Valeclaw's page

Probably the best homebrew is to use the already tested limitation for casting in Battle Form is limiting to a wave casting (officially called as Bounded Spellcasting in SoM) that's the spellcasting limitation that magus and summoners have. But to this make sense the entire class chassis also was to change to be a martial chassis or it will overpenalize the druid.

As an alternative in free archetype games, what would be the effect of allowing Kineticist Impulses to work in Untamed Form? I often find the battle form itself struggles to really gain anything from Free Archetype like other classes can, and wonder if something similar to the caveat of Elemental Barbarians rule for putting rage onto impulses would drastically skew the power of the class. In my head it would not, as the best options would still be fairly limited and just add a dash more versatility to your form that wouldn't overshadow what you could do outside of it?

Edit: I will also say that Battle Harbinger and Bloodrager could redefine or end up being a good guidelines for stuff like this down the line, which I am very excited about the prospects of.

I understand the present function and intention of Battle Form spells and they they work fairly well for that implementation, and I understand the innate strength you already have just having that at it's highest level as a focus spell (granted, provided you maintain it's power with class feats). But something I really enjoyed when I played a Warpriest was having decent accuracy, but still having access to your spells to provide support, buffs and healing. The question of 'do I use an action to strike' as a Warpriest Cleric felt more flexible than a Wild Druid, where at least in my play experience, it just feels like an emergency for when something 'breaks through' or comes straight at me. An emergency response whereas I do not quite think a Warpriest feels that way.

But hypothetically, say Untamed Druids were allowed to cast spells in their polymorph forms. What limitation would you put on it?

For me, I liked the idea of class feats, if not a class archetype, for selecting specific spells to function for this. Or perhaps cross-synergy between other druid subclasses, like allowing Oaken Resilience to be cast from a slot in an Untamed Order Form if you have the Grown of Oak Leaf druid class feat. Or perhaps a means of casting heal (for those who are always stuck in a group where everybody hates taking healing options in any capacity lmao) without having to spend another focus point and turn mainly just to get back into the form.

And what would you possibly take away from Druid (as if these changes came via a class archetype) to offset granting some of their of their spell access back?

Wild Druid is not a weak option for Druid, something I wish to lay down transparently. It's not a place of balance that brings me to this idea, as Untamed Form works within it's currently intended purpose: a robust, action intensive tool to become reasonably competent in martial combat in a required situation, trading in your spellcasting power temporarily while maintaining it for other situations.

But I believe that there is a strong fantasy in the archetypical niche of Druid, to still retain some magical abilities while shapeshifted. My inspiration came from the Elemental Instinct Barbarian, and their Rage ability to grant the 'Rage' trait to elemental impulses they pick from Kineticist Dedication (provided they share the same element). So I came up with a trait: "Wild Trait: You may use actions with the Wild Trait while under the effects of a Polymorph effect."

I have no set framework for how this might work at present, and really only two ideas. One would be to allow for feats, such as Grown of Oak from the Leaf Order feat line, to also grant the given spells like Oaken Resilience the 'Wild' Trait, or similar feats to allow similar spells to function in Untamed Form, with the intent that this trait should primarily be for buffs that can function within Polymorph's limits, certain Crowd Control area effects, and possibly Heal.

Another idea would be to directly work akin to the Elemental Barbarian, and give the 'Wild' trait to Kineticist Impulses.

And a third hypothetical suggestion that is pure conjecture until we finally get Divine Mysteries, is a class archetype using what we end up seeing for both Battle Harbinger Cleric, and Bloodrager Barbarian.

As I stated at the top, I don't think Untamed Form is weak, which is why i'd be really hesitant to simply make these free and not class feat taxed. This concept comes from a place that may simply be inspired by the fact that I am the primary user of the Divine and Primal spell lists at my table, and found it a lot easier to maintain my 'gish' style as a Warpriest still having access to heals for allies in an emergency, without having to surrender a full turn to become martial-relative again. Often times it feels like, unless an enemy is directly on top of me alone, Wildshape just came at such a great risk of not being able to support my team properly should a wild crit take an ally down, who I have now effectively felt like I have removed from the game because I chose to shapeshift and now cannot do what is required to let him play the game again.

Hello all! I am currently prepping to run Season of Ghosts, and there is really only one thing so far that stands out as difficult for me to wrap my head around, or if I'm just perhaps expecting something different in this specific moment.

I havent messed with exploration travel rules really ever, besides the action's in Abomination Vaults, though I was not the DM. I notice that it says, in the 'Random Encounters' section of Chapter 1, to roll every mile travelled in a continuous stretch. If I am understanding that right, it's every continuous mile you stay in exploration mode without a stop.

Given the actual size of the town though, from what I have seen, that means you'd really only have a random encounter if you're doing something like, at the start, travelling straight from the watch tower to Matsuki without stopping anywhere. Am I missing something, or is that actually the intent, for the random encounters to just be there to still provide for those who might just be skipping everything else?

Hello all! I was curious if anyone had any breakdown or mathed out variation between the Battle Form's available to Wildshape (on level curve) with the damage of your average martial class at the level. I am more than aware of the "additional damage" argument and the two sides of that argument- but I want to see how the comparison already is in terms of damage between a Wildshaper and a Martial without that.

Clown apparitions are evil Mandy!