D&D (2024) Playtest Packet 6: They knocked Druid out of the Park

[Clint_L]

So... a template.

IMO, the moon druid should get more than just to bigger numbers. They should get new abilities as well, same as all the other classes.

Thus. I am a fan of using at least a bit of supernatural.

Me too. Gives the druid more interesting options. And even beast-like monstrosities that just rely on physical abilities and attacks have supernatural origins (e.g. the owlbear).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Haven't looked though the monstrosities. But you shouldn't be able to turn into a fey pixie for instance.

Why not?

And I don't want to hamper the devs by making them double check all the creatures against the druid.

This I can understand.

 

[mellored]

Why not?

Pixies can cast polymorph, amongst other things.

So a blanket fey wouldn't work. (Also not very thematic).

 

[Chaosmancer]

It’s the pages that can be put to better use….

I guess we simply disagree, the Druid should not have to go to the MM, so these should be in the PHB.

I’d rather have other monsters in the MM than 6 or so versions of wolves and other beasts a Druid maybe wants to wildshape into.
I do not want 20% or so of the MM to be Druid focused and other stuff to be thrown out because of page count restrictions. Nor am I particularly interested in having wolves etc. for 6 or so CRs to annoy my players with

It doesn't have to be six different versions of a wolf. But I want more giant spiders, I want more magically inclined lizards, I want goats that can crack boulders.

I don't want "it is a normal wolf, but the numbers went up" I want a pack predator with armored scales and a venomous bite, and the ability to invigorate allies with a howl.

Part of the issue is "beast" seems to get limited to "normal animals" but we can go a bit further with it.

 

[Chaosmancer]

i mean why don't druid just have the same BAB in all forms. Wouldn't that just solve most of the arguments about overpowered underpowered.

Again... how is that not the same as Proficiency?

As I understand, to hit, you rolled BAB + mod. The issue with the beast forms isn't the prof bonus, because that follows you. The issue is that you turn into a wolf at level 15, and you are attacking with a +2 strength, sure, your prof has gone up, but that low strength is a problem.

 

[Chaosmancer]

In my opinion, Druids tend to be at one with nature and revere it. Monstrosities are at odds with the natural order of things and are a bastardization of fauna*. I would prefer that Druids only be allowed to transform into Beasts, no matter what Doric did in the movie (although, a specific subclass, like Moon, for other wild shape forms would be acceptable).

*according to the Monster Manual (p. 7), "Monstrosities are monsters in the strictest sense - frightening creatures that are not ordinary, nor truly natural, and almost never benign."

Meh

Not natural can mean infected with the magic of the deep forest that has a portal to the feywild in it. Too much natural magic makes something unnatural?

I don't care if you think Owlbears are unnatural, they have a breeding population, they are as natural as dogs and cats and corn.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Not all Monstrosities are created equal. Some are really out there, while others are similar to regular Beasts. An owl is a beast and a bear is a beast, so an owlbear isn't that crazy. I could also see a Druid wild shaping into a Griffon, a Death Dog, or a Shadow Mastiff. But things like Gricks or The Wretched are a bridge too far for me. I wish there was another category between Beasts and Monstrosities for those in-betweeners.

EDIT: add things like Hook Horror, Umber Hulk, and Roper to that list of extreme Monstrosities.

This I can agree with. The category is too broad.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Pixies can cast polymorph, amongst other things.

So a blanket fey wouldn't work. (Also not very thematic).

I think it’s incredibly thematic, and with the new HP rules why should I care that the Druid is getting a free cast of a spell?

Hell, just add a rule that if the creature can cast spells, they still cost your spell slots.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

It doesn't have to be six different versions of a wolf. But I want more giant spiders, I want more magically inclined lizards, I want goats that can crack boulders.

I don't want "it is a normal wolf, but the numbers went up" I want a pack predator with armored scales and a venomous bite, and the ability to invigorate allies with a howl.

Part of the issue is "beast" seems to get limited to "normal animals" but we can go a bit further with it.

I feel like there might be a benefit to creating a magical beast category. That way you can have creatures like Owlbears, Worgs, Winter Wolves, Griffons, and the like that could be potentially used for Druid wildshapes, and keep the more unnatural creatures like Behirs, Mimics, Gricks, and Sphinxes as true monstrosities. Also it would be a good way to separate out the more sentient races like Yuan-Ti, Drider, Gnolls, Thri-kreen, Centaur, Minotaurs, and the like as I feel like being able to wildshape into these creatures would be a bit odd.

 

[DavyGreenwind]

You know, I've always thought that creatures in 5e should be able to be of two types. Like an undead/dragon, or a fiend/giant. You could have some things that are just monstrosities, and some that are monstrosities/beasts.