So I recently joined a new campaign and I am playing a druid for the first time. Its a group of four plus me and I am the only healer. We are still at level one so I haven't chosen my circle yet and I was curious if any one can offer advice on which circle would helpful? I still want to be useful in battle too so is there a circle that has a balance here? Help.
Remember, healing word is a bonus action, so you can pop up an ally and still cast a cantrip. Preventing damage to the part is better than healing damage to the party so control spells are your friend. Goodberry is powerful out of combat healing (especially if you have 1 level lf life cleric) As mentioned above, cirlc of dreams is the 'healing' sub class, but I'd see how the part plays first. Shepard or Land druids may be sufficient to keep everyone safe and their different bonuses may be more valuable for your party than Dreams.
Level 1 druid can be a solid healer. ckelley suggested the 2 best level 1 heals in the game (for any class) so that's where I'd start.
As you get higher in level, take a look at what the rest of your party has. If you have tanks (barbs/fighters/paladins) they all have their own ways of dealing with damage (rage/second wind/lay hands) and shouldn't need TOO much looking after during combat. If you're more concerned with squishy casters/support types, you're still mostly going to be using Healing Word to pick them up off the floor during combat. The circle of dreams is probably your best choice if you're going to go full healer at that point. Also keep in mind that you can craft Potion of Healing during down time if you have an Herbalist kit and 25 GP to get ingredients. That's a great choice in the mid rounds since you can hand those out to people and tell them to keep themselves alive during combat and heal up using your stash after the fight is over. My best advice is to focus on keeping the party on their feet during combat and top everyone off outside of combat with goodberry and potions
See this is one of those things thats super difficult with Druids in that all of the Circle with the exception of Circle of the Moon make wonderful healers.
Circle of dreams gives alot of "free" healing with the Balm of the Summer Court features, and has a lot of utility in terms of setting up Camp and applying defenses against ambushes.
Circle of the Land provides more healing spell per day since your Natural Recovery lets you restore spell slots on short rests. This might me ideal if you party has Monks and warlocks where regain almost all there resources on short rests.
Circle of the Shepard has Spirit Totems that make great supports, and there effectiveness increases the larger your group is.
Every morning blow a 1st lvl spell on Goodberry and pass them out evenly to your party. Assuming a party of 5 or less, that means everyone carries 2 Goodberry. Everyone has 2 emergency 1 HP berries, so if someone goes down anyone can pick them up. This is every important as you are the primary healer and if you go down they need this to get you up.
I personally think Healing Word is superior to Cure Wounds, because it take a Bonus Action instead of an Action, and that doesn't take you out of the combat for a turn.
Also, if you're a fan of WildShape, I'd recommend using a 2nd on Goodberry as you can't cast spells while you Wildshape and the spare HP might be useful.
You might ask why you would be in Wildshape? Because Druids make amazing scouts and can go places no other party member can, but it's limited to 2 per rest so you don't want to "waste" a shape to cast a cure spell. Depending on what Wildshapes you're allowed: Deep Rothes have 60' of Darkvision can cast Dancing Lights at will to provide lights. Giant Badgers have 30' of Darkvision and 10' of burrowing so they can get around natural ground walls. Male Steeder has 120' of Darkvision, Spider Climb, a 60' Leap, and Stealth +5! Giant Wolf Spider has 60' Darkvision, 10' of Blindsight, Stealth +7, and Spider Climb. Mastiff has Keen Hearing and Smell (Advantage on Perception gives +5 to your Passive Perception and remember you keep your mental stats)
I'm playing 3rd edition right now and I don't know if druids still can't cast cure spells instead of another spell like clerics but ask your DM if that's okay, and if it's not. Ask him why the **** is it not because playing a druid and having to use heal spells instead of everything else is a living nine hells.
I'm playing 3rd edition right now and I don't know if druids still can't cast cure spells instead of another spell like clerics but ask your DM if that's okay, and if it's not. Ask him why the **** is it not because playing a druid and having to use heal spells instead of everything else is a living nine hells.
Druids can heal in 5e, and outside of Life and Grave Domain Clerics are just as effective as any other healer.
All druids are capable of decent healing, but some circles are clearly able to crank out more healing when compared to others (i.e. Circle of Dreams vs. Moon). This is where your preferences come in to fill that special role you want in your group. From what you posted about being slightly more combat/support oriented I would check out Circle of Shepard from Xanathar's. Healing spells you may want to consider are Goodberry (I put this stuff on everything...), Healing Word (bonus action and 60 ft range that requires no touch), and Healing Spirit (2nd level spell from Xanathar's).
Also, I would always recommend reserving one of your prepared spells for Goodberry. These berries last for 24 hrs, so if you have a few spell slots to spare before a long rest you can stack up some berries for part of the next day's adventure (just don't blow all of them in case of an ambush). My druid usually distributes out a few berries to each individual in the party so we have another option to stabilize them in case one of them goes down in the middle of combat. In my experience, you can get so many rich role-playing moments out of this spell if you're generous enough to give them out to NPCs in need (especially starving ones).
Whatever you decide, I think you will find that druids have a few different ways of filling that healer role. Welcome to the wild ;)
All druids are capable of decent healing, but some circles are clearly able to crank out more healing when compared to others (i.e. Circle of Dreams vs. Moon). This is where your preferences come in to fill that special role you want in your group. From what you posted about being slightly more combat/support oriented I would check out Circle of Shepard from Xanathar's. Healing spells you may want to consider are Goodberry (I put this stuff on everything...), Healing Word (bonus action and 60 ft range that requires no touch), and Healing Spirit (2nd level spell from Xanathar's).
Also, I would always recommend reserving one of your prepared spells for Goodberry. These berries last for 24 hrs, so if you have a few spell slots to spare before a long rest you can stack up some berries for part of the next day's adventure (just don't blow all of them in case of an ambush). My druid usually distributes out a few berries to each individual in the party so we have another option to stabilize them in case one of them goes down in the middle of combat. In my experience, you can get so many rich role-playing moments out of this spell if you're generous enough to give them out to NPCs in need (especially starving ones).
Whatever you decide, I think you will find that druids have a few different ways of filling that healer role. Welcome to the wild ;)
I would also point out that Shepard druids can also use Good berries to bribe the animals they speak to. After all getting a raven to pass on information would be alot easier when you offer the flock some raspberries.
My biggest recommendation? Make sure SOMEONE (doesn't have to be you!) takes the "Healer" feat ASAP!!!
Let's compare, at level 4, you with the healer feat vs you without (and again, the person who takes healer DOESN'T HAVE TO BE YOU):
Healer: 1d6+8 HP to every party member, average 11.5, every short rest, in addition to being able to pick people up from zero HP to combat active without needing to use a Goodberry.
You: 7 total spells per long rest, which can be Cure Wounds (1d8+3 (possibly 4), average 7.5, if at 1st level, or 2d8+3, average 12, if cast at 2nd level; or Goodberry, which is 10HP (at 1st or 2nd level), but requires an action per HP gained; or Healing Word, either 1d4+3 (maybe 4), average 5.5 at 1st level, or 2d4+3, average 8, at 2nd level.
There are 5 of you. Healer gets 57.5 points of healing every SHORT rest, you get a max (if all 1st level are used for Goodberry and all 2nd level are used for Cure Wounds) of 76 points of healing every LONG rest. A "typical" day is expected to have 2 short rests per long rest. Also, the Healer feat doesn't require you to use every single spell on healing, and allows you to do things like use the best 2nd level spell in the game imho (Heat Metal) on viable targets, instead. Don't be stuck with solo healer duties. Have someone grab the actual feat, and have them be a real healer, and then you can provide emergency heal support if and only if it's needed. Enjoy!
I'm running the same way, the healer of the group who is a druid. I'm planning on Land to get the extra Cantrip for damage, and spell recovery as well as always prepped spells that opens up more room for healing spells. but, The Character is yours. Play it as you see fit. It works however you play your character. I chose Coast based on my backstory and no other reason than that. and it ended up being the best option for my healing style.
My biggest recommendation? Make sure SOMEONE (doesn't have to be you!) takes the "Healer" feat ASAP!!!
Let's compare, at level 4, you with the healer feat vs you without (and again, the person who takes healer DOESN'T HAVE TO BE YOU):
Healer: 1d6+8 HP to every party member, average 11.5, every short rest, in addition to being able to pick people up from zero HP to combat active without needing to use a Goodberry.
You: 7 total spells per long rest, which can be Cure Wounds (1d8+3 (possibly 4), average 7.5, if at 1st level, or 2d8+3, average 12, if cast at 2nd level; or Goodberry, which is 10HP (at 1st or 2nd level), but requires an action per HP gained; or Healing Word, either 1d4+3 (maybe 4), average 5.5 at 1st level, or 2d4+3, average 8, at 2nd level.
There are 5 of you. Healer gets 57.5 points of healing every SHORT rest, you get a max (if all 1st level are used for Goodberry and all 2nd level are used for Cure Wounds) of 76 points of healing every LONG rest. A "typical" day is expected to have 2 short rests per long rest. Also, the Healer feat doesn't require you to use every single spell on healing, and allows you to do things like use the best 2nd level spell in the game imho (Heat Metal) on viable targets, instead. Don't be stuck with solo healer duties. Have someone grab the actual feat, and have them be a real healer, and then you can provide emergency heal support if and only if it's needed. Enjoy!
While your math is 100% there, it should be noted that using a healer's kit requires you being in contact with the person, spending a turn to heal them, and costs 1/2GP (10 uses per kit which costs 5 GP).
5E is super friendly when it comes to healing, since everyone heals full on a LR and can burn hit die during a SR. I've found that "healer druids" for the most part should be spending down time brewing up potions of healing with an herbalist kit that they hand out to everyone(this does cost money but doesn't require anyone burning a feat), casting healing word for combat medic duties, and passing out Goodberries out of combat (or abuse Healing Spirit)
* I'd make sure you have some good damage cantrip options so you can Healing Word and attack on the same turn.
* I'd strongly consider Circle Of Dreams, that extra healing from Balm Of The Summer Court is VERY nice. It uses your Bonus Action, and isn't a spell so you can use it and cast a high-level spell on the same turn. And as I read it, nothing prevents you from using while in Wild Shape form(you aren't casting a spell, after all), has someone from Wizards clarified otherwise?
* I would also probably look for spells that persist for multiple rounds, applying status effects or doing damage, as a matter of spell slot economy. For example, everyone I know who plays Druid falls in love with Call Lightning :)
* Abuse the SNOT out of Healing Spirit. It can be a great emergency healing station in combat assuming your party isn't all spread out, since you can choose not to let the enemies benefit from it(and it doesn't cost you anything to trigger it when one of your allies steps in). And for out-of-combat healing it's just insane. Your party can essentially create a Healing Conga Line and do laps through it, healing up to 10d6 EACH for the cost of a 2nd-level spell. And it scales well too if you want to use a higher-level slot.
* The tip above about distributing Goodberries to the party is a good one, assuming your DM allows your players to be force-fed one when they are unconscious(my sense is most DMs allow that as an action just like they allow forcing a potion down the character's throat). Obviously 1 point of healing isn't much, but it essentially lets every member of your party stabilize their allies without needing a Medicine check, and they can stand up and get out of danger.
Druids cannot cast spells when shapeshifted until level 18 and Moon Druids are primarily about fighting in beast or elemental forms. So if the party is relying on you for all healing, Moon Druid is not the optimal choice. All Druids are very strong healers, especially with the new healing spirit spell. But Dreams is best for overall healing, Shepherd for healing in a boss fight where you’re burning all resources and Land is good just because of Natural Recovery.
On the point of being useful in battle, all Druids are useful in battle, but the way in which they are useful varies widely from one circle to another. It works like this:
Moon: Contributes in battle primarily by fighting in beast form
Shepherd: Contributes in battle primarily by using summoned creatures that are more powerful than what would normally result from baseline spells like Conjure Animals and through spectral totems that buff the party
Land: Contributes in battle primarily by casting spells because they know more spells and have more spell slots (via natural recovery)
Dreams: Contributes in battle primarily by healing, by not getting hit, and by magical scouting in advance of combat.
The word “primarily” is deliberate here. Every druid has access to all the spells on the druid list, and the same basic allocation of spell slots. Those spells include many of the strongest battlefield control spells in the game. Every druid participates (or should participate) in combat by using those spells. In D&D 5th edition, damage output greatly outclasses healing output. In other words, winning in combat it not about outhealing the other side’s damage. It’s about outpacing their damage output, whether through increasing your damage output or decreasing their damage output. As a druid, you get a wide range of spells that will increase the damage output of your entire party (e.g. Faerie Fire, making enemies easier to hit) or decrease the damage output of your enemies (e.g. Entangle, locking your opponents in position and giving them disadvantage on attack rolls) or both. A large part of playing a druid, of any circle, isn’t about using spells to blast enemies into dust (like an Evocation Wizard would), it’s about selecting the right battlefield control spells for a particular combat to tilt the playing field in your party’s favor. If you can do that well, you will excel in combat situations and your party members will regard you as an essential to their combat efforts.
Hi,
So I recently joined a new campaign and I am playing a druid for the first time. Its a group of four plus me and I am the only healer. We are still at level one so I haven't chosen my circle yet and I was curious if any one can offer advice on which circle would helpful? I still want to be useful in battle too so is there a circle that has a balance here? Help.
Best druid healer is Circle of Dreams, from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
Remember, healing word is a bonus action, so you can pop up an ally and still cast a cantrip. Preventing damage to the part is better than healing damage to the party so control spells are your friend. Goodberry is powerful out of combat healing (especially if you have 1 level lf life cleric) As mentioned above, cirlc of dreams is the 'healing' sub class, but I'd see how the part plays first. Shepard or Land druids may be sufficient to keep everyone safe and their different bonuses may be more valuable for your party than Dreams.
Level 1 druid can be a solid healer. ckelley suggested the 2 best level 1 heals in the game (for any class) so that's where I'd start.
As you get higher in level, take a look at what the rest of your party has. If you have tanks (barbs/fighters/paladins) they all have their own ways of dealing with damage (rage/second wind/lay hands) and shouldn't need TOO much looking after during combat. If you're more concerned with squishy casters/support types, you're still mostly going to be using Healing Word to pick them up off the floor during combat. The circle of dreams is probably your best choice if you're going to go full healer at that point. Also keep in mind that you can craft Potion of Healing during down time if you have an Herbalist kit and 25 GP to get ingredients. That's a great choice in the mid rounds since you can hand those out to people and tell them to keep themselves alive during combat and heal up using your stash after the fight is over. My best advice is to focus on keeping the party on their feet during combat and top everyone off outside of combat with goodberry and potions
See this is one of those things thats super difficult with Druids in that all of the Circle with the exception of Circle of the Moon make wonderful healers.
Circle of dreams gives alot of "free" healing with the Balm of the Summer Court features, and has a lot of utility in terms of setting up Camp and applying defenses against ambushes.
Circle of the Land provides more healing spell per day since your Natural Recovery lets you restore spell slots on short rests. This might me ideal if you party has Monks and warlocks where regain almost all there resources on short rests.
Circle of the Shepard has Spirit Totems that make great supports, and there effectiveness increases the larger your group is.
My recommendation.
Every morning blow a 1st lvl spell on Goodberry and pass them out evenly to your party.
Assuming a party of 5 or less, that means everyone carries 2 Goodberry. Everyone has 2 emergency 1 HP berries, so if someone goes down anyone can pick them up.
This is every important as you are the primary healer and if you go down they need this to get you up.
I personally think Healing Word is superior to Cure Wounds, because it take a Bonus Action instead of an Action, and that doesn't take you out of the combat for a turn.
Also, if you're a fan of WildShape, I'd recommend using a 2nd on Goodberry as you can't cast spells while you Wildshape and the spare HP might be useful.
You might ask why you would be in Wildshape? Because Druids make amazing scouts and can go places no other party member can, but it's limited to 2 per rest so you don't want to "waste" a shape to cast a cure spell.
Depending on what Wildshapes you're allowed:
Deep Rothes have 60' of Darkvision can cast Dancing Lights at will to provide lights.
Giant Badgers have 30' of Darkvision and 10' of burrowing so they can get around natural ground walls.
Male Steeder has 120' of Darkvision, Spider Climb, a 60' Leap, and Stealth +5!
Giant Wolf Spider has 60' Darkvision, 10' of Blindsight, Stealth +7, and Spider Climb.
Mastiff has Keen Hearing and Smell (Advantage on Perception gives +5 to your Passive Perception and remember you keep your mental stats)
The above are all accessible to a 2nd lvl Druid.
I'm playing 3rd edition right now and I don't know if druids still can't cast cure spells instead of another spell like clerics but ask your DM if that's okay, and if it's not. Ask him why the **** is it not because playing a druid and having to use heal spells instead of everything else is a living nine hells.
In my campaign we run with that all divine spell casters can cast cure spells in place of a different spell.
All druids are capable of decent healing, but some circles are clearly able to crank out more healing when compared to others (i.e. Circle of Dreams vs. Moon). This is where your preferences come in to fill that special role you want in your group. From what you posted about being slightly more combat/support oriented I would check out Circle of Shepard from Xanathar's. Healing spells you may want to consider are Goodberry (I put this stuff on everything...), Healing Word (bonus action and 60 ft range that requires no touch), and Healing Spirit (2nd level spell from Xanathar's).
Also, I would always recommend reserving one of your prepared spells for Goodberry. These berries last for 24 hrs, so if you have a few spell slots to spare before a long rest you can stack up some berries for part of the next day's adventure (just don't blow all of them in case of an ambush). My druid usually distributes out a few berries to each individual in the party so we have another option to stabilize them in case one of them goes down in the middle of combat. In my experience, you can get so many rich role-playing moments out of this spell if you're generous enough to give them out to NPCs in need (especially starving ones).
Whatever you decide, I think you will find that druids have a few different ways of filling that healer role. Welcome to the wild ;)
Oh nice! ^^
Hi!
My biggest recommendation? Make sure SOMEONE (doesn't have to be you!) takes the "Healer" feat ASAP!!!
Let's compare, at level 4, you with the healer feat vs you without (and again, the person who takes healer DOESN'T HAVE TO BE YOU):
Healer: 1d6+8 HP to every party member, average 11.5, every short rest, in addition to being able to pick people up from zero HP to combat active without needing to use a Goodberry.
You: 7 total spells per long rest, which can be Cure Wounds (1d8+3 (possibly 4), average 7.5, if at 1st level, or 2d8+3, average 12, if cast at 2nd level; or Goodberry, which is 10HP (at 1st or 2nd level), but requires an action per HP gained; or Healing Word, either 1d4+3 (maybe 4), average 5.5 at 1st level, or 2d4+3, average 8, at 2nd level.
There are 5 of you. Healer gets 57.5 points of healing every SHORT rest, you get a max (if all 1st level are used for Goodberry and all 2nd level are used for Cure Wounds) of 76 points of healing every LONG rest. A "typical" day is expected to have 2 short rests per long rest. Also, the Healer feat doesn't require you to use every single spell on healing, and allows you to do things like use the best 2nd level spell in the game imho (Heat Metal) on viable targets, instead. Don't be stuck with solo healer duties. Have someone grab the actual feat, and have them be a real healer, and then you can provide emergency heal support if and only if it's needed. Enjoy!
I'm running the same way, the healer of the group who is a druid. I'm planning on Land to get the extra Cantrip for damage, and spell recovery as well as always prepped spells that opens up more room for healing spells. but, The Character is yours. Play it as you see fit. It works however you play your character. I chose Coast based on my backstory and no other reason than that. and it ended up being the best option for my healing style.
Item's - Sashelas' Spear, Thunder Beads, Diadem of the Owl, Bag of Stasis
Race - Fey-Touched
Subclass - Circle of Vitality
Monsters - Blood Bear
Spell - Arcbolt
While your math is 100% there, it should be noted that using a healer's kit requires you being in contact with the person, spending a turn to heal them, and costs 1/2GP (10 uses per kit which costs 5 GP).
5E is super friendly when it comes to healing, since everyone heals full on a LR and can burn hit die during a SR. I've found that "healer druids" for the most part should be spending down time brewing up potions of healing with an herbalist kit that they hand out to everyone(this does cost money but doesn't require anyone burning a feat), casting healing word for combat medic duties, and passing out Goodberries out of combat (or abuse Healing Spirit)
(edited for spelling)
* I'd make sure you have some good damage cantrip options so you can Healing Word and attack on the same turn.
* I'd strongly consider Circle Of Dreams, that extra healing from Balm Of The Summer Court is VERY nice. It uses your Bonus Action, and isn't a spell so you can use it and cast a high-level spell on the same turn. And as I read it, nothing prevents you from using while in Wild Shape form(you aren't casting a spell, after all), has someone from Wizards clarified otherwise?
* I would also probably look for spells that persist for multiple rounds, applying status effects or doing damage, as a matter of spell slot economy. For example, everyone I know who plays Druid falls in love with Call Lightning :)
* Abuse the SNOT out of Healing Spirit. It can be a great emergency healing station in combat assuming your party isn't all spread out, since you can choose not to let the enemies benefit from it(and it doesn't cost you anything to trigger it when one of your allies steps in). And for out-of-combat healing it's just insane. Your party can essentially create a Healing Conga Line and do laps through it, healing up to 10d6 EACH for the cost of a 2nd-level spell. And it scales well too if you want to use a higher-level slot.
* The tip above about distributing Goodberries to the party is a good one, assuming your DM allows your players to be force-fed one when they are unconscious(my sense is most DMs allow that as an action just like they allow forcing a potion down the character's throat). Obviously 1 point of healing isn't much, but it essentially lets every member of your party stabilize their allies without needing a Medicine check, and they can stand up and get out of danger.
Druids cannot cast spells when shapeshifted until level 18 and Moon Druids are primarily about fighting in beast or elemental forms. So if the party is relying on you for all healing, Moon Druid is not the optimal choice. All Druids are very strong healers, especially with the new healing spirit spell. But Dreams is best for overall healing, Shepherd for healing in a boss fight where you’re burning all resources and Land is good just because of Natural Recovery.
On the point of being useful in battle, all Druids are useful in battle, but the way in which they are useful varies widely from one circle to another. It works like this:
Moon: Contributes in battle primarily by fighting in beast form
Shepherd: Contributes in battle primarily by using summoned creatures that are more powerful than what would normally result from baseline spells like Conjure Animals and through spectral totems that buff the party
Land: Contributes in battle primarily by casting spells because they know more spells and have more spell slots (via natural recovery)
Dreams: Contributes in battle primarily by healing, by not getting hit, and by magical scouting in advance of combat.
The word “primarily” is deliberate here. Every druid has access to all the spells on the druid list, and the same basic allocation of spell slots. Those spells include many of the strongest battlefield control spells in the game. Every druid participates (or should participate) in combat by using those spells. In D&D 5th edition, damage output greatly outclasses healing output. In other words, winning in combat it not about outhealing the other side’s damage. It’s about outpacing their damage output, whether through increasing your damage output or decreasing their damage output. As a druid, you get a wide range of spells that will increase the damage output of your entire party (e.g. Faerie Fire, making enemies easier to hit) or decrease the damage output of your enemies (e.g. Entangle, locking your opponents in position and giving them disadvantage on attack rolls) or both. A large part of playing a druid, of any circle, isn’t about using spells to blast enemies into dust (like an Evocation Wizard would), it’s about selecting the right battlefield control spells for a particular combat to tilt the playing field in your party’s favor. If you can do that well, you will excel in combat situations and your party members will regard you as an essential to their combat efforts.
Play what you want to play. Don't let the group force you to be healer if you don't want to heal.