D&D 4E WotC better fix Wildshape in 4E...

[DungeonmasterCal]

Nobody in my group has ever played a Druid. Surprisingly, iwe've never had that problem.

Ditto. And all this talk about "fixing stuff in 4e" that has been recently appearing can only serve to push Hasbro to order its creation sooner. I don't think the thousands of us who've sunk thousands of dollars into 3e stuff want this to come around any sooner than necessary!

 

[kolikeos]

Nothing frustrates me more than someone casting a spell and then having to look up all of the details which puts the game on hold.

that is really freaking annoying! i have a wizard in my party that has LOTS of spells and most of them aren't even from the PHB, and it always takes alot of time until he finds out what a spell does

 

[Stone Angel]

I tend to like the druid for that very reason they take a little fore thought and planning. Not a lot nothing more really than any other character, i.e wizard spells and dc's all the paladin and monk abilities and dc's. Power attack and how it affects your attack bonus and damage bonus.

But I had the same problem as you, new player druid and such. The SRD is a real big help though so you might want to look into it it really simplifies the problem.


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Flyspeck23]

Our druid (RIP) had a list of his favorites (using the SRD, not a spreadsheet), so that wasn't that much of a problem. And he kept those stats pretty much up-to-date.

OTOH, he did need help adjusting the stats, as he was a new player.

You're right, it is a fair bit of work. IMO, there are a number of things that would require similar levels of preparation: Summon Natures Ally and Summon Monster spring to mind right away. I don't want to stop my game while someone stats up the effects of their abilities. I say that if someone wants to use those sort of things regularly, then they should be prepared to write everything down before the game.

Hope this isn't considered too blunt, but... point your summoners to the Complete Monster Cards - all the summonable critters are in there. (Granted, if your summoners got Augmented Summoning or similar feats, the cards won't be accurate anymore... still, the adjustments necessary are easy, so the cards should still suffice.)

 

[derbacher]

Well, to echo Flyspeck23, from someone who is not associated with ToGC, yeah, get the Complete Monster Cards. (and teh Complete Spell and Complete Psionic Cards). They are great timesavers, give you all the info you need on the creature/spell/power you are using, and a re a lot quicker to use than looking things up in the books. I never want to run a game without mine again! AND, you can print copies for your game group! The liscense says you can, so get them all to pitch in and cut your costs!

(Once more, I have no affiliation with ToGC, except that I bought and use their products.)

 

[VirgilCaine]

that is really freaking annoying! i have a wizard in my party that has LOTS of spells and most of them aren't even from the PHB, and it always takes alot of time until he finds out what a spell does

As a DM, next game I run, if you don't have the stat card or spell effect ready to tell me if I ask, the spell fizzles.

 

[Elephant]

Well, you can also use paper and a pencil if you prefer re-doing all calculations whenever your relevant statistics change. I don't.

Also, I was thinking about using lots of animal forms. If you don't do that, the problem is not "atrociously severe." Though given you can use lots of animal forms, being prepared for doing just that is a good idea AFAIC.

AFAIC?

 

[Darkness]

AFAIC?

"As far as I'm concerned."

 

[Jdvn1]

I don't know guys, I just do the calculations on the fly. It isn't really that hard.

Bookmark the animals section fo the Monster Manual and quickly flip there during somebody else's turn the round you are going to Wildshape.

Replace your physical stats with those of the animal.

Now if you've memorised the attack routines of each animal (for instance, bear is claw, claw bite), you can immediately generate attack bonuses (claw is your usual base attack bonus - size penalty + new str bonus, and bite is the same -5 [unless you have a magical carryover]) .

AC is just Dex + Natural - Size Penalty unless you have a magic effect that carries over.

Yikes, it gets a lot more complicated when you're higher level. Just for AC I have Dex, Deflection, Natural Armor (with enhancements from Warshaper), Armor of the Crocodile (Nature's Warrior, dependent on level), Armor, Shield, Size and probably some more I can't remember off the top of my head.

Not that I think it's that complicated either. I keep everything very, very organized. I write it on the back of my sheet like:

10
+1 Dex
+7 Nat
+4 Arm Croc
+5 Defl
-1 Size
+6 Arm
28
(+1 Haste)
(+2 Cat's G)
31

Or whatever. When a number changes, I change the total. The paretheses are common spells. So I know where all of my numbers are coming from and I can change it on the fly if need be.

Of course, I do this with only a few animals I commonly use.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Yikes, it gets a lot more complicated when you're higher level. Just for AC I have Dex, Deflection, Natural Armor (with enhancements from Warshaper), Armor of the Crocodile (Nature's Warrior, dependent on level), Armor, Shield, Size and probably some more I can't remember off the top of my head.

Not that I think it's that complicated either. I keep everything very, very organized. I write it on the back of my sheet like:

10
+1 Dex
+7 Nat
+4 Arm Croc
+5 Defl
-1 Size
+6 Arm
28
(+1 Haste)
(+2 Cat's G)
31

Or whatever. When a number changes, I change the total. The paretheses are common spells. So I know where all of my numbers are coming from and I can change it on the fly if need be.

Of course, I do this with only a few animals I commonly use.

But you'd need to keep track of all those various spells regardless of Wild Shape. The changes I listed are apart from magical effects. Those effects are not the fault of the Wild Shape.