I am about to play 2 "oneshots" at level 6 and I'm considering creating a Circle of Spores Druid.
But I have concerns regarding the Symbiotic Entity feature. Mainly my concern is how usefull it really is. I fear that because of "These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points." I run the risk that the befits drops really fast. It is "only" 24 tmp HP, Granted it is a bit, but it can be removed quite fast from just a few mobs hitting you. Even if only a single enemy targets you, it is not unreasonable that it is gone within 1-2 rounds of combat. It is an action to activate, you actually risk being targeted and loose all temp HP before you can even use the feature, if you are a bit unlucky.
Is it just me, is my concerns unfounded, or what do the rest of you druids out there think ?
I am about to play 2 "oneshots" at level 6 and I'm considering creating a Circle of Spores Druid.
But I have concerns regarding the Symbiotic Entity feature. Mainly my concern is how usefull it really is. I fear that because of "These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points." I run the risk that the befits drops really fast. It is "only" 24 tmp HP, Granted it is a bit, but it can be removed quite fast from just a few mobs hitting you. Even if only a single enemy targets you, it is not unreasonable that it is gone within 1-2 rounds of combat. It is an action to activate, you actually risk being targeted and loose all temp HP before you can even use the feature, if you are a bit unlucky.
Is it just me, is my concerns unfounded, or what do the rest of you druids out there think ?
The RPGBOT druid subclass guide says good things about that feature and it says 10 minutes may get you through a few fights. I've only tried circle of stars so far, which is great.
I think the best part of symbiotic entity is the temporary hitpoints.
Doubling the damage on halo of spores is OK but it will almost certainly be doing less damage on average than an op attack. I know you might not get an op attack every round but you don't ewant to cast it when you might need to cast absorb elements. An extra d6 of damage means your shillelagh attacks are doing more than cantrips but still a lot less than the martials.
With a con of +2 you will have 45 Hit point if symbiotic entity is lost in 1-2 rounds of combat it has prevented you losing more than half your hit points in that time. Put it up again and when you have taken another 24 points of damage you will still be at full health where without it you would be unconcious needing someone to use resources to get you back up, if the previous day had been rought you might only have 3 hitdice to get and average of 20 back if you take a short rest. As a spores druid your hit dice would be intact and you have another 2 lots of 24 hit points.
Losing 24 hit points in 1-2 rounds at level 6 can happen but should be rare. If it happens you are in far better shape having lost a feature you can use twice per short rest then most other character that would have lost half their HP.
The temp HP is the main purpose of symbiotic entity (the extra damage is just a bonus): you use it to tank hits while in melee range. The thing is, you want to maximize your AC, because that tempHP lasts a lot longer if you're dodging attacks entirely.
Here's how I play(ed) my circle of spores druid: Focus your points into wisdom and dexterity, either choosing those for your two highest traits or putting your points there if using the point buy method. You want dex and wisdom to be as high as possible right off the bat. Then, make sure you're not wearing armor and not using a shield; instead pick a quarterstaff as your primary weapon (and if your DM allows, have that quarterstaff double as your druidic focus - mine did). If you're starting at level 6 for these one shots, do 5 levels of spore druid, and 1 level of monk. This gives you unarmed defense, which makes your AC 10+Dex mod+Wis mod, and quarterstaff counts as a monk weapon. As long as you have decent starting stats here, you should have an AC of 16-18 with unarmored defense. Monk also allows you to use dexterity as your attack and damage roll stat with the quarterstaff instead of strength (so don't worry about strength, just go pure dex/wis). If you're able to take a feat, pick polearm master. While monk does allow you to follow up attacks with an unarmed attack as a bonus action, unarmed attacks don't deal necrotic damage via symbiotic entity. For my druid, I had lore reasons that were developed over our campaign for having a set of "brass knuckles" on his off hand, and the DM allowed applying necrotic damage with the martial arts unarmed bonus attack.
When you get into combat situations, get symbotic entity active (20 temp hp, double halo of spores damage, and 1d6 necrotic damage on each melee weapon attack), then get shillelagh cast on your quarterstaff. Stay in melee range of as many enemies as possible (so they take halo of spores damage every turn they start near you, and when you first get into 10ft range). Your melee attacks will be: Quarterstaff initial attack: 1d8 + 1d6 necrotic damage from symbiotic entity + Polearm master follow-up bonus attack: 1d4 + 1d6 necrotic damage from symbiotic entity for a total of 24~ possible damage on non-critical hits. Your weapon attacks also count as magical for bypassing resistances.
I also combined this fighting style with casts of spike growth and thorn whip to better control the battlefield and wear down opponents that moved where I did or didn't want them to. Nothing like using thorn whip to pull a ranged enemy through an area of spike growth and into your halo of spores before beating them into fungus food with your superstaff.
The extra damage is icing on the cake. The real benefit of the Circle of Spores is that you can use your Wildshape for the extra hit points, and still have full access to your spellcasting, something most Druids can't do until extremely high levels.
The extra damage is icing on the cake. The real benefit of the Circle of Spores is that you can use your Wildshape for the extra hit points, and still have full access to your spellcasting, something most Druids can't do until extremely high levels.
Exactly. The truth is, Druids are not good at melee, even with Circle of Spores benefits. You can do fine at low levels, but you will quickly get left behind. Still, CoSpores is very underrated as a full caster that basically ignores melee. You get excellent spells and huge survivability. And you can activate Symbiotic Entity early to ensure you have the temp HP. The 10 minute duration is just for the bulleted bonuses (melee, halo of spores) which are not worth losing an action in combat.
Melee is a trap as Spores. Use SE out of combat for the Temp HP, and spellcast in the midline until level 10. Once you have Spreading Spores, it's more feasible to use SE in combat, but you're still not going to be in melee.
Spores Druid is really an off-tank. Like, you're not supposed to take hits like a Paladin or Barbarian, but you are harder to put down than Clerics without H.Armor proficiency. It's really a subclass that does well when you can stack abilities that improve your resistance to damage or decrease the chance that you get surrounded in the first place. So serious multi-classing with Barbarian, for instance, could make you really tough to kill, but at the cost of some spellcasting. Swarmkeeper Ranger or Beastmaster Ranger is a good multi-class with Spores because those subclasses use mostly the same stats (DEX and WIS), have spellcasting, and have ways to move you or put up a meatshield for you on one side so you don't easily get surrounded.
I have been playing a Spore Druid in Drakkenheim for about three years now. We play once in a while so I am 'only' level 8 right now, about to level. The DM had to make a lot of changes to the Spore Druid, which have helped a lot. To avoid an even longer post, here is what we have done and what my feeling of this class is:
Halo of Spores is no longer a save but still a reaction. The extra damage has been nice flavour but never a combat changer. If there were a save, the enemies would almost always save and I just wouldn't bother with it, saving my reaction for better stuff.
Halo of Spores doesn't harm anyone I don't want them to. No allies are harmed in the process. If this were not the case, I would need to be off on my own at the side every time. That is just asking to be surrounded.
The temp hit points never go away until they are used up. I don't think this makes a huge difference but it can save me a round if I do it at the beginning of the day, for example. Still, even before we made this change, I found these extra hit points to be fabulous! Makes all the difference in combat. The extra spore damage on my weapon [we killed a dryad but I kept the arm and do shillelagh on it ;) ] is nice. The extra halo damage makes it more worth it, though beginning to wear at level 7 & 8.
Fungal Infestation is sadly never used. I am fighting monsters in Drakkenheim so they never meet the requirements. The one fight that I did get them for was fun but I don't have enough data for a good review. And, again, why only humanoids? Druids don't really prioritize lifeforms and certainly not a spore druid. Fighting a swam of insects? Great! Fighting undead? Already halfway there... I am glad they include beasts but fungus is everywhere, especially on cold-blooded creatures and dead things.
Animate Dead has been what I use instead of Fungal Infestation. Sadly, because I have to use 2 spell slots, minimum, to keep 4 skeletons (or zombies) they are always at the back as archers. They could do so much more but I just don't have the spell slots (or, more accurately, have better spells to use) to make them true meat shields. They do draw some attacks though, which means less attacks on us: nice bonus. Overall, not a good replacement but this is a Drakkenheim issue and may not be an issue for others.
While I am on Animate Dead, I am really frustrated by it! I hate that I can not raise anything else. Skeletal horse? Nope. Skeletal wolves? Nope. I understand why a wizard might not want animal versions but what difference does it make to a Druid?! A skeletal horse would be amazing!
Another issue with Animate Dead is that I can do more with Conjure Animals. In one battle, I summoned 4 bears and they kept the guards so busy that we just walked right past and barred the door behind us. One spell. I could have also done a bunch of wolves with pack attack features. One spell. The only reason I do Animate Dead is for flavour and drawing attacks. If I was truly min-max'ing, I would use Conjure Animals as my meat shield every time! My other reason, they slow the battle down for everyone and I don't want to annoy the other players.
My biggest issue in battle lately has been the choice between melee or spells. Melee is 1) spend a round moving and activating my Symbiotic Entity, 2) one attack plus spores. This is of course assuming I do not need to double move. Alternatively, I stay out of range and cast a 3rd or 4th level spell, and do serious damage right away. The fix for this would simply be an extra attack. Give a second attack at level 6 or so (another homebrew version does this) and my calculation would be more melee, which is what I feel the Spore Druid is made for. When I stay at range, I am essentially a wizard who won't fall if an enemy surprises us from behind. Not bad, agreed, but it makes all the other special features irrelevant (Halo, Fungal, etc.)
In sum, I find myself to be a secondary fighter, more like a Cleric but without armour. The AC issues are real so I chose a species with natural armour. Still, I get hit at least once a round. If I had my Fungal Infestation always working, less of an issue but still an issue. I love the character concept but the subclass feels like an ad-on that wasn't fully thought out. After level 6, I am almost always deciding to be a ranged caster rather than a melee fighter, which isn't really the flavour of the class in my opinion. Maybe this will change with Spreading Spores at level 10? Maybe it is because I am in Drakkenheim? If that is the case, this still means that levels 6 to 10 are a different play than what was intended. Most games I have played in over 30+ years are in the level 4 to 12 spread. Overall, I don't hate it but I don't love it. I love the character but combat is far less fun. The fact that almost everyone on forums have chosen to multi-class the Spore Druid is proof of this.
I am about to play 2 "oneshots" at level 6 and I'm considering creating a Circle of Spores Druid.
But I have concerns regarding the Symbiotic Entity feature.
Mainly my concern is how usefull it really is.
I fear that because of "These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points." I run the risk that the befits drops really fast.
It is "only" 24 tmp HP, Granted it is a bit, but it can be removed quite fast from just a few mobs hitting you.
Even if only a single enemy targets you, it is not unreasonable that it is gone within 1-2 rounds of combat.
It is an action to activate, you actually risk being targeted and loose all temp HP before you can even use the feature, if you are a bit unlucky.
Is it just me, is my concerns unfounded, or what do the rest of you druids out there think ?
The RPGBOT druid subclass guide says good things about that feature and it says 10 minutes may get you through a few fights. I've only tried circle of stars so far, which is great.
Food, Scifi/fantasy, anime, DND 5E and OSR geek.
I think the best part of symbiotic entity is the temporary hitpoints.
Doubling the damage on halo of spores is OK but it will almost certainly be doing less damage on average than an op attack. I know you might not get an op attack every round but you don't ewant to cast it when you might need to cast absorb elements. An extra d6 of damage means your shillelagh attacks are doing more than cantrips but still a lot less than the martials.
With a con of +2 you will have 45 Hit point if symbiotic entity is lost in 1-2 rounds of combat it has prevented you losing more than half your hit points in that time. Put it up again and when you have taken another 24 points of damage you will still be at full health where without it you would be unconcious needing someone to use resources to get you back up, if the previous day had been rought you might only have 3 hitdice to get and average of 20 back if you take a short rest. As a spores druid your hit dice would be intact and you have another 2 lots of 24 hit points.
Losing 24 hit points in 1-2 rounds at level 6 can happen but should be rare. If it happens you are in far better shape having lost a feature you can use twice per short rest then most other character that would have lost half their HP.
The temp HP is the main purpose of symbiotic entity (the extra damage is just a bonus): you use it to tank hits while in melee range. The thing is, you want to maximize your AC, because that tempHP lasts a lot longer if you're dodging attacks entirely.
Here's how I play(ed) my circle of spores druid:
Focus your points into wisdom and dexterity, either choosing those for your two highest traits or putting your points there if using the point buy method. You want dex and wisdom to be as high as possible right off the bat. Then, make sure you're not wearing armor and not using a shield; instead pick a quarterstaff as your primary weapon (and if your DM allows, have that quarterstaff double as your druidic focus - mine did). If you're starting at level 6 for these one shots, do 5 levels of spore druid, and 1 level of monk. This gives you unarmed defense, which makes your AC 10+Dex mod+Wis mod, and quarterstaff counts as a monk weapon. As long as you have decent starting stats here, you should have an AC of 16-18 with unarmored defense. Monk also allows you to use dexterity as your attack and damage roll stat with the quarterstaff instead of strength (so don't worry about strength, just go pure dex/wis).
If you're able to take a feat, pick polearm master. While monk does allow you to follow up attacks with an unarmed attack as a bonus action, unarmed attacks don't deal necrotic damage via symbiotic entity. For my druid, I had lore reasons that were developed over our campaign for having a set of "brass knuckles" on his off hand, and the DM allowed applying necrotic damage with the martial arts unarmed bonus attack.
When you get into combat situations, get symbotic entity active (20 temp hp, double halo of spores damage, and 1d6 necrotic damage on each melee weapon attack), then get shillelagh cast on your quarterstaff. Stay in melee range of as many enemies as possible (so they take halo of spores damage every turn they start near you, and when you first get into 10ft range). Your melee attacks will be:
Quarterstaff initial attack: 1d8 + 1d6 necrotic damage from symbiotic entity + Polearm master follow-up bonus attack: 1d4 + 1d6 necrotic damage from symbiotic entity for a total of 24~ possible damage on non-critical hits. Your weapon attacks also count as magical for bypassing resistances.
I also combined this fighting style with casts of spike growth and thorn whip to better control the battlefield and wear down opponents that moved where I did or didn't want them to. Nothing like using thorn whip to pull a ranged enemy through an area of spike growth and into your halo of spores before beating them into fungus food with your superstaff.
The extra damage is icing on the cake. The real benefit of the Circle of Spores is that you can use your Wildshape for the extra hit points, and still have full access to your spellcasting, something most Druids can't do until extremely high levels.
Exactly. The truth is, Druids are not good at melee, even with Circle of Spores benefits. You can do fine at low levels, but you will quickly get left behind. Still, CoSpores is very underrated as a full caster that basically ignores melee. You get excellent spells and huge survivability. And you can activate Symbiotic Entity early to ensure you have the temp HP. The 10 minute duration is just for the bulleted bonuses (melee, halo of spores) which are not worth losing an action in combat.
Melee is a trap as Spores. Use SE out of combat for the Temp HP, and spellcast in the midline until level 10. Once you have Spreading Spores, it's more feasible to use SE in combat, but you're still not going to be in melee.
Spores Druid is really an off-tank. Like, you're not supposed to take hits like a Paladin or Barbarian, but you are harder to put down than Clerics without H.Armor proficiency. It's really a subclass that does well when you can stack abilities that improve your resistance to damage or decrease the chance that you get surrounded in the first place. So serious multi-classing with Barbarian, for instance, could make you really tough to kill, but at the cost of some spellcasting. Swarmkeeper Ranger or Beastmaster Ranger is a good multi-class with Spores because those subclasses use mostly the same stats (DEX and WIS), have spellcasting, and have ways to move you or put up a meatshield for you on one side so you don't easily get surrounded.
I have been playing a Spore Druid in Drakkenheim for about three years now. We play once in a while so I am 'only' level 8 right now, about to level. The DM had to make a lot of changes to the Spore Druid, which have helped a lot. To avoid an even longer post, here is what we have done and what my feeling of this class is: