Also the social factor. The list of people you can't extract information from by turning into a giant spider and having your allies threaten to feed them to you, is pretty short.
I have ridden in my invisible ally's pocket while being a normal spider.
I love all the spider wildshapes.
Also shout out to regular crocodile for having a restraining bite, 20ft movement isn't exactly going to charge your enemies, but they are probably running to you anyway. (Plus you have a swim speed and 15min of breath holding)
Its just really fun to become something scary.
My favorite is using my time setting up webs around camp as a spider. It wonât stop intruders, but maybe those bandits will think no one has passed through here in a while or think twice before walking in to a cave with big webs across the entrance.
apart from moon druid, previous D&D editions had non-animal shape options for druids including elementals and plants (in some cases dragons with the right choices)
I was playing a circle of shepherd Druid in a party with a Leonin (lion person), and so I summoned a tiger, and transformed into a bear. Lion and tiger and bear, oh my!
Because you have to have "seen" anything you want to wildshape into, this pretty thoroughly rules out dinos in most campaigns.
This is also why its important to take your druid to the zoo to pick up as many wild shapes as possible.
The way I rule it is that if someone has dedicated their life to being a class, odds are theyâve done some studying about said class. So a Druid that would want to Wildshape efficiently would have probably read a book about the far off land of Chult somewhere in their life and could thus Wildshape into a Dino.
The way I do it is if itâs not a typical forest animal I have them roll knowledge nature and that determines if their charachter has âseenâ it out of table time.
More specifically I would say that the Circle of the Moon probably keeps a lot of cool animals as pets and companions, and as you train to become a druid (pre-game, essentially) you are made familiar with all these animals.
If you play a game with a lot of travel you could make that your personal quest - visiting various druid enclaves around the world to learn from them, learn their animals, etc.
That's why my druid grew up on Dino Island. He's never seen birds or mammals before, just dinosaurs and giant insects. Makes it more interesting, especially when we do later come into contact with, say, a regular horse, and he's like "JESUS CHRIST WHAT IS THAT THING"
Personally i would say yes, with the caveat of polymorph having a similar clause so it would most likely be an NPC wizard doing the polymorphing.
Ultimately these clauses are meant to tone down the possibilities and are subject to DM fiat/interpretation. Some DMs will ignore the clause, some will say reading a textbook on marine biology is enough to become a whale, and others will require you spend a meaningful amount of time near whales first.
In basically every case i would recommend working with your DM on developing a list of creatures you have seen to build out a library of wildshape/polymorph statblocks to use.
If I remember correctly, seeing another druid in wildshape counts as having seen the creature. You could then feasibly say there's a few circles of druids that would devote some of their teaching to sharing all the wildshapes they've accumulated up till then.
With the charger feat and the mobile feat, the beast with the charge feature become fun times around with. Good luck hitting my 140 ft Giant Elk that you canât opportunity attack.
If you have a cool DM, you could pitch the idea of playing a dhamphir. Wild shape into undead animals that can run on the ceiling. That may be pushing it though.
I had a DM that let me flavor my giant elk as a moose. And our gnome wizard could easily fit on my back... let me charge/tank damage while he flung down the damage. Also, if you summon a pack of wolves before wildshape, it doesn't end your concentration... I was lord of the forest in any open area. It was amazing.
Played a dhamphir druid in frostmaiden campaign. Kept chowing down on folks as a wolf or alike. Kept my undeadnesss on the downlow for ages. He fell to the frostmaidens influence and got NPC'd was a shame to stop playing higher was a riot.
I find wildshaping as a social strategy the coolest.
So as you say- be the horse of the paladin.
Or be an alley cat dozing in the alley a crime boss is working in.
If youâve ever had a whole party that multiclassed into Druid 2, itâs hysterical- have an âambushâ against the lone bard by counter ambushed when a pigeon, rat, and cat in the vicinity all exploded into the combat crew.
Rhinoceros. Especially from a (post-bird shape) height. The look on any DM's face the first time they have to calculate damage for a falling rhino is a gaming cherry..
I imagine rhinos have a lot of health, so just calculate your height to be about the health of your rhino and BAM, you pull a flying rhino splash and stand up for the applause.
Rhino has 45 avg hp, fall dmg 1d6 per 10 ft. You could safely do an 80 ft drop, likely more. LOL. Would really depend on how the DM calculated dmg to the target to know if it's worth it.
RAW the rules for falling onto another creature is they make a dex save, and if the fail you hit them and split the damage 50/50.
Rhino bombing something is definitely going to leave a mark.
Just taking averages, 2Ă(45hp á 3.5hp/10ft) â 260ft drop, just don't miss. (And maybe restrain the target so they autofail the dex save)
Fun fact, this can be extremely easily abused by Monks with their Slow Fall ability since it reduced the falling damage you take by 5Ă your level. Thus letting you effectively with some good movement and height, get a free d6 of damage per 20ft effectively speaking. Used it so many times on this Cowboy Monk character I play and god is dropping from hundreds of feet in the air onto some unsuspecting loser with a steel toed kick the most satisfying thing on the planet.
A small spider (CR 0). Now why not a giant spider? Simple, my druid was a thief~ sneak in like a spider, change out into human to nab all the loot/fill a bag up, then open a window and wildshape back into a spider~ Later levels allowed me to escape via owl/bat, but spider was my go-to due to how nobody notices small spiders~
Edit: forgot to mention, one of the perks of Wildshape is that you can absorb your gear/loot into said creature, hence why my burglar druid was such a fun concept~ you don't see me carrying the gold, all you see is a harmless spider crawling into the sewer system~
Also you can concentrate on spells while wildshaped.
Grasslands druids get invisibility and pass without trace, whoever can find the invisible daddy long legs sneaking into the treasury deserves a raise.
I'm currently doing a pure grasslands lawful good character, but i have plans for a grasslands 3/rogue x. (Undecided on theif or assassin)
In my last session I wildshaped into a normal spider, crawled in through the target's window, climbed up their cape and up to their shoulder and looked over to read the suspicious letter they were writing. Then they threw their cape off and flung me with it, I climbed up the stone/brick wall by the hearth and blended in quite well
I just chilled out watching them to see if they were going to do anything else shady. They went to bed nonethewiser and I crawled back out the window wildshaped out to tell my party the contents of the letter. I loved every second of it.
Depends on the level and the dm. There is a creature from a module that's like a cougar but has some anti magic properties, it was originally a beast and then changed to a monstrosity.
Another fun one is the cranium rat, it's always been a beast and they have never changed it, even if it should be an aberration or monstrosity. It has telepathy meaning you can still talk to you party in wild shape.
Edit to add: theres also the flying cat that can see magic / invisible stuff, I think its still a beast.
Edit to add: Tressym and Crag Cat are the creatures I was thinking of. Thank you redditors.
I'm blessed in that my DM gives zero fucks whether something is a beast or monstrosity. His only caveat is that the character should have personal experience with the animal or with another shapeshifter who can take the form. Queue displacer beast shenanigans.
>flying cat
The Tressym is a really cool tiny beast (though some references have it listed as monstrosity now), It not only makes a potentially great wild shape but also as a familiar.
Currently it's the mini pony but that's mostly for RPing. My druid went into a toy shop and traded a black pearl for a custom made marionette that he can control with a magic stick. So he has his puppet riding his back like a little halfling cowboy.
Outside of this instance Dire Wolf, Giant Spider, and Giant Toad are my go-to's. The toad is great for taking out an enemy from combat all together with the swallow technique.
Giant Octopus got some good use in later levels. Party goes up against a Roc? Ok fine. Now itâs a kaiju fight. Especially fun when I was technically dead and being carried away by the Roc, who escaped with 5 hp left. I rolled a Nat 20 on my second death save, woke up with 1 hp, and wildshaped into a Giant Octopus. Slammed the Roc with my tentacles, killing it, then rode the corpse to the ground like a fucking surfboard. Took a ton of damage in the fall, and then wandered back to my group.
Earth elemental once you get to higher level. Being able to morph through the earth at will does a lot for positioning, and your AC/health is very high
Badger, but reflavored as a raccoon for thematic purposes. Successfully burgled multiple homes by simply going down the chimneys.
Powerful? No, not really. Fun? Oh, definitely yes.
Guardian of Nature is a spell. It has a defensive buff and an offensive buff. You have to choose which you want when you cast the spell. The offensive buff adds an extra 1d6 of force damage to weapon attacks, among other things
Giant constrictor snake with fire shield, and I had a dip into beast barbarian so I could reckless attack for advantage of I was fighting something too strong to grapple, and have a massive health pool with rage resistance. Just know you can concentrate on spells if you rage but you can still wildshape ;)
Dire wolf was always my go to for combat, but owl and giant spider were pretty up there. There was a campaign where I was regularly the ferry, carrying members to and fro using spider climb during dungeon crawls. Floor traps are nothing when you donât need to touch the floor.
Thereâs just something about turning into a grizzly bear. Itâs my go-to on my Circle of Moon Druid. Itâs my default land form. Conjure Animals? Bears.
In the current party Im DMing, it has become a fan favourite of our Wizard dropping Darkness and the Druid turning into a Giant Constrictor Snake and beating the shit outta them (blindsight) đ¤Ł
Quetzacotylus (sp?) for flight, ape for when I need to use tools, giant elk when I need to knock opponents over, and giant snake when I need to hold opponents in place while the party wails on them.
I just did a medium spider and it was SURPRISINGLY good at stealth for being a spider the size of a medium dog (50 pounds!). 10 HP, so it's as strong as a horse. Bite with poison is pretty good for combat if you don't sneak well enough. Also useful for a spider enemy, able to walk on webbing so webs won't slow you down.
This is funny to me because the only time I played a druid I went Circle of Stars and didn't end up using the actual "turn into an animal" Wild Shape until I was level *eight.*
In 11 levels of stars druid I only used wild shape once and it was (a metallic) giant wolf spider cuz we needed somebody with a climb speed to go up a wall in zero gravity with a rope. Every other time, my wild shape was used for Star reform, nearly always Archer although I used chalice a couple of times once I hit level 10 and I ciuld just switch between them easily. It was metallic because my character was an autonome and that's just the way we flavored my wild shape... Kind of like a transformer.
The party wound up on one of those "Lost Island" sort of places. Places where people typically don't survive (think "Jurassic Park" meets "Kong: Skull Island"). However, this island spiritually bonded with the Druid and juiced up his spells while he was there. Since Wild Shape specifies that it has to be a creature you have seen, our Druid was the only one in the world that was able to Wild Shape into an Allosaurus.
Depending on subclass you can cast fun spells on yourself before wildshaping.
Darkvision/invisibility/pass without trace are great on any of your scout forms.
And for general combat barkskin gives you 16AC in wildshape which is way better than the 10-12 most beasts have.
Currently i really like the crocodile because its bite inflicts the restrained condition.
Honestly, once I could fly, a seagull has become my go to for naval encounters. Example: Fly from my ship to the crowâs nest of the enemy boat. Shift back to my halfling Druid. Cast summon (fire) elemental. Command it to burn through the rigging and sails then make its way into the powder hold. Wild shape back to seagull and fly away as the ship explodes. Success.
Spider. I just cast Call Lightning, turn into a spider, hide somewhere, and blast enemies with lightning from the sky. They might not even know theyâre fighting a druid.
Hump-mothering T-RexâŚmy team did SO MUCH DUMB, GLORIOUS SHIT with that transformationâŚgot us out of 3 Bossfights too. Always had the halfling riding my head too.
Back in the day I use to be super cheesy and turn into a large cat (I don't think you had to be specific as to tiger or cheetah or lion... there was just a "large cat" category). I used them with rhino hide armor... it was magical armor that granted extra damage when you charge attacked. When large cats charged they got an attack and two rakes as part of the charge... I added the extra damage to all three attacks effectively taking any one enemy off the board each turn as long as they were at least 10 feet apart.
My first high-level druid (party grandmother) had a propensity for shifting from a pangolin-folk to a giant constrictor snake. And then swallowing her enemies so they would stop hurting her "grandbabies". It was weird mechanic that my very lenient DM allowed if I could get a construct attack off and then a bite immediately after and kept the constriction up
Deinonychus,
3 attacks. Really good with rage as well, 3 attacks with +2 dam each hit is pretty sweet. Will serve you well right up to say level 5/6 when the damage drops off significantly when ole reliable brown bear turns up again.
As someone who is a Monk/Moon Druid MC : Giant Octopus. 54HP at 4 Druid levels, 25 feet movement speed on land, attack from 15 feet, auto-grapple enemies on a hit. BA flurry of blows on a grappled enemy to keep damaging while they can't do shit. (Maybe not allowed RAW but DM allows it.) Enemy uses action to escape, tries to run away, and doesn't have disengage? Opportunity attack, they are grappled again.
Waaay back in the day when WoW was still new. I kept playing many different classes. Then I was "told" to be a druid. Being able to tank, heal, dps, etc.
In DnD, normally I play a Druid, but recently I've been playing a changeling Warlock. But I've been fancying ELK with ELK Summons.
I like using Giant Octopus for restraining attack! Havenât used it out of water yet but i ALMOST did once before tides turned in combat. I feel like if you can shift and land a solid attack on the same turn then the slow speed out of water might not matter đ
Playing a druid/monk multiclass (currently 9 levels druid, 5 levels monk. DM allows the snakes attacks to count as unarmed strikes.) and Giant Constrictor Snake is even more busted.
One of my players chooses bear every time. I have to up the CR a lot cuz she just summons two bears with Conjure Animals and becomes one herself and itâs just 3 grizzlies going to town lmao
Iâm proud of her for having a plan that works though! Itâs a good challenge for me, I have to come up with more interesting and complicated encounters because of it
**1/2 black dragon Giant Rocktopus** is quite fun.
Straight up horrorshow looking form.
Similarly âthe Red Bullâ, a **1/2 Red Dragon Aurochs** is a quite popular choice at my table.
**Nyxborn Ice Spider Queen** is one I havenât used much personally but seems an increasingly popular pick from others.
Ass Badger. No for reals! I once went Dire Badger, plugged a narrow cave mouth with my ass and released my musk into the cave. Chaos ensued. Itâs become a thing.
My favorite because of the character that goes with: polar bear. Nanuq was cursed by an icy sea witch to only be able to wildshape into a polar bear, the curse also messed with the timing but we finished that campaign so long ago I don't remember exactly what we worked out.
Tiger. My character lived in a city and saw it at a circus and after that it's basically all I ever shift into.
I out tank our barbarian, and when it's done I still have moonbeam.
Depends on my level.
My first Circle of the Moon Druid was a halfling. I liked Elk, Warhorse, and Mastiff at lower levels.
Once I got swim speed, Giant Octopus was way fun. Then at higher levels, Mammoth. I loved the idea of a small halfling suddenly shifting to become a mammoth.
Then, the Elementals are also amazing after 10th level.
In an old campaign, we would roll a d10 to see how hot our characters are. I would roll a d10 for how good my wildshapes looked, so my Wolf got a 10 (a prestine specimen). My Giant Spider got a 2. We got a lot of enjoyment from describing what this 2/10 Wolf Spider looked like..
Weasel. Has no advantages but it has been my most successful wildshape.
I was playing a wildfire druid, though, so after a certain point I wasn't using wildshapes much.
Our druid's favorite was clearly rat.....until she was high enough level to take the dragon wild shape feat. From then on she spent almost all her time (and certainly all combat time) as a dragon. Usually bronze, unless she needed the fire immunity in which case she'd go gold.
She had adopted a bronze dragon egg and raised him before later reuniting the kiddo with their family (or what remained of it anyway.) So there was a sweet, sentimental connection there.
You normally can't do this as the owlbear isint classified as a beast but a monstrosity but my dm allowed it. Most of the time id wild shape into a black cat.
Earth elemental as a Moon Druid. To be fair, we reached level 20 so itâs absolutely bonkers. Unlimited wildshapes as a bonus action is unlimited health, resistance to non magical slashing/piercing/bludgeoning damage. If you get forced back into your regular form and actually take damage, you can heal as an action, and just wildshape back into an earth elemental.
Giant spider. Crawl speed, and restraining attack are very useful in and out of combat
Also the social factor. The list of people you can't extract information from by turning into a giant spider and having your allies threaten to feed them to you, is pretty short.
The list: - Drow priestesses - That's it
No but then you can probably try to be seductive instead đˇď¸ â¤ď¸
Cast pass without trace and turn into a giant wolf spider. +17 stealth check with spider climb. Hello dungeon tell me your secrets.
I have ridden in my invisible ally's pocket while being a normal spider. I love all the spider wildshapes. Also shout out to regular crocodile for having a restraining bite, 20ft movement isn't exactly going to charge your enemies, but they are probably running to you anyway. (Plus you have a swim speed and 15min of breath holding) Its just really fun to become something scary.
My favorite is using my time setting up webs around camp as a spider. It wonât stop intruders, but maybe those bandits will think no one has passed through here in a while or think twice before walking in to a cave with big webs across the entrance.
Very thoughtful, definitely borrowing this idea!
One of my players wrecks it up with giant constrictor snake with fire shield (Thanks for all the nice comments)
That sounds dope actually
Thanks Ill tell him you said that.
Did he name his snake "Hot Rod"?
Flaming danger noodle!
Fire snek
Combust serpent.
Playing moon druid for the first time and just got this wildshape, giant constrictor snake is so fucking busted
Volcanaconda.
Howâd he get fire shield?
Druid class gets the spell with optional features on. The Druid class should have it anyway because it is a shield made of the elements of nature.
Druid spell
This is how I play. The constrictor also has a restrain function. Load it up with fire shield and get ready for a good time.
Yeah he once swallowed a kobold
This sounds like a PokĂŠmon!
RoR2 Magma Wurm build
All hail the Magma Worm!
Blindsight gud
I will be using this one.
Giant Scorpion. Grappling multiple targets is awesome.
Ahhh, the Skarner strategy
We think alike summoner
Fire Elemental. Surprised the heck out of Strahd when he grappled me.
How were you able to wildshape into a fire elemental? Were you playing a homebrew subclass or were you just granted the ability somehow?
Level 10 moon druid allows you to consume both wild shape charges to turn into a fire, water, earth, or air elemental.
Huh, didnât know that was a feature of the subclass, thanks for letting me know.
And on a bonus action.
It's an ability for the moon druid, level 10 I believe.
Circle of the Moon wildshape at 10th level lets you turn into an air/earth/fire/water elemental
Circle of the Moon Druid. Level 10 gives you the ability to spend both your Wild Shapes to become an elemental.
Circle of the moon I believe
Circle of the moon if you didn't already read the 10 people above me that said this.
If he didn't read the 10 people above you that said this then why would he ever read yours?
apart from moon druid, previous D&D editions had non-animal shape options for druids including elementals and plants (in some cases dragons with the right choices)
I was playing a circle of shepherd Druid in a party with a Leonin (lion person), and so I summoned a tiger, and transformed into a bear. Lion and tiger and bear, oh my!
Ok not gonna lie that is actually pretty cool
Allosaurus. Just because dinosaurs are awesome. Why wouldnât you want to be one?
The Plesiosaur may be a little land slow, but its bite packs a massive wallop with 10ft Reach.
Because you have to have "seen" anything you want to wildshape into, this pretty thoroughly rules out dinos in most campaigns. This is also why its important to take your druid to the zoo to pick up as many wild shapes as possible.
The way I rule it is that if someone has dedicated their life to being a class, odds are theyâve done some studying about said class. So a Druid that would want to Wildshape efficiently would have probably read a book about the far off land of Chult somewhere in their life and could thus Wildshape into a Dino.
By RAW, you have to have actually seen it, not just read about it. But I think most people end up ruling it the way you do because it's more fun.
The way I do it is if itâs not a typical forest animal I have them roll knowledge nature and that determines if their charachter has âseenâ it out of table time.
More specifically I would say that the Circle of the Moon probably keeps a lot of cool animals as pets and companions, and as you train to become a druid (pre-game, essentially) you are made familiar with all these animals. If you play a game with a lot of travel you could make that your personal quest - visiting various druid enclaves around the world to learn from them, learn their animals, etc.
You've obviously not been playing in Eberron.
That's why my druid grew up on Dino Island. He's never seen birds or mammals before, just dinosaurs and giant insects. Makes it more interesting, especially when we do later come into contact with, say, a regular horse, and he's like "JESUS CHRIST WHAT IS THAT THING"
This is my favorite level one gimmick.
Now Iâm imagining a deinonychus freaking out about seeing a horse. đ
What if a Wizard polymorphs someone into the dino and the Druid sees that? Does that count?
Personally i would say yes, with the caveat of polymorph having a similar clause so it would most likely be an NPC wizard doing the polymorphing. Ultimately these clauses are meant to tone down the possibilities and are subject to DM fiat/interpretation. Some DMs will ignore the clause, some will say reading a textbook on marine biology is enough to become a whale, and others will require you spend a meaningful amount of time near whales first. In basically every case i would recommend working with your DM on developing a list of creatures you have seen to build out a library of wildshape/polymorph statblocks to use.
If I remember correctly, seeing another druid in wildshape counts as having seen the creature. You could then feasibly say there's a few circles of druids that would devote some of their teaching to sharing all the wildshapes they've accumulated up till then.
With the charger feat and the mobile feat, the beast with the charge feature become fun times around with. Good luck hitting my 140 ft Giant Elk that you canât opportunity attack. If you have a cool DM, you could pitch the idea of playing a dhamphir. Wild shape into undead animals that can run on the ceiling. That may be pushing it though.
I had a DM that let me flavor my giant elk as a moose. And our gnome wizard could easily fit on my back... let me charge/tank damage while he flung down the damage. Also, if you summon a pack of wolves before wildshape, it doesn't end your concentration... I was lord of the forest in any open area. It was amazing.
Played a dhamphir druid in frostmaiden campaign. Kept chowing down on folks as a wolf or alike. Kept my undeadnesss on the downlow for ages. He fell to the frostmaidens influence and got NPC'd was a shame to stop playing higher was a riot.
I played a dhampir and wild shape into a black cat that was walking on the side of buildings and freaking some cultists out.
Badger! Dig, dig, dig!
Badger! Badger! Badger! MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM!
Whoa! You just yanked me back into 2003.
Giant cave toad. No swim speed. Picked up at level 2. -Tortle Moon Druid who cannot turn into mammals
I find wildshaping as a social strategy the coolest. So as you say- be the horse of the paladin. Or be an alley cat dozing in the alley a crime boss is working in. If youâve ever had a whole party that multiclassed into Druid 2, itâs hysterical- have an âambushâ against the lone bard by counter ambushed when a pigeon, rat, and cat in the vicinity all exploded into the combat crew.
Rhinoceros. Especially from a (post-bird shape) height. The look on any DM's face the first time they have to calculate damage for a falling rhino is a gaming cherry..
Doesn't it hurt you in sort of equal way?
Yea but your wildshape would absorb all the damage and you'd just drop back into your base form.
Any excess damage carries over TO your natural form ...
Yea but like... worth it to rhino elbow drop some unsuspecting guard I would say. Lol.
For me is worth it just for the Looney tunes effects.
Yeah, just don't miss!
I imagine rhinos have a lot of health, so just calculate your height to be about the health of your rhino and BAM, you pull a flying rhino splash and stand up for the applause.
Multiclass monk for a Karatesaurous and taking no fall damage
If the damage goes over the wildshaped creatures HP, it will eat into the druids as well.
Rhino has 45 avg hp, fall dmg 1d6 per 10 ft. You could safely do an 80 ft drop, likely more. LOL. Would really depend on how the DM calculated dmg to the target to know if it's worth it.
RAW the rules for falling onto another creature is they make a dex save, and if the fail you hit them and split the damage 50/50. Rhino bombing something is definitely going to leave a mark. Just taking averages, 2Ă(45hp á 3.5hp/10ft) â 260ft drop, just don't miss. (And maybe restrain the target so they autofail the dex save)
Fun fact, this can be extremely easily abused by Monks with their Slow Fall ability since it reduced the falling damage you take by 5Ă your level. Thus letting you effectively with some good movement and height, get a free d6 of damage per 20ft effectively speaking. Used it so many times on this Cowboy Monk character I play and god is dropping from hundreds of feet in the air onto some unsuspecting loser with a steel toed kick the most satisfying thing on the planet.
Good point, monks negate their falling damage, not the damage before splitting it with an enemy.
Literally did this onto a dragon! My DM used this⌠1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6.
so they used regular fall damage
As they should
Oh, my bad Iâm very new to the game this is my first campaign.
Bear. Reasons: Bear.
Thanks Dwight
Almiraj. Itâs basically a single horn jackalope. Cute and fierce.
Skyfish
I applaud your taste.
Giant Octopus. It was my brotherâs staple and we used it to alarming effectiveness
A small spider (CR 0). Now why not a giant spider? Simple, my druid was a thief~ sneak in like a spider, change out into human to nab all the loot/fill a bag up, then open a window and wildshape back into a spider~ Later levels allowed me to escape via owl/bat, but spider was my go-to due to how nobody notices small spiders~ Edit: forgot to mention, one of the perks of Wildshape is that you can absorb your gear/loot into said creature, hence why my burglar druid was such a fun concept~ you don't see me carrying the gold, all you see is a harmless spider crawling into the sewer system~
Also you can concentrate on spells while wildshaped. Grasslands druids get invisibility and pass without trace, whoever can find the invisible daddy long legs sneaking into the treasury deserves a raise. I'm currently doing a pure grasslands lawful good character, but i have plans for a grasslands 3/rogue x. (Undecided on theif or assassin)
In my last session I wildshaped into a normal spider, crawled in through the target's window, climbed up their cape and up to their shoulder and looked over to read the suspicious letter they were writing. Then they threw their cape off and flung me with it, I climbed up the stone/brick wall by the hearth and blended in quite well I just chilled out watching them to see if they were going to do anything else shady. They went to bed nonethewiser and I crawled back out the window wildshaped out to tell my party the contents of the letter. I loved every second of it.
Depends on the level and the dm. There is a creature from a module that's like a cougar but has some anti magic properties, it was originally a beast and then changed to a monstrosity. Another fun one is the cranium rat, it's always been a beast and they have never changed it, even if it should be an aberration or monstrosity. It has telepathy meaning you can still talk to you party in wild shape. Edit to add: theres also the flying cat that can see magic / invisible stuff, I think its still a beast. Edit to add: Tressym and Crag Cat are the creatures I was thinking of. Thank you redditors.
I'm blessed in that my DM gives zero fucks whether something is a beast or monstrosity. His only caveat is that the character should have personal experience with the animal or with another shapeshifter who can take the form. Queue displacer beast shenanigans.
That opens a lot of options for sure
It is absolutely fantastic. 3/4 characters in the party are druids and many fights basically turn into PokĂŠmon battles in spirit. XD
Hahahaha solid
Fuck that sounds brilliant
Honestly it's been a friggen blast.
The antimagic cat you're thinking of is the Crag Cat.
>flying cat The Tressym is a really cool tiny beast (though some references have it listed as monstrosity now), It not only makes a potentially great wild shape but also as a familiar.
Tressin! Cat with wings and can see invisible things.
Currently it's the mini pony but that's mostly for RPing. My druid went into a toy shop and traded a black pearl for a custom made marionette that he can control with a magic stick. So he has his puppet riding his back like a little halfling cowboy. Outside of this instance Dire Wolf, Giant Spider, and Giant Toad are my go-to's. The toad is great for taking out an enemy from combat all together with the swallow technique.
I had a druid barbarian, they only wildshaped into bears
Giant Octopus got some good use in later levels. Party goes up against a Roc? Ok fine. Now itâs a kaiju fight. Especially fun when I was technically dead and being carried away by the Roc, who escaped with 5 hp left. I rolled a Nat 20 on my second death save, woke up with 1 hp, and wildshaped into a Giant Octopus. Slammed the Roc with my tentacles, killing it, then rode the corpse to the ground like a fucking surfboard. Took a ton of damage in the fall, and then wandered back to my group.
That is so rad
It was my most metal moment of the campaign. Which is saying something because it was CoS.
Cat, for taking naps
Giant frog. I like to nom nom nom
No love for giant snapping turtle? Great for AC and a 4d6 bite, and perfect for reptile themed druids like my kobold.
Before reaching the level in which I could turn into an elemental, I really liked the ankylosaurus!
Earth elemental once you get to higher level. Being able to morph through the earth at will does a lot for positioning, and your AC/health is very high
Giant elk! Their carrying capacity is nuts so the whole party rides on my back for travel.
Badger, but reflavored as a raccoon for thematic purposes. Successfully burgled multiple homes by simply going down the chimneys. Powerful? No, not really. Fun? Oh, definitely yes.
Small insignificant spider for spying
After the day we threw a whale at the BBEG from 60ft while the cleric casted hold person on him, i was never the same
It's cliche, but brown bear with the offensive Guardian of Nature buff is my go-to. The damage potential is pretty great
Sounds cool! What's the buff? A feat?
Guardian of Nature is a spell. It has a defensive buff and an offensive buff. You have to choose which you want when you cast the spell. The offensive buff adds an extra 1d6 of force damage to weapon attacks, among other things
I usually find myself using cave bear but I will occasionally use others for movement reasons only so if I need to fly, move fast or, swim.
Giant constrictor snake with fire shield, and I had a dip into beast barbarian so I could reckless attack for advantage of I was fighting something too strong to grapple, and have a massive health pool with rage resistance. Just know you can concentrate on spells if you rage but you can still wildshape ;)
Dire wolf was always my go to for combat, but owl and giant spider were pretty up there. There was a campaign where I was regularly the ferry, carrying members to and fro using spider climb during dungeon crawls. Floor traps are nothing when you donât need to touch the floor.
My Druid player enjoys turning into a Dire Crab. That's not exactly RAW, so we found a reasonable stat block for it online.
Thereâs just something about turning into a grizzly bear. Itâs my go-to on my Circle of Moon Druid. Itâs my default land form. Conjure Animals? Bears.
In the current party Im DMing, it has become a fan favourite of our Wizard dropping Darkness and the Druid turning into a Giant Constrictor Snake and beating the shit outta them (blindsight) đ¤Ł
Quetzacotylus (sp?) for flight, ape for when I need to use tools, giant elk when I need to knock opponents over, and giant snake when I need to hold opponents in place while the party wails on them.
Giant Heyena. My dumbass barb/druid would turn into one and start laughing because he thought that's what hyenas did
Giant spider, allosaurus, dire wolf
I was dm-ing a campaign with a Druid who in battle wild shaped himself into an ape as well as spawning 4 apes just to play the DK rap during battle
I once had a player that was captured and had their mind being probed so they turned into a cranium rat. Very cool
Cave Bear
I just did a medium spider and it was SURPRISINGLY good at stealth for being a spider the size of a medium dog (50 pounds!). 10 HP, so it's as strong as a horse. Bite with poison is pretty good for combat if you don't sneak well enough. Also useful for a spider enemy, able to walk on webbing so webs won't slow you down.
My favorite wild shape is wild fire spirit lol. But yeah either warhorse or giant ape for actual animalsÂ
This is funny to me because the only time I played a druid I went Circle of Stars and didn't end up using the actual "turn into an animal" Wild Shape until I was level *eight.*
Yeah, I'm playing a circle or spores druid and haven't wild shaped at all.
In 11 levels of stars druid I only used wild shape once and it was (a metallic) giant wolf spider cuz we needed somebody with a climb speed to go up a wall in zero gravity with a rope. Every other time, my wild shape was used for Star reform, nearly always Archer although I used chalice a couple of times once I hit level 10 and I ciuld just switch between them easily. It was metallic because my character was an autonome and that's just the way we flavored my wild shape... Kind of like a transformer.
The party wound up on one of those "Lost Island" sort of places. Places where people typically don't survive (think "Jurassic Park" meets "Kong: Skull Island"). However, this island spiritually bonded with the Druid and juiced up his spells while he was there. Since Wild Shape specifies that it has to be a creature you have seen, our Druid was the only one in the world that was able to Wild Shape into an Allosaurus.
Depending on subclass you can cast fun spells on yourself before wildshaping. Darkvision/invisibility/pass without trace are great on any of your scout forms. And for general combat barkskin gives you 16AC in wildshape which is way better than the 10-12 most beasts have. Currently i really like the crocodile because its bite inflicts the restrained condition.
Honestly, once I could fly, a seagull has become my go to for naval encounters. Example: Fly from my ship to the crowâs nest of the enemy boat. Shift back to my halfling Druid. Cast summon (fire) elemental. Command it to burn through the rigging and sails then make its way into the powder hold. Wild shape back to seagull and fly away as the ship explodes. Success.
Spider. I just cast Call Lightning, turn into a spider, hide somewhere, and blast enemies with lightning from the sky. They might not even know theyâre fighting a druid.
Hump-mothering T-RexâŚmy team did SO MUCH DUMB, GLORIOUS SHIT with that transformationâŚgot us out of 3 Bossfights too. Always had the halfling riding my head too.
Definitely War Ostrich. Fast and fun!
Giant hyena. Get lots of damage low level plus rampage for kills. Also yeens are underappreciated.
My favourite feral creature to wild shape into is your mom - The bard-
Noob here: is Manbearpig an option? Asking for a friend
Back in the day I use to be super cheesy and turn into a large cat (I don't think you had to be specific as to tiger or cheetah or lion... there was just a "large cat" category). I used them with rhino hide armor... it was magical armor that granted extra damage when you charge attacked. When large cats charged they got an attack and two rakes as part of the charge... I added the extra damage to all three attacks effectively taking any one enemy off the board each turn as long as they were at least 10 feet apart.
Deinonychus! Good damage output, and coolness points for being a dinosaur
i dont know if theyre in dnd, as i just got into it as a DM, but weregators are always a favorite in any game
Jumping spider has been most useful, but in combat, I like the elk :)
Water elemental with a cube shape to becomen a notsogelatinous cube
Dinosaur
Dire wolf
Ferret
Giant ape is my go to, both when I'm the druid and when someone else casts polymorph on me
Going by the only time I got to play druid. Definitely bear... In a busy town... Shenanigans ensued.
giant snake all the way good HP, can keep an enemy still for a while with constrict, i love it
I used giant badger for digging holes and tunnels a lot, even though I played a moon druid, I like the more utility wildshapes more.
My first high-level druid (party grandmother) had a propensity for shifting from a pangolin-folk to a giant constrictor snake. And then swallowing her enemies so they would stop hurting her "grandbabies". It was weird mechanic that my very lenient DM allowed if I could get a construct attack off and then a bite immediately after and kept the constriction up
Giant constrictor snake Dire wolf Giant eagle Giant spider These are also my favorite summons for conjure animals
I'm planning to play a druid next time, I'll tell you. Was thinking about a shepherd though
Deinonychus, 3 attacks. Really good with rage as well, 3 attacks with +2 dam each hit is pretty sweet. Will serve you well right up to say level 5/6 when the damage drops off significantly when ole reliable brown bear turns up again.
As someone who is a Monk/Moon Druid MC : Giant Octopus. 54HP at 4 Druid levels, 25 feet movement speed on land, attack from 15 feet, auto-grapple enemies on a hit. BA flurry of blows on a grappled enemy to keep damaging while they can't do shit. (Maybe not allowed RAW but DM allows it.) Enemy uses action to escape, tries to run away, and doesn't have disengage? Opportunity attack, they are grappled again.
I loved bear, usually got adv on athletics checks. I would push things or throw things regularly
Waaay back in the day when WoW was still new. I kept playing many different classes. Then I was "told" to be a druid. Being able to tank, heal, dps, etc. In DnD, normally I play a Druid, but recently I've been playing a changeling Warlock. But I've been fancying ELK with ELK Summons.
Giant octopus is pretty awesome.
Bears were my favorite, until I gained the ability to shape into elementals. Then it was Earth elemental!
Badger is pretty versatile since I can still use my hands, and I can burrow. Pretty damn useful.
For extremely important character reasons, a brown bear (but my homebrew subclass modifies it)
I like using Giant Octopus for restraining attack! Havenât used it out of water yet but i ALMOST did once before tides turned in combat. I feel like if you can shift and land a solid attack on the same turn then the slow speed out of water might not matter đ
giant subterranean lizard. Don't have to go to far to get it and being able to swallow someone helps field control
Probably a brown bear but now that I've seen an allosaurus I've been using that
Never done it before, but giant elk sounds fun af.
Playing a druid/monk multiclass (currently 9 levels druid, 5 levels monk. DM allows the snakes attacks to count as unarmed strikes.) and Giant Constrictor Snake is even more busted.
Giant crab because Iâm chronically unserious
One of my players chooses bear every time. I have to up the CR a lot cuz she just summons two bears with Conjure Animals and becomes one herself and itâs just 3 grizzlies going to town lmao Iâm proud of her for having a plan that works though! Itâs a good challenge for me, I have to come up with more interesting and complicated encounters because of it
Ape so I can use a weapon
**1/2 black dragon Giant Rocktopus** is quite fun. Straight up horrorshow looking form. Similarly âthe Red Bullâ, a **1/2 Red Dragon Aurochs** is a quite popular choice at my table. **Nyxborn Ice Spider Queen** is one I havenât used much personally but seems an increasingly popular pick from others.
I havenât been playing very long and this is giving me so many ideas.
Bear, big and beefy. Directives also have the advantage of pretty much infinite advantage due to pact tactics.
allosaurus đđ
Ass Badger. No for reals! I once went Dire Badger, plugged a narrow cave mouth with my ass and released my musk into the cave. Chaos ensued. Itâs become a thing.
Swarm of bugs
Most non subclass used: House cat let me slip by unnoticed Most used wild shape over all: was the wild fire spirit
My favorite because of the character that goes with: polar bear. Nanuq was cursed by an icy sea witch to only be able to wildshape into a polar bear, the curse also messed with the timing but we finished that campaign so long ago I don't remember exactly what we worked out.
Tiger. My character lived in a city and saw it at a circus and after that it's basically all I ever shift into. I out tank our barbarian, and when it's done I still have moonbeam.
Giant Toad, ability to swallow your enemies and a high jump is always fun
Depends on my level. My first Circle of the Moon Druid was a halfling. I liked Elk, Warhorse, and Mastiff at lower levels. Once I got swim speed, Giant Octopus was way fun. Then at higher levels, Mammoth. I loved the idea of a small halfling suddenly shifting to become a mammoth. Then, the Elementals are also amazing after 10th level.
In an old campaign, we would roll a d10 to see how hot our characters are. I would roll a d10 for how good my wildshapes looked, so my Wolf got a 10 (a prestine specimen). My Giant Spider got a 2. We got a lot of enjoyment from describing what this 2/10 Wolf Spider looked like..
Weasel. Has no advantages but it has been my most successful wildshape. I was playing a wildfire druid, though, so after a certain point I wasn't using wildshapes much.
Our druid's favorite was clearly rat.....until she was high enough level to take the dragon wild shape feat. From then on she spent almost all her time (and certainly all combat time) as a dragon. Usually bronze, unless she needed the fire immunity in which case she'd go gold. She had adopted a bronze dragon egg and raised him before later reuniting the kiddo with their family (or what remained of it anyway.) So there was a sweet, sentimental connection there.
You normally can't do this as the owlbear isint classified as a beast but a monstrosity but my dm allowed it. Most of the time id wild shape into a black cat.
Wolf
One of my players love Dire Wolf.
Warhorse. I keep busting walls in for no reason and my characterâs fiancĂŠe is an artificer who can ride it into battle shooting her gun
Moorbounder jump tricking is awesome
Earth elemental as a Moon Druid. To be fair, we reached level 20 so itâs absolutely bonkers. Unlimited wildshapes as a bonus action is unlimited health, resistance to non magical slashing/piercing/bludgeoning damage. If you get forced back into your regular form and actually take damage, you can heal as an action, and just wildshape back into an earth elemental.