... Has anyone ever just mandated an all Druid party, allowing for hybrid classing...
... and then just basically done an Animorphs campaign?
When they try the "have the druid wild shape into a horse and sell it for some quick cash only to change back under cover of darkness and flee" trick, have the buyer wait until the rest of the party is out of earshot and say "you poor thing! A fine beast like you and they've never had you shod! It's cruelty, is what it is! We're going right over to the farrier without delay!"
Something always bothers me about these kinds of infiltrations. Wild Shape is a relatively low level spell. And while most NPC's are essentially level 0 with no magic, it should at least be common knowledge in their world that the spell exists and MANY people have access to it.
So why would the guards not be suspicious of an animal? For that matter, why do the guards not have someone constantly using detect magic? Wild Shape is far from the only magic that can be used for infiltration, seems like common sense to constantly scan for magic around an area you are trying to keep secure. I just feel like too often, DMs treat their NPCs, especially guards, as if they have zero knowledge of magic or the world they live in.
The technology to disguise a robot as an insect currently exists. Do you give thought and inspection to every fly that passes by?
Yes. They're annoying, so I start seeking it to kill it.
As far as the detect magic thing goes, I think it depends a bit on the individual setting. I'm usually not playing in official WOTC settings, but per the PHB, a single cast of a low level spell can be 10-50 gp. A mercenary is 2 gp a day. Let's say for whatever reason that a spell caster was willing to take a midrange single spell cast payment for an entire day of work since it's a prestigious position, you're still looking at 30gp a day. That's equivalent to 15 mercenaries. That's just for a single spell caster who has 10 minutes of a spell that has a range of 30 ft, and can be blocked by the thickness of most castle walls. I don't know pricing difference for different wizard levels, but let's just say that you have level 1 wizards cast it as a ritual and have 2 wizards so they are switching off sentry/casting every 10 minutes. They work in shifts, so to be covered 24/7 you're looking at 3 8-hr shifts for two wizards per shift. So now you're employing 6 wizards, and you're still only getting 30 ft at a time. You could station them only in your treasury or whatever other important room, or you could have them walk the grounds on patrol. Unless you're switching to multiple sets patrolling you still won't be able to cover the full grounds all at once. At a certain point, security is just security theatre. Locks are a deterrent more than anything, so unless the person under attack is very very wealthy or is actively making high powered enemies, they probably don't actually need that level of security. I would guess that a place with less than 20 guards would not opt for that level of security. Anti-magic fields are not unheard of, and the above is certainly a thing that can be done, but I don't think most jails or bandit camps will have that level of security. Probably not even local mayors or city leaders.
If I was running a security heavy coronation or something, maybe the above would be relevant and the wizards would have something conferring invisibility, so the path they take would be unknown and random every time. Maybe they party heard through some rumors of an opening for a wizard position at the castle, though the monarch doesn't have a court wizard so they'd have a chance to know it's for security or something secret at least.
It might also be that it's unfun to make a heist where the shapeshifter is useless for stealth because every inch is covered by detect magic, or even if not every inch it adds unnecessary overhead of "where's the wizard casting now?" because someone has their familiar watching them anyway. No one is stopping you though, and I could definitely see it being fun to do for a big event.
As far as the guard thing goes, it probably depends on what is being guarded. A bandit camp in the woods will probably be accustomed to lots of animals. Maybe a castle grounds with a garden too. I think unless the location is known to house the Crown Jewels or something, the guards are probably just bored and aren't on high alert for those kind of things, especially if the PC is passing on stealth/nature checks to act natural. If a guard saw a butterfly in the middle of the castle in a room with no windows, that's cause for suspicion in a way that just seeing a butterfly outside would not be. Maybe a monarch would have overly zealous guards though.
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Depends entirely on the situation, really. Like a large castle is going to be relatively incapable of keeping out various wildlife on a massive scale, so a bird or rat running around isn't really an issue off hand. Maybe keep an eye on it to note any sus behavior, but otherwise animals exist. But if they're in sensitive areas, then it becomes considerably more alarming. Sure, it could just be a rat, but it also could be a fuckin' druid in which case killing the bird/rat/bat/whatever on sight might be a reasonable response. This also has the added benefit of allowing for a guard who might be a fan of animals and not want to hurt them, which gives the player an alternate path/chance to take things with.
I miss DMing
There are likely waaay more animals in these wild magical kingdoms than the current world.
There's probably hundreds of rats and dozens of cats and dogs barking at any one time. A WS user could indeed be lurking in a corner somewhere amidst all that chaos, but as OP's post shows -- they are at constant peril to the animal kingdom.
I think most people would be happy to roll the dice
She they just be constantly killing random birds?
Already happens in real life basically when you look at the numbers. Cats are the second biggest extincter after humans.
Looking at you, Skyrim and Oblivion
TBF druids are fairly rare in the Elder Scrolls.
It was more about the guards behaving like they never heard of magic.
Most players and GMs just play it like magic is a New thing and it break so hard the suspension of disbelief.
Do you pronounce your name Frodorich?
IIIIIGOOOOOORRRRRR JENKINS
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