The 2024 Circle of the Moon Druid and Changes to Wild Shape

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Wild Shape is undeniably the feather in the cap of the Druid class in Dungeons & Dragons, and that remains true in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Changes to the 2024 Wild Shape rules now allow you to use it with greater ease and more often!

Being able to transform into a litany of beasts is one of the main appeals of the Druid for many players. Plus, Druid subclasses often use your Wild Shape as an expendable resource to power their features.

If you’re a fan of playing Druids or are going to have Druids at your table as a Dungeon Master, we’re here to introduce you to the Wild Shape updates found in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.

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Changes to Wild Shape in the 2024 Player’s Handbook

Artist: John GrelloA bird rests on the finger of a friendly Orc Druid at night.

Wild Shape functions largely the same in the 2024 Player’s Handbook as it did in the 2014 version, with a few changes made to streamline and clarify usage and make it easier for 2024 Druids to access the feature. We’ll start with a broad overview of both versions for the base Druid class.

If an aspect isn’t listed, there’s no significant change. For example, in both the 2014 and 2024 Wild Shape rules, as a Druid, you gain access to Wild Shape at level 2, and you can stay in your Beast form for a number of hours equal to half your Druid level.

What’s New in the 2024 Wild Shape

WILD SHAPE RULE

2014 WILD SHAPE

2024 WILD SHAPE

Using Wild Shape
  • Action
  • Bonus Action

Number of Uses
  • 2 uses; unlimited uses at level 20
  • 2 uses starting at level 2; 3 uses starting at level 6; 4 uses starting at level 17

Replenishing Uses of Wild Shape
  • Regain expended uses when you finish a Short or Long Rest
  • Regain 1 use when you finish a Short Rest
  • Regain all uses when you finish a Long Rest
  • Starting at level 5, you can use Wild Resurgence to restore a use by expending a spell slot. You may also expend one use of Wild Shape to restore a level 1 spell slot per Long Rest.
  • At level 20, when you roll Initiative and have no uses of Wild Shape, regain one use.

Hit Points in Wild Shape
  • When you transform, you assume the Hit Points and Hit Dice of the Beast.
  • When you transform, you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your Druid level.

Beast Form Limitations
  • Level 2: CR ¼, no Swim or Fly speed.
  • Level 4: CR ½, no Fly speed.
  • Level 8: CR 1
  • Must be a creature you’ve seen before.
  • Your ability to speak is limited to the capabilities of your Beast form.
  • Level 2: CR ¼, no Fly speed. 4 known forms.
  • Level 4: CR ½, no Fly speed. 6 known forms.
  • Level 8: CR 1. 8 known forms.
  • When you finish a Long Rest, you may replace one known form with another eligible one.
  • You can speak in Beast form.

Damage in Wild Shape
  • No adjustments to damage for Wild Shape forms for base 2014 Druid class.
  • Can select the option of Primal Strike at level 7, granting an additional 1d8 of Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage when you hit a creature using a weapon or Beast form attack. Damage type is chosen on hit.
  • Damage increases to 2d8 at level 15.

Wild Companion
  • Optional Rule in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything that allows you to expend Wild Shape uses to cast Find Familiar.
  • Official part of the base 2024 Druid class. Can also use a Wild Shape use or spell slot to cast Find Familiar.

A Closer Look at 2024 Wild Shape Rules

Now that you’ve seen a side-by-side comparison of the 2014 and 2024 Wild Shape, let’s talk about some of the major benefits of the 2024 version.

Using Wild Shape

Shifting Wild Shape into a Bonus Action for the 2024 Druid is a major improvement in how easy it is to access your Beast forms during combat. Now your Druid of any subclass can shift into a Brown Bear or Wolf without having to wait a turn to start swinging your claws at foes.

Staying in Wild Shape

One of my personal biggest frustrations with playing a 2014 Druid at higher levels is that during combat, sometimes I’d spend my turn to shift into a Beast form, then before my next turn came around in the Initiative order, I’d take enough damage to push me back out of it. As a result, I’d ostensibly lost a turn and expended a pretty finite resource.

Although you no longer get a separate pool of Hit Points by shape-shifting, getting knocked out of Beast form is harder as you retain your Druid's Hit Points. You also get Temporary Hit Points to act as a buffer.

The 2024 Wild Shape rules really come from a place of understanding that shape-shifting into a Beast is a major appeal of the Druid class. By making it easier to stay in Beast form and allowing you to expend spell slots to replenish a usage of Wild Shape, the 2024 Player’s Handbook is really geared toward making you eager and excited to use this ability.

Wild Companion

A new feature for the 2024 Druid is the ability to expend a use of Wild Shape or a spell slot to cast the Find Familiar spell without any material components. This was an optional feature introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything that is now part of the base class for the 2024 Druid. This means Druids who don’t want to spend their time shape-shifting can still interact with an animal companion! The familiar also now lasts until you finish a Long Rest, rather than a duration tied to your Druid level.

Making Druids a Force to Be Reckoned With

At level 7, the 2024 Druid gets a feature called Elemental Fury. This lets players pick from two options, Primal Strike or Potent Spellcasting. Potent Spellcasting allows you to add your Wisdom modifier to your damage dealt with a Druid cantrip, and at level 15 the range of your ranged cantrips increases by 300 feet.

The Primal Strike option lets you deal an extra 1d8 of Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage once per turn with your attacks at level 7, and 2d8 at level 15. This feature leans heavily into the primeval forces that fuel a Druid’s magic. By giving Druids the ability to deal their choice of elemental damage in melee combat, the 2024 Player’s Handbook emphasizes that a Druid is more than just a Wizard in Birkenstocks.

Known Shapes

One thing that might stick out is the new rule on 2024 Druids having a pool of known shapes to choose from for their Wild Shape versus any Beast known to them from the 2014 Druid rules.

What might feel like just a limitation at first glance, this change means DMs and Druid players can be on the same page about whether or not a Beast is known to the Druid. It also helps Druid players have their Beast stat blocks for their Wild Shape forms ready to go when combat begins, not unlike having a prepared spell list ready.

This change also allows for a bit more roleplay inspiration. Having a set number of forms that are known to the 2024 Druid means your druid has spent time thinking about their relationships and reverence for different Beasts and which Wild Shape forms are specifically important to them.

That means you can think about why they chose these forms, what they might have done to study them, and what sort of exercises or rituals they might have done to maintain their hold on those forms during Long Rests. Or, if you choose to swap out a form when completing a Long Rest, consider what your character did to master this new form.

2024 Circle of the Moon Druid Wild Shape Changes

Artist: John GrelloA Druid in wolf form howls before a full moon. A bird rests on its back.

The Circle of the Moon Druid has always been the subclass that doubles down on Wild Shape. If you’re worried that the improvements to the base class take away from the impact of picking this iconic Druid subclass, fret not. Let’s quickly look at some of the ways the 2024 Player’s Handbook beefs up the Circle of the Moon Druid.

Circle Forms — Level 3

The 2024 Circle of the Moon Druid gets a huge boost to your Beast forms. At level 3, your first level in this subclass, your AC in Beast form becomes 13 plus your Wisdom modifier, unless your Beast form’s AC is higher. But you also gain three times your Druid level in Temporary Hit Points, meaning you’ll get 9 Temporary Hit Points at level 3, all the way up to 60 Temporary Hit Points at level 20! The 2024 Circle of the Moon Druid's maximum CR for the form equals your Druid level divided by 3.

Subclasses Now Start at Level 3

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, subclasses have been standardized as starting at level 3, so classes like Druids, Clerics, and Warlocks that used to get subclasses earlier now get them at 3. To balance out this change, each affected base class also gets some features at earlier levels.

For example, Druids now get a level 1 feature called Primal Order. It allows you to either gain proficiency with Martial weapons and Medium armor or gain an extra cantrip and a boost to your Arcana or Nature checks.

Circle of the Moon Spells — Level 3

Like the 2014 Druid, the base class gains the ability to cast spells in Beast form at level 18, except when a spell consumes a Material component or requires a component of a specific cost. But the 2024 Circle of the Moon Druid can start casting the spells from your Circle of the Moon Spells table as early as level 3! This means you don’t have to choose between staying in your Beast form or casting Cure Wounds on an ally.

Improved Circle Forms — Level 6

At level 6, your Circle of the Moon Druid can choose to deal an attack’s normal damage type or Radiant damage, and you can add your Wisdom modifier to your Constitution saving throws. This replaces the 2014 feature of making your mundane attacks deal magical damage.

Moonlight Step — Level 10

The 2024 Circle of the Moon no longer gains the Elemental Wild Shape feature. It has been replaced by the more moon-flavored Moonlight Step, which allows you to use a Bonus Action to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space and gain Advantage on your next attack roll before the end of your turn.

Lunar Form — Level 14

The Lunar Form feature at level 14 replaces the Thousand Forms feature of the 2014 Circle of the Moon Druid. With Lunar Form, once per turn you deal an additional 2d10 Radiant damage to a target you hit with a Wild Shape form’s attack. This means at level 15, on a hit you would deal your base damage, plus 2d10 Radiant damage, plus the 2d8 damage of your choice if you picked Primal Strikes as your Elemental Fury. So, note to self: Don’t make a Circle of the Moon Druid want to hit me.

This feature also lets you take a nearby creature with you when you use Moonlight Step to teleport.

Staying Wild

 The 2024 Player’s Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!

The 2024 Druid has a lot of versatile new features and improvements, but preserving the impact and excitement of Wild Shape was extremely important. The updated Wild Shape feature still leans into the fantasy of a Druid turning into a ferocious creature to fight on the frontline alongside their party members.

A lot of changes are underway in the 2024 core rules revisions, so stay tuned for additional class, subclass, and features guides as we roll them out. And especially, stay tuned for the 2024 Monster Manual for inspiration for your next Beast forms!

We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!

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A displacer beast stalks its prey. Text reads, Join the official D&D Discord!

Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

This article was updated on August 13, 2024, to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features:

  • Wild Companion: Expanded coverage to include the familiar now lasts until you finish a Long Rest.
  • Potent Spellcasting: Revised to add that this feature increases your cantrip's range at level 15.
  • Primal Strike: Clarifed that the elemental damage dealt is extra.
  • Improved Circle Forms: Revised to add that this feature allows you to add your Wisdom modifier to Constitution saving throws.
  • Lunar Form: Added that this feature allows you to take a nearby willing creature when you Moonlight Step. 

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