A question about Wild Shape

[Yimiki]

Hello! Newbie player here. :smallsmile:
Hopefully I'm posting this in the right thread. My group has recently started playing D&D 5e for the first time ever. It's loads of fun! We're playing Lost Mines of Phandelver, and I'm currently a lvl 4 Druid. I've talked about Wild Shape a little with my DM, and he allowed my character to having seen at least a wolf before, so I'm currently able to Wild Shape into that.

As the campaign progressed, though, I've started to get a little worried. The Player's Handbook specifically states that I have to have seen the animal before being able to change into it, but so far there have been no appearances of beasts in the campaign whatsoever (Outside of the wolves in the cavern at the beginning. We've cleared the goblin castle and are about to go to Thundertree now). The wolf is not very strong, and I'm afraid that I'll end up a liability to the rest of the team before too long. I've been meaning to talk to our DM about this. He's a first-time DM, but he's very busy outside of game time. I don't want to bother him, or make it sound like I'm criticising his campaign.

Am I too impatient in this? How are beasts for Druid Wild Shape normally handled? Do they appear in between travels as characters level up, or are we supposed to specifically go looking for them in between missions?

Thanks in advance for the help. :smallsmile:

[Ninja_Prawn]

How are beasts for Druid Wild Shape normally handled? Do they appear in between travels as characters level up, or are we supposed to specifically go looking for them in between missions?

You're in the right subforum. :smallsmile:

So, in my experience, it's usual to assume that a druid has seen a number of animals before the campaign started. Exactly how many will need to negotiated with the DM, but if you lived in a forest for ten years before becoming an adventurer, most people would assume you've seen a good selection of forest beasts. Lazier DMs might even say "whatever, you've seen everything in the monster manual." So it always pays to ask at the start of the game.

Your need to witness beasts for your Wildshape is probably not at the forefront of the DM's mind, so they might just forget. It's okay to prompt them, say after a day spent travelling, "did I happen to see any interesting beasts on that walk?" And you definitely could use downtime for scouting and animal-watching; I've seen players do that; in which case the DM will have to give you something for your efforts (though not necessarily a new Wildshape form).

Remember as well that you can turn into things like spiders and ants for stealth/scouting purposes - not every Wildshape has to be a combat powerhouse. No DM's going to say "nah, you've never seen a spider before," right?

[shuangwucanada]

IMO and among the party/DM i am paying with, this is handled case by case, and handled BEFORE each session if I am wondering if a certain beast is OK. It really depends on (1) does it make sense for your background, your back story, and the environment you were in the past, and (2) learning during your adventure.

For example of (1), if your background is from a forest, then wolves etc. are probably fine (not the giant versions). If your background is from a coast, then those above are probably not, but other options (crabs etc.) are.

For example of (2), if you fight some beast you haven't seen before, DM may allow you to do a nature check after the fight, to see if you can get the knowledge of that beast in order to transform. Or you may meet some other druids (or even circles) during your adventure, and they may share knowledge about certain beast with you.

Again, if you have something in your mind, it is always better to discuss it with DM, privately or openly, and come to an agreement BEFORE the moment you want to do it.

[LuccMa]

Talk to him. If he's not a **** he will understand and you will come up with some kind of solution.
Youre a druid. You've seen beasts. Maybe not up until CR 7 but at least up until 3 or some kind. What i've seen and like: If the player wants to transform into a new beast, the DM asks where and how the druid has seen that specific beast. If the druid comes up with a nice, small little story then all is good.
D&D is about fun. Having you to work your ass off to use your most iconic class feature isnt fun, at least not for most players.

[nickl_2000]

There are a few things that my DM and I did.

Background:
I wrote an elaborate background for my moon druid. That background included some wildshapes that I wanted to get access to at some point in the campaign. He was okay with it since nothing was to overpowered and it made sense based on the story and the area he was from. He then took the area I was from and looked into common animals that were in the area and gave me some of them.
He then gave me 2 extra "giant" animals that I could choose from as an addition

In campaign:
He makes sure that there are animals in "random" encounters so that I have something to work with.

Downtime:
During downtime, I have the ability to find extra animal forms from the area we are in. This requires a survival, nature, and possibly stealth checks.


A few other possible ideas:
1) Ask if you can research animals from books and learn their forms that way. It gives you the ability to learn about the animals in a city campaign
2) Ask if you can learn animal form from the summon animal spells (my answer was no since the animals in this spell are actually fey).
3) Have a run in with other druids and see if the other druid can teach you the animal form.

[Yimiki]

Thank you for all the replies! That does make me a lot less worried. I really like the idea of going scouting for animals (Here's to hoping it won't end in death-by-bear xD). Fiding information in books sounds like a nice method, too. I'll see if the DM allowes it. We haven't run into any druids yet (I think), but I'll prepare for that scenario too. :)

Thanks again for the help! You're all very friendly :)

[nickl_2000]

Thank you for all the replies! That does make me a lot less worried. I really like the idea of going scouting for animals (Here's to hoping it won't end in death-by-bear xD). Fiding information in books sounds like a nice method, too. I'll see if the DM allowes it. We haven't run into any druids yet (I think), but I'll prepare for that scenario too. :)

Thanks again for the help! You're all very friendly :)

Glad we could help. I would suggest that you choose something fast that can climb for scouting for other animals. A panther works incredibly well for that due good stealth skills, good dex, and a fast climbing/running speed.