Mystara of the Five Spheres RPG - Downtime Training - Learning a Wild Shape Page

Mystara of the Five Spheres - Downtime in Mystara

The Wild Shape feature lets you transform into a beast that you’ve seen before. The rules here create a clear in-world method for learning new beast or plant shapes, glancing at the beast or plant was not enough to be able to become the beast or plant. This is a rework of the ability to learn new or change known wild shape forms.

There are two ways to learn or change known shapes, the first is through leveling your character, gaining one character per level. The second is by spending time through observation and research. Polymorphing spellcasters also need to learn forms to change into.

• Druid - Gain a wild shape with every level after they gain the class feature.
• Polyporph - Spell casters who gain a spell allowing for shape change, gain 3 shapes they can change into appropriate to the level. And gain an additional shape every level there after as part of levelling.

When you gain the Wild Shape feature at 2nd level, you can learn three beast forms of your choice. The default forms are based on temperate or a tropical region, if you wish to learn others please consult with your DM. If you want to select your own, refer to the Common Beast Shapes table that corresponds to the region your character is closest to. The table lists the beasts you can choose from, as it shows the animals that a druid is most likely to have seen as a novice, to have learned about through mystic research, or to have a special affinity with. Each time you gain a druid level later, you can choose one more beast shape from the same table.

DEFAULT STARTING BEAST SHAPES

To begin using Wild Shape quickly at 2nd level, choose one of the following starting options, each of which gives you forms for combat, climbing, stealth, and serving as a mount. Or select from the table of common beast shapes.

• Temperate - cat, elk, wolf
• Tropical - panther, riding horse, spider
• Temperate (Circle of the Moon) - brown bear, cat, warhorse
• Tropical (Circle of the Moon) - ape, tiger, warhorse

TABLE OF COMMON BEAST SHAPES
• Druid 2nd Temperate – Badger, boar, cat, deer, draft horse, elf, goat, jackal, lizard, mastiff, mule, panther, pony, rat, riding horse, scorpion, spider, weasel, wolf
• Druid 2nd Tropical – Baboon, badger, boar, camel, cat, deer, draft horse, goat, hyena, jackal, lizard, mule, panther, pony, rat, riding horse, scorpion, spider, weasel
• Druid 4th Temperate – Black bear*, crab, frog, octopus, poisonous snake, reef shark, sea horse, warhorse*
• Druid 4th Tropical – Ape*, crab, crocodile, constrictor snake, frog, octopus, poisonous snake, reef shark, sea horse, warhorse*
• Druid 8th Temperate – Bat, brown bear*, eagle, hawk, owl, raven, vulture
• Druid 8th Tropical – Bat, eagle, hawk, lion*, owl, raven, tiger*, vulture
  * A member of the Circle of the Moon can choose this beast at 2nd level

RESEARCH USES ONE OF THE DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES FOR THE DURATION

In addition to the best shapes you gain for free when you level up, you can acquire new shapes on your adventures. It requires that you abide by the limitations in the Wild Shape feature. When you see a beast whose shape you’d like to learn, you have three options:

• Observation - You learn the beast’s shape after observing its behaviour for at least 1 hr and succeeding on an Intelligence (Nature) check with a DC equal to 10 + the beast’s challenge rating. For this observation period, your vantage point – whether physical or magical – must be within 150 ft of the beast. if you previously spent at least 1 hour reading a scholarly work about the creature, you have advantage on the check.
• Interaction - You learn the beast’s shape after interacting with it peacefully for 10 minutes and succeeding on a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check with a DC equal to 10 + the beast’s challenge rating. For this interaction period, you must be within 15 feet of the beast, and if you spend at least a minute petting it, you have advantage on the check.
• Research - You can spend a week per challenge rating of the creature to learn everything you need to know from a library or other source of knowledge. This will cost about 20 gp per week in expenses. The DC for the check is 10 + the beast’s challenge rating and if you have a teacher you have advantage on the check.

It is up to the player to justify the attribute they are going to use and to describe their teachers as part of the training process, adding to the lore of the setting. The teacher will only train with that attribute. Settlement modifier might apply. You can also use an appropriate Lore check

Mystara of the Five Spheres - Downtime Training - Learning a Wild Shape Modifiers Overview

Mystara of the Five Spheres - Downtime Training - Learning a Wild Shape BECMI Overview

TBA - Will detail how the original game worked.

Mystara of the Five Spheres - Downtime Training - Learning a Wild Shape 5E Overview

TBA - Will detail how 5th Edition worked.

5Th Edition allowed for characters to learn any creature they witnessed, even if seen only in a glance, and for people who could polymorph to be able to change into forms they have never heard of, witnessed or even imagined as long as it was in one of the monster books the player has their hands on.

While this was interesting, it was also very unbalanced, could stop the game while the player found the right creature they wanted to use and in the end be used to subvert any storyline with a creative player and access to all the printed materials. While I encourage using imagination, I discourage reading ALL the creatures as some of the enjoyment of the game is watching the players and their characters learn and adapty to playing defeating encounters, not memorising them and beating them as players and ignoring their characters completely.

Mystara of the Five Spheres - Downtime Training - Learning a Wild Shape A5E Overview

TBA - Will detail how Level Up worked.

To counter how 5E made the game so unbalanced, Level Up incorporated limits in how many shapes you can change into. While this is better, I have extended beyond that and provided a way to use downtime to become a shapemaster as well as introduce Wild Shape as part of polyporph training for characters with that ability.