quick question

[Silma]

Hi, just a quick question today. Can a druid talk while in beast form?

[NecroRebel]

Yes; the section on Wild Shape specifically says that your beast form has no effect on your game statistics or movement modes, and the ability to speak is a game statistic (see PHB2, p.84). The beast form doesn't do anything but allow you to use Beast Form powers and disallow you from using powers without that keyword.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Nope. Quoth the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm):


A druid loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she can communicate normally with other animals of the same general grouping as her new form.

[Jeraa]

You need to specify what game you are playing. 3.0/3.5, Pathfinder, or 4th edition.

3.X and Pathfinder druids can not speak in animal form. I assume Necrorebel posted the 4e answer.

[NecroRebel]

I assume Necrorebel posted the 4e answer.

That I did. I'm guessing (since it's mostly a 3.x board) that the intended edition was 3.5, but I decided to be cheeky and post the 4e answer anyway. And, AFAIK, "beast form" is only a technical term in 4e, so perhaps that was intended, too.

[Silma]

Yes, I am indeed referring to 4e, hence the term "beast form" instead of "wild shape".
But now that I think about it I should have posted in the 4e section. Sorry.


So, in 3.5 it is clear that a druid using wild shape CAN'T speak normally, but in 4e it's not clear at all. I mean, we can only guess from the wild shape power description that a druid can speak.

But I think that the part where it says that your game statistics remain the same

You choose a specific form whenever you use
wild shape, and that form has no effect on your game
statistics or movement modes.
refers to the fact that game statistics are the same for every form you wish to take with wild shape.
It doesn't actually say anything about the differences between humanoid and beast forms.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Ah. I had assumed you were talking about 3.5 based on the sorcerer/druid listed in your signature. I have no idea regarding 4e.

[Silma]

I just found out that a druid CAN speak in beast form. Here is the part in Primal Power that makes it clear.

Do you speak in beast form? Some druids choose not to, perhaps because they believe that the purpose of their beast form is to experience animal life in its purest context, and humanoid speech is antithetical to that goal. Others use wild shape multiple times in the course of a single spoken sentence. keeping a constant
flow of words while punctuating their thoughts with growls and roars that their humanoid voices can't properly produce.

The first sentence concludes the argument. Since it says that for some druids it is their choice not to speak in beast form it means that the CAN in fact speak if they want to.