Moon Druids (and DMs of) How do you handle Wildshape in a low beast campaign

[nickl_2000]

So question for you DMs and players out there.

If you are in a campaign that doesn't have a lot of native beast encounters, how do you (or did your DM) handle new beast forms for a moon druid?

[hymer]

I haven't been in such a campaign. If I had, I'd probably let the player have access to all animals their level allows, except no aquatic species. And the latter I'd likely waive if there was a underwater action.

Another option would be to let them have a numbeer of beast shapes known equal to wisdom score + level or Nature skill bonus + level, or some such (still no aquatic animals). This would make sure they have plenty of everyday animals available from the beginning, and could pick at least three animals per CR tier for fighting and utility.

[Easy_Lee]

If it's in the PHB, the player is aware of it. Any beast that common ought to be familiar to a druid. Druids become druids by being out in nature, after all.

[nickl_2000]

If it's in the PHB, the player is aware of it. Any beast that common ought to be familiar to a druid. Druids become druids by being out in nature, after all.

The PhB doesn't list any beast that is greater than CR1 though. So, it doesn't help much as you level to keep the Wildshape competitive. However, you are certainly right about that for utility.

[Maxilian]

Add a Bestiary as an item reward, that the druid could study for new forms in the future

[JackPhoenix]

I warn the player up front that there won't be many beasts to learn new form from, and that s/he should reconsider playing a druid, or be prepared to be creative in searching for new forms.

[Dr. Cliché]

So question for you DMs and players out there.

If you are in a campaign that doesn't have a lot of native beast encounters, how do you (or did your DM) handle new beast forms for a moon druid?

Well, first off, I imagine the Druid would have seen a decent range of animals, depending on where they grew up (I think the Druid UA has some examples for this). So, they'd already be starting off with a decent range of animal forms.

After that, one thing I did in my campaign was to allow the Druid to select one animal form he already knew each time he levelled up. He'd gain the Giant version of that animal.

Another possibility would be to allow the Druid to seek out new animals in his downtime.

You could even have an older druid (with a lot of forms) who'll show the player druid new forms by wild shaping into them. Of course, he might want some sort of payment or tasks completed in return for this (which would allow you to spread out the knowledge over the course of an adventure/campaign).

A forth possibility would be to have some sort of magic item(s) that can teach a druid new forms. e.g.:
- Bear Claw Gauntlets: Whilst wearing these, the Druid knows how to Wild Shape into any type of bear (see the MM for the stats of each bear). In addition, any time he assumes the form of a bear, the Druid gains +2 Strength and +2 Constitution while in that form.
- Wolf-Tooth Necklace: Whilst wearing this necklace, the Druid knows how to Wild Shape into any type of Wolf (within the normal limits of Wild Shape - he can't turn into a Winter Wolf!). Whilst in the form of a Wolf, the Druid gains +2 Dexterity and regenerates 5hp per round.

Or perhaps something like:

Crown of Beasts: The 10 points of this wooden crown each take the form of a different beast. A Druid wearing the crown may Wild Shape into any of the 10 animals it shows, even if he has never seen or studied one. During a long rest, the Druid can attempt to change up to 2 of the forms within the crown. He first names which animal he wishes to remove and then must either name a different animal or else picture it in his mind (if, for example, he has seen a picture of it but does not know its name). If the named/pictured animal exists, then it will replace the chosen animal on the crown.

The crown could have one or more additional effects as well. e.g.:
- Grant an extra usage of Wild Shape once per day.
- Heal slightly whenever you change back from Wild Shape.
- The Wild Shape forms on the crown have extra hp or a bonus to attack rolls.
etc.

(This would also have the bonus of granting Moon Druids some extra items, as there are currently very few that help their main ability.)

[DarkKnightJin]

Well, first off, I imagine the Druid would have seen a decent range of animals, depending on where they grew up (I think the Druid UA has some examples for this). So, they'd already be starting off with a decent range of animal forms.

After that, one thing I did in my campaign was to allow the Druid to select one animal form he already knew each time he levelled up. He'd gain the Giant version of that animal.

Another possibility would be to allow the Druid to seek out new animals in his downtime.

You could even have an older druid (with a lot of forms) who'll show the player druid new forms by wild shaping into them. Of course, he might want some sort of payment or tasks completed in return for this (which would allow you to spread out the knowledge over the course of an adventure/campaign).

A forth possibility would be to have some sort of magic item(s) that can teach a druid new forms. e.g.:
- Bear Claw Gauntlets: Whilst wearing these, the Druid knows how to Wild Shape into any type of bear (see the MM for the stats of each bear). In addition, any time he assumes the form of a bear, the Druid gains +2 Strength and +2 Constitution while in that form.
- Wolf-Tooth Necklace: Whilst wearing this necklace, the Druid knows how to Wild Shape into any type of Wolf (within the normal limits of Wild Shape - he can't turn into a Winter Wolf!). Whilst in the form of a Wolf, the Druid gains +2 Dexterity and regenerates 5hp per round.

Or perhaps something like:

Crown of Beasts: The 10 points of this wooden crown each take the form of a different beast. A Druid wearing the crown may Wild Shape into any of the 10 animals it shows, even if he has never seen or studied one. During a long rest, the Druid can attempt to change up to 2 of the forms within the crown. He first names which animal he wishes to remove and then must either name a different animal or else picture it in his mind (if, for example, he has seen a picture of it but does not know its name). If the named/pictured animal exists, then it will replace the chosen animal on the crown.

The crown could have one or more additional effects as well. e.g.:
- Grant an extra usage of Wild Shape once per day.
- Heal slightly whenever you change back from Wild Shape.
- The Wild Shape forms on the crown have extra hp or a bonus to attack rolls.
etc.

(This would also have the bonus of granting Moon Druids some extra items, as there are currently very few that help their main ability.)

I love the idea of custom Druid items that cater to their Wildshape, rather than making their human form more effective. You could even have the Crown of Beasts be upgradeable, adding some things for a specific form or family of beasts. Sort of rolling the other items you mentioned into it.

[nickl_2000]

hank you very much everyone, I really appreciate the ideas!

[sithlordnergal]

The easiest method would be to have the Druid mark down the beasts they find. Give them a small number of decent beasts they can use at the start, such as wolves, then have them make a list of any animal they happen to find.

[nickl_2000]

The easiest method would be to have the Druid mark down the beasts they find. Give them a small number of decent beasts they can use at the start, such as wolves, then have them make a list of any animal they happen to find.

I'm not sure how this is different than what you would always do as a moon druid.

[Demonslayer666]

So question for you DMs and players out there.

If you are in a campaign that doesn't have a lot of native beast encounters, how do you (or did your DM) handle new beast forms for a moon druid?

As a DM, I allowed all beasts that were common (bears, horses, etc.) without an encounter happening, including the giant sized versions. Dinosaurs I am making her wait until she encounters them.

[SharkForce]

at level 5, your druid can summon a variety of animals to as high as CR 2. at level 7, your druid can turn things into animals of CR as high as the level of his allies.

in either case, the druid will have seen the beast, and can now wild shape into it.

[Chugger]

Worse comes to worse you have access to "locate animals" spell and you can speed your way out of most encounters - a druid should be able to use a few downtime days to safely find pretty much any kind of animal it wants.

Also, though some DMs have adamantly insisted there should be no zoos in DnD worlds (I've seen them posting such here!) - why not - and why not circuses? Why wouldn't there be a plethora of tamed, trained or caged animals in most DnD-world cities? People like to see animals and pay to do so - with magic it's easy to catch them - it would be a roaring good business. Also all sorts of large trained exotic beasts (domesticated) would exist (or certainly could).

I just think some DMs latch onto a tiny pea-brained idea (gonna make it _hard_ for those dang druids screw them!!!) and ... yeah - they make a mistake ("so you wanna use down time to search for a tiger, huh? (roll dice ominously) Gonna have to make a lot of encounter checks, yep. You might run into an ancient black dragon doing such a thing, yep. Or a Lich! Yep!" ... such jerkwater behavior passes as "reasonable" in too many places)

[nickl_2000]

Worse comes to worse you have access to "locate animals" spell and you can speed your way out of most encounters - a druid should be able to use a few downtime days to safely find pretty much any kind of animal it wants.



holy crap, you are a genius (and I'm an idiot for not thinking about this)

[Dr. Cliché]

Also, though some DMs have adamantly insisted there should be no zoos in DnD worlds (I've seen them posting such here!) - why not - and why not circuses? Why wouldn't there be a plethora of tamed, trained or caged animals in most DnD-world cities? People like to see animals and pay to do so - with magic it's easy to catch them - it would be a roaring good business. Also all sorts of large trained exotic beasts (domesticated) would exist (or certainly could).


I believe there used to be a menagerie at the Tower of London.

Could be fun to have something similar with a rich/royal/powerful family in the D&D world.

[Mellack]

Similar to the menagerie idea just stated, there are ways to see animals even in cities. Traveling circus or carnivals may have fantastic beasts that you can see for a few coins. Some sort of colliseum may have exotic beasts and/or men fight in it. Perhaps some rich folk like to keep exotic pets or mounts to flaunt their wealth. Explorers who bring back strange beasts to show their patrons. Look at what the old movies did where they brought back King Kong to New York.

[Breashios]

I did allow our Moon Druid to wildshape into any appropriate size (CR) beast they had studied of any size. In the world I am running there are giant spiders, but I did not require the druid to have studied one before turning into it. As long as a normal sized creature had been studied in the past he could wildshape into that as the larger sized beast.

I set this precedent early because I did not necessarily want all of the giant beast types running around destroying the ecology I had designed, but still wanted the druid to have a more or less full selection of forms to choose from. Since there are no dinosaurs in my campaign world, there are no such choice for him. He certainly could become a larger lizard of some type, but a need for that has not come up yet. He likes being an Earth Elemental on occasion now.

[dejarnjc]

I'd allow them to turn into any wildshape form to be honest. Seems more fun.

That being said, Conjure animals and Polymorph basically take care of the problem for ya if your DM is a stickler.

[Azgeroth]

so, if there are very few beats in the world
i.e. mass extinction wiped most of them out, the question of how is a druid familiar enough with those forms to beast shape in to them?

im going to assume this cataclysm happened before this druid born, perhaps generations before..

in this scenario, it would be reasonable to assume that druids from across the world, would search those endangered beasts out, try to preserve them as best they can, even if they fail though they will be familiar with them and therefore able to best shape into them.

so you could have the druid search out druid circles around the world, where those circles can teach the druid the form and lore of lost beasts.

to start, give them the beast's from their 'land'/circle. all of them, even if they cant use them yet they are already familiar with them.

its then a matter of finding other druid enclaves who are maintaining the history and knowledge of the past natural world, in hopes of re-seeding life once again..

and maybe work to re-summon them back, presuming some former druids managed to safely move them to some other plane..

OR

if its simply that there have only ever been a handful of beasts in the world, make sure they are beasts the druid can find, and cover the bases for what they might want,
i.e.
small marsupial/lizard (mouse/rat/ferret/mole) (im crap with lizards, pick some.. lol)
small bird
small fish
medium mammal (dog/hyena/lynx)
large mammal
large aquatic
large bird
more large mammals.

pick a couple for each, for each biome, dispense as you see fit.