Understanding better what you are looking for would be helpful. So far it sounds like you really enjoy the versatility of Wild Shape. For a more martial focused class the only options that come to mind with anything similar are Path of the Beast Barbarian or Rune Knight Fighter.
As for exchanging spell slots for something like Wild Shape there is Polymorph. It's not quite as good since all your features and ability scores are replaced by the chosen form, but you get to pick any beast who's CR is equal to or lower than your level.
As far as multi-classing is concerned the problem with Monk isn't that beasts tend to have poor Dexterity. Monk's can choose to use Strength of they want. It is that a beast's natural weapons aren't usually considered unarmed strikes. Many player races have an exception stating their natural weapons can be used to make unarmed strikes but this is an exception. A DM may choose to treat natural weapons as unarmed strikes though so definitely speak to your DM first.
Barbarian is probably the best martial class to mix in. Path of the Beast gives a good defensive reaction, Path of the Berserker lets you use your bonus action to attack with one of your natural weapons, and Path of the Zealot gives you just straight more damage.
Personally I don't think it is worth multi-classing to enhance Wild Shape's combat viability though because a Druid's spellcasting more than makes up the difference. However if you just don't care about spells then multi-classing is something you can do. Also as Circle of the Moon druid you can dump spell slots to heal your Wildshape form as a bonus action.
The problem is that OP doesn't seem to want to be a caster nor a martial character so arguing in that direction doesn't help I'm afraid. From what I gathered they just want to be some person that can turn into various animals and nothing else (and those animals to be better at sneaking/fighting than their actual physical body). Something like that just doesn't exist officially.
Moon Druid is the closest it gets but most beasts just don't have as high AC as an armored high DEX character would have and they are still full casters no matter how much you want to focus on your wild shapes. If you ignore your spell casting as Moon Druid you're going to have a rather underwhelming experience. Even the toughest Wild Shape form will eventually "die" so you revert back to your original form and have to Wild Shape again. For most people that's perfectly fine though. The Wild Shape form is a chunk of free extra HP and potentially useful abilities that come with the specific form and when they revert they still have a whole spell caster character to use as it's intended by the game designers.
Part of the problem I guess is that they rolled for stats and got really high scores in physical stats and also got a bunch of protective magical items so Wild Shape forms seem less impressive, but since they also don't want to be a full caster it's only one part of the problem and most likely not even the deal breaker so fixing that by lowering their DEX and/or CON wouldn't even help a lot either.
At this point I honestly don't even think homebrewing would get us anywhere. It would have to be a whole new class that is neither a martial nor a caster, has no armor or weapon proficiencies and only has Wild Shape as feature so their original body doesn't overshadow the generic beasts they could turn into. Not sure why someone would want to play a character that's practically useless when they aren't an animal but I'm not here to judge (and I'm not even going to enjoy the idea of creating a class that's better at Wild Shaping than a Moon Druid AND a capable character in their normal body at the same time).
The problem is that OP doesn't seem to want to be a caster nor a martial character so arguing in that direction doesn't help I'm afraid. From what I gathered they just want to be some person that can turn into various animals and nothing else (and those animals to be better at sneaking/fighting than their actual physical body). Something like that just doesn't exist officially.
Moon Druid is the closest it gets but most beasts just don't have as high AC as an armored high DEX character would have and they are still full casters no matter how much you want to focus on your wild shapes. If you ignore your spell casting as Moon Druid you're going to have a rather underwhelming experience. Even the toughest Wild Shape form will eventually "die" so you revert back to your original form and have to Wild Shape again. For most people that's perfectly fine though. The Wild Shape form is a chunk of free extra HP and potentially useful abilities that come with the specific form and when they revert they still have a whole spell caster character to use as it's intended by the game designers.
Part of the problem I guess is that they rolled for stats and got really high scores in physical stats and also got a bunch of protective magical items so Wild Shape forms seem less impressive, but since they also don't want to be a full caster it's only one part of the problem and most likely not even the deal breaker so fixing that by lowering their DEX and/or CON wouldn't even help a lot either.
At this point I honestly don't even think homebrewing would get us anywhere. It would have to be a whole new class that is neither a martial nor a caster, has no armor or weapon proficiencies and only has Wild Shape as feature so their original body doesn't overshadow the generic beasts they could turn into. Not sure why someone would want to play a character that's practically useless when they aren't an animal but I'm not here to judge (and I'm not even going to enjoy the idea of creating a class that's better at Wild Shaping than a Moon Druid AND a capable character in their normal body at the same time).
Close.
I don't want to be a full-caster, or pure melee. A skill-monkey-esque character ala ranger or bard, or a slightly less combat-focused monk would suit me just fine, however. And you hit the nail on the head as to why it's frustrating as a Moon Druid. By default, Wildshape is weak - which makes sense since it has to balance against the other subclasses. It's just that for a subclass that sells itself by "why summon bears when you can be the bear!" turns into "just summon bears anyway, it's better" it's frustrating. For many players who want that style of play, that's fine! I *don't* want to be the fullcaster who basically spends their turn going "fireball, fireball, fireball". (I've already pointed out that my DM doesn't do tactical combat at all, so the 'battlefield control' aspect of casters is basically wasted - doubly so on a druid who's main theme for their spells is either the person with more minions than the bard, or battlefield control).
Being useful in your normal form is fine - there are things that animals just can't do, for example. But I want my class utility and theme to be around being able to wildshape, and yes use that in combat.
I think you may have missed the part about wildshaping with a bonus action. This is huge and the main reason, along with better wildshape forms, as I mentioned above, to chose Moon Druid.
Action economy is much more manageableif you don't HAVE to use a full action to get into wildshape. But to each their own. Be what you want. Just trying to posit some creative possibilities here.
You seem to want to play an animal in your Druid form. Just do that and don't worry about maxing all of the possibilities for it. It is THE BEST WAY to do what you say you want to do. This game is about so much more than your combat abilities though and a Moon Druid allows you to do EVERYTHING you say you want, you just have to be creative.
Do you want Monk abilities in Wildshape; okay, then multiclass a level or two of Monk (choosing how far you need to go to get what you want). This game allows endless possibitlies and if you want to play as a Beast in battle, choose Monk plus any feat that allows you to have the mix you're looking for. That simple. Lots of ideas above. Stop looking for reasons not to like it and look for ways to use it.
The wildshape being a bonus action isn't an issue. Being able to turn into a creature than eat someone's head in the same turn is FUN! Getting two-shotted because I can't take a hit and reverting back to my main job and suddenly having 5 higher AC isn't. Especially since I need to use my only other wild shape to get back to fighting only for 1-2 turns and then I'm just.. a caster. Disengage and stand at the back with the rest of the squishies and toss moonbeam (because tactical combat isn't a thing in this game, so the battlefield control spells are largely useless) and use my bow for the next 2-3 combats.
No, I don't necessarily want monk abilities (though I think a monk sublcass with wild shape would be viable - it's a commmon enough trope in Chinese mythologies that monk borrows from) but I considered it for the survivability of unarmored defense. Only it doesn't seem worth it, since beasts don't have high dexterity to begin with, at least not the ones that are good offensive combat forms. And the ones that are defensive, Unarmored Defense gives the same or only 1-2 points better.
Understanding better what you are looking for would be helpful. So far it sounds like you really enjoy the versatility of Wild Shape. For a more martial focused class the only options that come to mind with anything similar are Path of the Beast Barbarian or Rune Knight Fighter.
As for exchanging spell slots for something like Wild Shape there is Polymorph. It's not quite as good since all your features and ability scores are replaced by the chosen form, but you get to pick any beast who's CR is equal to or lower than your level.
As far as multi-classing is concerned the problem with Monk isn't that beasts tend to have poor Dexterity. Monk's can choose to use Strength of they want. It is that a beast's natural weapons aren't usually considered unarmed strikes. Many player races have an exception stating their natural weapons can be used to make unarmed strikes but this is an exception. A DM may choose to treat natural weapons as unarmed strikes though so definitely speak to your DM first.
Barbarian is probably the best martial class to mix in. Path of the Beast gives a good defensive reaction, Path of the Berserker lets you use your bonus action to attack with one of your natural weapons, and Path of the Zealot gives you just straight more damage.
Personally I don't think it is worth multi-classing to enhance Wild Shape's combat viability though because a Druid's spellcasting more than makes up the difference. However if you just don't care about spells then multi-classing is something you can do. Also as Circle of the Moon druid you can dump spell slots to heal your Wildshape form as a bonus action.
I'm not familiar with Rune Knights, can they turn into beasts or use their abilities for things other than combat? Beast Barbarian is close.. but they don't really have any utility, in my experience. At least I haven't seen any barbarian do more than "I SMASH". I am open to being wrong on that front.
That's the thing though. Wild Shape isn't weak at all and just because your AC is lower than the one of a person with almost maxed stat and fully armored it doesn't mean you should go and focus on summoning or blasting instead. It's fine to take damage in your Wild Shape form, it's a free life you have after all. You are seeing things extremely black and white I feel.
Also I'd like to mention again the Moon Druid/Barbarian multiclass. Resistance against almost any kind of damage (as Totem Warrior) goes a long way with keeping your Wild Shape up and usually combats shouldn't last much longer than 4 rounds anyway.
Barbarian could work, though it won’t be really good until I’m level 7 if I’m reading this right? That.. kind of sucks to play through. (not saying it isn’t balanced, just that having to wait three levels to do the thing you want to do isn’t fun)
Barbarian could work, though it won’t be really good until I’m level 7 if I’m reading this right? That.. kind of sucks to play through. (not saying it isn’t balanced, just that having to wait three levels to do the thing you want to do isn’t fun)
Normal rage is already fine as it is. The Totem Warrior would just help out against more damage types.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Like sfPanzer said the baseline rage already gives you damage resistance to the physical damage types and that helps your Wild Shape HP last longer. The only thing to be aware of if you go this route is you can't maintain concentration on a spell while Raging.
As for Rune Knight, it probably wouldn't suite you. It is themed around Giant's and runic magic rather than animals. You can carve runes into your items to give you specific abilities associated with the rune. They typically have a passive benefit of giving you advantage on certain skill checks and an activated ability that can be done once per short rest. Their other main thing is they have the ability to become Large sized for a minute, gain advantage on Strength checks, and do a little bit of extra damage once a turn. I brought them up because they are a martial class that gains power by manipulating their form and I was stretching to find something that might appeal to you.
If you want to make your Wild Shape more durable in combat though there is Barkskin. Outside of Wild Shape a 16 AC should be trivial to achieve through normal means but it is a LOT better than most beasts. It is concentration but being harder to hit means you should be making less checks to begin with, and there is the previously mentioned War Caster or Resilient feat.
As for being a literal skill monkey you could try out a Bard instead. I am not very familiar with its subclasses but they are a skill focused caster. I bring them up because they do have access to Polymorph and you could just pick that up once you have access to 4th level spells. You could also take a 1 level dip into Rogue for Expertise in 2 skills and an additional skill proficiency. I actually did this on the Druid I am playing and took Expertise in Perception and Insight and gained proficiency in Persuasion.
Moon druids are great, if you want to both Tank and Cast Spells in the same package. Most people say Moon Druid drops starts to feel a little redundant at 6, but I feel the addition of CR2's to your repertoire is a huge Bump. GIANT Constrictor Snake with 60 UP and being able to lock down a single target is great. You also get attacks of opportunity when they leave your 5-foot or 10-foot reach with your two different attack types. Giant Elk is also useful with 2d6+reach (and knock down with charge ) can help if you have a rogue or great weapon master on the team , especially with 60 feet of movement.
You get a lot of options for how you want to play melee. Heck, if you really need to, just cast barkskin before wild shaping to get a better AC. Sure, it may not be as good of an AC with all of your magical items that you can use in Human Form, but Tanking is more than just AC and avoiding hits, it's about drawing attacks to yourself.
If you are really insistent on bumping your AC in wildshape, consider a single level dip into Monk or Barbarian for unarmed defence. It's not huge, but if your wisdom is going to be high or the beast you use has a high con, it'll be noticeably better. Plus Rage and Martial arts both work while in Beast Form (although note: you cannot concentrate while raging and Natural Weapons Attacks are not Monk weapon attacks)
Also, don't forget that you can heal yourself as a moon Druid while wildshape. It's not the most efficient means of healing, but in a pinch its makes use of those spell slots if you need to stay in form for another turn or two.
It's one thing if Moon Druid isn't your thing, but it is by no means a weak class
One thing to consider to keep the animal around longer is Gift of the Metallic Dragon. The reaction should help remove some hits you are taking, and you can do them in animal form.
Moon druids are great, if you want to both Tank and Cast Spells in the same package.
[snip]
It's one thing if Moon Druid isn't your thing, but it is by no means a weak class
I don't want to cast spells, honestly, and as minimal tanking as possible. However, I not once said Moon Druid is weak - if anyone got that impression, then I'm sorry for not being clearer. However, as a job it is unsatisfying to me.
It seems that the only available option that can somewhat fulfill this is to beg your DM to let you play as a commoner with no class, be afflicted by a curse of lycantrophy and hope that noone ever casts remove curse on you. Otherwise, I don't think that what you want is feasible in D&D...
1) Not a fullcaster. No one expects paladins, rangers, or arcanists to rely on spells solely for their effectiveness.
2) Not top tier melee, no. But capable of martial combat without being pigeonholed into being “the tank” (and all the connotations that comes with, along with “the healer” clerics get stuck with)
3) Nice strawman. hard to take you comment seriously when you go to extremes to say things I never advocated for.
If you don't care much about being actual tanky you could also multiclass into rogue to get access to BA Disengage. First turn would be about as awkward as with a Barbarian multiclass since you already use your BA to rage or transform but from turn two on you can run in, hit stuff and then BA Disengage away. Since your DM isn't very tactical about combat they probably won't try to get away from the other melee characters in your party to chase you down or target you specifically with ranged weapons.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Wasn't try direct at you with hostility, sir. So my apologies if it came off that way. Was just trying to say that there many options for how a moon Druid plays, but if it's not for you.. its not for you.
You could try playing an Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter, but their biggest problem is not being an official class yet... You won't be getting a full beast form (as in Wild Shape or a normal lycantrope), but you'd get a hybrid form that uses your own stats, adds some abilities and, more importantly, spellcasting is not part of the class.
our DM doesn’t do “tactical” combat, most enemies just move up to someone and sit there, smacking them. So the idea of battlefield control is nonexistent and pointless.
That's the whole point of battlefield control though, to control the battlefield so that the enemies can't just move up to someone and sit there smacking them. A control character has the say of who can go where and do what. If the enemies can't rely on their default tactic, their tactics either change or fail. Druids in particular are great at reshaping the area to suit their needs.
Gust of wind to knock them out of melee? They just move back into range again (or my party moves into melee anyways which defeats my purpose). Spike growth to lock them down in place and the enemy trade ranged shots with the party rather than break line of sight. They don’t break and run, they don’t react to things. It really makes the spellcaster side (which I already admit not wanting to lean into) less effective.
my DM has agreed to let me reroll and pick a different class entirely. I don’t think I’ll play Druid ever again, honestly. It’s not the role for me.
I skimmed a bit through the discussion and have some suggestions / comments.
(A) Talk to your DM about how his combat doesn’t make you feel challenged or rewarded. Running combat can be difficult and takes practice to actually make rewarding. A good DM will be able to design combat encounters that can play to the strengths and weaknesses of the party members. And while not all combats have to be this way, many of them should be. There is a wellspring of advice for how to improve combat as a DM. but even if you do talk to them and they agree to make try and make combat more dynamic, change won’t happen overnight.
2) The exact playstyle you want doesn’t exist in a single subclass. You’re going to have to homebrew something or switch to a martial class with utility, like a Paladin or Arcane Trickster rogue. Or maybe consider multiclassing a Druid / Barbarian?
My suggestion would be this:
After having a conversation with your DM explaining your frustration with combat and feeling like you’re contributing as a caster, ask if they will let you make some changes to your character / class that will let you enjoy the combat they already run in the meantime.
My suggestion would be to ask if you can re-spec into a character that is 2 moon druid / 3 totem barbarian. If your stats are good, this multiclass shouldn’t hurt you too much. You’ll get the best of both worlds by being a martial, but with all the utility of wildshape, and a few of the druid’s most helpful level 1 utility spells that you can cast should you need it. (Goodberry is helpful whether or not combat is tactical, and so are spells like Faerie Fire.)
The barb’s unarmored defense should synergize with wildshape which will boost the godawful AC of all the creatures you shift into, and the resistance to all damage thanks to bear totem will keep you in the fight for longer as whatever animal you turn into. And since you’re less interested in spell-casting, you can just continue to take levels in Totem Barb from this point on. You can also use spell slots to heal yourself while wildshaped, so if you want to be able to increase your survivability while wildshaped, and spend less time worrying about spell-casting, this is my best suggestion on how to do that.
2) Switch to another class and ask your DM if they can homebrew a magic item for you that will give you the base druid’s wildshape. Maybe at one use per long rest. Something like a “Wildshape initiate”.
Druid is considered one of the hardest classes to play for a reason. Trying to figure out how and when to place your control spells and then figuring out how to get the best milage out of them can be a challenge. But its the trade-off for being one of the most versatile classes in the game.
“Gust of wind to knock them out of melee? They just move back into range again (or my party moves into melee anyways which defeats my purpose). Spike growth to lock them down in place and the enemy trade ranged shots with the party rather than break line of sight. They don’t break and run, they don’t react to things. It really makes the spellcaster side (which I already admit not wanting to lean into) less effective.”
Gust is pretty notorious for being a very niche spell and using it to move people 5ft out of melee range while in combat isn’t going to cut it outside of very unique circumstances. Gust is the kinda spell that becomes useful when some guy just so happens to be standing 5ft away from a cliffside and you can push him off, or maybe blowing loose sand into someone’s face to give yourself enough time to run & hide or something. Its a story-telling cantrip and not a very good one.
Using Gust to force stubborn ranged fighters that are caught in your spike growth to get pushed around and take damage — or even better — using thornwhip to drag stubborn ranged fighters around the spike pit? That’s an idea of how you can try and make the most of your situation. Don’t just assume that the enemies are stupid all the time.
Not to mention, if the ranged enemies in the spike growth are just standing in place rather than taking cover, the party can take cover themselves and force them to reposition.
I picked this class cause the idea of being able to turn into a giant wolf and eat people appealed to me. I wanted Wildshape to be my main focus and power as well as my utility but now… it seems I just want to never play this class ever again.
A few things are beyond my control that soured me on it - our DM doesn’t do “tactical” combat, most enemies just move up to someone and sit there, smacking them. So the idea of battlefield control is nonexistent and pointless. We also started off with amazing stats - I’m level 5 with an 18 in Dex, Wis, Con, and Int. We also got some decent magical items, I have a ring of protection, a cloak of protection and an insignia of claws.
I’m less survivable in wild shape form (ac 13-14 vs 19) , I have overall much better stats than any beast form I could take, and that means I’m relegated to either mediocre damage or spellcasting. If I wanted to be a melee spellcaster I’d have picked Cleric.
what can I do to make wildshape actually *good*?
Bear in mind that Wild Shape's power bumps happen for a Moon Druid at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, and 20. So level 5 is between bumps. The primary form you opened up at level 4 (assuming you're not underwater) is giant toad, which lets you handily capture up to 2 foes at once (one of whom has a size restriction). Your AC of 19 implies your DM has allowed you full access to Medium armor (the only way you can be AC 19 with your listed set of magic items and Dexterity score is half plate, no shield), but your Wild Shaped AC calculation can't be correct. Your self-described favorite form right now is apparently Dire Wolf which should have a minimum AC of 16 unless your DM has some homebrew set up to somehow stop your Ring and Cloak from working while Shaped.
Pro tips on being a better Moon Druid in circumstances like this:
Buy barding for your favorite form. Remember, one of the things you can do as part of the Wild Shape bonus action is don wearable equipment. Your Dire Wolf should be AC 19 in half-plate barding and with both magic items buffing you.
I don't know exactly how you allocated your L4 ASI, but your Dexterity is way too high. If possible, you should have re-arranged your ability scores and L4 ASI to dump Dex in exchange for just freeing up your ASI with no loss in utility, then spent the L4 feat on Sentinel, then convinced someone else in the party to ride you as a mount.
With Int that high you should be looking at mixing in Bladesinger, and like all Moon Druids, you should be looking at mixing in Monk, depending on your favorite forms (in a world where you just have access to half-plate, an awful lot of the forms people want these for get less useful, as most online builds assume your DM is refusing you real access to Medium Armor).
Bear in mind these mix-ins both may mean you don't want Sentinel (as they will encourage you to invest in mental stats) and will definitely mean you never gain the Druid capstone (if you're in one of those ultra-rare campaigns that go to 20).
With good enough Str or Cha (you didn't list either), similar logic holds for considering other classes that will potentially buff your Wild Shaped AC, such as Barbarian or Dragon Sorcerer (this one is less useful to you since it's just permanent Mage Armor and Bladesinger would provide normal access to that spell).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The problem is that OP doesn't seem to want to be a caster nor a martial character so arguing in that direction doesn't help I'm afraid. From what I gathered they just want to be some person that can turn into various animals and nothing else (and those animals to be better at sneaking/fighting than their actual physical body). Something like that just doesn't exist officially.
Moon Druid is the closest it gets but most beasts just don't have as high AC as an armored high DEX character would have and they are still full casters no matter how much you want to focus on your wild shapes. If you ignore your spell casting as Moon Druid you're going to have a rather underwhelming experience. Even the toughest Wild Shape form will eventually "die" so you revert back to your original form and have to Wild Shape again. For most people that's perfectly fine though. The Wild Shape form is a chunk of free extra HP and potentially useful abilities that come with the specific form and when they revert they still have a whole spell caster character to use as it's intended by the game designers.
Part of the problem I guess is that they rolled for stats and got really high scores in physical stats and also got a bunch of protective magical items so Wild Shape forms seem less impressive, but since they also don't want to be a full caster it's only one part of the problem and most likely not even the deal breaker so fixing that by lowering their DEX and/or CON wouldn't even help a lot either.
At this point I honestly don't even think homebrewing would get us anywhere. It would have to be a whole new class that is neither a martial nor a caster, has no armor or weapon proficiencies and only has Wild Shape as feature so their original body doesn't overshadow the generic beasts they could turn into. Not sure why someone would want to play a character that's practically useless when they aren't an animal but I'm not here to judge (and I'm not even going to enjoy the idea of creating a class that's better at Wild Shaping than a Moon Druid AND a capable character in their normal body at the same time).
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Close.
I don't want to be a full-caster, or pure melee. A skill-monkey-esque character ala ranger or bard, or a slightly less combat-focused monk would suit me just fine, however. And you hit the nail on the head as to why it's frustrating as a Moon Druid. By default, Wildshape is weak - which makes sense since it has to balance against the other subclasses. It's just that for a subclass that sells itself by "why summon bears when you can be the bear!" turns into "just summon bears anyway, it's better" it's frustrating. For many players who want that style of play, that's fine! I *don't* want to be the fullcaster who basically spends their turn going "fireball, fireball, fireball". (I've already pointed out that my DM doesn't do tactical combat at all, so the 'battlefield control' aspect of casters is basically wasted - doubly so on a druid who's main theme for their spells is either the person with more minions than the bard, or battlefield control).
Being useful in your normal form is fine - there are things that animals just can't do, for example. But I want my class utility and theme to be around being able to wildshape, and yes use that in combat.
The wildshape being a bonus action isn't an issue. Being able to turn into a creature than eat someone's head in the same turn is FUN!
Getting two-shotted because I can't take a hit and reverting back to my main job and suddenly having 5 higher AC isn't. Especially since I need to use my only other wild shape to get back to fighting only for 1-2 turns and then I'm just.. a caster. Disengage and stand at the back with the rest of the squishies and toss moonbeam (because tactical combat isn't a thing in this game, so the battlefield control spells are largely useless) and use my bow for the next 2-3 combats.
No, I don't necessarily want monk abilities (though I think a monk sublcass with wild shape would be viable - it's a commmon enough trope in Chinese mythologies that monk borrows from) but I considered it for the survivability of unarmored defense. Only it doesn't seem worth it, since beasts don't have high dexterity to begin with, at least not the ones that are good offensive combat forms. And the ones that are defensive, Unarmored Defense gives the same or only 1-2 points better.
I'm not familiar with Rune Knights, can they turn into beasts or use their abilities for things other than combat? Beast Barbarian is close.. but they don't really have any utility, in my experience. At least I haven't seen any barbarian do more than "I SMASH". I am open to being wrong on that front.
That's the thing though. Wild Shape isn't weak at all and just because your AC is lower than the one of a person with almost maxed stat and fully armored it doesn't mean you should go and focus on summoning or blasting instead. It's fine to take damage in your Wild Shape form, it's a free life you have after all. You are seeing things extremely black and white I feel.
Also I'd like to mention again the Moon Druid/Barbarian multiclass. Resistance against almost any kind of damage (as Totem Warrior) goes a long way with keeping your Wild Shape up and usually combats shouldn't last much longer than 4 rounds anyway.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
I don’t mind taking damage, health is a resource.
Barbarian could work, though it won’t be really good until I’m level 7 if I’m reading this right? That.. kind of sucks to play through. (not saying it isn’t balanced, just that having to wait three levels to do the thing you want to do isn’t fun)
Normal rage is already fine as it is. The Totem Warrior would just help out against more damage types.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Like sfPanzer said the baseline rage already gives you damage resistance to the physical damage types and that helps your Wild Shape HP last longer. The only thing to be aware of if you go this route is you can't maintain concentration on a spell while Raging.
As for Rune Knight, it probably wouldn't suite you. It is themed around Giant's and runic magic rather than animals. You can carve runes into your items to give you specific abilities associated with the rune. They typically have a passive benefit of giving you advantage on certain skill checks and an activated ability that can be done once per short rest. Their other main thing is they have the ability to become Large sized for a minute, gain advantage on Strength checks, and do a little bit of extra damage once a turn. I brought them up because they are a martial class that gains power by manipulating their form and I was stretching to find something that might appeal to you.
If you want to make your Wild Shape more durable in combat though there is Barkskin. Outside of Wild Shape a 16 AC should be trivial to achieve through normal means but it is a LOT better than most beasts. It is concentration but being harder to hit means you should be making less checks to begin with, and there is the previously mentioned War Caster or Resilient feat.
As for being a literal skill monkey you could try out a Bard instead. I am not very familiar with its subclasses but they are a skill focused caster. I bring them up because they do have access to Polymorph and you could just pick that up once you have access to 4th level spells. You could also take a 1 level dip into Rogue for Expertise in 2 skills and an additional skill proficiency. I actually did this on the Druid I am playing and took Expertise in Perception and Insight and gained proficiency in Persuasion.
Moon druids are great, if you want to both Tank and Cast Spells in the same package. Most people say Moon Druid drops starts to feel a little redundant at 6, but I feel the addition of CR2's to your repertoire is a huge Bump. GIANT Constrictor Snake with 60 UP and being able to lock down a single target is great. You also get attacks of opportunity when they leave your 5-foot or 10-foot reach with your two different attack types. Giant Elk is also useful with 2d6+reach (and knock down with charge ) can help if you have a rogue or great weapon master on the team , especially with 60 feet of movement.
You get a lot of options for how you want to play melee. Heck, if you really need to, just cast barkskin before wild shaping to get a better AC. Sure, it may not be as good of an AC with all of your magical items that you can use in Human Form, but Tanking is more than just AC and avoiding hits, it's about drawing attacks to yourself.
If you are really insistent on bumping your AC in wildshape, consider a single level dip into Monk or Barbarian for unarmed defence. It's not huge, but if your wisdom is going to be high or the beast you use has a high con, it'll be noticeably better. Plus Rage and Martial arts both work while in Beast Form (although note: you cannot concentrate while raging and Natural Weapons Attacks are not Monk weapon attacks)
Also, don't forget that you can heal yourself as a moon Druid while wildshape. It's not the most efficient means of healing, but in a pinch its makes use of those spell slots if you need to stay in form for another turn or two.
It's one thing if Moon Druid isn't your thing, but it is by no means a weak class
One thing to consider to keep the animal around longer is Gift of the Metallic Dragon. The reaction should help remove some hits you are taking, and you can do them in animal form.
I don't want to cast spells, honestly, and as minimal tanking as possible. However, I not once said Moon Druid is weak - if anyone got that impression, then I'm sorry for not being clearer. However, as a job it is unsatisfying to me.
What I'm getting from this is that you want:
It seems that the only available option that can somewhat fulfill this is to beg your DM to let you play as a commoner with no class, be afflicted by a curse of lycantrophy and hope that noone ever casts remove curse on you. Otherwise, I don't think that what you want is feasible in D&D...
1) Not a fullcaster. No one expects paladins, rangers, or arcanists to rely on spells solely for their effectiveness.
2) Not top tier melee, no. But capable of martial combat without being pigeonholed into being “the tank” (and all the connotations that comes with, along with “the healer” clerics get stuck with)
3) Nice strawman. hard to take you comment seriously when you go to extremes to say things I never advocated for.
If you don't care much about being actual tanky you could also multiclass into rogue to get access to BA Disengage. First turn would be about as awkward as with a Barbarian multiclass since you already use your BA to rage or transform but from turn two on you can run in, hit stuff and then BA Disengage away. Since your DM isn't very tactical about combat they probably won't try to get away from the other melee characters in your party to chase you down or target you specifically with ranged weapons.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Wasn't try direct at you with hostility, sir. So my apologies if it came off that way. Was just trying to say that there many options for how a moon Druid plays, but if it's not for you.. its not for you.
Sorry if the response came out wrong
You could try playing an Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter, but their biggest problem is not being an official class yet... You won't be getting a full beast form (as in Wild Shape or a normal lycantrope), but you'd get a hybrid form that uses your own stats, adds some abilities and, more importantly, spellcasting is not part of the class.
That's the whole point of battlefield control though, to control the battlefield so that the enemies can't just move up to someone and sit there smacking them. A control character has the say of who can go where and do what. If the enemies can't rely on their default tactic, their tactics either change or fail. Druids in particular are great at reshaping the area to suit their needs.
Agreed.
Gust of wind to knock them out of melee? They just move back into range again (or my party moves into melee anyways which defeats my purpose). Spike growth to lock them down in place and the enemy trade ranged shots with the party rather than break line of sight. They don’t break and run, they don’t react to things. It really makes the spellcaster side (which I already admit not wanting to lean into) less effective.
my DM has agreed to let me reroll and pick a different class entirely. I don’t think I’ll play Druid ever again, honestly. It’s not the role for me.
I skimmed a bit through the discussion and have some suggestions / comments.
(A) Talk to your DM about how his combat doesn’t make you feel challenged or rewarded. Running combat can be difficult and takes practice to actually make rewarding. A good DM will be able to design combat encounters that can play to the strengths and weaknesses of the party members. And while not all combats have to be this way, many of them should be. There is a wellspring of advice for how to improve combat as a DM. but even if you do talk to them and they agree to make try and make combat more dynamic, change won’t happen overnight.
2) The exact playstyle you want doesn’t exist in a single subclass. You’re going to have to homebrew something or switch to a martial class with utility, like a Paladin or Arcane Trickster rogue. Or maybe consider multiclassing a Druid / Barbarian?
My suggestion would be this:
After having a conversation with your DM explaining your frustration with combat and feeling like you’re contributing as a caster, ask if they will let you make some changes to your character / class that will let you enjoy the combat they already run in the meantime.
My suggestion would be to ask if you can re-spec into a character that is 2 moon druid / 3 totem barbarian. If your stats are good, this multiclass shouldn’t hurt you too much. You’ll get the best of both worlds by being a martial, but with all the utility of wildshape, and a few of the druid’s most helpful level 1 utility spells that you can cast should you need it. (Goodberry is helpful whether or not combat is tactical, and so are spells like Faerie Fire.)
The barb’s unarmored defense should synergize with wildshape which will boost the godawful AC of all the creatures you shift into, and the resistance to all damage thanks to bear totem will keep you in the fight for longer as whatever animal you turn into. And since you’re less interested in spell-casting, you can just continue to take levels in Totem Barb from this point on. You can also use spell slots to heal yourself while wildshaped, so if you want to be able to increase your survivability while wildshaped, and spend less time worrying about spell-casting, this is my best suggestion on how to do that.
2) Switch to another class and ask your DM if they can homebrew a magic item for you that will give you the base druid’s wildshape. Maybe at one use per long rest. Something like a “Wildshape initiate”.
Druid is considered one of the hardest classes to play for a reason. Trying to figure out how and when to place your control spells and then figuring out how to get the best milage out of them can be a challenge. But its the trade-off for being one of the most versatile classes in the game.
“Gust of wind to knock them out of melee? They just move back into range again (or my party moves into melee anyways which defeats my purpose). Spike growth to lock them down in place and the enemy trade ranged shots with the party rather than break line of sight. They don’t break and run, they don’t react to things. It really makes the spellcaster side (which I already admit not wanting to lean into) less effective.”
Gust is pretty notorious for being a very niche spell and using it to move people 5ft out of melee range while in combat isn’t going to cut it outside of very unique circumstances. Gust is the kinda spell that becomes useful when some guy just so happens to be standing 5ft away from a cliffside and you can push him off, or maybe blowing loose sand into someone’s face to give yourself enough time to run & hide or something. Its a story-telling cantrip and not a very good one.
Using Gust to force stubborn ranged fighters that are caught in your spike growth to get pushed around and take damage — or even better — using thornwhip to drag stubborn ranged fighters around the spike pit? That’s an idea of how you can try and make the most of your situation. Don’t just assume that the enemies are stupid all the time.
Not to mention, if the ranged enemies in the spike growth are just standing in place rather than taking cover, the party can take cover themselves and force them to reposition.
Bear in mind that Wild Shape's power bumps happen for a Moon Druid at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, and 20. So level 5 is between bumps. The primary form you opened up at level 4 (assuming you're not underwater) is giant toad, which lets you handily capture up to 2 foes at once (one of whom has a size restriction). Your AC of 19 implies your DM has allowed you full access to Medium armor (the only way you can be AC 19 with your listed set of magic items and Dexterity score is half plate, no shield), but your Wild Shaped AC calculation can't be correct. Your self-described favorite form right now is apparently Dire Wolf which should have a minimum AC of 16 unless your DM has some homebrew set up to somehow stop your Ring and Cloak from working while Shaped.
Pro tips on being a better Moon Druid in circumstances like this: