D&D Next: Wild Shape & Oaths

This for realsies last last playtest packet updates the druid’s Wild Shape and adds a new paladin oath, the Oath of Vengeance.

Wild Shape
You cannot do this at all until 2nd-level, but you can now do it once between short and long rests. At 8th-level you can use it twice between rests. There are many forms available at the start, including flying critters and a horse. The time limit is one-half your level in hours. Finally, Circle of the Moon grants access to more dangerous animals like dire wolves, tigers, and cave bears (oh my).

I still do not like it.

Shocking, I know.

You cannot change your shape at all until 2nd-level. Why? Wild Shape is a very unique and iconic class feature for the druid, so why make them wait while barbarians can still rage, monks can flurry, and rogues can sneak attack? Would it really unbalance anything to allow players access all of one level sooner?

The forms are also not made equally: unless you have a major need for Speed, owls are better than hawks, and anything weasels can do, cats can do better (at least until they inevitably start adding more animal forms in splatbooks). Why make each animal its own statblock? All you are doing is downplaying certain animals when they are not rendered obsolete. You could just as easily make thematic benefit packages for a druid to choose from, and let them determine what form they take.

EDIT: I am also opposed to the inclusion of animal statblocks with only slight mechanical variation. The time and space could be better devoted than giving us numerous blocks for cats, dogs, birds, and other critters that probably will only end up having differing skill bonuses, maybe a movement mode or special sense.

Again I am voicing my dislike of Druid Circles (and the whole paths thing in general). With the current system if I choose Circle of the Land then I irrevocably cut off access to “battle forms” for the rest of the campaign, even if I want to delve into them later. There is no reason why characters cannot make more choices, opting into certain concepts down the road if it suits them. The current model is just…lazy.

ANOTHER EDIT: The fact that forms do not scale is another problem. What if I want to make a druid of, say, a wolf clan? Right now I have to wait until 2nd-level before I can turn into a dire wolf, and…that is it. There are no other wolf forms beyond 2nd-level. If forms were based on your level you would not only not have to wait until you could become a triceratops, but if you wanted to stick around as a wolf it would still be viable.

Also, it would be cool if druids could pick up form-based “maneuvers”.

Oath of Vengeance
You gain access to a set of oath spells, including the very unpaladin-sounding misty step (short-range teleport). One Channel Divinity option lets you frighten a creature (with a bonus against fiends and undead despite undead being largely immune to fear), while the other lets you gain attack advantage against a creature that hits you or something else.

At higher levels you can move after making an opportunity attack against a creature affected by your oath, make an attack against a creature affected by your oath before they attack (assuming they are in range), and eventually transform into a angel with flight and a fear aura.

The flavor behind the oath of vengeance makes it sound like something that a paladin swears once they hear of something bad going down, and that once they handle said bad thing that they are free to swear another kind of oath. Of course oaths are just another path that you lock in at 3rd-level, so once you pick divine Batman from the list you are stuck with it for no discernible reason except that it is how 3rd Edition handled character advancement.

Being able to swear oaths and gain benefits from them would actually make paladins more interesting and diverse from clerics (or fighter/clerics). Dungeon World lets you do something similar: you gain benefits when undertaking a quest, and once you wrap it up you can gain new ones the next time around. In this instance oaths could be thematic packages to choose from, or the Dungeon Master could assign appropriate bonuses from a list.

Legends & Lore: Mildshape

One of the druid’s most iconic features is wildshape.

In 3rd Edition you had to wait until 5th-level before you could change your form into a Small or Medium animal just once per day. As you leveled up you could change more times in a daily period, and you gained access to more size categories and creature types. The only limitation was that the form’s Hit Dice could not exceed the druid’s level, which was not much of a limitation when you could still, say, change into a dinosaur capable of charging while still making multiple poisonous attacks.

A level before the fighter could make her second attack.

Assuming she does not take more than a 5-foot step.

Not eclipsing the fighter–or really any other class–as a melee combatant based on one choice is one of several reasons why 4th Edition’s take on the druid is by far my favorite, but what makes it really interesting is how dynamic it is. Unlike other classes a druid’s evocations require her to be either in a human or beast form, which you can change at-will from the start. This allows you to change up tactics on the fly: do you stand back and blast enemies from a distance, or do you get close and personal with your beast form? Daily evocations could grant you more bonuses, and there are even feats that get in on that form-based action.

The only drawback is that you are limited to Small or Medium size critters, and you do not gain any special features or movement modes. I mean, you could change into a Medium-sized bird, you just cannot fly. To do that you have to choose special evocations, which are generally limited to a per-day basis. I also recall that you could not manipulate objects in those forms, even if you changed into something like a monkey. This was an instance where I feel that they erred way too far on the side of game balance.

Currently 5th Edition’s stab at wildshape is that aside from your mental ability scores, you replace your stat block with that of the creature you change into. I guess each form will have its own hit points, and when those run out you automatically revert back. I do not mind any of this in concept. I think that just swapping out stat blocks streamlines the process while hopefully preventing 3rd Edition’s abusive forms (though I think 4th Edition made it much simpler by just enabling beast form evocations, assuming you took any).

The problem is that wildshape has per-day uses (makes no sense) and that the forms are limited by what the designers feel you should be able to change into, meaning that there is no customization: at 1st-level you get hound, at 5th-level you get steed, etc. I know that there will apparently be a menu to choose from, but I am guessing it will just be more of the same, which is boring and restrictive.

See, aside from re-skinnable daily evocations 4th Edition allowed you to determine what you were changing into, and even let you determine for the most part how much you cared about wildshape through evocation and feat choice. If you want to get in touch with your wild side, take beast form powers and load up on feats that give you benefits in beast form. Feel like wildshape is for the birds? Well you still have to take all of one beast form at will, but otherwise you are free to cultivate your nature magic.

I think druids should be able to not only choose whether they can wildshape at all, but do so whenever they please. I think it would also make sense to limit them based on terrain and/or season (kind of like how Dungeon World does it). You could let the druid determine what she changes into based on these parameters, as well as size and type (which are expanded upon via wildshape class feature selection).

Wildshape benefits could just be a package deal depending on if you are going with a combat/predator or exploration/prey form. Predator forms would make you tougher, stronger, faster, etc, while prey forms would make you faster, harder to hit, and give you skill bonuses. Druids could also have access to something like fighter maneuvers, they just need to be in a suitable animal form to utilize them.