D&D's Druid: Circle of the Shepherd Appearing in 'Xanathar's Guide to Everything'

Todd Kenreck: The Druid Circle of The Shepherd's primary strength is summoning creatures and then enhancing their entire party. I talk to Mike Mearls about this latest subclass in Xanathar's Guide to Everything.

Mike Mearls: The Circle of the Shepherd focuses on animals, specifically in their role as a druid are animals that can't otherwise defend themselves. Animals that would normally might be prey for a predator or hunters and so forth. That's what their role is compared to a Druid, Circle of the Moon, which is more about bringing out the animal within or Circle of Land whose about protecting the land itself.

The interesting thing about Circle of the Shepherd is it's very good at summoning creatures. Beasts that they summon get a few buffs and they also have an ability to bring out totems to summon a totem creature, which is essentially a spirit. It's not a creature that fights, but it instead creates an aura around itself that can buff your allies. That also extends ... They have some abilities to allow their summoned creatures to get some healing each round and things like that from a similar type ... From the totem type thing.

The idea is really it's the Druid that you could imagine, is wandering around through the forest or any other wild area and they have rabbits following them, and birds, and things like that. This idea is that they have a very strong connection to the creatures of nature as opposed to the Circle of Land's connection to the land itself.

I mean, obviously if you're summoning creatures with spells and having them attack, the idea isn't that it's not ... You're not pulling some creature from ... It's just this bear just hanging out in the woods and now you've pulled it through. It's more this idea of using your magic to create a creature that is representation of what a bear is, or what a Fay creature is and things like that. You're turning animals against your enemies or against people who despoil the natural world.

Todd Kenreck: There's no ethical concern there for-

Mike Mearls: Yeah, right. Now, it's something that comes up because obviously what you'll see a lot of times, people will do things like ... I've been there. Right? Okay, we're in this trap-filled dungeon. Well, summon a creature and have it just walk back and forth down the hallway and see what it triggers. Right? Things like that.

No, the idea is it's not actually ... It is a creature in the sense like it can bleed, it can have spells cast on it and so like that, but it's a representation of a creature rather than the creature itself. You're not opening a portal and pulling a bear from the forest and throwing it into combat because also, these things ... As long as the magic spell's active they obey your commands. They're things that you have created.

Typically, there are some like Planar Binding spells are more about ... You actually speak to a creature from the other planes, but those spells also require you to try to find a way to control the creature or bargain with it to bring it over to your service. That's a big difference. If a creature ... If you just summon a creature, just shows up and does whatever you want, it's either mindless, like an Elemental or effectively mindless, or it's this idea it is a creature, but it's really just a magical representation of the creature that's brought in and made flesh. If you have to convince the creature to serve you, then that's more in the realm of you've actually called a creature and it has traveled through the planes and now you're trying to control it, compel it, or whatever you might be trying to do.

This Druid's a little bit like the Circle of the Land Druid, that they're more ... A little bit more of a spell caster because they're ... They get some class features that augment their summons like, for instance, beasts they summon have more hit points than normal. They also are a little bit more supportive because they can conjure that totem that appears and can grant a buff to their allies. They're a little bit like Circle of the Land, but rather than being focused on general spell casting, they're a little bit more focused on providing party support.

Todd Kenreck: You can find the Druid's Circle of the Shepherd in Xanathar's Guide to Everything. That book is available for purchase on dndbeyond.com. If you follow the link this video description, you can earn pre order bonuses as well. I'm Todd Kenreck, thank you for watching.