Protato
2018-01-15, 11:30 AM
I saw that the (at time of writing) new UA gives Druids the Circle of Spores archetype. While it looks interesting and I might well play it at some point, I'm mostly interested in the fact that at L2, it gets a secondary use for Wildshape, giving yourself a buff rather than becoming an animal. This made me think a bit about some features for existing subclasses that would let you use Wildshape differently, and this is what I have.
Dream Druid, Will 'o' the Wisp: At 2nd level, you may channel Fey energies to create an illusory flame. When you use your Wild Shape feature, select a creature within 30ft.. Dancing, colorful flames appear around the creature, a la Faerie Fire, shedding bright light from 5ft. from the targeted creature. Additionally, attacks made against the creature have advantage. At 6th Level, you may select two creatures, and you may select three at 10th Level. The illusory flames dissipate after the creature's turn, or after 1 minute.
Moon Druid, Animalistic Fury: At 2nd level, you may grow additional appendages and harden yourself against attacks. When you use your Wild Shape feature, you may gain a natural weapon that deals 1d8 damage of either Blunt, Pierce, or Slash damage (your choice) and natural armor of 13+Dexterity, to a minimum of 13. The natural weapon and armor persist for one minute, even if you later use Wild Shape to transform. If you transform while under the effect of Animalistic Fury, replace the new form's AC with natural armor, unless the new form's AC is higher. At 6th Level, the natural weapon counts as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances. At 10th level, the damage die increases to 1d12.
Land Druid, Natural Illusions: At 2nd level, you may use ambient natural energies to form an illusion. When you use your Wild Shape feature, you can cast the spell Silent Image without any material, verbal, or somatic components. At 6th Level, you can cast Greater Illusion with this feature, and Hallucinatory Terrain at 10th Level.
Shepherd Druid, Guardian Spirit: At 2nd level, you may use your spiritual powers to protect people. When you use your Wild Shape feature, you may use it as a reaction when a creature attacks you or an ally you can see to impose disadvantage on the attack. At 6th Level, you may add a +2 to the AC on any creature you target with this feature in addition to imposing disadvantage on the attacker. This increases to +3 at 10th Level.
Well, how do these look? I hope they aren't too powerful or too weak, I haven't done much homebrew before. In any case, I think the idea of allowing for an alternate use for WS would make the druid more appealing to players that dislike Wild Shape. Having made a thread about Druids, it seems a lot of players don't like Wild Shape but don't see other reasons to pick a Druid, and I'm hoping these options would give players at least a bit more reason to play as one.
Dream Druid, Will 'o' the Wisp: At 2nd level, you may channel Fey energies to create an illusory flame. When you use your Wild Shape feature, select a creature within 30ft.. Dancing, colorful flames appear around the creature, a la Faerie Fire, shedding bright light from 5ft. from the targeted creature. Additionally, attacks made against the creature have advantage. At 6th Level, you may select two creatures, and you may select three at 10th Level. The illusory flames dissipate after the creature's turn, or after 1 minute.
Moon Druid, Animalistic Fury: At 2nd level, you may grow additional appendages and harden yourself against attacks. When you use your Wild Shape feature, you may gain a natural weapon that deals 1d8 damage of either Blunt, Pierce, or Slash damage (your choice) and natural armor of 13+Dexterity, to a minimum of 13. The natural weapon and armor persist for one minute, even if you later use Wild Shape to transform. If you transform while under the effect of Animalistic Fury, replace the new form's AC with natural armor, unless the new form's AC is higher. At 6th Level, the natural weapon counts as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances. At 10th level, the damage die increases to 1d12.
Land Druid, Natural Illusions: At 2nd level, you may use ambient natural energies to form an illusion. When you use your Wild Shape feature, you can cast the spell Silent Image without any material, verbal, or somatic components. At 6th Level, you can cast Greater Illusion with this feature, and Hallucinatory Terrain at 10th Level.
Shepherd Druid, Guardian Spirit: At 2nd level, you may use your spiritual powers to protect people. When you use your Wild Shape feature, you may use it as a reaction when a creature attacks you or an ally you can see to impose disadvantage on the attack. At 6th Level, you may add a +2 to the AC on any creature you target with this feature in addition to imposing disadvantage on the attacker. This increases to +3 at 10th Level.
Well, how do these look? I hope they aren't too powerful or too weak, I haven't done much homebrew before. In any case, I think the idea of allowing for an alternate use for WS would make the druid more appealing to players that dislike Wild Shape. Having made a thread about Druids, it seems a lot of players don't like Wild Shape but don't see other reasons to pick a Druid, and I'm hoping these options would give players at least a bit more reason to play as one.