Yeah imho Druids are the most powerful and versatile class in 5e. They're the only class that can reliably fill EVERY role a party might need (healer, scout, full caster, tank, you name it). They get Every spell known for their list (compare this to the quest of a Wizard, or the life of a sorcerer or Warlock!), can freely swap them out at any rest, without needing a spell book or anything like that, they get 12 ritual spells (second only to Wizard) including useful ones like speak with animals, meld into stone, water breathing / water walk, and commune with nature. They get combat useful wildshapes (especially if going circle of the moon) and in case those don't pack enough "oomph" for you they get Polymorph as well. They have incredible utility, great power, consistent damage, and more. I couldn't imagine being bored playing as one. Of course, to each their own.
For me, I don't much care for the spell list, and I hate shapeshifters. Druid just doesn't scratch any itch for me. I keep trying to like them because I like the idea of a nature priest, and nature domain clerics are pretty much...clerics. There's nothing wrong with them, but it's certainly not the class for me. Something in between nature cleric and druid is where I'd like to be, unfortunately.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I can't get excited about playing a druid. I've tried building a few as I've actually always really loved the concept behind druids but in 5e, I'm just not enthused about it. I'm not sure exactly what it is but nothing 'clicks' for me with it.
Given the recent dev update and druids being on the bottom of classes and subclasses, I'm now thinking I'm not alone in this. What's your opinion of the 5e druid?
It’s totally subjective. Some people love the idea of running around as a Barbarian smashing everything with a two-handed weapon, but that doesn’t do anything for me. There’s no accounting for taste. You either like playing druids or you don’t.
Druids are primary casters, but the spell list is at its best when its denying options to the enemy, in other words crowd control, spike growth, maelstrom, wall of thorns, entangle the list goes on, against humanoid leaders in metal armour, heat metal will kill just about anything, apply it and walk away. Conjure animals then fey or elementals and minion-omancy again prevents harm to the party by providing soaks and in some cases overwhelming force.
The official subclasses are very different, land offers utility spells not normally available, Moon is walking stalking abuse and if they live to 10th its unlikely they will ever die, or need a party ever again. Shepherd makes healing everyone very efficient and can easily be the difference between bouncing at encounter 4 and completing a dungeon, and thats before they start summoning direwolves pumped up on Shep-roids. And the other one.. well its got nice flavour?
My personal opinion is that level 1 puts people off playing druids, you have terrible armour, no wildshape and no circle, as you raise in level you are an easier target to break compared to the cleric healers metal armour but otherwise it starts becoming fun especially IF you have a devious mind and head for when and where to deploy your traps. Then again if you want to smash something up in melee or a blast something with massive amount of spell dice in one hit again druid isn't for you.
In the end it doesnt usually matter what you play, so enjoy it, but if disaster strikes, druid is one of the classes that can save a party. I should add that the style of campaign makes a difference, if you are never near nature, never have plants around or frequently face opponents who can fly then most of your repetoire will be a little rubbish.
I saw some stats in an article a while back (maybe that 538 article) suggesting that Druid is the least commonly chosen class in D&D. Besides the indirect nature of the spell list, and lack of amenability to multiclassing, it may be that there are simply very few cultural archetypes that attract people to the class. There are lots of examples of fighters, barbarians, wizards, rogues etc. in movies and literature, but hardly any examples of Druids.
Strangways, you have a point about inspiration being a driving force for player choice. Sadly many people are visual driven so if they cant 'see' the image they aren't inspired. (Hey its better than being a mouse where everything's about smell!) Druids, like wizards played averagely could be underpar to sorcerers and clerics to start with. The sorcerer and cleric have more immediate options and / or shiny tricks frontloaded. (and light clerics using fireball in armour can make even the most self confident mage shed a tear, the druid is crying about that) But this lack of interest is a good thing as it appears that its avoided druids being Nerf batted into the ground because the players who do use their resources well? They can make themselves a party of one.
Multiclass for druids is usually moon with a 1 level start as barbarian for rage shape and the con proficiency many of the druids regular spell arsenal requires no save. I believe that most people will multiclass for the purpose of combination abilities, not flavour or story and it requires a GM's discretion. That said you are correct about their being few good multiclassing options.. but there are some which make total sense in terms of ability gain and total nonsense in terms of character development. Lets be grateful they haven't emerged into the public consciousness and tarnished the game yet.
I saw some stats in an article a while back (maybe that 538 article) suggesting that Druid is the least commonly chosen class in D&D.
Probably because when you think of cool, heroic fantasy archetypes... "Druid" is not really high on the list. I never would've chosen to play one until I read an article indicating that it was actually the most powerful class in 5e (and I was shocked to discover that the article was correct).
I think that, in terms of their popular image, druids are kind of hidden behind wizards. So when people see Saruman standing on top of Isengard, casting a spell to create a blizzard to block the Fellowship from traveling through a mountain pass, the audience sees that and thinks "wizard" not "druid." So when the new player is given the option of a druid, it just registers as a blank in his mind and he ends up selecting something else.
Just act nonchalantly whistle innocently and keep your head down, we want to keep this thing of ours. - Animal Messenger conversation overheard being delivered to a suspected member of the druid mafia.
You wont ever deal the top damage (unless your party is weird or buffing you) but you are a mitigator of damage to the point where in some fights a druid can force a win with no damage whatsoever to the party. That's a freebie encounter right there.
Just act nonchalantly whistle innocently and keep your head down, we want to keep this thing of ours. - Animal Messenger conversation overheard being delivered to a suspected member of the druid mafia.
You wont ever deal the top damage (unless your party is weird or buffing you) but you are a mitigator of damage to the point where in some fights a druid can force a win with no damage whatsoever to the party. That's a freebie encounter right there.
Druids do huge damage but they don’t get credit for it because they do it indirectly, by increasing the damage of the party as a whole. Druids are force multipliers.
Druids do huge damage but they don’t get credit for it because they do it indirectly, by increasing the damage of the party as a whole. Druids are force multipliers.
Entangle for example restrains your opponents giving everyone advantage on their attack rolls until they break free and keeping them away from you so they can’t hit you back. That’s a huge advantage!
Druids do huge damage but they don’t get credit for it because they do it indirectly, by increasing the damage of the party as a whole. Druids are force multipliers.
How do you mean?
Spells like Faerie Fire and Entangle can give your entire party advantage on attack rolls against hostile targets, greatly increasing everyone’s damage output.
Alright sir. YOU ASKED. I will try not to break my keyboard over my druid rant.
Proficiencies: A druid is proficient with a lot of strength based weaponry. They do have the scimitar, but it only works if you dual wield it, or it's probably one of 'they' worst weapons there is. But dex is used for AC as well and druids cannot wear metal armor, but are proficient with light and medium armor. Hide is probably the shittiest armor in the whole game, as it gives the same base ac rating as the studded leather does, but limits your dex modifier, allowing only 2 points of dex without medium armor master feat. So, they need to focus their ability scores on Wisdom,strength,dexterity and they recommend constitution as your second highest stat. I will agree, constitution on a spellcaster, even wizards and sorcerers are HIGHLY underrated, but if you are getting hit all the time I think it would be better to chance that 16 con and that 12 dex around. You are not proficient with ANY type of bow. Which is off for me, as I though "the hunters" the people who "live in the forest" and are the very "living and breathing protectors" of the idea of "hunting and using everything you can and not wasting or hunting for fun" I don't see why you "as a druid" wouldn't be proficient with bows. Which they would require dex to work, which would help druids A LOT. Druids really only get something out of their weapons if they have AT LEAST a +3. And scimitars only work (their true purpose) if dual wielded. And if you are dual wielding you can't do somatic components, or material.
Spells: Druids have 131 spells in the PHB. They gain spells like clerics bahbdbahabhabh. They get a lost of beast and plant spells. There are some spells where I'm okay with them, others I really don't see why the flying **** does the druid have that and not that spell instead, and there are other times where I want to rip my ##########! Sorry. *Breaths in and out*. Planar binding or whatever. Why does the ******* DRUID HAVE THAT PIECE OF SHIT FILLING IN IT'S SL- Sorry, sorry! Why is that spell on a DRUID spell list?! It first of all, sucks the biggest #########! Once again, sorry. The spell doesn't make sense, if you are to bind a planar entity, why would he stand still for 1 hour? And why would you bind him if he lets you do that in the first place xD? Other spells like entangle are pretty good, and are signature spells for the druid. Other spells such as burning hands or cone of cold I feel like would be perfect druid spells because they are elemental. I know the druid doesn't need nor should have all elemental spells but I like the idea of a druid being able to at least deal spell damage if they can fight for shit with their 1d6 or 1d4 points of useless fuc-. I know druids aren't suppose to be DPS based. But you can't be telling me that they are "role play" focused with their spells. Because **** no. There are no fey domains or anything that allows you for a real trickery dickshit of a druid (pardon my druidic). They aren't really "that" combat focused, they are more that class that have a few times "that" spell that can save the party a few burnt asses and hours of work.
I might have a bit more but I will try to one day, write down all my shitload of "druid needs to be the **** revamped" later. I think faster than I write and I feel like screaming now and my tics are kicking in so I better stop. Soon I'm gonna unwillingly dual class to barbarian because I might end up raging. So!
All in all. The druid needs to be revamp in my opinion. It is a lackluster class until later levels. You don't feel as powerful as you do with other classes. Like parting a storm. Matthew mercer did that SO GOOD but my players WILL NEVER react in that way. My other players might shrug and that's it. Tbh, even after I created a homebrew circle with my DM for 5e that I can use, that is focused on the druid I want. I might just ask to chance character. Because druids just, you really gotta aimed for one path. Moon if you want any kind of battle prowess that matters. I wouldn't mind a good nice revamp. Like full walking speed is a main druid ability. Like in 3e, woodlands stride. Man I miss it! It was the small things that the druid had I loved, and now they're so split up now, between the circles. I've played a druid for almost 2.5 years, and I might be because I wanted a battle focused druid who defends her forest from invading monsters. But instead I got demons with spell resistances 25 and fire resistance so my spells I finally got that could do just a wee bit of damage were completely useless but I never fell in good with the druid. I have to admit to myself that even though a druid was my first character.... I don't fit with them. BUT. That doesn't mean that you do!
REMEMBER FOR ALL THE GODS,REALMS,PEOPLE, AND MY SAKE FOR THE LOVE OF FLAMING SHITS AND ****S! THIS IS MY OPINION. YOURS MAY BE DIFFERENT. DON'T CURSE ME OR SUE ME BECAUSE YOU THINK THE DRUID IS AWESOME. IT MIGHT BE BUT I JUST ENDED UP WITH THE WRONG STORY FOR MY KIND OF DRUID.
You you've managed to get to here, congraz! You haven't really won anything other than my respect. Reading all that hate. Trust me, I need to breath in and out so I don't scream out right now. Maaaaybe I should think about a new character... I might hate the druid (or at least my character build) more than I thought.
Daergial, ouch first off. Hope that felt better out than kept inside :)
Second - planar binding is the very opposite of boring, and yes from your do damage now focus it seems less than stellar. But in terms of power Planar binding is so totally overpowered and game twisting it hurts. Why they have it on the list is so they can mechanically claim assistance for long term from fey and elementals. It is unfortunate that it wasnt broken down into two spells or more and druids would be unable to bind celestials and fiends but thats a DM call. The druid waits for an elemental, fey (non summoned) and asks for assistance, who knows what form this might take but get that gemstone ready. Is the charisma check a magically enforced pact of friendship or slavery? Thats between the caster and the target. How would you get a creature to stand around for hours for you to cast it? Preparation: An inward facing circle of protection wil not stop it crossing in, but will trap it inside. You need an ally and a duration in excess of a hour on the circle that they cast. Now run off and run back when the chase ends you begin your part. Alternatively cast a conjure spell and immediately cast planar binding.
It doesnt seem worth it when it lasts a day for 1000 gold of a gem. they dont grow on trees, but at higher level spell slots they last a good deal longer and there are ways to get more gems easily. When you have a Korred, Bheur Hag and 4 Elementals for half a year what can you achieve?
Druids are powerful but they require battle planning to even break even. A third level druid can deal 10d4 in one round, possibly in two encounters per day. Say goodbye to the boss monster. A third level druid against a metal armoured foe can with heatmetal guarantee damage per round and make them attack with disadvantage on every single attack for a minute. There is NO SAVE against this, none. if you wear armour you cant remove very quickly (as per the phb, no, no you cant!) then you will end up taking 20d8 damage from this spell over its minute duration. Conjure animals is nuts and available at 5th, These are all lower level abilities (except the conjure animals which is t2) But if you dont feel like being the party tactician then yeah, play the wizard or sorcerer if you want your elemental fix :) Have fun.
Alright sir. YOU ASKED. I will try not to break my keyboard over my druid rant.
Proficiencies: A druid is proficient with a lot of strength based weaponry. They do have the scimitar, but it only works if you dual wield it, or it's probably one of 'they' worst weapons there is. But dex is used for AC as well and druids cannot wear metal armor, but are proficient with light and medium armor. Hide is probably the shittiest armor in the whole game, as it gives the same base ac rating as the studded leather does, but limits your dex modifier, allowing only 2 points of dex without medium armor master feat. So, they need to focus their ability scores on Wisdom,strength,dexterity and they recommend constitution as your second highest stat. I will agree, constitution on a spellcaster, even wizards and sorcerers are HIGHLY underrated, but if you are getting hit all the time I think it would be better to chance that 16 con and that 12 dex around. You are not proficient with ANY type of bow. Which is off for me, as I though "the hunters" the people who "live in the forest" and are the very "living and breathing protectors" of the idea of "hunting and using everything you can and not wasting or hunting for fun" I don't see why you "as a druid" wouldn't be proficient with bows. Which they would require dex to work, which would help druids A LOT. Druids really only get something out of their weapons if they have AT LEAST a +3. And scimitars only work (their true purpose) if dual wielded. And if you are dual wielding you can't do somatic components, or material.
Spells: Druids have 131 spells in the PHB. They gain spells like clerics bahbdbahabhabh. They get a lost of beast and plant spells. There are some spells where I'm okay with them, others I really don't see why the flying **** does the druid have that and not that spell instead, and there are other times where I want to rip my ##########! Sorry. *Breaths in and out*. Planar binding or whatever. Why does the ******* DRUID HAVE THAT PIECE OF SHIT FILLING IN IT'S SL- Sorry, sorry! Why is that spell on a DRUID spell list?! It first of all, sucks the biggest #########! Once again, sorry. The spell doesn't make sense, if you are to bind a planar entity, why would he stand still for 1 hour? And why would you bind him if he lets you do that in the first place xD? Other spells like entangle are pretty good, and are signature spells for the druid. Other spells such as burning hands or cone of cold I feel like would be perfect druid spells because they are elemental. I know the druid doesn't need nor should have all elemental spells but I like the idea of a druid being able to at least deal spell damage if they can fight for shit with their 1d6 or 1d4 points of useless fuc-. I know druids aren't suppose to be DPS based. But you can't be telling me that they are "role play" focused with their spells. Because **** no. There are no fey domains or anything that allows you for a real trickery dickshit of a druid (pardon my druidic). They aren't really "that" combat focused, they are more that class that have a few times "that" spell that can save the party a few burnt asses and hours of work.
I might have a bit more but I will try to one day, write down all my shitload of "druid needs to be the **** revamped" later. I think faster than I write and I feel like screaming now and my tics are kicking in so I better stop. Soon I'm gonna unwillingly dual class to barbarian because I might end up raging. So!
All in all. The druid needs to be revamp in my opinion. It is a lackluster class until later levels. You don't feel as powerful as you do with other classes. Like parting a storm. Matthew mercer did that SO GOOD but my players WILL NEVER react in that way. My other players might shrug and that's it. Tbh, even after I created a homebrew circle with my DM for 5e that I can use, that is focused on the druid I want. I might just ask to chance character. Because druids just, you really gotta aimed for one path. Moon if you want any kind of battle prowess that matters. I wouldn't mind a good nice revamp. Like full walking speed is a main druid ability. Like in 3e, woodlands stride. Man I miss it! It was the small things that the druid had I loved, and now they're so split up now, between the circles. I've played a druid for almost 2.5 years, and I might be because I wanted a battle focused druid who defends her forest from invading monsters. But instead I got demons with spell resistances 25 and fire resistance so my spells I finally got that could do just a wee bit of damage were completely useless but I never fell in good with the druid. I have to admit to myself that even though a druid was my first character.... I don't fit with them. BUT. That doesn't mean that you do!
REMEMBER FOR ALL THE GODS,REALMS,PEOPLE, AND MY SAKE FOR THE LOVE OF FLAMING SHITS AND ****S! THIS IS MY OPINION. YOURS MAY BE DIFFERENT. DON'T CURSE ME OR SUE ME BECAUSE YOU THINK THE DRUID IS AWESOME. IT MIGHT BE BUT I JUST ENDED UP WITH THE WRONG STORY FOR MY KIND OF DRUID.
You you've managed to get to here, congraz! You haven't really won anything other than my respect. Reading all that hate. Trust me, I need to breath in and out so I don't scream out right now. Maaaaybe I should think about a new character... I might hate the druid (or at least my character build) more than I thought.
This whole rant is player expectation problem, not a problem with the Druid class. Maybe try rolling up a barbarian and see if that’s isnt more your speed.
@Daergiel you're very much missing the point of the druid. I know you and your dad worked out a new subclass for you but druids are NOT supposed to be using their weapons the way you want, nor should one expect them to be throwing out big gobs of damage with spells. They're a control/support spell casting class not a Ranger/Eldritch Knight hybrid front-liner. I know you want them to be something different, but they simply aren't.
You're using a pickup truck and getting irritated that it doesn't perform like a sports car. They serve two completely separate purposes.
You may want to consider having your character take a break from adventuring and sub in a few other classes short term. As CBMoate mentioned give a Barbarian a shot. I think you might enjoy an Ancients Paladin, a Feylock, or even a Ranger (though it's probably a good idea to look up some of the Unearthed Arcana tweaks if you go that route). I think you may also like a Bladesinger or Eldritch knight even though they don't have the ties to nature you're looking for, however a lot of that can be overcome with good RP. Play around with this version since it's relatively new to you. Once you get a better handle on some of the other classes, their weaknesses and their strengths, then decide which one you would like to proceed with.
One of the lessons I had to learn about this game is that sometimes you have to be willing to let a character go no matter how fun the concept sounds. The game can only handle so much bending and tweaking before what you end up with is unrecognizable and not fun for ANYONE at the table.
Yeah imho Druids are the most powerful and versatile class in 5e. They're the only class that can reliably fill EVERY role a party might need (healer, scout, full caster, tank, you name it). They get Every spell known for their list (compare this to the quest of a Wizard, or the life of a sorcerer or Warlock!), can freely swap them out at any rest, without needing a spell book or anything like that, they get 12 ritual spells (second only to Wizard) including useful ones like speak with animals, meld into stone, water breathing / water walk, and commune with nature. They get combat useful wildshapes (especially if going circle of the moon) and in case those don't pack enough "oomph" for you they get Polymorph as well. They have incredible utility, great power, consistent damage, and more. I couldn't imagine being bored playing as one. Of course, to each their own.
For me, I don't much care for the spell list, and I hate shapeshifters. Druid just doesn't scratch any itch for me. I keep trying to like them because I like the idea of a nature priest, and nature domain clerics are pretty much...clerics. There's nothing wrong with them, but it's certainly not the class for me. Something in between nature cleric and druid is where I'd like to be, unfortunately.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
It’s totally subjective. Some people love the idea of running around as a Barbarian smashing everything with a two-handed weapon, but that doesn’t do anything for me. There’s no accounting for taste. You either like playing druids or you don’t.
Druids are primary casters, but the spell list is at its best when its denying options to the enemy, in other words crowd control, spike growth, maelstrom, wall of thorns, entangle the list goes on, against humanoid leaders in metal armour, heat metal will kill just about anything, apply it and walk away. Conjure animals then fey or elementals and minion-omancy again prevents harm to the party by providing soaks and in some cases overwhelming force.
The official subclasses are very different, land offers utility spells not normally available, Moon is walking stalking abuse and if they live to 10th its unlikely they will ever die, or need a party ever again. Shepherd makes healing everyone very efficient and can easily be the difference between bouncing at encounter 4 and completing a dungeon, and thats before they start summoning direwolves pumped up on Shep-roids. And the other one.. well its got nice flavour?
My personal opinion is that level 1 puts people off playing druids, you have terrible armour, no wildshape and no circle, as you raise in level you are an easier target to break compared to the cleric healers metal armour but otherwise it starts becoming fun especially IF you have a devious mind and head for when and where to deploy your traps. Then again if you want to smash something up in melee or a blast something with massive amount of spell dice in one hit again druid isn't for you.
In the end it doesnt usually matter what you play, so enjoy it, but if disaster strikes, druid is one of the classes that can save a party. I should add that the style of campaign makes a difference, if you are never near nature, never have plants around or frequently face opponents who can fly then most of your repetoire will be a little rubbish.
But always remember, Moon druids never sleep.
I saw some stats in an article a while back (maybe that 538 article) suggesting that Druid is the least commonly chosen class in D&D. Besides the indirect nature of the spell list, and lack of amenability to multiclassing, it may be that there are simply very few cultural archetypes that attract people to the class. There are lots of examples of fighters, barbarians, wizards, rogues etc. in movies and literature, but hardly any examples of Druids.
Strangways, you have a point about inspiration being a driving force for player choice. Sadly many people are visual driven so if they cant 'see' the image they aren't inspired. (Hey its better than being a mouse where everything's about smell!) Druids, like wizards played averagely could be underpar to sorcerers and clerics to start with. The sorcerer and cleric have more immediate options and / or shiny tricks frontloaded. (and light clerics using fireball in armour can make even the most self confident mage shed a tear, the druid is crying about that) But this lack of interest is a good thing as it appears that its avoided druids being Nerf batted into the ground because the players who do use their resources well? They can make themselves a party of one.
Multiclass for druids is usually moon with a 1 level start as barbarian for rage shape and the con proficiency many of the druids regular spell arsenal requires no save. I believe that most people will multiclass for the purpose of combination abilities, not flavour or story and it requires a GM's discretion. That said you are correct about their being few good multiclassing options.. but there are some which make total sense in terms of ability gain and total nonsense in terms of character development. Lets be grateful they haven't emerged into the public consciousness and tarnished the game yet.
Probably because when you think of cool, heroic fantasy archetypes... "Druid" is not really high on the list. I never would've chosen to play one until I read an article indicating that it was actually the most powerful class in 5e (and I was shocked to discover that the article was correct).
I think that, in terms of their popular image, druids are kind of hidden behind wizards. So when people see Saruman standing on top of Isengard, casting a spell to create a blizzard to block the Fellowship from traveling through a mountain pass, the audience sees that and thinks "wizard" not "druid." So when the new player is given the option of a druid, it just registers as a blank in his mind and he ends up selecting something else.
Just act nonchalantly whistle innocently and keep your head down, we want to keep this thing of ours. - Animal Messenger conversation overheard being delivered to a suspected member of the druid mafia.
You wont ever deal the top damage (unless your party is weird or buffing you) but you are a mitigator of damage to the point where in some fights a druid can force a win with no damage whatsoever to the party. That's a freebie encounter right there.
I usually do. Bear-shapes at low levels tends do more than DPR peers, while Conjure Animals tends to outperform at mid-levels.
Druids do huge damage but they don’t get credit for it because they do it indirectly, by increasing the damage of the party as a whole. Druids are force multipliers.
How do you mean?
Entangle for example restrains your opponents giving everyone advantage on their attack rolls until they break free and keeping them away from you so they can’t hit you back. That’s a huge advantage!
Professional computer geek
Spells like Faerie Fire and Entangle can give your entire party advantage on attack rolls against hostile targets, greatly increasing everyone’s damage output.
Alright sir. YOU ASKED. I will try not to break my keyboard over my druid rant.
Proficiencies:
A druid is proficient with a lot of strength based weaponry. They do have the scimitar, but it only works if you dual wield it, or it's probably one of 'they' worst weapons there is. But dex is used for AC as well and druids cannot wear metal armor, but are proficient with light and medium armor. Hide is probably the shittiest armor in the whole game, as it gives the same base ac rating as the studded leather does, but limits your dex modifier, allowing only 2 points of dex without medium armor master feat. So, they need to focus their ability scores on Wisdom,strength,dexterity and they recommend constitution as your second highest stat. I will agree, constitution on a spellcaster, even wizards and sorcerers are HIGHLY underrated, but if you are getting hit all the time I think it would be better to chance that 16 con and that 12 dex around. You are not proficient with ANY type of bow. Which is off for me, as I though "the hunters" the people who "live in the forest" and are the very "living and breathing protectors" of the idea of "hunting and using everything you can and not wasting or hunting for fun" I don't see why you "as a druid" wouldn't be proficient with bows. Which they would require dex to work, which would help druids A LOT.
Druids really only get something out of their weapons if they have AT LEAST a +3. And scimitars only work (their true purpose) if dual wielded. And if you are dual wielding you can't do somatic components, or material.
Spells:
Druids have 131 spells in the PHB. They gain spells like clerics bahbdbahabhabh. They get a lost of beast and plant spells. There are some spells where I'm okay with them, others I really don't see why the flying **** does the druid have that and not that spell instead, and there are other times where I want to rip my ##########!
Sorry. *Breaths in and out*. Planar binding or whatever. Why does the ******* DRUID HAVE THAT PIECE OF SHIT FILLING IN IT'S SL-
Sorry, sorry! Why is that spell on a DRUID spell list?! It first of all, sucks the biggest #########!
Once again, sorry. The spell doesn't make sense, if you are to bind a planar entity, why would he stand still for 1 hour? And why would you bind him if he lets you do that in the first place xD? Other spells like entangle are pretty good, and are signature spells for the druid. Other spells such as burning hands or cone of cold I feel like would be perfect druid spells because they are elemental. I know the druid doesn't need nor should have all elemental spells but I like the idea of a druid being able to at least deal spell damage if they can fight for shit with their 1d6 or 1d4 points of useless fuc-. I know druids aren't suppose to be DPS based. But you can't be telling me that they are "role play" focused with their spells. Because **** no. There are no fey domains or anything that allows you for a real trickery dickshit of a druid (pardon my druidic). They aren't really "that" combat focused, they are more that class that have a few times "that" spell that can save the party a few burnt asses and hours of work.
I might have a bit more but I will try to one day, write down all my shitload of "druid needs to be the **** revamped" later. I think faster than I write and I feel like screaming now and my tics are kicking in so I better stop. Soon I'm gonna unwillingly dual class to barbarian because I might end up raging. So!
All in all. The druid needs to be revamp in my opinion. It is a lackluster class until later levels. You don't feel as powerful as you do with other classes. Like parting a storm. Matthew mercer did that SO GOOD but my players WILL NEVER react in that way. My other players might shrug and that's it. Tbh, even after I created a homebrew circle with my DM for 5e that I can use, that is focused on the druid I want. I might just ask to chance character. Because druids just, you really gotta aimed for one path. Moon if you want any kind of battle prowess that matters. I wouldn't mind a good nice revamp. Like full walking speed is a main druid ability. Like in 3e, woodlands stride. Man I miss it! It was the small things that the druid had I loved, and now they're so split up now, between the circles. I've played a druid for almost 2.5 years, and I might be because I wanted a battle focused druid who defends her forest from invading monsters. But instead I got demons with spell resistances 25 and fire resistance so my spells I finally got that could do just a wee bit of damage were completely useless but I never fell in good with the druid. I have to admit to myself that even though a druid was my first character....
I don't fit with them. BUT. That doesn't mean that you do!
REMEMBER FOR ALL THE GODS,REALMS,PEOPLE, AND MY SAKE FOR THE LOVE OF FLAMING SHITS AND ****S! THIS IS MY OPINION. YOURS MAY BE DIFFERENT. DON'T CURSE ME OR SUE ME BECAUSE YOU THINK THE DRUID IS AWESOME. IT MIGHT BE BUT I JUST ENDED UP WITH THE WRONG STORY FOR MY KIND OF DRUID.
You you've managed to get to here, congraz! You haven't really won anything other than my respect. Reading all that hate. Trust me, I need to breath in and out so I don't scream out right now. Maaaaybe I should think about a new character... I might hate the druid (or at least my character build) more than I thought.
Daergial, ouch first off. Hope that felt better out than kept inside :)
Second - planar binding is the very opposite of boring, and yes from your do damage now focus it seems less than stellar. But in terms of power Planar binding is so totally overpowered and game twisting it hurts. Why they have it on the list is so they can mechanically claim assistance for long term from fey and elementals. It is unfortunate that it wasnt broken down into two spells or more and druids would be unable to bind celestials and fiends but thats a DM call. The druid waits for an elemental, fey (non summoned) and asks for assistance, who knows what form this might take but get that gemstone ready. Is the charisma check a magically enforced pact of friendship or slavery? Thats between the caster and the target. How would you get a creature to stand around for hours for you to cast it? Preparation: An inward facing circle of protection wil not stop it crossing in, but will trap it inside. You need an ally and a duration in excess of a hour on the circle that they cast. Now run off and run back when the chase ends you begin your part. Alternatively cast a conjure spell and immediately cast planar binding.
It doesnt seem worth it when it lasts a day for 1000 gold of a gem. they dont grow on trees, but at higher level spell slots they last a good deal longer and there are ways to get more gems easily. When you have a Korred, Bheur Hag and 4 Elementals for half a year what can you achieve?
Druids are powerful but they require battle planning to even break even. A third level druid can deal 10d4 in one round, possibly in two encounters per day. Say goodbye to the boss monster. A third level druid against a metal armoured foe can with heatmetal guarantee damage per round and make them attack with disadvantage on every single attack for a minute. There is NO SAVE against this, none. if you wear armour you cant remove very quickly (as per the phb, no, no you cant!) then you will end up taking 20d8 damage from this spell over its minute duration. Conjure animals is nuts and available at 5th, These are all lower level abilities (except the conjure animals which is t2) But if you dont feel like being the party tactician then yeah, play the wizard or sorcerer if you want your elemental fix :) Have fun.
Unless its cast-off armor lol
I stole my pfp from this person: https://mobile.twitter.com/xelart1/status/1177312449575432193
This whole rant is player expectation problem, not a problem with the Druid class. Maybe try rolling up a barbarian and see if that’s isnt more your speed.
You may want to consider having your character take a break from adventuring and sub in a few other classes short term. As CBMoate mentioned give a Barbarian a shot. I think you might enjoy an Ancients Paladin, a Feylock, or even a Ranger (though it's probably a good idea to look up some of the Unearthed Arcana tweaks if you go that route). I think you may also like a Bladesinger or Eldritch knight even though they don't have the ties to nature you're looking for, however a lot of that can be overcome with good RP. Play around with this version since it's relatively new to you. Once you get a better handle on some of the other classes, their weaknesses and their strengths, then decide which one you would like to proceed with.
One of the lessons I had to learn about this game is that sometimes you have to be willing to let a character go no matter how fun the concept sounds. The game can only handle so much bending and tweaking before what you end up with is unrecognizable and not fun for ANYONE at the table.
One other thought: If you hate druid, but insist on playing a druid, why not play a nature cleric?