Variant Wild Shape: First Draft - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

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#1 Xeviat-DM Sep 08, 2015 15:31:30	Hello everyone. In another thread, I was discussing my dislike of the current Wild Shape and Polymorph rules. After spending some time thinking it over, I understand the designer's desire to make the shapechanging mechanics simple and easy to use. They succeeded in that regard. I don't believe they created a balanced mechanic, though. Now, Polymorph has concentration, which definitely balances things; the wizard won't be able to sit around in Polymorph forever; they're going to get knocked out eventually. But the Druid doesn't have this issue. The Moon Druid faces two problems really. First, CR 1 forms are simply too strong at level 2. Yeah, their AC (typically 11-13 depending on form) is low compared to the more typical 15-18 of the other PCs, but the damage of some of the forms is really high (brown bear and giant spider are way up there), and mountains of HP more than others have is nothing to scoff at. Once those HP are gone through, you still have a fully functioning druid (only lacking some spell recharge from the Land Druid/Wizard). Or the druid could use their spells to heal their wild form and stay in it even longer. Later, their HP scales nicely, staying reasonably on par with a 12 to 14 Con Fighter (and that's still without touching the Druid's own HP). Their attack bonus scales okay, staying a little behind. Their damage, though, falls fast. They eventually become big bags of HP, with weak attacks until they hit 18/20 and get access to their spells in wild form. Now, altering Polymorph itself is a tall order; I am looking at stealing ideas from Pathfinder for that (or maybe changing the CR cap on Polymorph). But wild shape proved to be an easier beast to tackle. This is in a first draft form. I'm only looking at balancing the damage of their combat form first. Other utility elements will likely be paid for out of the druid's damage pool or AC when balancing different forms. The general idea is to have a system more akin to the PHB2 Druid from 3.5, where wild shape offers different forms with different attacks and bonuses rather than fully swapping out your stat block (though I'll likely use a stat block approach, plus the druid's proficiency bonus, as it makes things easy to present). The first draft will be in the first reply.
#2 Xeviat-DM Sep 08, 2015 17:10:51	My goal with this variant is to create something that is balanced against the Circle of the Land Druid and balanced against a dedicated warrior class (lets say the Paladin), and that is also easy to use. Ease of use was definitely a great achievement of the standard wild shape and polymorph rules. So what does the circle of the land druid get? At level 2, they get a bonus cantrip. This is a variety boost, not really a direct power boost, adding an option. At level 2, they also get natural recovery. This is a gain of 1 spell slot level per 2 druid levels. Definitely a power gain; it starts off as 1 1st level spell, and ends at up to two 5th level spells regained (or 10 1st level spells for goodberry bonanza!). At level 3, they start getting additional spells known. As these don't come with dedicated slots, this is a variety boost as well. At level 6, they get to ignore difficult terrain and get advantage on saves vs. magical plants. Definitely a perk for exploration, and very useful in combat. At level 10, they get immunity to poison, disease, and also to charm and frightened from elementals and fey. Nice defensive boost. At level 14, they get a limited 1st level spell (sanctuary) always on. This is probably of limited use in combat, as the rest of the party is still vulnerable; it could be used to avoid fights, which is nice. So, aside from natural recovery, the land druid's abilities are all improvements in options or are defense focused in nature. Where does that leave us with the moon druid? Well, I'm making wild shape forms into options as well. Their attacks in each form are going to be compared to cantrip damage from the dedicated attacking casters; some clerics and wizards get to add an ability modifier to cantrip damage, and the bard and fighter can make attacks along with cantrips. So beast attacks are comparable to cantrips. Beast forms also come with senses, trained skills, and movement modes. These I think can mirror the utility of an expanded spell list (circle spells) as well as their movement advantages (land's stride). That only leaves the defensive boosts of Nature's Ward and Nature's Sanctuary to mirror. Nature's Ward's immunities can be comparable to potential immunities gained in elemental form. Nature's Recovery's utility can remain comparable to the Moon Druid's Thousand Forms. All that will be left to do is revise the Arch Druid feature and I'll be done. Last, with the moon druid's combat wild shape forms having damage comparable to a buffed cantrip, their damage will not scale compared to other warriors or combat spell casters. They have access to their spell slots for healing, but that only makes them bags of HP that are less threatening with their attacks. So, for now, I am testing the waters of giving the Moon Druid access to the Paladin's smite mechanics, with the limitation on 5th level spells and higher temporarily removed. I may likely revise this later and replace it with "Wild Spells" like Roar and Frenzy to allow the Moon Druid to utilize their spell slots for damage (so we don't get moon druids having to drop certain damaging spells like call lightning first, then wild shape for attacking; that's still certainly an option, but I want to allow for a druid player to rely solely on their wild shape for combat). So, without further ado, my Moon Druid variant. Wild Shape (standard druid) You can assume a beast form as an action. You can use this feature twice. You regain expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. Your druid level determines the beasts you can transform into. When you assume a beast form, your equipment melds with your form. Weapons, shields, and armor become unusable. You retain the benefits of worn magic items, aside from magic weapons, shields, and armor. Each beast form grants a base AC (added to your new Dexterity?), in addition to Strength and Dexterity scores. Each form grants an attack (which uses your Wisdom modifier and Proficiency bonus to determine attack bonus, and Wisdom modifier to determine damage bonus), and many forms grant skill bonuses, additional senses, and movement modes. Your size changes to become that of the chosen form. You cannot cast spells ... (as per PHB) You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source ... (as per PHB) Beast Forms Level Form 2 Predator Form 2 Skurrying Form 4 Swimming Form 8 Aerial Form Circle of the Moon Combat Wild Shape When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape on your turn as a bonus action, rather than as an action. Additionally, while you are transformed by Wild Shape, you can use a bonus action to expend one spell slot to regain 1d8 hit points per level of the spell slot expended. Also, when you hit a creature with a beast attack, you can expend one druid spell slot to deal additional damage of the same type as the attack to the target. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st. (This change makes it so that the moon druid has access to their spell slots for combat while in beast form. I may add a minor benefit to their beast forms too, so that their predator form feels more potent than the standard druid's predator form). Circle Forms The rites of your circle grant you the ability to transform into more dangerous beast forms. Level Form 6 Dire Beast Form 10 Elemental Form 14 ? Primal Strike (As PHB. I originally thought of waiting till here to give the moon druid the smite ability, but their damage was lagging behind the paladin's without it. I could be convinced to move it here, so long as the moon druid gets some other benefit to their beast forms at levels 2-5.) Elemental Wild Shape (Possibly removed, blended into the general circle forms. The forms are not going to be CR 5 compared to the CR 3 forms of the standard PHB, so that's not a problem. The elemental forms will be balanced against the beast forms. I'd prefer to put a defensive ability here instead; maybe some type of healing or temp hp assumed when you take beast form, maybe some immunities, maybe the ability to speak with animals in beast form. I'm open to suggestions). Thousand Forms (As PHB. Of interesting note is the beast attack option in thousand forms; it grants an enhancement bonus; I'm really thinking of modifying polymorph off of this).

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Xeviat-DM

Sep 08, 2015 15:31:30

Hello everyone. In another thread, I was discussing my dislike of the current Wild Shape and Polymorph rules. After spending some time thinking it over, I understand the designer's desire to make the shapechanging mechanics simple and easy to use. They succeeded in that regard. I don't believe they created a balanced mechanic, though. Now, Polymorph has concentration, which definitely balances things; the wizard won't be able to sit around in Polymorph forever; they're going to get knocked out eventually. But the Druid doesn't have this issue.

The Moon Druid faces two problems really. First, CR 1 forms are simply too strong at level 2. Yeah, their AC (typically 11-13 depending on form) is low compared to the more typical 15-18 of the other PCs, but the damage of some of the forms is really high (brown bear and giant spider are way up there), and mountains of HP more than others have is nothing to scoff at. Once those HP are gone through, you still have a fully functioning druid (only lacking some spell recharge from the Land Druid/Wizard). Or the druid could use their spells to heal their wild form and stay in it even longer.

Later, their HP scales nicely, staying reasonably on par with a 12 to 14 Con Fighter (and that's still without touching the Druid's own HP). Their attack bonus scales okay, staying a little behind. Their damage, though, falls fast. They eventually become big bags of HP, with weak attacks until they hit 18/20 and get access to their spells in wild form.

Now, altering Polymorph itself is a tall order; I am looking at stealing ideas from Pathfinder for that (or maybe changing the CR cap on Polymorph). But wild shape proved to be an easier beast to tackle.

This is in a first draft form. I'm only looking at balancing the damage of their combat form first. Other utility elements will likely be paid for out of the druid's damage pool or AC when balancing different forms. The general idea is to have a system more akin to the PHB2 Druid from 3.5, where wild shape offers different forms with different attacks and bonuses rather than fully swapping out your stat block (though I'll likely use a stat block approach, plus the druid's proficiency bonus, as it makes things easy to present).

The first draft will be in the first reply.

Xeviat-DM

Sep 08, 2015 17:10:51

My goal with this variant is to create something that is balanced against the Circle of the Land Druid and balanced against a dedicated warrior class (lets say the Paladin), and that is also easy to use. Ease of use was definitely a great achievement of the standard wild shape and polymorph rules.

So what does the circle of the land druid get?

At level 2, they get a bonus cantrip. This is a variety boost, not really a direct power boost, adding an option.

At level 2, they also get natural recovery. This is a gain of 1 spell slot level per 2 druid levels. Definitely a power gain; it starts off as 1 1st level spell, and ends at up to two 5th level spells regained (or 10 1st level spells for goodberry bonanza!).

At level 3, they start getting additional spells known. As these don't come with dedicated slots, this is a variety boost as well.

At level 6, they get to ignore difficult terrain and get advantage on saves vs. magical plants. Definitely a perk for exploration, and very useful in combat.

At level 10, they get immunity to poison, disease, and also to charm and frightened from elementals and fey. Nice defensive boost.

At level 14, they get a limited 1st level spell (sanctuary) always on. This is probably of limited use in combat, as the rest of the party is still vulnerable; it could be used to avoid fights, which is nice.

So, aside from natural recovery, the land druid's abilities are all improvements in options or are defense focused in nature. Where does that leave us with the moon druid?

Well, I'm making wild shape forms into options as well. Their attacks in each form are going to be compared to cantrip damage from the dedicated attacking casters; some clerics and wizards get to add an ability modifier to cantrip damage, and the bard and fighter can make attacks along with cantrips. So beast attacks are comparable to cantrips.

Beast forms also come with senses, trained skills, and movement modes. These I think can mirror the utility of an expanded spell list (circle spells) as well as their movement advantages (land's stride).

That only leaves the defensive boosts of Nature's Ward and Nature's Sanctuary to mirror. Nature's Ward's immunities can be comparable to potential immunities gained in elemental form. Nature's Recovery's utility can remain comparable to the Moon Druid's Thousand Forms. All that will be left to do is revise the Arch Druid feature and I'll be done.

Last, with the moon druid's combat wild shape forms having damage comparable to a buffed cantrip, their damage will not scale compared to other warriors or combat spell casters. They have access to their spell slots for healing, but that only makes them bags of HP that are less threatening with their attacks. So, for now, I am testing the waters of giving the Moon Druid access to the Paladin's smite mechanics, with the limitation on 5th level spells and higher temporarily removed. I may likely revise this later and replace it with "Wild Spells" like Roar and Frenzy to allow the Moon Druid to utilize their spell slots for damage (so we don't get moon druids having to drop certain damaging spells like call lightning first, then wild shape for attacking; that's still certainly an option, but I want to allow for a druid player to rely solely on their wild shape for combat).

So, without further ado, my Moon Druid variant.

Wild Shape (standard druid)
You can assume a beast form as an action. You can use this feature twice. You regain expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. Your druid level determines the beasts you can transform into.

When you assume a beast form, your equipment melds with your form. Weapons, shields, and armor become unusable. You retain the benefits of worn magic items, aside from magic weapons, shields, and armor. Each beast form grants a base AC (added to your new Dexterity?), in addition to Strength and Dexterity scores. Each form grants an attack (which uses your Wisdom modifier and Proficiency bonus to determine attack bonus, and Wisdom modifier to determine damage bonus), and many forms grant skill bonuses, additional senses, and movement modes. Your size changes to become that of the chosen form.

You cannot cast spells ... (as per PHB)

You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source ... (as per PHB)

Beast Forms

Level Form

2 Predator Form

2 Skurrying Form

4 Swimming Form

8 Aerial Form

Circle of the Moon

Combat Wild Shape

When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape on your turn as a bonus action, rather than as an action.

Additionally, while you are transformed by Wild Shape, you can use a bonus action to expend one spell slot to regain 1d8 hit points per level of the spell slot expended.

Also, when you hit a creature with a beast attack, you can expend one druid spell slot to deal additional damage of the same type as the attack to the target. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st.

(This change makes it so that the moon druid has access to their spell slots for combat while in beast form. I may add a minor benefit to their beast forms too, so that their predator form feels more potent than the standard druid's predator form).

Circle Forms

The rites of your circle grant you the ability to transform into more dangerous beast forms.

Level Form

6 Dire Beast Form

10 Elemental Form

14 ?

Primal Strike

(As PHB. I originally thought of waiting till here to give the moon druid the smite ability, but their damage was lagging behind the paladin's without it. I could be convinced to move it here, so long as the moon druid gets some other benefit to their beast forms at levels 2-5.)

Elemental Wild Shape

(Possibly removed, blended into the general circle forms. The forms are not going to be CR 5 compared to the CR 3 forms of the standard PHB, so that's not a problem. The elemental forms will be balanced against the beast forms. I'd prefer to put a defensive ability here instead; maybe some type of healing or temp hp assumed when you take beast form, maybe some immunities, maybe the ability to speak with animals in beast form. I'm open to suggestions).

Thousand Forms

(As PHB. Of interesting note is the beast attack option in thousand forms; it grants an enhancement bonus; I'm really thinking of modifying polymorph off of this).