Best Wild Shape

[tim01300]

So one of my newbie PC will be lvl 5 next time we play and as a lvl 5 druid he gets Wild Shape.
As a fairly newbie DM myself I'm not sure what animals to suggest to him for usefulness in combat or out. He can be any medium or small animal out of the monster manual. I would like to be able to suggest two animals for him so we can figure out the stats on his character sheet ahead of time for quick reference.

Any thoughts?

[ArcturusV]

Tiger is usually popular. Not saying it's the best. But it's a popular choice from what I've seen from Druids in my campaign, and it works out well enough as a melee beast.

Depending on your campaign, having an aquatic form is always useful to know ahead of time. Saw several druids crabs for that since they have a decent AC base (which can be pumped up a lot by Druid Spells to become nigh untouchable) along with the various bonuses of being an aquatic creature, while also not being an entirely useless form on land.

[Menzath]

hmm for straight up combat and speed I would take a look at the dinosaurs, and as suggested have a few different forms handy for situtional needs (I.E. flight/swim/burrowing) as well as High AC forms.
Keep in mind sometimes taking the form of a common animal can be a great way to scout as long as enemies don't have magical detection in spades.

[Vaz]

Fleshraker.

[Tvtyrant]

I like the Cave Dinosaurs (Miniature's Handbook) for lower levels. Cave Triceratops is slightly weaker than the rhino at level 8, but it gets trample as well as powerful charge, so you can trample opponents while charging a third one.

[Vaz]

Yup. The triceratops shuffle is quite commonly used in our games.

[Deaxsa]

doesn't the character need to have seen/be familiar with the animal in RAW to be able to transform into it?

[sambouchah]

At 5th level you can only do medium or small so there's a limitation(I.e. no tigers:smallfrown:) I get quite a bit of use out of cheetah and blackbear form. I also think a great Dane would be a cool(but not too helpful) Wildshape. Constrictors are a cool choice, and if possible Dire Animals make a strong choice.

[elvengunner69]

Tiger is usually popular. Not saying it's the best. But it's a popular choice from what I've seen from Druids in my campaign, and it works out well enough as a melee beast.

Depending on your campaign, having an aquatic form is always useful to know ahead of time. Saw several druids crabs for that since they have a decent AC base (which can be pumped up a lot by Druid Spells to become nigh untouchable) along with the various bonuses of being an aquatic creature, while also not being an entirely useless form on land.

too many HD -- you have to keep it your same relative HD -- so lvl 5 = 5 HD max...

That said Lion is the way to go...

Cast Claws of the Bear (2d6 for claw attacks),Magic Fang greater makes all your natural attacks add +1 and Produce Flame for 1d6 + lvl extra damage and CHARGE (because Lions have pounce - full attack on a charge)

Full attack - 2 claws +8 (2d6+6 + 1d6+5 each!), bite +3 (1d8+3) - hit with your bite and you can attempt grapple as a free action -- if successful you can rake at +8 -- add on extra 1d4+2 or if your DM is generous and lets you keep Claws of the Bear on Rake 2d6+2)

Either way at lvl 5 you are damage dealing machine :) no optimization needed.

[tyckspoon]

doesn't the character need to have seen/be familiar with the animal in RAW to be able to transform into it?

Just 'be familiar'. Which is an entirely undefined term; the game does nothing to tell you what is required to have 'familiarity' with something. The closest mechanic we have for it is Knowledge checks, which ranges from meaninglessly trivial to do (DC for basic knowledge is 10 + HD; a Druid's Know: Nature check will be at least 10 + 3 + HD, assuming he advances it at each level. He cannot fail that check for animals he could potentially Wildshape into) to nigh-impossible if the DM wants it to be. It tends to get ignored in RAW discussions because of that (we recognize that it's there, but it's either a meaningless restriction or a slimly-supported justification for nerfing Druids.)

[Flickerdart]

It is reasonable to say that the druid is capable of becoming as familiar as he needs to be with his animal companion, and thus any animal that is eligible for animal companionship is one that any druid can justify wildshaping into. Likewise, any animal he can summon with SNA is easily accessible for study (though for short bursts of time).

[tim01300]

Yeah Lion and tiger are both large creatures in 3.5. I don't have any dinosaurs in the world setting so pretty much everything else is open to him though. Eagle I think is the only medium or small animal that he can choose with flight, which will be helpful since there is no mage in the party. After that looks like black bear is the best at combat I think. I'm going to see if any dire animals have 5 or less than HD

[elvengunner69]

Yeah Lion and tiger are both large creatures in 3.5. I don't have any dinosaurs in the world setting so pretty much everything else is open to him though. Eagle I think is the only medium or small animal that he can choose with flight, which will be helpful since there is no mage in the party. After that looks like black bear is the best at combat I think. I'm going to see if any dire animals have 5 or less than HD

Oops -- Wolf isn't bad you can advance them to 5HD and trip casters like crazy (especially if you get some Bulls Str on you).

For Dire animals your best best is the Dire Badger -- Medium size so doable or a Dire Rat (filth fever -- 1d3 of dex and 1d3 of con damage if they fail save).

[sambouchah]

Oops -- Wolf isn't bad you can advance them to 5HD and trip casters like crazy (especially if you get some Bulls Str on you).

For Dire animals your best best is the Dire Badger -- Medium size so doable or a Dire Rat (filth fever -- 1d3 of dex and 1d3 of con damage if they fail save).


Yeah Lion and tiger are both large creatures in 3.5. I don't have any dinosaurs in the world setting so pretty much everything else is open to him though. Eagle I think is the only medium or small animal that he can choose with flight, which will be helpful since there is no mage in the party. After that looks like black bear is the best at combat I think. I'm going to see if any dire animals have 5 or less than HD

I had a dire rat companion once, he was crushed by a boulder........

And Dire Hawk has a fly speed. I shaped into a dire hawk and knocked an archer from a high up wall.