My experience with the 2024 Druid at high levels

I recently finished playing the same Circle of Stars Druid across two long campaigns, eventually reaching level 20.

One important caveat first: the lower-level part of this character's career was played using the 2014 rules. During the second campaign we moved to the 2024 rules, so my direct experience with the 2024 Druid is mainly at medium and high levels.

Because of that, I cannot honestly judge how the 2024 Druid feels from level 1.

What I can talk about is how it felt to me in Tier 3 and especially Tier 4.

And my experience was disappointing.

I do not mean that the Druid became useless. It is still a full spellcaster, and high-level Druid spells can obviously be extremely powerful.

My problem was that, as I progressed, I increasingly felt that the class was pushing me toward solving problems through spellcasting rather than through what I personally see as one of the Druid's most distinctive mechanics:

shapeshifting and adaptation.

What I wanted from Wild Shape

For me, the most interesting part of Wild Shape has never been simply turning into an animal and attacking.

It is looking at a situation and asking:

"What do I need to become right now?"

Maybe I need flight.

Maybe I need climbing, swimming, speed, special senses, a small body, a large body, or the ability to carry someone.

Then the situation changes, and I want to change with it.

That is what shapeshifting means to me.

The problem is that the 2024 base Druid reaches CR 1 and eight known Beast forms at level 8, and those limits remain the same all the way to level 20.

Personally, I do not necessarily think CR 1 is the main problem.

Weak forms can still be extremely useful if their purpose is tactical utility rather than raw combat power.

But if that is the design, then I think the Druid needs variety and freedom.

Give me many forms.

Let me change between them frequently.

Make the challenge choosing the right creature, not conserving the transformation itself.

Instead, I felt that I was getting the disadvantages of both approaches.

The forms were too weak for me to treat them as a serious high-level combat state, but Wild Shape was still limited enough that I could not freely use those weak forms as a constantly changing tactical toolbox.

That is where the mechanic started to feel wrong to me.

If Wild Shape is meant to be something I use rarely and stay in for a long time, then the form should be durable and impactful enough to justify that commitment.

If the forms are intentionally modest, then let me change often and make adaptability itself the power.

At level 20, I do not really need to stay as one CR 1 animal for ten hours.

I want to become whatever creature I need for the next few seconds, then something else when the situation changes again.

If that means changing fifteen times in thirty seconds, that is much closer to what I personally imagine mastery of shapeshifting should look like.

Not because every form should be powerful.

Because choosing the right form should be the power.

Some of my best shapeshifting moments came from spells

One of my favorite moments in the entire character's career came from Polymorph.

I was already transformed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex because I had needed to deal with enemies across a dangerous area.

Then my party needed to cross that same area.

Instead of simply continuing to attack, I positioned my body across it and became a literal bridge.

My companions walked over me to reach the other side, and later walked back over me again, while I absorbed the hazards underneath.

That moment was fantastic.

Not because I was dealing T-Rex damage.

Because I had turned my body into the solution to a completely different tactical problem.

That was exactly what I wanted shapeshifting to feel like.

Later, Shapechange gave me another moment like that.

I was in dragon form beside a tower standing near the edge of a cliff. I cast Transmute Rock into its foundations, brought the tower down, then needed to escape immediately.

I abandoned the form, fell into the void, and changed again while falling so I could fly away safely.

Again, the part I loved was not simply the power.

It was:

the situation changed, so I changed with it.

But one of these moments required Polymorph, and the other required a 9th-level spell.

I am not saying normal Wild Shape should let every Druid become a T-Rex or a dragon.

That is not the point.

The point is that those spells gave me the style of shapeshifting that I had hoped Wild Shape itself would gradually grow toward.

Survivability made the problem worse

At high level, I also felt increasingly fragile whenever I tried to rely on Wild Shape.

The base Druid receives Temporary Hit Points equal to Druid level, so at level 20 that means 20 Temporary Hit Points.

In one encounter, I entered combat already in Wild Shape.

I rolled initiative.

Before my first turn, I was critically hit and went from full HP to 0.

I did not attack.

I did not cast a spell.

I did not use an ability.

I did not take a single turn.

For roughly four rounds I was unconscious while the rest of the party dealt with the situation and eventually managed to get me back into the fight.

Obviously, a critical hit involves bad luck.

But it illustrated something I had already been feeling.

I did not feel durable enough to treat Wild Shape as a form I could confidently commit to in a Tier 4 fight.

Yet I also did not feel free enough to treat it as a constantly changing set of tactical tools.

So Wild Shape ended up feeling stuck in an uncomfortable middle ground

Level 18 was the clearest warning sign for me

Level 18 was probably the strangest moment in the progression.

The Druid gains Beast Spells.

That is obviously useful for Druids whose Wild Shape would otherwise prevent normal spellcasting.

But my Circle of Stars character primarily used Starry Form, which had never stopped me from casting in the first place.

So in actual play, going from level 17 to 18 barely changed anything about my character.

My maximum Beast CR did not increase.

My number of known forms did not increase.

My number of Wild Shape uses did not increase.

I gained no subclass feature.

Wild Shape did not become tougher, more flexible or more tactically interesting.

There were technically changes on the class table, but the main new class feature did almost nothing for the way I was actually playing the character.

At level 18, that felt particularly bad.

And it also made me wonder whether some interactions between the 2024 Druid and subclasses carried over from earlier books were simply not examined closely enough.

Circle of Stars originally came from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, rather than the 2014 Player's Handbook.

I obviously cannot know what happened during design or playtesting, so I am not claiming this was definitely an oversight.

But for my character, it certainly felt like one.

Level 20 did not give me the mastery I expected either

At level 20, Evergreen Wild Shape guarantees that if I roll Initiative with no Wild Shape uses left, I get one back.

That is useful.

But my problem was never:

"What if I cannot transform once?"

My problem was:

"Why am I still worried about conserving transformations at all?"

I had reached the absolute peak of the class.

Personally, I wanted shapeshifting to feel mastered.

Instead, one part of the capstone guarantees a single transformation, while another part lets unused Wild Shape resources feed back into spellcasting.

Mechanically, that has value.

But spellcasting was not the part of my level 20 Druid that I felt needed help.

Whenever Wild Shape felt inadequate, the answer was already simple:

cast another spell.

And that is exactly what disappointed me.

My overall impression

I am not arguing that the Druid is objectively bad, and I am not claiming that my experience represents every table.

I also cannot judge the entire 2024 progression from level 1, because I did not play those early levels under the new rules.

But from the medium and high levels I did play, my impression is that the transition to the 2024 Druid was not handled with enough attention to how all of its pieces work together.

Perhaps many of the individual changes made sense in isolation.

But at high level, they did not always seem to build toward a clear idea of what mastery of being a Druid was supposed to mean.

If Wild Shape forms are meant to remain weak, I would have wanted enormous variety and much greater freedom to change between them.

If transformations are meant to be scarce and long-lasting, I would have wanted those forms to be powerful and durable enough to justify committing to one.

Instead, I often felt that I had neither.

And level 18, where my particular subclass received almost no meaningful new gameplay from its main class feature, was the moment that made me wonder most whether some pieces had simply slipped through the cracks.

At lower levels, what I loved about the Druid was asking:

"What should I become?"

At high levels, I increasingly found myself asking:

"Wouldn't it just be better to cast another spell?"

For me, that is where the 2024 Druid lost something important.

I'd genuinely be interested to hear from people who have played the 2024 Druid through Tier 3 or Tier 4.

Not simply whether you think the class is strong or weak on paper.

What did being a high-level Druid actually feel like at your table?

 

(IA HELPED TO TRANSLATE IN ENGLISH)

I increasingly felt that the class was pushing me toward solving problems through spellcasting 

To me that is what a Druid is.  A player that uses nature and what is around and casts spells.   Shape shifting into an animal is nice, but should not be the main purpose.  

I think there is a huge psychological difference expectation on a druid .  Is it a shapeshifter that turn into animals and fights in melee or is it a powerful mage that uses the surroundings.

 

If you think the purpose of a druid is to be a shapeshifter and fight in melee, then it makes sense you are disappointed.

I think you're missing something. You stated that the charactere was Circle of Stars, yet spent your entire post complaining about Wildshaping... Circle of Stars Druids rarely use their Wildshape charges for actual Wildshaping, they use them to power their Starry Forms. Your character sheet said Circle of Stars, but it sounds like you tried playing it as Circle of the Moon instead. If you were playing it for the Wildshaping, you chose the wrong subclass.

You are right.i had to summarise my experience, so i write Just the feeling. Most of the time i have used the starry form, still, beeing able to wildshape into an animal can risolve the situation in a different way. Beeing a circle of star druido does not means, in my idea, that the druido will use only the starry form.

Aand the circle of the Moon, Reading the manual, does not solve my feeling. It's still capa at 8 form, still have few slots, and does not allow quick and fast changes, not forcing but pushing the player tò stay in One single form tò save the wildshape slots. For example, the circle of the star at level 10, allow the player to change the starry form without spending the slot. And the starry form stay for 10 Min max. Shorter time, but more Quick changes, allowing more adattability using the different ability of the single form as Needed. But the circle of the star, for what i noticed, has not beeing changed from the Tasha's one.

I Hope i am clearer now. Sorry for my english 😅

Quote from Character77006 >>

I increasingly felt that the class was pushing me toward solving problems through spellcasting 

To me that is what a Druid is.  A player that uses nature and what is around and casts spells.   Shape shifting into an animal is nice, but should not be the main purpose.  

 Nothing to Say about. As a spellcaster Is pretty good. I have lover the druid spell list. 

Quote from Vestar87 >>

You are right.i had to summarise my experience, so i write Just the feeling. Most of the time i have used the starry form, still, beeing able to wildshape into an animal can risolve the situation in a different way. Beeing a circle of star druido does not means, in my idea, that the druido will use only the starry form.

Aand the circle of the Moon, Reading the manual, does not solve my feeling. It's still capa at 8 form, still have few slots, and does not allow quick and fast changes, not forcing but pushing the player tò stay in One single form tò save the wildshape slots. For example, the circle of the star at level 10, allow the player to change the starry form without spending the slot. And the starry form stay for 10 Min max. Shorter time, but more Quick changes, allowing more adattability using the different ability of the single form as Needed. But the circle of the star, for what i noticed, has not beeing changed from the Tasha's one.

I Hope i am clearer now. Sorry for my english 😅

Are you aware that 5.5e Druids can spend a spell slot to activate Wild Shape after level 5?

Couple of notes for you.

I have played Circle of the Moon through tier 3 and 4. Wild Shape was a massive part of my arsenal but ultimately you are a full spellcaster, Spells are going to be your bread and butter. Especially in tier 4 when you are getting extra 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th level slots.

At 12th Elephant is great especially when you have allies using Topple or pushes to let you charge easily or just letting your temps soak up AoOs to charge and trample.

At 15 Triceratops was perfect to combine with Moonlight step for lots of advantage and to set up charging. Giant Croc was also good for being able to restrain foes so your team can get advantage, and prevent them from escaping your emanations. I will say a critical on a charging moon trike doing 4d12+4d10+8d8+7 is pretty nice.

At 18 you have Mammoth and Giant squid, keep in mind you can hold your breath easy if you are only going to use the form for one fight.

There is also Air Superiority Mode. Cast Giant Insect Spider, wild shape into a Quetzalcoautlus, have spider climb on then fly around knocking everyone else out of the sky. With longstrider up you fly in and ready to dash out so your targets are all 150 ft away and speed 0 on their turn, assuming they haven't crashed to the ground. Took out a bunch of Rocs and even dropped a Red Dragon into an acid lake with this strat.

For the icing on the cake you have two additional options, Boon of fluid forms and shapechange.

Adding 80 temps for a bonus action level 1 spell slot and being able to turn into other casters is great or just turning  yourself into a frogemoth for an extra 204 THP and still cast spells.

Or turn into a CR 20 and start spamming legendaries before your turn comes up. I had seven action the first round of combat, had fun with the DM dueling legendary actions.