Edit: I'm fine with WS being part of Channel Nature. Channel Nature just needs better options.
I dunno. I kind of want Nature Druids to be able to use Wild Shape as an important part of their character and their character's theme. However, having all the naturey parts of the class be in Channel Nature makes it so this isn't easily accomplishable. Perhaps we could have a small amount of cool and viable nature abilities in Wild Shape, so long as the rest of the Druid class also has some important and cool features to play into this theme that aren't tied to CN.
That way, Nature Druids could have Wild Shape be an important part of their character theme and still have lots of nature powers, or they could have it not be so important and have even more of that cool stuff (through using channel nature for the non-Wild Shape abilities).
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants. The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
Edit: I'm fine with WS being part of Channel Nature. Channel Nature just needs better options.
I dunno. I kind of want Nature Druids to be able to use Wild Shape as an important part of their character and their character's theme. However, having all the naturey parts of the class be in Channel Nature makes it so this isn't easily accomplishable. Perhaps we could have a small amount of cool and viable nature abilities in Wild Shape, so long as the rest of the Druid class also has some important and cool features to play into this theme that aren't tied to CN.
That way, Nature Druids could have Wild Shape be an important part of their character theme and still have lots of nature powers, or they could have it not be so important and have even more of that cool stuff (through using channel nature for the non-Wild Shape abilities).
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants. The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
If there was a CN that allowed a druid to cast Primal ritual spells without having them prepared that would be nice (I did a quick search of rituals on the 5E druid list and 13 came up. Not sure if that includes any additional spells added in Tasha's). Right now, you have some spells that fit the theme of the druid, but many times don't get prepared because they are so situational. I think in 15 levels of my Land Druid, I only prepared speak with animals once. It was for a specific situation, although I admit it can be useful in more situations then the one I used it for. But having to pick and choose what spells I need prepared keeps me from having some spells ready to go. There are some spells that I take that I never unprepare (Darkvision for one, since my druid is human and one other party member doesn't have darkvision. The rest of the party does).
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants. The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
If there was a CN that allowed a druid to cast Primal ritual spells without having them prepared that would be nice (I did a quick search of rituals on the 5E druid list and 13 came up. Not sure if that includes any additional spells added in Tasha's). Right now, you have some spells that fit the theme of the druid, but many times don't get prepared because they are so situational. I think in 15 levels of my Land Druid, I only prepared speak with animals once. It was for a specific situation, although I admit it can be useful in more situations then the one I used it for. But having to pick and choose what spells I need prepared keeps me from having some spells ready to go. There are some spells that I take that I never unprepare (Darkvision for one, since my druid is human and one other party member doesn't have darkvision. The rest of the party does).
That would be interesting if one use of Channel Nature is to cast rituals without having them prepared, but I wonder, at higher levels, a later improvement, would only allow you to cast it without preparing it, with the normal ritual time or something more accelerated? (Or with some minor improvement, would you just cast them as a ritual or if you spent spell slots at the same time could you cast the ones with the ritual tag as a spell, without preparing them?) I mean, a few rituals are a bit more complicated than usual to cast. being ritual (Apart from the fact that several are terribly situational), like friendship with animals if the animal is already potentially hostile or if you don't know if the animal will stay within reach when you finish the ritual, I had already noticed the large number of rituals that has Druids in 5e only with the player's manual (I didn't check if they win with tasha or with another supplement), I didn't check but it is possible that druids, without considering the subclass additions, is the class with the most rituals available , and if it is passed by another class it would only be the wizard.
But it is true, the druid has a large number of rituals, but many times we hardly even consider preparing them unless we anticipate that we will use them the next day, because many are situational and if you have many of those prepared, you lose the opportunity to have them prepared. many others, are useful as combat. This would bring about greater flexibility and at the same time improve the druid's spell slot economy.
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants. The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
If there was a CN that allowed a druid to cast Primal ritual spells without having them prepared that would be nice (I did a quick search of rituals on the 5E druid list and 13 came up. Not sure if that includes any additional spells added in Tasha's). Right now, you have some spells that fit the theme of the druid, but many times don't get prepared because they are so situational. I think in 15 levels of my Land Druid, I only prepared speak with animals once. It was for a specific situation, although I admit it can be useful in more situations then the one I used it for. But having to pick and choose what spells I need prepared keeps me from having some spells ready to go. There are some spells that I take that I never unprepare (Darkvision for one, since my druid is human and one other party member doesn't have darkvision. The rest of the party does).
That would be interesting if one use of Channel Nature is to cast rituals without having them prepared, but I wonder, at higher levels, a later improvement, would only allow you to cast it without preparing it, with the normal ritual time or something more accelerated? (Or with some minor improvement, would you just cast them as a ritual or if you spent spell slots at the same time could you cast the ones with the ritual tag as a spell, without preparing them?) I mean, a few rituals are a bit more complicated than usual to cast. being ritual (Apart from the fact that several are terribly situational), like friendship with animals if the animal is already potentially hostile or if you don't know if the animal will stay within reach when you finish the ritual, I had already noticed the large number of rituals that has Druids in 5e only with the player's manual (I didn't check if they win with tasha or with another supplement), I didn't check but it is possible that druids, without considering the subclass additions, is the class with the most rituals available , and if it is passed by another class it would only be the wizard.
But it is true, the druid has a large number of rituals, but many times we hardly even consider preparing them unless we anticipate that we will use them the next day, because many are situational and if you have many of those prepared, you lose the opportunity to have them prepared. many others, are useful as combat. This would bring about greater flexibility and at the same time improve the druid's spell slot economy.
Yes, the CN should let you cast primal rituals you didn’t prepare and then improve to let you cast them at their normal cast time if you expend the appropriate spell slot. I was mistaken and animal friendship is not a ritual spell, so I would like that and speak with plants to become ritual spells. Maybe call the CN Natural Magic. I feel with this added to nature’s aid along side animal companion, and healing blossom’s let everyone pick their play style or at the least have a CN option they would use at level 2.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the Circle of the Moon is to the Druid what Bladesinger is to the Wizard. A subclass designed to add Extra Attack and melee capability to a full caster class. Trying to bake that into the baseline Druid does it all a disservice IMO.
Personally, I'd feel a lot better if the Wild Shape was just 'Turn into a CR 0 Beast' and Combat Wild shape as a feature went with the Moon Druid.
When you activate that feature you get the following statistical changes.
You may use your Wisdom Modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity Modifiers. You gain natural weapons that deal 1d6 damage on a weapon strike. You gain a bonus action unarmed strike (and you get Extra Attack at level 6). You keep your Armor (so magic armor still works), Skills, Saves, and Proficiencies. You also gain Advantage on any Concentration Rolls. You lose the ability to equip Shields and weapons, and you cannot use tools.
Defensively, I think between Bonus Action healing spells and buffs you should be good for survivability. You should still have to use your spell casting aspect to support the playstyle of the subclass.
Now, let's add some Flavor! If you look at the Beasts in the Monster Manual, they all have Traits, but they repeat a lot and some are basically redundant, for example Charge and Pounce and the various forms of Keen Senses. In fact, you only end up with a list of 10? at most? and each one is basically a single line of text once adapted for our Combat Wild Shape Feature.
So if you add into the Combat Wild shape that when you activate your beast mode you also gain a trait from the list, then at higher levels you get 2 traits, or 3 traits. Then the player gets to 'Build-A-Beast' and the whole thing potentially scales, keeps balanced, and has useful flavor.
All the player needs to add is the quite-literal 'reskinning' of their appearance. No templates needed.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the Circle of the Moon is to the Druid what Bladesinger is to the Wizard. A subclass designed to add Extra Attack and melee capability to a full caster class. Trying to bake that into the baseline Druid does it all a disservice IMO.
Personally, I'd feel a lot better if the Wild Shape was just 'Turn into a CR 0 Beast' and Combat Wild shape as a feature went with the Moon Druid.
When you activate that feature you get the following statistical changes.
You may use your Wisdom Modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity Modifiers. You gain natural weapons that deal 1d6 damage on a weapon strike. You gain a bonus action unarmed strike (and you get Extra Attack at level 6). You keep your Armor (so magic armor still works), Skills, Saves, and Proficiencies. You also gain Advantage on any Concentration Rolls. You lose the ability to equip Shields and weapons, and you cannot use tools.
Defensively, I think between Bonus Action healing spells and buffs you should be good for survivability. You should still have to use your spell casting aspect to support the playstyle of the subclass.
Now, let's add some Flavor! If you look at the Beasts in the Monster Manual, they all have Traits, but they repeat a lot and some are basically redundant, for example Charge and Pounce and the various forms of Keen Senses. In fact, you only end up with a list of 10? at most? and each one is basically a single line of text once adapted for our Combat Wild Shape Feature.
So if you add into the Combat Wild shape that when you activate your beast mode you also gain a trait from the list, then at higher levels you get 2 traits, or 3 traits. Then the player gets to 'Build-A-Beast' and the whole thing potentially scales, keeps balanced, and has useful flavor.
All the player needs to add is the quite-literal 'reskinning' of their appearance. No templates needed.
Confused at the "no template" what you just described was a template with like 10 options on it. Just like all the tasha summon spells.
you and I may have different definitions on what a template is then (assuming you were referring to the Combat Wildshape)
I'm suggesting a feature that when active grants certain effects.
"As a Bonus action, you may use your Channel Nature to enter your Combat Wildshape, when the Combat Wildshape is active, you can use your Wisdom Modifier instead of Strength and Dexterity and you have advantage on concentration checks. You gain natural weapons that deal 1d6 damage, but you cannot hold any shields or use any tools. You may use your Bonus Action to deliver an Unarmed strike. Your physical appearance changes to that of a Beast of your choice, but your size is medium. Additionally you may choose one 'Trait' from the following table. "
Beast Trait Table would then list the options.
Keen Senses. Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.
Pack Tactics. Advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Charge. If you move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with an attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra <insert number> damage.
Escape. You can take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Camouflage. Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Flyby. You gain a flying speed of 60 ft and do not provoke opportunity attacks when you fly out of an enemy's reach <unlocks at X level>
Aquatic. You gain a Swimming speed of 60ft and can breathe underwater. <unlocks at X level>
Spider Climb. You gain a climb speed equal to your movement speed and you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. <unlocks at X level>
Edit: I forgot I wanted to make Powerful Build an option. edited for clarity of how its activated.
you and I may have different definitions on what a template is then (assuming you were referring to the Combat Wildshape)
I'm suggesting a feature that when active grants certain effects.
"When the Combat Wildshape is active, you can use your Wisdom Modifier instead of Strength and Dexterity and you have advantage on concentration checks. You gain natural weapons that deal 1d6 damage, but you cannot hold any shields or use any tools. You may use your Bonus Action to deliver an Unarmed strike. Your physical appearance changes to that of a Beast of your choice, but your size is medium. Additionally you may choose one 'Trait' from the following table. "
Beast Trait Table would then list the options.
Keen Senses. Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.
Pack Tactics. Advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Charge. If you move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with an attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra <insert number> damage.
Escape. You can take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Camouflage. Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Flyby. You gain a flying speed of 60 ft and do not provoke opportunity attacks when you fly out of an enemy's reach <unlocks at X level>
Aquatic. You gain a Swimming speed of 60ft and can breathe underwater. <unlocks at X level>
Spider Climb. You gain a climb speed equal to your movement speed and you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. <unlocks at X level>
Edit: I forgot I wanted to make Powerful Build an option.
So....with just a few tweaks this is the Animal of the Land template in the Druid UA, but with options. You literally just made a template.
Why? The people who want to play shapeshifters are gonna pick moon druid anyway, and for everyone else it's a random wart on their character.
Why did you ask why and delete the part of my post were I already answered your why? What’s the point of quoting my post if you are going to leave a chunk of my post off. Are you intentionally trying to misquote me. Anyway like I said before there is a 20+ year precedence for WS on druids. Also I have used WS when not a moon Druid. I’ve seen others use WS when not a moon Druid. Again if you strip all the features except Spellcasting from base 5e Druid it is still a comparable spell caster to base wizard, this is also true of base one dnd Druid. So if your complaint is about Spellcasting druids have that covered. They are still Nature Wizards. Wild shape is a bonus and one they have had for 3 editions now. Now if one dnd decides to have a Barbarian without rage, a monk without flurry of blows, or a wizard without a spellbook, then I will consider a Druid without WS.
Over time The druid has had wild shape from when I started playing back in ADnD 2nd.
In ADnD 2nd you got shapechange at 7th lvl It used the shape change spell for its effects but you could only turn into normal creatures (beasts) It was more a flavor thing as by this level there where no normal creatures (beasts) that had stats worth using in combat. But wildshape was useful for the movement and scouting options. and was mostly a nature caster .
in DnD 3e at level 5th lvl and was based on the polymorph spell with the restriction you could only turn into beasts. from it was overshadowed by your animal companion that you got at lvl1. as taking the place of the main feature of the druid
in 4e at 1st lvl It is a weird one it says you take the form of a animal but does not change your stats at all, but allows you to use powers with the "beast form" keyword while in this form. The powers you used dictated your form, for example a power could say you turn into a bear and maul a enemy with your claws. You had to do a very specific build to make wild shape useful and was again often overshadowed by your animal companion that you also got at lvl 1
in 5e at 2nd lvl We all know how this one works.
I have played most of my druids in 3rd and 4th edition and having animal companions has always been one of the main features of druids for me.
Why? The people who want to play shapeshifters are gonna pick moon druid anyway, and for everyone else it's a random wart on their character.
Why did you ask why and delete the part of my post were I already answered your why? What’s the point of quoting my post if you are going to leave a chunk of my post off. Are you intentionally trying to misquote me. Anyway like I said before there is a 20+ year precedence for WS on druids. Also I have used WS when not a moon Druid. I’ve seen others use WS when not a moon Druid. Again if you strip all the features except Spellcasting from base 5e Druid it is still a comparable spell caster to base wizard, this is also true of base one dnd Druid. So if your complaint is about Spellcasting druids have that covered. They are still Nature Wizards. Wild shape is a bonus and one they have had for 3 editions now. Now if one dnd decides to have a Barbarian without rage, a monk without flurry of blows, or a wizard without a spellbook, then I will consider a Druid without WS.
Over time The druid has had wild shape from when I started playing back in ADnD 2nd.
In ADnD 2nd you got shapechange at 7th lvl It used the shape change spell for its effects but you could only turn into normal creatures (beasts) It was more a flavor thing as by this level there where no normal creatures (beasts) that had stats worth using in combat. But wildshape was useful for the movement and scouting options. and was mostly a nature caster .
in DnD 3e at level 5th lvl and was based on the polymorph spell with the restriction you could only turn into beasts. from it was overshadowed by your animal companion that you got at lvl1. as taking the place of the main feature of the druid
in 4e at 1st lvl It is a weird one it says you take the form of a animal but does not change your stats at all, but allows you to use powers with the "beast form" keyword while in this form. The powers you used dictated your form, for example a power could say you turn into a bear and maul a enemy with your claws. You had to do a very specific build to make wild shape useful and was again often overshadowed by your animal companion that you also got at lvl 1
in 5e at 2nd lvl We all know how this one works.
I have played most of my druids in 3rd and 4th edition and having animal companions has always been one of the main features of druids for me.
I agree, but 4e base Druid didn’t have animal companions, and animal companion was completely given to the Beast Master Ranger in 5e. The wildfire spirit is the closest thing a Druid has had to it in 5e. I’m pretty sure it’s too late to petition for animal companion to return to being the focus of druids. That fight should have happened during the 5e playtest. The best case scenario now that sub classes take place at the same levels would be that beast master could be taken by Ranger or Druid. I highly doubt they would do that but it could work since none of the features focus on the main class. Either way Wild shape has been around 3 editions from my understanding, 4 from yours. Wildshape seems pretty core to the Druid to me and nothing about having WS take up all the base features takes away from the Druid being a nature caster. In 3e most of the druids features were WS features. In 4e it was about which powers you liked. Wild shape was just a way to switch back and forth between two types of powers. And in 5e it is mostly a scouting tool unless you are one particular subclass. Even still it’s been a part of the Druid for 20+ years. I don’t understand any argument to remove WS from the base class.
I think there may be a misunderstanding here. So ill elaborate on how i built this thing.
I started with the Bladesong of Wizards as a concept and started to modify from there based on the intentions of the UA Wildshape and the overall goal to make a Gish Subclass for Druid.
Then I added the list of optional traits to add to the druid when you use your 'Bearsong' feature because people said they wanted the flavor and utility of the old beast forms, so I literally just copied the traits of the CR 0 beasts, cut out some of the complexity to simplify them and pasted them into a list.
To me, a template is a stat block that has variables in it to allow for growth based on character level like The rangers beasts or the tasha summons. So I'm not sure how you're defining a template or how Bladesong would be a template to you.
Why? The people who want to play shapeshifters are gonna pick moon druid anyway, and for everyone else it's a random wart on their character.
Why did you ask why and delete the part of my post were I already answered your why? What’s the point of quoting my post if you are going to leave a chunk of my post off. Are you intentionally trying to misquote me. Anyway like I said before there is a 20+ year precedence for WS on druids. Also I have used WS when not a moon Druid. I’ve seen others use WS when not a moon Druid. Again if you strip all the features except Spellcasting from base 5e Druid it is still a comparable spell caster to base wizard, this is also true of base one dnd Druid. So if your complaint is about Spellcasting druids have that covered. They are still Nature Wizards. Wild shape is a bonus and one they have had for 3 editions now. Now if one dnd decides to have a Barbarian without rage, a monk without flurry of blows, or a wizard without a spellbook, then I will consider a Druid without WS.
Over time The druid has had wild shape from when I started playing back in ADnD 2nd.
In ADnD 2nd you got shapechange at 7th lvl It used the shape change spell for its effects but you could only turn into normal creatures (beasts) It was more a flavor thing as by this level there where no normal creatures (beasts) that had stats worth using in combat. But wildshape was useful for the movement and scouting options. and was mostly a nature caster .
in DnD 3e at level 5th lvl and was based on the polymorph spell with the restriction you could only turn into beasts. from it was overshadowed by your animal companion that you got at lvl1. as taking the place of the main feature of the druid
in 4e at 1st lvl It is a weird one it says you take the form of a animal but does not change your stats at all, but allows you to use powers with the "beast form" keyword while in this form. The powers you used dictated your form, for example a power could say you turn into a bear and maul a enemy with your claws. You had to do a very specific build to make wild shape useful and was again often overshadowed by your animal companion that you also got at lvl 1
in 5e at 2nd lvl We all know how this one works.
I have played most of my druids in 3rd and 4th edition and having animal companions has always been one of the main features of druids for me.
The 2e/3e rules could be a bit of a model for 6e. Some utility, and it does heal the druid up a bit instead of giving them a big pool of extra HP beyond their regular pool. The abilities also come online later so the problems during level 1-5 go away.
2e rules
"Shapechange
At 7th level the druids gains the ability to shape change.
Change into a bird once a day.
Change into a reptile once a day.
Change into a mammal once a day.
The size and shape assumed by the druid can vary from that of a bullfrog or small bird to that of a black bear. The druid can assume the forms of normal creatures only.
When assuming a new form, a druid is healed of 10–60% of any damage they has suffered (round down).
The druid also assumes the creature’s physical characteristics (armor class, movement mode and rate, etc.). The druid’s clothing and one item held in each hand also become part of their new shape—these reappear when the druid resumes their bipedal form. The items cannot be used while the druid is in animal form."
3e rules
"At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Each time you use wild shape, you regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night.
Any gear worn or carried by the druid melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When the druid reverts to her true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on her body that they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the druid's feet.
The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with.
A druid loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she can communicate normally with other animals of the same general grouping as her new form. (The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a squawk, so changing to this form does not permit speech.)
A druid can use this ability more times per day at 6th, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level, as noted on Table: The Druid. In addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 8th level, a Tiny animal at 11th level, and a Huge animal at 15th level.
The new form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.
At 12th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a plant creature with the same size restrictions as for animal forms. (A druid can’t use this ability to take the form of a plant that isn’t a creature.)
At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a Small, Medium, or Large elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day. These elemental forms are in addition to her normal wild shape usage. In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape, but she retains her own creature type.
At 18th level, a druid becomes able to assume elemental form twice per day, and at 20th level she can do so three times per day. At 20th level, a druid may use this wild shape ability to change into a Huge elemental."
4e rules that used forms to get access to different attacks but otherwise used your stats/HP
'Original druids can use the wild shape at-will power to change into and out of beast form as a minor action once per round. Powers with the beast form keyword can only be used while in beast form. Weapon and implement attack powers without the beast form keyword can't be used while in beast form.
Effect: You change from your humanoid form to beast form or vice versa. When you change from beast form back to your humanoid form you shift 1 square. While you are in beast form, you can't use weapon or implement attack powers that lack the beast form keyword, although you can sustain such powers.
You can choose a specific form when you use wild shape to change into beast form. The beast form is your size, resembles a natural beast or a fey beast, and normally doesn't change your game statistics or movement modes. Your equipment becomes part of your beast form, but you drop anything you are holding, except implements you can use. You continue to gain the benefits of the equipment you wear, except a shield.
You can use the properties and the powers of implements as well as magic items that you wear, but not the properties or the powers of weapons or the powers of wondrous items. While equipment is part of your beast form, it cannot be removed, and anything in a container that is part of your beast form is inaccessible."
Edit: I'm fine with WS being part of Channel Nature. Channel Nature just needs better options.
I dunno. I kind of want Nature Druids to be able to use Wild Shape as an important part of their character and their character's theme. However, having all the naturey parts of the class be in Channel Nature makes it so this isn't easily accomplishable. Perhaps we could have a small amount of cool and viable nature abilities in Wild Shape, so long as the rest of the Druid class also has some important and cool features to play into this theme that aren't tied to CN.
That way, Nature Druids could have Wild Shape be an important part of their character theme and still have lots of nature powers, or they could have it not be so important and have even more of that cool stuff (through using channel nature for the non-Wild Shape abilities).
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants. The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
If there was a CN that allowed a druid to cast Primal ritual spells without having them prepared that would be nice (I did a quick search of rituals on the 5E druid list and 13 came up. Not sure if that includes any additional spells added in Tasha's). Right now, you have some spells that fit the theme of the druid, but many times don't get prepared because they are so situational. I think in 15 levels of my Land Druid, I only prepared speak with animals once. It was for a specific situation, although I admit it can be useful in more situations then the one I used it for. But having to pick and choose what spells I need prepared keeps me from having some spells ready to go. There are some spells that I take that I never unprepare (Darkvision for one, since my druid is human and one other party member doesn't have darkvision. The rest of the party does).
This would be pretty nice, IF they made most of the spells from Staff of the Woodlands (except Spike Growth) into ritual spells. Because right now, a druid doesn't really feel like a druid until they have Staff of the Woodlands to provide the niche super druid-y druid spells on demand without wasting one of your preparation slots on it.
Edit: I'm fine with WS being part of Channel Nature. Channel Nature just needs better options.
I dunno. I kind of want Nature Druids to be able to use Wild Shape as an important part of their character and their character's theme. However, having all the naturey parts of the class be in Channel Nature makes it so this isn't easily accomplishable. Perhaps we could have a small amount of cool and viable nature abilities in Wild Shape, so long as the rest of the Druid class also has some important and cool features to play into this theme that aren't tied to CN.
That way, Nature Druids could have Wild Shape be an important part of their character theme and still have lots of nature powers, or they could have it not be so important and have even more of that cool stuff (through using channel nature for the non-Wild Shape abilities).
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants. The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
If there was a CN that allowed a druid to cast Primal ritual spells without having them prepared that would be nice (I did a quick search of rituals on the 5E druid list and 13 came up. Not sure if that includes any additional spells added in Tasha's). Right now, you have some spells that fit the theme of the druid, but many times don't get prepared because they are so situational. I think in 15 levels of my Land Druid, I only prepared speak with animals once. It was for a specific situation, although I admit it can be useful in more situations then the one I used it for. But having to pick and choose what spells I need prepared keeps me from having some spells ready to go. There are some spells that I take that I never unprepare (Darkvision for one, since my druid is human and one other party member doesn't have darkvision. The rest of the party does).
This would be pretty nice, IF they made most of the spells from Staff of the Woodlands (except Spike Growth) into ritual spells. Because right now, a druid doesn't really feel like a druid until they have Staff of the Woodlands to provide the niche super druid-y druid spells on demand without wasting one of your preparation slots on it.
I mean, if it's so integral to your image of a druid, you should prep it. Most of the plant and animal based ones seem to be worth prepping if you're expecting to be out in woodlands or other wild places, Awaken has an 8 hour casting time so you're unlikely to want to cast it on a day you're expecting combat in the first place unless you're also expecting the prep time, and getting Pass Without Trace constantly at hand for free would just be broken.
This would be pretty nice, IF they made most of the spells from Staff of the Woodlands (except Spike Growth) into ritual spells. Because right now, a druid doesn't really feel like a druid until they have Staff of the Woodlands to provide the niche super druid-y druid spells on demand without wasting one of your preparation slots on it.
Presumably you also don't think barkskin or wall of thorns are needed. Awaken animals takes 8 hours, so it's not a stretch to prep it if you want it. Speak with animals and locate animals or plants are already rituals. That leaves... animal friendship and speak with plants.
I don't really see speak with plants as core to druids, so that really leaves... animal friendship. Which doesn't make sense to turn into a ritual. I'd actually probably give them:
Calm Animals
As a magic action, you speak soothing words. As part of this action you may identify creatures other than yourself to be protected. Each beast within 30' of you must make a wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is charmed for one minute. A creature charmed by this effect is neither hostile to nor frightened by you or other protected creatures. This effect ends immediately if any affected creature is attacked or harmed by you or any other protected creature .
Edit: I'm fine with WS being part of Channel Nature. Channel Nature just needs better options.
I dunno. I kind of want Nature Druids to be able to use Wild Shape as an important part of their character and their character's theme. However, having all the naturey parts of the class be in Channel Nature makes it so this isn't easily accomplishable. Perhaps we could have a small amount of cool and viable nature abilities in Wild Shape, so long as the rest of the Druid class also has some important and cool features to play into this theme that aren't tied to CN.
That way, Nature Druids could have Wild Shape be an important part of their character theme and still have lots of nature powers, or they could have it not be so important and have even more of that cool stuff (through using channel nature for the non-Wild Shape abilities).
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants. The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
If there was a CN that allowed a druid to cast Primal ritual spells without having them prepared that would be nice (I did a quick search of rituals on the 5E druid list and 13 came up. Not sure if that includes any additional spells added in Tasha's). Right now, you have some spells that fit the theme of the druid, but many times don't get prepared because they are so situational. I think in 15 levels of my Land Druid, I only prepared speak with animals once. It was for a specific situation, although I admit it can be useful in more situations then the one I used it for. But having to pick and choose what spells I need prepared keeps me from having some spells ready to go. There are some spells that I take that I never unprepare (Darkvision for one, since my druid is human and one other party member doesn't have darkvision. The rest of the party does).
This would be pretty nice, IF they made most of the spells from Staff of the Woodlands (except Spike Growth) into ritual spells. Because right now, a druid doesn't really feel like a druid until they have Staff of the Woodlands to provide the niche super druid-y druid spells on demand without wasting one of your preparation slots on it.
I mean, if it's so integral to your image of a druid, you should prep it. Most of the plant and animal based ones seem to be worth prepping if you're expecting to be out in woodlands or other wild places, Awaken has an 8 hour casting time so you're unlikely to want to cast it on a day you're expecting combat in the first place unless you're also expecting the prep time, and getting Pass Without Trace constantly at hand for free would just be broken.
But I won't because I want my character to actually be useful to the party. Speak with Animals is such a terrible spell that several races get it at will for free, as does one of the druid subclasses, and in previous editions it was an free always on feature of Wildshape. Why do most 5e druids have to waste a spell preparation on it? Why should I have to gimp my character to get a bunch of ribbon RP abilities (that also cost me spellslots!). The Circle of the Land that does get some of these as class feature or as always prepared spells is considered such a garbage subclass that even though it is free on D&D Beyond it is used by players less than subclasses you have to pay for.
edit: even if it was just a few of those spells, or just the 1st level ones, I feel it would be better than Healing Blossoms. And it would feel more druidy. Let other other classes who have access to primal prepare those, a Druid shouldn’t need to.
As a magic action, you speak soothing words. As part of this action you may identify creatures other than yourself to be protected. Each beast within 30' of you must make a wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is charmed for one minute. A creature charmed by this effect is neither hostile to nor frightened by you or other protected creatures. This effect ends immediately if any affected creature is attacked or harmed by you or any other protected creature .
I like this but IMO it's too focused on animals (kind of a problem with the whole druid class but I digress) it should be possible to play a druid that focuses on plants at least equally to focusing on animals. I'd prefer something like:
Befriend Plants & Animals
As a magic action you extend a soothing presence in a 30ft radius around yourself. Each creature of the Beast or Plant type must succeed on a Wisdom save against your spell DC or be charmed by you for 1 minute. While charmed in this way these creatures are non-hostile towards you and any creature you designate. In addition, any difficult terrain or dangerous terrain caused by plants does not affect you or the creatures you designate.
I originally started typing something different, but because I needed to look up some spells it completely changed my view. I started to say. There is a spell that covers all other nature aspects of being a Druid. Since the new method of preparing spells makes it harder to justify having some of those spells prepared CN should have an option that lets you do something similar or cast those spells. Spells like Animal Friendship, Animal messenger, Beast sense, locate animal or plant, and speak with plants.
The reason speak with animals isn’t on that list is because I knew it is a ritual spell. Then I discovered everyone of those spells except speak with plants is a ritual spell. So it’s pretty much covered. I think Speak with Plants and possibly the 8 hour version of Plant Growth should be made into ritual spells. So maybe just have a CN that allowed you to cast a ritual spell from the primal spell list using its normal cast time. Honestly as is you can ritual cast a lot of the druids nature spells, I feel adding speak with plants would really dial that in, and adding plant growth would knock it out of the park. Also think WotC should point things out like this. I didn’t realize how much of the Druid’s nature type spell were ritual cast. I’m sure I'm not the only one who didn’t notice this.
If there was a CN that allowed a druid to cast Primal ritual spells without having them prepared that would be nice (I did a quick search of rituals on the 5E druid list and 13 came up. Not sure if that includes any additional spells added in Tasha's). Right now, you have some spells that fit the theme of the druid, but many times don't get prepared because they are so situational. I think in 15 levels of my Land Druid, I only prepared speak with animals once. It was for a specific situation, although I admit it can be useful in more situations then the one I used it for. But having to pick and choose what spells I need prepared keeps me from having some spells ready to go. There are some spells that I take that I never unprepare (Darkvision for one, since my druid is human and one other party member doesn't have darkvision. The rest of the party does).
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
That would be interesting if one use of Channel Nature is to cast rituals without having them prepared, but I wonder, at higher levels, a later improvement, would only allow you to cast it without preparing it, with the normal ritual time or something more accelerated? (Or with some minor improvement, would you just cast them as a ritual or if you spent spell slots at the same time could you cast the ones with the ritual tag as a spell, without preparing them?) I mean, a few rituals are a bit more complicated than usual to cast. being ritual (Apart from the fact that several are terribly situational), like friendship with animals if the animal is already potentially hostile or if you don't know if the animal will stay within reach when you finish the ritual, I had already noticed the large number of rituals that has Druids in 5e only with the player's manual (I didn't check if they win with tasha or with another supplement), I didn't check but it is possible that druids, without considering the subclass additions, is the class with the most rituals available , and if it is passed by another class it would only be the wizard.
But it is true, the druid has a large number of rituals, but many times we hardly even consider preparing them unless we anticipate that we will use them the next day, because many are situational and if you have many of those prepared, you lose the opportunity to have them prepared. many others, are useful as combat. This would bring about greater flexibility and at the same time improve the druid's spell slot economy.
Yes, the CN should let you cast primal rituals you didn’t prepare and then improve to let you cast them at their normal cast time if you expend the appropriate spell slot. I was mistaken and animal friendship is not a ritual spell, so I would like that and speak with plants to become ritual spells. Maybe call the CN Natural Magic. I feel with this added to nature’s aid along side animal companion, and healing blossom’s let everyone pick their play style or at the least have a CN option they would use at level 2.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the Circle of the Moon is to the Druid what Bladesinger is to the Wizard. A subclass designed to add Extra Attack and melee capability to a full caster class. Trying to bake that into the baseline Druid does it all a disservice IMO.
Personally, I'd feel a lot better if the Wild Shape was just 'Turn into a CR 0 Beast' and Combat Wild shape as a feature went with the Moon Druid.
When you activate that feature you get the following statistical changes.
You may use your Wisdom Modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity Modifiers. You gain natural weapons that deal 1d6 damage on a weapon strike. You gain a bonus action unarmed strike (and you get Extra Attack at level 6). You keep your Armor (so magic armor still works), Skills, Saves, and Proficiencies. You also gain Advantage on any Concentration Rolls. You lose the ability to equip Shields and weapons, and you cannot use tools.
Defensively, I think between Bonus Action healing spells and buffs you should be good for survivability. You should still have to use your spell casting aspect to support the playstyle of the subclass.
Now, let's add some Flavor! If you look at the Beasts in the Monster Manual, they all have Traits, but they repeat a lot and some are basically redundant, for example Charge and Pounce and the various forms of Keen Senses. In fact, you only end up with a list of 10? at most? and each one is basically a single line of text once adapted for our Combat Wild Shape Feature.
So if you add into the Combat Wild shape that when you activate your beast mode you also gain a trait from the list, then at higher levels you get 2 traits, or 3 traits. Then the player gets to 'Build-A-Beast' and the whole thing potentially scales, keeps balanced, and has useful flavor.
All the player needs to add is the quite-literal 'reskinning' of their appearance. No templates needed.
Confused at the "no template" what you just described was a template with like 10 options on it. Just like all the tasha summon spells.
you and I may have different definitions on what a template is then (assuming you were referring to the Combat Wildshape)
I'm suggesting a feature that when active grants certain effects.
"As a Bonus action, you may use your Channel Nature to enter your Combat Wildshape, when the Combat Wildshape is active, you can use your Wisdom Modifier instead of Strength and Dexterity and you have advantage on concentration checks. You gain natural weapons that deal 1d6 damage, but you cannot hold any shields or use any tools. You may use your Bonus Action to deliver an Unarmed strike. Your physical appearance changes to that of a Beast of your choice, but your size is medium. Additionally you may choose one 'Trait' from the following table. "
Beast Trait Table would then list the options.
Edit: I forgot I wanted to make Powerful Build an option. edited for clarity of how its activated.
So....with just a few tweaks this is the Animal of the Land template in the Druid UA, but with options. You literally just made a template.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Over time The druid has had wild shape from when I started playing back in ADnD 2nd.
In ADnD 2nd you got shapechange at 7th lvl
It used the shape change spell for its effects but you could only turn into normal creatures (beasts) It was more a flavor thing as by this level there where no normal creatures (beasts) that had stats worth using in combat. But wildshape was useful for the movement and scouting options. and was mostly a nature caster .
in DnD 3e at level 5th lvl
and was based on the polymorph spell with the restriction you could only turn into beasts. from it was overshadowed by your animal companion that you got at lvl1. as taking the place of the main feature of the druid
in 4e at 1st lvl
It is a weird one it says you take the form of a animal but does not change your stats at all, but allows you to use powers with the "beast form" keyword while in this form.
The powers you used dictated your form, for example a power could say you turn into a bear and maul a enemy with your claws.
You had to do a very specific build to make wild shape useful and was again often overshadowed by your animal companion that you also got at lvl 1
in 5e at 2nd lvl
We all know how this one works.
I have played most of my druids in 3rd and 4th edition and having animal companions has always been one of the main features of druids for me.
I agree, but 4e base Druid didn’t have animal companions, and animal companion was completely given to the Beast Master Ranger in 5e. The wildfire spirit is the closest thing a Druid has had to it in 5e. I’m pretty sure it’s too late to petition for animal companion to return to being the focus of druids. That fight should have happened during the 5e playtest. The best case scenario now that sub classes take place at the same levels would be that beast master could be taken by Ranger or Druid. I highly doubt they would do that but it could work since none of the features focus on the main class. Either way Wild shape has been around 3 editions from my understanding, 4 from yours. Wildshape seems pretty core to the Druid to me and nothing about having WS take up all the base features takes away from the Druid being a nature caster. In 3e most of the druids features were WS features. In 4e it was about which powers you liked. Wild shape was just a way to switch back and forth between two types of powers. And in 5e it is mostly a scouting tool unless you are one particular subclass. Even still it’s been a part of the Druid for 20+ years. I don’t understand any argument to remove WS from the base class.
I think there may be a misunderstanding here. So ill elaborate on how i built this thing.
I started with the Bladesong of Wizards as a concept and started to modify from there based on the intentions of the UA Wildshape and the overall goal to make a Gish Subclass for Druid.
Then I added the list of optional traits to add to the druid when you use your 'Bearsong' feature because people said they wanted the flavor and utility of the old beast forms, so I literally just copied the traits of the CR 0 beasts, cut out some of the complexity to simplify them and pasted them into a list.
To me, a template is a stat block that has variables in it to allow for growth based on character level like The rangers beasts or the tasha summons. So I'm not sure how you're defining a template or how Bladesong would be a template to you.
The 2e/3e rules could be a bit of a model for 6e. Some utility, and it does heal the druid up a bit instead of giving them a big pool of extra HP beyond their regular pool. The abilities also come online later so the problems during level 1-5 go away.
2e rules
"Shapechange
At 7th level the druids gains the ability to shape change.
The size and shape assumed by the druid can vary from that of a bullfrog or small bird to that of a black bear. The druid can assume the forms of normal creatures only.
When assuming a new form, a druid is healed of 10–60% of any damage they has suffered (round down).
The druid also assumes the creature’s physical characteristics (armor class, movement mode and rate, etc.). The druid’s clothing and one item held in each hand also become part of their new shape—these reappear when the druid resumes their bipedal form. The items cannot be used while the druid is in animal form."
3e rules
"At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Each time you use wild shape, you regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night.
Any gear worn or carried by the druid melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When the druid reverts to her true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on her body that they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the druid's feet.
The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with.
A druid loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she can communicate normally with other animals of the same general grouping as her new form. (The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a squawk, so changing to this form does not permit speech.)
A druid can use this ability more times per day at 6th, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level, as noted on Table: The Druid. In addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 8th level, a Tiny animal at 11th level, and a Huge animal at 15th level.
The new form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.
At 12th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a plant creature with the same size restrictions as for animal forms. (A druid can’t use this ability to take the form of a plant that isn’t a creature.)
At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a Small, Medium, or Large elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day. These elemental forms are in addition to her normal wild shape usage. In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape, but she retains her own creature type.
At 18th level, a druid becomes able to assume elemental form twice per day, and at 20th level she can do so three times per day. At 20th level, a druid may use this wild shape ability to change into a Huge elemental."
4e rules that used forms to get access to different attacks but otherwise used your stats/HP
'Original druids can use the wild shape at-will power to change into and out of beast form as a minor action once per round. Powers with the beast form keyword can only be used while in beast form. Weapon and implement attack powers without the beast form keyword can't be used while in beast form.
Effect: You change from your humanoid form to beast form or vice versa. When you change from beast form back to your humanoid form you shift 1 square. While you are in beast form, you can't use weapon or implement attack powers that lack the beast form keyword, although you can sustain such powers.
You can choose a specific form when you use wild shape to change into beast form. The beast form is your size, resembles a natural beast or a fey beast, and normally doesn't change your game statistics or movement modes. Your equipment becomes part of your beast form, but you drop anything you are holding, except implements you can use. You continue to gain the benefits of the equipment you wear, except a shield.
You can use the properties and the powers of implements as well as magic items that you wear, but not the properties or the powers of weapons or the powers of wondrous items. While equipment is part of your beast form, it cannot be removed, and anything in a container that is part of your beast form is inaccessible."
This would be pretty nice, IF they made most of the spells from Staff of the Woodlands (except Spike Growth) into ritual spells. Because right now, a druid doesn't really feel like a druid until they have Staff of the Woodlands to provide the niche super druid-y druid spells on demand without wasting one of your preparation slots on it.
I mean, if it's so integral to your image of a druid, you should prep it. Most of the plant and animal based ones seem to be worth prepping if you're expecting to be out in woodlands or other wild places, Awaken has an 8 hour casting time so you're unlikely to want to cast it on a day you're expecting combat in the first place unless you're also expecting the prep time, and getting Pass Without Trace constantly at hand for free would just be broken.
Presumably you also don't think barkskin or wall of thorns are needed. Awaken animals takes 8 hours, so it's not a stretch to prep it if you want it. Speak with animals and locate animals or plants are already rituals. That leaves... animal friendship and speak with plants.
I don't really see speak with plants as core to druids, so that really leaves... animal friendship. Which doesn't make sense to turn into a ritual. I'd actually probably give them:
(the similarity to turn undead is deliberate).
But I won't because I want my character to actually be useful to the party. Speak with Animals is such a terrible spell that several races get it at will for free, as does one of the druid subclasses, and in previous editions it was an free always on feature of Wildshape. Why do most 5e druids have to waste a spell preparation on it? Why should I have to gimp my character to get a bunch of ribbon RP abilities (that also cost me spellslots!). The Circle of the Land that does get some of these as class feature or as always prepared spells is considered such a garbage subclass that even though it is free on D&D Beyond it is used by players less than subclasses you have to pay for.
What if, instead of Healing Blossoms druids had a CN option to use one use of CN to cast Animal Friendship, beast bond, or Speak with animals. At 5th level Druid you can cast speak with plants or locate animals or plants with one use of CN.
edit: even if it was just a few of those spells, or just the 1st level ones, I feel it would be better than Healing Blossoms. And it would feel more druidy. Let other other classes who have access to primal prepare those, a Druid shouldn’t need to.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I like this but IMO it's too focused on animals (kind of a problem with the whole druid class but I digress) it should be possible to play a druid that focuses on plants at least equally to focusing on animals. I'd prefer something like: