Wildshape in D&D 5E is a Poorly Designed Feature
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 22 фев 2023
- The signature ability of Druids in Dungeons and Dragons 5e is their ability to transform into natural creatures. It's a shame the feature itself isn't as good as it could be.
Art and Video Credits - homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/s...
Patreon - / rulesandrulings
Discord - / discord
Other Work - t.co/crSJgpEI47 
Игры
Wild Shape is billed as a primary feature, but newer subclasses try to de-empathise it being a core identity of the class. Circle of Spores, Stars and Wildfire all have a feature that is some form of "instead of wildshaping, do X" as your twice per short rest resource.
I'd be in favor of restructuring Wild Shape somewhat for more appropriate scaling (but a full spellcaster should not also have equivalent physical combat power to a martial) which I assume could become an exclusive feature for the Moon Druid.
Oh, without a doubt it would need to be scaled lower than the power of a full martial class. There's a lot of room between that and what we have now, though. :D
The 5e Wild Shape certainly could use some attention, but not by replacing it with the blob-type, "three-size-fits-all" templates being presented in the OneDnD UA. Everyone seems to prioritize combat optimization for Wild Shape, when there is so much utility to be had by transforming into the animal's stat block with their skills and abilities. For example, if I want to fly fast, I'm going to need to transform into a giant eagle and fly at 80. Sure, any non-concentration flight is good, but slowing me down to 40 with the templates robs me of the utility needed. If I want to burrow under a gate, the templates do not allow for that. If I am stuck in darkness, I'd want to be a bat. If I want to walk across the ceiling, sorry, no can do. That is gone from the templates. Maybe if you added Feature "Add-on" packs such as Brute, Arachnid, Speedster, Underground Dweller to the templates, that would be a better compromise.
I've been working on a plant-based druid subclass and wild shape is tricky for creating a wild shape that's basically plants haha
I agree that there's numerous critiques to be made of the 5E Wild Shape. But I hope whatever rules they eventually settle on allow for more variety than the bland, homogenized mess that is the OneDND playtest version. The big strength of the 5E version is that it captures the diversity of abilities (in both the "ability score" and "special features" senses) that various beasts possess. The playtest version doesn't even _try_ to do that, and it ends up making the feature... really boring, on top of being quite weak.
EDIT: If they want to keep using templates, which I see the reasoning for, I feel like they need to use templates that emphasize different ability scores, so that an Elephant is not the same Strenght as a Monkey. This could then be paired with an a la carte selection of special features and traits that expands as you level up. This could replace "Animal of the X" as the way you get different movement speeds: you just take that speed as one of your picks when you use Wild Shape.
I think that turning into monsters too should be a special feature.
If Wild Shape used a distinct set of stat blocks instead of pick and choosing from the monster manual, that would be a lot easier. You could give a new stat block to a subclass that has aberrant or fiendish options to choose from. Or you could reward the druid directly with a new wild shape as loot in game.
@@RulesandRulings I've done this very thing myself. But I trust myself to just choose in the moment without breaking the system. But this would be the optimal settings for newbies, and veterans, alike. Seems fair. Well done.
@chewingdragon9082 Yeah, I was rushing to get this out beforehand because I figured some of these things would actually be fixed in it.
I don't understand all the damn fuss about wildshape. I've played druids since 1981. Use wildshape to get into areas to gather information no one in party can get to, hide, and escape. Very seldom to fight, cause most times 1 hit would kill your wildshape. Use spells to fight, wildshape for all othe things. If you play druids, should spend early levels studying animals in down time. If you are killing monsters in wildshape, the dm is the one to blame, not the rules