GodofThunder
2018-03-11, 03:02 PM
I wanted to get reactions to this. One of the coolest abilities of a druid is their wild shape ability. But especially at higher levels, it seems a lot less useful except for very situational uses. Okay you can fly or breathe water or climb really good. But who wants to spend one whole turn in combat changing into a form with fewer hit points, inferior attacking abilities, worse armor and no spellcasting. So wild form gets increasingly less useful as the PC's level. I have my thoughts for fixing it, I just need to be sure I am not walking into overpowering the druid class in the process. Here's what I have in mind:
1. If the wild shape is CR 1 or higher, if the beast chosen has different physical ability scores than the druid's natural form - Str, Con, Dex and HP only - then the druid takes whichever score is higher in wild shape.
2. If the druid is holding a magical weapon(s) in their hand(s) prior to transforming, its magical effects and enhancements are applied to one of the wild shape's attacks. (Example: A mace of disruption translates to tiger form as either claws +1 of disruption or teeth +1 of disruption.) I haven't decided whether or not to limit this to one weapon or to allow two. Obviously, ranged weapons wouldn't work.
3. All passive basic AC enhancements transfer to the wild shape's skin or hide. So if they are wearing +2 magical armor, their wild form skin has a +2 magical enhancement. A cloak or ring of protection merges with the wild form and adds it's benefits, a ring of resistance still grants the same resistance, etc. Things like a Cloak of the Bat or a Ring of the Ram or anything casting a spell-like effect wouldn't work in wild shape.
Thoughts?
1. If the wild shape is CR 1 or higher, if the beast chosen has different physical ability scores than the druid's natural form - Str, Con, Dex and HP only - then the druid takes whichever score is higher in wild shape.
2. If the druid is holding a magical weapon(s) in their hand(s) prior to transforming, its magical effects and enhancements are applied to one of the wild shape's attacks. (Example: A mace of disruption translates to tiger form as either claws +1 of disruption or teeth +1 of disruption.) I haven't decided whether or not to limit this to one weapon or to allow two. Obviously, ranged weapons wouldn't work.
3. All passive basic AC enhancements transfer to the wild shape's skin or hide. So if they are wearing +2 magical armor, their wild form skin has a +2 magical enhancement. A cloak or ring of protection merges with the wild form and adds it's benefits, a ring of resistance still grants the same resistance, etc. Things like a Cloak of the Bat or a Ring of the Ram or anything casting a spell-like effect wouldn't work in wild shape.
Thoughts?