this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Re-imagining wildshape (lemmy.nz)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz to c/dnd@lemmy.world
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I have been thinking about making wildshape more fun, this is partly the fault of the “Honor Among Thieves” movie.

Wildshape should be more like a resource pool that grows with your character, similar to sorcery points or ki points.

Here are the mechanics of the change: You get a number of hours based on your druid level (moon druid Lvl+1). Using wildshape costs time based on the CR of the transform (min 1/4hr). You can transform as many times as you have time left. The time you can stay wildshaped is based on how much time you have left. The pool still resets on a short rest.

e.g. 1 - Non-moon druid. Could transform into CR0,1/8 or 1/4 for 1/4 hr each at level 2, a total of 4 times. Or for 3/4 hr twice.
e.g. 2 - Moon druid. CR1 transform for 1/2 hr, twice. At level 2.
e.g. 3 - Moon druid. CR0 (mouse) for 1/4hr, CR1(bear) for 1/4 hr, CR1 for 1/4 hr.

e.g. 4 - Level 5 Moon druid. CR1 for 1/4hr, twice, CR0 for 3/4hr, CR1/2 for 1/2hr, CR1/4 for 1/4 hr.
e.g. 5 - Level 6 Moon druid. CR2 for 1hr twice.

I’m still debating weather or not to give the +1 hr to moon druids.

The main thing I’m trying to do is avoid the “wasted” wildshape feeling, I don’t want to hesitate to use this awesome feature to keep the resource for a potential later battle.

So what do you guys think? Will this break the game? I am testing this with my DM, but if it turns out to be too OP then we will dial it back. Or potential go back to standard.

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[–] AFLYINTOASTER@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The main roadblock for this approach is that, outside of combat, the passage of time is arbitrarily decided by the DM.

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed.

I have a simple time tracker (4 boxes in a line, 1 line per hour) it is very course. 1/4 hr slots as a minimum.

e.g. if I am tracking someone as a cat, DM says you follow the target for say 40 minutes, that's 3 boxes used up.

[–] AFLYINTOASTER@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Using your example, I meant it in the sense that the DM could have just as easily said 30 minutes of following as a cat instead of 40 and you would have 25% more wildshape resources, an entire box extra.

Things like Ki points can't be fudged. You either use it or you don't. This solution, while I enjoy the discourse, is going to end with the druid at my table saying that they're only turning into a mouse for a few seconds while they scurry under the door. How do we handle that occurring 10+ times a session? At what point do we need too many house rules to govern this one rule change?

In the interest of discussion, I'll offer an alternative. What if you had Wildshape Charges instead of Wildshape Minutes? Feel free to change the numbers, but let's say you have 8 charges at level 5, and gain 1 or 2 charges per level. It takes 4 charges to transform into a CR2 animal, 2 charges for a CR 1, and a flat 1 charge for anything below CR 1. The amount of time you can Wildshape stays the same, or is a flat hourly amount. This will allow you to strategically plan out your Wildshape Charges while adding no additional rules for the DM or table. Thoughts?

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am trying to keep things as simple as possible.

I like the idea of "charges". Rather than time directly, my numbers wouldn't change but the concept would, be 1 charge is worth up to 15 min of wildshape time. It is used when it is used, they can be chained together so no need to re-transform to stay as a bear or a cat etc..

So the transformation cost would be 4xCR, min of 1. CR1 still is worth 1hr of "charge" time to transform then using charges up after that, dependant on how long you are transformed for..

As for the DM saying different time, that is a given in any situation, the DM could have as easily said that you followed for an hour, using 4 boxes.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like the charges idea, it's a good balance.

And yes, the GM can just arbitrarily change whatever depending on how they're feeling about it. Like is there 1 guard or 10 in the next room? Same thing. They can drain your resources in a thousand different ways, this time issue is no different. If you don't trust your GM with that then it's a bad play dynamic anyway.

Another way to solve the time issue could be to count the time when you're in combat but not out of combat. You could justify it by the stress of combat putting strain on your abilities or something. I know I'd prefer that because having to count 15min intervals constantly would be worse for me than worrying about using up my abilities.

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago

Agreed, the charges idea was a great suggestion by Toaster. It should help prevent the "but I was only wildshaped for 20 seconds" type of complaints.

Either way time is weird in D&D.

Assume that you are involved in a "long" combat at 10 rounds. Wildshape lasts hours, so yes I wildshape into a dire wolf and finish the battle in 1 minute of in game time; but being a wolf is not that useful out of combat....so I "waste" 59 minutes of wildshape time at Lvl 2 and 119 minutes at Lvl 4 etc...you could use some of the time saying that I was scouting the area around the battle for a few minutes....but still, the point stands.