How to homebrew Wild Shape Effects (WIP)

• Do you have Homebrew switched ON for this character?

was this.... ty for your advice.        

Just thank you!!! This is perfect, it's hard to believe that main feature of druid is missing in dnd beyond... 
I was thinking about Temporary HP, maybe adding "spell" to beast with temporary HP will do the trick? After applying feat - spell will appear and then u need to cast it and done?

Casting a spell from a feat (or anywhere else) cannot add temporary HP, or temporarily add HP to your character.

Please see the Homebrew Subclasses & Species FAQ, question #2, which has been updated to include new information you may find relevant: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/homebrew-house-rules/131411-a-homebrewers-how-to-faq#HomebrewSubclasses&SpeciesFAQ).

Heya,

I'm working on converting a homebrew druid subclass on Reddit to 2024 rules for use as a homebrew subclass, and I've run into a question about how level 3 druid subclass features are intended to be implemented mainly through wild shape.

Looking at the official 2024 druid subclasses, it appears that they receive at level 3:

1. A feature that modifies or expands the use of Wild Shape (Land's Aid, Circle Forms, Wrath of the Sea, Starry Form), and

2. Additional granted subclass feature (additional spells or another granted ability - Circle of the Land Spells, Circle of the Moon Spells, Circle of the Sea Spells,  and Star Map)

However, when creating a 2024 druid subclass using the homebrew tools, it appears that only a single 3rd-level subclass feature can be added.

My assumption is that the Wild Shape modifications aren't actually implementated as a second subclass feature, but are instead attached to or modifying the existing Wild Shape class feature in some other way.

Cany anyone clarify how official subclasses accomplish this?  Specifically:

1. Are Wild Shape modification treated differently than normal subclass features?

2. Is there a supported way for homebrew creators to modify or replace portions of the base Wild Shape feature?

3. If not, what is the recommended approach for implementing a subclass whose primary feature changes how Wild Shape functions?

I'm less concerned with the game design itself and more with the following the intended implementation pattern used by the official 2024 druid subclasses?

Thank you for any guidance you can provide!

There shouldn't be anything to prevent you from adding more than one subclass feature at the same level in a homebrew subclass; people do it all the time. What's stopping you, specifically? Is there an error message of some kind?

Hi Wagnarokkr,

There's no issue with creating multiple subclass features at the same level. The issue comes when trying to create a subclass that's actually publishable for the community.

When creating a private homebrew subclass, I can add as many 3rd-level features as I want. However, when I try to publish it, the validator flags it because it expects only one feature at 3rd level.

That made me wonder whether the official 2024 druid subclasses are actually implementing their Wild Shape enhancements as subclass features at all, or whether those are attached to the base Wild Shape class feature through some internal method that isn't available to homebrew creators.

That's really what I'm trying to understand—not how to work around the limitation, but how the official content is structured behind the scenes so I can follow the same implementation pattern if it's supported.

Quote from Xullnolu >>

When creating a private homebrew subclass, I can add as many 3rd-level features as I want. However, when I try to publish it, the validator flags it because it expects only one feature at 3rd level.

I don't think that's actually the case. Have you actually tried publishing it with just one feature at that level?

I say this because there is currently a bug in that validator where it doesn't seem to accept any combination of feature levels for homebrew subclasses for the 5.5e Druid class. There have been a variety of reports of this issue in the Bugs & Support forum, but there hasn't been any official response yet.

That validator has a long history of being extremely buggy and error-prone, with issues like this cropping up every few months or so. It seems much more likely that you've run into this issue than that the validator is actually intentionally restricting you to one feature per level.

Thanks for the reply! I think you're probably right.

I went back and found the official publication requirements, and they only specify which levels subclass features are allowed to appear at for publication—they don't actually say you're limited to a single feature at those levels. So it does seem likely that what I'm seeing is a validator issue rather than an intentional restriction.  https://dndbeyond-support.wizards.com/hc/en-us/articles/7747240870036-Making-Homebrew-Subclasses-Publishable?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

That said, I'm still curious about the implementation side of things, because that's really what I was trying to understand.

The official 2024 druid subclasses all have features like Circle Forms, Starry Form, and Wrath of the Sea that fundamentally change or consume Wild Shape, yet the homebrew tools don't appear to expose any way to modify the base Wild Shape class feature itself. The 2024 design also explicitly describes these subclass abilities as using Wild Shape as a resource rather than replacing it.

Do you happen to know how those official subclasses are actually implemented in D&D Beyond?

• Are those just ordinary subclass features with some internal hooks that homebrewers don't have access to?

• Is there an internal modifier type for class features that's unavailable in the public homebrew tools?

• Or are they implemented some other way entirely?

That's the part I'm really trying to learn, since I'd like to follow the same implementation pattern as the official 2024 subclasses if it's possible.

Can you just, like, talk like a human? Without the AI, please?

I don't know any of the details of how those features are implemented internally, though I don't think there's anything about them that would require anything special. They do not actually modify the Wild Shape feature from a technical perspective; they just add features and actions to the character sheet the way other subclass features do.