I just watched the post covering the changes to the druid class for D&D One. While you are making changes to this class, why don't you make the druid class playable! I have been searching for some old school elements. Let me mention them, elven alchemy item Glass Steel, Leaf weave, and let us not forget Ironwood. Does anyone at wizards even remember D&D 3.5? Or does anyone remember "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"? The restrictions on playing a druid make the class unplayable from the start. Since you are making changes to the druid class, actually make them playable.! Time for you folks to go and do some simple research and return some missing links from the past.
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying makes druids unplayable but (based on your mentioning of alternate materials...) if you're talking about restrictions being not wearing metal, you may have not noticed that in the onednd playtest that's not mentioned. You're welcome to still play with it if you want but as far as the playtest rules are concerned it's not a thing.
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
I agree with the beginning part, but the wildshape HP issues is the least of the problems of the UA, imo. That's an easy fix by tinkering with some numbers. The templates potentially have AC's higher than most of the current 5E WS forms you can take. And non-Moon druids would probably get by just fine with them, as they typically are not using their wildshape to take beast form and jump into melee. Moon druids can should be able to bolster the template to improve AC and damage. And I hope they make those changes. The extra HP of the forms was partly there because the forms AC's were so bad.
But that's off topic, sorry. To the OP, maybe you can expand on what you think is making the druid useless?
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
I agree with the beginning part, but the wildshape HP issues is the least of the problems of the UA, imo. That's an easy fix by tinkering with some numbers. The templates potentially have AC's higher than most of the current 5E WS forms you can take. And non-Moon druids would probably get by just fine with them, as they typically are not using their wildshape to take beast form and jump into melee. Moon druids can should be able to bolster the template to improve AC and damage. And I hope they make those changes. The extra HP of the forms was partly there because the forms AC's were so bad.
But that's off topic, sorry. To the OP, maybe you can expand on what you think is making the druid useless?
I think you misunderstood a bit, not the part about the HP, which I still will say is a massive nerf. It's the fact that wildshape is pointless and basically all of Druid's features are focused on it, even when most druids won't use wildshape all that much in it's current form. There is literally 8 different features for wildshape in the base class druid for the UA... and most people will only want to use it for RP, scouting or utility, most of which also got nerfed.
Druids are not useless. Druid wild shape is pretty useless, though.
For combat, it forces you into a melee role -- without giving you the defenses to survive doing so, and your damage isn't terribly exciting either.
For scouting, it does have some benefits (using wisdom for strength and dexterity checks, advantage on perception), but they're generally not sufficient to make up for being unable to use your skills, gear, and spells.
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
Exposing druid's HP finally fixed the abusive nature of wild shape that turned it into a weird meat tanking tool, like you summon a whole creature then wear it on yourself. It's the lack of utility options that kills the UA wild shape. No spider climb, no stealth, no burrowing...
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
Exposing druid's HP finally fixed the abusive nature of wild shape that turned it into a weird meat tanking tool, like you summon a whole creature then wear it on yourself. It's the lack of utility options that kills the UA wild shape. No spider climb, no stealth, no burrowing...
The reduced utility is not the greatest issue, druids already have powerful stealth spells, so having wild shape stealth on top was a bit OTT and Burrowing got abused too. Druid gets to do what Rogue does in stealth, without being specialized for it like a Rogue needs too, so the reduced utility could well just be a class rebalancing issue with utility that Druid wasn't really meant to have and limited the design of beast creatures in 5E since WotC had to continuously review just how beasts would affect druid. The scouting part got moved to Find Familiar, which is a superior option to what was going on in 5E, from a class balance perspective and more inline with how a druid should be gathering information, communing with animals and spirits.
Exposing druid's HP is not a removal of any abusive nature, it was straight up how Moon Druid was designed to work and it worked, nobody sees the current incarnation of moon druid in the UA as viable, which goes to show it was not an abuse but a necessary function of wild shape. No other druid was really relying on that HP given by wild shape than moon, so it is just a huge nerf to the one subclass that is actually reliant on wild shape, wild shape is great at low tiers but was already underpowered for high tiers, so it just needed some rebalancing, slightly less power in early game but more power in late game. These changes haven't addressed that at all, just nerfed it completely.
Most druids rely on spellcasting, wild shape is just more flavour/RP, which is important but also does infringe on other classes when used the way it can get used in 5E but for Moon Druid who specialize in it, it is just too nerfed and for normal druids, the current forms don't offer any benefits at all.
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
I agree with the beginning part, but the wildshape HP issues is the least of the problems of the UA, imo. That's an easy fix by tinkering with some numbers. The templates potentially have AC's higher than most of the current 5E WS forms you can take. And non-Moon druids would probably get by just fine with them, as they typically are not using their wildshape to take beast form and jump into melee. Moon druids can should be able to bolster the template to improve AC and damage. And I hope they make those changes. The extra HP of the forms was partly there because the forms AC's were so bad.
But that's off topic, sorry. To the OP, maybe you can expand on what you think is making the druid useless?
I think you misunderstood a bit, not the part about the HP, which I still will say is a massive nerf. It's the fact that wildshape is pointless and basically all of Druid's features are focused on it, even when most druids won't use wildshape all that much in it's current form. There is literally 8 different features for wildshape in the base class druid for the UA... and most people will only want to use it for RP, scouting or utility, most of which also got nerfed.
Sorry if I misunderstood. I was just going off of what you said, "while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP."
I should have also included, which I agree with you on this, is that the UA focuses too much on Wildshape. First, some of the "features" in the UA were already part of wildshape in 5E but they broke them out into their own class features so that the Druid Table does not look so bare. And I think those features need to be part of the main Template then those levels filled with other features that flesh out the Druid more. And second, as it stands, the lack of utility in the template does make it less useful for all druids due to the lack of utility.
And by no means am I saying the UA wildshape is good. It needs work.
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
Exposing druid's HP finally fixed the abusive nature of wild shape that turned it into a weird meat tanking tool, like you summon a whole creature then wear it on yourself. It's the lack of utility options that kills the UA wild shape. No spider climb, no stealth, no burrowing...
The reduced utility is not the greatest issue, druids already have powerful stealth spells, so having wild shape stealth on top was a bit OTT and Burrowing got abused too. Druid gets to do what Rogue does in stealth, without being specialized for it like a Rogue needs too, so the reduced utility could well just be a class rebalancing issue with utility that Druid wasn't really meant to have and limited the design of beast creatures in 5E since WotC had to continuously review just how beasts would affect druid. The scouting part got moved to Find Familiar, which is a superior option to what was going on in 5E, from a class balance perspective and more inline with how a druid should be gathering information, communing with animals and spirits.
Exposing druid's HP is not a removal of any abusive nature, it was straight up how Moon Druid was designed to work and it worked, nobody sees the current incarnation of moon druid in the UA as viable, which goes to show it was not an abuse but a necessary function of wild shape. No other druid was really relying on that HP given by wild shape than moon, so it is just a huge nerf to the one subclass that is actually reliant on wild shape, wild shape is great at low tiers but was already underpowered for high tiers, so it just needed some rebalancing, slightly less power in early game but more power in late game. These changes haven't addressed that at all, just nerfed it completely.
Most druids rely on spellcasting, wild shape is just more flavour/RP, which is important but also does infringe on other classes when used the way it can get used in 5E but for Moon Druid who specialize in it, it is just too nerfed and for normal druids, the current forms don't offer any benefits at all.
I still think utility is the biggest issue. A main feature of a class should do more than flavor/RP or it's just a ribbon feature. And ribbon features should not be a big part of an entire class. And there will always be overlap in some abilities between classes. So, yes, Druids have Pass Without Trace, but we haven't seen it in a UA yet. And since GWM/SS both lost their -5/+10 because that was too powerful, we might see the same with PWT. And what if you don't have a rogue in the party? Or you can't or don't want to use a spellslot for something WS could do?
And honestly, I don't really care for using find familiar. I've been playing my Land Druid since before Tasha's and even after that book came out I have yet to use WS for a familiar. I would rather do any scouting etc myself. Or turn into a giant spider to carry a party member over an obstacle. Or some things that a familiar just cannot do, but 5E WS, even on a Land druid, can do.
The reason I said I think the HP issue is the least issue is because it is an easier fix for the Template (which I don't see WotC moving away from) than the Utility. Especially since the HP in WS is mainly for one single subclass. Easy fixes are: Temp HP when you WS. A better AC calculation as part of Combat WS so you get hit less often (even the current UA template gives the possibility of better AC than most 5E WS forms). And even additional boosts to damage could be easily added, like changing the damage to 1d10+Wis. Or whatever.
You lose the ability to spend a spell slot to heal, but you can now cast abjuration spells with no M component: Resistance (cantrip, +d4 to a Saving Throw as a reaction), Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison, Dispel Magic, Mass Healing Word, Protection from Energy, Antilife Shell, Mass Cure Wounds, Heal, Power Word Heal. So you can still use spell slots to heal or for a few other things that help survivability.
And you can't be knocked out of WS unless you are down to zero HP so you can keep your form going even when the 5E version would have been used up. And Moon druid can get resistance to an elemental type at level 6, which helps durability.
Again, I'm not saying WS or Mood Druid is where it needs to be in the UA. It needs work. Moon Druid needs some buffs. But I think those buffs are easier to implement than figuring out how to get some utility into the Template. There's a lot that non-Mood druids lost in this WS, moreso than I think Moon druids lost (or at least can be more easily fixed).
EDIT:
Druid gets to do what Rogue does in stealth, without being specialized for it like a Rogue needs too, so the reduced utility could well just be a class rebalancing issue with utility that Druid wasn't really meant to have
And maybe the changes to Barkskin (which wasn't all that great in 5E) could well just be a rebalancing issue with WS HP that the Druid wasn't really meant to have? You can cast it, then WS, and get Temp HP that regens every round.
BARKSKIN [SPELL] Here’s a new version of the Barkskin Spell.
BARKSKIN 2nd-Level Transmutation Spell (Primal)
Casting Time: Bonus Action
Range: Touch
Component: V, S, M (a handful of bark)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
You touch one willing creature to protect it with regenerating bark. Until the Spell ends, the target’s skin assumes a bark-like appearance, and at the start of each of the target’s turns, the target gains a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your spellcasting ability modifier plus your Proficiency Bonus. At Higher Levels. When you cast this Spell using a Spell Slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional willing creature for each slot level above 2nd
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
Lack of medium or heavy armour proficiency makes druids much more squishy than clerics making the idea you'd ever play one in melee utterly crazy, yet they get lots of spells (and WS) that can only be used in melee. It's why druid right now is the least played class in the game - it is much more complicated than other classes, and less powerful than them, so there is really no point in a player learning how to play the class except for strategy-minded players who like the fact that it is a hard class to play.
Druid gets to do what Rogue does in stealth, without being specialized for it like a Rogue needs too
A Rogue does not need to be specialized for stealth, and quite honestly has never been the best infiltrator or scout in 5e. So those decrying druid stepping on Rogue's toes need to stop an really think for a moment. Find Familiar has always been and continues to be the best option for scouting unseen, combine it with an Invisibility spell and you'd be stupid to send the Rogue into an enemy camp rather than an invisible owl or hawk familiar. So Wizards have been stepping on Rogue's toes far more so than druids since the inception of 5e.
Since Tasha's (and also in One D&D) Rangers get access to both PwoT and expertise in Stealth so are also just much much better scouts than Rogues. Add to that the fact that Rangers get extra movement options like climbing and swimming a higher levels and it is no contest. The Ranger is superior at scouting than the Rogue will ever be.
One D&D is actually hurting Rogue's scouting by removing Tiny WS, because it means that if the party has both a Rogue and a Druid, it's now not possible for them to work together. No more can the druid be a rat in the Rogue's pocket providing PwoT while the Rogue sneaks around. Instead the druid will just Find Familiar an pick an innocuous tiny form and just let the familiar go scout while the rogue stays with the party nice and safe.
See if the challenge was scouting out an enemy base, a Rogue going in alone was never the right option in 5e. A human sized person that is clearly visible while they run from one barrel to another just doesn't work for scouting, no matter how high their stealth modifier is. In 5e, to scout out an enemy base better options that this are: (1) send the bard or warlock with Disguise Self to pretend to be one of the enemies. (2) send in a spider familiar (3) use a divination spell like Arcane Eye or Scrying (4) have the arcane caster use Invisibility on someone (or familiar) and send them to scout (5) have the druid or ranger cast PwoT and the whole party goes to sneak up on the enemy base.
I still think utility is the biggest issue. A main feature of a class should do more than flavor/RP or it's just a ribbon feature. And ribbon features should not be a big part of an entire class. And there will always be overlap in some abilities between classes. So, yes, Druids have Pass Without Trace, but we haven't seen it in a UA yet. And since GWM/SS both lost their -5/+10 because that was too powerful, we might see the same with PWT. And what if you don't have a rogue in the party? Or you can't or don't want to use a spellslot for something WS could do?
And honestly, I don't really care for using find familiar. I've been playing my Land Druid since before Tasha's and even after that book came out I have yet to use WS for a familiar. I would rather do any scouting etc myself. Or turn into a giant spider to carry a party member over an obstacle. Or some things that a familiar just cannot do, but 5E WS, even on a Land druid, can do.
Again, I don't think Druid has lost much in terms of scouting, even if you do not like it, a find familiar will be quiet capable.
Lack of medium or heavy armour proficiency makes druids much more squishy than clerics making the idea you'd ever play one in melee utterly crazy, yet they get lots of spells (and WS) that can only be used in melee. It's why druid right now is the least played class in the game - it is much more complicated than other classes, and less powerful than them, so there is really no point in a player learning how to play the class except for strategy-minded players who like the fact that it is a hard class to play.
I don't think the loss of Medium Armor is that big of a loss, the removal of the restrictions on metal armour makes it easier to multiclass now and classes like Rogue can still melee in light armor, admittedly they do have more features for it but Druid is not meant to be that toe-to-toe melee fighter, except with wildshape for moon druid, which no longer works.
A Rogue does not need to be specialized for stealth, and quite honestly has never been the best infiltrator or scout in 5e. So those decrying druid stepping on Rogue's toes need to stop an really think for a moment. Find Familiar has always been and continues to be the best option for scouting unseen, combine it with an Invisibility spell and you'd be stupid to send the Rogue into an enemy camp rather than an invisible owl or hawk familiar. So Wizards have been stepping on Rogue's toes far more so than druids since the inception of 5e.
Since Tasha's (and also in One D&D) Rangers get access to both PwoT and expertise in Stealth so are also just much much better scouts than Rogues. Add to that the fact that Rangers get extra movement options like climbing and swimming a higher levels and it is no contest. The Ranger is superior at scouting than the Rogue will ever be.
When I say Rogue is specialized, I meant the class in general, not player builds. Rogue is obviously designed for stealth and scouting is not the same thing as infiltration. Infiltration could be described as a subset of scouting but it really goes beyond. Ranger is also a very scouting based class, scoping out alternative entrances and exits, or finding abnormal things near other camps, towns and other points of interest.
Find Familiar is definitely broken with full on infiltration as is wild shape in 5E. Also the best thing for that is Arcane Eye, beats literally all of this, 4th level wizard spell which DMs can control with say an anti-magic field. Well the current form of Wild Shape is also described as a "Magic" Action, so assuming that Wild Shape is not going to work in anti-magic fields any more either, we will have to wait to see.
I still think utility is the biggest issue. A main feature of a class should do more than flavor/RP or it's just a ribbon feature. And ribbon features should not be a big part of an entire class. And there will always be overlap in some abilities between classes. So, yes, Druids have Pass Without Trace, but we haven't seen it in a UA yet. And since GWM/SS both lost their -5/+10 because that was too powerful, we might see the same with PWT. And what if you don't have a rogue in the party? Or you can't or don't want to use a spellslot for something WS could do?
And honestly, I don't really care for using find familiar. I've been playing my Land Druid since before Tasha's and even after that book came out I have yet to use WS for a familiar. I would rather do any scouting etc myself. Or turn into a giant spider to carry a party member over an obstacle. Or some things that a familiar just cannot do, but 5E WS, even on a Land druid, can do.
Again, I don't think Druid has lost much in terms of scouting, even if you do not like it, a find familiar will be quiet capable.
Lack of medium or heavy armour proficiency makes druids much more squishy than clerics making the idea you'd ever play one in melee utterly crazy, yet they get lots of spells (and WS) that can only be used in melee. It's why druid right now is the least played class in the game - it is much more complicated than other classes, and less powerful than them, so there is really no point in a player learning how to play the class except for strategy-minded players who like the fact that it is a hard class to play.
I don't think the loss of Medium Armor is that big of a loss, the removal of the restrictions on metal armour makes it easier to multiclass now and classes like Rogue can still melee in light armor, admittedly they do have more features for it but Druid is not meant to be that toe-to-toe melee fighter, except with wildshape for moon druid, which no longer works.
A Rogue does not need to be specialized for stealth, and quite honestly has never been the best infiltrator or scout in 5e. So those decrying druid stepping on Rogue's toes need to stop an really think for a moment. Find Familiar has always been and continues to be the best option for scouting unseen, combine it with an Invisibility spell and you'd be stupid to send the Rogue into an enemy camp rather than an invisible owl or hawk familiar. So Wizards have been stepping on Rogue's toes far more so than druids since the inception of 5e.
Since Tasha's (and also in One D&D) Rangers get access to both PwoT and expertise in Stealth so are also just much much better scouts than Rogues. Add to that the fact that Rangers get extra movement options like climbing and swimming a higher levels and it is no contest. The Ranger is superior at scouting than the Rogue will ever be.
When I say Rogue is specialized, I meant the class in general, not player builds. Rogue is obviously designed for stealth and scouting is not the same thing as infiltration. Infiltration could be described as a subset of scouting but it really goes beyond. Ranger is also a very scouting based class, scoping out alternative entrances and exits, or finding abnormal things near other camps, towns and other points of interest.
Find Familiar is definitely broken with full on infiltration as is wild shape in 5E. Also the best thing for that is Arcane Eye, beats literally all of this, 4th level wizard spell which DMs can control with say an anti-magic field. Well the current form of Wild Shape is also described as a "Magic" Action, so assuming that Wild Shape is not going to work in anti-magic fields any more either, we will have to wait to see.
Honestly, I disagree. Rogue is not built for scouting. It is built for stealth sure, but stealth is not the same as scouting. Rogues are to cities, what Rangers are to wilderness. The ultimate foil to Arcane Eye, WS, and Familiars is simply a locked door. And it is exactly there that Rogues shine. If you need to scope out a bandit camp in the woods the Druids and Rangers should shine. If you need to break into someone's house the Rogue should shine.
I still think utility is the biggest issue. A main feature of a class should do more than flavor/RP or it's just a ribbon feature. And ribbon features should not be a big part of an entire class. And there will always be overlap in some abilities between classes. So, yes, Druids have Pass Without Trace, but we haven't seen it in a UA yet. And since GWM/SS both lost their -5/+10 because that was too powerful, we might see the same with PWT. And what if you don't have a rogue in the party? Or you can't or don't want to use a spellslot for something WS could do?
And honestly, I don't really care for using find familiar. I've been playing my Land Druid since before Tasha's and even after that book came out I have yet to use WS for a familiar. I would rather do any scouting etc myself. Or turn into a giant spider to carry a party member over an obstacle. Or some things that a familiar just cannot do, but 5E WS, even on a Land druid, can do.
Again, I don't think Druid has lost much in terms of scouting, even if you do not like it, a find familiar will be quiet capable.
Lack of medium or heavy armour proficiency makes druids much more squishy than clerics making the idea you'd ever play one in melee utterly crazy, yet they get lots of spells (and WS) that can only be used in melee. It's why druid right now is the least played class in the game - it is much more complicated than other classes, and less powerful than them, so there is really no point in a player learning how to play the class except for strategy-minded players who like the fact that it is a hard class to play.
I don't think the loss of Medium Armor is that big of a loss, the removal of the restrictions on metal armour makes it easier to multiclass now and classes like Rogue can still melee in light armor, admittedly they do have more features for it but Druid is not meant to be that toe-to-toe melee fighter, except with wildshape for moon druid, which no longer works.
A Rogue does not need to be specialized for stealth, and quite honestly has never been the best infiltrator or scout in 5e. So those decrying druid stepping on Rogue's toes need to stop an really think for a moment. Find Familiar has always been and continues to be the best option for scouting unseen, combine it with an Invisibility spell and you'd be stupid to send the Rogue into an enemy camp rather than an invisible owl or hawk familiar. So Wizards have been stepping on Rogue's toes far more so than druids since the inception of 5e.
Since Tasha's (and also in One D&D) Rangers get access to both PwoT and expertise in Stealth so are also just much much better scouts than Rogues. Add to that the fact that Rangers get extra movement options like climbing and swimming a higher levels and it is no contest. The Ranger is superior at scouting than the Rogue will ever be.
When I say Rogue is specialized, I meant the class in general, not player builds. Rogue is obviously designed for stealth and scouting is not the same thing as infiltration. Infiltration could be described as a subset of scouting but it really goes beyond. Ranger is also a very scouting based class, scoping out alternative entrances and exits, or finding abnormal things near other camps, towns and other points of interest.
Find Familiar is definitely broken with full on infiltration as is wild shape in 5E. Also the best thing for that is Arcane Eye, beats literally all of this, 4th level wizard spell which DMs can control with say an anti-magic field. Well the current form of Wild Shape is also described as a "Magic" Action, so assuming that Wild Shape is not going to work in anti-magic fields any more either, we will have to wait to see.
Honestly, I disagree. Rogue is not built for scouting. It is built for stealth sure, but stealth is not the same as scouting. Rogues are to cities, what Rangers are to wilderness. The ultimate foil to Arcane Eye, WS, and Familiars is simply a locked door. And it is exactly there that Rogues shine. If you need to scope out a bandit camp in the woods the Druids and Rangers should shine. If you need to break into someone's house the Rogue should shine.
I think this is where we run into the whole tiny wild shape issue. Being as tiny as a spider allows you to bypass the lock unless all of the walls, windows, doors, etc.. are so well built in your settings that an insect is unable to find a crack or hole in them. Not something that is possible to set up outside of a modern setting (or maybe everyone in your traditional setting was great at building housing with zero gaps in the wood or stonework and screens over all chimneys...). Though they could actually solve that by making an even smaller size category for spiders and bugs and make 'tiny' equal to a large tarantula.
See.... if you are that tiny. Finding the one crack you can slip though is a non-trivial problem (same with navigating the building or getting a full view of the interior). I don't believe that medieval people were totally fine with having bugs all over their houses any more than today's people are. And if you go an visit buildings that are still standing from that period they are pretty well built. There generally aren't holes in the grout, or window frames, and doors are relatively flush with the floor.
Though they could actually solve that by making an even smaller size category for spiders and bugs and make 'tiny' equal to a large tarantula.
It would probably be fine to have a lower limit of squirrel-sized (1 lb and 12" or so), reserving mouse-sized and insect-sized for later levels, and putting the same restrictions on familiars.
Druids aren't useless, but wild shape doesn't work. But if you want to play a druid that only uses magic, they're just as useful as before. And now they have some interesting features that they didn't have before. I am playing the druid of the last UA, and the truth is that I have chosen to ignore wild shape. I am much more useful staying in the second row as support than using wild shape and going up to the front line.
I think they have to redo the wild shape, since it is iconic for druids. I agree with the designers that the previous wild shape had problems and needed to be changed. But the solution they have proposed does not work.
The reduced utility is not the greatest issue, druids already have powerful stealth spells, so having wild shape stealth on top was a bit OTT and Burrowing got abused too. Druid gets to do what Rogue does in stealth, without being specialized for it like a Rogue needs too, so the reduced utility could well just be a class rebalancing issue with utility that Druid wasn't really meant to have and limited the design of beast creatures in 5E since WotC had to continuously review just how beasts would affect druid. The scouting part got moved to Find Familiar, which is a superior option to what was going on in 5E, from a class balance perspective and more inline with how a druid should be gathering information, communing with animals and spirits.
It might be just a matter of taste, but I personally think that being able to switch to your familiar's senses and use it like a drone should be a warlock feature. A general version of familiar should be a helper, not a remotely controlled drone.
Exposing druid's HP is not a removal of any abusive nature, it was straight up how Moon Druid was designed to work and it worked, nobody sees the current incarnation of moon druid in the UA as viable, which goes to show it was not an abuse but a necessary function of wild shape. No other druid was really relying on that HP given by wild shape than moon, so it is just a huge nerf to the one subclass that is actually reliant on wild shape, wild shape is great at low tiers but was already underpowered for high tiers, so it just needed some rebalancing, slightly less power in early game but more power in late game. These changes haven't addressed that at all, just nerfed it completely.
Thing is, it's not how any other shapeshifter in game works. 5e druid's shapeshifting is a mechanical aberration. I agree that moon druid's purpose is to make wild shape into an actual warrior mode, and playtest's iteration misses that mark drastically. IMO, and I wrote that before, moon druid should double their current and max HP while shapeshifted, and slash them back in half upon reverting back into human form. At level 6 they should get magical attack and extra attack, and at level 10 - monstrosity and plant forms (it always seemed strange to me that moon druid unlocked shapeshifting into outsiders from elemental realms, rather than into creatures of flesh and blood native to material plane). The problem with 5e wild shape was that by expending a use of a feature, the druid became invulnerable inside the meat tank and stayed unscathed in the midst of combat, paying no price (other than using up wild shape). While other melee PCs have to put their main resource - their HP - on the line, the moon druid is liberated from this hassle. And at level 20, with infinite wild shape, moon druid becomes unkillable entity capable of soloing gods. A pesky little tarrasque manages to somehow chew through your 126 HP of an earth elemental form? Lol, shift back with a bonus action and you're good as new, infinite meat tanks. Though, of course, it's a capstone ability, but in this case, it's outright broken.
Thing is, it's not how any other shapeshifter in game works. 5e druid's shapeshifting is a mechanical aberration.
Nonsense, Wildshape worked just like Polymorph, Shapechange, and True Polymorph. All PC shapeshifting gave a new pool of hit points.
Only monsters where shapeshifting is a fundamental aspect of their nature use their same hit points. True shapeshifters don't require magic to shapeshift, they don't have limited uses, and they have a specific list of shape they can take determined by their specific nature. They not only use the same hit points they use entirely the same statblock usually with only a couple of changes to e.g. move speed or attack options.
Druid Wildshape on the other hand is magical in nature, has limited uses, changes many aspects of their statblock, is learned by the druid only after reaching a certain level, and the druid can learn to transform into new forms. These are all traits shared with Polymorph, Shapechange and True Polymorph. Thus I am utterly baffled that you keep insisting a druid is a shapeshifter. They are not and have never been similar to shapeshifters. They are more similar to the Transmutation Wizard who gets a class feature letting them Polymorph themselves once per day without expending a spellslot.
If druids are going to be shapeshifters now then they should get unlimited uses, it should not be considered magic, and they should keep all their class features (including full spellcasting), skills, saving throws, feats, and racial traits. The only thing that should change in WS is their ability to use equipment, their move speeds, and their attack options.
The problem with 5e wild shape was that by expending a use of a feature, the druid became invulnerable inside the meat tank and stayed unscathed in the midst of combat, paying no price
Again wrong! The cost of WS is losing your spellcasting. Druid is a full spellcaster, a WS moon druid is the same as a Wizard that casts Polymorph on themselves to turn into a beefy animal. Only the WSed moon druid is stuck with far less powerful animals in exchange for it not requiring their concentration.
I just watched the post covering the changes to the druid class for D&D One. While you are making changes to this class, why don't you make the druid class playable! I have been searching for some old school elements. Let me mention them, elven alchemy item Glass Steel, Leaf weave, and let us not forget Ironwood. Does anyone at wizards even remember D&D 3.5? Or does anyone remember "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"? The restrictions on playing a druid make the class unplayable from the start. Since you are making changes to the druid class, actually make them playable.! Time for you folks to go and do some simple research and return some missing links from the past.
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying makes druids unplayable but (based on your mentioning of alternate materials...) if you're talking about restrictions being not wearing metal, you may have not noticed that in the onednd playtest that's not mentioned. You're welcome to still play with it if you want but as far as the playtest rules are concerned it's not a thing.
Not sure what you're complaining about here, the issues with Druid have nothing to do with their armour proficiencies, you can just use studded leather as a druid and still use shields. Druids will still be potent casters, the main issue with the current UA druid is their focus on wildshape while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP.
I agree with the beginning part, but the wildshape HP issues is the least of the problems of the UA, imo. That's an easy fix by tinkering with some numbers. The templates potentially have AC's higher than most of the current 5E WS forms you can take. And non-Moon druids would probably get by just fine with them, as they typically are not using their wildshape to take beast form and jump into melee. Moon druids
canshould be able to bolster the template to improve AC and damage. And I hope they make those changes. The extra HP of the forms was partly there because the forms AC's were so bad.But that's off topic, sorry. To the OP, maybe you can expand on what you think is making the druid useless?
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I think you misunderstood a bit, not the part about the HP, which I still will say is a massive nerf. It's the fact that wildshape is pointless and basically all of Druid's features are focused on it, even when most druids won't use wildshape all that much in it's current form. There is literally 8 different features for wildshape in the base class druid for the UA... and most people will only want to use it for RP, scouting or utility, most of which also got nerfed.
Druids are not useless. Druid wild shape is pretty useless, though.
For combat, it forces you into a melee role -- without giving you the defenses to survive doing so, and your damage isn't terribly exciting either.
For scouting, it does have some benefits (using wisdom for strength and dexterity checks, advantage on perception), but they're generally not sufficient to make up for being unable to use your skills, gear, and spells.
Exposing druid's HP finally fixed the abusive nature of wild shape that turned it into a weird meat tanking tool, like you summon a whole creature then wear it on yourself. It's the lack of utility options that kills the UA wild shape. No spider climb, no stealth, no burrowing...
The reduced utility is not the greatest issue, druids already have powerful stealth spells, so having wild shape stealth on top was a bit OTT and Burrowing got abused too. Druid gets to do what Rogue does in stealth, without being specialized for it like a Rogue needs too, so the reduced utility could well just be a class rebalancing issue with utility that Druid wasn't really meant to have and limited the design of beast creatures in 5E since WotC had to continuously review just how beasts would affect druid. The scouting part got moved to Find Familiar, which is a superior option to what was going on in 5E, from a class balance perspective and more inline with how a druid should be gathering information, communing with animals and spirits.
Exposing druid's HP is not a removal of any abusive nature, it was straight up how Moon Druid was designed to work and it worked, nobody sees the current incarnation of moon druid in the UA as viable, which goes to show it was not an abuse but a necessary function of wild shape. No other druid was really relying on that HP given by wild shape than moon, so it is just a huge nerf to the one subclass that is actually reliant on wild shape, wild shape is great at low tiers but was already underpowered for high tiers, so it just needed some rebalancing, slightly less power in early game but more power in late game. These changes haven't addressed that at all, just nerfed it completely.
Most druids rely on spellcasting, wild shape is just more flavour/RP, which is important but also does infringe on other classes when used the way it can get used in 5E but for Moon Druid who specialize in it, it is just too nerfed and for normal druids, the current forms don't offer any benefits at all.
Sorry if I misunderstood. I was just going off of what you said, "while wildshape has been nerfed into the ground by changing it to use the Druid's HP instead of replacing the Druid's HP."
I should have also included, which I agree with you on this, is that the UA focuses too much on Wildshape. First, some of the "features" in the UA were already part of wildshape in 5E but they broke them out into their own class features so that the Druid Table does not look so bare. And I think those features need to be part of the main Template then those levels filled with other features that flesh out the Druid more. And second, as it stands, the lack of utility in the template does make it less useful for all druids due to the lack of utility.
And by no means am I saying the UA wildshape is good. It needs work.
I still think utility is the biggest issue. A main feature of a class should do more than flavor/RP or it's just a ribbon feature. And ribbon features should not be a big part of an entire class. And there will always be overlap in some abilities between classes. So, yes, Druids have Pass Without Trace, but we haven't seen it in a UA yet. And since GWM/SS both lost their -5/+10 because that was too powerful, we might see the same with PWT. And what if you don't have a rogue in the party? Or you can't or don't want to use a spellslot for something WS could do?
And honestly, I don't really care for using find familiar. I've been playing my Land Druid since before Tasha's and even after that book came out I have yet to use WS for a familiar. I would rather do any scouting etc myself. Or turn into a giant spider to carry a party member over an obstacle. Or some things that a familiar just cannot do, but 5E WS, even on a Land druid, can do.
The reason I said I think the HP issue is the least issue is because it is an easier fix for the Template (which I don't see WotC moving away from) than the Utility. Especially since the HP in WS is mainly for one single subclass. Easy fixes are: Temp HP when you WS. A better AC calculation as part of Combat WS so you get hit less often (even the current UA template gives the possibility of better AC than most 5E WS forms). And even additional boosts to damage could be easily added, like changing the damage to 1d10+Wis. Or whatever.
You lose the ability to spend a spell slot to heal, but you can now cast abjuration spells with no M component: Resistance (cantrip, +d4 to a Saving Throw as a reaction), Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison, Dispel Magic, Mass Healing Word, Protection from Energy, Antilife Shell, Mass Cure Wounds, Heal, Power Word Heal. So you can still use spell slots to heal or for a few other things that help survivability.
And you can't be knocked out of WS unless you are down to zero HP so you can keep your form going even when the 5E version would have been used up. And Moon druid can get resistance to an elemental type at level 6, which helps durability.
Again, I'm not saying WS or Mood Druid is where it needs to be in the UA. It needs work. Moon Druid needs some buffs. But I think those buffs are easier to implement than figuring out how to get some utility into the Template. There's a lot that non-Mood druids lost in this WS, moreso than I think Moon druids lost (or at least can be more easily fixed).
EDIT:
And maybe the changes to Barkskin (which wasn't all that great in 5E) could well just be a rebalancing issue with WS HP that the Druid wasn't really meant to have? You can cast it, then WS, and get Temp HP that regens every round.
BARKSKIN [SPELL] Here’s a new version of the Barkskin Spell.
BARKSKIN 2nd-Level Transmutation Spell (Primal)
Casting Time: Bonus Action
Range: Touch
Component: V, S, M (a handful of bark)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
You touch one willing creature to protect it with regenerating bark. Until the Spell ends, the target’s skin assumes a bark-like appearance, and at the start of each of the target’s turns, the target gains a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your spellcasting ability modifier plus your Proficiency Bonus. At Higher Levels. When you cast this Spell using a Spell Slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional willing creature for each slot level above 2nd
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Lack of medium or heavy armour proficiency makes druids much more squishy than clerics making the idea you'd ever play one in melee utterly crazy, yet they get lots of spells (and WS) that can only be used in melee. It's why druid right now is the least played class in the game - it is much more complicated than other classes, and less powerful than them, so there is really no point in a player learning how to play the class except for strategy-minded players who like the fact that it is a hard class to play.
A Rogue does not need to be specialized for stealth, and quite honestly has never been the best infiltrator or scout in 5e. So those decrying druid stepping on Rogue's toes need to stop an really think for a moment. Find Familiar has always been and continues to be the best option for scouting unseen, combine it with an Invisibility spell and you'd be stupid to send the Rogue into an enemy camp rather than an invisible owl or hawk familiar. So Wizards have been stepping on Rogue's toes far more so than druids since the inception of 5e.
Since Tasha's (and also in One D&D) Rangers get access to both PwoT and expertise in Stealth so are also just much much better scouts than Rogues. Add to that the fact that Rangers get extra movement options like climbing and swimming a higher levels and it is no contest. The Ranger is superior at scouting than the Rogue will ever be.
One D&D is actually hurting Rogue's scouting by removing Tiny WS, because it means that if the party has both a Rogue and a Druid, it's now not possible for them to work together. No more can the druid be a rat in the Rogue's pocket providing PwoT while the Rogue sneaks around. Instead the druid will just Find Familiar an pick an innocuous tiny form and just let the familiar go scout while the rogue stays with the party nice and safe.
See if the challenge was scouting out an enemy base, a Rogue going in alone was never the right option in 5e. A human sized person that is clearly visible while they run from one barrel to another just doesn't work for scouting, no matter how high their stealth modifier is. In 5e, to scout out an enemy base better options that this are: (1) send the bard or warlock with Disguise Self to pretend to be one of the enemies. (2) send in a spider familiar (3) use a divination spell like Arcane Eye or Scrying (4) have the arcane caster use Invisibility on someone (or familiar) and send them to scout (5) have the druid or ranger cast PwoT and the whole party goes to sneak up on the enemy base.
This is all a lot to respond too, so apologies but I just can't respond to all of it.
Again, I don't think Druid has lost much in terms of scouting, even if you do not like it, a find familiar will be quiet capable.
I don't think the loss of Medium Armor is that big of a loss, the removal of the restrictions on metal armour makes it easier to multiclass now and classes like Rogue can still melee in light armor, admittedly they do have more features for it but Druid is not meant to be that toe-to-toe melee fighter, except with wildshape for moon druid, which no longer works.
When I say Rogue is specialized, I meant the class in general, not player builds. Rogue is obviously designed for stealth and scouting is not the same thing as infiltration. Infiltration could be described as a subset of scouting but it really goes beyond. Ranger is also a very scouting based class, scoping out alternative entrances and exits, or finding abnormal things near other camps, towns and other points of interest.
Find Familiar is definitely broken with full on infiltration as is wild shape in 5E. Also the best thing for that is Arcane Eye, beats literally all of this, 4th level wizard spell which DMs can control with say an anti-magic field. Well the current form of Wild Shape is also described as a "Magic" Action, so assuming that Wild Shape is not going to work in anti-magic fields any more either, we will have to wait to see.
Honestly, I disagree. Rogue is not built for scouting. It is built for stealth sure, but stealth is not the same as scouting. Rogues are to cities, what Rangers are to wilderness. The ultimate foil to Arcane Eye, WS, and Familiars is simply a locked door. And it is exactly there that Rogues shine. If you need to scope out a bandit camp in the woods the Druids and Rangers should shine. If you need to break into someone's house the Rogue should shine.
I think this is where we run into the whole tiny wild shape issue. Being as tiny as a spider allows you to bypass the lock unless all of the walls, windows, doors, etc.. are so well built in your settings that an insect is unable to find a crack or hole in them. Not something that is possible to set up outside of a modern setting (or maybe everyone in your traditional setting was great at building housing with zero gaps in the wood or stonework and screens over all chimneys...). Though they could actually solve that by making an even smaller size category for spiders and bugs and make 'tiny' equal to a large tarantula.
See.... if you are that tiny. Finding the one crack you can slip though is a non-trivial problem (same with navigating the building or getting a full view of the interior). I don't believe that medieval people were totally fine with having bugs all over their houses any more than today's people are. And if you go an visit buildings that are still standing from that period they are pretty well built. There generally aren't holes in the grout, or window frames, and doors are relatively flush with the floor.
It would probably be fine to have a lower limit of squirrel-sized (1 lb and 12" or so), reserving mouse-sized and insect-sized for later levels, and putting the same restrictions on familiars.
I don't know what the complaint is. Now, my One DnD Druid so be like:
Druids aren't useless, but wild shape doesn't work. But if you want to play a druid that only uses magic, they're just as useful as before. And now they have some interesting features that they didn't have before.
I am playing the druid of the last UA, and the truth is that I have chosen to ignore wild shape. I am much more useful staying in the second row as support than using wild shape and going up to the front line.
I think they have to redo the wild shape, since it is iconic for druids. I agree with the designers that the previous wild shape had problems and needed to be changed. But the solution they have proposed does not work.
It might be just a matter of taste, but I personally think that being able to switch to your familiar's senses and use it like a drone should be a warlock feature. A general version of familiar should be a helper, not a remotely controlled drone.
Thing is, it's not how any other shapeshifter in game works. 5e druid's shapeshifting is a mechanical aberration. I agree that moon druid's purpose is to make wild shape into an actual warrior mode, and playtest's iteration misses that mark drastically. IMO, and I wrote that before, moon druid should double their current and max HP while shapeshifted, and slash them back in half upon reverting back into human form. At level 6 they should get magical attack and extra attack, and at level 10 - monstrosity and plant forms (it always seemed strange to me that moon druid unlocked shapeshifting into outsiders from elemental realms, rather than into creatures of flesh and blood native to material plane). The problem with 5e wild shape was that by expending a use of a feature, the druid became invulnerable inside the meat tank and stayed unscathed in the midst of combat, paying no price (other than using up wild shape). While other melee PCs have to put their main resource - their HP - on the line, the moon druid is liberated from this hassle. And at level 20, with infinite wild shape, moon druid becomes unkillable entity capable of soloing gods. A pesky little tarrasque manages to somehow chew through your 126 HP of an earth elemental form? Lol, shift back with a bonus action and you're good as new, infinite meat tanks. Though, of course, it's a capstone ability, but in this case, it's outright broken.
Nonsense, Wildshape worked just like Polymorph, Shapechange, and True Polymorph. All PC shapeshifting gave a new pool of hit points.
Only monsters where shapeshifting is a fundamental aspect of their nature use their same hit points. True shapeshifters don't require magic to shapeshift, they don't have limited uses, and they have a specific list of shape they can take determined by their specific nature. They not only use the same hit points they use entirely the same statblock usually with only a couple of changes to e.g. move speed or attack options.
Druid Wildshape on the other hand is magical in nature, has limited uses, changes many aspects of their statblock, is learned by the druid only after reaching a certain level, and the druid can learn to transform into new forms. These are all traits shared with Polymorph, Shapechange and True Polymorph. Thus I am utterly baffled that you keep insisting a druid is a shapeshifter. They are not and have never been similar to shapeshifters. They are more similar to the Transmutation Wizard who gets a class feature letting them Polymorph themselves once per day without expending a spellslot.
If druids are going to be shapeshifters now then they should get unlimited uses, it should not be considered magic, and they should keep all their class features (including full spellcasting), skills, saving throws, feats, and racial traits. The only thing that should change in WS is their ability to use equipment, their move speeds, and their attack options.
Again wrong! The cost of WS is losing your spellcasting. Druid is a full spellcaster, a WS moon druid is the same as a Wizard that casts Polymorph on themselves to turn into a beefy animal. Only the WSed moon druid is stuck with far less powerful animals in exchange for it not requiring their concentration.