My druid backstory is he is from Chult (where the campaign takes place) and the only time he talks is with dinosaurs or other similar creatures. Also plants. He convinced a tree to beat up a zombie that one time.
One thing you didn't talk about was to hit modifiers. Giant scorpion has high damage numbers sure, but it's poison is dc 12 and it only had +4 to hit, so realistically it hits 40 percentage points less than the crocodile
Yep, a druid in my game turned into a giant scorpion recently, it looked impressive, but all the foes had ACs of at least 16 or 17, one was 18, so barely any of his attacks were hitting.
Polymorph doesn't require you to have seen the creature before, so just polymorph a tree into all the different things for the druid. This implies that someone in the party has Polymorph... I feel like that's a safe implication though
@@ghostsavage5250 A tree does not have a CR rating and is not a creature so you wouldn't be able to when you read polymorph rules, lol. It's just easier to say you traveled as part of your backstory and backgrounds and studied the beasts then waste all of that material and time in game
@@AdeptN7 Youre right that it wouldn't work on a tree (unless you Awakened that tree first lol) but its still easier to just take a day in game to polymorph a party member then drop concentration real quick then to write all those animals into your backstory, I mean some of them are dinosaurs that wouldn't even make sense in most settings
Top 10 Polymorph transformations could be pretty cool. Not only the best things you could turn your enemies into, but the best things you could turn yourself and/or your allies into for combat/utility potential.
Giant Constrictor Snake is also the best zoning beast with it being HUGE sized at only lvl 6. You can block entire sections of the battle map being 3x3 causing most enemies to have to use all of their movement & possible dash to get around you. Also with an attack of opportunity range of 4x4 and being able Contrict Attack creatures up to Gargantuan size, nothing is getting around you.
Plus, now that Tasha’s Cauldron allows Druids to cast Enlarge/Reduce, you can cast enlarge on yourself before wildshaping into the giant constrictor snake, and as long as you can maintain your concentration, you’re a gargantuan size class serpent that wreak havoc on your enemies.
@@johnpaulcross424 I’m pretty sure that transformations don’t suddenly make you a different target for spells than what you used to be. Nothing about the wildshape rules says that you count as a different target if you’re wildshaped, anyways. Even if your character morphs into a bear, that bear is still your character, just in a different form. I’d think it’s pretty crappy if you set up a whole combat thing where you cast a buff spell on yourself, and the cleric casts a buff spell on you, but then because you wildshape the DM says you’re not the original target of the spell anymore so they both fizzled out. Wildshape explicitly allows you to maintain concentration on any spell you’ve already cast before you transformed, regardless of what the target of the spell was. So I maintain the position that there’s no reason casting Enlarge on yourself before wildshaping can’t carry over into your wildshapes.
@@redstoneraptor8101 The spell is still affecting the druid, and wild-shaping does not end effects on the wild-shaper, therefore the druid is still under the effects of the enlarge spell while wild-shaped. At this point you might conclude that the question is settled: they would be an extra-large bear, because the spell is still working that that's what enlarge does. But that's not quite right. Let us look at precisely what the enlarge spell's effect is, not what we might be tempted to mentally simplify it as (with all emphasis mine): *You cause a creature or an object you can see within range to grow larger or smaller for the duration.* Okay, so it doesn't make it 2× in every dimension as a static fact, it makes it grow at the beginning of the spell. That would mean it would not make any further changes afterwards, only sustain the initial change. Well, maybe I'm reading too much into "to grow". Let's see what else it says it does: *The target's size doubles in all dimensions, and its weight is multiplied by eight. This growth increases its size by one category - from Medium to Large, for example. If there isn't enough room for the target to double its size, the creature or object attains the maximum possible size in the space available. Until the spell ends, the target also has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws. The target's weapons also grow to match its new size. While these weapons are enlarged, the target's attacks with them deal 1d4 extra damage.* So it does look like it's a one-time growth, based on the verbs and nouns used. In particular, if enlarge is used on a target inside a smaller space than the maximum possible size, and then the target moves out of that space, they don't grow further once there is more room - the growth at the beginning of the spell is all you get, nothing more later. So, the conclusion there is that the druid can shapechange into a form, and the enlarge effect is not applied to the new form. If they change into a sparrow or a bear, they get the normal statistics of a normal sparrow or normal bear. That means that a druid that wants to dodge an inconvenient enlarge or reduce can easily do so by wild-shaping, but a druid that wants to benefit from enlarge or reduce in their wild-shaped form will have to somehow arrange for the spell to be cast after they wild-shape, so that it will grow their new form instead of just their previous form. -7sided die, rpgstackexchange
@@Sazandora123 yeah for nerds they have surpizingly bad knowladge of biology in general. They also classify spiders and centipedes as insects. I wouldn't be surpized if they believe octopuses are fisg
A fun interaction for moon Druid, if you take a 1 level dip into Monk you get a really useful AC buff to almost all of your wild shapes as technically none of them wear armor and your Wisdom Modifier persists through wild shape. Plus a decent number of forms have pretty good dexterity to take advantage of with this as well
@@SchroederUSMC Barbarian is a ton better but I am more likely to get my dm to allow me to play the character if it is a monk druid-multiclass instead. (Plus since all of the beasts attacks are unarmed you can make an additional attack with your bonus action as a monk which you just won't normally use as a transformed moon druid. Also playing a kung fu bear is fun)
@@steelcooley5190 Per the errata and multiple rulings, beast attacks are not unarmed attacks. You do have the option of making monk attacks with the Monk damage dice. Short version, you can't pick the best of both worlds. However, you can use ki to get extra attacks and other features.
one small bonus the Deinonychus has over the brown bear and dire wolf is that it's medium sized. In smaller dungeons this can be a big deal since if your large you might prevent people from getting through you and the enemies causing a door blockage where your not only taking all the damage but none of the other melee can help you.
I had a flash of inspiration when I was playing as a Level 7 Moon Druid. It was a boss fight and I used Conjure Woodland Beings as action and then turned into Giant Constrictor snake as Bonus Action. The 8 pixies I summoned either cast polymorph on something or Fly on myself. Not only did I get past the moon druid's restriction of flying by 1 level, I was flying as a Giant Constrictor snake. I then hit the Boss with a Constrict attack and just fly extremely high in the air for double moving each round with them in tow. After getting enough elevation, the boss no longer wanted to get free so I just kept flying for 10 min and then dropped them(I really gave them extra momentum by throwing them as a snake). Another Pixie cast Fly on my character again and we just flew alongside the Boss as they plummeted to the ground...GG
@@mardshima2070 I legit was trying for that at the start of the fight but the other players just didnt want to listen and made their saves against the pixies(if i remember is only like a dc12). I was feeling deflated and then this idea came to me and then they was like, "can you turn us into that now" but pixies didnt have that spell anymore and i was feeling a bit salty so that led to me flying away with the boss. oh...and in dnd party fashion, those who accepted my Fly spell, decided to fly into the ceiling(which knocked them out) instead of the large hole I had just opened up in the wall with my Giant Snake form
One interesting option, is to turn into a giant coral snake (or any other venomous/poisonous snake) and have a party member harvest your poison into a vial. You can either have the ranger dip their arrows in it, or sell for money! :)
The Moon Druid I am playing is a 70 yr old lady. She has had the advantage of traveling most of her life and has seen almost every creature on the planet. The Trade off is that she is now blind. I took the wizard ritual caster feat at character creation giving her Find Familiar and unseen servant. She uses the familiars senses almost exclusively. She uses the unseen servant to keep her hut clean. My DM has said that if you travel far enough in his world you will have seen pretty much every creature. We'll see how he feels about that when I shape into a Bristled Moorbounder or a Guthash. I may have eluded towards Dinosaurs when talking to him about what she could have seen but he said "yes and"
Error at 4:07: you can use different movement speeds in the same turn "If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you've already moved from the new speed. The result determines how much farther you can move. If the result is 0 or less, you can't use the new speed during the current move." -Chapter 9 of the PHB
I'm pretty sure he knows that, what he meant is that you can't walk 40 feet and then climb 30 more. As by the rules you would only be capable of climbing 30 feet and then walking 10 more.
I'm surprised that you've mentioned the GCS for its utility, while missing out on the best CR1 utility form: the Giant Spider. It's the only form that actually has a ranged attack - and a pretty decent one at that, being very accurate for lvl 2 (clocking at +5) and restraining the target without allowing a saving throw - only an action to escape or attack the web. Its melee attack is nothing to sneeze at, either, outdamaging the Dire Wolf if the target fails its Con save. The best part of it, and a pretty underappreciated one at that, are its senses. Not only is it the lowest CR combat form with Blindsight, but also, unlike any other creature, can more-or-less extend the range of that vision, though likely requiring the approval of the DM. Thing is, spiders spin webs - and while impractical to do in combat, this would allow to set up some really nasty ambushes, as the crew of the Hobbit can attest to. This ability is alluded to in the stat block, by way of the Web Sense - which is the way to extend the blindsight I mentioned - but as it's not in the stat block, it needs approval from the DM. Also, roleplaying a creepy crawlie is a treat in and of itself. Imagine climbing on the ceiling above an unsuspecting enemy using your Spider Climb feature (another greatly underappreciated one and the closest thing you can get to a flight speed at low levels), then bungeeing onto them using your web, grappling them and pulling them up into the air for a quick snack. Supremely terrifying on the receeiving end, tons of fun on yours.
My first character was a Half-Elf Moon Druid. I’ve caused lots of chaos with it. He also gave me a homebrew Bag of Tricks so I could learn to change into dinosaurs.
Take 1 lvl in monk so you get AC with dex+wis, when you get the strongest shapes youll have at least 3 more AC than you would normally Fire elemenatal will have 18 AC and Air elemental 20
You can also make attacks with your bonus action because martial arts allows you to attack with your bonus action when you make an attack with your action using unarmed strikes (Which is all that beasts use)
Worth mentioning that the bite after pounce would be with advantage due to the creature being prone, with a +6 to hit the chances of hitting are decently high. Also RAW says if the target is prone, not knocked prone, so if they were already prone you would get the bite attack regardless of the claw attack hitting or not.
RAW, the effects of Fire Form and Touch do stack, as tho they have the same effect, they're from different sources. Same way you can combine the AC boost of Shield, Shield of Faith and Haste. Although the have the same effect (boosting AC by X amount), bc they're from different sources they stack. I understand Mike Mearls responses to a tweet asking if they stack with "I don't think so" (while game designer, is not in charge of all the finer rules, hence he asks Crawford for confirmation), according to the rules of stackable effects they're fine. Its just whether you can be 'double on fire' (I'd argue with one effect there are a couple patches of flame, and with both you're engulfed).
15:28 - While in my experience it counts a house rule as far as most official and AL stuff is concerned, it is actually RAW that elementals have no penalty. This is because of the size rules which in turn show how much space a creature per size takes up AND the moving around creatures rules unless a tiny and large creature (such as due to a swarm) are taking up the same space. The 1 inch squeeze means they can be treated as tiny creatures (as anything below 1.25~2ft per raw is treated as tiny/lets say half a meter despite the DMG 251 charts rounding up), thus can take up any space above small while base statblock also gives them the large size letting them squeeze over anything above medium.
The thing with creature size is that normally you can only move into an enemy square if your at least 2 sizes bigger or smaller. And even then with a difficult terrain penalty. So that doesn't really mean much for the Fire Elemental since it ignores the size rules for entering enemy squares anyway. The rules for squeezing are specific to creatures moving through small spaces like a large creature going through a narrow tunnel, and don't involved enemies in those squares at all. I looked into the fire elemental thing with moving into other peoples squares for way longer than I'd like to admit and basically just found its a very common house rule to just let them move through enemy creatures with no penalties because people confuse the squeezing rules and entering enemy square rules as the same thing a lot. I thought the same thing too until I decided to double check for this video.
@@TheDDLogs Let me rephrase/TLDR: Fire elemental (and any creature that is medium or larger with the squeeze through space clause) can abuse the RAW of difficult terrain and space rules "A creature's space is the area in feet that it effectively controls in combat, not an expression of its physical dimensions." to not use any extra movement as long as there isnt something like a large creature+swarm in the area. Same way how strict RAW a multiclass wizard19/cleric1 can prepare 9th level cleric spells since the rules for spell prep of prep spellcaster class dont specify their own spellcasting table, just spell slots the character has access to or how a 2 level Conjuration Wizard dip per RAW can let any caster duplicate expensive spell components/diamonds, jewels, metal powder, etc that get consumed on use with Minor Conjuration because the conjured object is by all accounts real, tho radiating magic or how True Polymorph after its 1h duration passes cant actually be dispelled without something that ends magical effects (but not spells) because the spell is over and the transformation is the thing thats made permanent.
@@mondaysinsanity8193 True that makes sense, but unless the ability specifically say you can ignore something from the rules, it assumes your following the rules to the letter. A lot of RAW is very legalese. The reason the fire elemental thing is homeruled so much is because it does make a lot of sense to just ignore the difficult terrain rule on it.
@@mondaysinsanity8193 As said, that actually is RAW (rules lawyering) legal. Being (effectively) tiny and statblock large sized and only requiring to enter but not spend any feet of movement in the space of another creature to proc its fire damage while still moving around the area (as long as there is no physical wall/full cover a creature perfectly takes up in between or something like a swarm stacked on a large creature).
... plus with blindsight 10' you can cast Fog Cloud and walk inside to wild shape where enemies cant shoot arrows at range and get disadvantage when they enter, while you get advantage to hit. Also usefull if another party member like a 3rd level Warlock with Devil's Sight likes to cast Darkness and shoot Eldritch Blast at range, and you go in front inside the Darkness and go to town...
as a moon druid in my current campaign I usually apologize to my dm then cast moonbeam then wild shape into a fire elemental and just devastate the battlefield by simply moving the moonbeam through as many enemies as I can as an action then using my movement speed to get close (fire form says it sets anyone on fire that's within 5 feet so you don't actually have to go through them to set them on fire) to enemies to deal extra damage. My dm is pretty chill about it but it feels like cheese to me.
It only sets enemies on fire, if you touches them(so touch attack or moving through their field), or if they hit you, while within 5feet. So you still have to make them either hit you or you have to move through them to set them on fire. proximity isnt enough. At least acoording to the rules.
Also, moonbeam only causes damage when a creature moves into the moonbeam on a turn (moving the moonbeam through their space doesn't count) or if they start their turn in the moonbeam.
Cast and concentrate on spike growth, wild shape into air elemental, grapple enemies, run them back and forth in the spikes till they are mush. 2d4 for every five feet moved, with no restriction, and an air elemental has a lot of movement.
My DM let me wildshape into a Giant Elk and it was glorious. 14 AC, 42 HP, 60 movement. Able to knock people prone and stomp on them. Size category huge so my Goliath fighter friend would ride me into battle. So much fun.
Giant Scorpion seems to be good but you have to consider it's +4 to hit bonus, that's 2 less than the constrictor snake of CR 2. Although the poison damage seems to be incredible for it to land the attack and to fail the saving throw you need a lot of luck.
Can confirm the Deinonychus has the biggest damage potential, had a one-shot at third-level when in two turns it made over *40 damage* even though the pounce ability never succeed. My character was an awakened bear barbarian which was given the gift of conciousness by his best friend, an ancient moon druid. The bear has a fascination with beast he never saw in his forest, like dinosaurs and giant insects. His backstory is the song of Rasputin by Wind Earth and Fire.
Crag cat... It's CR1 has about the same health and damage as the brown bear but has a higher AC, it has pounce too and pretty high stats. But the best part is it has spell turning perfect for magic user heavy campaigns and being the party's designated mage slayer. Spell Turning. The cat has advantage on saving throws against any spell that targets only the cat (not an area). If the cat’s saving throw succeeds and the spell is of 7th level or lower, the spell has no effect on the cat and instead targets the caster.
Where is the love for giant octopus and giant spider? Those are the earliest available wildshapes that allow you to restrain a target on a hit, and giant octopus has the highest hp of any cr1 beast.
@@PaperPushingPauper The Giant Rocktopus doesn't have a swim speed, so it's available right away, and it's otherwise identical to the Giant Octopus. (Oddly enough this includes only breathing water. A bit of an oversight, it seems.)
Deinonychus is much more powerfull for one more reason. Arms. It attacks with legs, and have free unsuser armrz which anatomicqlly can hold smth, like a shillelgh, or shield
waitwaitwait, i just got this video recomennded, are you Hirumaredx??? i loved your WoW lore videos when i still played! didn't know you did dnd content! but i immediately recognised the voice
One point of conversation you should have with your DM is whether to use the beasts Proficiency Bonus versus the Druids. Do you use the beasts or your own? Most beasts only get a +2 or +3 to their attacks and special effects (Save DC) which makes them unfeasible at higher levels with higher AC creatures. If the player is able to use their own Proficiency Bonus it means that the beasts ability to hit the enemy scales with them. and means that instead of a Level 17 Druid in Dire-Wolf form isn't forcing a DC:13 saving throw, at a +5 to hit, but a DC of 17 and a +9 to hit. Which is much more level appropriate and reflects the mastery over the form. This also makes it a definite improvement over Polymorph; where the polymorphed creature MUST use all the stats. The argument against this is "Wild shape dictates that you take on the stats of the beast!", "Druids are not proficient with natural weapons!" I would argue that a druid, especially a Moon Druid, ought to be proficient with natural weapons, it allows old forms to still remain useful at later levels. It also does not affect damage; ONLY the chances of hitting the enemy and occasionally forcing that saving throw. In short: Druids should feel like the shapes that they learn grow alongside them as its not like they can use magical +1 or +2 weapons in wildshape.
I used to dislike Druids since they could turn into beasts but no other cool monsters, but seeing Moon changed my mind. Plus, Wild Shape can easily be reflavored as turning into a fey creature. Just convince one of your friends to take Beast Speech as a feat.
Guy writing monster rules: A triceratops weighs like 10-20 thousand pounds and at 50 ft in 6 seconds it is hitting a player at close to 35mph. DC to avoid being knocked over is probably like a 13, seems fine.
What about the giant subterran lizard. Its a pretty good one in my opinion given its swallow abillity to essentially "remove" one enemy from the encounter. Given its Hp are a bit low but i think the ac is decent enouth to kinda make it tanky enouth. its tail attack is decent and pretty in line with others and the autograpple of the bite attack makes swallow very easy to achieve. edit with a +7 to hit i guess at this level is fine for a cr4 creature i dont think its the best option just a good one for the sake of lockdown not to mention the huge size
good video with thorough explanation of each option. one question though, why not consider Giant hyena for CR1? it doesn't provide much utility but it's amazing for tanking; AC is 12 (low I know) but HP is 45 and 2d6+3 damage which I would say is quite respectable for level 2
in the future try and keep to hit modifiers in mind. many of these creatures seem good on paper, but if you can't reliably hit, or cause saving throws to fail then your not going to be much use in a fight.
WHERE'S THE GIANT TOAD ?? It's actually super strong and underrated , and on a crit , it does so much damage ! I like to do Hold Person , BA Giant frog , and hope they dobt break free. NEXT TURN , 2d10 piercing+2d10poison and the target is grappled. It's vicious.
My favorite is the hulking crab from storm king's thunder. It has by far the highest ac of any beast, higher damage than the giant crocodile that isn't restricted to hitting separate targets, blindsight, and its attacks auto-grapple from 10 foot reach meaning you can hold a creature with only 5 foot reach away from you so it can't even attack you. It can also swim and breathe underwater as well as remain virtually undetectable in environments it blends into.
Wouldn't using that strategy with the fire elemental also open you up to oportunity attacks from all the enemies you pass through? I know the fire elementals health hardly matters but just giving your oponet several free attacks against you seems like a bad call especially when I can also leave you surounded by enemies. Sounds pretty risky to me.
It's kinda the idea. The more the fire elemental gets attacked, the more damage it deals out to those that attacked it. So opportunity attacks against it is a doubled edged sword for the attacker.
awesome, are these shapes from every book? and would you consider something similar but from set books? Just one of our DMs is a bit 'stricter' than others
It would be fun to see a version of this for RP. Like which beast makes your character most intelligent, charismatic, or wise. granted they may not be able to speak in said form, but it would be interesting to swap forms to have a thought,. or make a face for persuasion. This is great content to be sure, but at this point in the 5e lifecycle, I think DPR has been done to death.
I just started getting back into D&D again after being away from it for decades, and a LOT has changed since First Edition that In played, but crafting a new character, I'm not seeing the DEINONYCHUS as an option for Wild Shape in DnDbeyond. Has this been removed in the past couple of years?
there are important animal forms you missed. Half-Dragons. in the monstrous manual the rules for half-dragons expressly apply to beasts and dont change their creature type. so a Half Red Dragon Aurochs (aka the red bull) is an entirely valid druid wildshape form and its got a breath weapon attack. There are limits on what animals you can make half dragon, but its pretty loose. similar to that is the Nyxborn trait from Mystic Odysseys of Theros. why be a brown bear when you can be a Nyxborn brown bear and have advantage on saves vs spells? there are a few other templates/modifiers you can RAW stack onto your wildshape forms, but really half-dragon is the big one, and im really surprised you didnt address it.
Problem with both of these: Half-Dragon is a creature template which sets the CR of a creature to a minimum of 2-3 depending on its other stats (for good beasts, likely to cr 4 due to resistance, higher for beasts statted over their cr since the CR recalculation is done from scratch as per DMG) AND you need to have seen said half-dragon beast(s) in the wild; so by the point it might be of ANY use, the default beasts would overshadow it massively. Nyxborn meanwhile (same for Anvilwrought, Hollow ones, etc) are explicitly specified as player character options (aka you would need a friend that somehow gets the beast tag and doesnt have his stats overwritten to yourself qualify) and would have them be at circa 1/5th your targeted wildshape level (since their either have no CR or would be calculated by monster with class levels which typically for non MAD abserd multiclass cases with any decent items is between 1/4 to 1/5th your level). Honestly the player option seems actually easier to pull off RAW by just having ones friend join as a temporary hireling/henchie than finding a dragons weird spawn that didnt mutate off into its own thing.
@@ANDELE3025 half dragon doesn't set the CR- it says if the CR is below the relevant threshold you need to recalculate it using the DMG guidelines. with careful selection you can still get a CR1 half-dragon, not that it matters because as a moon Druid the CR2 ones are fine and every bit the equal/superior of the standard CR2 beasts the 1/2 black dragon giant rocktopus stats out as a CR 1 beast so a moon druid can be it from level 2 -although honestly the plain Giant Rocktopus (from OOtA) is already a great CR1 option for beginner Moon druids. far as having to see it- that parts easy. Polymorph is a spell on the druid list and it does not have a requirement of having seen a beast to turn someone into it. so a 7th level druid can just polymorph folk into exotic animals to see them and then wildshape into them later. If you arent level 7 yet but your druidic mentor was he can have done it as part of your training. frankly its derelection of duty for a druid mentor not to show their apprentices at least a few sweet forms
@@jameshardie7678 No, it sets the CR to a MINIMUM of 2 and thats only if using the OPTIONAL breath scale table. RAW with no optional rules you always recalculate. And no a giant half dragon (r)octopus is still minimum CR 4 as by the calc table its 40~ damage, 14 ac and ehp of 110~ And polymorph also doesnt actually qualify you either because you still didnt see the beast if you wanna do template schenanigans because one can equally state that RAW you still didnt see the beast the friend (or other creature) took the shape of, just its shape. Also the DM can in addition point out that a templated beast is a templated beast and even if you see one you can only turn into the form without the template because the template features aint the beasts statblock, but a addition to it (like gear and magical effects).
I feel like at 3rd level, conjure animals with 8 beasts eg 4 elk to trample and 4 constrictor snakes to grapple, or 4 dire wolves to pack attack the prone/grappled target, etc... is more effective than one PC wild shaping into just one beast.... plus at the next relevant level (5?) you can conjure 2x or *16* 1/4 CRs or *8* CR 1/2s, etc
When we take into account that some of our Groups PCs can buff us with some really great spells, then some of the highlighted utility options gain even more bonus. Such as; Enlarge/Reduce (Wizard/Sorcerer)assists with Grapples, Bless (Cleric/Paladin) for attacks/saves boost, lots of others.... :)
I had a funny idea recently regarding the fire elemental wildshape. Take the mobile feat (10 foot extra movement, no penalty for dificult terrain when dashing). Even funnier if you play as a small race, then you could potentially take squat nimbleness too. Between the two that's now a total of 15 feet of extra movment. So as a fire elemental that's 65 base, 130 dashing, and no difficult terain slowdown when running through people as a dash action!
The Giant Elk is much better than the Rhinoceros imo. It has slightly less health and slightly less damage, but its Hooves attack gives it a great option if your party has a way to knock creatures prone, and it has much more AC and speed than the rhino. It also has a much higher Dexterity score, meaning you're much more likely to save for half against a lot of blasts that enemy casters might throw your way. I would go so far as to say that the Giant Elk is even better than the Allosaurus. Giant Constrictor Snake is the best form for CR2 though. You have to remember that, as the Moon Druid, you are the defender of the party. You have a gazillion HP, and you should use it. You also have a lot of utility options, and the options that restrain targets are the best ones. When a target is restrained, it doesn't matter that your damage output isn't as high. Your entire party has advantage if they focus fire on that target, meaning you've made up for your lack of damage output by massively increasing everyone else's, especially if you have a Rogue in the party. And if you really want to maximize your own damage output, you can cast something like Wall of Fire and drag your target into the fire while you're grappling them, which is a tactic you can continue to use as a Giant Scorpion.
Easiest excuse to be able to become a dinosaur/pterasaur is to be a lizardfolk druid (or halfing if playing Eberron). Because they live in the same places dinosaurs live, so you can realisticly assume you've seen them before. Can also extend this for a good argument for a lizardfolk knowing Giant constrictor snake and crocodile.
Ok, but WHY does Deinonychus and Brown Bear beat a Dire Wolf. How. What ability do they have that allows them to outclass the all-around all-star? The wolf is tankier than both of them and comes with Pack Tactics in addition to being a utility pick. I just don't see the point of the other two in most scenarios.
We just realised in our last session that beasts have really shitty flying creatures. The druid in our party cast Polymorph on me since I we were falling from a high place and this is where we realised that the CR 2 Quetzalcoatlus is the strongest flying beast in the game that you can Wild Shape/Polymorph people into. Which is VERY bad at Level 10+. Every other flying creature with higher CR rating counts as a montrosity after that so it doesn't count for any of these...
Regular drood couldnt wildshape into them either way (and should go for giant owls for darkvision+the stealth prof if they dont have prof in it already or at least bat/flying spider if for some reason other than safe transportation) while moon druids get air elemental form at 10. As far as falling, if the party doesnt have feather fall and the fall is over 500 ft, earthbind is a druid option since it doesnt care if you have a flying speed to bring you gently to the ground.
What books have all the wind shapes in them?? What books can I find the dinosaurs if I’m playing with my friends and I want to be a Druid?? Please help.
DnD needs to publish clear and consistent rules for making giant animals, dire animals and giant dire animals. Then they need to publish a bestiary with only beasts. Its pathetic and unacceptable to have 4 wild shape forms at a CR.
My DM said that there Is a druid that at a High level can transform info magical beasts, but he don't remember what kind of druid can do that, can someone pls tell me?
How about best options for shape-change? It’s like wildshape on steroids, but it’s worse than true polymorph because you can’t get spell abilities or become an undead or construct.
It might depend on your character, but I know that Chronurgy Wizards make amazing angels because the immunity to Exhaustion lets them abuse their 14th level feature.
I convinced my dm for me to get rid of spellcasting in return to at level one get all the wildshape features such as unlimited wildshapes, any creatures etc so i was basically doric from the dnd movie it was a w well is a w cause i still play her
My Druid was lost on an Island inhabited by Dinosaurs, she became the islands caretaker and one of it's protectors. the Island was invaded by soldiers who captured several Dinosaurs to use as warr beasts her goal is return all the Dinosaurs to the island.
I like the theme of a lycanthrope becoming a druid in order to better learn to control their transformation. I wanna use it for a character to justify having a default busted character trait.
Write some of them it into your backstory. Maybe you worked at an exotic zoo before freeing the animals, or maybe you wandered the planet for years, or maybe you studied zoology in university.
@@normal6483 Yeah I talked with my DM about it. Since I’m relative new DND player and didn’t think beyond like CR 1 for my backstory wildshapes. I did say I just want stuff from the swamps due to backstory (Lizardfolk), and I think I can persuade him to let me have the ‘giant’ versions of the earlier beasts (like how I had both Wolf and Dire Wolf, so I could upgrade my Boar to Giant Boar). Other than that I’m willing to just take what the campaign gives me.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything includes a guide to help druids determine what beasts they’ve seen before. The tables describe which beasts are commonly found in each biotype. A druid that grew up in that environment has likely seen all of the common beasts listed on that table. Also, once you can cast polymorph, you can polymorph a party member into a beast that you'd like to "see". Polymorph as written doesn't have the restriction of having had to see a beast before turning someone into one.
Most of my D&D knowledge comes from these videos so this is a question from ignorance. The way the Pounce and the elephant's Trample skills are written it seems like you get the option for a Bonus Action attack as long as the target it prone. It's not stated as a condition of being knocked prone by the skill. Shouldn't you just get the hit? Maybe even regardless of a charge attack? It seems like the creature is taking advantage of their target being on the ground, right? An elephant doesn't need to charge you to step on you, it just needs you in a bad position, not moving. I suppose it wouldn't be written in as one skill if they weren't linked but it's somewhat ambiguous to me at least.
To my knowledge, from the way it is written, a creature must use it's ability (Pounce, Trampling Charge, etc) before it is able to make the Bonus action attack against a target. While I can't find any sources that specifically talk about this topic, I will try and explain it in as much detail as I can. 1. A creature fulfils the requirment to use it's ability. (Move 20ft in a line to force a creature to make a save or be knocked prone) 2. Then, it can make a Bonus Action attack against it's original target, *if* that target failed the save and was knocked prone. This is rules as written. However, it is in my opinion that you should be correct. It should be a creature can make an extra attack using its Bonus Action against any prone creature, because it makes the ability more usable, and removes the confusion.
@@PaperPushingPauper Actually that would be the crawford version ofRAI. RAW the trample or pounce bonus happen as long as the target has the prone condition as it doesnt specify "if the creature failed its saving throw, x can use its bonus action to y" like other conditionals do (and ofc the creature had to fulfilled the other conditions such as the 20ft straight line movement to even trigger the feature).
The bonus action bonus is to emulate a conditional extra attack (and two weapon fighting) other creature types like humanoids get so the movement is still required. You are correct tho in that the requirement for the source of the prone condition doesnt matter.
DMs, do not coddle your players. If you allow your PCs to use any power to shapeshift into or even to summon any creature in the Monster Manual, you are playing the game on easy mode. They should only be able to summon or change into creatures they’ve encountered before, so encountering more creatures should be a reason to go adventuring. No “i heard about it” or “i saw a picture” BS.
Day 379 of morphing into a brown bear because it's the only thing my character has seen in the campaign. I see your point, I just think there's a little more nuance than all or nothing here.
One thing worth mentioning about the Quetz is the fact that if you get a grapple off with it you can do some nasty stuff by flying high up and dropping the person, making them take fall dmg.Which if done from ground you can get a nasty 8d6 but that is primarily reserved for the first round. Afterwards an average would lay around 3-4d6 which the dive attack can do better with but the upside of the dropping is you can force creatures prone via it from the drop allowing your team to get advantage.
My druid backstory is also my childhood backstory. I saw a dinosaur in a picture book and I swore to myself that I would one day become a dinosaur.
Hahahaha!!!!
My druid backstory is he is from Chult (where the campaign takes place) and the only time he talks is with dinosaurs or other similar creatures. Also plants. He convinced a tree to beat up a zombie that one time.
Lol I love it!
Haha scalie xD
One thing you didn't talk about was to hit modifiers. Giant scorpion has high damage numbers sure, but it's poison is dc 12 and it only had +4 to hit, so realistically it hits 40 percentage points less than the crocodile
Yep, a druid in my game turned into a giant scorpion recently, it looked impressive, but all the foes had ACs of at least 16 or 17, one was 18, so barely any of his attacks were hitting.
Came to the comments for this!
yeah I didnt think of that, lol, oops.
Would be good to transform into a giant scorpion in a goblin village scenario or something similar
It has blindsight so if you have a warlock or something in the party that can cast darkness it will be much more accurate
Top 10 creatures to convince your DM you have seen before
Have a good enough background and it works out
Polymorph doesn't require you to have seen the creature before, so just polymorph a tree into all the different things for the druid.
This implies that someone in the party has Polymorph... I feel like that's a safe implication though
@@ghostsavage5250 A tree does not have a CR rating and is not a creature so you wouldn't be able to when you read polymorph rules, lol. It's just easier to say you traveled as part of your backstory and backgrounds and studied the beasts then waste all of that material and time in game
Spend time in Chult and the mountains and you've got them all. Easy.
@@AdeptN7 Youre right that it wouldn't work on a tree (unless you Awakened that tree first lol) but its still easier to just take a day in game to polymorph a party member then drop concentration real quick then to write all those animals into your backstory, I mean some of them are dinosaurs that wouldn't even make sense in most settings
Top 10 Polymorph transformations could be pretty cool. Not only the best things you could turn your enemies into, but the best things you could turn yourself and/or your allies into for combat/utility potential.
That's just giant ape+ random utility options that you'll only look for when you need a specific ability
Giant Constrictor Snake is also the best zoning beast with it being HUGE sized at only lvl 6. You can block entire sections of the battle map being 3x3 causing most enemies to have to use all of their movement & possible dash to get around you. Also with an attack of opportunity range of 4x4 and being able Contrict Attack creatures up to Gargantuan size, nothing is getting around you.
Plus, now that Tasha’s Cauldron allows Druids to cast Enlarge/Reduce, you can cast enlarge on yourself before wildshaping into the giant constrictor snake, and as long as you can maintain your concentration, you’re a gargantuan size class serpent that wreak havoc on your enemies.
@@redstoneraptor8101 ok but if you do that you have to yell summoning jutsu
@@redstoneraptor8101 enlarge only works on the target in its current state iirc, so wild shape would be unaffected.
@@johnpaulcross424 I’m pretty sure that transformations don’t suddenly make you a different target for spells than what you used to be. Nothing about the wildshape rules says that you count as a different target if you’re wildshaped, anyways. Even if your character morphs into a bear, that bear is still your character, just in a different form. I’d think it’s pretty crappy if you set up a whole combat thing where you cast a buff spell on yourself, and the cleric casts a buff spell on you, but then because you wildshape the DM says you’re not the original target of the spell anymore so they both fizzled out. Wildshape explicitly allows you to maintain concentration on any spell you’ve already cast before you transformed, regardless of what the target of the spell was. So I maintain the position that there’s no reason casting Enlarge on yourself before wildshaping can’t carry over into your wildshapes.
@@redstoneraptor8101 The spell is still affecting the druid, and wild-shaping does not end effects on the wild-shaper, therefore the druid is still under the effects of the enlarge spell while wild-shaped.
At this point you might conclude that the question is settled: they would be an extra-large bear, because the spell is still working that that's what enlarge does. But that's not quite right.
Let us look at precisely what the enlarge spell's effect is, not what we might be tempted to mentally simplify it as (with all emphasis mine):
*You cause a creature or an object you can see within range to grow larger or smaller for the duration.*
Okay, so it doesn't make it 2× in every dimension as a static fact, it makes it grow at the beginning of the spell. That would mean it would not make any further changes afterwards, only sustain the initial change.
Well, maybe I'm reading too much into "to grow". Let's see what else it says it does:
*The target's size doubles in all dimensions, and its weight is multiplied by eight. This growth increases its size by one category - from Medium to Large, for example. If there isn't enough room for the target to double its size, the creature or object attains the maximum possible size in the space available. Until the spell ends, the target also has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws. The target's weapons also grow to match its new size. While these weapons are enlarged, the target's attacks with them deal 1d4 extra damage.*
So it does look like it's a one-time growth, based on the verbs and nouns used. In particular, if enlarge is used on a target inside a smaller space than the maximum possible size, and then the target moves out of that space, they don't grow further once there is more room - the growth at the beginning of the spell is all you get, nothing more later.
So, the conclusion there is that the druid can shapechange into a form, and the enlarge effect is not applied to the new form. If they change into a sparrow or a bear, they get the normal statistics of a normal sparrow or normal bear.
That means that a druid that wants to dodge an inconvenient enlarge or reduce can easily do so by wild-shaping, but a druid that wants to benefit from enlarge or reduce in their wild-shaped form will have to somehow arrange for the spell to be cast after they wild-shape, so that it will grow their new form instead of just their previous form.
-7sided die, rpgstackexchange
Ummm
Dino nerd here
The Quetzalcoatlus is not a dinosaur, it's a Pterosaur
Pterosaurs are also simply known as flying reptiles
Tell that to the folks behind DnD
@@Sazandora123 yeah for nerds they have surpizingly bad knowladge of biology in general. They also classify spiders and centipedes as insects. I wouldn't be surpized if they believe octopuses are fisg
A fun interaction for moon Druid, if you take a 1 level dip into Monk you get a really useful AC buff to almost all of your wild shapes as technically none of them wear armor and your Wisdom Modifier persists through wild shape. Plus a decent number of forms have pretty good dexterity to take advantage of with this as well
Having played both, the barbarian dip plays better. The AC was better with monk, but the rage damage resistance and 2 extra damage worked better.
@@SchroederUSMC Oh barbarian is also a good dip, I just like monk as the stats line up a little better. But both are good
@@SchroederUSMC Barbarian is a ton better but I am more likely to get my dm to allow me to play the character if it is a monk druid-multiclass instead. (Plus since all of the beasts attacks are unarmed you can make an additional attack with your bonus action as a monk which you just won't normally use as a transformed moon druid. Also playing a kung fu bear is fun)
@@steelcooley5190 Per the errata and multiple rulings, beast attacks are not unarmed attacks. You do have the option of making monk attacks with the Monk damage dice. Short version, you can't pick the best of both worlds. However, you can use ki to get extra attacks and other features.
one small bonus the Deinonychus has over the brown bear and dire wolf is that it's medium sized. In smaller dungeons this can be a big deal since if your large you might prevent people from getting through you and the enemies causing a door blockage where your not only taking all the damage but none of the other melee can help you.
I had a flash of inspiration when I was playing as a Level 7 Moon Druid. It was a boss fight and I used Conjure Woodland Beings as action and then turned into Giant Constrictor snake as Bonus Action. The 8 pixies I summoned either cast polymorph on something or Fly on myself. Not only did I get past the moon druid's restriction of flying by 1 level, I was flying as a Giant Constrictor snake. I then hit the Boss with a Constrict attack and just fly extremely high in the air for double moving each round with them in tow. After getting enough elevation, the boss no longer wanted to get free so I just kept flying for 10 min and then dropped them(I really gave them extra momentum by throwing them as a snake). Another Pixie cast Fly on my character again and we just flew alongside the Boss as they plummeted to the ground...GG
You can actually make 4 flying T-rex on the field with Conjure Woodland Being
@@mardshima2070 I legit was trying for that at the start of the fight but the other players just didnt want to listen and made their saves against the pixies(if i remember is only like a dc12). I was feeling deflated and then this idea came to me and then they was like, "can you turn us into that now" but pixies didnt have that spell anymore and i was feeling a bit salty so that led to me flying away with the boss.
oh...and in dnd party fashion, those who accepted my Fly spell, decided to fly into the ceiling(which knocked them out) instead of the large hole I had just opened up in the wall with my Giant Snake form
One interesting option, is to turn into a giant coral snake (or any other venomous/poisonous snake) and have a party member harvest your poison into a vial. You can either have the ranger dip their arrows in it, or sell for money! :)
The Moon Druid I am playing is a 70 yr old lady. She has had the advantage of traveling most of her life and has seen almost every creature on the planet. The Trade off is that she is now blind. I took the wizard ritual caster feat at character creation giving her Find Familiar and unseen servant. She uses the familiars senses almost exclusively. She uses the unseen servant to keep her hut clean. My DM has said that if you travel far enough in his world you will have seen pretty much every creature. We'll see how he feels about that when I shape into a Bristled Moorbounder or a Guthash. I may have eluded towards Dinosaurs when talking to him about what she could have seen but he said "yes and"
Error at 4:07: you can use different movement speeds in the same turn
"If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you've already moved from the new speed. The result determines how much farther you can move. If the result is 0 or less, you can't use the new speed during the current move." -Chapter 9 of the PHB
I'm pretty sure he knows that, what he meant is that you can't walk 40 feet and then climb 30 more. As by the rules you would only be capable of climbing 30 feet and then walking 10 more.
@@martinbaraldilobe3334 Yeah I meant you cant move 70 feet that turn.
I'm surprised that you've mentioned the GCS for its utility, while missing out on the best CR1 utility form: the Giant Spider.
It's the only form that actually has a ranged attack - and a pretty decent one at that, being very accurate for lvl 2 (clocking at +5) and restraining the target without allowing a saving throw - only an action to escape or attack the web. Its melee attack is nothing to sneeze at, either, outdamaging the Dire Wolf if the target fails its Con save.
The best part of it, and a pretty underappreciated one at that, are its senses. Not only is it the lowest CR combat form with Blindsight, but also, unlike any other creature, can more-or-less extend the range of that vision, though likely requiring the approval of the DM. Thing is, spiders spin webs - and while impractical to do in combat, this would allow to set up some really nasty ambushes, as the crew of the Hobbit can attest to. This ability is alluded to in the stat block, by way of the Web Sense - which is the way to extend the blindsight I mentioned - but as it's not in the stat block, it needs approval from the DM.
Also, roleplaying a creepy crawlie is a treat in and of itself. Imagine climbing on the ceiling above an unsuspecting enemy using your Spider Climb feature (another greatly underappreciated one and the closest thing you can get to a flight speed at low levels), then bungeeing onto them using your web, grappling them and pulling them up into the air for a quick snack. Supremely terrifying on the receeiving end, tons of fun on yours.
Yeah it's pretty great. I've only used it to climb out of a hole and send the web for my compainions, but I look forward to using it in combat.
My first character was a Half-Elf Moon Druid. I’ve caused lots of chaos with it. He also gave me a homebrew Bag of Tricks so I could learn to change into dinosaurs.
I feel the giant octopus deserves an honorable mention.
Not really, the octopus whole build is to be stealthy while underwater, making it giant kind of takes away from that.
When would you see a deep sea creature? I guess a sidequest to the local fish market to get wildshaping options 🤷♂️
@@user-gh8sg7oc9r when you're at sea....on a ship.
Take 1 lvl in monk so you get AC with dex+wis, when you get the strongest shapes youll have at least 3 more AC than you would normally
Fire elemenatal will have 18 AC and Air elemental 20
You can also make attacks with your bonus action because martial arts allows you to attack with your bonus action when you make an attack with your action using unarmed strikes (Which is all that beasts use)
@@steelcooley5190 Natural weapons are not considered unarmed strikes.
Worth mentioning that the bite after pounce would be with advantage due to the creature being prone, with a +6 to hit the chances of hitting are decently high. Also RAW says if the target is prone, not knocked prone, so if they were already prone you would get the bite attack regardless of the claw attack hitting or not.
Like think about it... a villain turns invisible. And you double scorpion poison and grapple the shit out of him lmao
RAW, the effects of Fire Form and Touch do stack, as tho they have the same effect, they're from different sources. Same way you can combine the AC boost of Shield, Shield of Faith and Haste. Although the have the same effect (boosting AC by X amount), bc they're from different sources they stack. I understand Mike Mearls responses to a tweet asking if they stack with "I don't think so" (while game designer, is not in charge of all the finer rules, hence he asks Crawford for confirmation), according to the rules of stackable effects they're fine. Its just whether you can be 'double on fire' (I'd argue with one effect there are a couple patches of flame, and with both you're engulfed).
I was surprised not to see the Giant Elk on this list. It's pretty decent as well!
15:28 - While in my experience it counts a house rule as far as most official and AL stuff is concerned, it is actually RAW that elementals have no penalty.
This is because of the size rules which in turn show how much space a creature per size takes up AND the moving around creatures rules unless a tiny and large creature (such as due to a swarm) are taking up the same space. The 1 inch squeeze means they can be treated as tiny creatures (as anything below 1.25~2ft per raw is treated as tiny/lets say half a meter despite the DMG 251 charts rounding up), thus can take up any space above small while base statblock also gives them the large size letting them squeeze over anything above medium.
The thing with creature size is that normally you can only move into an enemy square if your at least 2 sizes bigger or smaller. And even then with a difficult terrain penalty. So that doesn't really mean much for the Fire Elemental since it ignores the size rules for entering enemy squares anyway. The rules for squeezing are specific to creatures moving through small spaces like a large creature going through a narrow tunnel, and don't involved enemies in those squares at all. I looked into the fire elemental thing with moving into other peoples squares for way longer than I'd like to admit and basically just found its a very common house rule to just let them move through enemy creatures with no penalties because people confuse the squeezing rules and entering enemy square rules as the same thing a lot. I thought the same thing too until I decided to double check for this video.
@@TheDDLogs Let me rephrase/TLDR: Fire elemental (and any creature that is medium or larger with the squeeze through space clause) can abuse the RAW of difficult terrain and space rules "A creature's space is the area in feet that it effectively controls in combat, not an expression of its physical dimensions." to not use any extra movement as long as there isnt something like a large creature+swarm in the area.
Same way how strict RAW a multiclass wizard19/cleric1 can prepare 9th level cleric spells since the rules for spell prep of prep spellcaster class dont specify their own spellcasting table, just spell slots the character has access to or how a 2 level Conjuration Wizard dip per RAW can let any caster duplicate expensive spell components/diamonds, jewels, metal powder, etc that get consumed on use with Minor Conjuration because the conjured object is by all accounts real, tho radiating magic or how True Polymorph after its 1h duration passes cant actually be dispelled without something that ends magical effects (but not spells) because the spell is over and the transformation is the thing thats made permanent.
@@TheDDLogs i would just use logic that obviously the fire form is supposed to be essentially intangibleso its not squeezing its litteraly phasing.
@@mondaysinsanity8193 True that makes sense, but unless the ability specifically say you can ignore something from the rules, it assumes your following the rules to the letter. A lot of RAW is very legalese. The reason the fire elemental thing is homeruled so much is because it does make a lot of sense to just ignore the difficult terrain rule on it.
@@mondaysinsanity8193 As said, that actually is RAW (rules lawyering) legal. Being (effectively) tiny and statblock large sized and only requiring to enter but not spend any feet of movement in the space of another creature to proc its fire damage while still moving around the area (as long as there is no physical wall/full cover a creature perfectly takes up in between or something like a swarm stacked on a large creature).
Why no Giant Elk? That thing is crazy good at CR2.
I really enjoy the background music. It feels very welcoming
Thank you Hiru, I just started a campaign last week where I'm playing a Moon Druid~
Giant spider is pretty awesome to have right out the gate. Good combat stats and plenty of shenanigans with the web and spider climb
... plus with blindsight 10' you can cast Fog Cloud and walk inside to wild shape where enemies cant shoot arrows at range and get disadvantage when they enter, while you get advantage to hit. Also usefull if another party member like a 3rd level Warlock with Devil's Sight likes to cast Darkness and shoot Eldritch Blast at range, and you go in front inside the Darkness and go to town...
as a moon druid in my current campaign I usually apologize to my dm then cast moonbeam then wild shape into a fire elemental and just devastate the battlefield by simply moving the moonbeam through as many enemies as I can as an action then using my movement speed to get close (fire form says it sets anyone on fire that's within 5 feet so you don't actually have to go through them to set them on fire) to enemies to deal extra damage. My dm is pretty chill about it but it feels like cheese to me.
It only sets enemies on fire, if you touches them(so touch attack or moving through their field), or if they hit you, while within 5feet. So you still have to make them either hit you or you have to move through them to set them on fire. proximity isnt enough. At least acoording to the rules.
Also, moonbeam only causes damage when a creature moves into the moonbeam on a turn (moving the moonbeam through their space doesn't count) or if they start their turn in the moonbeam.
Cast and concentrate on spike growth, wild shape into air elemental, grapple enemies, run them back and forth in the spikes till they are mush. 2d4 for every five feet moved, with no restriction, and an air elemental has a lot of movement.
My DM let me wildshape into a Giant Elk and it was glorious. 14 AC, 42 HP, 60 movement. Able to knock people prone and stomp on them. Size category huge so my Goliath fighter friend would ride me into battle. So much fun.
Giant Scorpion seems to be good but you have to consider it's +4 to hit bonus, that's 2 less than the constrictor snake of CR 2. Although the poison damage seems to be incredible for it to land the attack and to fail the saving throw you need a lot of luck.
Yeah, that why you need to pack Guardian of Nature at higher levels.
A man of his word, I appreciate you ❤
Can confirm the Deinonychus has the biggest damage potential, had a one-shot at third-level when in two turns it made over *40 damage* even though the pounce ability never succeed.
My character was an awakened bear barbarian which was given the gift of conciousness by his best friend, an ancient moon druid. The bear has a fascination with beast he never saw in his forest, like dinosaurs and giant insects. His backstory is the song of Rasputin by Wind Earth and Fire.
The best channel and videos for simple and straight up dnd facts!
Crag cat... It's CR1 has about the same health and damage as the brown bear but has a higher AC, it has pounce too and pretty high stats. But the best part is it has spell turning perfect for magic user heavy campaigns and being the party's designated mage slayer.
Spell Turning. The cat has advantage on saving throws against any spell that targets only the cat (not an area). If the cat’s saving throw succeeds and the spell is of 7th level or lower, the spell has no effect on the cat and instead targets the caster.
with the release of Rime of the Frostmaiden last year, Crag Cats were changed to monstrosities
If I didn't catch it... Giant Scorpion has 60ft blindsight, not 30ft. Otherwise, great vid!
Where is the love for giant octopus and giant spider? Those are the earliest available wildshapes that allow you to restrain a target on a hit, and giant octopus has the highest hp of any cr1 beast.
The only problem I see with that is that the Giant Octopus has a swim speed, so you need to wait until Druid Lv 4 to use it.
@@PaperPushingPauper The Giant Rocktopus doesn't have a swim speed, so it's available right away, and it's otherwise identical to the Giant Octopus. (Oddly enough this includes only breathing water. A bit of an oversight, it seems.)
Deinonychus is much more powerfull for one more reason. Arms. It attacks with legs, and have free unsuser armrz which anatomicqlly can hold smth, like a shillelgh, or shield
waitwaitwait, i just got this video recomennded, are you Hirumaredx??? i loved your WoW lore videos when i still played! didn't know you did dnd content! but i immediately recognised the voice
One point of conversation you should have with your DM is whether to use the beasts Proficiency Bonus versus the Druids. Do you use the beasts or your own? Most beasts only get a +2 or +3 to their attacks and special effects (Save DC) which makes them unfeasible at higher levels with higher AC creatures.
If the player is able to use their own Proficiency Bonus it means that the beasts ability to hit the enemy scales with them. and means that instead of a Level 17 Druid in Dire-Wolf form isn't forcing a DC:13 saving throw, at a +5 to hit, but a DC of 17 and a +9 to hit. Which is much more level appropriate and reflects the mastery over the form. This also makes it a definite improvement over Polymorph; where the polymorphed creature MUST use all the stats.
The argument against this is "Wild shape dictates that you take on the stats of the beast!", "Druids are not proficient with natural weapons!" I would argue that a druid, especially a Moon Druid, ought to be proficient with natural weapons, it allows old forms to still remain useful at later levels. It also does not affect damage; ONLY the chances of hitting the enemy and occasionally forcing that saving throw.
In short: Druids should feel like the shapes that they learn grow alongside them as its not like they can use magical +1 or +2 weapons in wildshape.
How did you figure the fire elemental to be the best form for a level 10 moon druid when the earth elemental exists?
I used to dislike Druids since they could turn into beasts but no other cool monsters, but seeing Moon changed my mind. Plus, Wild Shape can easily be reflavored as turning into a fey creature. Just convince one of your friends to take Beast Speech as a feat.
Guy writing monster rules: A triceratops weighs like 10-20 thousand pounds and at 50 ft in 6 seconds it is hitting a player at close to 35mph. DC to avoid being knocked over is probably like a 13, seems fine.
This guy sounds like the guy from "Yugioh Everything". Even does the videos the same way too. I like that.
What about the giant subterran lizard.
Its a pretty good one in my opinion given its swallow abillity to essentially "remove" one enemy from the encounter.
Given its Hp are a bit low but i think the ac is decent enouth to kinda make it tanky enouth. its tail attack is decent and pretty in line with others and the autograpple of the bite attack makes swallow very easy to achieve.
edit with a +7 to hit i guess at this level is fine for a cr4 creature i dont think its the best option just a good one for the sake of lockdown not to mention the huge size
good video with thorough explanation of each option.
one question though, why not consider Giant hyena for CR1?
it doesn't provide much utility but it's amazing for tanking;
AC is 12 (low I know) but HP is 45 and 2d6+3 damage which I would say is quite respectable for level 2
moorebounder ftw lol
in the future try and keep to hit modifiers in mind. many of these creatures seem good on paper, but if you can't reliably hit, or cause saving throws to fail then your not going to be much use in a fight.
There is 0 reason why they haven't seen any beast they want. They are druids. They spend time in nature like we spent time at cheesecake factory.
WHERE'S THE GIANT TOAD ?? It's actually super strong and underrated , and on a crit , it does so much damage ! I like to do Hold Person , BA Giant frog , and hope they dobt break free. NEXT TURN , 2d10 piercing+2d10poison and the target is grappled. It's vicious.
Well, I now know which ones I’m gonna use with my Druid barbarian 😂
My favorite is the hulking crab from storm king's thunder. It has by far the highest ac of any beast, higher damage than the giant crocodile that isn't restricted to hitting separate targets, blindsight, and its attacks auto-grapple from 10 foot reach meaning you can hold a creature with only 5 foot reach away from you so it can't even attack you. It can also swim and breathe underwater as well as remain virtually undetectable in environments it blends into.
Wouldn't using that strategy with the fire elemental also open you up to oportunity attacks from all the enemies you pass through? I know the fire elementals health hardly matters but just giving your oponet several free attacks against you seems like a bad call especially when I can also leave you surounded by enemies. Sounds pretty risky to me.
It's kinda the idea. The more the fire elemental gets attacked, the more damage it deals out to those that attacked it. So opportunity attacks against it is a doubled edged sword for the attacker.
awesome, are these shapes from every book? and would you consider something similar but from set books? Just one of our DMs is a bit 'stricter' than others
Really cool video, thanks for your good work :) I love the giant Crab too, what do you think about it?
Giant badgers have great utility with their burrowing speed.
My DM: You can't turn into a dinosaur, your character has never seen one!
Me: I wrote in my backstory that I studied dinosaurs for half of my life >:)
Giant hyena have 45 health giving it the largest health pool for a CR 1 creature as well as having decent AC of 12 i believe.
It would be fun to see a version of this for RP. Like which beast makes your character most intelligent, charismatic, or wise. granted they may not be able to speak in said form, but it would be interesting to swap forms to have a thought,. or make a face for persuasion.
This is great content to be sure, but at this point in the 5e lifecycle, I think DPR has been done to death.
I just started getting back into D&D again after being away from it for decades, and a LOT has changed since First Edition that In played, but crafting a new character, I'm not seeing the DEINONYCHUS as an option for Wild Shape in DnDbeyond. Has this been removed in the past couple of years?
there are important animal forms you missed.
Half-Dragons.
in the monstrous manual the rules for half-dragons expressly apply to beasts and dont change their creature type. so a Half Red Dragon Aurochs (aka the red bull) is an entirely valid druid wildshape form and its got a breath weapon attack. There are limits on what animals you can make half dragon, but its pretty loose.
similar to that is the Nyxborn trait from Mystic Odysseys of Theros.
why be a brown bear when you can be a Nyxborn brown bear and have advantage on saves vs spells?
there are a few other templates/modifiers you can RAW stack onto your wildshape forms, but really half-dragon is the big one, and im really surprised you didnt address it.
Problem with both of these: Half-Dragon is a creature template which sets the CR of a creature to a minimum of 2-3 depending on its other stats (for good beasts, likely to cr 4 due to resistance, higher for beasts statted over their cr since the CR recalculation is done from scratch as per DMG) AND you need to have seen said half-dragon beast(s) in the wild; so by the point it might be of ANY use, the default beasts would overshadow it massively. Nyxborn meanwhile (same for Anvilwrought, Hollow ones, etc) are explicitly specified as player character options (aka you would need a friend that somehow gets the beast tag and doesnt have his stats overwritten to yourself qualify) and would have them be at circa 1/5th your targeted wildshape level (since their either have no CR or would be calculated by monster with class levels which typically for non MAD abserd multiclass cases with any decent items is between 1/4 to 1/5th your level).
Honestly the player option seems actually easier to pull off RAW by just having ones friend join as a temporary hireling/henchie than finding a dragons weird spawn that didnt mutate off into its own thing.
@@ANDELE3025 half dragon doesn't set the CR- it says if the CR is below the relevant threshold you need to recalculate it using the DMG guidelines. with careful selection you can still get a CR1 half-dragon, not that it matters because as a moon Druid the CR2 ones are fine and every bit the equal/superior of the standard CR2 beasts
the 1/2 black dragon giant rocktopus stats out as a CR 1 beast so a moon druid can be it from level 2 -although honestly the plain Giant Rocktopus (from OOtA) is already a great CR1 option for beginner Moon druids.
far as having to see it- that parts easy. Polymorph is a spell on the druid list and it does not have a requirement of having seen a beast to turn someone into it. so a 7th level druid can just polymorph folk into exotic animals to see them and then wildshape into them later. If you arent level 7 yet but your druidic mentor was he can have done it as part of your training. frankly its derelection of duty for a druid mentor not to show their apprentices at least a few sweet forms
@@jameshardie7678 No, it sets the CR to a MINIMUM of 2 and thats only if using the OPTIONAL breath scale table. RAW with no optional rules you always recalculate.
And no a giant half dragon (r)octopus is still minimum CR 4 as by the calc table its 40~ damage, 14 ac and ehp of 110~
And polymorph also doesnt actually qualify you either because you still didnt see the beast if you wanna do template schenanigans because one can equally state that RAW you still didnt see the beast the friend (or other creature) took the shape of, just its shape.
Also the DM can in addition point out that a templated beast is a templated beast and even if you see one you can only turn into the form without the template because the template features aint the beasts statblock, but a addition to it (like gear and magical effects).
Can you do a Wild Shape video for REGULAR (not "Moon" Druids)?
Man... casting giant insect and wild shape to double scorpion is the most fun thing...
I feel like at 3rd level, conjure animals with 8 beasts eg 4 elk to trample and 4 constrictor snakes to grapple, or 4 dire wolves to pack attack the prone/grappled target, etc... is more effective than one PC wild shaping into just one beast.... plus at the next relevant level (5?) you can conjure 2x or *16* 1/4 CRs or *8* CR 1/2s, etc
When we take into account that some of our Groups PCs can buff us with some really great spells, then some of the highlighted utility options gain even more bonus.
Such as; Enlarge/Reduce (Wizard/Sorcerer)assists with Grapples, Bless (Cleric/Paladin) for attacks/saves boost, lots of others.... :)
Something that always bothered me is how weak beasts are as a whole when compared with other creatures of a similar CR, so, this video is welcome
I had a funny idea recently regarding the fire elemental wildshape. Take the mobile feat (10 foot extra movement, no penalty for dificult terrain when dashing). Even funnier if you play as a small race, then you could potentially take squat nimbleness too. Between the two that's now a total of 15 feet of extra movment. So as a fire elemental that's 65 base, 130 dashing, and no difficult terain slowdown when running through people as a dash action!
Wait a minute…. Dude I love your wow content
The Giant Elk is much better than the Rhinoceros imo. It has slightly less health and slightly less damage, but its Hooves attack gives it a great option if your party has a way to knock creatures prone, and it has much more AC and speed than the rhino. It also has a much higher Dexterity score, meaning you're much more likely to save for half against a lot of blasts that enemy casters might throw your way. I would go so far as to say that the Giant Elk is even better than the Allosaurus.
Giant Constrictor Snake is the best form for CR2 though. You have to remember that, as the Moon Druid, you are the defender of the party. You have a gazillion HP, and you should use it. You also have a lot of utility options, and the options that restrain targets are the best ones. When a target is restrained, it doesn't matter that your damage output isn't as high. Your entire party has advantage if they focus fire on that target, meaning you've made up for your lack of damage output by massively increasing everyone else's, especially if you have a Rogue in the party. And if you really want to maximize your own damage output, you can cast something like Wall of Fire and drag your target into the fire while you're grappling them, which is a tactic you can continue to use as a Giant Scorpion.
Easiest excuse to be able to become a dinosaur/pterasaur is to be a lizardfolk druid (or halfing if playing Eberron). Because they live in the same places dinosaurs live, so you can realisticly assume you've seen them before. Can also extend this for a good argument for a lizardfolk knowing Giant constrictor snake and crocodile.
Ok, but WHY does Deinonychus and Brown Bear beat a Dire Wolf. How. What ability do they have that allows them to outclass the all-around all-star? The wolf is tankier than both of them and comes with Pack Tactics in addition to being a utility pick. I just don't see the point of the other two in most scenarios.
We just realised in our last session that beasts have really shitty flying creatures. The druid in our party cast Polymorph on me since I we were falling from a high place and this is where we realised that the CR 2 Quetzalcoatlus is the strongest flying beast in the game that you can Wild Shape/Polymorph people into. Which is VERY bad at Level 10+. Every other flying creature with higher CR rating counts as a montrosity after that so it doesn't count for any of these...
Regular drood couldnt wildshape into them either way (and should go for giant owls for darkvision+the stealth prof if they dont have prof in it already or at least bat/flying spider if for some reason other than safe transportation) while moon druids get air elemental form at 10.
As far as falling, if the party doesnt have feather fall and the fall is over 500 ft, earthbind is a druid option since it doesnt care if you have a flying speed to bring you gently to the ground.
What books have all the wind shapes in them?? What books can I find the dinosaurs if I’m playing with my friends and I want to be a Druid?? Please help.
DnD needs to publish clear and consistent rules for making giant animals, dire animals and giant dire animals. Then they need to publish a bestiary with only beasts. Its pathetic and unacceptable to have 4 wild shape forms at a CR.
Does the Moon Druid level 6 feature seem really stupid to anyone else? It does NOTHING until Druid 9 thanks to the 'rounded down' restriction.
My DM said that there Is a druid that at a High level can transform info magical beasts, but he don't remember what kind of druid can do that, can someone pls tell me?
Pay a wizard to polymorph into ancient creatures for you to encounter and study.
Maaaan what about CR1 Giant Toad! Great HP, Grapple+Swallow and move other stuff, no swimming though
How about best options for shape-change? It’s like wildshape on steroids, but it’s worse than true polymorph because you can’t get spell abilities or become an undead or construct.
It might depend on your character, but I know that Chronurgy Wizards make amazing angels because the immunity to Exhaustion lets them abuse their 14th level feature.
I convinced my dm for me to get rid of spellcasting in return to at level one get all the wildshape features such as unlimited wildshapes, any creatures etc so i was basically doric from the dnd movie it was a w well is a w cause i still play her
My Druid was lost on an Island inhabited by Dinosaurs, she became the islands caretaker and one of it's protectors. the Island was invaded by soldiers who captured several Dinosaurs to use as warr beasts her goal is return all the Dinosaurs to the island.
oh also - Ice Spider Queen (storm kings thunder page 128) its great at CR2
I like the theme of a lycanthrope becoming a druid in order to better learn to control their transformation. I wanna use it for a character to justify having a default busted character trait.
Does the fire elemental suffer opportunity attacks while doing the described tactic of moving and burning?
I feel like you have a RUclips channel for every game I've ever played lol. Great video!
or rather: Top 10 creatures you need to convince your DM you have seen befor. Possibly by bribing?
The problem here is not seeing any of these creatures in my campaigns after a certain CR...
Write some of them it into your backstory. Maybe you worked at an exotic zoo before freeing the animals, or maybe you wandered the planet for years, or maybe you studied zoology in university.
@@normal6483 Yeah I talked with my DM about it. Since I’m relative new DND player and didn’t think beyond like CR 1 for my backstory wildshapes. I did say I just want stuff from the swamps due to backstory (Lizardfolk), and I think I can persuade him to let me have the ‘giant’ versions of the earlier beasts (like how I had both Wolf and Dire Wolf, so I could upgrade my Boar to Giant Boar).
Other than that I’m willing to just take what the campaign gives me.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything includes a guide to help druids determine what beasts they’ve seen before. The tables describe which beasts are commonly found in each biotype. A druid that grew up in that environment has likely seen all of the common beasts listed on that table. Also, once you can cast polymorph, you can polymorph a party member into a beast that you'd like to "see". Polymorph as written doesn't have the restriction of having had to see a beast before turning someone into one.
Congrats on 10k! Also, how about a top 10 eldritch invocations video?
That page there for the giant scorpion literally says 60 ft. Blindsight, not 30 my guy
Too bad the fire elemental can't move through Medium sized enemies. Just small and smaller, or huge and larger.
You should make a video on the strongest multi-class combinations
Most of my D&D knowledge comes from these videos so this is a question from ignorance. The way the Pounce and the elephant's Trample skills are written it seems like you get the option for a Bonus Action attack as long as the target it prone. It's not stated as a condition of being knocked prone by the skill. Shouldn't you just get the hit? Maybe even regardless of a charge attack? It seems like the creature is taking advantage of their target being on the ground, right? An elephant doesn't need to charge you to step on you, it just needs you in a bad position, not moving. I suppose it wouldn't be written in as one skill if they weren't linked but it's somewhat ambiguous to me at least.
To my knowledge, from the way it is written, a creature must use it's ability (Pounce, Trampling Charge, etc) before it is able to make the Bonus action attack against a target.
While I can't find any sources that specifically talk about this topic, I will try and explain it in as much detail as I can.
1. A creature fulfils the requirment to use it's ability. (Move 20ft in a line to force a creature to make a save or be knocked prone)
2. Then, it can make a Bonus Action attack against it's original target, *if* that target failed the save and was knocked prone.
This is rules as written.
However, it is in my opinion that you should be correct. It should be a creature can make an extra attack using its Bonus Action against any prone creature, because it makes the ability more usable, and removes the confusion.
@@PaperPushingPauper Huh. Cool, thanks.
@@jessesutton7985 Glad I could help.
@@PaperPushingPauper Actually that would be the crawford version ofRAI.
RAW the trample or pounce bonus happen as long as the target has the prone condition as it doesnt specify "if the creature failed its saving throw, x can use its bonus action to y" like other conditionals do (and ofc the creature had to fulfilled the other conditions such as the 20ft straight line movement to even trigger the feature).
The bonus action bonus is to emulate a conditional extra attack (and two weapon fighting) other creature types like humanoids get so the movement is still required. You are correct tho in that the requirement for the source of the prone condition doesnt matter.
Why does your voice sound so familiar. Is this an off channel to Hirundex? The wow guy?
This is why I beg for a picture book with a few new critters now and then when we visit a town-
Fire elemental has to stop on the space during fire form tho so how can they keep moving throughout the battlefield
If you cast conjure animal (3rdlvl) then you have seen the animal, haven't you?
Our moon druid already has the mobile feat. He doesn't provoke opportunity attacks against him. Level 10 is going to get a bit, toasty
The campaign is Tomb of annihilation.
Me, who wants to be a moon druid: Yes
Btw you can use enhanced armour and guidance and then turning into a brown bear if ur DM allows it
This is why you play a Halfling Druid in Eberron. DINOS!
DMs, do not coddle your players. If you allow your PCs to use any power to shapeshift into or even to summon any creature in the Monster Manual, you are playing the game on easy mode. They should only be able to summon or change into creatures they’ve encountered before, so encountering more creatures should be a reason to go adventuring. No “i heard about it” or “i saw a picture” BS.
Day 379 of morphing into a brown bear because it's the only thing my character has seen in the campaign.
I see your point, I just think there's a little more nuance than all or nothing here.
CAN WE SEE BEST BONUS ACTIONS?!
One thing worth mentioning about the Quetz is the fact that if you get a grapple off with it you can do some nasty stuff by flying high up and dropping the person, making them take fall dmg.Which if done from ground you can get a nasty 8d6 but that is primarily reserved for the first round. Afterwards an average would lay around 3-4d6 which the dive attack can do better with but the upside of the dropping is you can force creatures prone via it from the drop allowing your team to get advantage.