In general, I'm fine with Panther Wildshape. It does what it does well enough, which is on demand perma-invis to guarantee surprise rounds.
My issue with this is that you're relegating panther to just that role, which is severely simplifying panther. That role can be filled by just drinking an invis potion, any of the several classes with the invisibility spell, shovel, an invisibility scroll, or an item that allows it. I don't agree with that being the panthers primary role.
Though, it getting buffs (Along with other lacking Wildshapes like Badger and Spider) wouldn't be unwelcome
I agree with other forms as well, I have a whole laundry list of minor changes I'd make to other forms. Badger burrow as a bonus action and make it a spell save DC instead of a flat 13 dex save (think I've seen it work like 3 times in my 900 hours.) Bonus action goading roar ofcourse, but I've also been toying with the idea of a bonus action 1d8+strength bite attack as a bonus action to go along with it. Bear forms damage is abysmal, imo. 2d4+4 at base, bleh. It could use something a bit more impactful since it's a moon exclusive. Personally I find the dire wolf to both outlast and outdamage the bear by a landslide. It's better AC more than makes up for the slightly lower health. The health difference between wolf and bear is not very big throughout the whole game, not even at 12.
Speaking of wolf, it could definitely go for a bonus action inciting howl, as you mentioned. Wolf is my go to wildshape pre-6 because it feels like the only good one. Spider isn't terrible as a support role, spamming web every turn. But it's damage is ofcourse lacking. If rogue sneak attack worked for dexterity using wildshapes, you could make a great spider build with the mobile feat tacked on. Deep rothe on the other hand has abysmal scaling and it makes me sad.
I most certainly would like the option to choose between using an action or bonus action when wildshaping. There's a lot of times I'm jealous of land druids because there's many combos that work much better for them.
You can use Strength Elixirs you know. Boost your Panther up to 21 or 27 Str and get +5 or +8 (+10 or +16 with Tavern Brawler) to attack rolls.
Panther uses dexterity for its attacks, not strength. Tavern brawler does work, but it just adds strength to your rolls once ontop of your dexterity rolls. The base panther strength is 14, so tavern brawler makes your attack rolls a +4 at base. +7 with hill giants strength, and +10 with cloud giants strength. These aren't bad, but that necessitates a specific elixir and feat to make panther on par with owlbear (which is learned at the same level) with just tavern brawler where attack rolls are concerned.
Pretty sure it uses best of Str/Dex not spell DC. Meaning you can improve it by again, popping Strength Elixirs.
It uses your spell save DC. Wisdom. Which is fine, I guess. Would just prefer pounce to be a bonus action, or at the very least, trigger wild strikes.
