My table is RP heavy, so I took Magic Initiate: Wizard. Now at 10, my druid has Mold Earth, Shape Water, Gust, Produce Flame, a familiar (find Familiar) I'm debating taking Control Flame as my new cantrip, plus Shileleigh. Shes the Avatar lol though I have not yet been in much of an RP setting (we're in what a veteran player calls a funhouse dungeon crawl)
I get a LOT of use out of Mold Earth and Produce Flame in some of our RP segments though. And my Familiar is really just kind of... there. But he's good for giving my heals some distance
I'll argue that Protector Assimar is a an underrated choice for a druid. The only drawbacks are that you get one less skill proficency than you would as most other races and you get a +2 to the charisma dump stat. I talked with my DM and she allowed me to take the Druidcraft Cantrip instead of Light since it was overall more thematic. Freeing up my other two cantrips at level 1 to be Mold Earth and Thorn Whip.
However the positives far outweigh the negatives. You maintain resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage while in wildshape, you get a fly speed five levels early (for one minute) making it possible for you to pick up an enemy in flying bear form and drag them along Spike Growth the same time you get access to second level spells. Giving any of your wildshape's and your caster form a non-concentration flight speed is super handy when combined with the Mobile feat+longstrider, allowing hit and run tactics on ground based melee enemies without invoking attacks of opportunity. Concentrate on Wind Wall to shut down pesky archers and glide over your own created difficult terrain.
On top of that, the bonus damage to one attack or spell equal to your level is fantastic for druids since it covers one of the druids few weaknesses: they do less overall damage than other classes.
The action economy is a little messed up, but I'd still rather spend an action activating radiant soul than casting mirror image. One of my favourite early battlee was to cast Heat metal on my first turn, dealing 2d8 fire damage, on my second turn activate radiant soul; inflicting 2d8+3 damage as a bonus action without a save. Every turn after that was spent tossing Ice Knife and becoming everyone worst nightmare: Giant Flying Spider.
On an unrelated note: I ******* love the Ritual Caster feat. I always end up taking it at level 8 if I'm not playing Variant Human.
I feel like flight is overrated in online stuff. Im not saying it's bad. I like the flavor you're talking about though!
I want to like ritual caster:wizard, but ritual caster for any other class is kind of a waste. Its hard for me to justify wizard stuff for druid though. I had a lengthy discussion about it with my group (out of session, not during, because I think druids should get SOME kind of animal companion)
Druids can easily get a friendly animal companion the same way any character can buy a trained warhorse, but Druids can do the training themselves. If I was a DM I’d let any Druid use their skills and spells to befriend and train any animal as a companion. They wouldn’t have any special abilities like a Ranger’s animal companion does, but they’d have all of the flavor and would be able to assist in combat too.
I play a Level 15 human druid with Circle of the Land and "Grasslands" as my favoured terrain, and this is really my first character that I've played in more than a one-off or casual game with my kids. It's just...a LOT. It's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot to manage. I'm enjoying it, but I'm finding that my experience confirms what a lot of more experienced players are saying: Druid is a lot to bite off for a new player like me, and there's definitely a learning curve. Lots of abilities and feats to manage, and I know I'm not utilizing my character's abilities to his full potential.
I don't use wild shape that much as I'm more of a spellcaster, but it's come in handy now and again, especially when our gnome articifer jumps on my back and we fly recon missions, or when our ranger and I both cast Conjure Animal and ended up with a squadron of giant eagles (including me) to take on a dragon. I took the Observant feat, and now my passive perception is 30, with a +15 as my active perception bonus. It's pretty stellar. And with my shield and a cloak of protection, my AC is 18, so I'm not as squishy as some other druids, and definitely not the squishiest in my party (which is great, because then I can save all my armor buff spells for the other members). I have a Staff of Restoration, which can hold charges of Cure Wounds, Mass Cure Wounds, Revivify, and Lesser Restoration. I also have a sword, but I'm realizing I don't really need it, as I can cast Shillelagh as a cantrip on my staff and do a comparable amount of damage. Besides, I'm rarely that close to opponents that I have much call for melee fighting.
Just last night we finished the last of three sessions in which we fought an ancient black dragon that was attacking Baldur's Gate at the same time as a huge force of azer. So I've been viewing my priorities as 1) Buff the crap out of my teammates with spells like Haste, Enhance Ability, Barkskin/Stoneskin, etc, and 2) lay some destruction with AoE spells like Call Lightning and Fire Storm. I basically ended up in a tower looking down at the combat zone and called in magical artillery.
A couple of months ago (one of my first sessions with this group) we found ourselves facing three black dragons, so I cast Haste on our Goliath Paladin/Fighter, and so in addition to his Action Surge and all of the other perks he got (as well as a couple of well-timed Nat20s), the dude ended up totally destroying one dragon and seriously damaging another all in one turn.
Up next we have the Big Boss fight that we've been prepping for for the past several months, where we'll take on a number of fire giants and azer led by a fire giant dreadnought, so I'm preparing a number of water-based AoE spells like Tidal Wave and Tsunami in addition to damage spells that require a DEX save, plus some of the buffs that I have always prepared.
It's been interesting learning both the D&D world in general and druids in particular. I feel like a lot of the other stuff that comes with druid...like Druidic, druidcraft, and a lot of the "become one with nature" spells...are really more there for RP choices, which I would totally be down with, but my party hasn't really gone in that direction. Most of us in the party have joined within the last six months, and there are only two original guys (out of the seven of us, including the DM), and we're not really that invested in the campaign. I joined at level 12, and pretty much jumped right into the action and their existing storyline, and haven't had an opportunity to get into any of my character's backstory. So we're going to finish up this chapter and probably move on to a new campaign in a world of our DM's creation, so I'm playing a totally different character there.
i absolutely love this, i used this to decimate buildings in my home group.
i played a lightfoot with the lucky feat, and started with the folk hero background. i took proficiency with mason's tools and took mold earth as a cantrip. my GM allowed it to affect buildings, so i used it in conjucture with a staff of the python to make a sort of wall buster.
i would generally use the staff as a distraction while id wildshape into a small animal like a rat and make my way into the castle while the party kept the commotion going with the snake. id drop a small plant into whatever room we needed to go to and make my way out. under cover of night we'd use transport via plants and take out the target, then leave without even raising the alarms.
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the weirder the idea, the better. usually though just kaboom
That seems rather different than the mechanics of the spell (or wildshape) seem to work. The plants you transport between should be large (as in the mechanical description of large.) Even plant growth wouldn’t make a small plant jump from small to large. Also, many people would notice a large plant (not exactly sure what that means in plant terms, but bigger than medium) in their rooms. Finally, unless you are a rat dragging a potted plant behind you, I wouldn’t allow you to transport via cut flowers anymore than I’d allow transport via buildings made by some part wood.
we are still new to the game, so alot of the stuff that happens is a little broken. for example, the paladin has a coffin with an infinite demiplane inside it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
the weirder the idea, the better. usually though just kaboom
we are still new to the game, so alot of the stuff that happens is a little broken. for example, the paladin has a coffin with an infinite demiplane inside it.
what about Tortles?
My table is RP heavy, so I took Magic Initiate: Wizard. Now at 10, my druid has Mold Earth, Shape Water, Gust, Produce Flame, a familiar (find Familiar) I'm debating taking Control Flame as my new cantrip, plus Shileleigh. Shes the Avatar lol though I have not yet been in much of an RP setting (we're in what a veteran player calls a funhouse dungeon crawl)
I get a LOT of use out of Mold Earth and Produce Flame in some of our RP segments though. And my Familiar is really just kind of... there. But he's good for giving my heals some distance
I'll argue that Protector Assimar is a an underrated choice for a druid. The only drawbacks are that you get one less skill proficency than you would as most other races and you get a +2 to the charisma dump stat. I talked with my DM and she allowed me to take the Druidcraft Cantrip instead of Light since it was overall more thematic. Freeing up my other two cantrips at level 1 to be Mold Earth and Thorn Whip.
However the positives far outweigh the negatives. You maintain resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage while in wildshape, you get a fly speed five levels early (for one minute) making it possible for you to pick up an enemy in flying bear form and drag them along Spike Growth the same time you get access to second level spells. Giving any of your wildshape's and your caster form a non-concentration flight speed is super handy when combined with the Mobile feat+longstrider, allowing hit and run tactics on ground based melee enemies without invoking attacks of opportunity. Concentrate on Wind Wall to shut down pesky archers and glide over your own created difficult terrain.
On top of that, the bonus damage to one attack or spell equal to your level is fantastic for druids since it covers one of the druids few weaknesses: they do less overall damage than other classes.
The action economy is a little messed up, but I'd still rather spend an action activating radiant soul than casting mirror image. One of my favourite early battlee was to cast Heat metal on my first turn, dealing 2d8 fire damage, on my second turn activate radiant soul; inflicting 2d8+3 damage as a bonus action without a save. Every turn after that was spent tossing Ice Knife and becoming everyone worst nightmare: Giant Flying Spider.
On an unrelated note: I ******* love the Ritual Caster feat. I always end up taking it at level 8 if I'm not playing Variant Human.
I feel like flight is overrated in online stuff. Im not saying it's bad. I like the flavor you're talking about though!
I want to like ritual caster:wizard, but ritual caster for any other class is kind of a waste. Its hard for me to justify wizard stuff for druid though. I had a lengthy discussion about it with my group (out of session, not during, because I think druids should get SOME kind of animal companion)
Druids can easily get a friendly animal companion the same way any character can buy a trained warhorse, but Druids can do the training themselves. If I was a DM I’d let any Druid use their skills and spells to befriend and train any animal as a companion. They wouldn’t have any special abilities like a Ranger’s animal companion does, but they’d have all of the flavor and would be able to assist in combat too.
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I play a Level 15 human druid with Circle of the Land and "Grasslands" as my favoured terrain, and this is really my first character that I've played in more than a one-off or casual game with my kids. It's just...a LOT. It's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot to manage. I'm enjoying it, but I'm finding that my experience confirms what a lot of more experienced players are saying: Druid is a lot to bite off for a new player like me, and there's definitely a learning curve. Lots of abilities and feats to manage, and I know I'm not utilizing my character's abilities to his full potential.
I don't use wild shape that much as I'm more of a spellcaster, but it's come in handy now and again, especially when our gnome articifer jumps on my back and we fly recon missions, or when our ranger and I both cast Conjure Animal and ended up with a squadron of giant eagles (including me) to take on a dragon. I took the Observant feat, and now my passive perception is 30, with a +15 as my active perception bonus. It's pretty stellar. And with my shield and a cloak of protection, my AC is 18, so I'm not as squishy as some other druids, and definitely not the squishiest in my party (which is great, because then I can save all my armor buff spells for the other members). I have a Staff of Restoration, which can hold charges of Cure Wounds, Mass Cure Wounds, Revivify, and Lesser Restoration. I also have a sword, but I'm realizing I don't really need it, as I can cast Shillelagh as a cantrip on my staff and do a comparable amount of damage. Besides, I'm rarely that close to opponents that I have much call for melee fighting.
Just last night we finished the last of three sessions in which we fought an ancient black dragon that was attacking Baldur's Gate at the same time as a huge force of azer. So I've been viewing my priorities as 1) Buff the crap out of my teammates with spells like Haste, Enhance Ability, Barkskin/Stoneskin, etc, and 2) lay some destruction with AoE spells like Call Lightning and Fire Storm. I basically ended up in a tower looking down at the combat zone and called in magical artillery.
A couple of months ago (one of my first sessions with this group) we found ourselves facing three black dragons, so I cast Haste on our Goliath Paladin/Fighter, and so in addition to his Action Surge and all of the other perks he got (as well as a couple of well-timed Nat20s), the dude ended up totally destroying one dragon and seriously damaging another all in one turn.
Up next we have the Big Boss fight that we've been prepping for for the past several months, where we'll take on a number of fire giants and azer led by a fire giant dreadnought, so I'm preparing a number of water-based AoE spells like Tidal Wave and Tsunami in addition to damage spells that require a DEX save, plus some of the buffs that I have always prepared.
It's been interesting learning both the D&D world in general and druids in particular. I feel like a lot of the other stuff that comes with druid...like Druidic, druidcraft, and a lot of the "become one with nature" spells...are really more there for RP choices, which I would totally be down with, but my party hasn't really gone in that direction. Most of us in the party have joined within the last six months, and there are only two original guys (out of the seven of us, including the DM), and we're not really that invested in the campaign. I joined at level 12, and pretty much jumped right into the action and their existing storyline, and haven't had an opportunity to get into any of my character's backstory. So we're going to finish up this chapter and probably move on to a new campaign in a world of our DM's creation, so I'm playing a totally different character there.
i absolutely love this, i used this to decimate buildings in my home group.
i played a lightfoot with the lucky feat, and started with the folk hero background. i took proficiency with mason's tools and took mold earth as a cantrip. my GM allowed it to affect buildings, so i used it in conjucture with a staff of the python to make a sort of wall buster.
i would generally use the staff as a distraction while id wildshape into a small animal like a rat and make my way into the castle while the party kept the commotion going with the snake. id drop a small plant into whatever room we needed to go to and make my way out. under cover of night we'd use transport via plants and take out the target, then leave without even raising the alarms.
the weirder the idea, the better. usually though just kaboom
That seems rather different than the mechanics of the spell (or wildshape) seem to work. The plants you transport between should be large (as in the mechanical description of large.) Even plant growth wouldn’t make a small plant jump from small to large. Also, many people would notice a large plant (not exactly sure what that means in plant terms, but bigger than medium) in their rooms. Finally, unless you are a rat dragging a potted plant behind you, I wouldn’t allow you to transport via cut flowers anymore than I’d allow transport via buildings made by some part wood.
we are still new to the game, so alot of the stuff that happens is a little broken. for example, the paladin has a coffin with an infinite demiplane inside it.
the weirder the idea, the better. usually though just kaboom
That is indeed incredibly broken lol ^__^
Part two pls >.<