Flavour-wise, my favourite circle is Circle of the Land, for that traditional Druid theme with a close tie to the land. They are protectors of the land that they are tied to, draw their powers from it, and the land influences the druid's abilities
Rules-wise, the Circle of Stars looks really interesting. Gives you a strong Cantrip and access to one of the most powerful Level 1 Cleric spells (Guiding Bolt), very versatile Starry Forms, and the ability to influence fate (affect dice rolls).
Flavour-wise, my favourite circle is Circle of the Land, for that traditional Druid theme with a close tie to the land. They are protectors of the land that they are tied to, draw their powers from it, and the land influences the druid's abilities
Rules-wise, the Circle of Stars looks really interesting. Gives you a strong Cantrip and access to one of the most powerful Level 1 Cleric spells (Guiding Bolt), very versatile Starry Forms, and the ability to influence fate (affect dice rolls).
I really love circle of spores for the non-conventional take on necromancy and the way you can play into the gross/creepy aspects of the flavor it provides. I played it as my character was infected by a sentient fungal entity. He had a blended personality that retained some of his dwarven nature, but also took on strange quirks.
There are a lot of good choices. My question to you is What do you picture a druid doing and what do you want to use most?
I picture a Druid holding out his hand and making budding plants grown, and I want to use my wild shape the most, especially when I get to turn into an Elemental.
There are a lot of good choices. My question to you is What do you picture a druid doing and what do you want to use most?
I picture a Druid holding out his hand and making budding plants grown, and I want to use my wild shape the most, especially when I get to turn into an Elemental.
Well the first part to some extent is just druids in general. they have a few different growth powers. some with mechanical effects and some without (like druidcraft). But if you want to use wild shapes and eventually turn into an elemental then you really only have one choice. That's the Moon Druid.
Druidcraft is a cantrip any druid can have and covers the first part perfectly, Quarion. If you're super into wild shape, then Moon Druid is a pretty easy pick.
I played a young, naive Moon Druid in a seafaring campaign and it was awesome. Think a mix of Beast Boy and Korra during her avatar training. Giant Octopus form was my go to and it was freakin incredible. So fun.
But my vote goes to Shepherd. I just love the friend to animals vibe. I have a build based on Princess Mononoke that I'm in love with and want to play some day. Summons a pair of dire wolves to fight alongside and is just generally badass.
I was all prepared for wildfire druid to be my new favorite but I'm one of the simpletons that can't stand the spell list they constructed.
Edit: Also just want to give a shout out to Spores. Very close second for me. I love thinking about their reanimation abilities like the Ophiocordyceps fungus that invades the bodies of ants and eventually sprouts from their bodies as they die and explode, showering the ground with more fungal cells to invade new ants. I imagine a Spore Druid's skeleton army all having fungal protrusions and glowing with with iridescence.
There are a lot of good choices. My question to you is What do you picture a druid doing and what do you want to use most?
I picture a Druid holding out his hand and making budding plants grown, and I want to use my wild shape the most, especially when I get to turn into an Elemental.
Well the first part to some extent is just druids in general. they have a few different growth powers. some with mechanical effects and some without (like druidcraft). But if you want to use wild shapes and eventually turn into an elemental then you really only have one choice. That's the Moon Druid.
My favorites are Wildfire and Shepherd. I really like companion classes and summoning. I also like to play the support role and both of those classes are great for that thanks to Wildfire’s prepared healing / revitalizing spells and the Shepherd’s Unicorn Totem. Flavor-wise and mechanics wise I adore both of these classes.
I wanted to add Dreams to my list of favorites, but I was really disappointed with the subclass. I wanted to like it because the idea of a Druid that’s so closely related to the Fey is appealing to me, but I found it to be a bit lackluster overall.
It's possibly the least typical druid, but I am trying one tomorrow and hope it's fun. It's almost like a Celtic-flavored divination wizard, which I quite like. These folks don't pretend to be animals, they build Stonehenge
it's a pretty boring and basic opinion but I absolutely love the Moon Druid. Anything that lets me play as a beast/monster is awesome, and Moon Druids make that a much more viable option. Same reason why I love the Polymorph, True Polymorph, and Shapechange spells.
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"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Wildfire. No, not just because it has fire in it, I'd take it even if it were the exact same but with cold damage and an icy flavour. One of the biggest benefits here is that you get both healing and damaging spells prepared for you. While they're not the best, they're good enough. This means you can prepare many flavourful spells that you usually can't, and I like that. Normally, you won't have Skywrite prepared. Now you can. It's a bad spell that's not likely to get used at all, but I have enough prepare-slots to take it for that one time I'll get to use it. Additionally, it allows you to use even more "bad" spells, like Cure Wounds. What? Cure Wounds is bad? Well, no, but Healing Word is stupidly broken. If you can take Healing Word, you'd prefer it over Cure Wounds 99% of the time. With Circle of Wildfire, run to your fallen ally and cast Cure Wounds. Use your bonus action to tell your fiery companion to run over and teleport you away. There, you got yourself and your teammate away from trouble (15 feet away, but still away), you healed your companion for 1d8+Wis Mod (as opposed to 1d4+WM) and you dealt 1d6+PB damage to your enemy, possibly. Later, you can do the same but without running over yourself as your beast can now cast the spell for you. In conclusion, this just allows for a lot of support, a lot of blasting and a lot of utility. If I play a caster, I want to do just that.
Other than this, Circle of the Moon is also cool, I don't need to explain why.
I'm playing my first druid right now, and I want to know what people think of the circles.
Tell me below.
FYI I don't need help choosing a circle, I just want to see what people think.
Flavour-wise, my favourite circle is Circle of the Land, for that traditional Druid theme with a close tie to the land. They are protectors of the land that they are tied to, draw their powers from it, and the land influences the druid's abilities
Rules-wise, the Circle of Stars looks really interesting. Gives you a strong Cantrip and access to one of the most powerful Level 1 Cleric spells (Guiding Bolt), very versatile Starry Forms, and the ability to influence fate (affect dice rolls).
There are a lot of good choices. My question to you is What do you picture a druid doing and what do you want to use most?
^ This.
I really love circle of spores for the non-conventional take on necromancy and the way you can play into the gross/creepy aspects of the flavor it provides. I played it as my character was infected by a sentient fungal entity. He had a blended personality that retained some of his dwarven nature, but also took on strange quirks.
I picture a Druid holding out his hand and making budding plants grown, and I want to use my wild shape the most, especially when I get to turn into an Elemental.
Well the first part to some extent is just druids in general. they have a few different growth powers. some with mechanical effects and some without (like druidcraft). But if you want to use wild shapes and eventually turn into an elemental then you really only have one choice. That's the Moon Druid.
Druidcraft is a cantrip any druid can have and covers the first part perfectly, Quarion. If you're super into wild shape, then Moon Druid is a pretty easy pick.
I played a young, naive Moon Druid in a seafaring campaign and it was awesome. Think a mix of Beast Boy and Korra during her avatar training. Giant Octopus form was my go to and it was freakin incredible. So fun.
But my vote goes to Shepherd. I just love the friend to animals vibe. I have a build based on Princess Mononoke that I'm in love with and want to play some day. Summons a pair of dire wolves to fight alongside and is just generally badass.
I was all prepared for wildfire druid to be my new favorite but I'm one of the simpletons that can't stand the spell list they constructed.
Edit: Also just want to give a shout out to Spores. Very close second for me. I love thinking about their reanimation abilities like the Ophiocordyceps fungus that invades the bodies of ants and eventually sprouts from their bodies as they die and explode, showering the ground with more fungal cells to invade new ants. I imagine a Spore Druid's skeleton army all having fungal protrusions and glowing with with iridescence.
That’s what I am
Stars
land
shepherd
My favorites are Wildfire and Shepherd. I really like companion classes and summoning. I also like to play the support role and both of those classes are great for that thanks to Wildfire’s prepared healing / revitalizing spells and the Shepherd’s Unicorn Totem. Flavor-wise and mechanics wise I adore both of these classes.
I wanted to add Dreams to my list of favorites, but I was really disappointed with the subclass. I wanted to like it because the idea of a Druid that’s so closely related to the Fey is appealing to me, but I found it to be a bit lackluster overall.
Uh, stars?
It's possibly the least typical druid, but I am trying one tomorrow and hope it's fun. It's almost like a Celtic-flavored divination wizard, which I quite like. These folks don't pretend to be animals, they build Stonehenge
I really dislike wild shape as a mechanic, so any school that has a different use of wild shape gets my vote.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
I like fungi and necromancy, so spores is my favorite circle.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Im playing a druid of the stars 5th level and he's absolutely insane
it's a pretty boring and basic opinion but I absolutely love the Moon Druid. Anything that lets me play as a beast/monster is awesome, and Moon Druids make that a much more viable option. Same reason why I love the Polymorph, True Polymorph, and Shapechange spells.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Homebrew - Circle of the Living Machines Druid, Path of the Dragon Soul Barbarian
My hombrew Great Wyrm Dragons
Wildfire. No, not just because it has fire in it, I'd take it even if it were the exact same but with cold damage and an icy flavour.
One of the biggest benefits here is that you get both healing and damaging spells prepared for you. While they're not the best, they're good enough. This means you can prepare many flavourful spells that you usually can't, and I like that. Normally, you won't have Skywrite prepared. Now you can. It's a bad spell that's not likely to get used at all, but I have enough prepare-slots to take it for that one time I'll get to use it.
Additionally, it allows you to use even more "bad" spells, like Cure Wounds. What? Cure Wounds is bad? Well, no, but Healing Word is stupidly broken. If you can take Healing Word, you'd prefer it over Cure Wounds 99% of the time. With Circle of Wildfire, run to your fallen ally and cast Cure Wounds. Use your bonus action to tell your fiery companion to run over and teleport you away. There, you got yourself and your teammate away from trouble (15 feet away, but still away), you healed your companion for 1d8+Wis Mod (as opposed to 1d4+WM) and you dealt 1d6+PB damage to your enemy, possibly. Later, you can do the same but without running over yourself as your beast can now cast the spell for you.
In conclusion, this just allows for a lot of support, a lot of blasting and a lot of utility. If I play a caster, I want to do just that.
Other than this, Circle of the Moon is also cool, I don't need to explain why.
Varielky | Emma
I like Stars but it isn't listed in the poll.
Food, Scifi/fantasy, anime, DND 5E/RPG geek.