I don't have any experience with Druids but they fascinate me. So I started building a character. A couple notes:
Good damage cantrips are scarce! Create Bonfire is meh. Fire damage is relatively common to resist. D8 damage with no other effect is not very good. Frostbite has a nice effect at low levels (before multi-attack becomes the norm), but Con save is the worst kind. The effect of Infestation looks fun and flavorful, but another Con save. Lots of Con saves! I won't go through the whole list, but Shillelagh intrigued me but it does not scale. Primal Savagery is a good damage die, it scales, it's very thematic, but you do have to get in close and melee characters as a spell caster.
When I thought about Primal Savagery and having to get into melee, immediately Tortle jumped out at me. With your wooden shield, your AC jumps to 19 right at level 1! I love the flavor of having a swampy Tortle as a druid. The d8 hit dice is a touch below most martial classes. A 16 Con is kind of necessary since I don't want to go with Moon Druid. Plus a high Con will help with concentration saves.
Not a lot of good spell choices at level 1 in my opinion, but I think I was able to piece a decent list together. Final spells: Guidance, Primal Savagery, Absorb Elements, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Goodberry. <-- Any spell choices you would change? What are the known "go to" spells for low-mid level Druids?
Any Druidic advice? Besides Moon Druid (not my preferred play style), what is your favorite subclass and why? Here's my character, using point buy:
Don't overlook Produce Flame and Thorn Whip cantrips. Both attack roll, the former acts as a mediocre light source and whilst the latter might be lower damage, it has both a control element and can be used at range and in melee. Shillelagh doesn't scale (or rather, only scales with Wisdom bonus) but will outperform Primal Savagery until ~L11. If you want to melee as a non-moon druid, look into Circle of Spores.
As for lack of good L1 spells, Druids have some amazing first level spells (my top picks bolded):
Absorb Elements - probably not going to see much use at low levels, but later on it is awesome.
Animal Friendship - can be encounter ending/avoiding at low levels, or gets you a scouting pet. Lasts 24h.
Charm Person - bit meh tbh
Create or Destroy Water - situational
Cure Wounds - eclipsed in utility by goodberry and helaing word.
Detect Magic - for the Wizards
Detect Poison and Disease - situational
Entangle - great control. Grants avantage to allies
Faerie Fire - less control, dex instead of str save, also grants advantage. Handy in low light with human allies.
Fog Cloud - can be ok, not really used it much myself
Goodberry - awesome - cast it with a spare spell slot at bed time, lasts 24h
Healing Word - bonus action clutch heal. Your allies will thank you.
Jump - situational
Longstrider - situational
Purify Food and Drink - situational
Speak with Animals - clever use can make encounters much easier
Thunderwave - its OK, but you're better off controlling and letting others deal damage
Since you can prepare any spell, even the situational ones may get some use.
Good damage options for cantrips aren’t really the druid’s wheelhouse for sure. The only ones that I take consistently are Produce Flame and Guidance. Produce flame is a free, mediocre torch and has an OK range, and Guidance is never not useful. I’ve taken Frostbite before on an arctic, land druid, it wasn’t bad despite the Con Saves, and 60 range is nice. Thornwhip is fun if you want to yeet things off cliffs or pull things around. Shape water also has a lot of fun utility options. I don’t really like too many of the melee cantrips since I try to avoid melee range in the first place, so I never take them. Primal Savagery and Shillelagh are solid tho.
I pretty much agree with what Buxton said as far as Level 1 druid spells go. Most of them are quite good and will still be worth preparing even very late into the game. My personal favorites are Faerie Fire (I almost always take it and have yet to regret it), Healing Word, Entangle, Longstrider (more handy than you’d think), and Cure Wounds. Cure wounds isn’t great on its own, but I personally make a lot of healer builds, so I tend to prepare it anyway.
As for druid advice I guess I’d say…Short resting while in wild-shape is legal and may be useful. Cast your Goodberries before you long rest so you can keep some for the next day. Wild-shaping for combat isn’t great unless you’re a Moon-Druid.
Its hard to pick a favorite Druid subclass, but I’d play any single one of the before I play Moon. Shapeshifting is just not my vibe. I’ve enjoyed Wildfire for the teleporting companion (the tp is extremely handy), and the extra non-concentration, always-prepared damaging spells. I liked playing Dreams Druid for the Balm of the Summer Court, I like to use Dreams in some of my healer-centric builds. I enjoyed Stars, I think its one of the best Druid subclasses out there, but its not my favorite. Recently I started playing a Shepherd, and I really love it. I love summoners, and I built the character as a healer-type, so I like how the Unicorn totem is AoE. I also like how this subclass gets “Speak with Animals” as a level 2 feature. I like talking with creatures but could never justify the spell slot. Spores was ok. Not my favorite thing.
Just keep in mind a d8 does an average of 1 less damage than a d10, and a d6 does 2 less. It's not a big deal. Thorn Whip has a lot of fun to be had, and counts as a melee attack, which can be great, and Produce Flame is just super stylish. Don't get me wrong, I also like Primal Savagery, so go with what moves ya.
I want to put in a good word for Mending if you can cram it in (maybe everyone else has Guidance?). Cover up a break-and-enter. Repair that steel grate the barbarian tore from the sewer to stop the guards following you. Fix up those raggedy clothes for the poor old man who knows where the mcguffin is. It's probably the spell I most often regret not taking.
(I took a Fire Genasi Druid of the Land: MORE CANTRIPS).
For spells 1st level and above, as Buxton says, you don't need to choose, since you can just switch out what you've got memorised after a long rest. E.g. if your party doesn't have detect magic available as a ritual, it's best to have prepared, but at a pinch you can always take all your loot away then grab the spell on a long rest.
Healing Word is, though, non-negotiable IMO. Anything else is optional, but you have to have this one. I really think you're letting the team down if you don't have it on tap.
And yeah, the best armour you can get plus shield plus as much DEX and CON as you can wrangle = a solid off-tank that isn't too scared of melee on occasion, and can help fend things off the squishies. If it gets you more DEX, an odd-number in CON is worth it so you can pick up the Resilient feat at level 4 or 8 - you need that CON save proficiency anyway.
Thorn Whip can help pull targets into your Spike Growth spell once you get 2nd level spells. But definitely like Guidance and Produce Flame for a short ranged attack. I also have Primal Savagery on my level 13 Land (Mountain) Druid in case something gets in my face.
An additional point in thorn whip's favour is that because it's a ranged melee attack it combines with the extra damage from absorb elements, enabling you to use it at range. There aren't many other effects that combine with it in this way, that's the only one I can remember offhand, but because it's a ranged melee attack it does have that possibility (anything that affects melee attacks will work).
For cantrips I'd say that guidance plus thorn whip are my personal preferences. But also I will always argue with the DM that I should get druidcraft for free (because seriously, why don't druids get it for free?).
I don't have any experience with Druids but they fascinate me. So I started building a character. A couple notes:
Good damage cantrips are scarce! Create Bonfire is meh. Fire damage is relatively common to resist. D8 damage with no other effect is not very good. Frostbite has a nice effect at low levels (before multi-attack becomes the norm), but Con save is the worst kind. The effect of Infestation looks fun and flavorful, but another Con save. Lots of Con saves! I won't go through the whole list, but Shillelagh intrigued me but it does not scale. Primal Savagery is a good damage die, it scales, it's very thematic, but you do have to get in close and melee characters as a spell caster.
When I thought about Primal Savagery and having to get into melee, immediately Tortle jumped out at me. With your wooden shield, your AC jumps to 19 right at level 1! I love the flavor of having a swampy Tortle as a druid. The d8 hit dice is a touch below most martial classes. A 16 Con is kind of necessary since I don't want to go with Moon Druid. Plus a high Con will help with concentration saves.
Not a lot of good spell choices at level 1 in my opinion, but I think I was able to piece a decent list together. Final spells: Guidance, Primal Savagery, Absorb Elements, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Goodberry. <-- Any spell choices you would change? What are the known "go to" spells for low-mid level Druids?
Any Druidic advice? Besides Moon Druid (not my preferred play style), what is your favorite subclass and why? Here's my character, using point buy:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/SeanJP/characters/68599141
EDIT: Just retooled that character to be an under boss for my players' next session, so I'll build another one to play with in a future campaign.
Don't overlook Produce Flame and Thorn Whip cantrips. Both attack roll, the former acts as a mediocre light source and whilst the latter might be lower damage, it has both a control element and can be used at range and in melee. Shillelagh doesn't scale (or rather, only scales with Wisdom bonus) but will outperform Primal Savagery until ~L11. If you want to melee as a non-moon druid, look into Circle of Spores.
As for lack of good L1 spells, Druids have some amazing first level spells (my top picks bolded):
Since you can prepare any spell, even the situational ones may get some use.
Welcome to the wild side. Druid’s are awesome!
Good damage options for cantrips aren’t really the druid’s wheelhouse for sure. The only ones that I take consistently are Produce Flame and Guidance. Produce flame is a free, mediocre torch and has an OK range, and Guidance is never not useful. I’ve taken Frostbite before on an arctic, land druid, it wasn’t bad despite the Con Saves, and 60 range is nice. Thornwhip is fun if you want to yeet things off cliffs or pull things around. Shape water also has a lot of fun utility options. I don’t really like too many of the melee cantrips since I try to avoid melee range in the first place, so I never take them. Primal Savagery and Shillelagh are solid tho.
I pretty much agree with what Buxton said as far as Level 1 druid spells go. Most of them are quite good and will still be worth preparing even very late into the game. My personal favorites are Faerie Fire (I almost always take it and have yet to regret it), Healing Word, Entangle, Longstrider (more handy than you’d think), and Cure Wounds. Cure wounds isn’t great on its own, but I personally make a lot of healer builds, so I tend to prepare it anyway.
As for druid advice I guess I’d say…Short resting while in wild-shape is legal and may be useful. Cast your Goodberries before you long rest so you can keep some for the next day. Wild-shaping for combat isn’t great unless you’re a Moon-Druid.
Its hard to pick a favorite Druid subclass, but I’d play any single one of the before I play Moon. Shapeshifting is just not my vibe. I’ve enjoyed Wildfire for the teleporting companion (the tp is extremely handy), and the extra non-concentration, always-prepared damaging spells. I liked playing Dreams Druid for the Balm of the Summer Court, I like to use Dreams in some of my healer-centric builds. I enjoyed Stars, I think its one of the best Druid subclasses out there, but its not my favorite. Recently I started playing a Shepherd, and I really love it. I love summoners, and I built the character as a healer-type, so I like how the Unicorn totem is AoE. I also like how this subclass gets “Speak with Animals” as a level 2 feature. I like talking with creatures but could never justify the spell slot. Spores was ok. Not my favorite thing.
Just keep in mind a d8 does an average of 1 less damage than a d10, and a d6 does 2 less. It's not a big deal. Thorn Whip has a lot of fun to be had, and counts as a melee attack, which can be great, and Produce Flame is just super stylish. Don't get me wrong, I also like Primal Savagery, so go with what moves ya.
I want to put in a good word for Mending if you can cram it in (maybe everyone else has Guidance?). Cover up a break-and-enter. Repair that steel grate the barbarian tore from the sewer to stop the guards following you. Fix up those raggedy clothes for the poor old man who knows where the mcguffin is. It's probably the spell I most often regret not taking.
(I took a Fire Genasi Druid of the Land: MORE CANTRIPS).
For spells 1st level and above, as Buxton says, you don't need to choose, since you can just switch out what you've got memorised after a long rest. E.g. if your party doesn't have detect magic available as a ritual, it's best to have prepared, but at a pinch you can always take all your loot away then grab the spell on a long rest.
Healing Word is, though, non-negotiable IMO. Anything else is optional, but you have to have this one. I really think you're letting the team down if you don't have it on tap.
And yeah, the best armour you can get plus shield plus as much DEX and CON as you can wrangle = a solid off-tank that isn't too scared of melee on occasion, and can help fend things off the squishies. If it gets you more DEX, an odd-number in CON is worth it so you can pick up the Resilient feat at level 4 or 8 - you need that CON save proficiency anyway.
Thorn Whip can help pull targets into your Spike Growth spell once you get 2nd level spells. But definitely like Guidance and Produce Flame for a short ranged attack. I also have Primal Savagery on my level 13 Land (Mountain) Druid in case something gets in my face.
And I agree with others suggestions above.
An additional point in thorn whip's favour is that because it's a ranged melee attack it combines with the extra damage from absorb elements, enabling you to use it at range. There aren't many other effects that combine with it in this way, that's the only one I can remember offhand, but because it's a ranged melee attack it does have that possibility (anything that affects melee attacks will work).
For cantrips I'd say that guidance plus thorn whip are my personal preferences. But also I will always argue with the DM that I should get druidcraft for free (because seriously, why don't druids get it for free?).
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