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Nemenia
2016-08-18, 07:49 PM
So Druid is by far my favorite class, which seems to be pretty uncommon. The number of people playing druid in places I look is always remarkably small despite the amount of fun you can have with the class, and this seems to be something that Wizards noticed in their newest edition. Druids have next to no useful magic items, and only two abilities of note in 5e. Spellcasting, and Wild Shape. One archetype focuses on one, one on the other, etc.

Their SHARED magical options are: Candle of invocation, Rod of Res, Necklace of Prayer, and Staves (shared by all casters).

They have a SINGLE unique magic item, the Staff of the Woodlands, and no items at all pertaining to their wildshape ability, which is the entire focus of one archetype.

So I wanted to open this thread to see if anyone was interested in throwing around some ideas for a few more ways to make druids feel unique and fun. Specifically, two I wanted to start with are a new capstone for level 20 druids that replaces the infinitely powerful free wildshaping, and a druid magical item based on wildshape, such as increasing the number of times, the CR level, the options (beyond beast? maybe beast-like monstrosities?) and how to balance those changes. For instance:

Band of Ferocity
Wondrous Item, Very Rare (requires attunement by druid)
While wearing this band, a Druid can choose to spend both wild shapes to wildshape into a beast-like monstrosity I.E. Winter Wolf, Death Dog, (Yeti?), Remorhaz (young), Owlbear, peryton, Hippogriff, Manticore, etc. After using this, the item cannot be used again until next dawn.

Or, more specific items, like "necklace of owlbears" or "Fuzzy ears of winter wolf". The only rules are any abilities you talk about must be REPLACING something, not added, so be clear what you want to replace in the druid ability list, and the Magic items must be laid out and explained in the same format as the DM's Guide.

Nemenia
2016-08-19, 07:29 PM
Does literally no one like druid, or did I do something wrong in this post :/

KarlMarx
2016-08-19, 08:21 PM
I love the animal companions in 3.5e and the range of flexibility it allows for, and I think that the Circle of the Land archetype might be thematically better using an animal companion. Add buffs, spells/day from companion, advanced/region-specific companions, etc.