Circle of the Moon Druid... Really?! Am I reading something wrong?

[Gix]

Ok, I have a player who is Circle of the Moon... level 3.

Beginning of combat:

He goes Bear Form The way I read the rules about Wild Shape, that then he gets the bear's HP (34), which basically acts as temp HP.
Enemies beat him down.
He, being circle of the moon, can cast spells in bear form... so he casts healing spirit, healing himself over time.
Enemies finally beat the bear down to 0hp. He pops out of bear form at full hp as he hadn't been damaged before.
He pops back into bear form ...


At level 3 he gets two such transformations per short rest.

This means that he effectively has ~90hp unless something goes very wrong for him or I gear encounters just to counter him.

Did I read something completely wrong somewhere? (I'm hoping so)

[Zacchaeus]

No, you aren't reading it wrong. This is what the Druid does. Note however that they can't cast spells whilst in animal form. The character could cast a spell and then transform but would still have to maintain concentration on any spells cast before transforming. Also note that if the bear takes damage that exceeds their remaining hit points any excess is carried over into the Druid. So if the bear has 2 hit points and takes 10 damage 8 points of damage would be taken by the Druid.

[Gix]

No, you aren't reading it wrong. This is what the Druid does. Note however that they can't cast spells whilst in animal form. The character could cast a spell and then transform but would still have to maintain concentration on any spells cast before transforming. Also note that if the bear takes damage that exceeds their remaining hit points any excess is carried over into the Druid. So if the bear has 2 hit points and takes 10 damage 8 points of damage would be taken by the Druid.

Ok, thanks Zacchaeus. The spell casting at least is good news.

PS, how's the tax collecting going? :)

[Zacchaeus]

PS, how's the tax collecting going? :)

I haven't done any of that for at least 7 years :)

[celestian]

Enemies finally beat the bear down to 0hp. He pops out of bear form at full hp as he hadn't been damaged before.



Not entirely correct. If the "bear form" temp hp isn't enough to absorb all damage that will pass to the character proper. So if the bear has 3 HP left and takes 7 damage, the bear form takes 3 hp, drops and then the player takes the remaining 4 damage.

Still, it's a pretty powerful class for "tank" play. The one time I played 5e, I played a druid ;)

[Gix]

Yes, I'm aware. I was just giving the example as though he hit 0 exactly :)

[Bonkon]

One thing I noticed with the Circle of the Moon druid in our group is that the AC on the wildshape is usually pretty low, so they burn through hit points really fast as well. That can sort of balance things out a bit. :)