D&D General Wild Shape: Inefficient or Useless?

[Paul Farquhar]

With moon druid I think there is an element of system mastery needed to know which forms are good.

 

[Seramus]

The sheer amount of shenanigans you can get up to in the Exploration Pillar more than justifies wild shape. In fact, most druids could get up to far more shenanigans if they were not being considerate of their fellow party members (like rogue scouting).

Heck, you can even sneak a little Social Pillar work in just from being incredibly cute or menacing and "assisting" with someone elses checks.

 

[Horwath]

Wild shape needs to be at will ability,
few times per day you can augment it into "combat wild shape" that gives temp HP or/and more damage.
Moon druid would OFC have better combat wild shape.

still the best wild shape that I have seen in DND is from 3.5e PHB2, shapeshifter druid variant.

 

[BenjaminPey]

You always have a Wild Shape left for exploration scenes already, as you can recover one after a short rest.

 

[Corinnguard]

I would love there to be a nonCaster Wildshape class. And Druid to just tap onto Wildshape. And Barbarian and Ranger each getting a Wildshape subclass.

Laser Llama and PF1 (Paizo and Legendary Games) both have the Shifter class, a more martial wildshaping class. Laser Llama's take on the Shifter class just allows the character to assume an avian, a brute, a carnivore or a reptile with their Bloodline feature.

The Shifter Class by laserllama

The Shifter Class by laserllama - Created with GM Binder.

www.gmbinder.com

PF1's take on the Shifter class allows you to take on the minor and major aspects of a particular animal.

Ex.

Bear​

The aspect of the bear invokes a juggernaut of tireless endurance and furious power. Those who take this aspect are known for surviving severe wounds and delivering punishing blows in return.

Minor Form: You gain a +2 enhancement bonus to your Constitution score. At 8th level, the bonus increases to +4, and at 15th level it increases to +6.

Major Form: Your shape changes to that of a dire bear. While in this form, you gain two claw attacks (1d6 damage) with the grab ability, a bite attack (1d8 damage), a 40 feet base speed, low-light vision and scent (30 feet). At 8th level, you gain Improved Natural Attack with your claws. At 15th level, the critical multiplier of your claw attack increases by 1 (×2 becomes ×3) to a maximum of ×4, and you gain the Awesome Blow feat.

There are Shifter archetypes in PF1 that do allow the player to assume forms other than those with the Beast Type:

Dragonblood Shifter- Dragons
Feyform Shifter- Fey
Holy Beast- Celestial
Swarm Shifter- Vermin
Elementalist Shifter- Elemental
Fiendflesh Shifter- Fiends
Oozemorph- Oozes
Verdant Shifter- Plant

There is a PF1 Shifter archetype called the Weretouched that is sort of like the Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan).

Laser Llama does have a Ranger subclass that can wildshape. The Shifter Conclave

 

[Arilyn]

Druid was my favourite class when I was playing 2014. I found many uses for wildshape from scouting, sneaking, tracking, eavesdropping, moving, carrying, slipping through small spaces, climbing, etc. As you gain levels, swimming, flying. If you have a rogue in the party that's sneaking ahead, it's great to send the shapeshifted driud with them as backup.

Moon druid's wildshape is actually too powerful at lower levels in combat, especially with regaining hp when the druid shifts back.

2024 druid has been changed, and I've only read a borrowed copy once, so can't speak to the updates.

 

[Seramus]

If you have a rogue in the party that's sneaking ahead, it's great to send the shapeshifted druid with them as backup.

100%! Pocket druid is absolutely a thing, riding along on the rogue as they sneak about, or hiding in the pocket of the bard when they meet someone important, etc. Also works for the NPCs! You hear a hushed conversation in the next room; you kick in the door and storm in, only to see a lumbering orc with a tiny mouse on his shoulder.

 

[Stormonu]

Wildshape is one of the most useful abilities in the whole game. As above, couple it with casting some spells before shifting and it can be especially potent. Couple it with Animal Friendship, Conjure Animals or doubling up with the spellcaster's familiar or the Ranger's animal companion and you can create a mini party that is excellent at scouting, spying and retrieval. The bonus hp/temp hp are also quite a boon in combat or even getting through traps. Using Wildshape for combat is meant for the Moon Druid, for all other Druids, its a very nice ribbon ability that I've seen get tremendous and creative use.

Have another use Speak with Animals, Message, Beast Sense, telepathy or the like with another PC and you can remain in constant contact. In the case of Message, even if you can't talk you can still work out way to communicate with growls, barks or yaps and can still understand. The Druid might not be able to turn into a bird at first level, but you could always have the Wizard's Raven carry you in Mouse form whereever you want to go...

The only change I'd really like to make to Wildshape would be the option to reduce the timeframe by 10 minutes and take another form - change, say from a rat to a cat, or somesuch.

And that perhaps Giant Ape/T. Rex wasn't the go-to form for high level Moon druids. I like Kaiju fights, but not in my D&D.

 

[TwoSix]

Laser Llama does have a Ranger subclass that can wildshape. The Shifter Conclave

Some of their other classes do as well; the Alternate Rogue and the Shaman both have limited versions of wildshape.

 

[mellored]

Moon druid's wildshape is actually too powerful at lower levels in combat, especially with regaining hp when the druid shifts back.

2024 druid has been changed, and I've only read a borrowed copy once, so can't speak to the updates.

It's much more balanced in 2024.
Mainly, you keep your HP and get scaling THP.

Also, at level 5, you can expend a spell slot for more wild shapes (i.e. THP). So you can stay in animal form longer than 2014, at the cost of spells.

Just burn most of your slots and you can be a tiger every fight without issue. At least at level 5+.