Initial Moon Druid Playtest Experience

Last night, I was able to playtest the Onednd Moon druid through four combat scenarios at level 7. I took magic initiate (arcane) for the shield spell, and the Charger feat for extra damage in beast form. My overall impression was surprisingly positive: the new moon druid trades buckets of hitpoints for more damage and versatility in combat. It felt fun, flavourful and functional. It is probably less strong than the 2014 version, but in a way that is much better for both the player, and the health of the game.

Some miscellaneous observations:

1.First and foremost, the playstyle feels very different. I have played levels 1-3, and then 7-9 as an 2014 moon druid, and back then, it felt like my job was to be a damage sponge. Giant constrictor snake was the optimal choice, but its relatively low to-hit and single attack meant that my major role was to be 120 extra hit points on the battlefield, and then a full caster afterwards.

Onednd moon druid felt totally distinct. Since I was using my own hp and AC, traditional "glass cannon" forms were a lot more viable. I largely used the Aurochs beast form, and I took the charger feat at level 4. When I would charge, I was doing 6d8+5 damage with a +7 to hit. This was great - I felt like a real martial who could keep up with the damage. I suspect that over-all it would have been better for my party for me to have the 2014 pool of health, but it was much more fun personally to dish enormous blows using interesting animal stat blocks.

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2. Casting and speaking in beast form are game-changing. A large part of the play experience in 2014 was balancing when to drop wild shape to heal or utility cast. Onednd eliminated many of the pain points here (Do I drop wildshape to cast pass without trace? Don't need to in onednd!) Shield (which I got from arcane initiate) was exceptionally useful - the 21 temp hp I got went a long way with 22 AC (17 from medium armour and 5 from shield). With protection magic able to be cast in beast form, I felt that I was not at all squishy, which was a great worry I had reading the class. I also managed to use the resistance cantrip as a reaction several times to great effect (don't sleep on the onednd version, it is wonderful for moon druids).

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3. A final stray observation: they seem to have dropped the restriction on wildshaping into swarms. I am unsure if this is an oversight, but it would be very broken to include this in onednd. Every caster has easy access to armour of agythys through arcane initiate. Regular druids could tear up the battlefield by wildshaping into a swarm, gaining resistance to bludgeoning slashing and piercing, and then casting armour of agythys at it's highest level. This seems fun as hell but surely unintended?