OneD&D UA - THE DRUID AND PALADIN

[Arkhios]

A few picks:

Wild Shape - While I can somewhat relate to the disappointment that you don't get to choose an existing animal, the change enables more variation, and frankly, the results are nearly same anyway. As a bonus it incentivizes druids to keep Wisdom their highest score, which isn't a bad thing, all things considered.

Divine Smite - Hands down, it was to be expected to be restricted as a once per turn ability. What I personally didn't expect to see is that now you can make divine smite with any weapon or unarmed strike; even with a ranged weapon.

Paladin Aura of Protection being shoved up to 7th level was an interesting though not entirely unexpected move, considering subclass feature level changes in general. What was more interesting, however, was that they're clearly moving towards having only one Aura, that evolves in different ways depending on your level and subclass. This is an elegant change, and one that I approve, especially as someone who feels that Paladin is their "Thing". I don't mind seeing the subclass aura being shoved up to 10th level either, to be entirely honest.

[diplomancer]

So, I haven't read the document yet, but I DID read/skim all of the comments, and wanted just to point out something about the complaint "Druids now only get features that change their Wild shape". I have some interesting news for people who think that's a bad thing. 5e Druids only get features that change their Wild Shape. The exceptions are two ribbons: Druidic, at level 1, and Timeless Body, at level 18. Maybe Archdruid at 20th; it is mostly about wild shape, but there are important benefits that are not about it.


Honestly, one reason I don't like Druids is how sparse their features are; they're as bad as Wizards in that regard, except Wizard's spellcasting is varied enough to compensate, while Druid spellcasting, though undeniably very powerful, is over-reliant on a few powerful choices.

[Snowbluff]

I will say I agree with the complaints about balancing around multiclassing. It's a variant rule, so I don't believe it should be shaping any decision making on individual classes. I'm fine with a bunch of hexblade dips, they don't affect my games at all, and I'd rather have a bunch of people dipping hexblade so people who dip for fun or weird options can still have that be a viable choice.

So, I haven't read the document yet, but I DID read/skim all of the comments, and wanted just to point out something about the complaint "Druids now only get features that change their Wild shape". I have some interesting news for people who think that's a bad thing. 5e Druids only get features that change their Wild Shape. The exceptions are two ribbons: Druidic, at level 1, and Timeless Body, at level 18. Maybe Archdruid at 20th; it is mostly about wild shape, but there are important benefits that are not about it.


Honestly, one reason I don't like Druids is how sparse their features are; they're as bad as Wizards in that regard, except Wizard's spellcasting is varied enough to compensate, while Druid spellcasting, though undeniably very powerful, is over-reliant on a few powerful choices.

Precisely. I rarely decide on playing druids because their class specific options often end up being lackluster. I think some of the later subclasses help, but mostly they're just casters.

[skyth]

One thing they changed about inspiration that no one has commented on so far is that you choose to use the inspiration to grant yourself advantage AFTER you roll the original die. Effectively, it's a re-roll now so might be used more.

[Tanarii]

Has anyone managed to find where Druids make up for the (needed) loss of Wildshape HPs?

Or are they just squishies like Bards now?

[Aimeryan]

Has anyone managed to find where Druids make up for the (needed) loss of Wildshape HPs?

Or are they just squishies like Bards now?

I believe the discussion is that the Abjuration spells are meant to plug this gap, however, I find that problematic on several points; 1) spell slots used here are not used elsewhere, which means you are trading arguably your most powerful resource to be able to go into melee and hit a little harder; 2) if you are using Concentration on this you are not using it on the more powerful Concentration spells that Druid is arguably balanced around; 3) this doesn't feel very Wildshape like and far more like a Wizard shoring up their defences with spells.

[Psyren]

The best form now is probably Sky, because Multiattack + Flyby lets you be the best skirmisher in the game, and the lack of bonus HP don't matter.

Land and Sea need either higher AC or more HP, preferably both.

[Dr.Samurai]

Why do Paladins get any Fighting Style, and access to Fighting Style feats, if that is a warrior thing, and the only reason the Ranger got it is because "experts steal stuff from other classes"? So much for that lol.

Also, Sacred Weapon seems like too much at twice per short rest. That means if you have two encounters per rest, the devotion paladin will always have +Cha to attacks on top of their normal attack bonus.

Finally, the capstone seems pretty weak since Channel Divinity gets two uses per short rest. Chances are you're going to have a use left. (Actually, just realized it lacks the "if you don't have a use left" language we have currently. So that means every encounter you'd be able to use Abjure Enemy. That's fine, I suppose.)

[Aimeryan]

The best form now is probably Sky, because Multiattack + Flyby lets you be the best skirmisher in the game, and the lack of bonus HP don't matter.

Land and Sea need either higher AC or more HP, preferably both.

Usually the speed is an issue for this type of play, since you need to get both in AND out far enough away that the enemy can't just move up to you afterwards. In this case, flying means you can move vertically to and away - so, that does pretty much remove the melee concern (unless the enemy also has flying, in which case this low damage, low survivability form is now a liability).

Biggest problem is that the damage is pretty poor. Since you have better survivability by just remaining ranged, it kind of begs the question of what you are meant to be gaining.

[Gignere]

The best form now is probably Sky, because Multiattack + Flyby lets you be the best skirmisher in the game, and the lack of bonus HP don't matter.

Land and Sea need either higher AC or more HP, preferably both.

It’s tough to balance though anything more than 1 hp per Druid level and you are looking at base hps higher than a fighter. Anything more than +PB to AC you are looking at AC above what fighters can get without investing resources in it.

This might mean fighters need more love but currently there just isn’t much room to buff the moon Druid without it being comparable to a fighter while still being a full caster.

[Ionathus]

Honestly, one reason I don't like Druids is how sparse their features are; they're as bad as Wizards in that regard, except Wizard's spellcasting is varied enough to compensate, while Druid spellcasting, though undeniably very powerful, is over-reliant on a few powerful choices.

I complained about this on a (different) forum in my early D&D days and got roasted for it. Built a Human Moon Druid for my first PC and then four levels in, looked around going..."wait, does it feel like everybody else has a ton more minor utility features than I do?" Very gratifying to see somebody else saying the same thing.

Base Druid class really only has its spells, plus Wild Shape for utility. Disappointing to see this version strips that utility and turns Wild Shape into "Placeholder Combat Animal" for marginal damage increase for most of the early game. By the time you get utility back in your Wild Shape, you and the rest of the team are already Tier 2 or Tier 3 and have way better options for exploration, stealth, and utility.

[Amechra]

Why do Paladins get any Fighting Style, and access to Fighting Style feats, if that is a warrior thing, and the only reason the Ranger got it is because "experts steal stuff from other classes"? So much for that lol.

Probably because the whole arcane/divine/expert/warrior set-up is hilariously artificial, and doesn't actually line up very well with D&D's classes, which are more like:

Categories	5e Classes
Arcane	Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Divine	Cleric, Druid
Expert	Rogue
Warriors	Barbarian, Fighter
Hybrids	Bard (Arcane/Expert), Paladin (Divine/Warrior), Ranger (Expert/Warrior)
I Dunno?	Artificer, Monk

I mean, you could shoe-horn the four core classes that don't fit neatly into the categories in there, but you'd have to change them WAY more heavily than the design team seems willing to do. If they were really committed to making the grid work, they'd have to fiddle with the classes way harder than they seem comfortable with.

For example, maybe Expert classes could get Expertise Dice that they can spend to boost skill checks, with each class getting a different take on using them:

• Bards and Rangers are both half-casters (because sure, why not?)
• Everyone who gets Expertise Dice can spend them on ability checks they're proficient in. There are feats that give you extra uses for Expertise Dice.
• Bards get to lend out Expertise Dice (Bardic Inspiration!) and can spend them to boost their own spellcasting.
• Rangers get to use Expertise Dice to improve their combat abilities —think the old Monster Hunter UA.
• Rogues get to be more consistent with Expertise Dice, meaning that they can use them all willy-nilly.

Or something like that.

[Jervis]

Putting aside that I don't see "video game" (Gasp! Horror!) as an expletive the way some others around here do, it's not "gaslighting" to point out that the comparison of 3.5e->4e is utterly specious.

I mean just in this doc you have the “magic action” spammed all over the document (something that almost certainly exists to make the game easier to run for ai assisted VTTs). The Druid transformation is pretty paired down to one of a handful of statblocks (something I actually support to a degree even if they overdid it here). And of course the old movement rules (honestly don’t know if those are still in play) which were written to be easy to program. If credible leaks are to be believed, it is quite literally being designed to make it easier to run on a VTT, which is the same thing that 4E did. You seem to be trying awfully hard to convince yourself and others that this isn’t going to be 4E 2 electric boogaloo my dude, especially when the OGL crisis and VTT centered design is so similar to the exact thing that 4E did.

[False God]

Correct the monster math, correct the wild shape.

I mean fundamentally all the fears about Wild Shape, and the reason 4E, PF, PF2 and apparently D&D Baked are going in the "fixed form" rather than "stat stealing" direction is that the designers cannot get a handle on how to build monsters with a solid underlying math. And it doesn't help their efforts that half their "monsters" are just humanoids with baked-in classes.

Even just reevaluating the basic animals that a Druid could potentially Wild Shape into would go a long way to making it more balanced. Heck, if they wanted to make a specific list of animals that Wild Shape allows access too, rather than "any animal", that'd be a fine solution too. It might even make Wild Shape feel a bit better, if at every level or every other level, you got access to specific new creatures, rather than gating certain movement modes or sizes.

[KorvinStarmast]

All of the wildshape discourse here is missing the most important part IMO, which is that 10th level Moon Druids can no longer blow all their resources to turn into a Fire Tornado.

Yes. That sucks. I liked the elemental option, although it cost two uses.

Straight-up the coolest class feature in the game and they replaced it with *checks notes* +1d6 elemental damage.

Major nerf.

Hey did anyone notice Druids can wear metal now? They lost medium armor proficiency though.

How much light armor is made of metal?

I have no doubt that Evoker will still be the basic Wizard.

Which makes sense to me.

- Can wear metal now, cool

How much light armor is metal?

Wildshaping/Moon Druid
- Your AC and HP don't improve, so you're essentially trading spellcasting for perception and WIS-SADding your STR/DEX for checks and melee attacks. That's a pretty mediocre trade for combat purposes, and a lot of utility as been level gated (see below). Moon druids shape as a bonus action still.
- Your creature type doesn't change
- You can still be a serviceable mount
- There are no ways to get most beast features like trample, charge, pounce, poison, echolocation, webwalking, etc.
- Cant climb, swim, fly or tiny until levels 5, 7, 9 and 11 respectively
- Your beast attacks never become magical

The bolded part is where I think they over nerfed wild shape.

Paladin
- Lay On Hands can't fix Diseases now, I guess too many people complained about Paladins

Yeah, I will be mentioning that in the feedback.

- Smites can be done with ranged weapons and unarmed, but are also limited to once per turn and can't also cast a spell

Not even as a bonus action, like misty step? Hmm, as I think through this, I like it even less, but I get the "used a spell slot to do this so you have used your spell slot for this round. Not sure I like it.

- Aura of Protection moved back one level
- Aura of Courage moved back three levels

Don't like either of those.

- Restoring Touch is like Cleansing Touch, but does conditions rather than spells and is moved back one level. fine.

Moving back a level is not fine for me. Late game features rarely get reached.

- Auras getting bigger is moved forward one level

Yay.

- Sacred Weapon is a bonus action use of your Channel, good improvement

Agree. I already changed that in our Wednesday game.

- Smite of Protection sounds like an oxymoron, but it hands out THP when smite which is fine

Way weaker than an 'always on' aura.

- Find Familiar/Steed have stat blocks like Tasha's summons, each with one neat ability, fine

Agree. Also drops to 0 HP then 1 HP then escapes.

[Aimeryan]

It’s tough to balance though anything more than 1 hp per Druid level and you are looking at base hps higher than a fighter. Anything more than +PB to AC you are looking at AC above what fighters can get without investing resources in it.

This might mean fighters need more love but currently there just isn’t much room to buff the moon Druid without it being comparable to a fighter while still being a full caster.

It the generic problem that the typical melee classes don't actually get much more in the way of defence (usually just a couple of HP) than the 'squishy' classes. In fact, a quick dip for Medium Armour and Shield proficiency lets casters beat them on AC (the melee classes get punished for using a Shield, and of course then there are defensive spells, as well as being able to just Dodge while still being effective due to ongoing Concentration spells). The HP part is minor enough that a single low cost heal out of combat is the difference.

Moon Druids and Barbarians are the exception to this rule in 5e; Barbarians get resistance, and Moon Druids get chunks more health.

It is often considered that Fighters and Paladins are tanky, but that more visual idea than a mechanical one. The way to survive in 5e is to either kill the enemy fast, lock the enemy down with control, or to stay at ranged. Alternatively, have a Barbarian or Moon Druid out front absorbing hits if the DM plays ball.

The question for the D&DONE Moon Druid here is, what do they gain for going into Wild Shape, what do they lose, and does this pay off? It seems to be a little more damage is gained at the cost of being cast into melee while being fragile. I would rather just stay back and spam cantrips.

[Oramac]

Clearly I need to not sleep if I want to keep up with these threads!

Anyway, the more I think about it, I'm ok with Smite being once per turn. I still disagree with the no-spellcasting part, and I am definitely not ok with it being opened up to ranged weapons.

Part of the paladin's kit is the heavy armor frontline bruiser. You trade away [good] ranged options in favor of amazing melee options. With the change, you can make a ranged paladin that slings damage better than the actual ranged classes. Why even bother playing a rogue or fighter with a bow when you can smite from 600 feet away? Plus, that doesn't really feel like a "smite" to me. I'm 2 football fields away from something and smiting it? Nah. Not a fan.

[KorvinStarmast]

DRUID
I really think people are downplaying how badly nerfed Druids are, even when acknowledging their getting heavily nerfed.

I find a lot of your review to have merit, here goes my reply:

•No, Wild Shape isn't losing some, or even a lot, of utility - it's losing 100% of it's utility! For an ability that was 80% about it's utility, losing all of it is totally unreasonable. Wanna be a spider? No venomous bite, no webbing, no spider climbing. Wanna be a wolf? No tripping. Wanna be a rhino? No charge/gore. Wanna be a bat? No blindsight. Wanna be a snake? No constricting or venomous bite. Wanna be a big cat? No pounce. You. Get. Nothing. for shifting into an "animal." Nothing.

Amen. I will mention that in the feedback. I think they went too far.

•Wild Shape is buffed to be level 1 instead of level 2... kinda. Arial form is nerfed by one level. Aquatic form is nerfed by 3 levels. Tiny form is nerfed by nine levels?! What the actual... This is entirely unreasonable; as in, I can see zero reason for this change. Tiny animals require tier 3 levels? They MUST be joking?

Nope, just spiking the coffee with Everclear(TM).

•In general, "10+Wis=AC" is going to be a slight buff to Animal Form AC, but that still doesn't make it a good AC. And with the total removal of Animal HP you're now faced with the reality that being in melee is not worth it.

That is going in the feedback as well.

•Wild Shape, by default, is a Magic Action? Does this mean your primary class ability can be counterspelled or dispelled? Seriously?

Apparently so, and won't work in an anti magic field. Might want to discuss that in the feedback.

•The Stat changes for Animal Forms aren't actually as meaningful as they look on paper. For Land Form, you treat STR/DEX as equal to WIS... but for STR that's about the same benefit as casting Shillelagh. As for DEX, you don't get to add it to your AC and none of your attacks are Finesse, so the only benefit you're getting is Dex-based skill checks and Reflex saves.

If we fix this to add dex to AC maybe that's enough of an improvement? I also want 3x Proficiency bonus Temp HP in Wild Shape form. More HP is Iconic {Hey Crawford, I've got yer Iconic Right Here! } Druid wild shape stuff, and I quote;

Upon reaching the 5th Circle druids then gain the power to shape change (as previously mentioned in GREYHAWK with regard to the Druid-type monster), and when changing from one form to another they lose from 10% to 60% of any damage previously sustained; in addition they are not affected by the charm spells of woodland and water creatures such as nixies and dryads.

Roll a d6, multiply by 10, multiply by damage taken, restore that ... yeah, a bit fiddly, and Temp HP is IMO a better way to handle this. But, "recover half of your lost HP when you change form" would be even simpler.

You don't get the STR adjustment for Aquatic Forms? My croc, or whale, or whatever, isn't stronger than my base humanoid form? That's outright ridiculous.

They are Wizards of the Coast. They hate Fighters. They Hate Barbs. They hate STR. Hmm, maybe that should not be blue text ...

• If I turn into a Cat at level 1-4, I can't climb like a Cat. I have to wait until level 5? Make that make sense.

"You are doing it wrong. If you wanted that, play a tabaxi!" says the dev team

• The removal of the restriction on metallic armor is long overdue.

How much light armor is metallic?

They've never explained it in any meaningful way

It's Iconic, see Eldritch Wizardry.

• Alternating Forms is actually a nice and meaningful ability, that the 2014 Druid would absolutely love. Unfortunately, the massive nerfs to Wild Shape make this all but meaningless.

Yes.

The fun of Wild Shape is the new ways you can interact with the world, and that is entirely gone from the Druid, and I hate it.

Bingo.

•Sidenote - Every Animal Form gets Darkvision? God I'm so tired of the absolutely joke that Darkvision is in 5e. Just give it to literally everyone and everything. We're almost there already as it is!

*Snicker*

-Quick Attack. You can bonus-action Unarmed Strike? Is this a typo? Is it supposed to be bonus-action Beastial Strike? A Druid gains no Unarmed Strike benefits. Why is "1+str" a meaningful mechanic here?

I'll suggest the "bonus action bestial strike" in the feedback, thanks for the idea.
Swift Transformation needs clarification? Yes.

• Elemental Wild Shape - It's... fine. The ability to change into an actual elemental was just flat-out better, so this is a downright nerf, but I suppose that's just the name of the game for Druid. Unfortunate. (Notably missing, as already pointed out several times, is the ability to hit as a magic attack. That's a serious problem for every Druid and a glaring hole in it's combat progress, IMO.)

Yes.

•Elemental Strike - Generic bonus damage. Lack of magic-counting attack remains. Effective enough but pretty boring.

But easier to program in a video game. (See Diablo II Paladin elemental auras for an example ...)

• Thousand Forms - If you can Alter Self whenever you want forever, why can't you Wild Shape whenever you want forever? Just... just do it already. It's not good enough to gate this hard. Never has been.

Will mention that in the feedback.

PALADIN -Banishing Smite: I hate the way they're treating Banishment, and this is no different.

I have already mentioned that, and this will be in the feedback again.

Depends on the cooldowns and toolbars

*cackle*

This is gonna be a very fun year of gaslighting about how apparently D&DOne is not becoming more video-gamey, while clearly becoming more video-gamey.

Indeed.

When they Wild Shape they expend a spell slot. AC = 10 + Wis modifier + spell slot expended, gain THP = 5 x spell slot expended.

Fiddly, but there's a germ of a good idea here.

I'd rather add dex to AC and have 2x PB Temp HP added when changing form. (Simpler)

[Psyren]

How much light armor is metal?

None but Scale Mail is a feat away, a level 1 feat at that.

[Amechra]

the designers cannot get a handle on how to build monsters with a solid underlying math

This argument is kinda like if you said that a pickup truck makes a terrible racecar because car companies are bad at making cars.

Monsters and player characters fill very different mechanical purposes during combat, and so the designers design them differently. Caveat emptor if you try to use a monster as a PC or vice-versa.

[tokek]

Has anyone managed to find where Druids make up for the (needed) loss of Wildshape HPs?

Or are they just squishies like Bards now?

They are full casters. They have spells for that.

Or should they continue to have stuff better than spells while also being full casters? Because if you look at the level 1-7 optimisation discussion Moon Druids are very prominent and a fair few contributors think they are so good they effectively invalidate all martial classes in that range.

[Gignere]

It the generic problem that the typical melee classes don't actually get much more in the way of defence (usually just a couple of HP) than the 'squishy' classes. In fact, a quick dip for Medium Armour and Shield proficiency lets casters beat them on AC (the melee classes get punished for using a Shield, and of course then there are defensive spells, as well as being able to just Dodge while still being effective due to ongoing Concentration spells). The HP part is minor enough that a single low cost heal out of combat is the difference.

Moon Druids and Barbarians are the exception to this rule in 5e; Barbarians get resistance, and Moon Druids get chunks more health.

It is often considered that Fighters and Paladins are tanky, but that more visual idea than a mechanical one. The way to survive in 5e is to either kill the enemy fast, lock the enemy down with control, or to stay at ranged. Alternatively, have a Barbarian or Moon Druid out front absorbing hits if the DM plays ball.

The question for the D&DONE Moon Druid here is, what do they gain for going into Wild Shape, what do they lose, and does this pay off? It seems to be a little more damage is gained at the cost of being cast into melee while being fragile. I would rather just stay back and spam cantrips.

Barbarians only get resistance when they rage and given the limits on how many rages they get per long rest for a long time barbarians fight in roughly half the encounters basically without resistance. So you can’t really buff moon druids to be better than a non raging barbarian. Once again maybe this means barbs need more love but hard to get the moon Druid to even close to where they are now without outshining the melee martials. I think the better balancing fulcrum might be better buff spells that complements their animal forms. So moon Druid + spell use = melee classes using class features.

[Psyren]

They are full casters. They have spells for that.

Or should they continue to have stuff better than spells while also being full casters? Because if you look at the level 1-7 optimisation discussion Moon Druids are very prominent and a fair few contributors think they are so good they effectively invalidate all martial classes in that range.

Yeah I don't mind moon druids being nerfed at low levels. A level 2 druid being able to outperform a level 4 barbarian never made sense to me. And Healing Word is on the Primal List so Moon Druids still get to heal themselves as a bonus action.

With that said, max AC of 15 (which is going to be a max of 14 for the first 7 levels) is still too low for a frontliner with no bonus HP, even a full-casting one that can self-heal. Compare that to a frontline Cleric or Bard.

[windgate]

{snip} If credible leaks are to be believed, it is quite literally being designed to make it easier to run on a VTT, which is the same thing that 4E did. You seem to be trying awfully hard to convince yourself and others that this isn’t going to be 4E 2 electric boogaloo my dude, especially when the OGL crisis and VTT centered design is so similar to the exact thing that 4E did.

Could you please explain why you think functionality with a VTT is a bad thing? Just because 4e did it, does not inherently mean something is bad. It's kinda like hating on all gas tanks soley because the Ford Pinto had an explosive one.

There are a significant number of people who do not have the opportunity to play the game in person using paper (and some don't want to). The world is moving towards online and digital formats. The RPG market is already struggling, demanding that a company ignore market trends is a non-starter.

[Atranen]

Could you please explain why you think functionality with a VTT is a bad thing? Just because 4e did it, does not inherently mean something is bad. It's kinda like hating on all gas tanks soley because the Ford Pinto had an explosive one.

There are a significant number of people who do not have the opportunity to play the game in person using paper (and some don't want to). The world is moving towards online and digital formats. The RPG market is already struggling, demanding that a company ignore market trends is a non-starter.

VTTs aren't bad and functionality with VTT isn't bad; all else equal, it's better to have functionality.

But not all else is equal here, and they seem to be making design choices that make the game worse for the sake of VTT compatibility. (Ok, we're speculating there, but there's reason to find it plausible). Hence the dislike.

[Gignere]

Could you please explain why you think functionality with a VTT is a bad thing? Just because 4e did it, does not inherently mean something is bad. It's kinda like hating on all gas tanks soley because the Ford Pinto had an explosive one.

There are a significant number of people who do not have the opportunity to play the game in person using paper (and some don't want to). The world is moving towards online and digital formats. The RPG market is already struggling, demanding that a company ignore market trends is a non-starter.

There’s probably more people playing online than in person now. My current group is a DM from Canada, one player in Ohio, another in Kentucky, I’m from New York, another plays in China, two is from somewhere out west in the US that’s a running joke them not telling us exactly where.

[Bane's Wolf]

Holy crap this moves fast...
I agree with a lot of what is said in this thread, but trying to keep up with this conversation is rather difficult while also having to work

They are full casters. They have spells for that.

Or should they continue to have stuff better than spells while also being full casters? Because if you look at the level 1-7 optimisation discussion Moon Druids are very prominent and a fair few contributors think they are so good they effectively invalidate all martial classes in that range.

Fully agreed on this.
I think wildshape is cool, but the extra hit points from wildshape does give it more staying power than any other class.
I doubt the designer's original intent was to turn druids into "Bullet(Arrow?) Sponges"

I think the Playtest druid's Moon wildshape turns it into a competent brawler, without overshadowing the martial classes.
It's easy to forget that on top of the Wildshape, the druid is still a full caster, capable of many magical tricks.

I'm also in favour of the Beast statblocks, that grow in strength along with the character, but i'd like to see some way of gaining beastly abilities (trample, poison bites, pounce, constricting, blindsight, etc)

Even something as simple as "take a beast form and add one of these abilities - pick 2 at Level X" to represent the animal you are turning into.

I'll even be on board if some of these "Added abilities" just increase AC, or speed, or HP, to represent tortoise shells, or cheetah speed, or badger toughness

[MoiMagnus]

Could you please explain why you think functionality with a VTT is a bad thing? Just because 4e did it, does not inherently mean something is bad.

I agree the argument was not presented in the best possible way, since it's not an inherent problem and more a "the parts I care the most about in TTRPGs are the parts that are near-impossible to implement correctly in a VTT, hence might be removed by anyone trying to do a VTT integration with less that a AAA budget"

For example, you can no longer bring your knowledges about IRL's animal's poisons, transform to "insert a specific kind of venomous snake" and use the specific poison obtained from it, since now "The appearance you choose has no effect on the form’s capabilities.".

I'm not the kind of player interested by this specific use of the druid's wild shape (in part because I'm not interested by the Druid class), but I can see how someone could love such a flexibility, and how if WotC's goal is to make integration in a VTT easier, those kind of wild-card effect is not welcome anymore.

[Pex]

Spells exist to do these things. Other than trying to give druids a head start in the action economy why would we need this alternative mechanism? Or do you just want druids to have better versions of this than equivalent spells - if so why?

Need more HP? Cast Aid. Need better AC, try Barkskin.

Because there's a resentment that you have to as it stands now and takes more actions to do before you fight. By the time you get your buffs up the combat is half over if not done. My way you're still using up spell slots but they happen immediately. Since the current version lacks animal abilities like poison, tripping, etc., using spell slots still gates them by level but also as a means to provide them, spending a spell slot resource to avoid the Wild Shape melee juggernaut while still being a full caster that some people are bothered by the (Moon) Druid in 5E now.

[Oramac]

trying to keep up with this conversation is rather difficult while also having to work

Same!!

It's easy to forget that on top of the Wildshape, the druid is still a full caster

And I think this is the real crux of the problem.

One cool solution would be to tie Wild Shape and Spellcasting to separate subclasses, and then put the subclass at 1st level. Oh wait, OneD&D already shat on that idea.