Hello everyone! I've been trying to be more active instead of lurking through the forums, and I've been working on lots of homebrew stuff that I could use some feedback on! Recently I had the idea of making a different druid that uses wild shape primarily with a different flavor than the moon druid. So I have the Circle of the Night, a druid who uses their shape to become a monstrous hybrid creature! (Lycanthrope, but not a lycanthrope)
Circle of the Night (Full Moon)
Hybrid Transformation
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, your ability to shape into beasts morphs into what other circles deem unnatural. When using your action to use wild shape, instead of turning into a beast, you can instead change into a hybrid form that resembles a monstrous lycanthrope. Your hybrid form combines your normal humanoid form with the ferocity of a beast of your choice, such as a wolf, a bear, a tiger, a boar, or an elk. While in this form, you gain the following benefits.
Your game statistics remain the same as in your normal form, but you are able to substitute your wisdom ability score for your strength ability score when making any ability check or attack roll that would use strength. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage while in your hybrid form. This damage increases to 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 9th level, , 1d10 at 12th level, and 1d12 at 15th level.
When you transform, you gain temporary hit points equal to twice your druid level plus your wisdom modifier, darkvision up to 60 feet and, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Your hit points and hit dice remain the same with both forms. If you are brought to 0 hit points, you revert back to your normal form, remain at 0 hit points, and are unconscious.
You can’t cast spells, but your ability to speak or take any action that requires hands remains the same. Transforming doesn’t break your concentration on a spell you’ve already cast, however, or prevent you from taking actions that are part of a spell, such as call lightning, that you’ve already cast.
You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them as part of your hybrid form. Your equipment is worn by your hybrid form, adjusts to fit, and functions as normal.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 6th level, while in your hybrid form you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Primal Strike
Starting at 6th level, your attacks in your hybrid form count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Monstrous Form
At 10th level, you are able to enhance the power behind your your forms. When you hit a creature with an attack while wild shaped into a beast or hybrid form, you can use your bonus action to you can expend a spell slot to add 1d8 damage per level of the spell slot expended.
In addition, when you expend a spell slot with your bonus action, you gain temporary hit points equal to your wisdom modifier.
The following three features were my brainstorming ideas and I haven't been able to decide which I prefer, or if I need to come up with something different. So I decided to post all three so you all could give feedback on each!
Unnatural Transference
After reaching 14th level, you can impart the power of your form to another creature. When using your wild shape, you can concentrate on a willing creature within 30 feet of you to also transform into the same form. They gain all of the benefits granted by your features that effect your hybrid form.
While another creature is benefiting from your wild shape, you are considering to be concentrating on the effect as if you were concentrating on a spell.
Unnatural Abilities
After reaching 14th level, your hybrid form has left a mark on your normal form. You can cast enhance ability at will, but only targeting yourself.
Unnatural Resistance
After reaching 14th level, the durability of your transformations have left a mark on your normal form. When you are hit by an attack or spell that deals damage, you can use your reaction to reduce that damage by half. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier, and regain expended uses after finishing a long rest.
Level 6 features definitely felt a little boring, but to get the scaling for the form to use in combat I needed it to bypass resistance and attack more than once. 10th level initially felt like a cool change that mimicked how moon druids use spell slots but for offensive use, but now I'm a little wishy washy on it.
Also working on a few other subclasses (Circle of Starlight is the most worked on!), magic items, my first few feats, and a new class I'm calling the Psion. Hope to share those soon with all of my other stuff!
I'll come back to this when I have time to fully look through (i like what I see though!) But! Whats the unarmed damage? For the level 3 feature you aay the damage increases, but you don't say what the dice is.
I'll come back to this when I have time to fully look through (i like what I see though!) But! Whats the unarmed damage? For the level 3 feature you aay the damage increases, but you don't say what the dice is.
Oops! It seems it didn't paste perfectly from my testing notes. The damage for unarmed strikes is 1d4, which then upgrades at each listed level up to 1d12 at 15th level. I've edited the post to reflect that.
I'm digging it. Seems to really lean into the primal aspects of the druid.
My thoughts on the 14th level abilities you're brainstorming:
I worry that Unnatural Transference is a little too powerful if it imparts an identical transformation on the recipient, perhaps it should impart only the base transformation upon them instead. Using that on a fellow caster, especially a cleric would be incredibly lethal with two of these killing machines running about.
Unnatural Abilities seems maybe a tad underwhelming. A fix may be that after a short rest the character may select an effect from Enhance Ability that applies to only their normal form until their next short rest, without concentration. This frees up their concentration spot while still providing the enhanced ability bonus (a hefty boost), but makes the player be more strategic about their choice of enhancement (a slight drawback).
Unnatural Resistance seems pretty amazing, maybe too good, but if you reduce the uses to equal to half the wisdom modifier rounded up instead of equal to the whole modifier it may be a little more reasonable. This keeps it from being completely over the top when stacked with other resistances and save reductions.
Goadfang leans forward in his seat, his ale gently sloshing in it's tankard, he says "Let me tell you a tale that will make the hairs on your head stand up and ask for the check..."
I almost think you should gain some of the features that the animal may have, since you're taking some of the qualities of the animal and half-morphing. I.e. keen senses, darkvision, or gills for a swimmer, wings for a flyer, etc.
I'm digging it. Seems to really lean into the primal aspects of the druid.
My thoughts on the 14th level abilities you're brainstorming:
I worry that Unnatural Transference is a little too powerful if it imparts an identical transformation on the recipient, perhaps it should impart only the base transformation upon them instead. Using that on a fellow caster, especially a cleric would be incredibly lethal with two of these killing machines running about.
Unnatural Abilities seems maybe a tad underwhelming. A fix may be that after a short rest the character may select an effect from Enhance Ability that applies to only their normal form until their next short rest, without concentration. This frees up their concentration spot while still providing the enhanced ability bonus (a hefty boost), but makes the player be more strategic about their choice of enhancement (a slight drawback).
Unnatural Resistance seems pretty amazing, maybe too good, but if you reduce the uses to equal to half the wisdom modifier rounded up instead of equal to the whole modifier it may be a little more reasonable. This keeps it from being completely over the top when stacked with other resistances and save reductions.
Unnatural Abilities definitely felt that way to me too which is why I had the other ideas, your ideas are more in line of what I would want with this ability. Great suggestion and feedback, thanks!
I almost think you should gain some of the features that the animal may have, since you're taking some of the qualities of the animal and half-morphing. I.e. keen senses, darkvision, or gills for a swimmer, wings for a flyer, etc.
The "choice" of animal that would you half-morph into was more for flavor, but it's an interesting thought. I'll have to play around with a few ideas. The only problem I can see from codifying each choice would then people who want X or Y would then not have that choice.
I almost think you should gain some of the features that the animal may have, since you're taking some of the qualities of the animal and half-morphing. I.e. keen senses, darkvision, or gills for a swimmer, wings for a flyer, etc.
The "choice" of animal that would you half-morph into was more for flavor, but it's an interesting thought. I'll have to play around with a few ideas. The only problem I can see from codifying each choice would then people who want X or Y would then not have that choice.
Yeah, I can see some of the issues. It could be something like: "If the beast your wild shape into has a swim or fly speed, you gain a swim and fly speed equal to your walking speed." And then some other features that stick out.
I don't think the hybrid transformation goes far enough. IMO Druids should be able to wild shape into some things that aren't beasts largely based on all of the existing rules for Wild Shape (here), including the CR levels for wild shaping into beasts (here). Like the Druid class, wild shape has never been designed for combat. Allowing Druids to wild shape into non-beasts just gives them the opportunity to engage in combat once per (short or long) rest. IMO there should be limits on the kinds of things for wild shaping, e.g., ideally they'll be related to beasts (e.g., mutant form of a beast such as a dog with 2 heads), should be related to the Druid class (e.g., plant, beast or elemental related), no demons, undead or fiends (unless directly related to the Druid's circle--and whenever possible, the wild shape is connected to the Druid's circle, fire, etc.). Last, I think limiting wild shaping to exclude entities with very different/incompatible alignments from the Druid.
Here are some examples of possible non-beast wild shape options, by max CR:
1/4: none
1/2: Satyr (which is similar to the hybrid transformation), Vine Blight, Worg
1: death dog, female steeder, Quaggoth, copper dragon wyrmling, Hippogriff (level 8, per the existing Wild Shape rules)
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Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023
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Hello everyone! I've been trying to be more active instead of lurking through the forums, and I've been working on lots of homebrew stuff that I could use some feedback on! Recently I had the idea of making a different druid that uses wild shape primarily with a different flavor than the moon druid. So I have the Circle of the Night, a druid who uses their shape to become a monstrous hybrid creature! (Lycanthrope, but not a lycanthrope)
Circle of the Night (Full Moon)
Hybrid Transformation
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, your ability to shape into beasts morphs into what other circles deem unnatural. When using your action to use wild shape, instead of turning into a beast, you can instead change into a hybrid form that resembles a monstrous lycanthrope. Your hybrid form combines your normal humanoid form with the ferocity of a beast of your choice, such as a wolf, a bear, a tiger, a boar, or an elk. While in this form, you gain the following benefits.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 6th level, while in your hybrid form you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Primal Strike
Starting at 6th level, your attacks in your hybrid form count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Monstrous Form
At 10th level, you are able to enhance the power behind your your forms. When you hit a creature with an attack while wild shaped into a beast or hybrid form, you can use your bonus action to you can expend a spell slot to add 1d8 damage per level of the spell slot expended.
In addition, when you expend a spell slot with your bonus action, you gain temporary hit points equal to your wisdom modifier.
Unnatural Transference
After reaching 14th level, you can impart the power of your form to another creature. When using your wild shape, you can concentrate on a willing creature within 30 feet of you to also transform into the same form. They gain all of the benefits granted by your features that effect your hybrid form.
While another creature is benefiting from your wild shape, you are considering to be concentrating on the effect as if you were concentrating on a spell.
Unnatural Abilities
After reaching 14th level, your hybrid form has left a mark on your normal form. You can cast enhance ability at will, but only targeting yourself.
Unnatural Resistance
After reaching 14th level, the durability of your transformations have left a mark on your normal form. When you are hit by an attack or spell that deals damage, you can use your reaction to reduce that damage by half. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier, and regain expended uses after finishing a long rest.
Level 6 features definitely felt a little boring, but to get the scaling for the form to use in combat I needed it to bypass resistance and attack more than once. 10th level initially felt like a cool change that mimicked how moon druids use spell slots but for offensive use, but now I'm a little wishy washy on it.
Also working on a few other subclasses (Circle of Starlight is the most worked on!), magic items, my first few feats, and a new class I'm calling the Psion. Hope to share those soon with all of my other stuff!
AdmiralChry's Homebrew Compendium - A collection of all my classes, subclasses, magic items, and etc.
I'll come back to this when I have time to fully look through (i like what I see though!) But! Whats the unarmed damage? For the level 3 feature you aay the damage increases, but you don't say what the dice is.
Good stuff though.
AdmiralChry's Homebrew Compendium - A collection of all my classes, subclasses, magic items, and etc.
I'm digging it. Seems to really lean into the primal aspects of the druid.
My thoughts on the 14th level abilities you're brainstorming:
I worry that Unnatural Transference is a little too powerful if it imparts an identical transformation on the recipient, perhaps it should impart only the base transformation upon them instead. Using that on a fellow caster, especially a cleric would be incredibly lethal with two of these killing machines running about.
Unnatural Abilities seems maybe a tad underwhelming. A fix may be that after a short rest the character may select an effect from Enhance Ability that applies to only their normal form until their next short rest, without concentration. This frees up their concentration spot while still providing the enhanced ability bonus (a hefty boost), but makes the player be more strategic about their choice of enhancement (a slight drawback).
Unnatural Resistance seems pretty amazing, maybe too good, but if you reduce the uses to equal to half the wisdom modifier rounded up instead of equal to the whole modifier it may be a little more reasonable. This keeps it from being completely over the top when stacked with other resistances and save reductions.
Goadfang leans forward in his seat, his ale gently sloshing in it's tankard, he says "Let me tell you a tale that will make the hairs on your head stand up and ask for the check..."
I almost think you should gain some of the features that the animal may have, since you're taking some of the qualities of the animal and half-morphing. I.e. keen senses, darkvision, or gills for a swimmer, wings for a flyer, etc.
Published Subclasses
AdmiralChry's Homebrew Compendium - A collection of all my classes, subclasses, magic items, and etc.
Published Subclasses
I don't think the hybrid transformation goes far enough. IMO Druids should be able to wild shape into some things that aren't beasts largely based on all of the existing rules for Wild Shape (here), including the CR levels for wild shaping into beasts (here). Like the Druid class, wild shape has never been designed for combat. Allowing Druids to wild shape into non-beasts just gives them the opportunity to engage in combat once per (short or long) rest. IMO there should be limits on the kinds of things for wild shaping, e.g., ideally they'll be related to beasts (e.g., mutant form of a beast such as a dog with 2 heads), should be related to the Druid class (e.g., plant, beast or elemental related), no demons, undead or fiends (unless directly related to the Druid's circle--and whenever possible, the wild shape is connected to the Druid's circle, fire, etc.). Last, I think limiting wild shaping to exclude entities with very different/incompatible alignments from the Druid.
Here are some examples of possible non-beast wild shape options, by max CR:
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023