
Birch Reynolds |
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I agree that Wild Shape is currently pretty limited, but I think the solution is simple.
Combat shapes are fine the way they are, in my opinion. 1 minute is enough to make it through most encounters and the Wild Order gets access to lots of shapes per day, so you'll be able to generally be Wild Shaped for almost every combat. Without actually playtesting yet, the stats granted seem reasonable.
The real lack is in utility shapes, and my solution to this is simply to fix pest form.
First, rename it to literally anything else (I prefer calling this animal form and renaming the current animal form to beast form - which admittedly might conflict with the animal/beast distinction).
Second, allow the spell to heighten at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels, granting Small, Medium, and Large animal shapes respectively. Keep the general restriction against flight until heightened 4th. With each heighten level, modestly adjust AC/TAC, speed, and acrobatics/stealth/athletics. Maybe add some THP for the Medium and/or Large shapes.
Third, increase the duration to 1 hour, and let Form Control increase the duration to 4 hours.
These changes allow a Wild druid to feel like a shaping druid but still keeping power in check. Keep the offensive stats of pest form the same (or only increase the attack mod, leaving damage the same) and keep Weakness 5 to physical damage - or slowly decrease this as the spell is heightened. These should be exclusively non-combat forms.
The only other change I might make is adding a heighten at 5th or 6th level to Huge, but this is mostly so that Form Control will work with the new heightened 4th options.