Druid Wildshape Guide for Dungeons and Dragons 5e
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... With many beast forms to think about while playing the Druid, we break down the best options for both combat and exploration in this guide to the Druids key ability, Wildshape.
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I'm a sixth level circle of the moon druid. I cast Conjure Animals as my action and conjure two brown bears which I command to attack. Then I wild shape as my bonus action into a brown bear myself. I jokingly call it Bear Force One. All three brown bears can wreak havoc.
STealing this.
I too am stealing this
Update: Slight variation. In a fight with a few dudes in a tiny cramped room I unleashed four black bears. During the rounds they fought, 15 out of 16 bear attacks missed. Granted, their AC was 19 until damaged, but damn.
i just started playing a circle of the moon druid with my group the other day in a campaign we've been doing off and on for literally over a YEAR bc my original character died :( but i did something similar to this the other day; i summoned 8 giant poisonous snakes, and then transformed myself into a giant constrictor snake... we took a break like right as i did all that, so the session kind of ended on a cliffhanger... cant wait to see how it plays out, and see what else my druid can do :D
BEAR, FORCE! OOHAH! OOHAH!
"Your out of wild shape druid! What are you gonna do now!?!" (Polymorphs into a Giant Ape) "oh shit!"
Just recently our Spore druid saved us from a total TPK by turning into a rat and running like hell out a murder hole in Pax Tharkus (Dragonlance) the rest of us got dusted by the BW of a Ancient Red Dragon. He then snuck back in and retrieved a pinch of dust and reincarnated 3 of the four characters. My monk was forcibly raised by the BBEG and was being tortured so he turned into a rat snuck into my cell, polymorphed me into a rat and we both escaped. Druids are the ultimate infiltrator
Good dungeon story
what were you guys referencing for 5e and dragonlance source material? or was it all homebrew?
Considering druids can transform into like a spider for sneak a sneak
Honestly we have homebrewed it with some older edition refrences and our DM is reworking an old adventure (the hero's of the lance series).
This kind of stuff is why I have a Druid with a criminal background and a tendency towards stealing from rich houses on standby for play...
Action: Conjure animals; 8 wolfs
Bonus action: Wild-shape; dire wolf
he changed into a 100-ton battlemech? Impressive and decidedly effective, but not exactly what I would expect of a druid. ;-)
www.sarna.net/wiki/Dire_Wolf_(Daishi)
Lizardfolk Chult-native version:
Action: Conjure animals; 8 velociraptors
Bonus action: WIld-shape; deinonychus
@@ranekeisenkralle8265 Warforged druid!
@@JB33809 An interesting concept, sure, but the size category wouldn't fit. warforged are only medium, but for a 100-ton mech something like huge or bigger sounds about right.
@@spaceangelmewtwo9074 yeeees
Well.... I do know a story of a Moon druid that decided turning into a goldfish while falling was a good idea....
Eh, they're gods, it's fine.
And unfortunately for her, the DM didn't use Terminal Velocity damage capping.
Sparrow, Keyleth, all you had to do was turn into a sparrow... but still one of my favorite moments in CR.
@@xarkos You can't turn into a sparrow until level 8 lol
@@thereaIitsybitsyspider When did this happen? Everyone talks about it, but I feel like I missed it
For stat block purposes, a squirrel is just a rat with a climb speed.
I'd say that's true in real life as well.
Squirrels have a better disposition. I have interacted with both for a while.
@@princekermit0 Yes squirrels are more fun to hang put with
@@princekermit0 I've only interacted with rats....at work (no, I do not work in a lab or with animals of any kind)
Fun fact. Rats are actually decent climbers.
In order to give my druid a wide variety of animals to shape into I made part of his backstory that he worked in a circus for awhile. All sorts of exotic creatures were on display.
I had this same idea lol, nicely done.
Genius! I'm using this
I was thinking about a wildlife refuge to do the same thing
My favourite druid moment was in a scenario where our party was setting up an ambush in a forest, so our druid climbed up into a tree and hid among the branches. He asked the DM when the enemy was directly below him and then jumped down while transforming into a bear.
Why not a blue whale
Drop Bear. "Australia sends its regards."
Haven't been playing 5e for long but leaving the party speechless at low level by turning into a spider to crawl under a locked door or turn into a cat in the tavern to hear the town gossip has been a lot of fun.
Be druid.
cast Mage Hand.
Wildshape into squirrel.
Flying speed of 30 feet.
You're the smartest person to ever live
YES SQUIRREL OP, srsly it is insane to counter all range with a flying squirrel( thorn by or on back of barbarian ) those pesky archers shave no chance.
Edit- Yes in a campaign I was able to use this for combat, and its awesome
mage hand cant move creatures.
theRTSman says what? It just says it can’t attack or cause damage.
@@CurlyHairedRogue You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.
The hand can’t attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds.
manipulate an object. creatures don't count as objects therefore mage hand can't move people.
Fill bag of holding with water, cast water breathing on the party, they don't need to hold their breath anymore 👌
I strongly suspect that would exceed the weight limit of a bag of holding
Your party isn’t all reduced halflings?
To be fair I prefer a house rule where nothing living can survive the extra planar surface of bags of holding/portable holes/etc., but if you're going off base rules that is a good idea, just remember the bag's limitations, including being able to fit into the mouth of the bag in the first place.
A DM May veto that based on the size of the party members going for a swim. A satchel only opens so wide...... But if you purchase a good size jar with a lid, the party could be polymorphed into water breathers like fish and frogs and placed in the jar filled with water, which then takes very little room in a bag of holding.
Not sure how big a bag of holding is in your world, but in the book, they are a 4' cube of space
See I have always dug (heh heh rock puns) earth elemental's. I love burrow speed tremor sense and don't underestimate siege monster. I have literally broken castles in this form. Also my land shark routine, ten or so feet under ground and earth gliding around the battle seeing with tremor sense. Pop up long enough to make 2 slam attacks with reach so no opportunity attacks and then slide back under ground like a breaching great white.
That's what I did yesterday. I had summoned another earth elemental as my buddy beforehand and together we started fisting the enemies from bellow. I called it the druid's Flurry of Blows
Bear totem barbarian mix with circle of the moon druid sounds amazing. Raging polar bear.
It is completely broke. Very effective and my player had a blast. His way to make sure no one came back from the dead was to turn into a giant snake and EAT them.
1 level dip into monk let you put your Wis (main stat) on AC.
If the beast form has no natural armor, you'll be adding 5 to ac.
@@WexMajor82 barbarians also get unarmored defense and rage is just so good at low levels.
If you rage while in wildshape, not only do you have an extra pile of HP in your beast form, but most of the damage you're gonna take is halved. You become incredibly hard to kill.
That sounds dirty
This is all great and all, but replace the polar bear with a short faced bear...
Druids are amazing! Though dammit WotC should release more beast forms! The pickings are really slim at higher levels...
Agreed - one thing seriously missing are "fantasy" beasts - who says that beasts have to necessarily be animals that once existed on Earth? Just because we never had (for example) great cats with venom sacks or beasts the size of a pickup truck with quills doesn't mean they can't be "beasts" in D&D... At the very least open up the higher levels of druid to higher CR beasts like giant apes and t-rexes for the cost of two wildshapes, much like elementals...
More dinosaurs would be nice.
I'd have at least allowed Druids to wildshape into creatures half their Druid level once they hit level 15 so they could at least access CR level 7, 8 and 9 creatures.
Or if it were to get really wild: let them turn into plant creatures. I'd love to turn into a Treant or Shambling Mound at later levels without having to burn a shapechange for it. Even if it operates like or even replaced Elemental Wild Shape.
@@crookedclown9499 maybe not higher cr due to druids or is it only moon druids that do not have a limit to wildshape uses at lv20. Wish the spore druids special wildshape didnt use temp hp like how normal wildshape you just assume the creatures hp.
@@queenannsrevenge100 You want to be the Mighty Joe Young? How about a Triceratops usable at 15th level for us "Moony Goonies" .
I love playing a druid. My character once wildshaped into a Pleiosaur for an underwater battle (via a homebrew spell that gave me the knowledge I needed). Our shadowblade wizard rode my back into battle. It was amazing.
In playing a Circle of the Shepherd Druid, I've only used Wild Shape for combat once, and that was for a quick getaway. As for utility, Wild Shape is really only limited by what the DM allows, which is cool.
Some of what's been said here applies to the Conjure Animals spell too, which is available to all Druids (of 5th level or higher) and is key to a Shepherd Druid build.
As always, rock on Dudes!
Shepherd Druid here as well. Summoning 32 crab friends for my crab familiar is fun, also been looking at good beasties for Conjuring in combat. Rules don't say they all have to me the same creature, either.
I play a CotM Druid that has been really good with utility. Cast Enhance Ability on self for Strength and then Wild Shape into an ape to do carpentry, smithing, woodworking. Instead go for Dexterity and transform into an owl for the ultimate stealth flyer. Being able to hold Concentration in Wild Shape is a great thing. I also am proficient with herbalism kit, obviously because hey I’m a Druid, so gaining advantage on either Wisdom or Intelligence checks with it is a thing. I have the Bounty Hunter background too so Thieves’ Tools is on that list. Took Skilled feat and just added 3 more tools to my repertoire. I was able to repair my party’s ship and the weapons on it the entire time we were at sea and getting blown apart time and time again.
Moon Druid at LVL 2 can be a Giant Hyena! Most HP, and has rampage! This gives you an extra attack when you kill something.
You need to have seen it
They mentioned this but if you have seen one the hell ya kill everything
@@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010 In Xnathars Guide the Giant Hyena is part of the desert animals list, so just make your druid from the desert and the DM can't object
@@raelafey1759 noice
@@raelafey1759 actually giant hyenas would primarily be a tundra or temperate animal as they were an Ice Age creature cave hyenas were a real thing and they were substantially bigger than spotted hyenas not only that there was an even bigger version that was about the size of a small brown bear but all of these were Ice Age animals that lived in North America or Europe as well there are used to be giant lions in North America that were the size of Siberian tigers or bigger some of them even grew to the size of liger’s and jaguars that were the size of Siberian tigers on average and cheetahs the size of a idk small lion
I know I’m a year late for this, but for those interested in expanding their available wildshape choices thematically, here’s what I do at my table.
All Druids of the circle are required to undergo a pilgrimage to discover a new animal form, spells, components, and information for the benefit of the circle.
This has the following benefits: 1. it explains how Ghostwise or Lotusden halfling find themselves in different locations.
2. It expands gameplay as the Druids of the circle are required to return a semi-annually to learn and share new forms, information, spells and components.
3. And it gives both the player and the DM a very plausible rationale as to why the Druid is able to wildshape into exotic animals.
I hope this helps!
Stay wild, my friends!
Thanks so much actually I just asked if I could do this!! Hope my DM says yes xD
Between y’all and Nerdarchy I wanna play a Druid now.
it's pretty fun, it turns out!
go ahead and try it!
Circle of the moon is really the best subclass for druid. It has the same number of spell slot so the druid can still heal, summon, or cast offensive or utility spells, but no over druid can be this good at fighting or explore new environment. It will never be the barbarian or the fighter for raw damage but the fact that your healer can protect himself in a fight or escape easily by flying is gold
Actually land druids have more spells if you consider their recovery of spell slots on short rests. The point is that most players want to fight as animals, and circle of the moon is the only one that excels in that, but the others can be good in lower tiers of play still
All Archdruids are ridiculous, but the Circle of the Moon at level 20 is ridiculous on top of ridiculous. Bonus action shapeshifting between elementals and beasts is ludicrous. They are practically immortal. At least a regular archdruid is susceptible to Sleep spells or Power Word Kill, but the elementals and Mammoths have way too many damn hitpoints.
@@trequor you can polimorph them. They cant change shape when polymorphed
And of course, you can power word kill them as an animal
@@Darknight4434 Why not? Wild Shape is not a spell and requires neither hands nor speech. There is no reason a druid can't use Wild Shape while polymorphed.
@@trequor polymorph states that a creature only maintain personality and alignment. All other statistics are changed by that of the new form. This isnt limited to spells or attacks, but any class feature or even knowledge that a person has aren't usable when this creature is affected by polymorph
Wild Shape REALLY hits its stride when your DM starts bringing in expansions that add more dinosaurs and Monster Hunter monsters into the world. Great Jagras can outright *shut down* a lot of single enemies.
Been playing the same Moon Druid through two separate campaigns now, naturally she's pretty high level. In the first campaign we entered a horse race, and figured out that we could buy a horse, have someone ride it while concentrating on Tensors Floating Disk, so the whole party could ride that, then whenever the horse got tired I, the druid, could turn into a horse. The race was an in-game four days long, and we won, due to this and some other shenanigans that involved an Otyugh Yo-Yo.
My eyes lit up up when you guys mentioned a Dragonborne Druid, which one of my players is using. I thought his would be the only time I would hear of someone being a Dragonborne Druid! Its actually a pretty neat combination
Flamethrower bear is great
You can get Adventure League legal flight at level 2 as a human druid. Get an owl familiar with Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster, then turn into a mouse and have it pick you up and fly you around.
Drawf mages can cast reduce on themselves to get to less than 10 lbs and carry themselves into battle with mage hand.
@@MicrosoftExcell-mm4tf Gnome mages. Dwarves tend to be on the heavy side.
@@yogeybogeybear3542 Races that get flight at level 1 are not legal in Adventure League.
My Moon Druid has a mentor from the Circle who can change forms. When it does so, I have seen the shape and can transform into it at the appropriate level. Thus, my circle has an institutional memory of virtually all beasts.
Also my base race is Eberron's Ghostwise Halfling. This subrace can use telepathy, so even in wild shape I can communicate with one nearby ally at a time.
Awesome video! Sharing it with my wife now, she's playing a 5th level "Circle of the Moon" druid in my campaign and will love this :)
How's your wife doing with that? I'm a 6th level druid at my table
It has been officially stated (through Sage Advice and the twitter feeds of the developers) that all racial features translate to Wild Shape forms except those that specify an actual body part in the description of the feature (not just the feature's name). As such, the Lizardfolk's *Bite* "Your fanged maw..." and *Natural Armor* "You have a tough, scaly skin...", or the Tortle's *Claws* "Your claws are natural weapons...", *Natural Armor* "Due to your shell...", and *Shell Defense* "You can withdraw into your shell..." features do not transfer to the Wild Shape (unless the form in question has those features).
The Dragonborn's *Breath Weapon* and the Bugbear's *Long-Limbed* both count as racial features that do transfer to the Wild Shape, because even though the name might refer to something natural to the race, the description doesn't specify a breath sack or a stretchy limb. They even refer to the *Breath Weapon* in particular in those posts.
You can look it up if you don't believe me.
If seen it, i believe you, I just wish the rules were better written here
I agree. A lot of rules as written were not clarified when written. It took errata, Sage Advice, and the like to clarify.
Long-limbed makes no senses. The length of your limbs is changing when you Wild Shape.
I think it's important to note also that at level 18, a Druid can cast spells with somatic and verbal components while in Wild Shape form, and that at level 20 a Druid can use Wild Shape an unlimited number of times per day. This is especially useful for the Druid of the Moon, who can then turn into elementals all willy-nilly just for the boost to Hit Points. And I really don't see any rule that says you can't Wild Shape into a Fire Elemental, rush into combat and get low on hit points, and then Wild Shape into a Fire Elemental to regain them. Nothing seems to say that you must revert to your normal form before using the ability again.
level 20 archdruids have essentially infinite hit points, combined with the ability to cast spells in wild shape you have basically no reason to ever be in your humanoid form ever again
As the vast majority of campaigns will never reach this level, we tend to gloss over high level class features and spend more time on the low level ones. It’s so hard to “plan” around a capstone feature when few campaigns get that far. even for the ones that do it’s frequently only a short while before the campaign ends as well.
I'm quite disappointed with the lack of variety at CR3 and higher. But I loved that video, gave me a lot of great advice for my level 5 moon druid to use next week. I think it'd mess me up if Monty was on the left and Kelly was on the right, though. 😅 Keep up the great work guys, I always love watching your videos!
time to homebrew monsters :)
With one level of monk, because you keep your wisdom score, you can use your unarmored defense to gain a buff to your AC even while in wild shape form.
I started playing a Protector Assimar Moon druid and am loving it so much. Although it would work out good even for a land druid. The extra radiant damage really helps the druid keep up with other classes in terms of damage after 5th level.
And your enemies will learn to fear the Giant Glowing Flying Spider.
Am I missing something I thought the druids damage is its best between lv 5 and 10 other classes struggle to match the creatures or spells a druid can throw out
@@blockprime3006 No, the druids beat damage comes between level 2 and level 5, since other classes features don't begin to catch up to combat wildshape until then. Druid spells tend to do a lot less damage compared to other casters spells, so being a protector Aasimar gives you a slight increace to the damage you deal.
In my case I consider the "Beast" thing to be any monster with Int 5 or less and falls under the CR restraints, because I love diversity and hate pointless restrictions on classes meant to be liberating.
I DM'd an underdark campaign and the druid was awesome with the spider wild shape she accessed the upper levels of a dungeon with it cutting out whole levels of monsters and traps. She ended up instead of getting elemental wild shape getting the ability to turn into a unicorn, figured it was an OK tradeoff, and that's how her character ended, she lost herself to the Unicorn shape and lived as a unicorn forever, pretty great.
Super-Relevant, super-timely video for one of my players. Circle of the Moon Druid is a powerhouse at lower levels
There is an often overlooked but useful feature for the Moon Druid that you left out. At level 2, as a bonus action while in a wild shaped form, the Moon Druid can expend spell slots to roll 1d8 per slot level and regain hit points for the beast shape. At low levels especially, that can keep a crucial wild shape up just a little while longer.
I played a moon from 1-19 and I never once used this ability. Still my favorite campaign/character and class though!
Thank you a lot for these series. Have been very insightful and helpful as a new player
I’ve learned about the druid monk multiclass as well. Regardless of what wild shape option you choose, you get an option for your bonus action in the form of martial arts, a guaranteed extra attack from the Extra Attack feature, a better AC in most cases, and a few other cool abilities. You could concentrate on a Wall of Fire and make a minimum of three total attacks on your turn, all of which are more powerful than usual from being in a beast form.
Ghostwise Halfling Moon Druid. One of the funnest things I've ever done. The DM and I discussed it and decided that the Silent Speech ability could be used in beast form. Which allowed me to communicate with a single person while beast shaped. So when my party got into a scuffle with some crooked guards I was their trump card as I was the Barbarian's trained Chipmunk. I told him to fastball special me into the group of them and turned into a Brown Bear, crushing one of them with the force of my weight and then eviscerating the other with claws and teeth. Then later on I climbed up into the rafters of a ballroom which we knew was likely to be attacked while a party was happening and I dropped down onto some cultists as a giant spider. It took me right back out of wild shape but I crushed 3 of them instantly and it frightened the others seeing a giant spider falling from the ceiling.
Nice summary, and well done differentiating between Circle of the Moon and other circles. I was a bit disappointed to not see any suggestions for multi-classing with a Moon Druid. It's pretty common to dip a level or two of Barbarian or Monk for the unarmored AC boost. Also Barbarian Rage makes for nice damage and defense boost. Other melee classes also have interesting multiclass potential. I also would have like to have seen a mention of Feats that are appropriate, like Resilient (CON) or Warcaster for those concentration checks you'll need (especially considering your low AC).
The scope of multilclassing is SO LARGE that we tend to avoid it in our videos just to keep the discussion focussed. We will absolutely look at specific multiclass builds in the future, but when we do we want to make sure we can dedicate time to explaining how and why they work rather than just a passing mention.
Multiclassing means that you give up knowing the highest levels of spells, which is why I don’t like it; plus it becomes harder to role play.
I feel required to mention the Goldfish. 😂😂🤣
Thanks so much for this video! It was easy to understand and had all the info I wanted :)
Get the magic initiate feat > Choose the wizard spell list > Grab Find Familiar > Conjure an owl > Wild shape into a Spider > Web yourself upon the back of the owl > Look through it's eyes as it flies around all the while still being able to telepathically communicate with it! XD
*Note: The Owl has keen hearing, keen sight, and 120ft of darkvision. YOU'RE WELCOME!
One of my fav tricks, was in Hoard of the Dragon Queen.
When trying to repair the postern gate, I changed into the shape of a giant wolf spider, and covered the inside of the gate in webs, as well as the wizard casting mending to repair it. Then I used the same shape to scout throughout the town. Worked SO well.
Useful, detailed guide. Thanks!!
These videos are amazing. Thank you so much for your content.
Any thoughts on possibly talking about Circle of Dreams?
I'm impressed you had the updated brown + to hit in your video after the WOTC updates
How have I missed this one! Understanding wild shape is something that’s holding me back from playing a Druid. Got no excuses now!
Excellent run-through, very thorough! 😆
This was a nice concise and well organized video I can refer to if I play a druid. thanks.
When you use wild shape to take a giant eagle form, can you catch an enemy take him up and drop off to kill him?
Possibly. You would resolve this using the rules for a grab/ grapple.
The dinosaur is ridiculous for this since it ignores attacks of opportunity
I hate that line of: "if you have seen it" all DM's i have played at, me playing as druid, disregards that you are a druid, and never introduces the party to ANY bloody beasts, but expects you to "only beasts you have seen" Most DM's suck in this regard.
Just make an 80 year old humand druid, " i have seen the world, i know nature. im level 1 because im old. lol
If I ever had a character as a druid, if they wanted to change into something that they knew existed but never saw, I would just have them make a DC 15 Nature check. If they can identify it that well, then they got it.
I hate that as well. I have found a way arround that. State in you backstory that you wandered the forrest as a hermit and Done you lived in the forests and swamps thus you have seen most of the creatures. You can also state that you have a scar on your face or back by narrowly surviving a encounter with a direwolf or giant scorpion. Use your backstory to preselect the creatures you know. DM cant say Beasts youve seen before. Just tell him DUDE i can clearly remember the F-ing direwolf that almost mauled my face off
I'd say just make sure to talk to your DM ahead of time. After all, it isn't party vs the DM, we're all in it to have fun, and if the druid feels the DM is being too limiting that isn't fun. For me I'd say any basic common animals most of us could come across by living in the woods, spending time in a dirty city, and fishing on a small fishing boat are all fair game to just assume you've seen at some point in your life as a druid. Beyond that if there's question regarding the likelihood of you having seen that creature then maybe go with the idea of the Nature check, possibly with a sliding scale DC based on rarity of the creature.
My answer for this was that, as a druid of the Circle of the Moon, he would have been apprenticed to more experienced druids, who as part of their teaching will wildshape into animals they know, creating a lineage of animals going back as long as druids have been around.
I like to think if you barely know the animal you’ll come out a funny looking version of it.
I'm playing my first druid and I just leveled up and had absolutely no clue how to do wildshapes and was extremely confused 😅 thanks for the help
The druid I played was a Moon druid that i feared toward healing. I loved using the Gian Spider as my go to form for this since its poison was a reliable form of damage, and its web was a great defensive control option!
I hope think one of my shining moments wild shaping into a Giant Spider was when my party and I were dispatched to the "northlands" of our campaign and we had to hike and traverse mountains and a blizzard (in which I rolled a Nat 1 on Constitution and lost a toe lol). During the session we had to scale a mountain which we thankfully came prepared for with climbing equipment. During this our Halfling Rogue and Shield Guardian whom she was bonded to were forced to make a dexterity save. Of all things, the Shield Guardian succeeded, but our Rogue (who is absolutely notorious for never getting downed save once early in the campaign) rolled a Nat 1 and was blown off the cliff face. Thankfully, my Moon Druid who was shifted into a Giant Spider was busy supporting our climbing ropes and such with my webs when this happened. In the moment of desperation, I fired my web and caught our Rogue as she was falling, saving her from what would've most likely been a fatal fall.
Point being, Giant Spider is dope 😂
Pretty timely. I'm having trouble deciding between playing a Moon Druid or a Lore Bard for my first 5e game.
darkdust though choice
Moon druid for personal combat power
Lore bard for buffing the party.
Shepherd Druid for healing, almost as well as a life cleric, and still having some decent combat ability.
darkdust roll for it
Lore Bard is easier.
I think the best class for a first game is the Zealot Barbarian: Really hard to kill, and if it still happens somehow, it can get resurrected for free.
I'm currently loving my Dwarven Monk/Druid. I chose all my wild shapes for their mobility, or other senses, and all the monk abilities carry through.
I get the monk speed bonus while wildshaped (which is just FUN when I can burrow as fast as lots of things run), can make unarmed attacks at monk damage rather than claw damage, and use ki points. It's been a blast.
I am currently imagining your dwarf wild shaped into a panda....
I'm currently a level 6 Ranger Beastmaster who just took dual class into Moon Druid, can't wait to see how this combo will grow together!
Summoning 8 stench kows and Wild Shaping into a 9th can be a hilariously effective combination.
No one escapes the cow plague
Oh this the Dudes, I thought YT was recommending the Nerdarchy video twice in a row but that one was on wildshape multiclassing not the feature itself.
I'm using this guide to play. As a complete novice .. I am loving the characters versatility.
Can you imagine how paranoid you must be as bodyguard with a little bit of knowledge about magic & druids in a D&D setting?
You must assume every little bird, squirrel or spider is a druid that might just turn into a dire bear on a second's notice and maul someone! You'd be killing critters that came too close to your charge with the same zeal you'd have as if fighting off dagger wielding assailants.
I'm kinda surprised more hostile mobs or evil minions aren't aware of that sort of thing, tbh. Though it makes sense regular town guards and such wouldn't generally have such knowledge.
@@GoodOldGamer
It really depends on how available the information is, how connected your society is, and the magic level of your world.
For instance, a basic town guard part of a civilized kingdom is likely to have been told to be on the watch against people who can shapeshift, disguise themselves or manipulate your mind; even if he lacks any deeper understanding of it.
If writing is a thing in your setting, odds are the king's mage would have issued a basic pamphlet that's essentially a 101 guide to magic for dummies, alongside common practical counters. An illiterate farmboy turned guardsman taught only the bare essentials by his officer would not have the knowledge to rival a professional trained and educate bodyguard who might be able to recite all known spells by memory, but not be completely inept either.
That being said, combining superstition and an incomplete understanding of spellcasters is likely to lead to some amusing, awkward or even dangerous situations.
@@SinerAthin True but druids and rangers in particular tend to also be sometimes isolationists or tribal by nature, in that they either don't hang out in more populated areas and when they do, they remain secretive or simply just spend more time with plants and animals than humanoids lol.
And I'm not sure about your games but I've seen wizards in particular be power hungry ego trips who wouldn't share even parlor tricks with lowly simple folk, let alone rival magic users, haha.
I feel like after the first half a dozen mice they kill for no good reason, most guards would probably give up, choking any such knowledge as myths or fairy tales told to mess with children. Actual druid interaction would be so rare they'd get lazy/complacent long before it would matter.
Paranoia on the level of 'anything could kill us/trick us so we'll always be on alert' won't last long outside of direct war time conflict. Unless maybe it's a terrible dictatorship kinda thing and townsfolk are regularly accused and interrogated and Salem witch trialed lol.
@@GoodOldGamer They might have that knowledge they just aren’t going to bother killing every bird in the village because then the village starts when there’s too many grasshoppers and they eat all the food or when they kill all the cats and now there’s a rat epidemic
subscribed all your videos all been very helpful
I'm playing a circle of the moon with our kenku rogue riding him into battle it helps getting that advantage to attack rolls and the chance to knock the target prone.
Druids can use any of the dinos in Volo's Guide, assuming your DM allows it. That gives you access to some pretty good options at higher levels. The brontosaurus is a really good CR 5 option for example.
Awesome guide
Honestly the curve of wild shape makes sense. On early levels (until 4 or 5 maximum) you are still in human level, and we as human just CANNOT face a crocodile in mano-a-mano. But someone at lvl 15? That is pratically a demigod to common folk, an animal wouldnt be much problem for someone who can be compared to Heracles.
Also Kelly mentioned elephant warfate and thats true, kings in India would ride them as sign of power, and Hannibal actually manage to take elephants to invade Rome itself, crossing the alps
A shame that only one elephant appears to have survived the journey and would seem not to have taken part in any of the subsequent fighting. Hannibal should have polymorphed them into something more suited to the mountains. 🤔
Mage Armor can be your early level Circle of the Moon's best friend. Bear AC of 13+
I think that you can get unarmoured defence from Monk or Barbarian and choose it instead of the bears AC as well
@@deaconnukem Warforged druid is the real dream, if your DM allows it.
Mage armour is a good reason to go Human Variant and take Magic Initiate. Cheaper than multiclassing in the long run and you get 2 extra cantrips to fill out your list (druids only start with 2 cantrips)
@@trequor More than meets the eye?
@@trequor I am allowing this in my campaign. She is a transformer mount for the party's Paladin.
A couple of potential forms you skipped over:
Deinonychus (CR 1)
Allosaurs (CR 2)
Brontosaurus (CR 5)
Also I made good use of pairing casting a spell with the bonus action Wild Shape of the moon druid. During the final battle of the Tyranny of Dragons campaign, on my first turn I cast Earthquake and then turned into a Brontosaurus.
Recently started a campaign with a Githzerai CoM Druid 2 / Divination Wizard X. So far he's just 2 Druid / 1 Wizard. At this point he has either invisible mage hand (up to a minute), or an owl familiar who can carry him around in his tiny wild shape forms. There's a two level delay for access to higher level wizard spells, but in exchange wild shape CR1 2x/short rest, light/med armor, shields, two druid cantrips, and some 1st level druid spells. Very versatile and great fun so far.
I've started to play a Circle of Spores druid very recently in a new campaign and i think the wildshape im most excited about trying out is the Elk.
Not the giant variety mind you, just a normal elk. 3d6+3 damage and a chance to knock the target prone by just charging at them seems absolutely incredible compared to what most characters are able to pull off at level 2. Also the Giant Wolf Spider for its great climbing speed and +7 to Stealth.
I'm personally a HUGE fan of low-level Giant Wolf Spider Wildshape.the Paralysis Effects make it almost as useful as Giant Spider even if it is weaker
Very helpful videos!
My go-to early wild shape is a Panther. A cr 1/4 giving you a blitzing 50ft movement speed with a 40ft climb. As well as a pounce that if you land a claw attack after running straight 20ft, if the target fails a strength saving throw, they fall prone and now you get to make your bite attack as a bonus action at the prone target, giving you a situational multi-attack.
They also make great trackers/hunters with advantage to any scent based perception checks.
I’m a frequent Druid, (it’s my favorite class) and one of my favorite things to do besides using my wildshape for Tanking in Combats is also the utility abilities, our ranger crit failed an attempted assassination from a ledge and since the arrow never shot and the bow string snapped I wild shaped into a Horse and let him use Horse Tail hair to restring his bow, BE CREATIVE with the utility animals have to offer, Poisons and Venoms, Feathers or Hair for Bows and Arrows! Possibilities are Open!
I've been Druiding for several months now after being exclusively Warlock, and I've had a few good experienced with Wild Shape. The first time Wild Shape saved my ass was when our newly second-level party was deliberating how to descend, horses and all, into a deep valley. We had some bizarre ideas that included using Move Earth to create a dirt elevator. We decided to simply climb down using ropes and taking the animals around the long way. However, I had a disastrous roll and fell off of the rope. The fall would have killed me outright, but I used Wild Shape to turn into a very small insect, reminding the DM that it doesn't matter how far an insect falls, they don't ever get hurt since they are so light. I believe I got a point of inspiration for that.
Just recently I used a similar move when our party was leaping from a crashing spaceship (long story). One of use cast feather-fall on us all, but I again rolled terribly and somehow didn't get the effect. I saved myself by turning into a flea and burrowing into the fur of my faithful mountain goat.
Not quite as fortunate, but something that has become something of a legendary move in our group, is the Tactical Bear Strike. My Moon Druid had justifiably become quite fond of the Brown Bear form, using it often in combat. We had followed a mysterious person to some rooftops of dubious structural integrity. On the top of an adjacent and slightly taller building we saw some baddies. To get up there we devised that our shield-bearing dwarf would use his shield for our small tiefling to bounce off of and gain access. I followed and, in my excitement, became a giant-ass Brown Bear mid-leap. The roof collapsed. Everybody fell through both floors of the house. The baddies were killed. An innocent occupant of the house was killed. It was awful, but effective!
Moon druid is definitely the way to go. I play another Druid that is Circle of the Shepherd and...well...he sucks. He's had one super crowning moment of awesome with his summon, but it was only due to an amazing roll and a ridiculous idea that no DM in his right mind should have allowed.
Never played a druid before, finally made a fun moon druid so this is really nice :)
Out of combat in a farm town, turn Into a pig, no-one expects Sargent mud snuffles
My main issue with Wild Shape is the lack of high-CR beasts to turn into for Circle of Moon. At CR6, there's just the Wooly Mammoth, but where are the dinos? the Dires? When I DM, I allow Druids to transform to more powerful, idealized, versions of animals they already turn into. To go from Wolf to Dire Wolf, it's just an increase of a couple ability scores. The 'apex' form of the wolf, the 'Primal Wolf' if you will, an idealized manifestation of every myth and legend about wolves brought forth from the outer planes is even bigger, faster, stronger and hits harder, but his abilities are still basically 'wolf, just supercharged'. This lets Circle of the Moon Druids still consider their shape-shifting relevant, without having to shoehorn themselves into a specific shape or two just because there's no statblock for what they want to turn into.
Great video DDudes! Do you guys have a video comparing Druid Wildshapa vs Polimorph Spell?
I really enjoyed causing "stampedes" by casting conjure woodland beings then using wildshape. Summon a bunch of bulls or horses and run over your enemies. Even better at higher levels with the rhino.
Awesome vid guys
You give us a lot of great info on wildshapes that are good tactically & strategically, but some shapes a great for the simple fun of them. Say we've a few miles to hike in front of us, that's just too much effort, I'll change into a cat and curl up to ride in the hood of the fighter's cloak. Wake me up when we get there.
One I haven't been able to do myself but have discussed with a friend of mine in a hypothetical scenario:
Party is attempting to destroy an enemy camp, but outnumbered. Druid transforms into a skunk (using one of the common homebrews, as technically they aren't in the manual) , Rogue tricks the enemy camp into congregating in a 'kill box', Druid sprays the entire enemy camp at once (the specific homebrew had a cone or AOE spray), weakening them for the party and giving the party an advantage.
My favorite wildshape was when my druid joined a group back in the RPGA days. We were fairly low level and traveling cross country. My character was pretty much leading them as no one else had much survival skills. We reach the stop were are going to camp and everyone is worried that something might come alone. They are all coming up with plans to try to protect the camp. DM asks what I'm doing.
I said "I take out a blanket and drops it on the ground." Everyone was looking at me like is he going to sleep out in the open? "I then wildshape into a badger and start digging a burrow... 5' under the ground and 10' back." The last thing the group sees is the badger coming back out of the hole, grabbing the blanket in his mouth, and pulling it back into the hole. Everyone was like... well he's safe for the night... but what about us?
5:43 *Claps* well done.
I know this is a bit old but id love to see more about wild shape. What are some of the best concentration spells to pair with it? What martial class features (like rage and divine smite) have cool synergies with it? How does the later long duration of wild shape interact with a short rest?
Not to be forgotten, Moon Druids can spend spell slots to heal 1d8 per spell level. If you’re willing to drop a , say 5th level spell for 5d8, for self-heals really increases the effectiveness of elephant or such to a greater degree. And, you still get two forms to use instead of one with Elemental before you need a short rest.
You can still use the spell to health ability in elemental so if you know you need a stronger form elemental Is still good
Volos guide gives you the Brontosaurus for high level moon druids. More hit points than an earth elemental, proficiency in Con saves, and its a gargantuan creature. Also, casting such spells as Sunbeam lets you turn into a Megazord. It’s so much fun.
Was playing a druid and was glad to find that I could maintain concentration while shape-changed. Cast pass without a trace for our rogue while he was on a stealth infiltration then changed into a mouse and hid in his pocket for the duration.
Love you guy's and thank you for all wonderful content. Got a question how would you lower the stats/cr rating of a creature so the moon druid could change into say giant ape which is cr7?
Quetzalcoatlus is a pterosaur! Not dinosaur but just a huge flying reptile :) But good to know that they are in the handbook!!
Great vid.
Nice guide, thanks! What do you guys think of Healing Spirit?
You guys are fucken great!
Love how you just talk about the actual facts of your topic and skip all the bull shit...
I like those zany guys from "nerdarchy" and their d&d chan is "ok" but they have their boring moments.
You guys dont!
You get straight into it! Talk the talk! Then its over!
Spot on guys! Keep it up
The Druid in the game I'm running has made excellent use of the Flying Snake form. After level 8 they had several games where they were fighting large groups of enemies and she was able to take one out every attack because the poison for the Flying Snake has no save. It just does 3D4 damage every hit as long as the enemy isn't immune or resistant. It also has flyby and a decent, for a beast, AC so is pretty maneuverable in combat. Very low HP but she's done very well with it.
Adding your levelled proficiency to the wild shapes gives some forms a bit more use in terms of a ToHit bonus. It seems like a grey area rules wise but can be argued logically since you use your forms like other classes use their weapons. Also, the forms would be proficient in the use of their own natural weapons.
For added fun, add an (ear)ring of protection for bonus AC in wildshape and a belt of strength for added DMG in shape as well as all shapes use STR as their DMG stat.
I agree that adding the characters proficiency bonus instead of the beast is the best way to use the feature. It means that you can still use the forms you had at level 2 at higher levels; where animal forms get slim. Especially for non-moon druids. It also would increace the DC of beast abilities such as poison or web.
Its argued that you "aren't proficent in using claws or teeth", I'd argue that a Moon Druid ought to be ESPECIALLY Proficent in them since turning into these creatures is his specialization. It just doesn't make sense to me if the druid can't practice using the tools of the animal shape it assumes in order to get better.
4:09 the druid hp dice is a class feature. Wildshape specifically stats you keep class features. This means that in addition to your stat block HP from the beast, you also get your current druid hp USING THE WILDSHAPE CON MOD. In other words, if your wildshape and you have the same con modifier, your wildshape gets it's hp PLUS your druid hp. Crawford has specifically stated that this is the case because it is specifically a class feature, which is retained. This whole thing is a HUGE fact that is commonly not used by druids.
Also, one level of monk gives your wis modifier bonus AC to all wildshapes, and lets you flurry of blows using ki
For more wildshape options, use the half dragon template, at the cost of 2 CR you get a breath weapon resistance two additional vision types and the draconic language to any pre existing beasts.
A giant blue half dragon scorpion sounds crazy.
I don't think that works. You're assuming the physical form of a creature while wildshaped, so most would say that while in that form you arent a half-dragon. Unless the DM specifically allows you to transform into said blue half-dragon scorpion, with the scorpion having the half-dragon template, not your normal character. In which case, then it's pretty awesome, I would totally wanna be a half-dragon giant frog.
The other drawback of course is the requirement of -seeing- the creature in action, so your DM would've had to have you encounter said half-dragon scorpion or half-dragon giant frog in the first place.
The giant scorpion is incredible, hold them in place with your two claws and stab them in the face with your tail until they die, now that's just metal asf
Quetzalcoatlas is the best flying beast form imo i always play a lizardfolk from chult that turns into onky dino , reptile, and amphibian forms and this is my go to flyer for sure!! Also the name is based on the Aztec and Mayan feathered serpent god of creation.
Elemental Forms are costly but there is a secret to getting 2 in one combat. Short rest as a Fire Elemental. Roll the Fire Elemental's hit dice and recover your uses of wildshape still. So enter the fight, run in dealing tons of damage and tanking. After you lose the form, drop down your big concentration spell then Elemental form again!