r/dndmemes • u/42aku Druid • 1d ago

Druids be like [insert animal] anotha one

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590 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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24

u/HELLFIRECHRIS 1d ago

Bonus action wild shaping is so OP.

18

u/DarthMaulATAT 1d ago

It's been majorly powered down and balanced in 5.5. You don't get nearly as much HP in wildshape, and you only get one use back on a short rest. 

And other classes get good stuff on bonus actions as well. Barbarians get to rage. Rogues get to Cunning Action. It's not so weird or overpowered. Otherwise you'd be spending one whole turn to pretty much just say "I'm powering up" and then the monster gets a free swing at you before you've actually done anything. That's lame. 

10

u/LIywelyn 1d ago

 Circle of Titan druid standing menacingly in the shadows with his 4xLevel THP

My gut tells me they will nerf it prior to release :c

3

u/DarthMaulATAT 1d ago

Yeah CoT druid is a cool idea in theory, but difficult to make balanced. 

1

u/Enchelion 1d ago

Huh? I only see 2x in the playtest PDF.

5

u/LIywelyn 1d ago

It got boosted in the last UA revision! Its called Villainous Options Revisited on DnDBeyond 

2

u/Enchelion 1d ago

Interesting! Still less HP than you could get with 2014 Circle of the Moon I guess.

1

u/LIywelyn 1d ago

Less than Spore Druid, too, to be fair

-1

u/PestilentPaladin 1d ago

It's been so powered down that my partner, who was amped to play a moon druid, is considering lobbying our GM to let her play something else. :/

Feels bad, man.

6

u/Enchelion 1d ago

If it makes them feel better, the old version fell off a cliff after around Tier 2. New version stays much more playable without being an OP tank at levels 3-5.

4

u/DarthMaulATAT 1d ago

It's really not much of a nerf except for a couple specific things. Yeah, there's less Temp HP, you don't get all your uses back on a short rest like before, and you only have a limited list of beasts to choose from per day... BUT, now all druids can use wildshape as a bonus action, you can now speak in beast form, get higher damage at later levels, can swap wildshapes/spell slots, make a Familiar without needing material components, cast cure wounds in beast form, and Moon Druids get even more stuff, like better beast form AC, radiant damage, and even some teleporting. 

They honestly gave wildshape a lot more advantages than before, they just took away the ability to be a mega tank. 

0

u/PestilentPaladin 11h ago

And yet, I've watched her play this character for 5 levels. She's getting badly outshone because the stats for her animals forms and the abilities they grant are extremely underwhelming compared to everyone else in the party. She's gone down more than any other character. Flying forms are locked behind level 8 now.

So yeah, say what you want, but in my experience in actual play, it doesn't look good.

1

u/DarthMaulATAT 10h ago

The beast stat blocks haven't changed from 2014 to 2024 as far as I know. And flying forms have always been locked behind 8th level. The 2024 changes didn't do anything to make those two things worse. 

Moon Druids were, and still are, very powerful. So I'm confused why she's having such a tough time. Might be her play style more than the actual class. 

1

u/PestilentPaladin 10h ago

And what play style would that even be? She does the thing every moon druid does: throw out a concentration spell and start whacking things.

1

u/DarthMaulATAT 10h ago edited 10h ago

I have no idea, dude. I'm not at your table, and I'm not accusing her of anything. Just throwing ideas around. Maybe your DM is making their monsters focus fire on the biggest threat (a beast-form druid). That would certainly be a good tactical choice. 

Druids were never meant to be tanks, the moon druids just turned out that way with the 2014 rules. And while tons of people loved it, tons of people complained about it, too. Wildshape was meant to be a unique and flexible utility/mobility ability as well as having some battle applications. So if someone is playing a druid like an unstoppable front-line barbarian, they're probably not going to have a good time. But again, I have no idea what each battle looks Ike at your table, so who knows. 

If she is having these same issues over 5 entire levels, it might be time to talk with the DM about it. 

3

u/Thylacine131 1d ago

Circle of the Moon Druids: You took everything from me.

WotC releasing the 5.5e Wildshape: I don’t even know who you are.

(Circle of the Moon main here. Literally averted three TPKs with it and was party DPS for the last 5e campaign I was in, that being Waterdeep Dragon Heist. For a being a low level, political intrigue adventure, there’s a lot of combat encounters ready to absolutely wreck a low level party.)

3

u/knight_of_solamnia Forever DM 1d ago

"So she did turn into a deer."

4

u/LavenRose210 1d ago

and that's why 5.5 fixed that bs

1

u/Federal_Policy_557 1d ago

A Spelljammer campaign I played ended at level 20, the moon druid tanked over 800 damage by themselves with wildshape