Summary
Of all the classes inDungeons & Dragons, the druid has perhaps undergone the most drastic changes in the 2024 Player’s Handbook compared to its 2014 form. This is primarily a result of sweeping changes applied to Wild Shape, which have brought the feature’s former ability to generate absurd amounts of additional hit points in line.
Unfortunately, the cost of this balance change has many players concerned, as the versatility of Wild Shape is usually what makes playing a druid such a unique experience. Wild Shape aside, there are many other tweaks that the druid class has received. Ready your brain garden for a growth of new information.
1Primal Order
Every class’s subclass access has been pushed back to level three in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, and the druid is no exception to this new rule. Thankfully, they do get a new class feature in exchange for the subclass delay.
At first level, Primal Order gives druids a decision that will impact their playstyle for the remainder of their career. Like the cleric, the druid has always struggled with a double identity of melee-based bruiser and ranged spellcaster. This new feature will help druids decide which fantasy they want to focus on right out of the gate.
Magician
Additionally, the druid’s Druidic feature gained at first level has been buffed to also give you access to Speak with Animals. Forming relationships with animals is a core element of playing a druid character, so it only makes sense that all druids are able to speak with them.
2Wild Resurgence
At fifth level, druids now pick up Wild Resurgence. This feature lets you swap spell slots for uses of Wild Shape and vice versa. However, it does come with limitations. You can only expend one use of Wild Shape to regain a single first level spell slot once per long rest.
you may also expend a spell slot to regain a single use of Wild Shape, and there is no limit to the number of times you can make this exchange. In other words, if you want to use all of your spell slots to fuel a ton more uses of Wild Shape, go for it. Considering the changes that have been made to how hit points work in Wild Shape, you might just need to if youplan on tankingin your beast form. Let’s take a look at what we mean.
3Wild Shape
While there has been a lot of pushback from the community concerning the new Wild Shape, the final iteration of this ability seems like a good compromise between designers and players. Designers were concerned with how confusing the 2014 Wild Shape often was due to its wealth of options and reliance on statistic blocks from the DM, while players were afraid they would lose all of the options that make this feature so great.
At second level, druids unlock the ability to Wild Shape. Using Wild Shape now only requires a bonus action for all druids. Previously, this was only the case for the Circle of the Moon druid subclass. You will also now gain more uses of Wild Shape as your druid achieves higher levels. Druids get two uses at level two, three uses at level six, and four uses at level seventeen.
On top of using Wild Resurgence to gain more uses of Wild Shape as discussed above, druids will regain one use of Wild Shape any time they take a short rest. you may also now speak in beast form, and you no longer need to have encountered a beast to take its form. Altogether, these are a ton of buffs to Wild Shape that make it much more accessible for all druids. Now for the nerfs.
Instead of gaining the full hit point pool of the creature you Wild Shape into, you will now only gain temporary hit points equal to your druid level when you Wild Shape. Additionally, you only know a limited number of beast forms. Choose a total of four beast forms at level two, six forms at level four, and eight forms at level eight. you may swap a form out for another when you finish a long rest.
While these changes are significant, they keep the 2014 Wild Shape’s versatility mostly intact while also reducing the number of forms to a reasonably sized list for newer players. Furthermore, the nerfs were quite necessary to bring druid hit point pools in line with other classes. Lastly, the Tasha’s optional rule that allowed you to expend a use of Wild Shape to cast Find Familiar is now a base part of the druid class.
4Elemental Fury
At seventh level, druids now pick up Elemental Fury, which is an expansion on their first level Primal Order choice. Like Primal Order, Elemental Fury allows you to pick between two options. Primal Strike is the first option. Itadds extra damage to your melee attacksand will likely go well on druids who make the warden Primal Order selection.
The name of the other option has not yet been provided, but what is known is that it allows you to add your Wisdom modifier to the damage to your cantrips. This feature develops further at fifteenth level as Primal Strike gains even more additional damage, and the other choice increases the range of your cantrips out to 300 feet. This might seem like a ribbon feature until you realize you can cast cantrips on creatures while soaring high in the skies in a flight form.
5Improved High Level Features
Speaking of high level abilities, level 18 now sees druids unlock Beast Spells, which allows you to cast spells while in Wild Shape. This is something druids were previously never allowed to do, so it will be interesting to see what kinds of wacky antics this ability unlocks. Of course, high level play is already known for being utterly ridiculous, so this feature should fit right in.
Druids retain their Archdruid feature at twentieth level with a few minor improvements. For one, you now regain a use of Wild Shape upon rolling initiative if you have none left. Secondly, your Wild Resurgence is no longer limited to turning only one Wild Shape into a spell slot per day. This is all in addition to the incredibly flavorful feature of your druid gaining an impossibly long lifespan.
You no longer get unlimited uses of Wild Shape; however, this part of Archdruid was unarguably busted and would be especially broken now that druids can use Wild Shape with as little as a bonus action.
6Subclass Changes
The druid is one of the few classes that is receiving an entirely new subclass in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. On top of this brand-new addition, the Circle of the Moon subclass has been overhauled to makefighting in your beast forma much more enjoyable endeavor. Wild Shape may not provide as many hit points as it did previously, but it sure does look a lot more fun to use in this new Moon druid rendition.
Circle Of The Stars
The druid has some of the biggest changes coming in the 2024 Player’s Handbook out of every class in the game. While exciting, many of these changes are controversial as players greatly enjoyed the nearly endless amount of hit points druids could previously access through Wild Shape.
That being said, dungeon masters everywhere can breathe a collective sigh of relief for their future encounter balancing regarding parties with druids. No matter how you feel about the changes, we can all agree that happier dungeon masters are good for the game.
