(5e) Sneaky sword fighting monster hunting animal shifter character... help :-)

[Crimlock]

Hi! Last week I bought the player handbook and I thought I'd try to create a character. I am not looking to create the most optimal character, but just a really fun character :-)

Like the title says, I want a lot of different things and therefor I have some trouble in deciding about the best class or classes. My conclusion so far is that I want to play a wood elf moon druid with a minimal of 5 levels... but how do I build this character to be a decent long sword fighter and good at sneaking?

I concluded this because i was thinking the following:
I like to have the option to change into animals, mainly for stealth/scouting/roleplaying purpose... so I thought I should take a minimal of 2 levels of (moon) druid. I also would like to use some magic. I want to be able to cast dispel magic and detect magic and some fire spells. This is something that the druid does at level 5... So there for I want 5 levels of druid..
I think my race will be a wood elf, some nice weapon proficiencies (really like to have a long sword) and +2 dex and +1 wisdom is nice.
To keep my build simple I prefer not to multiclass, so if I build a full druid will he also be a decent sword fighting and a sneaky character? I know strength is a dump stat on many druid builds... so sword fighting with a long sword isn't really a good idea... I like, for flavor reasons, a longsword and like the versatile option. I could go with finesse weapons (scimitar or rapier)... but I hope that somehow I overlooked an option that will give me a longsword.

Anybody has some good suggestions about what feats to take or some good multiclass options?

[Unoriginal]

If you play a Moon Druid, your best chance at melee combat is to shape-shift into a powerful animal, not using a longsword.

The Land druid still can shapeshift, but they focus more on spellcasting so I suppose you could get some powerful melee-range spells and then use your longsword.

[mephnick]

Arcane trickster with a couple levels of druid for utility shapeshifting. Druid gives some good low level spells/cantrips, it will bump up your caster level for more spell slots and you're still the sneaky rogue on top of it. Use a scimitar instead of a longsword for sneak attack and you're set. The extra WIS you need to MC druid is useful because the skills it governs are great anyway.

[TundraBuccaneer]

Druids can get flame blade spell at lvl3 which you can describe as a longsword, and its on fire. But still you can use a longsword you just aren't going to be great at it because druids are far better doing other things. If it's the nature feel you want you can go a strength ranger, or a nature cleric. If you want the shape shifting you can always multiclass on a lvl that is beneficial, or you can ask the DM for a magical item that allows you to take the form of an animal.
And if you want to make your longsword attacks better you can grab magic initiate and take booming blade.

[mgshamster]

Since it's not optimal, then there's a very simple solution to this:

1) Pick Moon Druid
2) Get longsword proficiency from elf race
3) Get stealth proficiency from background
4) put your high stats in Strength, Dex, and then Wis

And there you have it. A PC which is good with the sword, with sneaking, and can shapeshift. Use your spell to buff yourself.

It doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

[Unoriginal]

Since it's not optimal, then there's a very simple solution to this:

1) Pick Moon Druid
2) Get longsword proficiency from elf race
3) Get stealth proficiency from background
4) put your high stats in Strength, Dex, and then Wis

And there you have it. A PC which is good with the sword, with sneaking, and can shapeshift. Use your spell to buff yourself.

It doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

All druids can shapeshift. Picking Moon Druid and using longsword is just a waste.

[mgshamster]

All druids can shapeshift. Picking Moon Druid and using longsword is just a waste.

OP doesn't care about lots of spells, so it would be better for him to have greater shifting powers. Seems like that would hit his idea of fun moreso than a land druid.

But either way; both would be a good choice for the fun factor.

[Crimlock]

Thanks for the reply's so far... what I conclude from the reactions: I could make a str, dex, wis druid OR I could dip druid (2 levels) and multiclass. It really depends on how good I want the character to be with his blade an do damage with it.

His backstory is that he grew up with druids and they were all destroyed by some supernatural beasts, he decided to hunt down all things oposing the normal natural world. He will become some sort of witcher like character, but instead of having potions and buffing spells, he has the ability to shift into animal shapes. But he also is skilled with his blade.

What classes would fit my background the best? Barbarian druid? Rogue druid? Ranger druid? Just full druid? Other? Which will be the best longsword fighter against demons, ghosts, monsters etc? (Not THE best.. but he must be good at it....)

[tieren]

Good advice so far.

lets take a moment to discuss what makes this a challenging build to focus on.

1. Druid is a full caster, for the most part full casters are best when they use their turns casting spells. the main thing you are limited on in combat is your actions (sometimes called the "action economy"). You can get proficient with a longsword and spend your turn swinging it, but you won't be as good as the non full casters (called "martials"); a fighter will generally be better at fighting than a mage.

2. There is not a lot of support for the longsword. Among the fighting styles there are people who like to use a one hand weapon and shield, and there are feats and fighting styles that support that, and there are people who like to use great big two handed weapons and there are feats and fighting styles that support that. A longsword doesn't really fit in either camp (unless you are only planning on using it 1-handed and want to use a shield. Using it without a shield you will always be behind the players using a larger 2 handed weapon.

3. Moon druid is great for melee, but generally done in the form of a beast (grizzly bear at early levels). The moon druid features are generally designed to let you turn into stronger animals for just this reason. If you go moon druid and don't fight in wildshape form you are kind of missing out on some of your key features. Land druid can shift for scouting utility purposes, but its features are about casting better and more often and not generally focused on melee.

I would suggest for you to take the 2 level dip in a land druid circle for the utility wildshapes. the other 3 levels I would take in a martial class. Fighter would give you the best sword options in my opinion, particularly as a battlemaster. Rogue would need a finesse weapon for sneak attack, barbarian would conflict with the casting abilities of the druid levels. Ranger might be a good choice if you find a subclass that appeals to you (recommend looking at the revised ranger UA article as a start) and thematically can fit well with the druid (both outdoorsy types with Wis as a casting stat).

[Crimlock]

Good suggestion :-)

I was just reading in the monster manual about what I need to fight undead and fiends... seems that I only need a magic weapon and I'm good to go :-)

Which martial class is recommended for combining with a druid? Monk or ranger seem nice, but are these good options? Ranger seems to be disliked... Monk is not really my flavour... so barbarian or fighter? Are these any good with druid?

[tieren]

Ranger kind of got a bad rap because the beast master described i the Phb works a little counter intuitive (back to issues with the action economy). Hunter rangers always were fine. the revised ranger in the UA really fixed beast master, imo, and had some nice boosts for hunters too, making favored enemy and natural explorer much more useful for instance.

If you don't like ranger or the UA isn't allowed then I still recommend a battlemaster fighter. The battlemaster maneuvers will give you some fun and useful things to do with your longsword to feel more effective.

[Sir cryosin]

You have too many things conflicting here. You want a long sword swings sneaky shapeshifter. So first you want levels in Druid for wild shape. So that means no metal armor so that's a hit to AC. Because you are going to need a good Stat in str, wis, con, dex. We are going to focus on str, wis, con. We can dump dex if you get prof in stealth and wildshape into a high dex creature. So let's turn to str you want to be a cool longsword user. Well we need to get you more damage add to you sword attack because as a Druid you only get one attack.


So I'm thinking for race v human and v half elf. The reason is to get green flame blade cantrips. I would go v human and put the two plus 1's in str and wis. Feat magic initiative wiz green flame blade, dancing lights 1st level spell find familiar. So now your not doing **** damage with your sword but your not doing fighter or paladin damage. So we pick stealth as are race skill. For weapons prof we are dipping one lv of fighter. If it was me I would go with a great sword and the great weapon fighting style. But you can go with longs word and dueling fighting style. Or we can go rogue still get prof with longs word and get expertise in stealth but we would need a 13 in dex to multiticlass. Oh ill also start off in fighter or rogue then go into Druid. So now we tackle AC.


For AC we can't rely on Armor because druids can't wear metal and leathers is no good with us dumping dex. So your going to rely on bark skin and shield giving 18 AC or if your two handing the long sword 16 AC from barkskin.

Now for what circle I would say circle of the land and go grassland for the spells pass with out trace and haste. Pass with out trace help you sneak better give you a +10 to stealth and haste give you +2 to AC and a extra attack and double movement speed.


P. S player tips if you want more damage use your concentration and bonus action on spells like flaming sphere, moon beam, heat metal. Also pick up healing word it's a nice to use because it range and a bonus action.

[dejarnjc]

I recommend playing a Paladin of the Ancients with a 2 level moon druid dip. Talk to your DM though and see if he's willing to allow a small change to the Multi-class rule so that you can multi-class into/out of Paladin with at least a 13 DEX instead of STR. If not, I recommend going a different race.

If your DM is cool then it's a bit MAD but entirely doable by dumping STR and INT and you can be DEX focused so as to utilize the +2 from being an Elf. The two levels of druid will give you solid shapeshifting and extra spell slots. The Paladin levels will allow you to utilize those slots for smites.

Paladins are also the best sword fighters against fiends because their divine smite ability adds bonus damage against those types and Paladins of the Ancients are specifically strong against fey because of their channel divinity feature.