsequent to that it is certainly not overshadowing the Rogues and Fighters in the party. We have a Rogue, a Fighter, a Savant, an Evolutionist, and my Druid in the party, so my character is what passes for the primary spell caster.

Some offensive spells like Seed Bomb and Produce Flame can be cast wild shaped as they are range self, though she can only throw them if in a humanoid form. A5E Druid also allows plant forms, so I have been using Vegepygmy for this, though Ape would also be fine.

From a mechanical standpoint, these are the sorts of benefits my character gets in a couple of the Wild Shape forms at Druid level 4:

• Giant Spider: AC: +1; CON: -4; DEX: +2; STR: +6; Bite attack at +5, d4+3 damage with DC 11 Constitution save or 2d8 poison damage; Darkvision 60'; spider climb; web walker; web sense; movement speed 30' and climb 30'
• Vegepygmy: AC: 0; +2 with shield; CON: -1; STR: -1. Claw attack at +4, d6+2 damage; Darkvision 60'; movement speed 30'; resist lightning and piercing damage. We dropped the regeneration from Vegepygmy as that seems overpowered.

For Vegepygmy, she'll drop her backpack, weapon, and shield, wild shape, then pick them up to use her gear. So it is not something she would do mid-combat. She can wild shape her proficiency bonus times per long rest, and stay in Wild Shape form for one hour per Druid level - so already up to 8 hours per day.

About two thirds of my character's spells are range touch (e.g., Cure Wounds) or self, but she does have spells like Healing Word, Moonbeam and Thunderwave memorized for use when not wild shaped. At higher levels, she can spend more time wild shaped, though I suspect given the limitations on not using ranged spells that it won't be that powerful a way to play the character.

Practically speaking, I am finding Wild Shape very useful for scouting and combat. The character doesn't do as much damage as other PCs, but is very tanky and can take a lot of damage while having pretty good AC - usually around AC 18 or 19 at this stage.