Yes! I was surprised Ghostwise Halflings weren't mentioned. Also Kalashtar, and I feel like there's at least one more with telepathy that I'm forgetting 🤔
@@dillonvandergriff4124 Thanks! That *may* be another in addition to whatever I was trying to remember, since I’ve just barely heard of Thri-kreen before
I love the changeling one; it's a concept I thought of a long time ago. A more true shape-shifting. Maintaining your bear stats as a puppy was also my first thought then, too, so I'm glad we are of one mind there.
I made a character like this as the closest I could get to recreating my Changeling Master of Many Forms from 3.5. Not as brutally powerful a shifter, but still lots of fun.
Just started playing this one! I worked with the DM to set a couple more restrictions - similar to the Bugbear, shifting between Small and Medium gets translated into "can choose to go one size down," and "same general arrangement of limbs" includes general body shape. So, no Large bear to Small dog, but yes Large dire wolf to Medium dog. I thought this was a decent compromise.
I like it a lot for the theme too - almost as if you're a sort of were-touched who can semi-shift to gain some beastly options, but can also fully shift into a range of beast forms.
With plasmoid I think it would make hilarious sense that this ooze has simply developed additional abilities to shape its oozy body into sharp parts that resemble animals.
Currently playing a changeling moon druid in Out of the Abyss. Also has the telepathic feat so I'm basically playing him as a doppelganger. DM also gave me a feature that allows him to turn into actual monstrosities, instead of just imitating them like he was before the power up.
an interesting thing about the Plasmoid (and i'll admit now we're REALLY stretching things, very much TRDSIC) is that its amorphous doesn't say how long it takes or how long you can spend in a space less than an inch... I'd assume the intention is that only a small amount of your body is actually in that space while squeezing through but... it's not said so... can you squeeze through the mouth of a bottle with a 1 inch mouth? can you just stay there? If so it would be a lot of fun to get thrown into battle in a bottle and surprise enemies when a fire elemental emerges
That bottle would have to be big enough to fit your entire body, or else you couldn't really hide inside of it, parts of you would just be hanging outside. A regular sized bottle is just too small to fit a small of medium creature. You'd need something like a barrel or amphora, which are bigger and heavier and not so easily thrown. I don't think the feature lets you stay in such a tiny place, it just lets you move through it to get to the other side when you otherwise couldn't.
Absolutely love the idea of a plasmoid moon druid. Weapon proficiencies would technically be a class feature too right? So, that plasmoid (bear) shaped humanoid could still do that and get multiattack from the form interestingly.
Thank you Treantmonk!! I have been deep in the plasmoid wild shape rabbit hole since spelljammer came out. I don't think there's enough pizzas in the world, but I think a multiclass with Armorer Artificer creates a rules riddle for the ages, potentially resulting in a bear with two robot arms and two plasmoid arms, allowing the bear to hold two two-handed weapons. Crazy!
I would argue that the line in Shape Self that says, “or you can revert to an amorphous blob”, references anatomy. The term “revert” implies that your natural state is an amorphous blob. Not 100%, but that’s definitely how I read it.
I agree. The new form likely isn't "physically capable of" altering itself in the ways that the plasmoid can. In that respect, I would allow the changeling's ability instead of this one.
Breath Weapon from the FTD's version of dragonborn doesn't work with Multiattack, because Multiattack is Multiattack, not Attack. They're different actions Monsters can still use the Attack action for things like shoving, grappling, making a single attack or otherwise replacing the attack with whatever features they have that can do it (such as Breath Weapon from the dragonborn), but when they do so they don't get to make all the different things described in their Multiattack action
A lot of this is fascinating to think about but a part of me also would really like them to include a rules glossary in their books with answers to questions like this, maybe it's just a personal issue though. Or better yet if they're going to use "anatomy" in wild shape they should use it more everywhere elsen too. "Your anatomical makeup is that of slime. This allows you to...."
Hi Chris! I am really quite a fan of my Yuan-ti moon druid with her Magic Resistance, poison resistance/immunity (depending on version)! I feel these are very powerful traits worth a place in your six.
As always, what a great video. I'm druiding for the first time and, as I did with paladin, I'm consulting the master. I only wish I'd done so with the rogue and the cleric. But you can't hindsight a TPK (or 2!). I like this because it gives lots of reasons not to just variant human/custom lineage (which from my limited knowledge seems so so good on most builds).
Wild shape should scale like the good new summon spells (only stronger than those summons): a class feature that is fully described on the class feature itself without relying on us to go to the Monster Manual. I think I'll post this suggestion when the druid comes out on One DnD.
Something you didn't directly mention about the plasmoid is that the shape body feature says that you can wear armor that fits a HUMANOID of your size, which means that you don't need barding if you want to wear armor.
The no talking during wild shape is a huge pain for RP heavy groups. I addressed it as a DM by giving my moon druid player an item that would allow them to talk while in wild shape in exchange for an attunement slot. Obviously very specific to my games, but I can see players and GMs alike in many groups would look for ways to address the no talking issues with the form through spells, features or homebrew.
I feel like Wild Shape scaling badly doesn't bother me as much since Druid is a full caster. If you want to JUST wild shape, it stinks, but the same would happen if you were some other class who only wanted to use one of your many features. While Treantmonk has laid out lots of interesting ideas over the years for how to build characters who specialize in one feature and use the others to enhance or support it. This has been a fun series on wild shape for me for just that reason!
@@esbeng.s.a9761 Yeah I feel you. To be honest that feels like more a Pathfinder vibe to me, where you have more options to really specialize in one feature. Not sure if there's a class/feats for that concept though, I'm still new to the system! But I have been enjoying that about it in general.
@@minikawildflower Personally, I would prefer it to be their own specialized shapeshifting class so that there isn't necesarilly a nature theme and it's possible to transform into things other than beasts such as oozes or half-forms.
@@esbeng.s.a9761 I'm sure you could probably multiclass up something that works by dipping into Barbarian and Fighter, or maybe even a bit of Rogue for bonus action options. But I agree, I've always wanted a more dedicated shifter that didn't need multiclassing to get there. D&D 3.5's wildshape variant Ranger was the closest I ever got, but even that was an option that was swapping class features for features of other classes, so multiclassing light.
Jeremy Crawford has always been clear that multi attack on monsters and beasts is not the attack action pebid so you would not be able to replace one of the multi attack attacks with your breath weapon. However you would be able to use your breath weapon because that is only requiring you to have lungs, according to Jeremy Crawford.
I would allow pretty much all of it, but probably rule: 1) Things that modify your size modify it by a relative amount, not an absolute one. So things that reference "medium or small" equate to current size minus one. Plasmoid would probably end up as a space less than a foot or something for larger forms, but that would still be a great feature. 2) You retain your notable distinguishing features when you wildhsape. If your character has a big scar across their face, your wildshapes do to. If you are gelatinous, mechanical, draconic, etc your wildshapes inherit that to some degree. 3) For a given form, you always look like the same example of that creature. You have A dog form you can wildshape into, not a million different variations, so you have to be actually careful and intentional on using mundane spying forms (dog, cat, rat, bird, etc) lest your enemies learn what those forms look like. And because of #2, the more familiar your enemies are with your base appearance and the more wildshape examples they have seen from you, the more bonuses they are likely to start stacking up to identify you in any form. Changeling's Shapechanger probably deserves specific mention as it hits from so many angles. By my ruling, it would be affected fully by #1, and probably be able to have more leeway with items #2 and #3, but probably limit them to being able to bend the rules on only one of those two at a time. I would probably add in that any variation needs to stay within the normal bounds of their base creature though with some amount of flexibility in what all is within normal bounds. A bear can look like any bear. A dog like any kind of canine. A Tiger could be any appropriately sized feline. etc. An earth elemental though is always going to read as an elemental though, and while you may be able to get arms, I am going to be a stickler that you still have big blocky hands incapable of fine manipulation, your head is part of your torso, etc. Still almost boundlessly useful even in that case though. I would be satisfied having those limitations to work with as either a DM or a player.
Just flavoring a Plasmoid Druid wild shaping to it literally reshaping its body into the animal form and gaining its abilities is one way I could see that working.
Im using duegar and it also goes really well with wildshape having access to enlarge/reduce at 3rd level and invisibility at 5th. All with advantage on stun, charm, and poison.
The way I see it: Can you possibly explain the feature without bringing up your body? Like Fleet of Foot simply knowing where to step for speed or Bugbear Stealth being knowing tricks and minutia? Then sure, works for me. Is there no way to explain the feature without talking about your physical composition? Like squeezing into smaller spaces, or really just the last 3 (to be fair, they're *meant* to stretch the envelope)? Then I would say that even if it doesn't directly mention anatomy, it is still restricted to it.
I want to be a bit of a meanie-pants on the Fleet of Foot/Long Limbed comparison. Fleet of Foot doesn't mean one of your feet is fast, but rather that you're just a speedy when you run. That can be argued either anatomically, or as excellent elven running techniques. But Long-Limbed is a bit more explicitly "dude's got long arms/legs". But then again, I imagine a Bear doing some Dhalsim yoga punches, and it makes me giggle, so I'd probably allow it anyway. Not sure if Vampiric Bite works either. It gives your base form a natural weapon which should count as "anatomy." Then again, plenty of forms have bite attacks, and becoming a Vampire Dinosaur sounds rad AF.
11:25 Fleet of Foot doesn't have anything to do with a person's actual foot. It more means that they instinctually know how and where to step to get the maximum amount of movement. Basically it's just a fancy way to say someone is quick, rather than anything to do with anatomy. So I don't think Long Limbed would apply to most animals, though you might be able to argue it with some animal forms like the Giant Squid.
As DM I wouldnt allow the relentless endurance of the orc work with wild shape. For me it doesnt make sense that way. Mechanically I think that when you take a hit that changes your form you dont technically go to zero hit points, you just return to your main form.
The vast majority of the examples here I'd just straight up shut down. It says "...if the new form is physically capable of doing so." A bear does not have the autognome armor, nor does it have a changelings physiological quirks, nor a plasmoids ability to become amorphous, or a harengons ability to jump more. If these abilities are allowed, just do away with the limitation on wild shape anyways. 5e could really do with adding tags to their character traits. The changeling for example: (Cultural) = languages, Changeling instincts. (Physical) = shapechanger
I ban almost all use of any features in the shapeshift form, but I present solid wild shapes. Most druids like it and dont try to claim their tortles shell somehow covers the bear.
Re: gem dragonborn breath weapon - I'm not sure it is universally agreed that the breathweapon can be substituted on one of the multiattack attacks the same way it could be on an extra attack attack. Jeremy Crawford has specified that the Multiattack action is distinct from the Attack action, to explain why it would not work with the Extra Attack feature. If Multiattack is distinct, then the Breath Weapon replacing one of your attacks *during the attack action* wouldn't work, as the Druid hasn't taken the Attack action - they've taken the Multiattack action. Granted, I think the distinction is kinda dumb, and I would totally allow it at my table, but... there IS a distinction, so I also think it falls into "discuss with your DM because not everyone will agree," rather than "Probably fine.
Personally, I wouldn't allow most of the autognome features, and would be iffy on the changeling, but I would definitely allow the plasmoid to ooze through a keyhole as a 3 headed bear
I don't have/use Multiverse, but I think the old versions of the races can work too. I have a player with a kobold druid. I think I'm going to allow Pack Tactics and Cower Grovel and Beg will work too.
I think that Druid is both the most complicated class to play, and the most powerful class to play if you have a lenient DM and access to any source book material. When new books are released that means: - new fey, elementals, and beast to potentially summon - new wildshape forms - new racial forms that can interact with the wildshape forms I've played a ghostwise halfling moon druid in a campaign (so I can communicate in wildshape form). I've - conjured chwingas to give my party supernatural boons - conjured dryads to get 60 goodberries - conjured 24 velociraptors to tear apart enemies. Then same turn wildshape into an earth elemental to tank nonmagical damage and maintain concentration. that combination of tankiness, battlefield control, utility, I don't know any other class that matches it, and it only gets more powerful everytime a new book is released.
8:56 actually multi attack is a separate action from the attack action, so you can’t replace an attack from multi attack with the breath weapon. Attack actions allow you to make attacks with any weapon you have, as well as allow you to grapple or shove in place of an attack, multi attack specifically only allows you to make the attacks presented in the multi attack.
This has also been hotly debated, though. As written, a bear can't give a bear hug. It can only bite or claw. That doesn't really make any sense. In previous discussions, you can swap out actions for attacks the monsters have listed if the action makes sense and is something the monster can do.Otherwise, even your tougher thinking NPCs are limited.
@@dbacon1975 you can bear hug as a bear, the bear is able to take the attack action, it just only gets one attack. To quote sage advice: “no multi attack does not allow subs”-Mike Mearls.
One aspect I don't think was considered in Aasimar is how Radiant Consumption interacts with you being a Huge creature. The area reached is much larger, so I believe it deserves an honorable mention as well as the other option that gives you the ability to fly. From all the lineage options the most interesting to me is Changeling, I like the idea of being able to remain in Wildshape at all times, and being able to disguise myself as a horse, dog or humanoid in some environments is quite convenient. I believe by the end of this series you will be covering builds and multiclassing. One suggestion I have that is often under-addressed is 3 levels dip into Warlock. Great Old One gives you an option to communicate while transformed. But even more importantly, some invocations provide a significant boost to your ability to maintain Wildshape, Armor of Shadows solves the general druid problem with metal armor and gives the Air Elemental form a respectable AC. My favorite, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones, grants a potent way to heal, out of combat with the wildshape's hit-dices, or in combat by spending spell slots and a bonus action to heal.
Adding gift of the ever-living one gets even better as a hill dwarf with dwarven fortitude. Also works nicely with the wither and bloom spell or periapt of wound closure. XDDD
8:42 I thought the Multiattack action was a different action than Attack, so monsters couldn't replace their attacks with grapples, or in this case, the breath weapon. Is it really the same action?
I'm currently playing a barBEARian as a shifter, using the subrace that gives you immunity to being attacked with advantage and it's great. The other subrace that gives you additional AC and HP crossed my mind too and it might be great for a non-barbarian as well
@@Elidhion the shifting is more useful because I can reckless attack whenever I want without consequences while having multiattack earlier than level 5.
For my homebrew setting, I've always though of wildshape being inherently different from something like polymorph, where instead of simply becoming the beast, some of themself stays. So for I'd probably allow all of these racial features, with, for instance, autognome druids staying metallic wildshaped or plasmoids still being mostly slime.
I like Lizardfolk's Hungry Jaws with forms that have a good bite attack. I think Giant Snapping Turtle was a big miss at cr3. 17AC and 75HP is absolutely massive, and by level 9 your concentration spells should be doing plenty of work to keep you relevant in the fight despite the not so great dpr. Home campaigns all have their own cadence and general amount of combats, but on a westmarch server, or anywhere where you can expect 4 combats and 1 short rest per day, I think the value of elemental forms is greatly overestimated. At this point, even elementals aren't enough to save you from needing to have some kind of concentration spell up in a fight to feel like anything more than a weak martial. When your SR generally comes after the second fight, you're often left in a sour situation of maintaining wildshape or being able to cast spells to heal in between the fights and then another spell for the second fight.
I personally like using the firbolg mostly because of the plus two to wisdom. The understanding at my table is in the wild shape form you still gain the benefits from the strong build trait, you can magically turn invisible for 6 seconds and you can use detect Magic while you are in your animal form. Another fun thing that you can do with wild shape is you can play as a glass Cannon with high wisdom, high intelligence and a good charisma. This would make your strength, dexterity and Constitution on the lower end, but with a build like this while you're in combat you're either hiding and casting spells from a distance or you are wild shaping to utilize the animals stats that you are weak in. Yes you can cast a concentration spell and maintain that concentration while in your animal shape, but I tend to stay away from those things because there's no way to recast it if you lose your concentration. My favorite two spells to cast on myself before wild shaping are longstrider and freedom of movement. That gives my animal form an extra 10 ft of normal movement speed and I can completely ignore the properties of difficult Terrain and I get a swim speed. At level eight for any druid you could turn into a giant eagle that has a passive double carrying capacity, can make themselves invisible, can fly through a dense forest without taking any penalties, can dive into water and just continue swimming as if they were flying, and can attack normally. Reminder to self, ask my DM for a magical device that lets me breathe underwater. I just like the idea of Talon grappling an underwater sea creature that doesn't have a fly speed and going straight up out of the water. With the strong build feature the Giant Eagle would consider 1,200 lb a medium load. 😃👍
The build I'm working with right now is actually a dream Circle druid. In my wild shape form I can utilize balm of the summer Court and give my party members sustainable healing with amazing range and at level 10 this class gains the ability to magically Misty step 60 ft or moving Ally 30.
Lovely video. One of my groups also noted the potential for a plasmoid "Gummy Bear. But you missed another important ribbon/flavor option: if you go Warforged Moon Druid, you're literally a transformer, sound effects required. That said, you left out the Ghostwise Halfling from your previous Moon Druid build. Lucky, Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, AND Silent Speech? Yes, please and thank you.
I think I'd let a changeling druid change the appearance of their wildshaped form but I think I would rule the size changing as that they can only make themself one size category smaller.
As soon as I clicked on the video my first thought was "I wonder if the Plasmoid works with Wild Shape?", and what do you know? It was your last most weird potential option. I think my favorite on the list was the Gem Dragonborn and the Shadar-Kai. Both of those are really good races for a lot of buids and it's no surprise that they would be amazing for a Wildshape build
You shouldn't be able to replace one attack from multiattack with your breath weapon. You didn't take the attack action, the multiattack action is a different thing entirely
If you are a Dhampir and you change into something that already has a bit attack; can you pick which damage dice calculations to use while making a vampire bit? Like if i change into a spider, is that a flat 1 or the 1d4+CON. And, if it does switch damage dice, does it also grant proficiency on the non-vampire bit role?
Ghostwise Halflings are great. I recently recommended them to a newbie who chose that for his druid. Kalashtar, Verdan, Thri-kreen, and any Custom Lineage or Vaiant Human characters that pick the Telepathic feat all get various versions of telepathy too.
My friend is doing a campaign where we play as cryptids and I made a changeling moon druid to be a skin walker. DM and I have been discussing what I can do while wild shaped but we are being pretty lenient since I'm a cryptid
Mark of Warding dwarf or Levistus tiefling works great with armor of Agathys. You can also take the dwarven resilience or infernal constitution feat to be super tanky
Rabbit-person druid: "Can I wild shape and then use my racial hop feature?" DM: "I don't think so." The druid: "Ok... Then I'll hop into the air, bonus action turn into a Mammoth and fall on top these enemies here with my belly."
The way I see it: Racial Spellcasting (Tieflings, High Elves, Yuan-ti), Speeds (Owlin flight, Tabaxi Climbing, Lizardfolk Swimming), and Natural Weaons (Lizardfolk bite, Leonin claws, Minotaur Horns) all wouldn't work
Beyond just Jeremy Crawford's "requires anatomy" requirement, I also require that the beast form "is physically capable of doing so" as described in bullet point #4 of the wildshape rules. While I largely agree with Treatmonk's take, I'll only list racial abilities below that I feel flouts the "physically capable" rule: Fury of the Small - For me, this ability only works when the chosen beast form is small sized. Draconic Cry - Does not work because that requires a cry made from throat that is physically capable of making authentic draconic sounds. Powerful Build - Would not work with beast forms that aren't "powerful build". I'd probably require that the beast's size be large or better and has a minimum Strength ability score of say... 16 or higher. Relentless Endurance - Very iffy ability, but I am undecided on how I would rule this. Dragonborn's Breath Weapon - Not physically capable. Harengon's Long Limbed & Rabbit Hop - Not physically capable. Dhampir's Spider Climb & Vampiric Bite - Not physically capable. Autognome's Armored Casing, Healing Machine & Mechanical Nature - Not physically capable unless character picks something like Exploring Eberron's Circle of the Forged druid subclass that enable wildshaping into a wood & metallic beast form.
The wording of the Changeling's Shapechanger is that you can "change your size BETWEEN Medium and Small" -- That is not the same wording as change your size TO Medium and Small. If you are starting out Large (the Elementals) I don't think that this feature does anything for you. That would be changing your size between Large and Medium or Large and Small. So, even if this feature was allowed to carry over to the wildshape, I think that it would only work if you chose a Medium or Small form to start as.
The shapechanger can ALWAYS look like a corgi, sometimes you can talk (shapechanged non-wildshaped) and sometimes you can knock a horse 30ft away from you (shapechanges wildshape Earth elemental) Noone will ever see the difference ^^ Super Corgi was born!* *(corgis often have cropped tails (ergo no tail) so fits with the 4 limbs one head original creature).
I don't see that a kobold's draconic cry would work in a non-draconic wildshape. "You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so." Similarly, with bugbear, you don't have a directly long-limbed or extra powerful build. You have the build of the wildshape. All the features of the Harengon can be viewed to rely on anatomy. For instance, if you don't get darkvision, why should you get a tie-through from leporine senses. True, that flying enemy would not expect a mammoth to jump up 30 ft to attack, because it could not happen. With auto gnome, you don't have the "casing", "built" in, "machine", "mechanical nature" of your racial form because you've become an #elk. The video should have heavily referenced any potential reference to Rules as Fun because, if the interpretations are regarded to be fun, this could be its main justification.
Of the listed ones, I think the Harengon (a mammoth leaping up to one-shot a dragon) is absolutely hilarious! The autognome, changeling, and plasmoid might be my favorite, just for the image/flavor of it. I would absolutely play a wild-shaping autognome as a Transformer that looks like a steampunk animal in wildshape, rather than turning into an actual bear. For the changeling, it's almost like they had wildshape in mind with the "same basic arrangement of limbs"; I would play the wildshape as an extension of their natural ability to change their appearance. The plasmoid likewise I would flavor as less of a "wildshape" and more of a somewhat more powerful variation on the natural shapechanging ability. I would probably describe it as reverting to its goopy form before adopting each new form.
I've never seen rules on this, so I apologize if I simply missed them: Aren't racial characteristic bonuses racial features that don't specify anatomy? That +2 Dex from being a Halfling could come in handy for its bump to AC, for example.
Autognome's Armor casing definitely doesn't work - "you are encased in thin metal or some other durable material" is pretty clearly referencing anatomy. Dhampir's Bite also probably doesn't work - "your fanged bite is a natural weapon" references you having a fanged bite, so without fangs, you're out of luck - though plenty of wildshape forms probably have fangs anyway.
8:50 - You can make an argument that you think DMs should allow you to replace a single attack from Multiattack with the Breath Weapon. However RAW, you cannot. Multiattack and Attack are two distinct actions. You couldn't evem replace your entire Multiattack with a single use of Breath Weapon because Breath Weapon specifies taking the Attack action.
I'm pretty sure Attack and Multiattack are different actions, unlike Extra Attack which improves your attack action. So Multiattack wouldn't qualify for Fizbans's Dragonborn Breath Weapon, or any other feature that requires you to take the Attack action.
The Pact of the Blade warlock also does not need to really be carrying much. A blade warlock with Pact of Undeath and Skill Expert in Athletics has been one of the more fun and unique builds so far. "So I get advantage on Strength checks and can hex you for disadvantage?" That seems like this might be easy mode?
I could definitely see an Autognome wild shaping into mechanically flavoured 'wild' shapes, like the mecha dinosaurs in Horizon Zero Dawn. As far as the Changeling goes, I would argue that a trunk counts as a limb - so maybe an anteater mammoth rather than a puppy mammoth?
In my opinion, the Plasmoid's Shape Self feature may not work because of the line "or revert to a limbless blob." That makes it seem like that's the starting point of the Plasmoid's transformation, but since Wildshape puts you into the form of a beast, then you don't start out at a limbless blob so you can't revert. IDK, I can't really think of anything broken you could do so I don't think it's a big deal. Amorphous I think is fine though, imagining a Plasmoid Mammoth squeezing under a door through a crack in the wall is both a humorous and terrifying mental image, and one I'd welcome to my games. And everything else to me works fine, requiring you to select a specific race to get some abilities that are useful in some niche situations but not others doesn't seem that OP at all.
One questionable but potentially powerful option is the old legacy kobold. Pack tactics is of course the main benefit. However, the wild shape description only mentions racial benefits, so sunlight sensitivity (which clearly isn't a benefit) shouldn't apply to your new form.
My DM lets my plasmoid use all of their features since, its just an ooze shapeshifting into an animal form, but its still an ooze. Now, everyone looking at my moon druid know their animals are ooze-like, and that has caused some issues with skill checks because of how ooze would interact with them, but being a giant constrictor snake and being able to just move through an arrow slit and attack the archers behind it is hilarious. Especially if the DM lets you try to pull said enemy archer through the arrow slit with you using a super high strength check. That poor dwegar didn't survive... .
Why can't the Autognome make sense? When you wild shape you turn into a mechanized version of that beast/elemental (think of Transformers: Age of Extinction for beast forms or Rotom for the elemental forms).
I have to say something about the Changeling and the Shapechanger trait. It says you can change your size *between medium and small*. If your size is larger than medium, such as when turned into a brown bear or a mammoth, the change in size wouldn't be between medium and small, it would be between large and small or huge and small, etc.. I do think Shapechanger should probably work in wild shape, but unless you are a medium black bear you can't change into a puppy and keep your statistics
I don't think gem dragonborn breath weapon works with replacing one of your attacks from a multiattack. It says "when you take the attack action on your turn". The multiattack action is a different named action that is not the attack action. (This is why, for example, Extra Attack does not stack with Multiattack--Extra Attack also reads "Whenever you take the attack action"). Obviously if you want the breath weapon you can still take the attack action and have it use your entire turn, though. That should be fine.
A couple of issues with shapechange: "you can change your size *between* medium and small" implies that you have to have the size medium or small when you use the ability to change from one to the other, if you want it so that the form you take is either medium or small, at best the wording would need to be "you can change your size *to between* medium and small," so unless the form you take is either medium or small, you can't shapechange to a different size category; "you can make yourself appear as a member of another *race*" this is a little weird because there is no mention of what you -can't- change into, but that implies that, per "spells/abilities only do what they say they can do," you can only change into members of other races, which can either be read as the dnd definition of race or other "biological" races of the type that you are (bear->bear, dog->dog). Biology involves a bunch of other considerations that don't seem intended, i.e. you can only shapechange into a different race of changeling, and can't change into an elf (given that's a species and not a race, biologically). So, reasonably, you can only shapechange into a "playable race" of your current size or, if you are either small or medium, swap between medium and small on use (that does mean if you shapechange into a halfling as a mammoth, you will be a huge halfling).
I'll be honest I don't think this makes any sense at all. As for abilities that carry over into wild shape I think there is an argument for physical type feats and I'd like to hear an in depth conversation for how much mental faculties are carried over into wild shape. For physical type feats for example I don't see why the ability to stop an opponent from moving after hitting them with an opportunity attack or hitting them in a way that tries to interrupt their spell casting wouldn't work. But then what happens with the argument of if the druid is multiclassed with a fighter do they get to use mauvers? It wouldn't be a popular fix but maybe we could ban multi-classing. (Isn't multi-classing an optional rule in 5e? I could be mistaken) For anything else I imagine wild shape is magically turning one's body into an animal, so anything not listed in that animal's stat block wouldn't work. If a race grants spellcasting then that would probably be available when the druid is allowed to cast spells in wild shape form.
My personal favorite a DM let me try was Fairy while it was in UA. MAGIC flight and the one inch squeeze. Was absolutely hilarious, and should have been the true inspiration for Cocaine Bear.
With the changeling druid wild shape specifically says "Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the beast, but you retain your alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. " When you're wild shaped you would have to use the beast physical stats because it says beast. Shapechange says your stats don't change if change into another race. Each metamorphous is specific to beast or race If there wasn't reference species then the stats could be interchangeable . Another point would with wild shaping / shape changing I was wondering about. If you use your wild shape turn into a beast can you freely (using your shape changing ability) change back into a humanoid multiple times without losing your duration of wild shape as long as you change back into the same beast you started with. You're not ending your wild shape just using the changelings ability. I hope this makes sense lol. Food for thought.
I was less thinking the natural armor class of the auto gnome, and more thinking the Warforged integrated protections, though I guess the "...your body has built in layers of protection..." gets as closed to anatomy without quite saying it as you can get. Though honestly I have trouble seeing most DM's who are OK with the auto gnome saying no to the Warforged.
I may be wrong here. I would probably rule that the gem Dragonborn breath weapon would not work with a wild shaped multi attack action. The wording of the breath weapon says “when you take the attack action” which is a different action than the multi attack action. It would be the same ruling that a Druid/monk cannot use martial arts to make a bonus action unarmed strike while using the multi attack action. I’m not 100% that this is the way it is supposed to work but I know I have heard that ruling on the Druid/monk before and I believe it applies the same here.
Legacy Fallen Aasimar give you a minute of +lvl dmg to each attack once a turn for a minute. That could be 100+ dmg at lvl 10 and up, which isn't a bad racial bump.
I don't think you can do the bear or mammoth into a dog. I read that portion of the sentence "....you can change your size between medium and small" to mean that if you are medium you can become small and vice versa. Thus, if you are huge you could not change your size to medium or small because you are not changing your size between medium or small. There's an alternative reading of "between" that it means you can change your size to anything as small as small or as large as medium. However, that reading doesn't make sense with D&D's game mechanics as there is nothing in-between medium or small, everything is in one of the size category, thus the language would seem unnatural to draft that way as you would merely say "you may become medium or small." if that were the intent.
I'm actually already playing a plasmoid moon Druid, with the feat eldritch adept (Disguise self) I have assumed the form of the Thing. Her or It's wild shape is it assuming a more monstrous form that looks nothing like the actual beast they are turning into.
A lot of these are things I wouldn't intuitively allow, but after a second reading would. I like the gem dragonborn, but I lean toward the ghostwise halfling for telepathy and lucky.
did i miss somthing? seriously how is kalashtar not mentioned? advantage on all Wisdom saves, resistance to psychic, easy telepathic communication, even a few niche spell and ability immunities kalashtar is even better if you take a 3 level dip into barb for bear totem so you have 100% resistences
Our GM let's me use both my breath weapons, and the feat dragon hide, to allow my increased +3 base armor in wild shape. But only if I shape shift to animals with scales...
Warforged. Armor is integrated into it. Would that transfer to animal form? integrated weapons like the Armblade is inside the warforged. Would that be useable?
Since you brought up Gem Dragonborn for the telepathy, Ghostwise halflings are also worth mentioning. Halfling luck, fearless, and telepathic speech.
True
Yes! I was surprised Ghostwise Halflings weren't mentioned. Also Kalashtar, and I feel like there's at least one more with telepathy that I'm forgetting 🤔
@not all who wander are lost Thri-keen have telepathy too :)
@@dillonvandergriff4124 Thanks! That *may* be another in addition to whatever I was trying to remember, since I’ve just barely heard of Thri-kreen before
@@notallwhowanderarelost4797 Verdan from Acquisitions Incorporated is the only think I can think of.
I love the changeling one; it's a concept I thought of a long time ago. A more true shape-shifting. Maintaining your bear stats as a puppy was also my first thought then, too, so I'm glad we are of one mind there.
There's a name for that- a menagerie. This is from the creator of eberon
I made a character like this as the closest I could get to recreating my Changeling Master of Many Forms from 3.5. Not as brutally powerful a shifter, but still lots of fun.
Just started playing this one! I worked with the DM to set a couple more restrictions - similar to the Bugbear, shifting between Small and Medium gets translated into "can choose to go one size down," and "same general arrangement of limbs" includes general body shape. So, no Large bear to Small dog, but yes Large dire wolf to Medium dog. I thought this was a decent compromise.
I like the shifter race, the bonus action attack based on strength pairs nicely with the strength based beast like bears
I like it a lot for the theme too - almost as if you're a sort of were-touched who can semi-shift to gain some beastly options, but can also fully shift into a range of beast forms.
Love it 😀
With plasmoid I think it would make hilarious sense that this ooze has simply developed additional abilities to shape its oozy body into sharp parts that resemble animals.
Yeah, conceptually it works fine.
@@TreantmonksTempleknows iii iiil7iìii7ikk7iul8
7
Orillia ììoìiòoo8oò
Gummy bear
Currently playing a changeling moon druid in Out of the Abyss. Also has the telepathic feat so I'm basically playing him as a doppelganger. DM also gave me a feature that allows him to turn into actual monstrosities, instead of just imitating them like he was before the power up.
an interesting thing about the Plasmoid (and i'll admit now we're REALLY stretching things, very much TRDSIC) is that its amorphous doesn't say how long it takes or how long you can spend in a space less than an inch... I'd assume the intention is that only a small amount of your body is actually in that space while squeezing through but... it's not said so... can you squeeze through the mouth of a bottle with a 1 inch mouth? can you just stay there? If so it would be a lot of fun to get thrown into battle in a bottle and surprise enemies when a fire elemental emerges
It's possible, I mean everything on the plasmoid is streching things so to speak.
"Druid's Molotov"
With a lamp and an air elemental you could probably convince people you’re a genie.
That bottle would have to be big enough to fit your entire body, or else you couldn't really hide inside of it, parts of you would just be hanging outside. A regular sized bottle is just too small to fit a small of medium creature. You'd need something like a barrel or amphora, which are bigger and heavier and not so easily thrown.
I don't think the feature lets you stay in such a tiny place, it just lets you move through it to get to the other side when you otherwise couldn't.
Absolutely love the idea of a plasmoid moon druid. Weapon proficiencies would technically be a class feature too right? So, that plasmoid (bear) shaped humanoid could still do that and get multiattack from the form interestingly.
Yes, you should still have your weapon and armor proficiencies when wild shaped.
Thank you Treantmonk!! I have been deep in the plasmoid wild shape rabbit hole since spelljammer came out. I don't think there's enough pizzas in the world, but I think a multiclass with Armorer Artificer creates a rules riddle for the ages, potentially resulting in a bear with two robot arms and two plasmoid arms, allowing the bear to hold two two-handed weapons. Crazy!
Lol, that's quite an image! Also love your name "Tyypo" 😂
I would argue that the line in Shape Self that says, “or you can revert to an amorphous blob”, references anatomy. The term “revert” implies that your natural state is an amorphous blob.
Not 100%, but that’s definitely how I read it.
That's fair. Easily the most iffy option presented in this video.
Although you could argue everyone started as an amorphous blob, you're just going back to being c*m
...but also probably the funniest.
"Hi, kids! It's Squelchy the Bear!"
I agree. The new form likely isn't "physically capable of" altering itself in the ways that the plasmoid can. In that respect, I would allow the changeling's ability instead of this one.
Breath Weapon from the FTD's version of dragonborn doesn't work with Multiattack, because Multiattack is Multiattack, not Attack. They're different actions
Monsters can still use the Attack action for things like shoving, grappling, making a single attack or otherwise replacing the attack with whatever features they have that can do it (such as Breath Weapon from the dragonborn), but when they do so they don't get to make all the different things described in their Multiattack action
A lot of this is fascinating to think about but a part of me also would really like them to include a rules glossary in their books with answers to questions like this, maybe it's just a personal issue though. Or better yet if they're going to use "anatomy" in wild shape they should use it more everywhere elsen too. "Your anatomical makeup is that of slime. This allows you to...."
I was inspired by your description and used a bunny hopping Elephant in one of my adventures.
The players couldn't figure it out.
Hi Chris! I am really quite a fan of my Yuan-ti moon druid with her Magic Resistance, poison resistance/immunity (depending on version)! I feel these are very powerful traits worth a place in your six.
Satyr of course for similar reasons.
As always, what a great video. I'm druiding for the first time and, as I did with paladin, I'm consulting the master. I only wish I'd done so with the rogue and the cleric. But you can't hindsight a TPK (or 2!). I like this because it gives lots of reasons not to just variant human/custom lineage (which from my limited knowledge seems so so good on most builds).
Wild shape should scale like the good new summon spells (only stronger than those summons): a class feature that is fully described on the class feature itself without relying on us to go to the Monster Manual. I think I'll post this suggestion when the druid comes out on One DnD.
Yes, I've been predicting wild shape templates for One D&D, I'm anxious to see if that's what they do.
I'm pretty sure they're going that way. Hopefully we get some news on that front soon
I'd honestly hate this change... which is exactly why I hate the new One DnD Druid (in addition to all its other flaws)
Something you didn't directly mention about the plasmoid is that the shape body feature says that you can wear armor that fits a HUMANOID of your size, which means that you don't need barding if you want to wear armor.
I missed that
The no talking during wild shape is a huge pain for RP heavy groups. I addressed it as a DM by giving my moon druid player an item that would allow them to talk while in wild shape in exchange for an attunement slot. Obviously very specific to my games, but I can see players and GMs alike in many groups would look for ways to address the no talking issues with the form through spells, features or homebrew.
I feel like Wild Shape scaling badly doesn't bother me as much since Druid is a full caster. If you want to JUST wild shape, it stinks, but the same would happen if you were some other class who only wanted to use one of your many features. While Treantmonk has laid out lots of interesting ideas over the years for how to build characters who specialize in one feature and use the others to enhance or support it. This has been a fun series on wild shape for me for just that reason!
I just wished there was an option that went full wild shape. I don't wants spell or anything I just wanna turn into animals to kill monsters
@@esbeng.s.a9761 Yeah I feel you. To be honest that feels like more a Pathfinder vibe to me, where you have more options to really specialize in one feature. Not sure if there's a class/feats for that concept though, I'm still new to the system! But I have been enjoying that about it in general.
@@minikawildflower Personally, I would prefer it to be their own specialized shapeshifting class so that there isn't necesarilly a nature theme and it's possible to transform into things other than beasts such as oozes or half-forms.
@@esbeng.s.a9761 I'm sure you could probably multiclass up something that works by dipping into Barbarian and Fighter, or maybe even a bit of Rogue for bonus action options. But I agree, I've always wanted a more dedicated shifter that didn't need multiclassing to get there.
D&D 3.5's wildshape variant Ranger was the closest I ever got, but even that was an option that was swapping class features for features of other classes, so multiclassing light.
@@Ditidos Yeah, that'd definitely be cool
Very happy for another one! Thanks!
I spent a solid minute wondering what Björk was doing in a video of yours, before realising you were talking about the orc...
if you're a T-rex fighting a Dragon, Fury of the Small should work, as there's a size difference between the two monsters.
Jeremy Crawford has always been clear that multi attack on monsters and beasts is not the attack action pebid so you would not be able to replace one of the multi attack attacks with your breath weapon. However you would be able to use your breath weapon because that is only requiring you to have lungs, according to Jeremy Crawford.
I would allow pretty much all of it, but probably rule:
1) Things that modify your size modify it by a relative amount, not an absolute one. So things that reference "medium or small" equate to current size minus one. Plasmoid would probably end up as a space less than a foot or something for larger forms, but that would still be a great feature.
2) You retain your notable distinguishing features when you wildhsape. If your character has a big scar across their face, your wildshapes do to. If you are gelatinous, mechanical, draconic, etc your wildshapes inherit that to some degree.
3) For a given form, you always look like the same example of that creature. You have A dog form you can wildshape into, not a million different variations, so you have to be actually careful and intentional on using mundane spying forms (dog, cat, rat, bird, etc) lest your enemies learn what those forms look like. And because of #2, the more familiar your enemies are with your base appearance and the more wildshape examples they have seen from you, the more bonuses they are likely to start stacking up to identify you in any form.
Changeling's Shapechanger probably deserves specific mention as it hits from so many angles. By my ruling, it would be affected fully by #1, and probably be able to have more leeway with items #2 and #3, but probably limit them to being able to bend the rules on only one of those two at a time. I would probably add in that any variation needs to stay within the normal bounds of their base creature though with some amount of flexibility in what all is within normal bounds. A bear can look like any bear. A dog like any kind of canine. A Tiger could be any appropriately sized feline. etc. An earth elemental though is always going to read as an elemental though, and while you may be able to get arms, I am going to be a stickler that you still have big blocky hands incapable of fine manipulation, your head is part of your torso, etc. Still almost boundlessly useful even in that case though.
I would be satisfied having those limitations to work with as either a DM or a player.
In regards to changeling. You can change your size between medium and small. Not between large, medium and small.
Just flavoring a Plasmoid Druid wild shaping to it literally reshaping its body into the animal form and gaining its abilities is one way I could see that working.
Im using duegar and it also goes really well with wildshape having access to enlarge/reduce at 3rd level and invisibility at 5th. All with advantage on stun, charm, and poison.
The way I see it:
Can you possibly explain the feature without bringing up your body? Like Fleet of Foot simply knowing where to step for speed or Bugbear Stealth being knowing tricks and minutia? Then sure, works for me.
Is there no way to explain the feature without talking about your physical composition? Like squeezing into smaller spaces, or really just the last 3 (to be fair, they're *meant* to stretch the envelope)? Then I would say that even if it doesn't directly mention anatomy, it is still restricted to it.
I want to be a bit of a meanie-pants on the Fleet of Foot/Long Limbed comparison. Fleet of Foot doesn't mean one of your feet is fast, but rather that you're just a speedy when you run. That can be argued either anatomically, or as excellent elven running techniques. But Long-Limbed is a bit more explicitly "dude's got long arms/legs". But then again, I imagine a Bear doing some Dhalsim yoga punches, and it makes me giggle, so I'd probably allow it anyway.
Not sure if Vampiric Bite works either. It gives your base form a natural weapon which should count as "anatomy." Then again, plenty of forms have bite attacks, and becoming a Vampire Dinosaur sounds rad AF.
11:25 Fleet of Foot doesn't have anything to do with a person's actual foot. It more means that they instinctually know how and where to step to get the maximum amount of movement. Basically it's just a fancy way to say someone is quick, rather than anything to do with anatomy. So I don't think Long Limbed would apply to most animals, though you might be able to argue it with some animal forms like the Giant Squid.
As DM I wouldnt allow the relentless endurance of the orc work with wild shape. For me it doesnt make sense that way. Mechanically I think that when you take a hit that changes your form you dont technically go to zero hit points, you just return to your main form.
The vast majority of the examples here I'd just straight up shut down. It says "...if the new form is physically capable of doing so." A bear does not have the autognome armor, nor does it have a changelings physiological quirks, nor a plasmoids ability to become amorphous, or a harengons ability to jump more. If these abilities are allowed, just do away with the limitation on wild shape anyways.
5e could really do with adding tags to their character traits. The changeling for example: (Cultural) = languages, Changeling instincts. (Physical) = shapechanger
About the changeling…. Turn into a Griffon, then change into a dragon and scare off your enemies xD
I ban almost all use of any features in the shapeshift form, but I present solid wild shapes. Most druids like it and dont try to claim their tortles shell somehow covers the bear.
Re: gem dragonborn breath weapon - I'm not sure it is universally agreed that the breathweapon can be substituted on one of the multiattack attacks the same way it could be on an extra attack attack. Jeremy Crawford has specified that the Multiattack action is distinct from the Attack action, to explain why it would not work with the Extra Attack feature. If Multiattack is distinct, then the Breath Weapon replacing one of your attacks *during the attack action* wouldn't work, as the Druid hasn't taken the Attack action - they've taken the Multiattack action.
Granted, I think the distinction is kinda dumb, and I would totally allow it at my table, but... there IS a distinction, so I also think it falls into "discuss with your DM because not everyone will agree," rather than "Probably fine.
You can now fulfill your fantasy of attacking people as a Gummy Bear in D&D
Personally, I wouldn't allow most of the autognome features, and would be iffy on the changeling, but I would definitely allow the plasmoid to ooze through a keyhole as a 3 headed bear
I don't have/use Multiverse, but I think the old versions of the races can work too. I have a player with a kobold druid. I think I'm going to allow Pack Tactics and Cower Grovel and Beg will work too.
Would Breath Weapon apply to Multiattack? Isn't Multiattack an action of its own, not a modifier to the Attack action?
I think that Druid is both the most complicated class to play, and the most powerful class to play if you have a lenient DM and access to any source book material. When new books are released that means:
- new fey, elementals, and beast to potentially summon
- new wildshape forms
- new racial forms that can interact with the wildshape forms
I've played a ghostwise halfling moon druid in a campaign (so I can communicate in wildshape form). I've
- conjured chwingas to give my party supernatural boons
- conjured dryads to get 60 goodberries
- conjured 24 velociraptors to tear apart enemies.
Then same turn wildshape into an earth elemental to tank nonmagical damage and maintain concentration. that combination of tankiness, battlefield control, utility, I don't know any other class that matches it, and it only gets more powerful everytime a new book is released.
8:56 actually multi attack is a separate action from the attack action, so you can’t replace an attack from multi attack with the breath weapon. Attack actions allow you to make attacks with any weapon you have, as well as allow you to grapple or shove in place of an attack, multi attack specifically only allows you to make the attacks presented in the multi attack.
This has also been hotly debated, though. As written, a bear can't give a bear hug. It can only bite or claw. That doesn't really make any sense. In previous discussions, you can swap out actions for attacks the monsters have listed if the action makes sense and is something the monster can do.Otherwise, even your tougher thinking NPCs are limited.
@@dbacon1975 you can bear hug as a bear, the bear is able to take the attack action, it just only gets one attack.
To quote sage advice:
“no multi attack does not allow subs”-Mike Mearls.
One aspect I don't think was considered in Aasimar is how Radiant Consumption interacts with you being a Huge creature. The area reached is much larger, so I believe it deserves an honorable mention as well as the other option that gives you the ability to fly. From all the lineage options the most interesting to me is Changeling, I like the idea of being able to remain in Wildshape at all times, and being able to disguise myself as a horse, dog or humanoid in some environments is quite convenient.
I believe by the end of this series you will be covering builds and multiclassing. One suggestion I have that is often under-addressed is 3 levels dip into Warlock. Great Old One gives you an option to communicate while transformed. But even more importantly, some invocations provide a significant boost to your ability to maintain Wildshape, Armor of Shadows solves the general druid problem with metal armor and gives the Air Elemental form a respectable AC. My favorite, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones, grants a potent way to heal, out of combat with the wildshape's hit-dices, or in combat by spending spell slots and a bonus action to heal.
Adding gift of the ever-living one gets even better as a hill dwarf with dwarven fortitude. Also works nicely with the wither and bloom spell or periapt of wound closure. XDDD
8:42 I thought the Multiattack action was a different action than Attack, so monsters couldn't replace their attacks with grapples, or in this case, the breath weapon. Is it really the same action?
a tribe of autognome druids that come from another plane and now live disguised as wild beast? i think i just found a way to play optimus prime in dnd
I think the tortle would be a good option, you get 17 AC right off the bat which is much better than any other wild shape AC
I'm currently playing a barBEARian as a shifter, using the subrace that gives you immunity to being attacked with advantage and it's great. The other subrace that gives you additional AC and HP crossed my mind too and it might be great for a non-barbarian as well
So you need 1 bonus action to shift, 1 bonus action to rage and 1 bonus action to wild shape. In 3 turns of setup the combat is over
@@Elidhion the shifting is more useful because I can reckless attack whenever I want without consequences while having multiattack earlier than level 5.
@@Elidhion You can Wildshape as an action.
@@joelsasmad this is an underrated tech
Tabaxi Wild Shaped into something with a high move has potential
The lizardfolk should be on this list. A bonus action bite attack would absolutely wreck as a t-rex
Began the Beast Wars have - Gandalf the Grey, Lord of the Rings.
For my homebrew setting, I've always though of wildshape being inherently different from something like polymorph, where instead of simply becoming the beast, some of themself stays. So for I'd probably allow all of these racial features, with, for instance, autognome druids staying metallic wildshaped or plasmoids still being mostly slime.
I like Lizardfolk's Hungry Jaws with forms that have a good bite attack.
I think Giant Snapping Turtle was a big miss at cr3. 17AC and 75HP is absolutely massive, and by level 9 your concentration spells should be doing plenty of work to keep you relevant in the fight despite the not so great dpr.
Home campaigns all have their own cadence and general amount of combats, but on a westmarch server, or anywhere where you can expect 4 combats and 1 short rest per day, I think the value of elemental forms is greatly overestimated. At this point, even elementals aren't enough to save you from needing to have some kind of concentration spell up in a fight to feel like anything more than a weak martial. When your SR generally comes after the second fight, you're often left in a sour situation of maintaining wildshape or being able to cast spells to heal in between the fights and then another spell for the second fight.
I personally like using the firbolg mostly because of the plus two to wisdom. The understanding at my table is in the wild shape form you still gain the benefits from the strong build trait, you can magically turn invisible for 6 seconds and you can use detect Magic while you are in your animal form. Another fun thing that you can do with wild shape is you can play as a glass Cannon with high wisdom, high intelligence and a good charisma. This would make your strength, dexterity and Constitution on the lower end, but with a build like this while you're in combat you're either hiding and casting spells from a distance or you are wild shaping to utilize the animals stats that you are weak in. Yes you can cast a concentration spell and maintain that concentration while in your animal shape, but I tend to stay away from those things because there's no way to recast it if you lose your concentration. My favorite two spells to cast on myself before wild shaping are longstrider and freedom of movement. That gives my animal form an extra 10 ft of normal movement speed and I can completely ignore the properties of difficult Terrain and I get a swim speed. At level eight for any druid you could turn into a giant eagle that has a passive double carrying capacity, can make themselves invisible, can fly through a dense forest without taking any penalties, can dive into water and just continue swimming as if they were flying, and can attack normally. Reminder to self, ask my DM for a magical device that lets me breathe underwater. I just like the idea of Talon grappling an underwater sea creature that doesn't have a fly speed and going straight up out of the water. With the strong build feature the Giant Eagle would consider 1,200 lb a medium load. 😃👍
The build I'm working with right now is actually a dream Circle druid. In my wild shape form I can utilize balm of the summer Court and give my party members sustainable healing with amazing range and at level 10 this class gains the ability to magically Misty step 60 ft or moving Ally 30.
Wait so I could be an earth elemental disguised as a elf or something? That’s kinda amazing
Lovely video. One of my groups also noted the potential for a plasmoid "Gummy Bear. But you missed another important ribbon/flavor option: if you go Warforged Moon Druid, you're literally a transformer, sound effects required.
That said, you left out the Ghostwise Halfling from your previous Moon Druid build. Lucky, Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, AND Silent Speech? Yes, please and thank you.
I would say the auto-gnome fits the transformer title as well. If you wild shape into a dinosaur, you're a dinobot.
I am surprised Shifter did not make the list, but really interesting!
I think I'd let a changeling druid change the appearance of their wildshaped form but I think I would rule the size changing as that they can only make themself one size category smaller.
As soon as I clicked on the video my first thought was "I wonder if the Plasmoid works with Wild Shape?", and what do you know? It was your last most weird potential option. I think my favorite on the list was the Gem Dragonborn and the Shadar-Kai. Both of those are really good races for a lot of buids and it's no surprise that they would be amazing for a Wildshape build
You shouldn't be able to replace one attack from multiattack with your breath weapon.
You didn't take the attack action, the multiattack action is a different thing entirely
Yay. I’m literally playing gem dragonborn moon Druid right now. It’s so good with telepathy and having a aoe in wild shape is nice
If you are a Dhampir and you change into something that already has a bit attack; can you pick which damage dice calculations to use while making a vampire bit?
Like if i change into a spider, is that a flat 1 or the 1d4+CON. And, if it does switch damage dice, does it also grant proficiency on the non-vampire bit role?
What about Ghostwise Halflings? They get to keep Halfling Luck, and can also speak telepathically with one person at a time
Ghostwise Halflings are great. I recently recommended them to a newbie who chose that for his druid. Kalashtar, Verdan, Thri-kreen, and any Custom Lineage or Vaiant Human characters that pick the Telepathic feat all get various versions of telepathy too.
Doesn't the line "fanged bite" in Dhampir reference fangs (and hence anatomy)?
My friend is doing a campaign where we play as cryptids and I made a changeling moon druid to be a skin walker. DM and I have been discussing what I can do while wild shaped but we are being pretty lenient since I'm a cryptid
Mark of Warding dwarf or Levistus tiefling works great with armor of Agathys. You can also take the dwarven resilience or infernal constitution feat to be super tanky
If you allowed the auto gnome to work with this, it’s a interesting way to theme a mecha transformation.
Rabbit-person druid: "Can I wild shape and then use my racial hop feature?"
DM: "I don't think so."
The druid: "Ok... Then I'll hop into the air, bonus action turn into a Mammoth and fall on top these enemies here with my belly."
I would rule that breath weapon works, long limbed, powerful builf and rabbit hop don't, and the dhampir's bite is perfectly fine and magical
Plasmoids druids turning into gummy bears just sounds so fun
The way I see it: Racial Spellcasting (Tieflings, High Elves, Yuan-ti), Speeds (Owlin flight, Tabaxi Climbing, Lizardfolk Swimming), and Natural Weaons (Lizardfolk bite, Leonin claws, Minotaur Horns) all wouldn't work
Beyond just Jeremy Crawford's "requires anatomy" requirement, I also require that the beast form "is physically capable of doing so" as described in bullet point #4 of the wildshape rules. While I largely agree with Treatmonk's take, I'll only list racial abilities below that I feel flouts the "physically capable" rule:
Fury of the Small - For me, this ability only works when the chosen beast form is small sized.
Draconic Cry - Does not work because that requires a cry made from throat that is physically capable of making authentic draconic sounds.
Powerful Build - Would not work with beast forms that aren't "powerful build". I'd probably require that the beast's size be large or better and has a minimum Strength ability score of say... 16 or higher.
Relentless Endurance - Very iffy ability, but I am undecided on how I would rule this.
Dragonborn's Breath Weapon - Not physically capable.
Harengon's Long Limbed & Rabbit Hop - Not physically capable.
Dhampir's Spider Climb & Vampiric Bite - Not physically capable.
Autognome's Armored Casing, Healing Machine & Mechanical Nature - Not physically capable unless character picks something like Exploring Eberron's Circle of the Forged druid subclass that enable wildshaping into a wood & metallic beast form.
The wording of the Changeling's Shapechanger is that you can "change your size BETWEEN Medium and Small" -- That is not the same wording as change your size TO Medium and Small. If you are starting out Large (the Elementals) I don't think that this feature does anything for you.
That would be changing your size between Large and Medium or Large and Small.
So, even if this feature was allowed to carry over to the wildshape, I think that it would only work if you chose a Medium or Small form to start as.
The shapechanger can ALWAYS look like a corgi, sometimes you can talk (shapechanged non-wildshaped) and sometimes you can knock a horse 30ft away from you (shapechanges wildshape Earth elemental) Noone will ever see the difference ^^
Super Corgi was born!*
*(corgis often have cropped tails (ergo no tail) so fits with the 4 limbs one head original creature).
I don't see that a kobold's draconic cry would work in a non-draconic wildshape.
"You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so."
Similarly, with bugbear, you don't have a directly long-limbed or extra powerful build. You have the build of the wildshape. All the features of the Harengon can be viewed to rely on anatomy. For instance, if you don't get darkvision, why should you get a tie-through from leporine senses. True, that flying enemy would not expect a mammoth to jump up 30 ft to attack, because it could not happen.
With auto gnome, you don't have the "casing", "built" in, "machine", "mechanical nature" of your racial form because you've become an #elk.
The video should have heavily referenced any potential reference to Rules as Fun because, if the interpretations are regarded to be fun, this could be its main justification.
Of the listed ones, I think the Harengon (a mammoth leaping up to one-shot a dragon) is absolutely hilarious!
The autognome, changeling, and plasmoid might be my favorite, just for the image/flavor of it. I would absolutely play a wild-shaping autognome as a Transformer that looks like a steampunk animal in wildshape, rather than turning into an actual bear. For the changeling, it's almost like they had wildshape in mind with the "same basic arrangement of limbs"; I would play the wildshape as an extension of their natural ability to change their appearance. The plasmoid likewise I would flavor as less of a "wildshape" and more of a somewhat more powerful variation on the natural shapechanging ability. I would probably describe it as reverting to its goopy form before adopting each new form.
I've never seen rules on this, so I apologize if I simply missed them: Aren't racial characteristic bonuses racial features that don't specify anatomy? That +2 Dex from being a Halfling could come in handy for its bump to AC, for example.
Autognome's Armor casing definitely doesn't work - "you are encased in thin metal or some other durable material" is pretty clearly referencing anatomy. Dhampir's Bite also probably doesn't work - "your fanged bite is a natural weapon" references you having a fanged bite, so without fangs, you're out of luck - though plenty of wildshape forms probably have fangs anyway.
8:50 - You can make an argument that you think DMs should allow you to replace a single attack from Multiattack with the Breath Weapon. However RAW, you cannot.
Multiattack and Attack are two distinct actions. You couldn't evem replace your entire Multiattack with a single use of Breath Weapon because Breath Weapon specifies taking the Attack action.
I'm pretty sure Attack and Multiattack are different actions, unlike Extra Attack which improves your attack action. So Multiattack wouldn't qualify for Fizbans's Dragonborn Breath Weapon, or any other feature that requires you to take the Attack action.
The Pact of the Blade warlock also does not need to really be carrying much. A blade warlock with Pact of Undeath and Skill Expert in Athletics has been one of the more fun and unique builds so far. "So I get advantage on Strength checks and can hex you for disadvantage?" That seems like this might be easy mode?
I could definitely see an Autognome wild shaping into mechanically flavoured 'wild' shapes, like the mecha dinosaurs in Horizon Zero Dawn.
As far as the Changeling goes, I would argue that a trunk counts as a limb - so maybe an anteater mammoth rather than a puppy mammoth?
How does the autognome's "thin metal" armor interact with the "druids _won't_ use armor made of metal" rule?
In my opinion, the Plasmoid's Shape Self feature may not work because of the line "or revert to a limbless blob." That makes it seem like that's the starting point of the Plasmoid's transformation, but since Wildshape puts you into the form of a beast, then you don't start out at a limbless blob so you can't revert. IDK, I can't really think of anything broken you could do so I don't think it's a big deal. Amorphous I think is fine though, imagining a Plasmoid Mammoth squeezing under a door through a crack in the wall is both a humorous and terrifying mental image, and one I'd welcome to my games. And everything else to me works fine, requiring you to select a specific race to get some abilities that are useful in some niche situations but not others doesn't seem that OP at all.
One questionable but potentially powerful option is the old legacy kobold. Pack tactics is of course the main benefit. However, the wild shape description only mentions racial benefits, so sunlight sensitivity (which clearly isn't a benefit) shouldn't apply to your new form.
My DM lets my plasmoid use all of their features since, its just an ooze shapeshifting into an animal form, but its still an ooze. Now, everyone looking at my moon druid know their animals are ooze-like, and that has caused some issues with skill checks because of how ooze would interact with them, but being a giant constrictor snake and being able to just move through an arrow slit and attack the archers behind it is hilarious. Especially if the DM lets you try to pull said enemy archer through the arrow slit with you using a super high strength check. That poor dwegar didn't survive... .
Why can't the Autognome make sense? When you wild shape you turn into a mechanized version of that beast/elemental (think of Transformers: Age of Extinction for beast forms or Rotom for the elemental forms).
I have to say something about the Changeling and the Shapechanger trait. It says you can change your size *between medium and small*. If your size is larger than medium, such as when turned into a brown bear or a mammoth, the change in size wouldn't be between medium and small, it would be between large and small or huge and small, etc.. I do think Shapechanger should probably work in wild shape, but unless you are a medium black bear you can't change into a puppy and keep your statistics
I don't think gem dragonborn breath weapon works with replacing one of your attacks from a multiattack.
It says "when you take the attack action on your turn". The multiattack action is a different named action that is not the attack action. (This is why, for example, Extra Attack does not stack with Multiattack--Extra Attack also reads "Whenever you take the attack action"). Obviously if you want the breath weapon you can still take the attack action and have it use your entire turn, though. That should be fine.
A couple of issues with shapechange: "you can change your size *between* medium and small" implies that you have to have the size medium or small when you use the ability to change from one to the other, if you want it so that the form you take is either medium or small, at best the wording would need to be "you can change your size *to between* medium and small," so unless the form you take is either medium or small, you can't shapechange to a different size category; "you can make yourself appear as a member of another *race*" this is a little weird because there is no mention of what you -can't- change into, but that implies that, per "spells/abilities only do what they say they can do," you can only change into members of other races, which can either be read as the dnd definition of race or other "biological" races of the type that you are (bear->bear, dog->dog). Biology involves a bunch of other considerations that don't seem intended, i.e. you can only shapechange into a different race of changeling, and can't change into an elf (given that's a species and not a race, biologically). So, reasonably, you can only shapechange into a "playable race" of your current size or, if you are either small or medium, swap between medium and small on use (that does mean if you shapechange into a halfling as a mammoth, you will be a huge halfling).
I'll be honest I don't think this makes any sense at all. As for abilities that carry over into wild shape I think there is an argument for physical type feats and I'd like to hear an in depth conversation for how much mental faculties are carried over into wild shape. For physical type feats for example I don't see why the ability to stop an opponent from moving after hitting them with an opportunity attack or hitting them in a way that tries to interrupt their spell casting wouldn't work. But then what happens with the argument of if the druid is multiclassed with a fighter do they get to use mauvers? It wouldn't be a popular fix but maybe we could ban multi-classing. (Isn't multi-classing an optional rule in 5e? I could be mistaken) For anything else I imagine wild shape is magically turning one's body into an animal, so anything not listed in that animal's stat block wouldn't work. If a race grants spellcasting then that would probably be available when the druid is allowed to cast spells in wild shape form.
My personal favorite a DM let me try was Fairy while it was in UA. MAGIC flight and the one inch squeeze. Was absolutely hilarious, and should have been the true inspiration for Cocaine Bear.
With the changeling druid wild shape specifically says "Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the beast, but you retain your alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. " When you're wild shaped you would have to use the beast physical stats because it says beast. Shapechange says your stats don't change if change into another race. Each metamorphous is specific to beast or race If there wasn't reference species then the stats could be interchangeable .
Another point would with wild shaping / shape changing I was wondering about. If you use your wild shape turn into a beast can you freely (using your shape changing ability) change back into a humanoid multiple times without losing your duration of wild shape as long as you change back into the same beast you started with. You're not ending your wild shape just using the changelings ability. I hope this makes sense lol. Food for thought.
I was less thinking the natural armor class of the auto gnome, and more thinking the Warforged integrated protections, though I guess the "...your body has built in layers of protection..." gets as closed to anatomy without quite saying it as you can get. Though honestly I have trouble seeing most DM's who are OK with the auto gnome saying no to the Warforged.
I may be wrong here. I would probably rule that the gem Dragonborn breath weapon would not work with a wild shaped multi attack action. The wording of the breath weapon says “when you take the attack action” which is a different action than the multi attack action. It would be the same ruling that a Druid/monk cannot use martial arts to make a bonus action unarmed strike while using the multi attack action. I’m not 100% that this is the way it is supposed to work but I know I have heard that ruling on the Druid/monk before and I believe it applies the same here.
Legacy Fallen Aasimar give you a minute of +lvl dmg to each attack once a turn for a minute. That could be 100+ dmg at lvl 10 and up, which isn't a bad racial bump.
Huh, that MotM feature for Bugbears is super weird. Even if we weren't talking about Wild Shape, Rune Knights and the Enlarge/Reduce spell exist.
I don't think you can do the bear or mammoth into a dog. I read that portion of the sentence "....you can change your size between medium and small" to mean that if you are medium you can become small and vice versa. Thus, if you are huge you could not change your size to medium or small because you are not changing your size between medium or small. There's an alternative reading of "between" that it means you can change your size to anything as small as small or as large as medium. However, that reading doesn't make sense with D&D's game mechanics as there is nothing in-between medium or small, everything is in one of the size category, thus the language would seem unnatural to draft that way as you would merely say "you may become medium or small." if that were the intent.
I'm actually already playing a plasmoid moon Druid, with the feat eldritch adept (Disguise self) I have assumed the form of the Thing.
Her or It's wild shape is it assuming a more monstrous form that looks nothing like the actual beast they are turning into.
A lot of these are things I wouldn't intuitively allow, but after a second reading would. I like the gem dragonborn, but I lean toward the ghostwise halfling for telepathy and lucky.
did i miss somthing? seriously how is kalashtar not mentioned? advantage on all Wisdom saves, resistance to psychic, easy telepathic communication, even a few niche spell and ability immunities
kalashtar is even better if you take a 3 level dip into barb for bear totem so you have 100% resistences
Our GM let's me use both my breath weapons, and the feat dragon hide, to allow my increased +3 base armor in wild shape.
But only if I shape shift to animals with scales...
Warforged. Armor is integrated into it. Would that transfer to animal form? integrated weapons like the Armblade is inside the warforged. Would that be useable?