My Circle of the Moon Druid has a higher AC when he's not wild shaped than when he is wild shaped. Hide armor plus a shield and no Dex bonus gives him an AC of 14 and all but a couple of the beasts that he wild shapes into have AC's lower than that. I think only one has an AC of 15.
In tier 1 (up to level 5) Shillelagh is very effective. But it doesn’t scale. The martial classes start getting multiple attacks at level 5, but the Druid never does. So you’re going to fall far behind the martial classes (and the rogue’s sneak attack damage) starting at level 5. A Druid will often maintain a damage-dealing concentration spell (e.g. Moonbeam) while also using Shillelagh to melee, round by round, especially against soft targets (like casters). But in terms of pure melee damage, Shillelagh isn’t enough after level 5.
You are correct, there are no rules for swapping cantrips, however many DMs allow it anyway.
I got my moon druid to spend a busload of gold on Basilisk scale armor (it's just a homebrew set of scale armor with a high price tag and a fancy name to get around the metal taboo). With a shield I've got the second highest ac in the party so I often go into melee for a couple rounds to toss a few spells or use primal savagery before using my wild shape.
It's hard to get non-metal medium or heavy armor but there are options out there for Druids, including Dragon Scale mail armor, and the Scorpion full plate armor from the Tomb of Annihilation hardcover.
On the plus side, going through all that time and effort eventually leaves you with armor that's way cooler than generic metal armor.
I thought that Cantrips couldn’t be swapped out. Spells can, but Cantrips are forever.
Theoretically, but the general Adventurers League rule that lets you reconfigure your character up until level 5 effectively means you can swap your cantrip choices until you reach that point.
The other option is take a single level of monk. You lose your shield but get 10+wis+dex for armor and if you used Shillelagh you can use martial arts to then unarmed strike as a bonus action. I agree it's not a great option to wade into melee as a low AC character with no real melee damage.
All good points. I’m rolling out a bugbear circle of the shepherd as a backup character. Just wondering if there was a way to get a little mileage out the the bugbears racial features. I kinda like the idea of using primal savagery rather than shillelagh.
When I use Primal Savagery, I like to describe it as impaling them on my claws, Wolverine-style. It’s totally flavor, but that just works better for some races than others.
I've got a lizardfolk with natural armor plus a shield with shillelagh and decent dex and a ring of protection. Along with the temp hit points and bonus poison damage from symbiotic entity it's working pretty well in melee at least at level 6. Not sure I'll keep up with damage thought as we move up but my AC is solid.
Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with allowing non standard 'non metal equivalents' for armour I would suggest you need to find a creature that is at least one size category larger than you (not all of it will be useful) and its natural armour (after dex is subtracted) is at least what your going for. This is Not a rule just a guide to what to go hunting. Finally when hunting for your armour the manner of its death may be a factor in the armour, if it was hacked battered or burnt to death the armour may be less than desirable so try to kill with kindness, (Vicious mockery is more likely) poison or drowning.
Alternatively wait for that dragonscale armour, which one could unsurprisingly expect to be made of dragonscales not metal and wear that.
With cantrips permanent choices I prefer Thorn Whip a 30' range Melee attack, it deals only 1d6 damage (growing as you do) but allows you to melee from the back and if you so desire pull your opponent up to 10' toward you, useful for crowd control, breaking grapples, deliberately hitting downed allies to drag them through your healing spirit, and pulling people through your spike growth (1d6 +4d4, a bargain)
So have fun but remember, moon druids never sleep.
Much has changed since 2018 when this question was asked. But I think there are some Druid circles now that are outright saying they are intended to be a melee Druid based subclass. Such as spore.
That said, any Druid can be melee based if you want them to be. It’s all in how you customize yourself with stat distribution and etc.
Can use Wildfire spirit to port myself and melee allies in or out.
If I'm in a 1on1 or outside a blob then the swarmkeeper movement is sufficient. Point is I have lots of options.
Shellileigh + Dueling fighting style means 1d8+4 or 5 depending on level (wis mod) +2 (dueling) + 1d6 Swarm damage depending on however you use your bonus action:
1)wildfire spirit attack or teleport. (teleport is Flat out Better for 1d6+PB AoE Dex save + repositioning)
2) some concentration ability such as Heat Metal, Flaming Sphere, healing spirit, etc.
So @lv 9. 1d8+7 [atk1] 1d8+7 [atk2] + whatever concentration spell you will eventually have up either as flat damage (hunters mark) or triggering on BA + your Swarmkeeper or Wildfire Spirit movement options.
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Q: Does your Druid ever (effectively) join melee when not in wildshape? If so, how?
Maybe Shillelagh with quarterstaff + polearmaster feat for bonus strike? Anyway to up the DPR?
Do you survive for long with (presumably) a low AC?
My Circle of the Moon Druid has a higher AC when he's not wild shaped than when he is wild shaped. Hide armor plus a shield and no Dex bonus gives him an AC of 14 and all but a couple of the beasts that he wild shapes into have AC's lower than that. I think only one has an AC of 15.
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I have a Tortle Druid with Circle of the Sheppard and use Shillelagh with a wooden shield. Pretty good, haven't gotten too far though level wise yet.
In tier 1 (up to level 5) Shillelagh is very effective. But it doesn’t scale. The martial classes start getting multiple attacks at level 5, but the Druid never does. So you’re going to fall far behind the martial classes (and the rogue’s sneak attack damage) starting at level 5. A Druid will often maintain a damage-dealing concentration spell (e.g. Moonbeam) while also using Shillelagh to melee, round by round, especially against soft targets (like casters). But in terms of pure melee damage, Shillelagh isn’t enough after level 5.
I was thinking about switching to primal Savagery at level 5 of so.
Generally a good idea as Primal Savagery scales by tier but Shillelagh does not.
I thought that Cantrips couldn’t be swapped out. Spells can, but Cantrips are forever.
Professional computer geek
You are correct, there are no rules for swapping cantrips, however many DMs allow it anyway.
I got my moon druid to spend a busload of gold on Basilisk scale armor (it's just a homebrew set of scale armor with a high price tag and a fancy name to get around the metal taboo). With a shield I've got the second highest ac in the party so I often go into melee for a couple rounds to toss a few spells or use primal savagery before using my wild shape.
It's hard to get non-metal medium or heavy armor but there are options out there for Druids, including Dragon Scale mail armor, and the Scorpion full plate armor from the Tomb of Annihilation hardcover.
On the plus side, going through all that time and effort eventually leaves you with armor that's way cooler than generic metal armor.
Theoretically, but the general Adventurers League rule that lets you reconfigure your character up until level 5 effectively means you can swap your cantrip choices until you reach that point.
The other option is take a single level of monk. You lose your shield but get 10+wis+dex for armor and if you used Shillelagh you can use martial arts to then unarmed strike as a bonus action. I agree it's not a great option to wade into melee as a low AC character with no real melee damage.
All good points. I’m rolling out a bugbear circle of the shepherd as a backup character. Just wondering if there was a way to get a little mileage out the the bugbears racial features. I kinda like the idea of using primal savagery rather than shillelagh.
Hmmm maybe a lizardfolk character is better suited for this build...
When I use Primal Savagery, I like to describe it as impaling them on my claws, Wolverine-style. It’s totally flavor, but that just works better for some races than others.
I've got a lizardfolk with natural armor plus a shield with shillelagh and decent dex and a ring of protection. Along with the temp hit points and bonus poison damage from symbiotic entity it's working pretty well in melee at least at level 6. Not sure I'll keep up with damage thought as we move up but my AC is solid.
Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with allowing non standard 'non metal equivalents' for armour I would suggest you need to find a creature that is at least one size category larger than you (not all of it will be useful) and its natural armour (after dex is subtracted) is at least what your going for. This is Not a rule just a guide to what to go hunting. Finally when hunting for your armour the manner of its death may be a factor in the armour, if it was hacked battered or burnt to death the armour may be less than desirable so try to kill with kindness, (Vicious mockery is more likely) poison or drowning.
Alternatively wait for that dragonscale armour, which one could unsurprisingly expect to be made of dragonscales not metal and wear that.
With cantrips permanent choices I prefer Thorn Whip a 30' range Melee attack, it deals only 1d6 damage (growing as you do) but allows you to melee from the back and if you so desire pull your opponent up to 10' toward you, useful for crowd control, breaking grapples, deliberately hitting downed allies to drag them through your healing spirit, and pulling people through your spike growth (1d6 +4d4, a bargain)
So have fun but remember, moon druids never sleep.
I would argue a tortle is better because the +2 to STR
a single level of monk for unarmored defense and decent dex is the way to go... AND unarmored defense works in wildshape!
Much has changed since 2018 when this question was asked. But I think there are some Druid circles now that are outright saying they are intended to be a melee Druid based subclass. Such as spore.
That said, any Druid can be melee based if you want them to be. It’s all in how you customize yourself with stat distribution and etc.
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Wildfire Druid + Swarmkeeper Ranger.
Can use Wildfire spirit to port myself and melee allies in or out.
If I'm in a 1on1 or outside a blob then the swarmkeeper movement is sufficient. Point is I have lots of options.
Shellileigh + Dueling fighting style means 1d8+4 or 5 depending on level (wis mod) +2 (dueling) + 1d6 Swarm damage depending on however you use your bonus action:
1)wildfire spirit attack or teleport. (teleport is Flat out Better for 1d6+PB AoE Dex save + repositioning)
2) some concentration ability such as Heat Metal, Flaming Sphere, healing spirit, etc.
So @lv 9. 1d8+7 [atk1] 1d8+7 [atk2] + whatever concentration spell you will eventually have up either as flat damage (hunters mark) or triggering on BA + your Swarmkeeper or Wildfire Spirit movement options.