Wisdom bonus to AC while wildshaped feat?

[Gort]

I've noticed that the druid in my campaign never uses wildshape because her AC suffers greatly. (going from magical armour, magical shield, and magical deflecting ring to "quite thick skin" is quite the step down) Thus, one of the iconic abilities of the druid, the ability to become a fierce predator and crush enemies of nature, is completely wasted.

I was wondering, since druids pretty much all go for high wisdom, whether an elegant solution to this problem would be to give the druid their wisdom bonus to AC. In order to prevent this unbalancing the game, I'd also rule that no other ways of enhancing wildshaped AC (such as AC buffs and putting armour/magic items on the wildshaped form) would work.

However, I'm loathe to give druids even more power when there's a strong argument that they're the most powerful class in the game. So this bonus would come in the form of a feat.

Does this sound balanced?

 

[Deekin]

First just try letting magic items function while wildshaped. Eg. Your +2 Hide armor still gives +2 to AC, and your Ring still gives +2 Deflection.

 

[Slaved]

Have a teammate put a Monks belt onto the wildshaped druid?

 

[Deekin]

Have a teammate put a Monks belt onto the wildshaped druid?

Or just let the monk's belt function.

Any gear worn or carried by the creature that can’t be worn or carried in its new form instead falls to the ground in its space. If the creature changes size, any gear it wears or carries that can be worn or carried in its new form changes size to match the new size. (Nonhumanoid-shaped creatures can’t wear armor designed for humanoid-shaped creatures, and vice versa.) Gear returns to normal size if dropped.

What is wrong with a wolf wearing a rope belt?

 

[airwalkrr]

A monk's belt with the wilding ability accomplishes this.

 

[Slaved]

Some people were talking on the rules forum about changes to wildshape or something like it that makes all gear meld into the new form.

I was just covering all of the bases at once.

 

[MongooseFamiliar]

I take it that picking up a level of monk or ninja is not an option? Both of them get their wisdom bonus to AC, and have attributes that would be useful to a druid. Swordsages also get the same bonus, though I'm not sure how maneuvers and such would work in wildshape.

 

[Gort]

I take it that picking up a level of monk or ninja is not an option? Both of them get their wisdom bonus to AC, and have attributes that would be useful to a druid. Swordsages also get the same bonus, though I'm not sure how maneuvers and such would work in wildshape.

Oh, it's still an option, it just seems a little tacky to have to take a level in a class with a completely different flavour to the druid just to make melee wildshape viable. I'd sooner let the player spend another resource (say, a feat) instead of his class levels.

 

[MongooseFamiliar]

Oh, it's still an option, it just seems a little tacky to have to take a level in a class with a completely different flavour to the druid just to make melee wildshape viable. I'd sooner let the player spend another resource (say, a feat) instead of his class levels.

Not necessarily that different in flavor, if you set it up right. Lots of monasteries are associated with temples, a la the Sacred Fist PrC. If they were to run across a monastery devoted to a nature deity like Obad-Hai, perhaps the clerics, monks, and druids there might suggest that a bit of discipline would enhance her divine abilities.

*shrug*

Just thought I'd toss it out as an option.