I'll admit my reasons for asking are related to a homebrew I'm working on, but do need to ask. So the arguably OP aspect of abusing Wild Shape (esp after 20th level) is that, say, you Wild Shape into a wolf, you become a wolf with 11 hit points, and assuming you survive a combat, you can use 1 (or infinitely more with Archdruid) other use(s) of Wild Shape to (even during the same combat) wild shape again into a wolf with a fresh batch of 11 hit points, yes? Can the same be said of a familiar? If you cast Find Familiar and get a cat familiar with 2 hit points, and it somehow only takes 1 dmg, can you cast Find Familiar again and choose cat again and get a 2 hit point cat?
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
So the main mechanical difference between having a familiar by your side who can fight for you (like Warlock's Pact of the Chain Familiar) and wild shaping to fight is if you wild shape, you have the beast's hit points as a buffer between damage and your hit points (effectively making the beast's hit points temporary hit points for you) and the familiar has its hit points only, is that right?
Yes that would be a correct statement. Familiar is mostly used as a 'helping hand' for certain circumstance, and grant you some minor assistance.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Attempting to homebrew up a simple enough solution for a 1:1 Wild Shape:Find Familiar substitution for druid, (where the druid can use a beast-only Wild Shape CR-limited familiar in place of wild shaping) but trying to keep it on topic about the rules between the two.
Something else that may be of note for this would be in the wild shape the druid takes on the physical stats of the creature they become (whether that makes them higher or lower than their normal stats) which changes their saving throws for certain effects.
Is your plan to just have large summonable ally? Like the animal companion for Ranger Beastmasters?
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Essentially, tho druids are codeified as casters, and I like the overlap between familiars and wild shape as magical (as compared to a companion) not to mention wild shape is an activated ability sort of feature, so I hoped to have them share how they are used. By doing it that way, I hoped a druid variant of find familiar (similar to how a Warlock's Pact of the Chain alters Find Familiar a tad) could drop the celestial/fey/fiend part and summon a familiar chosen the same way a Wild Shape form is chosen through level progression (tho movement speed for a familiar might not really need limitation like wild shape does) AND allow Circle of the Moon to apply to the familiar instead of the wild shape.
Big curiosity is how Archdruid would assist Find Familiar as a replacement for Wild Shape, as not just does Find Familiar take a while to cast, but besides the hit point recycling you brought up, and sort of the option to change what your familiar is, there isn't much benefit to casting FF indefinitely. Only thing to maybe do that and solve the relative low hit points is grab from UA's Circle of Spores' Symbiotic Entity, simply for the "gain 3 temporary hit points per level you have in this class" part applied to the familiar, to simulate the additional health Wild Shape provided you.
So I think the line you will have to walk for that is the tradeoff of having a fully functional creature to help you fight and that you will still be able to cast spells while the creature is summoned to help you fight, vs being in a shapeshift form which limits spellcasting but gives you that big hit point buffer.
Maybe something to consider is having the familiar but the wild shape uses can be channeled into the familiar either changing it entirely or giving it a big boost to its abilities allowing it to temporarily become an empowered version or something along those lines. In this case you could model it off of the circle of the moon but perhaps reduce the rate at which higher hit die creatures can be empowered, such as (1/4)*Class level for the CR they can change into. I think it will be tough to find a happy medium that doesn't run roughshod over other classes. Probably if you get further along with this project playtest it against the circle of the moon as a gauge of overall power.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
As in, don't give the familiar he extra hp? I'm pretty sure about using the uses of wild shape to cast find familiar, so this can still just be an optional house rule instead of an entire druid circle, which maybe can allow circle of the moon to apply, but maybe the 2nd use can alternatively be used (besides wild shape itself, or the FF casting) give the familiar either the 3 temp hp per druid level OR temp hp = result of yoir hit die OR your hit point maximum (to give your familiar what YOU normally get from the Wild Shape buffer) whichever is most balanced, so it's not unbalanced until 20th level. But you make a good point, I hadn't thought of playtesting them against each other. (Err, literally against each other, or see which one does better in the same combat scenario for each of them?)
One thing for sure to keep it (generally) weaker than Ranger's Companion is it only can attack in place of YOUR attack, so it's not really different than you attacking during wild shape, but you are still vulnerable, as your familiar is getting all the perks you would normally get if you'd chosen the Wild Shape route instead of this chosen Find Familiar route.
I was thinking about something close to gifting your wild shape to the familiar, including the hit points appropriate for whatever empowered form it changes into. I would also assume that while powered up the familiar would act as a normal full creature not relying on you giving it directions, something like you give it a piece of your life force to make it stronger (no negative effect to the caster just flavor wise).
The second part was a trade off since you would still be able to cast spells while the little buddy is beefed up, to limit the potency of the familiar itself. This got me to thinking that you could just use a step down of the normal circle of the moon druid CR progression, 1/2 cr to start when used on your familiar, at 6th it becomes 1 cr, 9th 2 cr, 12th, 3cr et al.
Do you think that might be a way that would work ok? Does this make sense?
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I use my wild shape ability and give myBat familiar the shape of a Black Bear which is CR 1/2.
MY familiar now in the form of the Black Bear with 17 hp can still take normal actions on each of its turns including multi attack. When its health pool drops to zero it reverts back to the bat.
At level 6 I can now turn my little bat buddy into a Brown Bear with CR 1.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
By "[Circle] of Companionship" do you mean Circle of the Moon renamed when used for the familiar option?
Well, I'm trying to still keep it balanced while still giving players who choose to use this the option of doing something besides Wild Shape without losing value, and the only reason I'm diving this deep is because just *roleplaying* your wild shape as a separate creature is a bit wacky when you want said separate creature to move about on its own and take its own non-attack actions. So, Wild Shape gives you the player 1.Two opportunities to have a beast with beast stats that can attack by you spending an action, and you end up wherever it does, and it expires regardless of healh. 2. Extra hit points. 3. No spellcasting til 18th level. 4. Constant access to 1 + 2 at 20th level. So I think so far it's super close for the familiar to basically give you 1. Up to two opportunities to take 10 rounds to get a beast with beast stats that can attack by you spending an action, or take other actions, but moves separately, and only goes away if its health is depleted. 2. Up to two opportunities to increase the hit points said beast has. 3. Keep your spellcasting. 4. Constant access to 2, + 1 if you really want/need it. Am I missing something Wild Shape offers that this feature so far doesn't?
I think you should go full tilt and just make it an entirely different subclass than Circle of the Moon, just using the CotM as a good starting point to balance against.
To answer your question being able to spellcast without dropping the creature form, is a bit of a big deal. You need that heal spell for a friend? Normally you would have to cancel your Wild Shape to heal them, then use another use of wild shape to change back. If you can just spend a turn not giving directions to the familiar to cast your spell you wouldn't have to cancel the wild shape ability. Could just make it act exactly like wildshape and prevent casting altogether while it is active. But that might end up more negative than positive, probably would be as the enemy can still attack you character while said character is doing nothing useful, except maybe running away.
And yes, I was just using a stand in name for another circle that would be focused towards the familiar.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I feel like being able to cast spells on turns you don't intend for your familiar to attack is the only mechanical bonus over Wild Shape. Your health is no safer, in fact more vulnerable than if you Wild Shaped. Seems giving the familiar less than your own max hit points is best to keep it not AS good as getting your max hit points + the beast's hit points. You would need to cast the spell to get the familiar, which takes a while, and rested and restored uses or not, to have another chance, you have to cast it again. The familiar also doesn't get your mental scores, so I think it's either equal or a LITTLE less effective than Wild Shape.
You would need to cast the spell to get the familiar, which takes a while, and rested and restored uses or not, to have another chance, you have to cast it again.
I think there are some seriously interesting ideas being put out here by HeroZero, but I am a bit unsure what you mean with the part I quoted.
Specifically, what do you mean by "to have another chance"?
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
As in, if you are taken out of Wild Shape, if you have another use, you can use it, and poof, you're a beast again. If this familiar dies, if you have another use, you can use it and wait 10 rounds while your familiar is resummoned.
Trying to make it flavorfully work (as that's the main point, having an animal by your side, not becoming one) and still be simple as "if you really want to turn into animals, there ya go, but use this if you want an animal familiar instead" and not have to actively change Wild Shape itself or Archdruid (notably, Beast Spells isn't the only 18th level feature, so it can be ignored when using this houserule)
As in, if you are taken out of Wild Shape, if you have another use, you can use it, and poof, you're a beast again. If this familiar dies, if you have another use, you can use it and wait 10 rounds while your familiar is resummoned.
Trying to make it flavorfully work (as that's the main point, having an animal by your side, not becoming one) and still be simple as "if you really want to turn into animals, there ya go, but use this if you want an animal familiar instead" and not have to actively change Wild Shape itself or Archdruid (notably, Beast Spells isn't the only 18th level feature, so it can be ignored when using this houserule)
I see now! Yes, indeed the death of the familiar in-continuity would be a problem, as it would effectively hinder this character version less useful.
I think, though, that HeroZero's idea of applying Wildshape to an otherwise normal familiar (maybe limiting the choice of the base only to natural animals) can solve the issue, as the familiar would still have the wildshape's HP buffer. If you still feel this is too much of a risk, why not make it so that if the wildshape is broken due to damage in combat, the familiar is teleported to you automatically (or towards you up to x feet)?
Maybe for the tenth level ability replace the elemental wild shape with something to shorten the Find Familiar spell casting time, turning it into an action if a spell slot is used. Giving the familiar Relentless Endurance as well could be something else to consider. Or even something brand new like the after exiting wild shape they phase shift for a round gaining advantage on saving throws, and imposing disadvantage on being hit by enemies. I picture this as ye olde invulnerability frames in video games right after you lose a life preventing you from dying again immediately. Or in this case from the familiar being murdered.
Heck even just becoming untargetable as they shift into the Astral plane for a round after exiting Wild Shape would solve the issues in conjunction with Relentless Endurance (just to prevent the instant death).
Question, do you think for the familiar to wild shape you have to be able to touch them? Something I was thinking about when Lek mentioned having the familiar return to you after it loses wild shape.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Not saying someone else wouldn't like that option in their game, but the purpose is to do away with the flavor of wildshaping, and I know casting FF while your familiar is out can change your choice of what type of beast your familiar is, but the idea of your familiar turning into other animals like that defeats the point of what a familiar is meant to be. You have a bird, you have a rat, you have a cat, or using WS's progression, a wolf or even a bear, but not some shapeshifting animal. Turning yourself into an animal makes sense to prevent you from casting spells, but a familiar encourages your choice to cast spells. It being a spell itself limits it. Though, like I'd said, what if when the familiar is initially summoned, it gains either your hit point maximum as temporary hit points OR if that's TOO good, then the 3 temporary hit points per level in Druid, so the familiar has its own buffer that doesn't make IT change shape.
I think it is trying to find a really difficult way to make them more useful.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
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I'll admit my reasons for asking are related to a homebrew I'm working on, but do need to ask. So the arguably OP aspect of abusing Wild Shape (esp after 20th level) is that, say, you Wild Shape into a wolf, you become a wolf with 11 hit points, and assuming you survive a combat, you can use 1 (or infinitely more with Archdruid) other use(s) of Wild Shape to (even during the same combat) wild shape again into a wolf with a fresh batch of 11 hit points, yes? Can the same be said of a familiar? If you cast Find Familiar and get a cat familiar with 2 hit points, and it somehow only takes 1 dmg, can you cast Find Familiar again and choose cat again and get a 2 hit point cat?
Yes after you recast Find Familiar I would assume it health would regenerate. Find Familiar.
Keep in mind it takes a long while to resummon the familiar...
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
So the main mechanical difference between having a familiar by your side who can fight for you (like Warlock's Pact of the Chain Familiar) and wild shaping to fight is if you wild shape, you have the beast's hit points as a buffer between damage and your hit points (effectively making the beast's hit points temporary hit points for you) and the familiar has its hit points only, is that right?
Yes that would be a correct statement. Familiar is mostly used as a 'helping hand' for certain circumstance, and grant you some minor assistance.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Attempting to homebrew up a simple enough solution for a 1:1 Wild Shape:Find Familiar substitution for druid, (where the druid can use a beast-only Wild Shape CR-limited familiar in place of wild shaping) but trying to keep it on topic about the rules between the two.
Something else that may be of note for this would be in the wild shape the druid takes on the physical stats of the creature they become (whether that makes them higher or lower than their normal stats) which changes their saving throws for certain effects.
Is your plan to just have large summonable ally? Like the animal companion for Ranger Beastmasters?
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Essentially, tho druids are codeified as casters, and I like the overlap between familiars and wild shape as magical (as compared to a companion) not to mention wild shape is an activated ability sort of feature, so I hoped to have them share how they are used. By doing it that way, I hoped a druid variant of find familiar (similar to how a Warlock's Pact of the Chain alters Find Familiar a tad) could drop the celestial/fey/fiend part and summon a familiar chosen the same way a Wild Shape form is chosen through level progression (tho movement speed for a familiar might not really need limitation like wild shape does) AND allow Circle of the Moon to apply to the familiar instead of the wild shape.
Big curiosity is how Archdruid would assist Find Familiar as a replacement for Wild Shape, as not just does Find Familiar take a while to cast, but besides the hit point recycling you brought up, and sort of the option to change what your familiar is, there isn't much benefit to casting FF indefinitely. Only thing to maybe do that and solve the relative low hit points is grab from UA's Circle of Spores' Symbiotic Entity, simply for the "gain 3 temporary hit points per level you have in this class" part applied to the familiar, to simulate the additional health Wild Shape provided you.
So I think the line you will have to walk for that is the tradeoff of having a fully functional creature to help you fight and that you will still be able to cast spells while the creature is summoned to help you fight, vs being in a shapeshift form which limits spellcasting but gives you that big hit point buffer.
Maybe something to consider is having the familiar but the wild shape uses can be channeled into the familiar either changing it entirely or giving it a big boost to its abilities allowing it to temporarily become an empowered version or something along those lines. In this case you could model it off of the circle of the moon but perhaps reduce the rate at which higher hit die creatures can be empowered, such as (1/4)*Class level for the CR they can change into. I think it will be tough to find a happy medium that doesn't run roughshod over other classes. Probably if you get further along with this project playtest it against the circle of the moon as a gauge of overall power.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
As in, don't give the familiar he extra hp? I'm pretty sure about using the uses of wild shape to cast find familiar, so this can still just be an optional house rule instead of an entire druid circle, which maybe can allow circle of the moon to apply, but maybe the 2nd use can alternatively be used (besides wild shape itself, or the FF casting) give the familiar either the 3 temp hp per druid level OR temp hp = result of yoir hit die OR your hit point maximum (to give your familiar what YOU normally get from the Wild Shape buffer) whichever is most balanced, so it's not unbalanced until 20th level. But you make a good point, I hadn't thought of playtesting them against each other. (Err, literally against each other, or see which one does better in the same combat scenario for each of them?)
One thing for sure to keep it (generally) weaker than Ranger's Companion is it only can attack in place of YOUR attack, so it's not really different than you attacking during wild shape, but you are still vulnerable, as your familiar is getting all the perks you would normally get if you'd chosen the Wild Shape route instead of this chosen Find Familiar route.
I was thinking about something close to gifting your wild shape to the familiar, including the hit points appropriate for whatever empowered form it changes into. I would also assume that while powered up the familiar would act as a normal full creature not relying on you giving it directions, something like you give it a piece of your life force to make it stronger (no negative effect to the caster just flavor wise).
The second part was a trade off since you would still be able to cast spells while the little buddy is beefed up, to limit the potency of the familiar itself. This got me to thinking that you could just use a step down of the normal circle of the moon druid CR progression, 1/2 cr to start when used on your familiar, at 6th it becomes 1 cr, 9th 2 cr, 12th, 3cr et al.
Do you think that might be a way that would work ok? Does this make sense?
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Example
I am a level 4 druid Circle of Companionship
I use my wild shape ability and give myBat familiar the shape of a Black Bear which is CR 1/2.
MY familiar now in the form of the Black Bear with 17 hp can still take normal actions on each of its turns including multi attack. When its health pool drops to zero it reverts back to the bat.
At level 6 I can now turn my little bat buddy into a Brown Bear with CR 1.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
By "[Circle] of Companionship" do you mean Circle of the Moon renamed when used for the familiar option?
Well, I'm trying to still keep it balanced while still giving players who choose to use this the option of doing something besides Wild Shape without losing value, and the only reason I'm diving this deep is because just *roleplaying* your wild shape as a separate creature is a bit wacky when you want said separate creature to move about on its own and take its own non-attack actions. So, Wild Shape gives you the player 1.Two opportunities to have a beast with beast stats that can attack by you spending an action, and you end up wherever it does, and it expires regardless of healh. 2. Extra hit points. 3. No spellcasting til 18th level. 4. Constant access to 1 + 2 at 20th level. So I think so far it's super close for the familiar to basically give you 1. Up to two opportunities to take 10 rounds to get a beast with beast stats that can attack by you spending an action, or take other actions, but moves separately, and only goes away if its health is depleted. 2. Up to two opportunities to increase the hit points said beast has. 3. Keep your spellcasting. 4. Constant access to 2, + 1 if you really want/need it. Am I missing something Wild Shape offers that this feature so far doesn't?
I think you should go full tilt and just make it an entirely different subclass than Circle of the Moon, just using the CotM as a good starting point to balance against.
To answer your question being able to spellcast without dropping the creature form, is a bit of a big deal. You need that heal spell for a friend? Normally you would have to cancel your Wild Shape to heal them, then use another use of wild shape to change back. If you can just spend a turn not giving directions to the familiar to cast your spell you wouldn't have to cancel the wild shape ability. Could just make it act exactly like wildshape and prevent casting altogether while it is active. But that might end up more negative than positive, probably would be as the enemy can still attack you character while said character is doing nothing useful, except maybe running away.
And yes, I was just using a stand in name for another circle that would be focused towards the familiar.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I feel like being able to cast spells on turns you don't intend for your familiar to attack is the only mechanical bonus over Wild Shape. Your health is no safer, in fact more vulnerable than if you Wild Shaped. Seems giving the familiar less than your own max hit points is best to keep it not AS good as getting your max hit points + the beast's hit points. You would need to cast the spell to get the familiar, which takes a while, and rested and restored uses or not, to have another chance, you have to cast it again. The familiar also doesn't get your mental scores, so I think it's either equal or a LITTLE less effective than Wild Shape.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
As in, if you are taken out of Wild Shape, if you have another use, you can use it, and poof, you're a beast again. If this familiar dies, if you have another use, you can use it and wait 10 rounds while your familiar is resummoned.
Trying to make it flavorfully work (as that's the main point, having an animal by your side, not becoming one) and still be simple as "if you really want to turn into animals, there ya go, but use this if you want an animal familiar instead" and not have to actively change Wild Shape itself or Archdruid (notably, Beast Spells isn't the only 18th level feature, so it can be ignored when using this houserule)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Maybe for the tenth level ability replace the elemental wild shape with something to shorten the Find Familiar spell casting time, turning it into an action if a spell slot is used. Giving the familiar Relentless Endurance as well could be something else to consider. Or even something brand new like the after exiting wild shape they phase shift for a round gaining advantage on saving throws, and imposing disadvantage on being hit by enemies. I picture this as ye olde invulnerability frames in video games right after you lose a life preventing you from dying again immediately. Or in this case from the familiar being murdered.
Heck even just becoming untargetable as they shift into the Astral plane for a round after exiting Wild Shape would solve the issues in conjunction with Relentless Endurance (just to prevent the instant death).
Question, do you think for the familiar to wild shape you have to be able to touch them? Something I was thinking about when Lek mentioned having the familiar return to you after it loses wild shape.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Not saying someone else wouldn't like that option in their game, but the purpose is to do away with the flavor of wildshaping, and I know casting FF while your familiar is out can change your choice of what type of beast your familiar is, but the idea of your familiar turning into other animals like that defeats the point of what a familiar is meant to be. You have a bird, you have a rat, you have a cat, or using WS's progression, a wolf or even a bear, but not some shapeshifting animal. Turning yourself into an animal makes sense to prevent you from casting spells, but a familiar encourages your choice to cast spells. It being a spell itself limits it. Though, like I'd said, what if when the familiar is initially summoned, it gains either your hit point maximum as temporary hit points OR if that's TOO good, then the 3 temporary hit points per level in Druid, so the familiar has its own buffer that doesn't make IT change shape.
I think it is trying to find a really difficult way to make them more useful.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."