It's amazing how narrow your focus is in what can be such a creative moment in character development. We obviously play this game for very different reasons. You have everything in front of you to do what you say you want, (although that changes constantly from post to post), but you simply don't want to take the time to try something FUN!
You also keep deflecting toward combat. Combat is 1/3 of the game. What do you want the rest of the time? I personally like being able to transform my character into a shark, a giant owl, a house cat or a giant badger when the situation suits. To each, their own.
Druid isn't for everyone, but for someone who says they want to play an animal and bite things, it is pretty 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.
Leather armor, actually. It, plus a shield is 19 AC with +4 from dex and +2 from magical items. Druids do have shield proficiency, start off with a wooden shield so...
Also, since we get advantage from anyone being next to the enemy, I just took Brown Bear's statline instead. The benefit of Pack Tactics is wasted, while having a second attack for 1d8+5 seemed worthwhile. The "knocked prone on bite" seemed interesting, until it never seemed to really do any benefit for my party. (See above about getting advantage almost always)
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).
1) Unless I'm misreading wildshape, only equipment you're wearing can be 'worn' in your new shape - that means I'd need to wear the barding *all the time* and would convey next to no benefit in my regular form (other than making me encumbered with it's 160lb weight and reducing me to 5ft movement) and it would still take 1-10 minutes to put (as per the normal donning/doffing armor rules). When's the last time you had up to 10 minutes before you engaged in a random combat? Not to mention, it would be essentially locking me into one shape only so there goes the utility of using other shapes without massive costs every few levels.
2) L4 ASI went to Sentinel. My stats are, as per the first page: 18 in Dex, Wis, Con, and Int. I have a 10 in Strength and a 16 in Charisma. I am basically godlike, statswise (and this is after my +2 dex, +1 wis from my Wild Elf racials)
3) I looked at monk. Here's the problem, the good offensive shapes have *terrible* dex scores - usually 0. Brown Bear - 10 Dex. (+1 natural armor) Cave Bear - 10 Dex (+3 natural armor) Sabre-Toothed Tiger - 14 dex Giant Scorpion - 13 dex (+4 natural armor)
It's really good for the elemental forms, sure - that's a long long ways away (even longer if I dip to Monk, tbh) I didn't consider Bladesinger. It's certainly better in that it works well with natural armor and the scales off proficiency bonuses. It's a 2 level investment.. which does really suck, however.
It's amazing how narrow your focus is in what can be such a creative moment in character development. We obviously play this game for very different reasons. You have everything in front of you to do what you say you want, (although that changes constantly from post to post), but you simply don't want to take the time to try something FUN!
You also keep deflecting toward combat. Combat is 1/3 of the game. What do you want the rest of the time? I personally like being able to transform my character into a shark, a giant owl, a house cat or a giant badger when the situation suits. To each, their own.
Druid isn't for everyone, but for someone who says they want to play an animal and bite things, it is pretty good.
What I want hasn't changed, though if I gave that impression then that's on me for being unclear.
I think I stated it best on page 2:
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.
Wildshape already does what I want it to do the rest of the time! I can go into a sneakier form to stealth around, I climb in spider or ape forms. I can swim underwater easily as a variety of creatures. I can keep watch as an owl, etc, etc. Moon Druid can be a powerful class and there's a reason why it's often considered one of the best. However since I really don't care about casting spells as being my primary focus and core identity.. then it's really just frustrating. As I've said before - no one harps about the Paladin not using their spells every turn, or the Ranger, or the Arcanist (or even the Warlock, should they go Pact of the Blade). Why can't I play a druid who doesn't rely on spellcasting without feeling like I'm useless?
Who is expecting you to cast spells every round? Generally Moon Druids do fine casting one spell to concentrate on during combat and then using the rest of their spell slots for Wild Shape regeneration. Is that the right mix of spellcasting and melee that you wanted?
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I'm not sure you're going to get "skill monkey" out of druid. They just don't get enough skills. But if you want to focus on utility, then do that. Druid has some utility spells that can help you or your party with skill type encounters.
Be a moon druid in combat, and pick non combat spells?
Sadly Wild Shape HAS to fall to the side as you level because you're a caster class, like it or not, and your spells come into play as you level. The CR limitations (well, Beast limitations, to be honest) mean that beyond levels 5-6 or so, the PC shape will have access to equipment and weapons making it more viable for combat than the Beasts you can change into. It's all about balance and the only wat it could work having ongoing Wild Shapes to improve with, would be to strip the spell list back for Moon Druids, cutting off any of their more powerful spells.
The options and numbers of the different Wild Shapes have been in place for years, so all this shouldn't really come as a surprise. I have looked at Druids a number of times and to me, Moon was always what appealed the most. Wild Shape was great for early levels where it outperformed what the PC's could do as a tank, then as it fades in effectiveness, the spells are starting to come online. I have always been less than impressed with early Druid spells, so the enhanced Wild Shape was a great filler. The utility options are amazing, Stealth, Water Breathing, Flight and more, all as a bonus action, for extended periods compared to many spells.
Everything I've read indicates what you want will ONLY be found via homebrew. RaW doesn't offer such a versatile, robust option, where you can be a fearsome beast through all tiers.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Why can't I play a druid who doesn't rely on spellcasting without feeling like I'm useless?
Sorry, I might have misunderstood, but I wanted to state this explicitly: when your wildshape takes damage, your character does not (until the beast goes below zero). It's extra HP. Just a few things you said might have made folk think otherwise.
Anyway, a possible solution for the thing I think you're looking for is to multiclass barbarian. Rage works fine in wild-shape form. Even one level gives you an absurdly tough beastie (half damage from most weapon attacks), with a small-but-noticable +2 damage per hit. That also makes in-combat healing much more viable – it’s in your healer’s interests to keep that bear-tank raging since heals are often effectively doubling their effectiveness by landing on a raging barb. And of course it means you can burn your spell-slots in beast form for what is, while raging, effectively 2d8 per slot. It’s not a spell, so it works while in rage.
Two levels of barb gives reckless attacks (which would matter more for any other DM, I’d think, but at least gives you options if you want to solo something), and level 3, if you want to go that far, would see a 3 rage and Bear Totem making you ludicrously resilient.
One level, though, would still be really cool.
Knowing what you’re after, as a DM I’d also look to give you something that buffs your Wildshape abilities – e.g. a higher CR option once per day, or maybe something reckless-like to get an extra attack in return for granting enemies advantage, stuff like that. Insignia of claws is great, but there’s more room to move there IMO. I think it was also mentioned before, but if you have a favourite shape, and noting that shape lasts some hours, having your party strap on armour shouldn’t be too hard to arrange. Make sure there’s some psychic communication available, of course, if you’re a critter for long periods.
I’d gladly give up every single spell if it meant I could do more with wildshape. I didn’t sign up to be nature wizard - I want to be the feral hunter or the sneaky ferret.
If the Wild Shape part is specifically what you want out of the Druid and not the spellcasting part, you might need a homebrew class because the Druid has spellcasting as a major part of its identity but no other class has Wild Shape. You should talk with your Dungeon Master/gamemaster first to see what options they have, and before showing any homebrew classes to see if they allow it.
While looking for some equivalent class to the Master of Many Forms prestige class from V3.5, I found EN Publishing's Morph class which seems to have the Druid's Wild Shape as its identity but not the spellcasting, making it more of a martial class. The Morph's Shapeshift is more advanced than the Druid's Widl Shape, having increased maximum usages before reaching level 20 (three uses at level 8, four uses at level 15, and unlimited usages at level 20), the usages recovering if at full health after getting an ability at level 3, and customizable Morph Talents to gain stuff such as the ability to take on more forms than just Beasts and the ability to change races/subraces every few long rests. There's some options for small spell casting, but they don't come close to the spellcasting features of the Druid, so this might be what you want. https://www.5esrd.com/classes/3rd-party-publisher-classes/en-publishing/morph/
I’d gladly give up every single spell if it meant I could do more with wildshape. I didn’t sign up to be nature wizard - I want to be the feral hunter or the sneaky ferret.
I dunno if you're still working on a new character or what, but looking at this from a DM perspective, I would recommend something like a rogue/druid or ranger/druid multiclass rather than straight Moon druid, so you can focus your wild shape usage out of combat to be the "sneaky ferret" while still having some combat stuff to fall back on as the "feral hunter"
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So, let me ask you this, what do you want to get out of combat, specifically? If I read you correctly, you are fine with the moon druid oout of combat, is that right? If so then I'd just *not* use wildshapes in combat (at least until level 10) and just use Shilleleagh instead. Just smack people with that and cast a few spells every now and then when you need to.
Outside of combat, there really isn't anything much skill monkey-ish about the druid. Sure, you get the guidance cantrip but that's about it. You could always multiclass to ranger or rogue (although sneak attack is a bit wasted if you mainly fight with a shilleleagh) if you want to.
So from what I’ve gathered here, you want to be an animal in combat while still being just as effective as a normal character. The only thing in DnD I can think of that fits this description would be for you to play as a sidekick. (Something optional introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything).
A sidekick is basically just any creature in the monster manual with a CR of 1/2 or lower, and it gains hit points, proficiency bonus increases, and class levels/features kind of like a normal PC, so it stays effective. And you can choose from 3 classes as a sidekick, either an expert, spellcaster, or warrior. Unfortunately both the spellcaster and expert require you to be able to speak at least 1 language, so unless you wanted to play a raven you can only select the warrior. But if your dream is to play a wolf in armor charging into battle and mauling your foes, this is a viable option. Just be sure to check with your DM about it, sidekicks aren’t usually supposed to be a substitution for a PC, more like an addition to a smaller party.
Have we considered the various ways spells can add to one's wildshape effectiveness? If we're only looking at self transmutation there's the Guardian of Nature, the various Investiture spells like Investiture of Flame, and Draconic Transformation.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
This is probably the MOST difficult class to play in DD5.
You are TOO strong at low level (and have to be VERY careful to not steal the fun from other players, becasue your 're a caster that can heal AND do damage WHILE being a better fighter than the PV.
That's INSANE. Lot's of RP and 'bad' (fair) decision have to be made to avoid ruining the game for everyone.
Then... after level 4-5 you are a second tier character. You'll never make as big damages like the Fighter, and never have as a paowerfill and practical magic as the Wizard.
There are still PLENTY of interesting things to do, but you have to really, really THINK ABOUT IT. Know perfectly your spells (some are pretty surprising) know an impressive lists of animals, and create ways to synergise both AND how to use your capacity at their best to help your party.
To come back to the original post, it's a difficult case. Not being a Fighter Nor a caster while still being a shapeshifter...
Maybe something like a Sorcerer or a Psion for the 'chassis', with your power only/mainly working on yourself. Something like the 'Aberant mind' probably. (Witha at itle more like 'Chirdren of the Wild'). Wisdom based.
Using your 'slots' or 'points' to turn, heal yourself, and your 'metamagic' to boost some of your capacities. You should still have access to 'speak to animal' or 'alter self' spell early in the game, as it is thematic.
It shoudn't be very powerfull at first but it could be fun to play.
(Nvm that my AC, to-hit, and HP are better than a brown bear - my survivability actually drops significantly)
This is not really true. They can't down you in beast form. When your hps reach 0 you will revert, so your survivability will always be better in beast form.
Your damage might go down as a brown bear, but any damage the bear takes is damage your druid won't take.
Also forms that drop enemy prone or give pack tactics are going to be big boosts in combat. It is a bummer that your DM does not do tactical combat, but as long as he plays by the rules you still can.
Late to the party but one thing I haven't seen addressed: there's a possibility of benefitting from your magic items while wild-shaped. You have a choice in whether stuff is worn or dropped or merged with your form. And though mundane gear won't change size to fit the new shape, magic items generally do. A wolf could still wear a magical cloak, and could probably retain a magical ring on its paw, too. Definitely worth asking your DM about if that helps wildshape from seeming too nerfed in combat!
Skimmed after the first half of page two, but I’m confused. 1. I get that you don’t want to be a spell caster which is fine. 2. you don’t want to be solely melee focused. But you say the best melee forms have bad Dex. How about a better Dex form that isn’t necessarily the best melee. You said you don’t want solely melee but you want great melee forms? 3. you don’t care for multiclassing Barbarian because you don’t want to tank. But you want to take animal form and fight which rage’s resistance will help you with staying in animal form. And who says you have to tank. Fighting as a wolf or bear doesn’t mean you are a tank. Plus you can still use wild shapes utility elsewhere. 4. DM doesn’t use tactics, which sucks. I’m kind of in the same boat with my DM. But Faerie Fire, if you can get it off early can help your whole party even if the DM doesn’t use tactics (but this precludes Barbarian rage, which you didn’t like anyway. And it is spell casting so not the best).
the idea of rogue for cunning action (2 level dip I think) is a good one and gives the skill monkey feel too.
Overall, i think I agree. The OP might be best served by a bit of homebrew that serves what they actually want rather than wishing about what they could do with this particular class that isn't what they want.
With Moon you can use wildshape as temporary HP if that is all you can find to use it for, but that is a LOT in most battles where other players have 5-10 "extra" HP possibility. A Brown Bear is 34 HP, a Dire Wolf 37 HP, a Moorbounder 30 HP.
In addition you can wildshape as a bonus action, which is not the same as other Druids who need to use an action. So you can cast a support, healing or control spell and then wildshape to take a hit, run to the back, or charge into melee. You keep concentration in wildshape form, and since you get two wildshapes, you could do this twice. If you like to double up damage Moonbeam is also great for this.
As a Bear you get two attacks as well, at +6 which is decent, and have other stuff which is cool. Combat is not only about hitting and being hit. A Brown Bear has a climb speed of 30ft, plus great smell based perception. A Dire Wolf has pack tactics, so you can get next to an ally and hit with advantage, plus run at 50ft a turn. A Moorbounder srints at 70ft!!
I find most of my uses of wildshape are out of combat though, and I use the skills of the animals to be a rogue too, or whatever the party needs. A druid is complex, but fun if you start thinking of the possibilities. A Moon Druid just gives you more and better Wildshape options to use for those ideas.
so…
Basically be a land Druid, then?
(Nvm that my AC, to-hit, and HP are better than a brown bear - my survivability actually drops significantly)
Do you have a Wizard in the party? If so, they should really be casting Mage Armor on you to boost AC. It's great b/c it lasts for 8 hours and no concentration.
Also, even if your DM doesn't do tactical positioning, you still have forms like the Constrictor Snake and the Giant Octopus that can restrain your opponent on hit without taking any extra actions or bonus actions.
I mean there is a beast that is immortal to turn into. Highly unlikely your DM will let you use it buuuuut....It's actually a CR 0 beast called the Onyx and it has an ability that it cant be killed or taken to 0 health and all damage is negated. it also has 400ft speed and a climbing speed of 200ft. Its from an adventurers' league module system called Oracle of War. I actually just put out a video on it about how to be immortal at lvl 2.
Now there are other options depending on level and level played to. Like others have said, monk is viable since itd boost from the beasts dex +your wis mod (not beasty's), barbarian works, and even warlock can be functional if you go 3 levels in pact of the chain and take the invocation that lets you heal the full dice rolled. That wat when you bonus action heal up itll heal to full. Plus the other thing is you can grab the mage armor feat to keep that going always, and the invoc that lets you talk through your familiar so you dont have to be lacking in party communication either.
I mean there is a beast that is immortal to turn into. Highly unlikely your DM will let you use it buuuuut....It's actually a CR 0 beast called the Onyx and it has an ability that it cant be killed or taken to 0 health and all damage is negated. it also has 400ft speed and a climbing speed of 200ft. Its from an adventurers' league module system called Oracle of War. I actually just put out a video on it about how to be immortal at lvl 2.
Now there are other options depending on level and level played to. Like others have said, monk is viable since itd boost from the beasts dex +your wis mod (not beasty's), barbarian works, and even warlock can be functional if you go 3 levels in pact of the chain and take the invocation that lets you heal the full dice rolled. That wat when you bonus action heal up itll heal to full. Plus the other thing is you can grab the mage armor feat to keep that going always, and the invoc that lets you talk through your familiar so you dont have to be lacking in party communication either.
No DM that can read would allow you to use the Onyx stuff.
Onyx is a regular cat, with special traits, and a modified attack, that only apply when used in the following encounter:
I mean there is a beast that is immortal to turn into. Highly unlikely your DM will let you use it buuuuut....It's actually a CR 0 beast called the Onyx and it has an ability that it cant be killed or taken to 0 health and all damage is negated. it also has 400ft speed and a climbing speed of 200ft. Its from an adventurers' league module system called Oracle of War. I actually just put out a video on it about how to be immortal at lvl 2.
Now there are other options depending on level and level played to. Like others have said, monk is viable since itd boost from the beasts dex +your wis mod (not beasty's), barbarian works, and even warlock can be functional if you go 3 levels in pact of the chain and take the invocation that lets you heal the full dice rolled. That wat when you bonus action heal up itll heal to full. Plus the other thing is you can grab the mage armor feat to keep that going always, and the invoc that lets you talk through your familiar so you dont have to be lacking in party communication either.
No DM that can read would allow you to use the Onyx stuff.
Onyx is a regular cat, with special traits, and a modified attack, that only apply when used in the following encounter:
Further information can be found within that encounter on how to run it.
Without the special circumstances from that encounter, Onyx can be considered a standard cat.
Yes, hence the statement it is very unlikely your DM would allow it. however there is a stat block for it and its abilities so it is at least a way to turn into it, albeit super super unlikely you ever ever would be allowed to do so.
It's amazing how narrow your focus is in what can be such a creative moment in character development. We obviously play this game for very different reasons. You have everything in front of you to do what you say you want, (although that changes constantly from post to post), but you simply don't want to take the time to try something FUN!
You also keep deflecting toward combat. Combat is 1/3 of the game. What do you want the rest of the time? I personally like being able to transform my character into a shark, a giant owl, a house cat or a giant badger when the situation suits. To each, their own.
Druid isn't for everyone, but for someone who says they want to play an animal and bite things, it is pretty good.
Leather armor, actually. It, plus a shield is 19 AC with +4 from dex and +2 from magical items. Druids do have shield proficiency, start off with a wooden shield so...
Also, since we get advantage from anyone being next to the enemy, I just took Brown Bear's statline instead. The benefit of Pack Tactics is wasted, while having a second attack for 1d8+5 seemed worthwhile. The "knocked prone on bite" seemed interesting, until it never seemed to really do any benefit for my party. (See above about getting advantage almost always)
1) Unless I'm misreading wildshape, only equipment you're wearing can be 'worn' in your new shape - that means I'd need to wear the barding *all the time* and would convey next to no benefit in my regular form (other than making me encumbered with it's 160lb weight and reducing me to 5ft movement) and it would still take 1-10 minutes to put (as per the normal donning/doffing armor rules). When's the last time you had up to 10 minutes before you engaged in a random combat? Not to mention, it would be essentially locking me into one shape only so there goes the utility of using other shapes without massive costs every few levels.
2) L4 ASI went to Sentinel. My stats are, as per the first page: 18 in Dex, Wis, Con, and Int. I have a 10 in Strength and a 16 in Charisma. I am basically godlike, statswise (and this is after my +2 dex, +1 wis from my Wild Elf racials)
3) I looked at monk. Here's the problem, the good offensive shapes have *terrible* dex scores - usually 0.
Brown Bear - 10 Dex. (+1 natural armor)
Cave Bear - 10 Dex (+3 natural armor)
Sabre-Toothed Tiger - 14 dex
Giant Scorpion - 13 dex (+4 natural armor)
It's really good for the elemental forms, sure - that's a long long ways away (even longer if I dip to Monk, tbh)
I didn't consider Bladesinger. It's certainly better in that it works well with natural armor and the scales off proficiency bonuses. It's a 2 level investment.. which does really suck, however.
What I want hasn't changed, though if I gave that impression then that's on me for being unclear.
I think I stated it best on page 2:
Wildshape already does what I want it to do the rest of the time! I can go into a sneakier form to stealth around, I climb in spider or ape forms. I can swim underwater easily as a variety of creatures. I can keep watch as an owl, etc, etc. Moon Druid can be a powerful class and there's a reason why it's often considered one of the best. However since I really don't care about casting spells as being my primary focus and core identity.. then it's really just frustrating. As I've said before - no one harps about the Paladin not using their spells every turn, or the Ranger, or the Arcanist (or even the Warlock, should they go Pact of the Blade). Why can't I play a druid who doesn't rely on spellcasting without feeling like I'm useless?
Who is expecting you to cast spells every round? Generally Moon Druids do fine casting one spell to concentrate on during combat and then using the rest of their spell slots for Wild Shape regeneration. Is that the right mix of spellcasting and melee that you wanted?
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I'm not sure you're going to get "skill monkey" out of druid. They just don't get enough skills. But if you want to focus on utility, then do that. Druid has some utility spells that can help you or your party with skill type encounters.
Be a moon druid in combat, and pick non combat spells?
Sadly Wild Shape HAS to fall to the side as you level because you're a caster class, like it or not, and your spells come into play as you level. The CR limitations (well, Beast limitations, to be honest) mean that beyond levels 5-6 or so, the PC shape will have access to equipment and weapons making it more viable for combat than the Beasts you can change into. It's all about balance and the only wat it could work having ongoing Wild Shapes to improve with, would be to strip the spell list back for Moon Druids, cutting off any of their more powerful spells.
The options and numbers of the different Wild Shapes have been in place for years, so all this shouldn't really come as a surprise. I have looked at Druids a number of times and to me, Moon was always what appealed the most. Wild Shape was great for early levels where it outperformed what the PC's could do as a tank, then as it fades in effectiveness, the spells are starting to come online. I have always been less than impressed with early Druid spells, so the enhanced Wild Shape was a great filler. The utility options are amazing, Stealth, Water Breathing, Flight and more, all as a bonus action, for extended periods compared to many spells.
Everything I've read indicates what you want will ONLY be found via homebrew. RaW doesn't offer such a versatile, robust option, where you can be a fearsome beast through all tiers.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Sorry, I might have misunderstood, but I wanted to state this explicitly: when your wildshape takes damage, your character does not (until the beast goes below zero). It's extra HP. Just a few things you said might have made folk think otherwise.
Anyway, a possible solution for the thing I think you're looking for is to multiclass barbarian. Rage works fine in wild-shape form. Even one level gives you an absurdly tough beastie (half damage from most weapon attacks), with a small-but-noticable +2 damage per hit. That also makes in-combat healing much more viable – it’s in your healer’s interests to keep that bear-tank raging since heals are often effectively doubling their effectiveness by landing on a raging barb. And of course it means you can burn your spell-slots in beast form for what is, while raging, effectively 2d8 per slot. It’s not a spell, so it works while in rage.
Two levels of barb gives reckless attacks (which would matter more for any other DM, I’d think, but at least gives you options if you want to solo something), and level 3, if you want to go that far, would see a 3 rage and Bear Totem making you ludicrously resilient.
One level, though, would still be really cool.
Knowing what you’re after, as a DM I’d also look to give you something that buffs your Wildshape abilities – e.g. a higher CR option once per day, or maybe something reckless-like to get an extra attack in return for granting enemies advantage, stuff like that. Insignia of claws is great, but there’s more room to move there IMO. I think it was also mentioned before, but if you have a favourite shape, and noting that shape lasts some hours, having your party strap on armour shouldn’t be too hard to arrange. Make sure there’s some psychic communication available, of course, if you’re a critter for long periods.
But hey, if it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
If the Wild Shape part is specifically what you want out of the Druid and not the spellcasting part, you might need a homebrew class because the Druid has spellcasting as a major part of its identity but no other class has Wild Shape. You should talk with your Dungeon Master/gamemaster first to see what options they have, and before showing any homebrew classes to see if they allow it.
While looking for some equivalent class to the Master of Many Forms prestige class from V3.5, I found EN Publishing's Morph class which seems to have the Druid's Wild Shape as its identity but not the spellcasting, making it more of a martial class. The Morph's Shapeshift is more advanced than the Druid's Widl Shape, having increased maximum usages before reaching level 20 (three uses at level 8, four uses at level 15, and unlimited usages at level 20), the usages recovering if at full health after getting an ability at level 3, and customizable Morph Talents to gain stuff such as the ability to take on more forms than just Beasts and the ability to change races/subraces every few long rests. There's some options for small spell casting, but they don't come close to the spellcasting features of the Druid, so this might be what you want. https://www.5esrd.com/classes/3rd-party-publisher-classes/en-publishing/morph/
I dunno if you're still working on a new character or what, but looking at this from a DM perspective, I would recommend something like a rogue/druid or ranger/druid multiclass rather than straight Moon druid, so you can focus your wild shape usage out of combat to be the "sneaky ferret" while still having some combat stuff to fall back on as the "feral hunter"
Active characters:
Askatu, hyperfocused vedalken freedom fighter in Wildspace (Zealot barb/Swashbuckler rogue/Battle Master fighter)
Green Hill Sunrise, jaded tabaxi mercenary trapped in the Dark Domains (Battle Master fighter)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
So, let me ask you this, what do you want to get out of combat, specifically? If I read you correctly, you are fine with the moon druid oout of combat, is that right? If so then I'd just *not* use wildshapes in combat (at least until level 10) and just use Shilleleagh instead. Just smack people with that and cast a few spells every now and then when you need to.
Outside of combat, there really isn't anything much skill monkey-ish about the druid. Sure, you get the guidance cantrip but that's about it. You could always multiclass to ranger or rogue (although sneak attack is a bit wasted if you mainly fight with a shilleleagh) if you want to.
So from what I’ve gathered here, you want to be an animal in combat while still being just as effective as a normal character. The only thing in DnD I can think of that fits this description would be for you to play as a sidekick. (Something optional introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything).
A sidekick is basically just any creature in the monster manual with a CR of 1/2 or lower, and it gains hit points, proficiency bonus increases, and class levels/features kind of like a normal PC, so it stays effective. And you can choose from 3 classes as a sidekick, either an expert, spellcaster, or warrior. Unfortunately both the spellcaster and expert require you to be able to speak at least 1 language, so unless you wanted to play a raven you can only select the warrior. But if your dream is to play a wolf in armor charging into battle and mauling your foes, this is a viable option. Just be sure to check with your DM about it, sidekicks aren’t usually supposed to be a substitution for a PC, more like an addition to a smaller party.
Have we considered the various ways spells can add to one's wildshape effectiveness? If we're only looking at self transmutation there's the Guardian of Nature, the various Investiture spells like Investiture of Flame, and Draconic Transformation.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Currently playing a Moondruid.
This is probably the MOST difficult class to play in DD5.
You are TOO strong at low level (and have to be VERY careful to not steal the fun from other players, becasue your 're a caster that can heal AND do damage WHILE being a better fighter than the PV.
That's INSANE. Lot's of RP and 'bad' (fair) decision have to be made to avoid ruining the game for everyone.
Then... after level 4-5 you are a second tier character. You'll never make as big damages like the Fighter, and never have as a paowerfill and practical magic as the Wizard.
There are still PLENTY of interesting things to do, but you have to really, really THINK ABOUT IT. Know perfectly your spells (some are pretty surprising) know an impressive lists of animals, and create ways to synergise both AND how to use your capacity at their best to help your party.
To come back to the original post, it's a difficult case. Not being a Fighter Nor a caster while still being a shapeshifter...
Maybe something like a Sorcerer or a Psion for the 'chassis', with your power only/mainly working on yourself. Something like the 'Aberant mind' probably. (Witha at itle more like 'Chirdren of the Wild'). Wisdom based.
Using your 'slots' or 'points' to turn, heal yourself, and your 'metamagic' to boost some of your capacities. You should still have access to 'speak to animal' or 'alter self' spell early in the game, as it is thematic.
It shoudn't be very powerfull at first but it could be fun to play.
This is not really true. They can't down you in beast form. When your hps reach 0 you will revert, so your survivability will always be better in beast form.
Your damage might go down as a brown bear, but any damage the bear takes is damage your druid won't take.
Also forms that drop enemy prone or give pack tactics are going to be big boosts in combat. It is a bummer that your DM does not do tactical combat, but as long as he plays by the rules you still can.
Late to the party but one thing I haven't seen addressed: there's a possibility of benefitting from your magic items while wild-shaped. You have a choice in whether stuff is worn or dropped or merged with your form. And though mundane gear won't change size to fit the new shape, magic items generally do. A wolf could still wear a magical cloak, and could probably retain a magical ring on its paw, too. Definitely worth asking your DM about if that helps wildshape from seeming too nerfed in combat!
Skimmed after the first half of page two, but I’m confused.
1. I get that you don’t want to be a spell caster which is fine.
2. you don’t want to be solely melee focused. But you say the best melee forms have bad Dex. How about a better Dex form that isn’t necessarily the best melee. You said you don’t want solely melee but you want great melee forms?
3. you don’t care for multiclassing Barbarian because you don’t want to tank. But you want to take animal form and fight which rage’s resistance will help you with staying in animal form. And who says you have to tank. Fighting as a wolf or bear doesn’t mean you are a tank. Plus you can still use wild shapes utility elsewhere.
4. DM doesn’t use tactics, which sucks. I’m kind of in the same boat with my DM. But Faerie Fire, if you can get it off early can help your whole party even if the DM doesn’t use tactics (but this precludes Barbarian rage, which you didn’t like anyway. And it is spell casting so not the best).
the idea of rogue for cunning action (2 level dip I think) is a good one and gives the skill monkey feel too.
Overall, i think I agree. The OP might be best served by a bit of homebrew that serves what they actually want rather than wishing about what they could do with this particular class that isn't what they want.
Do you have a Wizard in the party? If so, they should really be casting Mage Armor on you to boost AC. It's great b/c it lasts for 8 hours and no concentration.
Also, even if your DM doesn't do tactical positioning, you still have forms like the Constrictor Snake and the Giant Octopus that can restrain your opponent on hit without taking any extra actions or bonus actions.
I mean there is a beast that is immortal to turn into. Highly unlikely your DM will let you use it buuuuut....It's actually a CR 0 beast called the Onyx and it has an ability that it cant be killed or taken to 0 health and all damage is negated. it also has 400ft speed and a climbing speed of 200ft. Its from an adventurers' league module system called Oracle of War. I actually just put out a video on it about how to be immortal at lvl 2.
Now there are other options depending on level and level played to. Like others have said, monk is viable since itd boost from the beasts dex +your wis mod (not beasty's), barbarian works, and even warlock can be functional if you go 3 levels in pact of the chain and take the invocation that lets you heal the full dice rolled. That wat when you bonus action heal up itll heal to full. Plus the other thing is you can grab the mage armor feat to keep that going always, and the invoc that lets you talk through your familiar so you dont have to be lacking in party communication either.
No DM that can read would allow you to use the Onyx stuff.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Yes, hence the statement it is very unlikely your DM would allow it. however there is a stat block for it and its abilities so it is at least a way to turn into it, albeit super super unlikely you ever ever would be allowed to do so.