5e Druid Handbook - Dreams, Land, Moon, and Shepherd

[ZamDev]

Love the guide! I've used it many times myself and have recommended it to my friends.

I do have one small correction though, regarding the Plesiosaurus. I'll just leave it down hear incase someone needs it.

Plesiosaurus: Another case of an aquatic animal which can hold its breath above water and has a bit of land movement. If your DM is like me, s/he won’t like the image. If your table is fine with it, plesiosaurus has huge amounts of hp and decent AC for the tier, and it even deals reasonable damage with reach. Consider buffing its movement, it could use it.

The Plesiosaurus doesn't actually have Waterbreathing. This means that it doesn't hold it's breath ABOVE water but BELOW water. This will almost never come up but if it does, just know that spending an hour swimming straight down into an ocean is a bad idea. Didn't work out so well for me lol. I suppose you could also waddle around on land if you wanted.

P.S. Being a druid that was frozen in ice from thousands of years can be pretty fun.
P.P.S. Also, sorry for bringing this up 6 years later.

[hymer]

@ ZamDev: Thank you for the praise, the plugs, and for the note! I'll correct that within the hour, now I have to go do a little bit of work.

Edit: Done. It was an easy fix. Could probably have managed that right away.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Archdruid, 20: Unlimited wild shapes. You can freshen up your wild shape as you like, giving you more flexibility, and unparalleled hit point recovery - a damage sponge of epic proportions. Probably the strongest capstone in the game. And then you get even more spells castable in wild shape when other components no longer apply.

Where does this come from. I can't see anything in the PHB that says other components don't apply in WS form?

[dejarnjc]

Where does this come from. I can't see anything in the PHB that says other components don't apply in WS form?

Page 68, under Archdruid "Additionally, you can ignore the verbal and somatic
components of your druid spells, as well as any material
components that lack a cost and aren't consumed by a
spell. You gain this benefit in both your normal shape
and your beast shape from Wild Shape,"

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

I hate when they split the text like that. Thank you.

[hymer]

@ th3g0dc0mp13x: I got tripped up by that, too. JumboWheat01 set me straight in the previous incarnation of the guide.

@ dejarnjc: Thanks for minding the desk while I was asleep!

[Mitth'raw'nuruo]

Subscribed.

[Wufflykins]

I feel like it's worth mentioning - because unless I'm wrong you can do the following:

Casting Conjure Fey at 7th level nets you a Korred, the Korred (CR 7) can cast Conjure Elementals and Conjure a Galeb Duhr (CR 6); the Galeb Duhr can then use it's animate Boulder's Action to animate two boulders with the same stats as the Galeb Duhr for a total of 4 creatures on the field.

Totaling 357 hit points on the field, a bunch of interesting actions with a heft sum of damage:

2x Rock. +9 to hit, range 60/120 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage, or 24 (4d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage if the korred is on the ground.

3x Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft ., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. 4d6 + 5 and a DC 16 knock down if you can bring 3 rolling charges to bear.

Probably niche in where you can actually use this - or maybe not depending on your DM; the Korred can also Stone Shape at will and make some boulders if it pleases.

Unless I've missed something which is completely possible.

Edit: Combining this with Circle of the Shepherd makes for some near broken prospects; Bear or Unicorn Spirits would net Druid 18 Temp HP or 13 HP per Healing Spell (at level 13) at the bare minimum; for 72 Temp HP or 52 HP per healing spell respectively. More once you factor allies and yourself.

[hymer]

@ Wufflykins: Thanks for the thought!
This was brought up by dejarnjc in the previous incarnation of the thread, too:

Seems that a druid with a 7th level slot can now summon quite a high CR army by using conjure fey with a 7th level slot to summon a CR7 Korred, which could then in turn summon a CR6 Galeb-Duhr, which could then animate 2 pseudo Galeb-Duhr boulders. The boulder ability does only last a minute though.

Of course a simple Fire Storm might always end u being a better use of the spell slot.

And I replied:

@ dejarnjc: That one struck me too. The chain of command may make it a little clunky, though. First you have to tell the korred it's time to go full boulders, and then the korred has to tell the galeb-duhr. If the initiative is against you, this could be a significant delay. But it surely is a lot of heavy friends to bring to a rumble.

Thinking about it now, I could see some DMs not ruling that the player can command all these creatures in detail. If there's a chain of command that has to be followed, it could be impossible in a battle situation for the druid to command the animated boulders. That said, I see no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to bring all these stony types to a fight.

[Kizik]

A thing I would note is an interaction between Mass Cure Wounds and the Shepherd's Unicorn Totem. From the way it's worded, one could argue that it pings everyone inside the aura for every heal done. So let's say you have 6 people in the circle, including yourself, and you're level 9 - the minimum to cast Mass Cure Wounds. 3d8+Wisdom for each person, then the totem triggers six times for +54 total to each target. For a single turn's worth of actions, that's rather powerful healing.

[hymer]

@ Kizik: Thanks for the thought!
I don't follow your reasoning. When (while affected by the unicorn totem) you 'cast a spell' that heals, you also heal allies inside the aura for your druid level in hp. This allows you to do quite a bit of healing with low level spell slots, but I don't see why the totem would be triggered more than once though Mass Cure Wounds heals several people. The trigger is the casting of the spell that heals, not the healing. Right?

[Solstron]

Some of my AL buddies want to run SKT and I may do a ranger/druid character. The gloom stalker plus Circle of the Land seems like a good combo and I'll take the sharpshooter feat as a human variant. I'd like to hear some thoughts about the ranger/druid multiclass.

[Armok]

Good guide! I especially appreciate a focus on alternatives beyond "wild shape into a bear and hit stuff", which is a mindset that I think really cripples a druids effectiveness.

As a note about Balm of the Summer Court, I think it bears mentionining that this is an ability and not a spell. Meaning that in addition to it basically being free healing words, it also doesn't have to play by the same rules as a spell. You can use it as a bonus action and then use your action to cast a full-on spell, as opposed to the usual "bonus action spell, action cantrip" rule! This is, in my humble opinion, the bees knees.

As a last little bit of feedback, it may be worth breaking the guide up with images as other guides do on occasion. The format is very text-dense as of now, which made it a bit straining on my tired eyes.

Thank you for taking the time to make this!

[Strangways]

As a note about Balm of the Summer Court, I think it bears mentionining that this is an ability and not a spell. Meaning that in addition to it basically being free healing words, it also doesn't have to play by the same rules as a spell. You can use it as a bonus action and then use your action to cast a full-on spell, as opposed to the usual "bonus action spell, action cantrip" rule! This is, in my humble opinion, the bees knees.

Not to mention that Balm has a massive, 120' range, double the range of Healing Word.

[hymer]

@Solstron: Offhand I'd suggest Grassland as your land. It gets you invisibility and haste, which should go well with a ranger.
But I've yet to see a Gloomstalker in play. I suggest you make a thread about this particular multiclass, and if you ask nicely I'm sure a lot of playgrounders will be happy to give you their thoughts on the subject.

@ Armok: Thank you, and I'm glad you've found it useful.
There will always be more that can be said about individual abilities. I think you're right that I should mention the non-spell nature of Balm. It's good to remind people of that rule on bonus action spellcasting. I'll put that on the list for the next update. Actually, I'll go take a look right now.
I'm sorry about your eyes. I was hoping that the use of the spoilers would allow sufficient breakup. I'm not that wild about using images, as I have to keep checking up on them to see if they're still there. But maybe I can do more double breaks or something. I'll try to keep it in mind for future updates.

Edit: One trick you can use is to reshape your browser window, and make it narrower. Or zoom in on the page (ctrl + mousewheel up on my system).

@ Strangways: Personally I've never been out of range for Healing Word when I wanted to use it. 60' seems quite sufficient.

[Waazraath]

Nice guide, and thanks for the update.

There is a lot of good advice in your guide. There are points where I can’t follow the rating though, not in itself, but especially compared to other features. I'll eleborate.

Ability scores: I’m surprised that str is rated lower than int and cha. All three are used for ‘less important saves’. The few int and cha saves that there are, really suck to fail (like maze, banishment). But strength saves are more common than those two, and str is also relevant when somebody tries to shove or grapple you. Besides that: you mention carrying capacity, but I'd like to stress it really is a thing in the rules. Mules and carts are often impossible to bring in a dungeon, and bag of holdings can't be taken for granted. Many adventurer has lost his or her life in a dungeon because the retreating partymember(s) not knocked out lacked the strength to carry / drag ‘em out.

Long story short: neither cha, int and str is a priority for a druid. But none is borderline useless, as you
phrased your lowest rating. Nor is str significantly weaker than the others.

Races:

Mountain dwarf is rated as “borderline useless”, with the accompanying text saying “nothing useful”. Well, except +2 con, and other dwarven goodies like resistance to poison and darkvision. Which you already rated as ‘decent’. Or should the rating of the base class and the sub class be seen as unrelated? In that case, I think it is rather difficult to read, because in that case the reader needs to make an average between the rating of the base and the sub class.

Wood elf is rated as “good”, which seems right: + wis, + dex, other useful abilities. But ghostwise halfling is just “decent”, though it gives + wis, + dex, and a number of other useful halfling abilities. It should be ‘good’, at least, but given the synergy between telepathy and wild shape, ‘great’ would be more appropriate, imo. In relation to the gnome: how can a forest gnome (+ dex, and + a useless ability) score higher?

Winged tiefling and Aarocra: how can the latter be just ‘good’, while the former is great? Their main point of attaction is the wings, but the Aarocra also has great stat increases, while the tiefling has very mediocre ones?

Firbolg: is more than decent imo. +2 wis in itself is good. Powerful build allows you to dump str without worrying about carrying capacity. Hidden step is a very good ability; it has utility, can be used defensivly (at the end of your turn), offensively (to gain advantage on an attack as a bonus action), and besides, druids don’t have invisibility on their spell list. Firbolg Magic is also a strong addtion to the druid’s arsenal, since disguise self isn’t on the spell list. Imo good, or even great.

Lizardfolk: how can this just be decent? The two best stat increases, wis and con! And it gives an additional AC, compared with the armors that druids can wear. That alone is great. Add other goodies, like a natural attack, swimming speed, and two(!) free, nature related skills… Than compare Yuan-Ti, which also is rated ‘decent’. Two terrible stat increases! Only one good (magic resistance) ability, and poision immunity. It just doesn’t compare, if you ask me.

Cantrips: I think guidence is underrated. Even though what you say is correct, and it might be less good than on a cleric, it’s a great cantrip in itself. Plenty of situations where you don’t have a concentration spell active, and aren’t wildshaped. "Could be a waste" really is too harsh an assessment.

[hymer]

@ Waazraath: Thanks for the praise and the notes!
I have a session in two hours, and I need to do a few chores first, so I'll just dash off a couple of lines, and then I'll edit for details when I find the time.
As for the subraces, they are in comparison to each other. Mountain vs. Hill, Ghostwise vs. Stout. You've already picked the race, now you need to pick the subrace. See what I mean?
As for strength, you can wild shape if you need strength. You don't have a similar mechanism to ignore your int or cha scores.

I'll be back!

Edit:

I haven’t played a Firbolg in an actual campaign, but it didn’t feel all that transformative in my experiments. Getting flight is a significant boost for a long time. Having proficiency in longbow and a good dex feels considerably more useful than flinging cantrips for quite a while. Those are races bonus I really feel while playing.
But playing a Firbolg doesn’t feel considerably better than average. 1 round-invisibility 1/rest is probably the most felt aspect, what with the bonus action activation (depending a little on exactly how the DM rules invisibility). It doesn’t do so well as a panic button, at least on its own. Any sustained pressure will keep you in trouble, unless you do something else defensive with your action. It’s certainly not bad, it’s just not all that good.
Disguise self has some uses, but several of those uses you can already do with wild shape – the parts about not being noticed, not arousing suspicion, or disguising your identity.

Lizardfolk get two skills and +1 AC until you start finding enchanted armour. The stat increases are good, but again, hardly transformative of the experience. All the rest you mention is wild shape covered, and quite situational.
As for yuan-ti, poison immunity is really good at low levels, while magic resistance is really good at high levels. Between them I just feel that much safer. It rates as decent in my book, unless the DM avoids poison, I guess. But most DMs love poison.

As for Guidance, I actually say that it is nearly must-have, and rate it decent. But I absolutely must shake readers out of any notion that this is as good as I’ve seen most guides rate it. I don’t know how often I’ve seen statements along the lines of “+1d4 on every skill check!” and a top rating. Druids find it another jot less useful, too. So I use a trick of rating it red, only to backpedal after the analysis and rating it green under the right circumstances.
The checks that you can get Guidance on are often checks you can reroll safely until you get a result you need. My sense is that you use it on about a third of all skill checks, and then it adds something like +12.5% chance you’ll succeed, while preventing something like Enhance Ability or Pass Without Trace.

You can always argue the exact colours, of course. The important part is in the text, so readers can decide whether they agree with my reasoning or not.

[Spacehamster]

Is not the +2 STR from mtn dorf and its +2 CON nice for the wildshapes since it states you get class and race perks over to your wild shapes, so a 18 STR animal would be a 20STR one as a mtn dorf or half orc? :)

[hymer]

@ Spacehamster: That would be a very lenient interpretation. Unfortunately, the text indicates that your physical ability scores (but not the mental ones) are superceded by those of the shape you assume. So racial bonuses to stats don't apply to your wild shape.
But the DM could rule it like you suggest, and in that case the +2 strength would be nice bonus to most wild shapes.

[Spacehamster]

@ Spacehamster: That would be a very lenient interpretation. Unfortunately, the text indicates that your physical ability scores (but not the mental ones) are superceded by those of the shape you assume. So racial bonuses to stats don't apply to your wild shape.
But the DM could rule it like you suggest, and in that case the +2 strength would be nice bonus to most wild shapes.

Yep replace whatever stat you have with the new beast stat, but it says nowhere to erase bonuses from ASI’s or race what I can remember so would at least say that it makes sense that a beefy Druid would make a beefy beast. :)
Agree its in DM control tho as its not really properly clarified, to me it always struck me as odd that a character who´s role is tank/striker depending on form can´t really improve his forms so our group is defo going with that
your racials and ASI´s gets added to the beasts. :)

[HMS Invincible]

My tempest cleric died, so my new stat rolls are pretty extreme ends of the spectrum.
13
5
17
7
11
12
What can I do with this? I'm thinking normal human to get a well rounded character(get boosts to 5 out of 6 stats), and maybe wild-shaping to compensate for my terrible scores. It's for tomb of annihilation, and we're level 4. I got punished pretty bad for casting spells of an evil deity, so no evil deities while casting spells. My other option might be a barbarian or rogue. (Just play them aggressively, and see how long he lasts.)

[MaxWilson]

My tempest cleric died, so my new stat rolls are pretty extreme ends of the spectrum.
13
5
17
7
11
12
What can I do with this? I'm thinking normal human to get a well rounded character(get boosts to 5 out of 6 stats), and maybe wild-shaping to compensate for my terrible scores. It's for tomb of annihilation, and we're level 4. I got punished pretty bad for casting spells of an evil deity, so no evil deities while casting spells. My other option might be a barbarian or rogue. (Just play them aggressively, and see how long he lasts.)

Those aren't terrible scores at all. If you want to go druid, you can obviously have a good Moon Druid even if you roll 3s in every stat--but you've got a 17! You could for example make a perfectly dandy loudmouthed braggart Sharpshooter Fighter: human Strength 7 Dex 18 (17+1) Con 14 (13+1) Int 11 Wis 12 Cha 5 w/ Sharpshooter. (He's wise enough to know that he offends people by talking about himself so much but he just doesn't care, hence Cha 5.) Could go Arcane Archer or Eldritch Knight as you prefer.

Basically you can excel at any SAD class or multiclass: Sorlock, Fighter, Rogue, Bardlock, Wizard, Druid, etc.

[hymer]

@ HMS Invincible: Your post doesn't seem to be particularly about druids, so I've started a thread to bring this question to the playgrounders.

[HMS Invincible]

I just finished my last session, and to my surprise we have another moon druid. Is there any synergy from two moon druids in a single party? I'm thinking he goes wolf at level 4, and I go bear or velociraptor for the cool points.
Otherwise, should one of us hang back and cast bark skin?
Lastly, does magic armor resize to fit large creatures?

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Lastly, does magic armor resize to fit large creatures?

Within reason yes, this is super dm dependant.

General rule: Your equipment doesn't change size or shape to match the new form,

Specific rule: In most cases, a magic item that's meant to be worn can fit a creature regardless of size or build. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or they magically adjust themselves to the wearer.

[hymer]

@ HMS: Most synergies between two druids of the same circle won’t be much better than the synergies between a druid and some other class. Still, I can think of a few possibilities: As you mention, a dire wolf can be a good companion to a bear (depending on initative), as to a paladin or barbarian. Lion forms do well against prone opponents, getting a bonus action attack against them, and they can knock people prone if they charge. A dire wolf/lion combo may be effective. Or a pair of lions will be less defensively oriented, but more flexible about initiative, and with the lion’s decent Stealth (2 points better than dire wolves).
As for one of you hanging back and concentrating on Barkskin, I think it is very likely to be more effective for the caster to concentrate on, say, Entangle. A combination of a grappling form (Giant Constrictor Snake comes online at level 6; at CR 1 I can only think of Giant Octopus off-hand) and a spell like Moonbeam or Flaming Sphere could be something to try. A knocking-down shape and a grappling one should also synergize decently if initiative allows, or if they use some readied actions.
At any rate, coordinating your spell selections is an excellent idea. You can either complement each other by picking mostly different spells, or you can prepare to switch roles when one of you runs out of wild shapes or spells, and so have very similar lists prepared.

@th3g0dc0mp13x;22880074: I agree with what you say, though I believe 'build' is supposed to be referring to the differences between an elf and a goliath, and less a human and a giant spider. But as you say, ask the DM.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

@th3g0dc0mp13x;22880074: I agree with what you say, though I believe 'build' is supposed to be referring to the differences between an elf and a goliath, and less a human and a giant spider. But as you say, ask the DM.

Agreed, I was thinking more like bears and the like or something that could conceivably wear barding. to be fair I didn't articulate that at all.

[HMS Invincible]

Agreed, I was thinking more like bears and the like or something that could conceivably wear barding. to be fair I didn't articulate that at all.

The problem we're trying to avoid is taking the time to don armor. Unless you can wear barding as clothing, and then you grow into it in bear form...
Actually, I should just get a bracer or cloak of defense, it's very similar.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

My dm and i are throwing a few ideas back and forth. since my tanking ability will start to drop at about lvl 5-6. so far we've come up with the following

• IronWood Half-Plate which was specifically enchanted to change with wild shapes. (medium and large creatures only)
• Having my character create a Druid's Ring of Barkskin. Cast's barkskin on self while wildshaped.
• Having my character train at a monastery for a little while and gain unarmored defense from the monks there.

Hope that helps.

[HMS Invincible]

My dm and i are throwing a few ideas back and forth. since my tanking ability will start to drop at about lvl 5-6. so far we've come up with the following

• IronWood Half-Plate which was specifically enchanted to change with wild shapes. (medium and large creatures only)
• Having my character create a Druid's Ring of Barkskin. Cast's barkskin on self while wildshaped.
• Having my character train at a monastery for a little while and gain unarmored defense from the monks there.

Hope that helps.

You can't stack Monk + Barbarian, IIRC. From what I can tell, the campaign for ToA is lowish to mid level magic. Like there's definitely magic items, but loot and shopping is very restricted. Like I was lucky to get a weapon that emits dim light.