As the title says, I'm deciding to redo my spell list. Reason is because the gm is letting me swap over to being the new Wildfire Druid from Circle of land. Current build has me at 11 Druid/2 Wizard/1 Rogue planning to just go straight druid from here on. This means level 6 spells and lower is all I have, so I'm looking for some recommendations on new spells to reflavour my spell list a bit.
well as a druid, can sort of just change my entire list on a long rest if I wanted.
As a non exhaustive list of things I've actually used; Healing words, absorb elements, heat metal, lesser restoration, pass without trace, conjure animals, polymorph, giant insect, wall of stone, antilife shell, Maelstrom, conjure elemental, transport via plants, wind walk.
A lot of more utility and concentration, wildfire also just gives me some more aggressive spells like fireball and flame strike which I'd likely be using.
Okay.. In that case, you might also consider spells like:
Bones of the Earth - damage, control, terrain alteration (very good if have a very agile Rogue or Monk in the party)
Watery Sphere - pure control
Heroe's Feast - very good if you have NPC allies, moderately good with a 4-6 member party and you're about to face any foes with charm, disease, poison or fear abilities
Geas - now you can control an NPC
Erupting Earth - damage plus control
Freedom of Movement - Make a member of your party un-restrainable
Healing Spirit - kinda broken healing spell so long as your party is close to the AoE and can move through it during their turn
Wrath of Nature - very good spell if you adventure in Feywild or wilderness settings a lot. Otherwise, ask your DM
6th level is where I really think the druid list is very strong:
Bones of the earth - non concentration permanent wall
Conjure Fey (with planar binding, if you can get a hold of a magic circle) for a long term ally with the possibility of casting
Heal
Hero's feast - increased hit points
Wall of Thorns - a good wall spell
Transport via Plants - interesting travel option
Wind Walk - interesting travel option
Druid Grove - if you have a home base that you'd like to set up
Other people like the Investiture spells
5th level has some nice spells too:
Awaken - another NPC ally option.
Contagion - for mobs that aren't immune to poison, the initial poison debuff is good, let alone the disease that might ensue
Greater Restoration - powerful cleansing magic that sometimes the only way to get the job done
Planar binding - sometimes requires some help if you want your own conjuration to become your long-term ally
Scrying - find out what your opponent is up to
Wrath of Nature - Many effects depending on environment, all of which are good
Wall of Stone - another good wall
Insect Plague - not a great spell mechanically (minor damage on cast/entry/start, light obscurement, and difficult terrain), but seems thematic
4th level has some spells that I like as well:
Blight - ok damage, but thematic so I still like it - probably don't need it if you still have a fireball in your pocket from the UA circle
Conjure woodland beings - better options than beasts for the most part, some have spellcasting, etc
Freedom of Movement - great for fixing all sorts of movement impairments
Guardian of Nature - One for Moon druids and one for caster druids - gives some decent buffs to spellcasting - unfortunately it's concentration so it's bonus to con saves doesn't help as much as it should
Polymorph - an extremely powerful spell with myriad uses that other people like more than me
Wall of fire - another good wall spell
Spells like Charm monster, Confusion, and Dominate Beast to affect the minds of creatures. Dominate Beast could get you an NPC ally as well
3rd level has some great spells too - like dispel, conjure animals, call lightning, plant growth, sleet storm (spell save DC concentration checks), water walk/breathing.
7th level and later, I'm not as much of a fan. I like:
Planeshift - for travel or banishment, probably better used as a travel spell
Reverse Gravity - for control (and maybe damage)
Animal shapes - is popular, but not my favorite. like a mass wildshape and/or mass polymorph. Most people don't make distinction between its effect on mental stats and polymorph's, so maybe not as useful in some games as others
Feeblemind - tricky because it is best used on creatures most likely to make the save
Foresight - great buff for an ally
Shapechange - basically wildshape into anything CR 17 or lower
True Resurrection - expensive but very powerful when used
There are a couple of 7th and 8th and 9th level spells with great names that don't seem as effective as their level would suggest, like Fire Storm, Whirlwind, Control Weather, and Storm of Vengeance.
Looking through that list again, I feel like there was a decision tree when they were deciding on mechanics of spells: Is the spell on the druid list? Yes? then make it concentration or longer than 1 action to cast.
The biggest example of this is comparing barkskin to mage armor. Barkskin is just worse. Sure, maybe arcane casters might only be getting to 13-15 AC with it, but they get to keep it all day and it doesn't prevent them from casting almost every other spell on their class list. As a druid, by making it so that you can't hit me as easily, I've also made it so you wouldn't bother anyway.
Barkskin, guardian of nature, shapechange (and maybe even storm of vengeance because it is so slow) are spells that concentrating on seems odd -- especially considering spiritual weapon exists. But with the druid, it isn't just that there are some spells that wouldn't have concentration if they were only on other caster's lists; it's also that almost everything they can do requires concentration (see the 2nd level druid spells, as an example). I asked on this elsewhere too. I struggle with what to spend actions on while I'm already concentrating on a control spell in combat. This UA gives a few blaster-type spell options, if you want to go that route.
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As the title says, I'm deciding to redo my spell list. Reason is because the gm is letting me swap over to being the new Wildfire Druid from Circle of land. Current build has me at 11 Druid/2 Wizard/1 Rogue planning to just go straight druid from here on. This means level 6 spells and lower is all I have, so I'm looking for some recommendations on new spells to reflavour my spell list a bit.
Which spells do you have now?
well as a druid, can sort of just change my entire list on a long rest if I wanted.
As a non exhaustive list of things I've actually used; Healing words, absorb elements, heat metal, lesser restoration, pass without trace, conjure animals, polymorph, giant insect, wall of stone, antilife shell, Maelstrom, conjure elemental, transport via plants, wind walk.
A lot of more utility and concentration, wildfire also just gives me some more aggressive spells like fireball and flame strike which I'd likely be using.
Okay.. In that case, you might also consider spells like:
Bones of the Earth - damage, control, terrain alteration (very good if have a very agile Rogue or Monk in the party)
Watery Sphere - pure control
Heroe's Feast - very good if you have NPC allies, moderately good with a 4-6 member party and you're about to face any foes with charm, disease, poison or fear abilities
Geas - now you can control an NPC
Erupting Earth - damage plus control
Freedom of Movement - Make a member of your party un-restrainable
Healing Spirit - kinda broken healing spell so long as your party is close to the AoE and can move through it during their turn
Wrath of Nature - very good spell if you adventure in Feywild or wilderness settings a lot. Otherwise, ask your DM
6th level is where I really think the druid list is very strong:
5th level has some nice spells too:
4th level has some spells that I like as well:
3rd level has some great spells too - like dispel, conjure animals, call lightning, plant growth, sleet storm (spell save DC concentration checks), water walk/breathing.
7th level and later, I'm not as much of a fan. I like:
There are a couple of 7th and 8th and 9th level spells with great names that don't seem as effective as their level would suggest, like Fire Storm, Whirlwind, Control Weather, and Storm of Vengeance.
Looking through that list again, I feel like there was a decision tree when they were deciding on mechanics of spells: Is the spell on the druid list? Yes? then make it concentration or longer than 1 action to cast.
Basically, yes. I think they were afraid that Druids' power level in 5e might somehow resemble Druids in 3rd edition.
The biggest example of this is comparing barkskin to mage armor. Barkskin is just worse. Sure, maybe arcane casters might only be getting to 13-15 AC with it, but they get to keep it all day and it doesn't prevent them from casting almost every other spell on their class list. As a druid, by making it so that you can't hit me as easily, I've also made it so you wouldn't bother anyway.
Barkskin, guardian of nature, shapechange (and maybe even storm of vengeance because it is so slow) are spells that concentrating on seems odd -- especially considering spiritual weapon exists. But with the druid, it isn't just that there are some spells that wouldn't have concentration if they were only on other caster's lists; it's also that almost everything they can do requires concentration (see the 2nd level druid spells, as an example). I asked on this elsewhere too. I struggle with what to spend actions on while I'm already concentrating on a control spell in combat. This UA gives a few blaster-type spell options, if you want to go that route.