Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Zardnaar Nov 14, 2014 12:59:49	Conventional wisdom of D&D forum groupthink seems to indicate that the moon Druid is broken. For the most part this seems to revolve around 2 things.   1. Level 2 wild shape (I agree here btw) 2. Level 20 unlimited wild shape.    Our group actually has a moon Druid in it thoguh and she is now level 10. She can now turn into elemental forms but before that she was limited to.   Ankylosaurus   Giant Scorpion    In addition the large and huge size for the combat shapes often block other PCs from getting to deal attacks althoguh this is imporving as the Druid is focusing more on positioning.   The Scorpion has a massive +4 to hit and the ankylosaurus has +7 to hit for 4d6+5 damage. 4d6+5 damage looks impressive on paper but most of the other PCs have between +9 to +12 to hit at those levels. Generally they all have +4 prof, +4 or +5 ability score bonus and +1 or +1 weapon along with fighting styles like archery.    That excludes feats like Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master.    Now assuming one had a land Druid instead of a moon Druid I suspect you would actually deal more damage the trade off being the bucket of hit points the Moon Druid has. This could be as basic as actually being in human form to cast a spell even as something as basic as Faerie Fire let alone some of the land druids who might have access to haste or the artic druids damage dealing spells.    The Land Druid also gets to recall spells once per day which at level 10 is 5 spell levels. I would probaly recall 3 1st level spells and a 2nd level spell mostly due to how good the spell goodberry is along with faerie fire. At level 12 I wold make that 4 1st level spells and a 2nd level spell.    The Moon Druid often uses bonus actions to use thier spells to heal the wildshape form they are in which burns through their spell slots fast.    I'm not 100% convinced the land Druids abilites make up for a lack of wild shape but the Moon Druid is not doing that much damage or bufifng the party that much although she does dump her spells into good berries at the end of the day if she has any left over. The Land Druid seems about as powerful as a 2E Druid relative to the editions they are in.   But you kind of have to look at the opportunity cost of the Moon Druid. You have a big bucket of hit points the DM should probably ignore that trade off is someone who is not doing much of anything else and that Moon Druid could be a land Druid doing something else to help the party out. Or the Moon Druid could be another type of PC.   The Moon Druid player is also not really enjoying her PC that much. She is seeing all of the other classes delaing a huge amount of damage while she is delaing 2d8+5 (X2) or 4d6+5 at best compared with 30-50 DPR+ from the Rogue and fighter. The spell c asters are doing things like dropping fireballs, destructive wave, or hypnotic patterns or they are also buffing the party via faerie fire/knocking stuff prone/haste.   I'm not the DM in the Moon Druid game if I saw a Moon Druid at the table in my game I would be more inclined to ignore it and whale on the pther PCs and/or throw spells like hold person at the fighters. The Moon Druid just doesn't deal enough damage although it is better than a Druids cantrip or physical attacks. THe moon Druid is also starting to use spells more and then wild shaping as opposed to wild shaping and only using spells if she has run out of wild shapes via damage.
#2 SterlingRat Nov 14, 2014 13:24:54	Honestly, if the druid isn't having fun then they should try playing differently - Learn Awaken & spend some time making friends. Give a bear and the alpha in a wolfpack some brains, then do what druids are supposed to do - overwhelm your enemies with nature. With the bounded accuracy rules, even a cr 1/2 beast can be a threat if there's a chance to knock prone on a successful hit. If a wolf knocks it down and a polar bear grapples it, there aren't many things that are going to laugh that off. Just keep them healed and be generous - remember that they are friends and not slaves or your DM may have them eat you in your sleep after 30 days.   If your druid is focused on only one aspect of the class, even an awesome aspect like wild shape, then I can totally understand getting bored - don't let it ruin what could be a fun character, just play a little different.   And speaking for the fighter and the rogue, they should be better at straight combat than a shapechanged spell caster.