To be honest, I think it is kind of weird that Wildshape doesn't benefit from most magic items. No other class has a feature that prevents them from benefiting from dungeon loot, and that is a big part of what makes Wildshape fall off at later levels. Everyone else is getting cool magic gear that gives them +1s and unique abilities while the druid sacrifices all that to turn into a completely normal elephant.
The gear merges into your new form. Why not have MAGIC gear you're attuned to fuse with your form, giving your form the abilities of those magic items?
I think the best solution for this was in the 2014 playtest (dnd next):
"Your gear is subsumed by the creature’s shape, so you cannot access it. You cannot activate a magic item on your person, but a magic item that confers a passive effect, such as a ring of protection, continues to do so."
So I went ahead and made my own take on the Moon Druid. I'm not the best at balancing numbers so it might be on the overpowered side, but I think conceptually the abilities are both interesting and flavorful.
Some notes:
Giant Scorpion is way too strong for its CR. Of the forms I tested, it was the only one that seemed to break my lower CR beast scaling completely.
I wanted to make it so lower CR creatures could still find use at higher levels for those who want to stick with a specific form or theme. Since AC and HP already scaled the damage just needed to scale too. This does make some lower CR creatures better than higher CR ones, but I personally don't mind that.
I wanted the Moon Druid to still be consistently using their spells in combat to better unify the Beast Form with the main class mechanic of spellcasting, so being in Wildshape form both lessens your access to spells and gives you some advantages involving maintaining the spells you have going.
Path of Many Skins is the feature I would be most excited to play with. It lets Moon Druid cycle through different beasts to match the situation they're in, allowing them to do things like turn into a giant eagle and fly off to give chase to a fleeing dragon or plunge into the sea as a shark without expending Wildshape uses. It also allows them to swap back to caster form temporarily to pull off a spell, giving them full access to their spell list once the high levels kick in.
Dire Form's damage gets a boost, but the real selling point to me was the enhanced control effects of their Beast Attacks. I wanted Moon Druid to be more about knocking enemies down and restraining them than being a raw DPS machine.
Core Wildshape Changes:
- Passive effects of magic items the druid is attuned to carry over to the new form.
3 level: Circle Forms
Stays the same.
3 level: Combat Wildshape
The druid has perfected the art of shapeshifting, granting their bestial forms greater strength drawn from their connection to nature.
- Armor class of the Beast Form is 12+WIS. - You gain Temporary Hitpoints when you cast Wildshape equal to your Druid Level X3. These THP disappear when you leave your Beast Form. - The Beast Form’s To Hit and the Save DC for their attacks and abilities are equal to the druid’s Spell Attack and Spell Save DC.
6 Level: Lunar Blessing
The druid has tapped into the mystic energies of the Moon to empower their animal forms and regain some of their lost spellcasting ability while shapeshifted.
- Attacks in your Beast Form can deal Radiant damage if you choose. - You can now cast spells with a range of Self or Touch while in Beast Form. (Absorb Elements, Cure Wounds, Earth Tremor, etc.) - When you assume a shape of a CR lower than your maximum that shape gains one Damage Die to each of their attacks for each level below your maximum CR they are. - You have Advantage on Concentration checks while in Beast Form.
10 level: Dire Shape
The druid has learned to draw on the full lycanthropic powers of the Moon to empower their Wildshape.
If you expend two uses of your Wildshape you can assume an enhanced form of one of your Known Shapes. You choose which Known Shape will be your Dire Form when selecting Known Shapes after a Long Rest. Dire Form still counts as a Beast Form for the sake of other features.
Dire Shape is one size category larger than the normal Beast Shape (double size, X8 weight) and gains the following benefits.
- You gain Druid Level X5 THP. - The Dire Form has +2 AC, +10 in all the Dire Form’s movement speeds, and all Beast Attacks go up one Damage Die size. (D6 becomes D8, D8 becomes D10, etc) - If the target is one or more size categories smaller than the Beast Form they gain Disadvantage on Strength Checks against the form’s attacks and abilities. - When one of your Dire Form’s attacks or abilities knocks a target Prone you may select another target within 5ft of the first. That second target must also make a Strength Save or be knocked Prone. - When a target is successfully restrained by one of your Dire Form’s attacks or abilities the target automatically fails their next attempt to escape the form’s grapple and free themselves. - Targets that have been poisoned by your Dire Form’s attacks and abilities have Disadvantage on Condition saving throws for one round.
14 level: Path of Many Skins
The druid has fully mastered the ebbs and flows of the Moon, gaining the power to change shape as effortlessly as the Moon changes phases.
- When your druid is in Beast Form they may switch to another Beast Form by using a Bonus Action. Switching forms in this way does not expend a use of Wildshape and does not grant additional THP. - If your druid exits Beast Form you may choose to re-enter Beast Form at the beginning of your next turn without spending a Wildshape use. Doing so does not grant additional THP. - The druid gains the Shapechanger creature type in addition to its normal types, rendering the druid immune to polymorph effects.
Well I look forwards to playing a Dire Giant Vulture at level 10 with: AC = 21 HP = 70 + 50 thp Movement: 20ft, 70ft fly Pact Tactics Multiattack:
1x +9 th, 4d6+2 (16) 1x +9th, 4d8+2 (20)
Or Dire Deinonychus at level 10 with:
AC = 21 HP = 70 + 50 thp Movement: 50ft Pounce (for a 4th attack per turn) Multiattack:
1x +9 th, 3d10+2 (19) 2x +9th, 3d10+2 (19)
Yah, giving it more thought the damage scales way too well with multi-attack. It'd probably be better to just have it add a damage dice to one attack per turn per CR difference. Then it'd just be:
Vulture: 2D6+2 3D8+2
But I dunno if there's any simple way to let lower CR scale with damage perfectly. I was leaning to just letting the lower CR forms fall behind in damage and having it so people who wanted to stick to them focus more on using their turns casting spells rather than using Beast Attacks. By level 6 you have a pretty good number of spell slots and your beast Attack still hits harder than a cantrip would.
Though I am not sure I know where you're getting 21AC. 12+WIS+2 should max out at 19, unless you're assuming magic items.
Rather than one 'die', which will produce quite variable results based on what creature you use, you should either produce enhanced versions of the creature (it's not all that hard to up-CR monsters, it's just kinda annoying, particularly for multiattack) or give a bonus that's invariant by creature, such as 'once per turn when you hit with a natural weapon, add 1d8 per CR the creature is lower than your budget'
Rather than one 'die', which will produce quite variable results based on what creature you use, you should either produce enhanced versions of the creature (it's not all that hard to up-CR monsters, it's just kinda annoying, particularly for multiattack) or give a bonus that's invariant by creature, such as 'once per turn when you hit with a natural weapon, add 1d8 per CR the creature is lower than your budget'
I was definitely overthinking it and trying to find a formula that'd scale everything perfectly. Just a +1D8 does seem to keep the lower CR creatures in the same ballpark as higher CR creatures outside outliers like Mr. Scorpion and eventually the Mammoth, but by the time you get Mammoth form you're a full caster in Dire Form with access to 9th level spells. Your beast attacks are a tertiary contributor to your overall powerset anyway, so there's not a huge reason not to just be a Huge sized Dire Wolf running around and conjuring storms.
Which, I think, is what most people want Moon Druid to be. Beorn from The Hobbit or the animal gods from Princess Mononoke. If nothing else I hope Wizards gets the memo that when people asked for more Moon theme they weren't asking to be Balance Druids from WoW. They were hinting at something more therianthropic.
Mammoth form you're a full caster in Dire Form with access to 9th level spells. Your beast attacks are a tertiary contributor to your overall powerset anyway, so there's not a huge reason not to just be a Huge sized Dire Wolf running around and conjuring storms.
Which, I think, is what most people want Moon Druid to be. Beorn from The Hobbit or the animal gods from Princess Mononoke. If nothing else I hope Wizards gets the memo that when people asked for more Moon theme they weren't asking to be Balance Druids from WoW. They were hinting at something more therianthropic.
I'm not sure most people want Moon Druid to be a full caster in a dire wolf shape. In the last D&D Movie, the druid never cast a spell but fight in melee thanks to WildShape. At least for me, that's how I want to play.
The problem with casting spell in beast shape, is that you beast shape can't be a decent melee fighter for balance reason. You can't be a viable melee fighter and casting 9th level spell in the same time. In terme of power, you should be equivalent to a war cleric for example. Your proposition seems stronger (Lot of temporary hitpoint, good AC, good damage, good at grappling ...).
If we want a good melee gameplay with moon druid (or another circle that focus on melee), i think we should not be able to cast spell in beast shape. Moreover, we should share ressources between beast shape and caster shape (hit points, spell slots ...), otherwise it's like having a new character when the first one almost die (it's not fair / fun for the other member of the group). For example, that is one of the issue with 5e moon druid (at level 20, you can have a "new character" every round).
With the two last propositions for druid in one d&d, the hit points should be shared between beast and caster shape (except some THP in wild shape, but that's OK). Now, we should find a way to use spell slots in beast shape to do something suitable for a dire beast that fight in melee. Here is an example, but it was design for the previous UA, with template:
6TH LEVEL: WILD DRIVES
Just as you build spells by tapping into nature's primal essence, you gain the ability to harness that same essence to perform exploits when you adopt your wild form. Your wild nature then expresses itself, like uncontrollable drives, consuming your spell slots. At level 6, you choose 2 Wild Drives from the following list. You can choose one more at level 10 and 14. Moreover, whenever you gain a Druid level, you can replace one of your Wild Drive with another Wild Drive of your choice from the list.
Druid level
Wild drive
6
2
10
3
14
4
To benefit from this abilities, on you turn, you consume one of your spell slots and choose a Wild Drive effect you know. You can’t have more than one active wild drive effect at a time.
Instinctive reactions (bonus action). You seem to anticipate all actions around you, guided by your instinct. You benefit from a +2 bonus to AC (dodge) and gain advantage on Dexterity saving throws for a number of round equal to the level of the consumed spell slot.
Voracious bite (bonus action). If the attack following activation of this ability hits, you tear away part of the opponent's defense (armor, shield, carapace, etc.). The target then loses part of its defense (1AC every 3 levels of the consumed spell slot) until the end of the confrontation. Ineffective on magic objects (armor, shield, etc.).
Frenzy (bonus action). You enter a form of trance, guided by fury. During your turn, you can attack once more with your bestial strike for every 2 levels of spell slot consumed.
Smell of blood (bonus action). The smell of blood transcends you. After hitting your target, activate this ability to gain advantage against it for a number of turns equal to the level of the consumed spell slot. In addition, while this ability is active, each of your attacks that hits adds 1d6 damage. Ineffective on undead and artificial creatures.
Wild tornado (action). Like a tornado, you attack anything that comes near you. Each creature within 5 feet of you must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = your druid spell DC). On a failed saved, each creature suffers 1d8 damage per level of consumed spell slot, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Pack spirit (bonus action). You call upon the spirits of your pack, conjuring up 2 ghosts, similar in appearance to you, who distract your enemies for a number of round equal to the level of the consumed spell slot. As long as the ghosts are by your side, you have advantage on attack rolls, and your opponents attack you with disadvantage.
Bloodthirsty relentlessness (bonus action). After one of your attacks hits, you lash out at your target, sinking your fangs, claws or talons even deeper into the flesh. Your attack does 1d6 additional damage per level of consumed spell slot. In addition, the creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Unbreakable will (bonus action). For a number of round equal to the level of the consume spell slot, while you engage a grapple with a creature, the creature have a disadvantage to its saving throws and its attacks made to you while grapple.
Race for life (action). Like a fury, you race across the battlefield, ignoring all obstacles. Your movement speed is doubled. You don't provoke opportunity attacks, and you ignore difficult terrain. Duration: a number of round equals to the level of the consume spell slots.
PS: sorry for my english. I hope i am understandable.
I'm not sure most people want Moon Druid to be a full caster in a dire wolf shape. In the last D&D Movie, the druid never cast a spell but fight in melee thanks to WildShape. At least for me, that's how I want to play.
The problem with casting spell in beast shape, is that you beast shape can't be a decent melee fighter for balance reason. You can't be a viable melee fighter and casting 9th level spell in the same time. In terme of power, you should be equivalent to a war cleric for example. Your proposition seems stronger (Lot of temporary hitpoint, good AC, good damage, good at grappling ...).
If we want a good melee gameplay with moon druid (or another circle that focus on melee), i think we should not be able to cast spell in beast shape. Moreover, we should share ressources between beast shape and caster shape (hit points, spell slots ...), otherwise it's like having a new character when the first one almost die (it's not fair / fun for the other member of the group). For example, that is one of the issue with 5e moon druid (at level 20, you can have a "new character" every round).
With the two last propositions for druid in one d&d, the hit points should be shared between beast and caster shape (except some THP in wild shape, but that's OK). Now, we should find a way to use spell slots in beast shape to do something suitable for a dire beast that fight in melee. Here is an example, but it was design for the previous UA, with template:
To be fair, in the latest DnD movie the bard also never cast a spell. The director said they did that so that the sorcerer would seem more special. I'd personally hate it if Moon Druid had to sacrifice literally all of its spellcasting ability just to have a functional Wildshape. Especially when there are other full casters in the game that get to duke it out in melee just fine without that same sacrifice.
But part of why War Clerics, Bladesingers, Valor Bards, and to a lesser extent Hexblade Warlocks function well is because they don't suddenly lock out 90% of their class strength in favor of better auto attacks and AC. Heck, the reason 3.5e Druid was so powerful was that it had a feat that let it keep its spellcasting in Beast Form. So long as Wildshape is wholly separated from the druid's spellcasting it's going to be really hard to balance within a full caster class.
Admittedly, I overdid it in pure numbers for my suggestion. Once Beast Form has a solid To Hit from the druid's Spell Hit it probably didn't need the extra boost from Dire Form, and Dire Form probably didn't need the +2AC since it got so much THP (though that was actually less than wildshaping twice would've given you). But I still think that thematically the abilities I made are good for capturing the fantasy of the Moon Druid. Moreso than the lunar teleportation, at any rate. Moon Druids want to be big beasties with supernatural powers. They don't necessarily want to be shooting moon beams at people.
Amusingly, my initial draft for Dire Form had special attacks that burned spell slots just like your own suggestion. I only got rid of them because it started to feel like my document was running long and, as has been established, I'm not good at designing scaling damaging abilities and was worried people would obsess over how much crazy damage the special attacks were dishing out rather than look at the ideas behind them.
Bit of egg on my face I suppose. Numbers are very important to DnD players. Of course, they would focus mainly on that.
Also, your English was fine! Perfectly understandable.
I think some people like you want to cast spell in wild shape, but the "beast spell" feature came too late (lvl 18). Others like me want to focus on melee gameplay in wild shape. There is also people who want to focus on spellcasting or other feature, without using wildshape.
Maybe a solution is to bring beast spell earler in the progression, and make it optionnal. Something like this:
5TH LEVEL: MIGHT OF THE WILD
Choose one of the following option:
Beast Spells. While using Wild Shape, you can cast spells in Beast form, except for any spell that has a Material component with a cost specified or that consumes its Material component.
Quick Attack. When you use the Attack action on your turn, you can make one additional attack on the same action with an Unarmed Strike or a Natural Weapon.
Wild Resurgence. If you have no uses of Channel Nature left, you can give yourself one use by expending a spell slot (no action required). You can do so only once per turn. In addition, you can expend one use of Channel Nature (no action required) to give yourself a 1 level spell slot, and you can do so a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once) until you finish a Long Rest.
Like my previous proposition, il is based on the previous UA, with Channel Nature, but can be used with the last UA (maybe Quick Attack is too strong in this case).
Here, Beast Spell bring spellcasting in beast shape. Quick Attack bring some melee damage (1d8 + caract mod with the previous UA, maybe more with the last one). And the last option, Wild Resurgence, would be for people who don't want to use Wild Shape at all, but focus on spell casting for example.
I think some people like you want to cast spell in wild shape, but the "beast spell" feature came too late (lvl 18). Others like me want to focus on melee gameplay in wild shape. There is also people who want to focus on spellcasting or other feature, without using wildshape.
Maybe a solution is to bring beast spell earler in the progression, and make it optionnal. Something like this:
A choice like that could be interesting, though you CAN still focus on melee by using the druid's spellcasting features. If Beast Spells came earlier your Moon Druid could cast spells like Enlarge to get Advantage on Strength Checks and +1D4 damage on melee attacks and then later Guardian of Nature for Strength Advantage, 10 more walking speed, and 1D6 extra damage on attacks. Or you could throw up Fire Shield to deal significant damage to enemies while tanking hits for your allies. It also means you can have Absorb Elements in Wildshape form, which gives you a defensive option against elemental AoEs that your low DEX forms might struggle with.
The Druid spell list has good tools to aid a melee playstyle. We just lose access to those tools when we Wildshape, so if we get hit and lose concentration we can't recast it.
But part of why War Clerics, Bladesingers, Valor Bards, and to a lesser extent Hexblade Warlocks function well is because they don't suddenly lock out 90% of their class strength in favor of better auto attacks and AC. Heck, the reason 3.5e Druid was so powerful was that it had a feat that let it keep its spellcasting in Beast Form. So long as Wildshape is wholly separated from the druid's spellcasting it's going to be really hard to balance within a full caster class.
THIS 100% THIS! I do not understand why druid has to give up casting spell when in wildshape??? There are tons of fullcasters who get to be just as good if not better in melee than the moon druid and can still cast spells while doing so!
For one thing, none of those casters get the huge boost to hit points when in melee. A hexblade warlock does get to double their HP when they wade into battle.
For one thing, none of those casters get the huge boost to hit points when in melee. A hexblade warlock does get to double their HP when they wade into battle.
Both Hexblades and Valor Bards can use Armour of Agathys for nearly the same HP bonus as Druid:
Which also causes damage to enemies as well. Plus All of those have significantly higher AC that druid: Druid: Light Armour + DEX = 14 for their entire career. Beasts are not much better until level 9 when they get giant scorpion War Cleric: AC 18 at low levels (chainmail + shield) or 20 (plate + shield) Valor Bard: AC 14+ 5 (Shield) Hexblade: AC 18 + 5 (Shield) Bladesinger: AC 12+DEX+INT+5 (Shield)
That is not true for Moon Druids. Especially at higher levels. Plus druids can simply regain those HP with a bonus action.
And once they hit 7th level, they gain the polymorph spell. This represents a huge pool of THP that a hexblade, for instance, simply cannot match.
A 6th level hexblade gains 15 extra HP from armor of Agathys. A 6th level moon druid can easily gain 40+ hit points from each application of wild shape (CR 2 beast). That's 80+ THP per short rest for the moon druid. Not even comparable.
That is not true for Moon Druids. Especially at higher levels. Plus druids can simply regain those HP with a bonus action.
And once they hit 7th level, they gain the polymorph spell. This represents a huge pool of THP that a hexblade, for instance, simply cannot match.
Um...polymorph is on the arcane list. It's also a problem spell that I expect to be changed, and it's a concentration spell so it doesn't actually amount to that many temp hit points when applied to the caster as you probably lose concentration long before running out of hp, and you lose all your class features so it works identically for any class that can learn it. As such, it's pretty irrelevant to the topic of wild shape.
That's based on the assumption that druids will only be able to cast primal spells. I don't think that'll be the case. Even if it is, generally, I'm very confidant that some subclasses of druid will have access to it. (Right now, ALL druids can cast it.)
I don't think it's irrelevant at all.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that a moon druid retains access to the spell. As such, the druid casts it first at the outset of combat. We'll have to assume a 7th level druid, which means they can assume the form of any CR 7 beast. The only CR 7 beast is a giant ape which has 157 hit points and can do up to 82 hit points of damage a round, without critting. It also has an 18 Con, which gives the druid a nice modifier for concentration checks.
But let's say the druid takes damage and fails the concentration check. It's inconceivable that anything it encounters at 7th level is going to inflict more than 157 hit points on it, so the druid themselves have lost no hit points. They still have two wild shapes in their pockets. The next round the druid can cast call lightning and assume a wild shape, gaining 40+ THP as well as no longer fearing a concentration check for dropping the shape. Should the druid take 40+ hit points of damage - it seems unlikely at 7th level that they'll normally take a lot more than that in a single round - they have another wild shape they can use a a bonus action next round for an additional 40+ THP.
Our 7th level hexblade warlock, OTOH, gains 20 THP from armor of Agathys...and once they're gone, they're gone. It's very unlikely the warlock can afford to burn a spell slot on it in the middle of combat.
But even if remove polymorph from the equation, we're still talking 4x the amount of THP available.
That's based on the assumption that druids will only be able to cast primal spells. I don't think that'll be the case. Even if it is, generally, I'm very confidant that some subclasses of druid will have access to it. (Right now, ALL druids can cast it.)
My point is: all wizards and sorcerers and most bards can cast it too, so it's really not something that distinguishes druids from other full casters. If polymorph is a problem spell (and I think it is), it's something to be fixed by changing the spell, not by doing anything about how wild shape works.
That's based on the assumption that druids will only be able to cast primal spells. I don't think that'll be the case. Even if it is, generally, I'm very confidant that some subclasses of druid will have access to it. (Right now, ALL druids can cast it.)
I don't think it's irrelevant at all.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that a moon druid retains access to the spell. As such, the druid casts it first at the outset of combat. We'll have to assume a 7th level druid, which means they can assume the form of any CR 7 beast. The only CR 7 beast is a giant ape which has 157 hit points and can do up to 82 hit points of damage a round, without critting. It also has an 18 Con, which gives the druid a nice modifier for concentration checks.
But let's say the druid takes damage and fails the concentration check. It's inconceivable that anything it encounters at 7th level is going to inflict more than 157 hit points on it, so the druid themselves have lost no hit points. They still have two wild shapes in their pockets. The next round the druid can cast call lightning and assume a wild shape, gaining 40+ THP as well as no longer fearing a concentration check for dropping the shape. Should the druid take 40+ hit points of damage - it seems unlikely at 7th level that they'll normally take a lot more than that in a single round - they have another wild shape they can use a a bonus action next round for an additional 40+ THP.
Our 7th level hexblade warlock, OTOH, gains 20 THP from armor of Agathys...and once they're gone, they're gone. It's very unlikely the warlock can afford to burn a spell slot on it in the middle of combat.
But even if remove polymorph from the equation, we're still talking 4x the amount of THP available.
Your post here is mostly FALSE. READ THE MOST RECENT UA! A 7th level moon druid gets a maximum of 3*7 temporary hit points i.e. 21 (NOT 40) per wildshape use. This is the same as a 4th level Armour of Agathys which any Bard, Wizard or Sorcerer could cast at the same level.
I've read the UA. You're correct in that I'm using the 2014 rules for Wild Shape in my argument. That doesn't make it "false" (especially since we're still being told the 2014 versions of the classes aren't going away and will remain playable options).
However, if you want an updated argument that the UA moon druid remains overpowered re: wild shape, I've already made that argument.
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I think the best solution for this was in the 2014 playtest (dnd next):
"Your gear is subsumed by the creature’s shape, so you cannot access it. You cannot activate a magic item on your person, but a magic item that confers a passive effect, such as a ring of protection, continues to do so."
So I went ahead and made my own take on the Moon Druid. I'm not the best at balancing numbers so it might be on the overpowered side, but I think conceptually the abilities are both interesting and flavorful.
Some notes:
Well I look forwards to playing a Dire Giant Vulture at level 10 with:
AC = 21
HP = 70 + 50 thp
Movement: 20ft, 70ft fly
Pact Tactics
Multiattack:
1x +9 th, 4d6+2 (16)
1x +9th, 4d8+2 (20)
Or Dire Deinonychus at level 10 with:
AC = 21
HP = 70 + 50 thp
Movement: 50ft
Pounce (for a 4th attack per turn)
Multiattack:
1x +9 th, 3d10+2 (19)
2x +9th, 3d10+2 (19)
Yah, giving it more thought the damage scales way too well with multi-attack. It'd probably be better to just have it add a damage dice to one attack per turn per CR difference. Then it'd just be:
Vulture:
2D6+2
3D8+2
But I dunno if there's any simple way to let lower CR scale with damage perfectly. I was leaning to just letting the lower CR forms fall behind in damage and having it so people who wanted to stick to them focus more on using their turns casting spells rather than using Beast Attacks. By level 6 you have a pretty good number of spell slots and your beast Attack still hits harder than a cantrip would.
Though I am not sure I know where you're getting 21AC. 12+WIS+2 should max out at 19, unless you're assuming magic items.
Oh oops, I assume it was 12+DEX+WIS+2 which would get you AC 21.
Rather than one 'die', which will produce quite variable results based on what creature you use, you should either produce enhanced versions of the creature (it's not all that hard to up-CR monsters, it's just kinda annoying, particularly for multiattack) or give a bonus that's invariant by creature, such as 'once per turn when you hit with a natural weapon, add 1d8 per CR the creature is lower than your budget'
I was definitely overthinking it and trying to find a formula that'd scale everything perfectly. Just a +1D8 does seem to keep the lower CR creatures in the same ballpark as higher CR creatures outside outliers like Mr. Scorpion and eventually the Mammoth, but by the time you get Mammoth form you're a full caster in Dire Form with access to 9th level spells. Your beast attacks are a tertiary contributor to your overall powerset anyway, so there's not a huge reason not to just be a Huge sized Dire Wolf running around and conjuring storms.
Which, I think, is what most people want Moon Druid to be. Beorn from The Hobbit or the animal gods from Princess Mononoke. If nothing else I hope Wizards gets the memo that when people asked for more Moon theme they weren't asking to be Balance Druids from WoW. They were hinting at something more therianthropic.
I'm not sure most people want Moon Druid to be a full caster in a dire wolf shape. In the last D&D Movie, the druid never cast a spell but fight in melee thanks to WildShape. At least for me, that's how I want to play.
The problem with casting spell in beast shape, is that you beast shape can't be a decent melee fighter for balance reason. You can't be a viable melee fighter and casting 9th level spell in the same time. In terme of power, you should be equivalent to a war cleric for example. Your proposition seems stronger (Lot of temporary hitpoint, good AC, good damage, good at grappling ...).
If we want a good melee gameplay with moon druid (or another circle that focus on melee), i think we should not be able to cast spell in beast shape. Moreover, we should share ressources between beast shape and caster shape (hit points, spell slots ...), otherwise it's like having a new character when the first one almost die (it's not fair / fun for the other member of the group). For example, that is one of the issue with 5e moon druid (at level 20, you can have a "new character" every round).
With the two last propositions for druid in one d&d, the hit points should be shared between beast and caster shape (except some THP in wild shape, but that's OK). Now, we should find a way to use spell slots in beast shape to do something suitable for a dire beast that fight in melee. Here is an example, but it was design for the previous UA, with template:
PS: sorry for my english. I hope i am understandable.
To be fair, in the latest DnD movie the bard also never cast a spell. The director said they did that so that the sorcerer would seem more special. I'd personally hate it if Moon Druid had to sacrifice literally all of its spellcasting ability just to have a functional Wildshape. Especially when there are other full casters in the game that get to duke it out in melee just fine without that same sacrifice.
But part of why War Clerics, Bladesingers, Valor Bards, and to a lesser extent Hexblade Warlocks function well is because they don't suddenly lock out 90% of their class strength in favor of better auto attacks and AC. Heck, the reason 3.5e Druid was so powerful was that it had a feat that let it keep its spellcasting in Beast Form. So long as Wildshape is wholly separated from the druid's spellcasting it's going to be really hard to balance within a full caster class.
Admittedly, I overdid it in pure numbers for my suggestion. Once Beast Form has a solid To Hit from the druid's Spell Hit it probably didn't need the extra boost from Dire Form, and Dire Form probably didn't need the +2AC since it got so much THP (though that was actually less than wildshaping twice would've given you). But I still think that thematically the abilities I made are good for capturing the fantasy of the Moon Druid. Moreso than the lunar teleportation, at any rate. Moon Druids want to be big beasties with supernatural powers. They don't necessarily want to be shooting moon beams at people.
Amusingly, my initial draft for Dire Form had special attacks that burned spell slots just like your own suggestion. I only got rid of them because it started to feel like my document was running long and, as has been established, I'm not good at designing scaling damaging abilities and was worried people would obsess over how much crazy damage the special attacks were dishing out rather than look at the ideas behind them.
Bit of egg on my face I suppose. Numbers are very important to DnD players. Of course, they would focus mainly on that.
Also, your English was fine! Perfectly understandable.
I think some people like you want to cast spell in wild shape, but the "beast spell" feature came too late (lvl 18). Others like me want to focus on melee gameplay in wild shape. There is also people who want to focus on spellcasting or other feature, without using wildshape.
Maybe a solution is to bring beast spell earler in the progression, and make it optionnal. Something like this:
Like my previous proposition, il is based on the previous UA, with Channel Nature, but can be used with the last UA (maybe Quick Attack is too strong in this case).
Here, Beast Spell bring spellcasting in beast shape. Quick Attack bring some melee damage (1d8 + caract mod with the previous UA, maybe more with the last one). And the last option, Wild Resurgence, would be for people who don't want to use Wild Shape at all, but focus on spell casting for example.
Let me know what you think about it.
A choice like that could be interesting, though you CAN still focus on melee by using the druid's spellcasting features. If Beast Spells came earlier your Moon Druid could cast spells like Enlarge to get Advantage on Strength Checks and +1D4 damage on melee attacks and then later Guardian of Nature for Strength Advantage, 10 more walking speed, and 1D6 extra damage on attacks. Or you could throw up Fire Shield to deal significant damage to enemies while tanking hits for your allies. It also means you can have Absorb Elements in Wildshape form, which gives you a defensive option against elemental AoEs that your low DEX forms might struggle with.
The Druid spell list has good tools to aid a melee playstyle. We just lose access to those tools when we Wildshape, so if we get hit and lose concentration we can't recast it.
THIS 100% THIS! I do not understand why druid has to give up casting spell when in wildshape??? There are tons of fullcasters who get to be just as good if not better in melee than the moon druid and can still cast spells while doing so!
For one thing, none of those casters get the huge boost to hit points when in melee. A hexblade warlock does get to double their HP when they wade into battle.
Both Hexblades and Valor Bards can use Armour of Agathys for nearly the same HP bonus as Druid:
Level: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
AoA: 5 10 10 15 15 20 20 25 25
Druid: 6 9 12 15 18 21 23 26 29
Which also causes damage to enemies as well. Plus All of those have significantly higher AC that druid:
Druid: Light Armour + DEX = 14 for their entire career. Beasts are not much better until level 9 when they get giant scorpion
War Cleric: AC 18 at low levels (chainmail + shield) or 20 (plate + shield)
Valor Bard: AC 14+ 5 (Shield)
Hexblade: AC 18 + 5 (Shield)
Bladesinger: AC 12+DEX+INT+5 (Shield)
That is not true for Moon Druids. Especially at higher levels. Plus druids can simply regain those HP with a bonus action.
And once they hit 7th level, they gain the polymorph spell. This represents a huge pool of THP that a hexblade, for instance, simply cannot match.
A 6th level hexblade gains 15 extra HP from armor of Agathys. A 6th level moon druid can easily gain 40+ hit points from each application of wild shape (CR 2 beast). That's 80+ THP per short rest for the moon druid. Not even comparable.
Um...polymorph is on the arcane list. It's also a problem spell that I expect to be changed, and it's a concentration spell so it doesn't actually amount to that many temp hit points when applied to the caster as you probably lose concentration long before running out of hp, and you lose all your class features so it works identically for any class that can learn it. As such, it's pretty irrelevant to the topic of wild shape.
That's based on the assumption that druids will only be able to cast primal spells. I don't think that'll be the case. Even if it is, generally, I'm very confidant that some subclasses of druid will have access to it. (Right now, ALL druids can cast it.)
I don't think it's irrelevant at all.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that a moon druid retains access to the spell. As such, the druid casts it first at the outset of combat. We'll have to assume a 7th level druid, which means they can assume the form of any CR 7 beast. The only CR 7 beast is a giant ape which has 157 hit points and can do up to 82 hit points of damage a round, without critting. It also has an 18 Con, which gives the druid a nice modifier for concentration checks.
But let's say the druid takes damage and fails the concentration check. It's inconceivable that anything it encounters at 7th level is going to inflict more than 157 hit points on it, so the druid themselves have lost no hit points. They still have two wild shapes in their pockets. The next round the druid can cast call lightning and assume a wild shape, gaining 40+ THP as well as no longer fearing a concentration check for dropping the shape. Should the druid take 40+ hit points of damage - it seems unlikely at 7th level that they'll normally take a lot more than that in a single round - they have another wild shape they can use a a bonus action next round for an additional 40+ THP.
Our 7th level hexblade warlock, OTOH, gains 20 THP from armor of Agathys...and once they're gone, they're gone. It's very unlikely the warlock can afford to burn a spell slot on it in the middle of combat.
But even if remove polymorph from the equation, we're still talking 4x the amount of THP available.
My point is: all wizards and sorcerers and most bards can cast it too, so it's really not something that distinguishes druids from other full casters. If polymorph is a problem spell (and I think it is), it's something to be fixed by changing the spell, not by doing anything about how wild shape works.
Your post here is mostly FALSE. READ THE MOST RECENT UA! A 7th level moon druid gets a maximum of 3*7 temporary hit points i.e. 21 (NOT 40) per wildshape use. This is the same as a 4th level Armour of Agathys which any Bard, Wizard or Sorcerer could cast at the same level.
I've read the UA. You're correct in that I'm using the 2014 rules for Wild Shape in my argument. That doesn't make it "false" (especially since we're still being told the 2014 versions of the classes aren't going away and will remain playable options).
However, if you want an updated argument that the UA moon druid remains overpowered re: wild shape, I've already made that argument.