I want to play a ranger who can wild shape into a cat at will. He will use it to scout/sneak, no combat offcourse. would you allow this in your game and how should I implement it? I was thinking about just use the wildshape rules with just 1 shape. Not sure what the trade-off should be to keep things balanced, I don’t see it as a mayor improvement but more as a roleplaying flavour thing...
It rather depends on how *big* a cat you have in mind. For "Felis Catus", the common housecat, a Feline Amulet like Scatterbraind suggested would be fine. Anything else would go beyond roleplaying
Rangers don't get wildshape, they also don't get polymorph so by RAW this is a non-starter. Allowing a ranger to just have it would be a massive power boost. If you are wanting to play that in a game you really would need to ask the DM of the game otherwise it is a totally moot point anyway. Nobody here can give you permission to play it unless they are the DM, and there is no way of you being able to do it without homebrewing something unless you go druid.
Two levels of Druid won't be wasted. You can take Shillelagh and some Druid cantrips/spells and concentrate on Wisdom. Then you can wildshape into whatever suits your concept.
Your other option might be to homebrew a race that can shapeshift into a tiny creature once or twice a day.
I want to play a ranger who can wild shape into a cat at will. He will use it to scout/sneak, no combat offcourse. would you allow this in your game and how should I implement it? I was thinking about just use the wildshape rules with just 1 shape. Not sure what the trade-off should be to keep things balanced, I don’t see it as a mayor improvement but more as a roleplaying flavour thing...
I agree with everyone else, but also, if you're willing to homebrew, this could be completely done as a homebrewed Ranger subclass that's just Moon Druid. I'll write it for you.
Lunar Conclave
L3: You can Wild Shape as though you were a Moon Druid with a level equal to half your Ranger level (round down). Your spell learned at this level may be any level 1 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 1 Druid spell.
L7: You can use the Wild Companion Druid class feature as a Druid with a level equal to half your Ranger level (round down). Your spell learned at this level may be any level 2 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 2 Druid spell. You gain a Moon Druid's Primal Strike subclass feature.
L11: Your spell learned at this level may be any level 3 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 3 Druid spell. You gain a Moon Druid's Elemental Wild Shape subclass feature, but you must quarter your Ranger level instead of halving it when calculating your Wild Shape duration. Round down as usual.
L15: Your spell learned at this level may be any level 4 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 4 Druid spell. You gain a Moon Druid's Thousand Forms subclass feature.
I want to play a ranger who can wild shape into a cat at will. He will use it to scout/sneak, no combat offcourse. would you allow this in your game and how should I implement it? I was thinking about just use the wildshape rules with just 1 shape. Not sure what the trade-off should be to keep things balanced, I don’t see it as a mayor improvement but more as a roleplaying flavour thing...
Any at will ability is incredibly powerful. Wild shaping at will for example is the 20th level capstone for Druids. It simply shouldn't be allowed for a level 1 character, especially a non-druid. Two levels of druid is what you want, goes well with Ranger as well.
As a house rule I would allow it, but I would limit it once per day and give you 1 hit point while in cat form. Dark vision to 120 feet, +2 to all dexterity checks (on top of your normal checks) and 40 foot movement while in cat form.
It would still amount to free buff, but it wouldn't be game breaking. Give you that one time you can role play your ability and be an awesome forward scout.
As a house rule I would allow it, but I would limit it once per day and give you 1 hit point while in cat form. Dark vision to 120 feet, +2 to all dexterity checks (on top of your normal checks) and 40 foot movement while in cat form.
It would still amount to free buff, but it wouldn't be game breaking. Give you that one time you can role play your ability and be an awesome forward scout.
Cats don't have dark vision in D&D. Not sure why you'd want to nerf the HP, though.
Housecats do seem to see pretty well in the dark... I don't know why it would have such a long range though. 60 feet seems ample to me.
Any hit capable of doing a single hit point worth of damage to a normal Human ought to pop a housecat like a soap bubble. Remember that a Human Commoner has all of 4 hit points. This means that there is a real risk involved in taking cat form. Your cat form only absorbs the first hit point of what could be a rather large amount of damage. A low level Ranger (I believe we are talking about one, since two levels of Druid would solve all problems and give some nice benefits on top of that) could actually get dropped down to zero hit points.
Being able to turn into a cat is a lot more powerful than it looks like at first. They are small, fast, sneaky, can climb well, and fit through any hole as wide as their whiskers. The cats I have kept company with certainly liked to come from unexpected places in the pitch dark and scare the daylights out of me. Being able to get into all the places a cat can is just awesome for scouting and sneaking around. Doing so repeatedly and at will needs a much stronger disadvantage than getting stuck up in the tops of trees.
It is a pity the original poster has not returned. They could tell us what sort of cat they had in mind. I don't think they liked any of the answers they got. A look at previous posts in other threads shows a great desire to play *big* cats without being a Druid. They talk about tigers, leopards, and panthers, and they want to use their wildshaped definatly-not-a-Druid to sneak and scout around Ravenloft. No were-critters either.
Hi! I would like to pick your brain :-)
I want to play a ranger who can wild shape into a cat at will. He will use it to scout/sneak, no combat offcourse. would you allow this in your game and how should I implement it? I was thinking about just use the wildshape rules with just 1 shape. Not sure what the trade-off should be to keep things balanced, I don’t see it as a mayor improvement but more as a roleplaying flavour thing...
Roll a druid and use your bow.
Or try to customize it as a racial ability or a Ranger spell. Something like a Minor Polymorph or an improved Disguise Self?
I would make it an uncommon magic item. Feline amulet or something, and limit it to once per day. Or just take 2 levels of druid.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
It rather depends on how *big* a cat you have in mind. For "Felis Catus", the common housecat, a Feline Amulet like Scatterbraind suggested would be fine. Anything else would go beyond roleplaying
<Insert clever signature here>
Rangers don't get wildshape, they also don't get polymorph so by RAW this is a non-starter. Allowing a ranger to just have it would be a massive power boost. If you are wanting to play that in a game you really would need to ask the DM of the game otherwise it is a totally moot point anyway. Nobody here can give you permission to play it unless they are the DM, and there is no way of you being able to do it without homebrewing something unless you go druid.
Two levels of Druid won't be wasted. You can take Shillelagh and some Druid cantrips/spells and concentrate on Wisdom. Then you can wildshape into whatever suits your concept.
Your other option might be to homebrew a race that can shapeshift into a tiny creature once or twice a day.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
I agree with everyone else, but also, if you're willing to homebrew, this could be completely done as a homebrewed Ranger subclass that's just Moon Druid. I'll write it for you.
Lunar Conclave
L3: You can Wild Shape as though you were a Moon Druid with a level equal to half your Ranger level (round down). Your spell learned at this level may be any level 1 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 1 Druid spell.
L7: You can use the Wild Companion Druid class feature as a Druid with a level equal to half your Ranger level (round down). Your spell learned at this level may be any level 2 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 2 Druid spell. You gain a Moon Druid's Primal Strike subclass feature.
L11: Your spell learned at this level may be any level 3 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 3 Druid spell. You gain a Moon Druid's Elemental Wild Shape subclass feature, but you must quarter your Ranger level instead of halving it when calculating your Wild Shape duration. Round down as usual.
L15: Your spell learned at this level may be any level 4 Druid spell, and should you choose to replace it, it can be replaced with any level 4 Druid spell. You gain a Moon Druid's Thousand Forms subclass feature.
Any at will ability is incredibly powerful. Wild shaping at will for example is the 20th level capstone for Druids. It simply shouldn't be allowed for a level 1 character, especially a non-druid. Two levels of druid is what you want, goes well with Ranger as well.
As a house rule I would allow it, but I would limit it once per day and give you 1 hit point while in cat form. Dark vision to 120 feet, +2 to all dexterity checks (on top of your normal checks) and 40 foot movement while in cat form.
It would still amount to free buff, but it wouldn't be game breaking. Give you that one time you can role play your ability and be an awesome forward scout.
Cats don't have dark vision in D&D. Not sure why you'd want to nerf the HP, though.
Housecats do seem to see pretty well in the dark... I don't know why it would have such a long range though. 60 feet seems ample to me.
Any hit capable of doing a single hit point worth of damage to a normal Human ought to pop a housecat like a soap bubble. Remember that a Human Commoner has all of 4 hit points. This means that there is a real risk involved in taking cat form. Your cat form only absorbs the first hit point of what could be a rather large amount of damage. A low level Ranger (I believe we are talking about one, since two levels of Druid would solve all problems and give some nice benefits on top of that) could actually get dropped down to zero hit points.
Being able to turn into a cat is a lot more powerful than it looks like at first. They are small, fast, sneaky, can climb well, and fit through any hole as wide as their whiskers. The cats I have kept company with certainly liked to come from unexpected places in the pitch dark and scare the daylights out of me. Being able to get into all the places a cat can is just awesome for scouting and sneaking around. Doing so repeatedly and at will needs a much stronger disadvantage than getting stuck up in the tops of trees.
It is a pity the original poster has not returned. They could tell us what sort of cat they had in mind. I don't think they liked any of the answers they got. A look at previous posts in other threads shows a great desire to play *big* cats without being a Druid. They talk about tigers, leopards, and panthers, and they want to use their wildshaped definatly-not-a-Druid to sneak and scout around Ravenloft. No were-critters either.
<Insert clever signature here>
Cats don't have dark vision in D&D. They do have advantage on wisdom (perception) check having to do with smell, though.