I am new to D&D and have a character in my head but since I don't know D&D yet I Don't know how I can realize this charachter.
I want to play as a mythical creature. decended from a nature god to protect his followers as the warden of a forgotten vally. A great mythical creature with the shape of a large and great humanoid reptile that can cross terrain from climbing the rockwalls, trees, land as well as has the ability to transforms into a great bird so that it can watch from the sky, and influencere animals and plants being one of the valley (kindoff think hercines monsters from skyrim or a 'were Deadroth' )
After hundreds of years in service for the god the warden the mortal temptations become too much and this once mythical creature starts to lose its connection to the valley, and his creator. slowly losing its ablilities and transforming into a mere mortal (thus my character starting at lvl 0). In the campagne my leveling up will be my character regaining his connection with is old mythical self.
What I want for my character is basically beïng able to swift into a humanoid reptile to fight (I found that the shifter race would be well for that ). and transform into a regular sized hawk. because of the regular size the hawk might be quick for a suprise attack or distraction but the hawk is vulnerable so in battle I would be forced to transform back to my regular or reptile form.
My characters nature is pure animal he is not exeptionally strong but sneaks up on its pray and strikes from the shadow. The only weapons he needs are his teeth and claws. Because of its connection to the god and nature he has some (magic) abilities. not casting fireballs. but raising fog while stalking its prey and raising roots to prevent its prey from fleeing and calling other animals to aid.
From what I've read a shifter druid seems applicible but I am afraid that I'll lose a lot of power by not wanting to switch from these two animals.
Do any of you have suggestions on how I build or come close to the character in my head without comming up with homebrew.
In addition to the shifter, you may consider a lizardfolk. They have several of the traits that you were looking for. You could start with 1 or 2 levels of fighter to get a fighting style and perhaps Action Surge or 2 levels of Ranger to get the fighting style and 1 more spellcaster level. Druid is likely what you'll want for the class, and choosing a subclass other than Moon Druid will limit the loss of power from choosing fewer animal forms. You can forgo the multiclass by going straight druid and choose the fighting initiate feat. The fighting style will be the unarmed fighting style. Consider Primal Savagery as one of your cantrips. The natural armor of a lizardfolk will serve for your AC.
Another possibility would be 2-4 levels of Land druid and the rest as Path of the Beast barbarian. Just know that you can't cast spells while raging or maintain concentration on a spell. However, it will give you good options for what you want. You could also go 5-8 levels of barbarian and the rest druid for a more caster centered version that goes beastial at the last moment.
It looks to me like you have a really good idea for your character. Keep in mind that not all Druids use their Wildshape for combat, so limiting yourself to a specific utility shift isn't necessarily a bad thing. Honestly, if I was your DM I'd be happy you did, since it meant I wouldn't have to look up different beast stats regularly. Just keep in mind that you can't Wildshape into a flying creature until 8th level.
I'd also say you could benefit from some of the Druid Subclasses that have alternate Wildshape options. Something like the Circle of Stars or Circle of Spores... subclasses where you can use your Wild Shape to make yourself more powerful in combat without necessarily changing form into a beast.
In order to get the hawk-form early, ask your DM to do what I think of as 'Gloss fudging.' Use the rules for an Aaracockra druid, as aaracockra have a fly speed, but change the aesthetic so that you can only fly by a purely cosmetic shifting into a hawk. This would have no effect on the gameplay but would allow you to more quickly realise your character vision.
Outside of that, Jhfffan made a great suggestion, but you won't get to fly until level 8.
In order to get the hawk-form early, ask your DM to do what I think of as 'Gloss fudging.' Use the rules for an Aaracockra druid, as aaracockra have a fly speed, but change the aesthetic so that you can only fly by a purely cosmetic shifting into a hawk. This would have no effect on the gameplay but would allow you to more quickly realise your character vision.
Outside of that, Jhfffan made a great suggestion, but you won't get to fly until level 8.
Another workaround for the not being able to fly until level 8, the optional class feature Wild Companion from Tasha's could be used:
Wild Companion
2nd-level druid feature
You gain the ability to summon a spirit that assumes an animal form: as an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to cast the find familiar spell, without material components.
When you cast the spell in this way, the familiar is a fey instead of a beast, and the familiar disappears after a number of hours equal to half your druid level.
Since it uses your Wild Shape, you can flavor it as moving part of your essence into the bird shape before finally being able to fully transform into the hawk at 8th. Considering the backstory, that could be an interesting way to spin it, learning how to do in a mortal body what you had been able to do in an immortal body. I was actually thinking about suggesting a way to get Find Familiar as a work around anyway, but this works much better.
Druid is pretty much the obvious choice for a nature protector type that can shapeshift, as Jhaffan said.
Lizardfolk is a good race choice, but I'd also throw Yuan-ti into the mix. Not as optimized as a lizardfolk is for druid, but seems to fit the flavor.
Yuan-ti is a good option, especially using Tasha's to change the stats to what you want. It doesn't have the bite or claw attack that you were looking for, but getting the unarmed fighting style will fix one of those. I guess you could wield a dagger for the mechanics and just say that your biting someone when you attack with it. Primal Savagery also works for the claw attack of you don't want to go unarmed fighting style through MC or feat. That was suggested above. Alternately, you could go with a druid 3-4/Monk X build or a monk 1-6 druid x. Similar to the barbarian build but not as MAD and without the beast form.
Getting at least monk 5 gives you extra attack, stunning strike and d6 martial arts die . 6 gets you +15 ft movement, ki-empowered strikes, a monastic tradition feature, and the extra ki point. Going anymore probably means limiting your druid levels. There are plenty of monk subclasses that could emphasize an aspect of what the OP is trying to do.
Transmorpher: I couldnt really find how the Circle of Stars or Circle of Spore druids can use their Wild shape to make them more powerfull? Did you mean use other abilities instead?
Jhfffan those are awesom ideas thank you man! I like the familiar spel idea!
Transmorpher: I couldnt really find how the Circle of Stars or Circle of Spore druids can use their Wild shape to make them more powerfull? Did you mean use other abilities instead?
Jhfffan those are awesom ideas thank you man! I like the familiar spel idea!
Yes, sorry, I dont' think I worded that very well. I meant that those subclasses give you alternatives to Wild Shape, so that you can maintain your humanoid form but get benefits that make you stronger in combat. Since you're not planning to use Wild Shape to actually transform into an animal until you're able to change into a Hawk, I thought it would make sense to focus on a Subclass that lets you still use your Wild Shape charges regularly.
Transmorpher: I couldnt really find how the Circle of Stars or Circle of Spore druids can use their Wild shape to make them more powerfull? Did you mean use other abilities instead?
Jhfffan those are awesom ideas thank you man! I like the familiar spel idea!
Yes, sorry, I dont' think I worded that very well. I meant that those subclasses give you alternatives to Wild Shape, so that you can maintain your humanoid form but get benefits that make you stronger in combat. Since you're not planning to use Wild Shape to actually transform into an animal until you're able to change into a Hawk, I thought it would make sense to focus on a Subclass that lets you still use your Wild Shape charges regularly.
Circle of Spores ability is Symbiotic Entity and it adds necrotic damage to your melee attacks. Could be interesting if you want to be an agent of decay and renewal as a protector of nature.
Circle of Stars has Starry Form which lets you change into 1 of three different forms, one that attacks with a ranged arrow spell attack, one that buffs your healing abilities, and one that buffs your intelligence and wisdom checks as well as constitution checks to maintain concentration.
Both receive upgrades at later levels, and, with wild companion and a hawk form after 8, will give you plenty of options for using your wild shape. You do get 2 wild shape uses per short or long rest. If you want to save your wild shapes, there are other options that could be interesting and mix with your character idea as well. From what I've understood Spores might be a good fit mechanically but may not fit exactly with your character concept.
Land Druid does have Natural Recovery at 2 if you want more of a caster and has additional prepared spells.
Moon Druid doesn't seem to do much for your concept but is regularly considered among the strongest subclasses for druid.
Dreams Druid is a healer and has interactions with the Feywild.
Shepherd is a summoner. Some of the summons have varying effects depending on what you summon.
Spores and Stars were addressed above, leaving Wildfire, which also uses your wildshape to summon a wildfire Spirit. It seems to have more of a support role with additional spells that can be used for offense. Might be interesting to look at, but I'm not certain it fits your concept.
Thank you for your suggestions Jhffan! although mechanically they could be usefull I think conceptually they wont fit the character that well.
with all of your ideas I think I will go Moon druid and role play the wild shapes of bear and direwolf to be me showing a fraction of the mythical monster as I once was with my appearance beïng still lizardy in those forms. but taking their stats and abilities. and then instead of going for lvl 10 and elemental forms. taking multiclassing in some monk, barbarian or unarmed fighter. To make my unarmed lizardfolk or animal form attacks strong.
I might take a dip in assasin as my DM will allow the lizardfolk bite attack to count for sneak.
this way I might sneak into a room stealthily. assasinating one character in the room and transforming in bearstat form to tank damage from the other enemy's in room. the idea of having a character jumping from the roof or shadows out of nowhere. killing a guy and immediately turning into this huge animalistic monster. seems perfect to me 😋.
Thank you for your suggestions Jhffan! although mechanically they could be usefull I think conceptually they wont fit the character that well.
with all of your ideas I think I will go Moon druid and role play the wild shapes of bear and direwolf to be me showing a fraction of the mythical monster as I once was with my appearance beïng still lizardy in those forms. but taking their stats and abilities. and then instead of going for lvl 10 and elemental forms. taking multiclassing in some monk, barbarian or unarmed fighter. To make my unarmed lizardfolk or animal form attacks strong.
I might take a dip in assasin as my DM will allow the lizardfolk bite attack to count for sneak.
this way I might sneak into a room stealthily. assasinating one character in the room and transforming in bearstat form to tank damage from the other enemy's in room. the idea of having a character jumping from the roof or shadows out of nowhere. killing a guy and immediately turning into this huge animalistic monster. seems perfect to me 😋.
Sounds like a great character concept! I always think it's better to lean into re-skinning the official content... adding your own flavor to your abilities is one of my favorite parts of roleplaying.
Druid is pretty much the obvious choice for a nature protector type that can shapeshift, as Jhaffan said.
Lizardfolk is a good race choice, but I'd also throw Yuan-ti into the mix. Not as optimized as a lizardfolk is for druid, but seems to fit the flavor.
Yuan-ti is a good option, especially using Tasha's to change the stats to what you want. It doesn't have the bite or claw attack that you were looking for, but getting the unarmed fighting style will fix one of those. I guess you could wield a dagger for the mechanics and just say that your biting someone when you attack with it. Primal Savagery also works for the claw attack of you don't want to go unarmed fighting style through MC or feat. That was suggested above. Alternately, you could go with a druid 3-4/Monk X build or a monk 1-6 druid x. Similar to the barbarian build but not as MAD and witho. . .
Heck.. the Dagger could be one of his own old teeth.
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Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
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Hey guys
I am new to D&D and have a character in my head but since I don't know D&D yet I Don't know how I can realize this charachter.
I want to play as a mythical creature. decended from a nature god to protect his followers as the warden of a forgotten vally. A great mythical creature with the shape of a large and great humanoid reptile that can cross terrain from climbing the rockwalls, trees, land as well as has the ability to transforms into a great bird so that it can watch from the sky, and influencere animals and plants being one of the valley (kindoff think hercines monsters from skyrim or a 'were Deadroth' )
After hundreds of years in service for the god the warden the mortal temptations become too much and this once mythical creature starts to lose its connection to the valley, and his creator. slowly losing its ablilities and transforming into a mere mortal (thus my character starting at lvl 0). In the campagne my leveling up will be my character regaining his connection with is old mythical self.
What I want for my character is basically beïng able to swift into a humanoid reptile to fight (I found that the shifter race would be well for that ). and transform into a regular sized hawk. because of the regular size the hawk might be quick for a suprise attack or distraction but the hawk is vulnerable so in battle I would be forced to transform back to my regular or reptile form.
My characters nature is pure animal he is not exeptionally strong but sneaks up on its pray and strikes from the shadow. The only weapons he needs are his teeth and claws. Because of its connection to the god and nature he has some (magic) abilities. not casting fireballs. but raising fog while stalking its prey and raising roots to prevent its prey from fleeing and calling other animals to aid.
From what I've read a shifter druid seems applicible but I am afraid that I'll lose a lot of power by not wanting to switch from these two animals.
Do any of you have suggestions on how I build or come close to the character in my head without comming up with homebrew.
Thank you guys
In addition to the shifter, you may consider a lizardfolk. They have several of the traits that you were looking for. You could start with 1 or 2 levels of fighter to get a fighting style and perhaps Action Surge or 2 levels of Ranger to get the fighting style and 1 more spellcaster level. Druid is likely what you'll want for the class, and choosing a subclass other than Moon Druid will limit the loss of power from choosing fewer animal forms. You can forgo the multiclass by going straight druid and choose the fighting initiate feat. The fighting style will be the unarmed fighting style. Consider Primal Savagery as one of your cantrips. The natural armor of a lizardfolk will serve for your AC.
Another possibility would be 2-4 levels of Land druid and the rest as Path of the Beast barbarian. Just know that you can't cast spells while raging or maintain concentration on a spell. However, it will give you good options for what you want. You could also go 5-8 levels of barbarian and the rest druid for a more caster centered version that goes beastial at the last moment.
Druid is pretty much the obvious choice for a nature protector type that can shapeshift, as Jhaffan said.
Lizardfolk is a good race choice, but I'd also throw Yuan-ti into the mix. Not as optimized as a lizardfolk is for druid, but seems to fit the flavor.
It looks to me like you have a really good idea for your character. Keep in mind that not all Druids use their Wildshape for combat, so limiting yourself to a specific utility shift isn't necessarily a bad thing. Honestly, if I was your DM I'd be happy you did, since it meant I wouldn't have to look up different beast stats regularly. Just keep in mind that you can't Wildshape into a flying creature until 8th level.
I'd also say you could benefit from some of the Druid Subclasses that have alternate Wildshape options. Something like the Circle of Stars or Circle of Spores... subclasses where you can use your Wild Shape to make yourself more powerful in combat without necessarily changing form into a beast.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
In order to get the hawk-form early, ask your DM to do what I think of as 'Gloss fudging.' Use the rules for an Aaracockra druid, as aaracockra have a fly speed, but change the aesthetic so that you can only fly by a purely cosmetic shifting into a hawk. This would have no effect on the gameplay but would allow you to more quickly realise your character vision.
Outside of that, Jhfffan made a great suggestion, but you won't get to fly until level 8.
Another workaround for the not being able to fly until level 8, the optional class feature Wild Companion from Tasha's could be used:
Wild Companion
2nd-level druid feature
You gain the ability to summon a spirit that assumes an animal form: as an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to cast the find familiar spell, without material components.
When you cast the spell in this way, the familiar is a fey instead of a beast, and the familiar disappears after a number of hours equal to half your druid level.
Since it uses your Wild Shape, you can flavor it as moving part of your essence into the bird shape before finally being able to fully transform into the hawk at 8th. Considering the backstory, that could be an interesting way to spin it, learning how to do in a mortal body what you had been able to do in an immortal body. I was actually thinking about suggesting a way to get Find Familiar as a work around anyway, but this works much better.
Yuan-ti is a good option, especially using Tasha's to change the stats to what you want. It doesn't have the bite or claw attack that you were looking for, but getting the unarmed fighting style will fix one of those. I guess you could wield a dagger for the mechanics and just say that your biting someone when you attack with it. Primal Savagery also works for the claw attack of you don't want to go unarmed fighting style through MC or feat. That was suggested above. Alternately, you could go with a druid 3-4/Monk X build or a monk 1-6 druid x. Similar to the barbarian build but not as MAD and without the beast form.
Getting at least monk 5 gives you extra attack, stunning strike and d6 martial arts die . 6 gets you +15 ft movement, ki-empowered strikes, a monastic tradition feature, and the extra ki point. Going anymore probably means limiting your druid levels. There are plenty of monk subclasses that could emphasize an aspect of what the OP is trying to do.
Hey thank all of you for your response!
These are all great suggestions!.
Transmorpher: I couldnt really find how the Circle of Stars or Circle of Spore druids can use their Wild shape to make them more powerfull? Did you mean use other abilities instead?
Jhfffan those are awesom ideas thank you man! I like the familiar spel idea!
Yes, sorry, I dont' think I worded that very well. I meant that those subclasses give you alternatives to Wild Shape, so that you can maintain your humanoid form but get benefits that make you stronger in combat. Since you're not planning to use Wild Shape to actually transform into an animal until you're able to change into a Hawk, I thought it would make sense to focus on a Subclass that lets you still use your Wild Shape charges regularly.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Circle of Spores ability is Symbiotic Entity and it adds necrotic damage to your melee attacks. Could be interesting if you want to be an agent of decay and renewal as a protector of nature.
Circle of Stars has Starry Form which lets you change into 1 of three different forms, one that attacks with a ranged arrow spell attack, one that buffs your healing abilities, and one that buffs your intelligence and wisdom checks as well as constitution checks to maintain concentration.
Both receive upgrades at later levels, and, with wild companion and a hawk form after 8, will give you plenty of options for using your wild shape. You do get 2 wild shape uses per short or long rest. If you want to save your wild shapes, there are other options that could be interesting and mix with your character idea as well. From what I've understood Spores might be a good fit mechanically but may not fit exactly with your character concept.
Land Druid does have Natural Recovery at 2 if you want more of a caster and has additional prepared spells.
Moon Druid doesn't seem to do much for your concept but is regularly considered among the strongest subclasses for druid.
Dreams Druid is a healer and has interactions with the Feywild.
Shepherd is a summoner. Some of the summons have varying effects depending on what you summon.
Spores and Stars were addressed above, leaving Wildfire, which also uses your wildshape to summon a wildfire Spirit. It seems to have more of a support role with additional spells that can be used for offense. Might be interesting to look at, but I'm not certain it fits your concept.
Thank you for your suggestions Jhffan! although mechanically they could be usefull I think conceptually they wont fit the character that well.
with all of your ideas I think I will go Moon druid and role play the wild shapes of bear and direwolf to be me showing a fraction of the mythical monster as I once was with my appearance beïng still lizardy in those forms. but taking their stats and abilities. and then instead of going for lvl 10 and elemental forms. taking multiclassing in some monk, barbarian or unarmed fighter. To make my unarmed lizardfolk or animal form attacks strong.
I might take a dip in assasin as my DM will allow the lizardfolk bite attack to count for sneak.
this way I might sneak into a room stealthily. assasinating one character in the room and transforming in bearstat form to tank damage from the other enemy's in room. the idea of having a character jumping from the roof or shadows out of nowhere. killing a guy and immediately turning into this huge animalistic monster. seems perfect to me 😋.
RAW, the bite is not eligible for sneak attack, since it is neither a finesse or ranged weapon, but it never hurts to ask.
Sounds like a great character concept! I always think it's better to lean into re-skinning the official content... adding your own flavor to your abilities is one of my favorite parts of roleplaying.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound