Morning! Got another question for you guys; I was attempting to make a character with at least some passing expertise in shapeshifting for my next D&D campaign, but I'd like some advice.
I was planning on using the Polymorph spell as my character's go-to for shapeshifting into other forms; he'd cast the spell on himself to turn into other forms and try and gain advantage in combat. The thing is, I'd like some advice on some of the details; I've tried looking on the D&D Wiki and Reddit for assistance, but the former has a tendency towards making rather unbalanced homebrew stuff, and the latter... well, it's Reddit. Hence, I had to come back here.
The big issue is, what class should I go for: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, or one of the Trickery Domain classes? I'm looking for a class that's versatile; while the primary focus will be shapeshifting, I'd like to be able to have a potential back-up plan if the shapeshifting skill can't work for whatever reason. Keep in mind, I'm still unsure if I'm going to be taking this guy all the way to 20 or not, so if you guys want to recommend a multi-class, then it's all good.
Anyone willing to share anything? I'm all ears; thanks to anyone that's willing to help.
100% changeling druid. Moon most likely choice as you have more powerful animals to shift into. no multi imho as moon druids really don't need to multi, and you get access to some fun spells/abilities if you stay pure druid.
You do also still get access to Polymorph as a druid though. So your wildshape is capped, but you do have polymorph to fall back on, if you so desire. Or you could summon animals and wildshape the same turn (animals can attack the turn you summon them, but you wouldn't be able to attack just yet).
You want to use Polymorph to change into something and fight in melee if I understand what you are saying. I don't see how that would work out. Polymorph requires Concentration, which would be very difficult to maintain while fighting. You still want to be able to fight in melee if you can't shapeshift, and you seem to want to do it with a caster.
What about a Path Of The Beast Barbarian? Not a caster at all, but they can use Form Of The Beast while Raging and grow natural weapons. They can even grow a tail! I don't see it for any of the other warrior types.
Mages aren't great in melee; Lower hit points, lower armor class. None of them are especially shifty.
I can't think of any Rogue type that would suit.
Monks are great in a fight, but not shifty either. Using natural weapons if they can get any leads to arguments and problems about how martial arts and natural weapons interact under the rules.
Then there are the priest types. Druid is the obvious choice I guess. Polymorph still remains of limited use if any at all. The only Clerics who get Polymorph are Trickery Domain ones. Their focus isn't on melee. Outside of using Divine Strike to get poison damage, they've got nothing much for what you seem to want to do.
I'd go with the Barbarian. Druid as second choice. Multiclass Barbarian/Druid could work but needs high scores in Str, Dex, Con, and Wis.
Changeling Druid that goes Shadow Touched with their first ASI and takes Silent Image. It isn't exactly shapeshifting in the end, but it's the closest you can get in 5e.
Changeling gives you people shapes. Druid gives you animal shapes. Shadow Touched lets you turn invisible and if you also take Silent Image, you get to make the image of an object (like a vase... or a table) around yourself, making you effectively able to turn into an object.
Alright, thanks for the responses so far; they've been helpful. Judging from what everyone's been saying, it looks like my best choice for class would be either Moon Druid or Wizard; Druid is better overall, but I'm still unsure due to the general tendency to end up all "save the whales" and "feeling the Earth's pain" in campaigns, at least from my experience. No hate, mind you, just my experience.
Just curious; what about Sorcerer? Haven't heard anyone mention that class, and from what I can tell, it also has both Polymorph and Alter Self as spells. Just a thought.
Also, as much as I hate to say it; I don't think I'm going to be using the Changeling race for this character, as I already had several other races in mind. My apologies; it does look fun, though, and I will probably try and use the race for another character, so thanks for the suggestion regardless.
Alright, thanks for the responses so far; they've been helpful. Judging from what everyone's been saying, it looks like my best choice for class would be either Moon Druid or Wizard; Druid is better overall, but I'm still unsure due to the general tendency to end up all "save the whales" and "feeling the Earth's pain" in campaigns, at least from my experience. No hate, mind you, just my experience.
As the player you are in control of the roleplay. If you want you could retheme it as a parasitic relationship where you are channeling the planets power with no regard for the damage it does. Or just call it a natural forces school wizard and rp like you would for a wizard.
Edit: if you choose to retheme talk to your dm so they can plan plot hooks for what drives your char instead of generic druid ones (save the whales ect.)
... the general tendency to end up all "save the whales" and "feeling the Earth's pain" in campaigns, ..
There's nothing in the base Druid class or the Moon druid that requires or even suggests an ecological mindset. That's all flavour text. You want it to be a Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing, go right ahead. Hulk-like superhero origin story? Perfectly possible. Extraplanar influence, also on the table for sure. I'd consider some sort of primal spirit survival of the fittest concept myself.
As for sorcerer, Draconic origin seems pretty fitting. Reskin to some sort of Chimera-like being instead of a dragon and that's a fairly open road towards assuming various forms as you see fit.
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Ravenite Dragonborn Sorcerer with the Draconic Bloodline Origin would appear to be pretty much ideal if you want to take a spell caster and fight in melee.
You seem to want shapeshifting, but not nature related. I think it's a safe bet that you want to play a deceptive character.
If you want advantage in combat through shapeshifting and being all sly, Trickery Domain Cleric is a good choice. Trickery domain has inflict wounds which is a nice melee spell. It can give you advantage through duplicates, and combining this with disguise self can create some confusion. You get polymorph as spell at 7th level, and can deal some extra melee damage at 8th. At this level, you can polymorph yourself into a giant ape or a tyrannosaurus rex. I think it could give you what you want. And, if you are too impatient to get that high, you can just multiclass into druid 2 levels.
If you Polymorph yourself into a T-Rex you get your Intelligence dropped down to a 2. It's going to be really impressing looking, and a T-Rex has all kinds of advantages, but as usual, you don't get to Attack. You don't qualify for any Bonus Actions, and you only get a Reaction if they run away from you. Sure, once you get your Attack of Opportunity and you Bite them, you get a bunch of damage, but you can't hurt them any more until you let them go and chase them down again. How likely are you to let them go with a 2 intelligence?
A T-Rex is Huge. As it walks around the battlefield (you can't run) it gets to soak up all kinds of attacks while it stubbornly refuses to let go of the snack it can't eat.
Morning! Got another question for you guys; I was attempting to make a character with at least some passing expertise in shapeshifting for my next D&D campaign, but I'd like some advice.
I was planning on using the Polymorph spell as my character's go-to for shapeshifting into other forms; he'd cast the spell on himself to turn into other forms and try and gain advantage in combat. The thing is, I'd like some advice on some of the details; I've tried looking on the D&D Wiki and Reddit for assistance, but the former has a tendency towards making rather unbalanced homebrew stuff, and the latter... well, it's Reddit. Hence, I had to come back here.
The big issue is, what class should I go for: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, or one of the Trickery Domain classes? I'm looking for a class that's versatile; while the primary focus will be shapeshifting, I'd like to be able to have a potential back-up plan if the shapeshifting skill can't work for whatever reason. Keep in mind, I'm still unsure if I'm going to be taking this guy all the way to 20 or not, so if you guys want to recommend a multi-class, then it's all good.
Anyone willing to share anything? I'm all ears; thanks to anyone that's willing to help.
Changeling race from Eberron is nice, there are also some races that get disguise self as an ability. Animals, Druid is king.
100% changeling druid. Moon most likely choice as you have more powerful animals to shift into. no multi imho as moon druids really don't need to multi, and you get access to some fun spells/abilities if you stay pure druid.
You do also still get access to Polymorph as a druid though. So your wildshape is capped, but you do have polymorph to fall back on, if you so desire. Or you could summon animals and wildshape the same turn (animals can attack the turn you summon them, but you wouldn't be able to attack just yet).
You want to use Polymorph to change into something and fight in melee if I understand what you are saying. I don't see how that would work out. Polymorph requires Concentration, which would be very difficult to maintain while fighting. You still want to be able to fight in melee if you can't shapeshift, and you seem to want to do it with a caster.
What about a Path Of The Beast Barbarian? Not a caster at all, but they can use Form Of The Beast while Raging and grow natural weapons. They can even grow a tail! I don't see it for any of the other warrior types.
Mages aren't great in melee; Lower hit points, lower armor class. None of them are especially shifty.
I can't think of any Rogue type that would suit.
Monks are great in a fight, but not shifty either. Using natural weapons if they can get any leads to arguments and problems about how martial arts and natural weapons interact under the rules.
Then there are the priest types. Druid is the obvious choice I guess. Polymorph still remains of limited use if any at all. The only Clerics who get Polymorph are Trickery Domain ones. Their focus isn't on melee. Outside of using Divine Strike to get poison damage, they've got nothing much for what you seem to want to do.
I'd go with the Barbarian. Druid as second choice. Multiclass Barbarian/Druid could work but needs high scores in Str, Dex, Con, and Wis.
<Insert clever signature here>
Changeling Druid that goes Shadow Touched with their first ASI and takes Silent Image. It isn't exactly shapeshifting in the end, but it's the closest you can get in 5e.
Changeling gives you people shapes. Druid gives you animal shapes. Shadow Touched lets you turn invisible and if you also take Silent Image, you get to make the image of an object (like a vase... or a table) around yourself, making you effectively able to turn into an object.
Alright, thanks for the responses so far; they've been helpful. Judging from what everyone's been saying, it looks like my best choice for class would be either Moon Druid or Wizard; Druid is better overall, but I'm still unsure due to the general tendency to end up all "save the whales" and "feeling the Earth's pain" in campaigns, at least from my experience. No hate, mind you, just my experience.
Just curious; what about Sorcerer? Haven't heard anyone mention that class, and from what I can tell, it also has both Polymorph and Alter Self as spells. Just a thought.
Also, as much as I hate to say it; I don't think I'm going to be using the Changeling race for this character, as I already had several other races in mind. My apologies; it does look fun, though, and I will probably try and use the race for another character, so thanks for the suggestion regardless.
As the player you are in control of the roleplay. If you want you could retheme it as a parasitic relationship where you are channeling the planets power with no regard for the damage it does. Or just call it a natural forces school wizard and rp like you would for a wizard.
Edit: if you choose to retheme talk to your dm so they can plan plot hooks for what drives your char instead of generic druid ones (save the whales ect.)
There's nothing in the base Druid class or the Moon druid that requires or even suggests an ecological mindset. That's all flavour text. You want it to be a Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing, go right ahead. Hulk-like superhero origin story? Perfectly possible. Extraplanar influence, also on the table for sure. I'd consider some sort of primal spirit survival of the fittest concept myself.
As for sorcerer, Draconic origin seems pretty fitting. Reskin to some sort of Chimera-like being instead of a dragon and that's a fairly open road towards assuming various forms as you see fit.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Ravenite Dragonborn Sorcerer with the Draconic Bloodline Origin would appear to be pretty much ideal if you want to take a spell caster and fight in melee.
<Insert clever signature here>
You seem to want shapeshifting, but not nature related. I think it's a safe bet that you want to play a deceptive character.
If you want advantage in combat through shapeshifting and being all sly, Trickery Domain Cleric is a good choice. Trickery domain has inflict wounds which is a nice melee spell. It can give you advantage through duplicates, and combining this with disguise self can create some confusion. You get polymorph as spell at 7th level, and can deal some extra melee damage at 8th. At this level, you can polymorph yourself into a giant ape or a tyrannosaurus rex. I think it could give you what you want. And, if you are too impatient to get that high, you can just multiclass into druid 2 levels.
My only good homebrews: Races, Subclasses.
An aspiring DM and Homebrewer. Ask me if you need anything.
If you Polymorph yourself into a T-Rex you get your Intelligence dropped down to a 2. It's going to be really impressing looking, and a T-Rex has all kinds of advantages, but as usual, you don't get to Attack. You don't qualify for any Bonus Actions, and you only get a Reaction if they run away from you. Sure, once you get your Attack of Opportunity and you Bite them, you get a bunch of damage, but you can't hurt them any more until you let them go and chase them down again. How likely are you to let them go with a 2 intelligence?
A T-Rex is Huge. As it walks around the battlefield (you can't run) it gets to soak up all kinds of attacks while it stubbornly refuses to let go of the snack it can't eat.
<Insert clever signature here>
You just learned why I’m playing a Circle of the Moon Druid. It’s the closest thing to a true shapeshifter that there is in 5e. it’s a lot of fun!
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