The Best Races for your Wild Shaped Druid: D&D 5e

[@KoiosDusklight]

Since you brought up Gem Dragonborn for the telepathy, Ghostwise halflings are also worth mentioning. Halfling luck, fearless, and telepathic speech.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

True

[@notallwhowanderarelost4797]

Yes! I was surprised Ghostwise Halflings weren't mentioned. Also Kalashtar, and I feel like there's at least one more with telepathy that I'm forgetting 🤔

[@dillonvandergriff4124]

@not all who wander are lost Thri-keen have telepathy too :)

[@notallwhowanderarelost4797]

@@dillonvandergriff4124 Thanks! That *may* be another in addition to whatever I was trying to remember, since I’ve just barely heard of Thri-kreen before

[@KoiosDusklight]

@@notallwhowanderarelost4797 Verdan from Acquisitions Incorporated is the only think I can think of.

[@godminnette2]

I love the changeling one; it's a concept I thought of a long time ago. A more true shape-shifting. Maintaining your bear stats as a puppy was also my first thought then, too, so I'm glad we are of one mind there.

[@Aarenby]

There's a name for that- a menagerie. This is from the creator of eberon

[@benjaminpierce9996]

I made a character like this as the closest I could get to recreating my Changeling Master of Many Forms from 3.5. Not as brutally powerful a shifter, but still lots of fun.

[@alphaamino]

Just started playing this one! I worked with the DM to set a couple more restrictions - similar to the Bugbear, shifting between Small and Medium gets translated into "can choose to go one size down," and "same general arrangement of limbs" includes general body shape. So, no Large bear to Small dog, but yes Large dire wolf to Medium dog. I thought this was a decent compromise.

[@marthisable]

I like the shifter race, the bonus action attack based on strength pairs nicely with the strength based beast like bears

[@minikawildflower]

I like it a lot for the theme too - almost as if you're a sort of were-touched who can semi-shift to gain some beastly options, but can also fully shift into a range of beast forms.

[@davidc9005]

Love it 😀

[@FrumpybutSuperSmart]

With plasmoid I think it would make hilarious sense that this ooze has simply developed additional abilities to shape its oozy body into sharp parts that resemble animals.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yeah, conceptually it works fine.

[@paulclarksaintjohn]

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[@paulclarksaintjohn]

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[@paulclarksaintjohn]

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[@nathanjoachimi2917]

Gummy bear

[@mattdodson1272]

Currently playing a changeling moon druid in Out of the Abyss. Also has the telepathic feat so I'm basically playing him as a doppelganger. DM also gave me a feature that allows him to turn into actual monstrosities, instead of just imitating them like he was before the power up.

[@theresnoracelikegnome]

I would argue that the line in Shape Self that says, “or you can revert to an amorphous blob”, references anatomy. The term “revert” implies that your natural state is an amorphous blob. Not 100%, but that’s definitely how I read it.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

That's fair. Easily the most iffy option presented in this video.

[@santiagosagrera3670]

Although you could argue everyone started as an amorphous blob, you're just going back to being c*m

[@benjaminpierce9996]

...but also probably the funniest. "Hi, kids! It's Squelchy the Bear!"

[@woodsman105]

I agree. The new form likely isn't "physically capable of" altering itself in the ways that the plasmoid can. In that respect, I would allow the changeling's ability instead of this one.

[@theSwoderman]

an interesting thing about the Plasmoid (and i'll admit now we're REALLY stretching things, very much TRDSIC) is that its amorphous doesn't say how long it takes or how long you can spend in a space less than an inch... I'd assume the intention is that only a small amount of your body is actually in that space while squeezing through but... it's not said so... can you squeeze through the mouth of a bottle with a 1 inch mouth? can you just stay there? If so it would be a lot of fun to get thrown into battle in a bottle and surprise enemies when a fire elemental emerges

[@TreantmonksTemple]

It's possible, I mean everything on the plasmoid is streching things so to speak.

[@anannoyingweeb359]

"Druid's Molotov"

[@KnuttyEntertainment]

With a lamp and an air elemental you could probably convince people you’re a genie.

[@brantheilman8178]

That bottle would have to be big enough to fit your entire body, or else you couldn't really hide inside of it, parts of you would just be hanging outside. A regular sized bottle is just too small to fit a small of medium creature. You'd need something like a barrel or amphora, which are bigger and heavier and not so easily thrown. I don't think the feature lets you stay in such a tiny place, it just lets you move through it to get to the other side when you otherwise couldn't.

[@TheSceptileNinja]

A lot of this is fascinating to think about but a part of me also would really like them to include a rules glossary in their books with answers to questions like this, maybe it's just a personal issue though. Or better yet if they're going to use "anatomy" in wild shape they should use it more everywhere elsen too. "Your anatomical makeup is that of slime. This allows you to...."

[@LuizCesarFariaLC]

Wild shape should scale like the good new summon spells (only stronger than those summons): a class feature that is fully described on the class feature itself without relying on us to go to the Monster Manual. I think I'll post this suggestion when the druid comes out on One DnD.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yes, I've been predicting wild shape templates for One D&D, I'm anxious to see if that's what they do.

[@kaemonbonet4931]

I'm pretty sure they're going that way. Hopefully we get some news on that front soon

[@envytee9659]

I'd honestly hate this change... which is exactly why I hate the new One DnD Druid (in addition to all its other flaws)

[@undrhil]

Jeremy Crawford has always been clear that multi attack on monsters and beasts is not the attack action pebid so you would not be able to replace one of the multi attack attacks with your breath weapon. However you would be able to use your breath weapon because that is only requiring you to have lungs, according to Jeremy Crawford.

[@miguelangelus959]

Breath Weapon from the FTD's version of dragonborn doesn't work with Multiattack, because Multiattack is Multiattack, not Attack. They're different actions Monsters can still use the Attack action for things like shoving, grappling, making a single attack or otherwise replacing the attack with whatever features they have that can do it (such as Breath Weapon from the dragonborn), but when they do so they don't get to make all the different things described in their Multiattack action

[@Argosodyssey]

Absolutely love the idea of a plasmoid moon druid. Weapon proficiencies would technically be a class feature too right? So, that plasmoid (bear) shaped humanoid could still do that and get multiattack from the form interestingly.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yes, you should still have your weapon and armor proficiencies when wild shaped.

[@8shanrahan1]

I think that Druid is both the most complicated class to play, and the most powerful class to play if you have a lenient DM and access to any source book material. When new books are released that means: - new fey, elementals, and beast to potentially summon - new wildshape forms - new racial forms that can interact with the wildshape forms I've played a ghostwise halfling moon druid in a campaign (so I can communicate in wildshape form). I've - conjured chwingas to give my party supernatural boons - conjured dryads to get 60 goodberries - conjured 24 velociraptors to tear apart enemies. Then same turn wildshape into an earth elemental to tank nonmagical damage and maintain concentration. that combination of tankiness, battlefield control, utility, I don't know any other class that matches it, and it only gets more powerful everytime a new book is released.

[@tyypo9567]

Thank you Treantmonk!! I have been deep in the plasmoid wild shape rabbit hole since spelljammer came out. I don't think there's enough pizzas in the world, but I think a multiclass with Armorer Artificer creates a rules riddle for the ages, potentially resulting in a bear with two robot arms and two plasmoid arms, allowing the bear to hold two two-handed weapons. Crazy!

[@notallwhowanderarelost4797]

Lol, that's quite an image! Also love your name "Tyypo" 😂

[@Serkesh77]

One aspect I don't think was considered in Aasimar is how Radiant Consumption interacts with you being a Huge creature. The area reached is much larger, so I believe it deserves an honorable mention as well as the other option that gives you the ability to fly. From all the lineage options the most interesting to me is Changeling, I like the idea of being able to remain in Wildshape at all times, and being able to disguise myself as a horse, dog or humanoid in some environments is quite convenient. I believe by the end of this series you will be covering builds and multiclassing. One suggestion I have that is often under-addressed is 3 levels dip into Warlock. Great Old One gives you an option to communicate while transformed. But even more importantly, some invocations provide a significant boost to your ability to maintain Wildshape, Armor of Shadows solves the general druid problem with metal armor and gives the Air Elemental form a respectable AC. My favorite, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones, grants a potent way to heal, out of combat with the wildshape's hit-dices, or in combat by spending spell slots and a bonus action to heal.

[@JugglingAddict]

Adding gift of the ever-living one gets even better as a hill dwarf with dwarven fortitude. Also works nicely with the wither and bloom spell or periapt of wound closure. XDDD

[@matthewlenard8346]

I personally like using the firbolg mostly because of the plus two to wisdom. The understanding at my table is in the wild shape form you still gain the benefits from the strong build trait, you can magically turn invisible for 6 seconds and you can use detect Magic while you are in your animal form. Another fun thing that you can do with wild shape is you can play as a glass Cannon with high wisdom, high intelligence and a good charisma. This would make your strength, dexterity and Constitution on the lower end, but with a build like this while you're in combat you're either hiding and casting spells from a distance or you are wild shaping to utilize the animals stats that you are weak in. Yes you can cast a concentration spell and maintain that concentration while in your animal shape, but I tend to stay away from those things because there's no way to recast it if you lose your concentration. My favorite two spells to cast on myself before wild shaping are longstrider and freedom of movement. That gives my animal form an extra 10 ft of normal movement speed and I can completely ignore the properties of difficult Terrain and I get a swim speed. At level eight for any druid you could turn into a giant eagle that has a passive double carrying capacity, can make themselves invisible, can fly through a dense forest without taking any penalties, can dive into water and just continue swimming as if they were flying, and can attack normally. Reminder to self, ask my DM for a magical device that lets me breathe underwater. I just like the idea of Talon grappling an underwater sea creature that doesn't have a fly speed and going straight up out of the water. With the strong build feature the Giant Eagle would consider 1,200 lb a medium load. 😃👍

[@matthewlenard8346]

The build I'm working with right now is actually a dream Circle druid. In my wild shape form I can utilize balm of the summer Court and give my party members sustainable healing with amazing range and at level 10 this class gains the ability to magically Misty step 60 ft or moving Ally 30.

[@minikawildflower]

I feel like Wild Shape scaling badly doesn't bother me as much since Druid is a full caster. If you want to JUST wild shape, it stinks, but the same would happen if you were some other class who only wanted to use one of your many features. While Treantmonk has laid out lots of interesting ideas over the years for how to build characters who specialize in one feature and use the others to enhance or support it. This has been a fun series on wild shape for me for just that reason!

[@esbeng.s.a9761]

I just wished there was an option that went full wild shape. I don't wants spell or anything I just wanna turn into animals to kill monsters

[@minikawildflower]

@@esbeng.s.a9761 Yeah I feel you. To be honest that feels like more a Pathfinder vibe to me, where you have more options to really specialize in one feature. Not sure if there's a class/feats for that concept though, I'm still new to the system! But I have been enjoying that about it in general.

[@Ditidos]

@@minikawildflower Personally, I would prefer it to be their own specialized shapeshifting class so that there isn't necesarilly a nature theme and it's possible to transform into things other than beasts such as oozes or half-forms.

[@eepopgames2741]

@@esbeng.s.a9761 I'm sure you could probably multiclass up something that works by dipping into Barbarian and Fighter, or maybe even a bit of Rogue for bonus action options. But I agree, I've always wanted a more dedicated shifter that didn't need multiclassing to get there. D&D 3.5's wildshape variant Ranger was the closest I ever got, but even that was an option that was swapping class features for features of other classes, so multiclassing light.

[@minikawildflower]

@@Ditidos Yeah, that'd definitely be cool

[@cfalkner1012]

13:53 I don’t often laugh out loud at your videos, but when I do… *chef’s kiss*

[@konahrikvolkihar0185]

That was NOT something I expected to hear today, and it was amazing

[@cultistchanc2515]

Hi Chris! I am really quite a fan of my Yuan-ti moon druid with her Magic Resistance, poison resistance/immunity (depending on version)! I feel these are very powerful traits worth a place in your six.

[@cultistchanc2515]

Satyr of course for similar reasons.

[@ChronoMan95]

I am surprised Shifter did not make the list, but really interesting!

[@daniellins4114]

I'm currently playing a barBEARian as a shifter, using the subrace that gives you immunity to being attacked with advantage and it's great. The other subrace that gives you additional AC and HP crossed my mind too and it might be great for a non-barbarian as well

[@Elidhion]

So you need 1 bonus action to shift, 1 bonus action to rage and 1 bonus action to wild shape. In 3 turns of setup the combat is over

[@daniellins4114]

@@Elidhion the shifting is more useful because I can reckless attack whenever I want without consequences while having multiattack earlier than level 5.

[@joelsasmad]

@@Elidhion You can Wildshape as an action.

[@dominicl5862]

@@joelsasmad this is an underrated tech

[@zacharylona]

Goliath is a fun one I ran not too long ago. Stone's Endurance was a brief and passionate rules discussion, but as I was a Giant Rocktopus it was permitted. I've imagined the flip side of Changeling too - a bear takes the appearance of an Owlbear to intimidate others. Presumably a Moon Druid specifically could Wild Shape into an Owlbear instantaneously, as they would bonus action Wild Shape and action Shapechange. You could trick others into thinking you have way more potent magic than you do, and you can do this from level 2.

[@NLiukonen]

For my homebrew setting, I've always though of wildshape being inherently different from something like polymorph, where instead of simply becoming the beast, some of themself stays. So for I'd probably allow all of these racial features, with, for instance, autognome druids staying metallic wildshaped or plasmoids still being mostly slime.

[@hisnameiskish4874]

As soon as I clicked on the video my first thought was "I wonder if the Plasmoid works with Wild Shape?", and what do you know? It was your last most weird potential option. I think my favorite on the list was the Gem Dragonborn and the Shadar-Kai. Both of those are really good races for a lot of buids and it's no surprise that they would be amazing for a Wildshape build

[@Matto33gaming]

Yay. I’m literally playing gem dragonborn moon Druid right now. It’s so good with telepathy and having a aoe in wild shape is nice

[@darthwikkie]

Lovely video. One of my groups also noted the potential for a plasmoid "Gummy Bear. But you missed another important ribbon/flavor option: if you go Warforged Moon Druid, you're literally a transformer, sound effects required. That said, you left out the Ghostwise Halfling from your previous Moon Druid build. Lucky, Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, AND Silent Speech? Yes, please and thank you.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I would say the auto-gnome fits the transformer title as well. If you wild shape into a dinosaur, you're a dinobot.

[@rogerwilco2]

I was inspired by your description and used a bunny hopping Elephant in one of my adventures. The players couldn't figure it out.

[@ProdigalMadness]

My personal favorite a DM let me try was Fairy while it was in UA. MAGIC flight and the one inch squeeze. Was absolutely hilarious, and should have been the true inspiration for Cocaine Bear.

[@williamransdell1037]

The lizardfolk should be on this list. A bonus action bite attack would absolutely wreck as a t-rex

[@imppmi6973]

With the changeling druid wild shape specifically says "Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the beast, but you retain your alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. " When you're wild shaped you would have to use the beast physical stats because it says beast. Shapechange says your stats don't change if change into another race. Each metamorphous is specific to beast or race If there wasn't reference species then the stats could be interchangeable . Another point would with wild shaping / shape changing I was wondering about. If you use your wild shape turn into a beast can you freely (using your shape changing ability) change back into a humanoid multiple times without losing your duration of wild shape as long as you change back into the same beast you started with. You're not ending your wild shape just using the changelings ability. I hope this makes sense lol. Food for thought.

[@MalevolentLoki]

You can now fulfill your fantasy of attacking people as a Gummy Bear in D&D

[@dungeondr]

The no talking during wild shape is a huge pain for RP heavy groups. I addressed it as a DM by giving my moon druid player an item that would allow them to talk while in wild shape in exchange for an attunement slot. Obviously very specific to my games, but I can see players and GMs alike in many groups would look for ways to address the no talking issues with the form through spells, features or homebrew.

[@genrepunk]

Love this. I'd been feeling like the well had run dry as far as interesting synergies to explore in 5e, and the interaction between race and Wild Shape is something I hadn't considered enough. About the Dragonborn breath weapon: I don't think subbing it in for an attack with the Multiattack action works-unless it's been ruled otherwise? If the Multi-attack and Attack actions were interchangeable then Extra Attack would affect Multi-attack, too. Love the Changeling idea, it's maybe even wilder than subtle casting Disguise Self as a Plasmoid in limbless blob form! Plasmoid + Wild Shape, though, that sounds like tremendous fun. Your last WS video gave me a similar idea: Armorer Artificer + Wild Shape, though that's pretty clearly DM fiat as to whether it should work, defaulting to no because the ordinary armor isn't wearable in most WS forms. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@Godzillawolf1]

Just flavoring a Plasmoid Druid wild shaping to it literally reshaping its body into the animal form and gaining its abilities is one way I could see that working.

[@chrisvossler8795]

Of the listed ones, I think the Harengon (a mammoth leaping up to one-shot a dragon) is absolutely hilarious! The autognome, changeling, and plasmoid might be my favorite, just for the image/flavor of it. I would absolutely play a wild-shaping autognome as a Transformer that looks like a steampunk animal in wildshape, rather than turning into an actual bear. For the changeling, it's almost like they had wildshape in mind with the "same basic arrangement of limbs"; I would play the wildshape as an extension of their natural ability to change their appearance. The plasmoid likewise I would flavor as less of a "wildshape" and more of a somewhat more powerful variation on the natural shapechanging ability. I would probably describe it as reverting to its goopy form before adopting each new form.

[@KatieGimple]

Personally, I wouldn't allow most of the autognome features, and would be iffy on the changeling, but I would definitely allow the plasmoid to ooze through a keyhole as a 3 headed bear

[@squarepusher13z]

This video was so worth the wait. I would never have thought of these!

[@malachilynch2979]

Something you didn't directly mention about the plasmoid is that the shape body feature says that you can wear armor that fits a HUMANOID of your size, which means that you don't need barding if you want to wear armor.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I missed that

[@deltavictor8369]

Re: gem dragonborn breath weapon - I'm not sure it is universally agreed that the breathweapon can be substituted on one of the multiattack attacks the same way it could be on an extra attack attack. Jeremy Crawford has specified that the Multiattack action is distinct from the Attack action, to explain why it would not work with the Extra Attack feature. If Multiattack is distinct, then the Breath Weapon replacing one of your attacks *during the attack action* wouldn't work, as the Druid hasn't taken the Attack action - they've taken the Multiattack action. Granted, I think the distinction is kinda dumb, and I would totally allow it at my table, but... there IS a distinction, so I also think it falls into "discuss with your DM because not everyone will agree," rather than "Probably fine.

[@NotreDanish]

I think a Bugbear Moondruid with the funky version of sneaky is so funny though (imagine a huge dinosaur just chilling in a doorway, completely filling it)

[@jacobstevens7548]

I've had the plasmoid wildshape in the back of my head for a while. It sure would be a lot of fun.

[@Ishmu_the_Crazy]

11:25 Fleet of Foot doesn't have anything to do with a person's actual foot. It more means that they instinctually know how and where to step to get the maximum amount of movement. Basically it's just a fancy way to say someone is quick, rather than anything to do with anatomy. So I don't think Long Limbed would apply to most animals, though you might be able to argue it with some animal forms like the Giant Squid.

[@z14zach]

Im using duegar and it also goes really well with wildshape having access to enlarge/reduce at 3rd level and invisibility at 5th. All with advantage on stun, charm, and poison.

[@ekenks8650]

Plasmoids druids turning into gummy bears just sounds so fun

[@comfortablegrey]

A lot of these are things I wouldn't intuitively allow, but after a second reading would. I like the gem dragonborn, but I lean toward the ghostwise halfling for telepathy and lucky.

[@thunder_bug_1451]

As a DM I would allow all of these personally. I think they’re fun and creative and definitely not game breaking.

[@bakuiel1901]

Love these, only thing I think I'd restrict is that Shapechanger could only make you one size small that the wild shapes size, no Mammoth being a Dog.

[@philippr.6872]

I just started a campaign where I play a plasmoid. I started as artificer armorer and will likely go into moon druid. The DM allowed me to use shape self, amorphous and even talk and with the armorer feature I can wear magical armor and it will automatically adapt to my shape.

[@eepopgames2741]

I would allow pretty much all of it, but probably rule: 1) Things that modify your size modify it by a relative amount, not an absolute one. So things that reference "medium or small" equate to current size minus one. Plasmoid would probably end up as a space less than a foot or something for larger forms, but that would still be a great feature. 2) You retain your notable distinguishing features when you wildhsape. If your character has a big scar across their face, your wildshapes do to. If you are gelatinous, mechanical, draconic, etc your wildshapes inherit that to some degree. 3) For a given form, you always look like the same example of that creature. You have A dog form you can wildshape into, not a million different variations, so you have to be actually careful and intentional on using mundane spying forms (dog, cat, rat, bird, etc) lest your enemies learn what those forms look like. And because of #2, the more familiar your enemies are with your base appearance and the more wildshape examples they have seen from you, the more bonuses they are likely to start stacking up to identify you in any form. Changeling's Shapechanger probably deserves specific mention as it hits from so many angles. By my ruling, it would be affected fully by #1, and probably be able to have more leeway with items #2 and #3, but probably limit them to being able to bend the rules on only one of those two at a time. I would probably add in that any variation needs to stay within the normal bounds of their base creature though with some amount of flexibility in what all is within normal bounds. A bear can look like any bear. A dog like any kind of canine. A Tiger could be any appropriately sized feline. etc. An earth elemental though is always going to read as an elemental though, and while you may be able to get arms, I am going to be a stickler that you still have big blocky hands incapable of fine manipulation, your head is part of your torso, etc. Still almost boundlessly useful even in that case though. I would be satisfied having those limitations to work with as either a DM or a player.

[@Hyde_Hill]

I like the Lizardfolk. Bite attack bonus action in wildshape if I understand the rules correctly from hungry jaws. In Built mage armor so with a shield good AC in druid form. Skill proficiencies that fit with Druid. Yes relies on anatomy however give that the bears all have bites it's pretty straightforward.

[@Yotommy100]

There is a RAW way to heal by spending hit dices of your wildhsape without needing to use autognomes: the dwarven fortitude feat. Combine it with mark of warding dwarf for pre-casting of armor of agathys and you have a build which increases the survivability of your wild shape by a lot!

[@adwadswadsda8458]

In regards to changeling. You can change your size between medium and small. Not between large, medium and small.

[@electronsympathy]

I want to be a bit of a meanie-pants on the Fleet of Foot/Long Limbed comparison. Fleet of Foot doesn't mean one of your feet is fast, but rather that you're just a speedy when you run. That can be argued either anatomically, or as excellent elven running techniques. But Long-Limbed is a bit more explicitly "dude's got long arms/legs". But then again, I imagine a Bear doing some Dhalsim yoga punches, and it makes me giggle, so I'd probably allow it anyway. Not sure if Vampiric Bite works either. It gives your base form a natural weapon which should count as "anatomy." Then again, plenty of forms have bite attacks, and becoming a Vampire Dinosaur sounds rad AF.

[@theblindbuildergrandminuti5648]

If you allowed the auto gnome to work with this, it’s a interesting way to theme a mecha transformation.

[@st_cuthbert544]

The shapechanger can ALWAYS look like a corgi, sometimes you can talk (shapechanged non-wildshaped) and sometimes you can knock a horse 30ft away from you (shapechanges wildshape Earth elemental) Noone will ever see the difference ^^ Super Corgi was born!* *(corgis often have cropped tails (ergo no tail) so fits with the 4 limbs one head original creature).

[@Mr_Ne0]

Very happy for another one! Thanks!

[@samuelbroad11]

the last three combined with wildshape give a real Gammaworld vibe. nice.

[@arsov9885]

I like Changeling option a lot ❤

[@kopkaljdsao]

It's fun.

[@davidcarle9684]

Hey @treantmonk! Big fan of your wizard guides and your videos. Your explanations are clear and insightful :) Just wanted to make a suggestion for a video : what would be the ideal, most optimised dnd party composition? I am sure you can have fun with that one :)

[@GG-bw5qd]

I actually might be okay with a player using the Plasmoid features while wild shaped, provided they stay looking looking like a ooze monster. So if they turn into a bear they would be a ooze monster that is in the shape of a bear and everyone around them will clearly be able to see that they are not a normal bear. Also if they wanted to flavor their character this way I probably wouldn't let them turn into a normal looking bear.

[@mrphilosophical4104]

As always, what a great video. I'm druiding for the first time and, as I did with paladin, I'm consulting the master. I only wish I'd done so with the rogue and the cleric. But you can't hindsight a TPK (or 2!). I like this because it gives lots of reasons not to just variant human/custom lineage (which from my limited knowledge seems so so good on most builds).

[@incantrix1337]

I like changeling so I can wildshape into a tiger and then shapechange into, I dunno, a pony. (To be fair, I made this character with the original changeling that specified that your size didn't change)

[@dehro]

I spent a solid minute wondering what Björk was doing in a video of yours, before realising you were talking about the orc...

[@SirEliteGrunt]

Plasmiod is so funny! Even if only pseudopod worked it’s such a wacky theme!

[@GroovyLemming]

The text on the Changeling interestingly says that you may change size "between Medium and Small." One reading of that would be that if you are not Medium or Small at the moment (due to Wild Shape, Enlarge, or another feature like Giant's Might) then you can't currently change sizes with that feature, as you are not Medium or Small, so you can't change size between Medium and Small.

[@venomrobot8940]

On changeling, it says you can change between medium and small, emphasis on between. So you would have to be medium or small to begin with to change size.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Fair enough. I mean I'm not going anywhere near the changeling with a wild shaping druid before clarifying exactly how the feature will work with my DM.

[@mattfitzgerald7836]

I could definitely see an Autognome wild shaping into mechanically flavoured 'wild' shapes, like the mecha dinosaurs in Horizon Zero Dawn. As far as the Changeling goes, I would argue that a trunk counts as a limb - so maybe an anteater mammoth rather than a puppy mammoth?

[@delilahfox3427]

I always liked lizardfolk. Bonus action bites are always good. I feel like a nice DM would let you use the wildshape's bite attack instead of the lizardfolk's.

[@bendavis2157]

I loved the idea of a full metal plazmoid artificer armourer. Imagine you are in a full suit of Armour, You use and action to doff, then slide under a door, then dawn your full plate.

[@MarcLucksch]

I also like the Winged Tiefling, because the wings only require you to have shoulder blades..

[@kylethomas9130]

Huh, that MotM feature for Bugbears is super weird. Even if we weren't talking about Wild Shape, Rune Knights and the Enlarge/Reduce spell exist.

[@goodguyjosh3142]

Looking forward to the Gummy Bear build, with a druid plasmoid!

[@rogerwilco2]

WotC left Wildshape and spells like Shapechange out of the DnDNext playtest and it shows. I would really like it if tou also included an episode on how much of these Wildshape points also apply to Shapechange and which additional issues that spell has.

[@jcdenton2187]

With that thumbnail, I'm surprised the Warforged wasn't talked about.

[@shadowstorm657]

I think thematically the autognome has a really good thematic compnet too it, all of your transformations are mechanical. If you want to be super cautious due to the whole druids cannot wear metal armor its really hilarious, a wooden clockwork autognome.

[@miguelangelus959]

I have to say something about the Changeling and the Shapechanger trait. It says you can change your size *between medium and small*. If your size is larger than medium, such as when turned into a brown bear or a mammoth, the change in size wouldn't be between medium and small, it would be between large and small or huge and small, etc.. I do think Shapechanger should probably work in wild shape, but unless you are a medium black bear you can't change into a puppy and keep your statistics

[@imUmoron]

I'm actually already playing a plasmoid moon Druid, with the feat eldritch adept (Disguise self) I have assumed the form of the Thing. Her or It's wild shape is it assuming a more monstrous form that looks nothing like the actual beast they are turning into.

[@couver73]

I noticed that there's a potential hiccup in regards to the Breath Weapon for ANY of the Fizban's Dragonborn. The Multiattack action is NOT the Attack action, so unless you're doing some multiclassing or are under the effect of a spell like Haste, for example, it might not be worth it to do this. That's even assuming a DM would hand wave that in the first place. But still, even if it isn't technically worth it, it still works.

[@TheMichaellathrop]

I was less thinking the natural armor class of the auto gnome, and more thinking the Warforged integrated protections, though I guess the "...your body has built in layers of protection..." gets as closed to anatomy without quite saying it as you can get. Though honestly I have trouble seeing most DM's who are OK with the auto gnome saying no to the Warforged.

[@Meichrob7]

Half dragons, as a template and not the specific stat lock for half humanoids half dragons, don’t actually have a different race compared to whatever their other half is. So a half dragon half bear is still a beast. A lot of DMs might disallow this but the few times I’ve seen it allowed it’s made gem dragonborn even more fun as it helps justify you having seen so many half dragon half beasts if you lived near a dragon’s den, since Fizbans mentions half dragons sometimes showing up in the surrounding area.

[@akillersquirrel5880]

Just got the go-ahead from my DM for warforged's Integrated Protection to apply to wild shape form (so long as I also flavor the wild shape form as still looking like a warforged)

[@sagatario58]

In my opinion, the Plasmoid's Shape Self feature may not work because of the line "or revert to a limbless blob." That makes it seem like that's the starting point of the Plasmoid's transformation, but since Wildshape puts you into the form of a beast, then you don't start out at a limbless blob so you can't revert. IDK, I can't really think of anything broken you could do so I don't think it's a big deal. Amorphous I think is fine though, imagining a Plasmoid Mammoth squeezing under a door through a crack in the wall is both a humorous and terrifying mental image, and one I'd welcome to my games. And everything else to me works fine, requiring you to select a specific race to get some abilities that are useful in some niche situations but not others doesn't seem that OP at all.

[@TeamKhandiKhane]

12:52 gotta watch out for those briefcase dragons. Get'cha every time.

[@alexanderzweber8453]

A couple of issues with shapechange: "you can change your size *between* medium and small" implies that you have to have the size medium or small when you use the ability to change from one to the other, if you want it so that the form you take is either medium or small, at best the wording would need to be "you can change your size *to between* medium and small," so unless the form you take is either medium or small, you can't shapechange to a different size category; "you can make yourself appear as a member of another *race*" this is a little weird because there is no mention of what you -can't- change into, but that implies that, per "spells/abilities only do what they say they can do," you can only change into members of other races, which can either be read as the dnd definition of race or other "biological" races of the type that you are (bear->bear, dog->dog). Biology involves a bunch of other considerations that don't seem intended, i.e. you can only shapechange into a different race of changeling, and can't change into an elf (given that's a species and not a race, biologically). So, reasonably, you can only shapechange into a "playable race" of your current size or, if you are either small or medium, swap between medium and small on use (that does mean if you shapechange into a halfling as a mammoth, you will be a huge halfling).

[@gnawedwick]

Our GM let's me use both my breath weapons, and the feat dragon hide, to allow my increased +3 base armor in wild shape. But only if I shape shift to animals with scales...

[@jgr7487]

if you're a T-rex fighting a Dragon, Fury of the Small should work, as there's a size difference between the two monsters.

[@dudubassmonster]

As DM I wouldnt allow the relentless endurance of the orc work with wild shape. For me it doesnt make sense that way. Mechanically I think that when you take a hit that changes your form you dont technically go to zero hit points, you just return to your main form.

[@JuckiCZ]

I am surprised you haven't mentioned Longtooth Shifter. BA to gain Temp HPs is always great (and you gain your level + CON mod, which is high on wildshapes) and ability to use BA for 1 minute to attack using your STR is awesome on creatures like Bears or Mammoths! We are talking about 10 attacks doing in total up to 10d6+70 dmg per short rest, this is significant boost and great way to spend you BAs. Another good option could be Beasthide, which adds 1d6 Temp HPs, but also 1 AC, which is usually really low on wildshape forms.

[@texteel]

Even if we assume we are always in wildshape, the first bonus action is still setup. If we assume we're in wildshape, we can't cast on that turn

[@JuckiCZ]

@@texteel You can't cast while wildshaped, so what is the issue? If we are wildshaped, we shift in the first round of combat and then attack with BA for next 10 rounds. If we aren't wildshaped, we use BA to wildshape in the first round, then shift in round 2 and then attack with BA from round 3.

[@LAaronB10]

The wording of the Changeling's Shapechanger is that you can "change your size BETWEEN Medium and Small" -- That is not the same wording as change your size TO Medium and Small. If you are starting out Large (the Elementals) I don't think that this feature does anything for you. That would be changing your size between Large and Medium or Large and Small. So, even if this feature was allowed to carry over to the wildshape, I think that it would only work if you chose a Medium or Small form to start as.

[@goatmeal5241]

I've been looking for a good build to use the Dragon Fear feat on... this makes me wonder if maybe a Moon Druid wouldn't be terrible. The Charisma dependence isn't great, though. Maybe a Druid without much Wisdom? Plenty of good spells don't have Wis dependence: (from a quick scan: spike growth, conjure animals, plant growth, polymorph, summon draconic spirit, transmute rock, ...) There might be something here!

[@Ricardo-zo1ti]

I would rule that breath weapon works, long limbed, powerful builf and rabbit hop don't, and the dhampir's bite is perfectly fine and magical

[@Staff7]

awesome stuff again man.

[@willtharp7477]

I've never seen rules on this, so I apologize if I simply missed them: Aren't racial characteristic bonuses racial features that don't specify anatomy? That +2 Dex from being a Halfling could come in handy for its bump to AC, for example.

[@archmagemc3561]

My DM lets my plasmoid use all of their features since, its just an ooze shapeshifting into an animal form, but its still an ooze. Now, everyone looking at my moon druid know their animals are ooze-like, and that has caused some issues with skill checks because of how ooze would interact with them, but being a giant constrictor snake and being able to just move through an arrow slit and attack the archers behind it is hilarious. Especially if the DM lets you try to pull said enemy archer through the arrow slit with you using a super high strength check. That poor dwegar didn't survive... .

[@marshallwilver8831]

I may be wrong here. I would probably rule that the gem Dragonborn breath weapon would not work with a wild shaped multi attack action. The wording of the breath weapon says “when you take the attack action” which is a different action than the multi attack action. It would be the same ruling that a Druid/monk cannot use martial arts to make a bonus action unarmed strike while using the multi attack action. I’m not 100% that this is the way it is supposed to work but I know I have heard that ruling on the Druid/monk before and I believe it applies the same here.

[@jaceg810]

Fear barrelbear, the bear that flows out of a barrel, attacks, then flows back into the barrel

[@blazinlatino89]

Surprised the lizardfolk with the extra bite didnt get a mention

[@Praegressus1]

The vast majority of the examples here I'd just straight up shut down. It says "...if the new form is physically capable of doing so." A bear does not have the autognome armor, nor does it have a changelings physiological quirks, nor a plasmoids ability to become amorphous, or a harengons ability to jump more. If these abilities are allowed, just do away with the limitation on wild shape anyways. 5e could really do with adding tags to their character traits. The changeling for example: (Cultural) = languages, Changeling instincts. (Physical) = shapechanger

[@JCinLapel]

I am not using a plasmoid as a moon druid but I did like the idea. Mine is an armorer artificer. I poor myself into a diver like suit of armor

[@dreamwanderer5791]

The way I see it: Can you possibly explain the feature without bringing up your body? Like Fleet of Foot simply knowing where to step for speed or Bugbear Stealth being knowing tricks and minutia? Then sure, works for me. Is there no way to explain the feature without talking about your physical composition? Like squeezing into smaller spaces, or really just the last 3 (to be fair, they're *meant* to stretch the envelope)? Then I would say that even if it doesn't directly mention anatomy, it is still restricted to it.