The level 2 feature can be mostly replaced by healing word.
The level 6 ability (stealthy rests) is something most DM's just gloss over anyway.
The level 10 ability is quite good, but playing a terrible subclass for 9 levels just so it becomes okay is not very appealing.
If you make it to level 14, you get another decent ability. Congrats, the subclass is finally almost worth playing by the time you're past where most campaigns go.
I don't see the appeal of playing a character for 10 levels of just being a gimmick where you can do a tiny bit of healing to stop someone from dying. Yes, you can do it a lot of times as a bonus action, but if you're only healing for 1d6, those players are going to get dropped right back down to 0 very easily. Going "all in" on the strategy of healing someone for a couple of points to get them back up is neither appealing nor overly effective.
Just compare the wildfire druid to the dreams... both get extra free healing (d8 to healing spells and 2d10+wis when creatures die for the wildfire) and both can teleport allies (wildfire can do it earlier and more often, but only 15 ft). And yet wildfire gets so much more for levels that people actually play at.
Dreams definitely isn't great but also isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
Level 2: saves you a prepared spell, can be used in wild shape or you can cast a levelled spell since balm of the summer court is not a spell. It is usually a good way to get other PC's whilst not being limited to cantrips. Also you can do more than 1d6 (A number up to half druid level rounded down) per B.A and they get a few temporary hitpoints from it as well (1 per dice spent) which should improve survivability after being brought back up. It isn't the most efficient but is useful in a pinch.
Level 6: There are usually many other better options from other party members ie: rope trick and tiny hut but if there are no other options it isn't bad. There is nothing wrong with a stealthy rest and going undetected can be okay. Other things just do it better by protecting from divination magic
Level 10: Really good thing that can be done as a bonus action and is even better since druids don't normally get misty step on their spell list. Also like was said above, high level campaigns are a thing and starting at 8th or 10th level is a thing that can be done.
Level 14: Pretty situational but again not unwanted. same sort of message as 10.
I think you have underestimated how useful it could be to bring an ally up then cast a levelled spell
Balm of the Summer Court's healing isn't just 1d6. Its [Druid Level]d6 and you can use half your druid level or less worth of dice for bonus healing. In addition to that, you're giving Temp HP per die spent. So at Level 10 for example, you can do 5d6 healing +5 Temp HP at 120ft range, even if you're wildshaped (because it doesn't count as a spell). Also, because BotSC doesn't count as a spell, you could combine it with any other leveled healing spell as a bonus action for hopefully less mediocre heals.
Comparatively, Healing Word would be 5d4 + 5 healing if upcast at the same level, no Temp HP, a 60ft max range, you can't use it with other healing spells and you can't use it when wildshaped.
I'm not particularly thrilled with the subclass but BotSC is one of its stronger features.
No arguments about its 6th Level ability which I think is very bland, and I don't think its capstone is all that exciting either tbh. But Hidden Paths is definitely the other stand out feature that the class has.
Balm of the Summer Court's healing isn't just 1d6. Its [Druid Level]d6 and you can use half your druid level or less worth of dice for bonus healing. In addition to that, you're giving Temp HP per die spent. So at Level 10 for example, you can do 5d6 healing +5 Temp HP at 120ft range, even if you're wildshaped (because it doesn't count as a spell). Also, because BotSC doesn't count as a spell, you could combine it with any other leveled healing spell as a bonus action for hopefully less mediocre heals.
Comparatively, Healing Word would be 5d4 + 5 healing if upcast at the same level, no Temp HP, a 60ft max range, you can't use it with other healing spells and you can't use it when wildshaped.
I'm not particularly thrilled with the subclass but BotSC is one of its stronger features.
No arguments about its 6th Level ability which I think is very bland, and I don't think its capstone is all that exciting either tbh. But Hidden Paths is definitely the other stand out feature that the class has.
Yes, you can dump more of your charges into a bigger heal, but that limits how many times you can use it.
In terms of healing potential, I'd say it's no better than the Shepherd's totem ability which can provide a burst of temp HP in a 30 ft radius AOE of 5+Level once per short rest. And Shepherd druid's other features are also really good too. The totem also fits well with the rest of their features, so that the synergy makes the features worth more than the sum of the parts. Whereas for Dreams, it's like "okay you have a better version of healing word, but now what???"
The lack of additional spells really hurts CoD. Moon and Shepherd druids also don't get additional spells, BUT moon druids have something besides casting to focus on and shepherd druids are specialized in casting 1 or 2 spells (conjure animals mostly). So they don't really need them. Circle spells give you about 50% more spells than you would normally have in most cases, which is a huge deal. And in most cases, those additional spells also give you access to useful spells that aren't on the druid list. That's really IMO what Dreams is missing to make it a decent subclass.
@AnzioFaro I'm not saying people can't or shouldn't play Circle of Dreams. I'm saying it's poorly designed, and I feel strongly about it. But players can take any subclass, make a fun character, and have a blast playing d&d, so if it tickles your fancy, be my guest.
This is the problem again with so much “analysis” of classes.
How do you compare a Totem to a Healing Spell? Just add up the healing values? Multiply by 3 per short rest? There’s no reasonable way.
It was put succinctly enough by the poster above - healing while wildshaped and/or casting a levelled spell is very economical. And stealthy rest and transportation are impossible to compare to other class features too - in some campaigns it will save the entire party from a TPK.
Expecting a mechanical comparison isn’t going to get you far with some archetypes and I’m super happy they did that with this game - it would be absolutely abysmal if WOTC had no flavourful classes to go along with the mechanics-heavy ones.
Expecting a mechanical comparison isn’t going to get you far with some archetypes and I’m super happy they did that with this game - it would be absolutely abysmal if WOTC had no flavourful classes to go along with the mechanics-heavy ones.
I would say this is one of the least flavorful subclasses for druids in terms of what the features add. Certainly the idea of a fey-oriented druid has potential, but most of the features are not particularly evocative compared to what other subclasses have. Look at the ways the features of the spore, wildfire, shepherd, and dreams druid sublasses heal or add temporary hit points.
Wildfire- spectral flames erupt from a corpse which you can then use to heal someone (or damage).
Spores- You channel magic into invisible necrotic spores that surround you, empowering and protecting you.
Shepherd- You summon a magical nature spirit in the form of a bear or unicorn that radiates a protective/healing aura around it.
Dreams- You have magic energy inside you that lets you heal.
Sure, a creative player can do something with that last one, but much more of a blank canvas than the others so to speak.
I mean, of course a burst heal would limit the amount of times you can use BotSC. Even a non-burst heal would limit the amount of times you can use it. It isn't exactly supposed to be a bottomless pool of healing. It essentially functions the same way as any other spell, and you can choose to "upcast" it for a burst heal or use your dice as sparingly as you see fit.
The way I see it, if an ally gets low or downed -- assuming I'm level 10 since I used that example earlier -- I could choose to burst heal them with an upcasted Cure Wounds + Balm for 5d8 + 5 + 5d6 + 5 healing, which should be enough for them to be able to not get sneezed on and die (again) on their next turn. Or, I could just use Balm as a glorified healing words while I fly around the map as an eagle and use the help action to give my other allies free advantage.
It would be rad if all or some of the used dice could come back on a short rest instead of a Long Rest or gained additional utility as you scale up in levels, but it is what it is. And as it is now it isn't horrible.
I can agree that an expanded spell list for this subclass would be amazing, and if I play it again in the future I would ask my DM if they'd allow me to play a homebrewed version that does just that. An expanded list with spells that are centered around support while being somewhat thematic to the feywild would help add so much more flavor and utility to the class which it feels pretty bland without. Like, wouldn't it be nice if they could get access to Sleep? Calm Emotions? Sanctuary? Or even get Summon / Conjure Fey as an always prepared spell? smh.
Also:
Dreams- You have magic energy inside you that lets you heal.
You completely missed that the "magic energy" is literally a blessing from the Summer Court. That in itself is quite distinct and there are a bunch of ways that you could visually represent that for your character. That's not a bad thing at all.
I don't think I disagree. I really like the flavor of Dreams, but it isn't mechanically strong. The worst subclass in the game? Nah. Druid is too strong of a class, first of all. Secondly, there are still trap subclasses like the battlerager and berserker and some monk subclasses.
I am somewhat disappointed that neither of the XGtE druid subclasses got bonus spells, when the Tasha's ones got them. Really, there are a lot of thematic spells that Dreams could have gotten, and shepherd is a trap unless you choose to prepare the correct spells.
It's 2nd level ability is overall stronger than healing words. It's got a longer range. It scales better overall. And even if you use it at it's base level all of the time You actually get far more uses out of it than you can realistically get out of healing words unless you only use your spell slots for healing words and that is a questionable strategy at best. it also works in various ways that Healing Words does not. The only advantage healing words has is that it does get at least your wisdom modifier in healing when it's cast so at base level it's got slightly better healing but it loses out quickly as you scale up.
As for the 6th level ability. It's powers like this why you have some DM's gloss over things like this. This is very valuable because there are plenty of old time DM's just waiting for parties to not use something like this while out adventuring, and there are new DM's that just haven't figured out the in's and out's of things like Random encounters and taking advantage of an unprotected party yet. And this ability doesn't cost you any spell slots where everything else that I can think of not only costs spell slots but tends to require midlevel spell slots to be protected from things like scrying attempts and the like. So until you get those kinds of protections. This power can be helpful to your group.
The level 10 power is strong. it's still got useful levels to go even in many pre-written campaigns since plenty of them go on to 13-15th level. It doesn't cost you spell slots again. It's better than misty step because either you get double it's range or you can actually teleport somebody else which misty step can't do. And you can use it more than once. There are only a couple of these kinds of abilities that are multiple use without using up spell slots and most of them are shorter range.
For the 14th level. It's hard for me to decide about this one. I'd have to play with it some. But having Scry on hand without having to worry about that expensive spell component is quite possibly a boon. It's the teleportation circle that I mostly can't decide on and really need to see it in action.
As a side note. You really cannot make a good comparison between shepards healing from it's totem and the ability to just use dice and a bonus action to heal. Shepards healing has a lot of factors to it that makes it potentially the strongest healing there is but those same factors can make it do almost nothing. Also the totem's requirements to do so are nothing to sneeze at and it has much more limited amount of usage throughout the day.
Ah, if you are talking about scaling as you level, Wis mod scales. If you are talking about scaling as you upcast, first upcasting healing word isn’t a good way to heal. Second, Xd4+wis is still likely to beat Xd6+XtempHP until third level slots with only a +4 wisdom mod. That gets worse once you get a +5 wis mod, and even worse again if there is some other (better) source of temp HP. (With another source temp HP and with a +5 Wis, you would get the same healing out of a 5th level healing word as your 5 balm dice.)
Really, if you are talking about upcasting, you shouldn’t still be comparing healing word to Balm, you should really be considering cure wounds to balm. Cure wounds always wins as long as you have a positive wisdom bonus.
The advantages that Balm is a bonus action and isn’t a spell have already been stated. Those are advantages not worth ignoring. But it doesn’t provide you enough healing to really make you into a healer, and it doesn’t help you do anything else as a druid except save some first level slots. This feature is strictly worse than lay on hands.
The advantages that Balm is a bonus action and isn’t a spell have already been stated. Those are advantages not worth ignoring. But it doesn’t provide you enough healing to really make you into a healer, and it doesn’t help you do anything else as a druid except save some first level slots. This feature is strictly worse than lay on hands.
Lay on Hands takes an action and has a range of touch. Balm has 120 foot range and is a bonus action. I don't think it's possible to be strictly worse. They're quite different, and both are elite healing abilities with their own unique strengths.
There is no need to be "a healer" in DnD. Dedicating too many character resources to such a pursuit is generally a trap. Balm and Lay on Hands and Healing Light from Celestial Warlocks do healing right by not costing spell slots and enabling variable amounts of healing. Balm is a great support ability.
Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow is a really cool ability, but I'm not surprised to see it get thrown in the dirt. It loses a lot of value in a party with a wizard ritual casting tiny hut, or in a campaign with a DM that never challenges your ability to rest peacefully, but neither of those are a given. Safe resting is a super important aspect of the game as before a rest is generally when the party is most worn out and vulnerable. Certainly not in line with the Shepherd or Moon druid at level 6, but I like this ability quite a bit. Think of it as an at-will pseudo Tiny Hut that is weaker, but also doesn't take 11 minutes to cast without a spell slot. Certainly the ability is not lighting the world on fire, but it is quite good when your DM decides to have a shred of creativity with how they challenge the group.
Hidden Paths continues the trend of abilities that closely mirror spell effects. This time it's a super misty step that can be used on a friend. Misty Step is a great spell, making it better is great, and not costing spell slots is even better. This is a strong defensive and tactical ability despite not being super flashy,
Walker in Dreams. This is pretty disappointing but it is at least even more free spell slots. Personally I'm not worried about what classes look like by this level, but this is definitely a knock in their overall power relative to other druids.
Overall Dreams is not a great subclass, but it isn't bad either and certainly not worthy of the ire thrown at from the OP. It suffers from being far less flashy than the other druids, but the sheer amount of free "spell slots" Dreams gets through its class abilities is still a strong quality. Solid but unexciting is a far cry from atrocious unplayable crap.
Circle of dreams isn't flashy and it isn't going to keep up with other circles in terms of damage output but it is arguably the ultimate support druid. Starting at level 2 circle of dreams functionally gives you a free 1st level slot every time you level up that can only be used for healing words enhanced by distanced metamagic. The ability to made an invisible bubble is pretty cool at 6th level but the functional benefit is that someone else in the party doesn't have to learn tiny hut. I don't think anyone is arguing about teleporting at 10th level being strong. Similarly with getting to choose 1 of 3 powerful 5th level utility spells once per day at 14th level. Circle of dreams druids get access to extra resource pools while most other circle have at least some of their abilities tied to the wild shape pool. It can heal at very long distance even while in wild shape and more frequently than any other class. Having a non-spell heal means the player doesn't need to prepare healing word so they get to pick whatever other spell they want to add extra options. Hearth of Moonlight does the same thing for someone else in your party at level 6 and walker at dreams frees up more prepared spell slots at level 14; again this is about being the most supportive druid possible. It's not for everyone but it's a viable niche to fill for folks who want to focus on having access to healing and utility/investigation/movement options.
Since the OP is equating Balm to “a glorified Healing Word”, I think that comparing the two is fair.
Cure Wounds may always win, but tbh it should. It costs a spell slot and has a max range of 5ft.
However, this isn’t an either or situation. You can literally cast both Cure Wounds AND Balm. Balm isn’t necessarily an alternative or a replacement to your healing spells. It’s a supplement. So if the math says that Balm is equal at best to Healing Word under ideal conditions, and only slightly mediocre at worst, at the end of the day I say that Balm still wins. You can still do a (Cure Wounds + Balm) combo, whereas you can’t combo Healing Word with any kind of leveled spell at all, healing or otherwise.
Using Balm also doesn’t require your teammates to pick certain abilities, whereas in your example, getting equivalent healing from a Healing Word upcast at the same level relies on having another teammate that can give your allies (better) Temp HP. It also means that you have now upcast Healing Word, which is apparently a misuse of resources.
Looking at it that way, I don’t really see how (Cure Wounds + Balm) could possibly be worse than (Healing Word + Nothing) or (Cure Wounds + Nothing), which is what your options are as any other druid. All Balm does is make you a slightly better support by freeing up your action economy and your spell slots and giving you options.
The problem that I think I have with the mechanics of dreams are they're just worse versions of features I like from other classes. Sure hearth of moonlight and shadow sounds neat, but it is strictly worse than a tiny hut. Sure you could combine them, but again only comparing them directly, the dreams feature falls short.
To look at Balm another way: I am completely of the opinion that healing (in combat or out) should be a last resort. Of course free healing is great, but healing really should be used in emergencies in combat and after hit dice out of combat. If you are running into a lot of those combat emergencies, then maybe your group isn't spending the rest of their actions well. Considering that even if you do use a balm and a cure wounds together, your probably still not healing a multiattack from a CR2 beast (unless you start pumping extra resources into one or both), you might have been better off just making a friend out of that bear. (And of course, if the bear doesn't hit then have a resource that you can't use.)
A land druid gets a half a spell slot per level. That is way better than a d6+1 healing because it allows you to do anything that you'd normally be able to do, including prevent way more than 20d6+20 damage. You can't point to a level 2 feature that druids get and find a weaker one. Balm is an Ok feature, but not compared to the other level 2 druid features.
Not every party has access to Tiny Hut. And even those that do will sometimes appreciate not having to spend a spell on it.
Wolf I'm confused by your stance on healing compared to how you insist on looking at Balm. Obviously combining balm and cure wounds is going to look unsatisfying to you if you believe healing should only be a last resort (which I generally agree with by the way). Instead, you should be looking at the fact that Balm is a bonus action and thus allows you to revive a downed teammate while also being able to do a meaningfully proactive action like using moonbeam or call lightning. It really can't be stressed enough how important it is for it to be a bonus action.
Certainly not in the market to debate comparative strengths of Druid subs. My whole thing is that Dreams is a solid support class, but is generally unexciting to people because it's nothing special mechanically and its abilities aren't flashy. Dreams is not one of the worst subclasses in the game as the OP posits.
Note that if your teammate goes down after the round that you cast moonbeam or call lightning, then you can still use the actions that they provide and cast healing word. Their actions are not casting spells. Or if you choose to cast a cure wounds, then you can use one of the many bonus actions that the other druid subclasses provide.
I'm confused by your stance. If you aren't in the market to debate the relative strengths of subclasses, what are you doing posting in a thread that is expressly about that subject?
I also don't understand what is so confusing about disliking healing in general and also an ability that is mediocre (at best) at providing it.
Circle of Dreams is one of the worst sublcasses in the game. Prove me wrong.
That's the title of the thread. This isn't make a tier list of druid subclasses time, or at least it didn't start as such and I'm not interested in making one. I stated my opinion on the subclass and gave an explanation why I think OP is wrong. Seems like a perfectly valid way to interact with the thread to me.
I'm not confused by disliking healing Wolf. I'm pointing out that you're setting yourself up to not like the ability by thinking about its use in exactly the ways you don't like healing. Spending your whole turn healing is generally not good no matter what ability you use to do it. But using a bonus action is fantastic.
Note that if your teammate goes down after the round that you cast moonbeam or call lightning, then you can still use the actions that they provide and cast healing word. Their actions are not casting spells. Or if you choose to cast a cure wounds, then you can use one of the many bonus actions that the other druid subclasses provide.
I'm confused by what you're trying to communicate here.
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I don't see the appeal of playing a character for 10 levels of just being a gimmick where you can do a tiny bit of healing to stop someone from dying. Yes, you can do it a lot of times as a bonus action, but if you're only healing for 1d6, those players are going to get dropped right back down to 0 very easily. Going "all in" on the strategy of healing someone for a couple of points to get them back up is neither appealing nor overly effective.
Just compare the wildfire druid to the dreams... both get extra free healing (d8 to healing spells and 2d10+wis when creatures die for the wildfire) and both can teleport allies (wildfire can do it earlier and more often, but only 15 ft). And yet wildfire gets so much more for levels that people actually play at.
I'm too lazy to actually look it up, but:
I don't think it's that good, but there are several arguments in defense of it.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Dreams definitely isn't great but also isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
Level 2: saves you a prepared spell, can be used in wild shape or you can cast a levelled spell since balm of the summer court is not a spell. It is usually a good way to get other PC's whilst not being limited to cantrips. Also you can do more than 1d6 (A number up to half druid level rounded down) per B.A and they get a few temporary hitpoints from it as well (1 per dice spent) which should improve survivability after being brought back up. It isn't the most efficient but is useful in a pinch.
Level 6: There are usually many other better options from other party members ie: rope trick and tiny hut but if there are no other options it isn't bad. There is nothing wrong with a stealthy rest and going undetected can be okay. Other things just do it better by protecting from divination magic
Level 10: Really good thing that can be done as a bonus action and is even better since druids don't normally get misty step on their spell list. Also like was said above, high level campaigns are a thing and starting at 8th or 10th level is a thing that can be done.
Level 14: Pretty situational but again not unwanted. same sort of message as 10.
I think you have underestimated how useful it could be to bring an ally up then cast a levelled spell
Balm of the Summer Court's healing isn't just 1d6. Its [Druid Level]d6 and you can use half your druid level or less worth of dice for bonus healing. In addition to that, you're giving Temp HP per die spent. So at Level 10 for example, you can do 5d6 healing +5 Temp HP at 120ft range, even if you're wildshaped (because it doesn't count as a spell). Also, because BotSC doesn't count as a spell, you could combine it with any other leveled healing spell as a bonus action for hopefully less mediocre heals.
Comparatively, Healing Word would be 5d4 + 5 healing if upcast at the same level, no Temp HP, a 60ft max range, you can't use it with other healing spells and you can't use it when wildshaped.
I'm not particularly thrilled with the subclass but BotSC is one of its stronger features.
No arguments about its 6th Level ability which I think is very bland, and I don't think its capstone is all that exciting either tbh. But Hidden Paths is definitely the other stand out feature that the class has.
If the subclass does not appeal to you.... don't play it.
Simple as that.
Maybe it appeals to other people. Who are you to tell other people how to play D&D?
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Tayn of Darkwood. Human Life Cleric. Lvl 10.
Yes, you can dump more of your charges into a bigger heal, but that limits how many times you can use it.
In terms of healing potential, I'd say it's no better than the Shepherd's totem ability which can provide a burst of temp HP in a 30 ft radius AOE of 5+Level once per short rest. And Shepherd druid's other features are also really good too. The totem also fits well with the rest of their features, so that the synergy makes the features worth more than the sum of the parts. Whereas for Dreams, it's like "okay you have a better version of healing word, but now what???"
The lack of additional spells really hurts CoD. Moon and Shepherd druids also don't get additional spells, BUT moon druids have something besides casting to focus on and shepherd druids are specialized in casting 1 or 2 spells (conjure animals mostly). So they don't really need them. Circle spells give you about 50% more spells than you would normally have in most cases, which is a huge deal. And in most cases, those additional spells also give you access to useful spells that aren't on the druid list. That's really IMO what Dreams is missing to make it a decent subclass.
@AnzioFaro I'm not saying people can't or shouldn't play Circle of Dreams. I'm saying it's poorly designed, and I feel strongly about it. But players can take any subclass, make a fun character, and have a blast playing d&d, so if it tickles your fancy, be my guest.
This is the problem again with so much “analysis” of classes.
How do you compare a Totem to a Healing Spell? Just add up the healing values? Multiply by 3 per short rest? There’s no reasonable way.
It was put succinctly enough by the poster above - healing while wildshaped and/or casting a levelled spell is very economical. And stealthy rest and transportation are impossible to compare to other class features too - in some campaigns it will save the entire party from a TPK.
Expecting a mechanical comparison isn’t going to get you far with some archetypes and I’m super happy they did that with this game - it would be absolutely abysmal if WOTC had no flavourful classes to go along with the mechanics-heavy ones.
I'm not trying to make a pure numerical analysis because there are so many parameters that it's too difficult.
I would say this is one of the least flavorful subclasses for druids in terms of what the features add. Certainly the idea of a fey-oriented druid has potential, but most of the features are not particularly evocative compared to what other subclasses have. Look at the ways the features of the spore, wildfire, shepherd, and dreams druid sublasses heal or add temporary hit points.
Sure, a creative player can do something with that last one, but much more of a blank canvas than the others so to speak.
I mean, of course a burst heal would limit the amount of times you can use BotSC. Even a non-burst heal would limit the amount of times you can use it. It isn't exactly supposed to be a bottomless pool of healing. It essentially functions the same way as any other spell, and you can choose to "upcast" it for a burst heal or use your dice as sparingly as you see fit.
The way I see it, if an ally gets low or downed -- assuming I'm level 10 since I used that example earlier -- I could choose to burst heal them with an upcasted Cure Wounds + Balm for 5d8 + 5 + 5d6 + 5 healing, which should be enough for them to be able to not get sneezed on and die (again) on their next turn. Or, I could just use Balm as a glorified healing words while I fly around the map as an eagle and use the help action to give my other allies free advantage.
It would be rad if all or some of the used dice could come back on a short rest instead of a Long Rest or gained additional utility as you scale up in levels, but it is what it is. And as it is now it isn't horrible.
I can agree that an expanded spell list for this subclass would be amazing, and if I play it again in the future I would ask my DM if they'd allow me to play a homebrewed version that does just that. An expanded list with spells that are centered around support while being somewhat thematic to the feywild would help add so much more flavor and utility to the class which it feels pretty bland without. Like, wouldn't it be nice if they could get access to Sleep? Calm Emotions? Sanctuary? Or even get Summon / Conjure Fey as an always prepared spell? smh.
Also:
You completely missed that the "magic energy" is literally a blessing from the Summer Court. That in itself is quite distinct and there are a bunch of ways that you could visually represent that for your character. That's not a bad thing at all.
EDIT: Grammar & added a few things.
I don't think I disagree. I really like the flavor of Dreams, but it isn't mechanically strong. The worst subclass in the game? Nah. Druid is too strong of a class, first of all. Secondly, there are still trap subclasses like the battlerager and berserker and some monk subclasses.
I am somewhat disappointed that neither of the XGtE druid subclasses got bonus spells, when the Tasha's ones got them. Really, there are a lot of thematic spells that Dreams could have gotten, and shepherd is a trap unless you choose to prepare the correct spells.
I said "one of the worst". I agree it isn't the absolute worst.
Dreams is actually fairly strong.
It's 2nd level ability is overall stronger than healing words. It's got a longer range. It scales better overall. And even if you use it at it's base level all of the time You actually get far more uses out of it than you can realistically get out of healing words unless you only use your spell slots for healing words and that is a questionable strategy at best. it also works in various ways that Healing Words does not. The only advantage healing words has is that it does get at least your wisdom modifier in healing when it's cast so at base level it's got slightly better healing but it loses out quickly as you scale up.
As for the 6th level ability. It's powers like this why you have some DM's gloss over things like this. This is very valuable because there are plenty of old time DM's just waiting for parties to not use something like this while out adventuring, and there are new DM's that just haven't figured out the in's and out's of things like Random encounters and taking advantage of an unprotected party yet. And this ability doesn't cost you any spell slots where everything else that I can think of not only costs spell slots but tends to require midlevel spell slots to be protected from things like scrying attempts and the like. So until you get those kinds of protections. This power can be helpful to your group.
The level 10 power is strong. it's still got useful levels to go even in many pre-written campaigns since plenty of them go on to 13-15th level. It doesn't cost you spell slots again. It's better than misty step because either you get double it's range or you can actually teleport somebody else which misty step can't do. And you can use it more than once. There are only a couple of these kinds of abilities that are multiple use without using up spell slots and most of them are shorter range.
For the 14th level. It's hard for me to decide about this one. I'd have to play with it some. But having Scry on hand without having to worry about that expensive spell component is quite possibly a boon. It's the teleportation circle that I mostly can't decide on and really need to see it in action.
As a side note. You really cannot make a good comparison between shepards healing from it's totem and the ability to just use dice and a bonus action to heal. Shepards healing has a lot of factors to it that makes it potentially the strongest healing there is but those same factors can make it do almost nothing. Also the totem's requirements to do so are nothing to sneeze at and it has much more limited amount of usage throughout the day.
Ah, if you are talking about scaling as you level, Wis mod scales. If you are talking about scaling as you upcast, first upcasting healing word isn’t a good way to heal. Second, Xd4+wis is still likely to beat Xd6+XtempHP until third level slots with only a +4 wisdom mod. That gets worse once you get a +5 wis mod, and even worse again if there is some other (better) source of temp HP. (With another source temp HP and with a +5 Wis, you would get the same healing out of a 5th level healing word as your 5 balm dice.)
Really, if you are talking about upcasting, you shouldn’t still be comparing healing word to Balm, you should really be considering cure wounds to balm. Cure wounds always wins as long as you have a positive wisdom bonus.
The advantages that Balm is a bonus action and isn’t a spell have already been stated. Those are advantages not worth ignoring. But it doesn’t provide you enough healing to really make you into a healer, and it doesn’t help you do anything else as a druid except save some first level slots. This feature is strictly worse than lay on hands.
Lay on Hands takes an action and has a range of touch. Balm has 120 foot range and is a bonus action. I don't think it's possible to be strictly worse. They're quite different, and both are elite healing abilities with their own unique strengths.
There is no need to be "a healer" in DnD. Dedicating too many character resources to such a pursuit is generally a trap. Balm and Lay on Hands and Healing Light from Celestial Warlocks do healing right by not costing spell slots and enabling variable amounts of healing. Balm is a great support ability.
Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow is a really cool ability, but I'm not surprised to see it get thrown in the dirt. It loses a lot of value in a party with a wizard ritual casting tiny hut, or in a campaign with a DM that never challenges your ability to rest peacefully, but neither of those are a given. Safe resting is a super important aspect of the game as before a rest is generally when the party is most worn out and vulnerable. Certainly not in line with the Shepherd or Moon druid at level 6, but I like this ability quite a bit. Think of it as an at-will pseudo Tiny Hut that is weaker, but also doesn't take 11 minutes to cast without a spell slot. Certainly the ability is not lighting the world on fire, but it is quite good when your DM decides to have a shred of creativity with how they challenge the group.
Hidden Paths continues the trend of abilities that closely mirror spell effects. This time it's a super misty step that can be used on a friend. Misty Step is a great spell, making it better is great, and not costing spell slots is even better. This is a strong defensive and tactical ability despite not being super flashy,
Walker in Dreams. This is pretty disappointing but it is at least even more free spell slots. Personally I'm not worried about what classes look like by this level, but this is definitely a knock in their overall power relative to other druids.
Overall Dreams is not a great subclass, but it isn't bad either and certainly not worthy of the ire thrown at from the OP. It suffers from being far less flashy than the other druids, but the sheer amount of free "spell slots" Dreams gets through its class abilities is still a strong quality. Solid but unexciting is a far cry from atrocious unplayable crap.
Circle of dreams isn't flashy and it isn't going to keep up with other circles in terms of damage output but it is arguably the ultimate support druid. Starting at level 2 circle of dreams functionally gives you a free 1st level slot every time you level up that can only be used for healing words enhanced by distanced metamagic. The ability to made an invisible bubble is pretty cool at 6th level but the functional benefit is that someone else in the party doesn't have to learn tiny hut. I don't think anyone is arguing about teleporting at 10th level being strong. Similarly with getting to choose 1 of 3 powerful 5th level utility spells once per day at 14th level. Circle of dreams druids get access to extra resource pools while most other circle have at least some of their abilities tied to the wild shape pool. It can heal at very long distance even while in wild shape and more frequently than any other class. Having a non-spell heal means the player doesn't need to prepare healing word so they get to pick whatever other spell they want to add extra options. Hearth of Moonlight does the same thing for someone else in your party at level 6 and walker at dreams frees up more prepared spell slots at level 14; again this is about being the most supportive druid possible. It's not for everyone but it's a viable niche to fill for folks who want to focus on having access to healing and utility/investigation/movement options.
Since the OP is equating Balm to “a glorified Healing Word”, I think that comparing the two is fair.
Cure Wounds may always win, but tbh it should. It costs a spell slot and has a max range of 5ft.
However, this isn’t an either or situation. You can literally cast both Cure Wounds AND Balm. Balm isn’t necessarily an alternative or a replacement to your healing spells. It’s a supplement. So if the math says that Balm is equal at best to Healing Word under ideal conditions, and only slightly mediocre at worst, at the end of the day I say that Balm still wins. You can still do a (Cure Wounds + Balm) combo, whereas you can’t combo Healing Word with any kind of leveled spell at all, healing or otherwise.
Using Balm also doesn’t require your teammates to pick certain abilities, whereas in your example, getting equivalent healing from a Healing Word upcast at the same level relies on having another teammate that can give your allies (better) Temp HP. It also means that you have now upcast Healing Word, which is apparently a misuse of resources.
Looking at it that way, I don’t really see how (Cure Wounds + Balm) could possibly be worse than (Healing Word + Nothing) or (Cure Wounds + Nothing), which is what your options are as any other druid. All Balm does is make you a slightly better support by freeing up your action economy and your spell slots and giving you options.
The problem that I think I have with the mechanics of dreams are they're just worse versions of features I like from other classes. Sure hearth of moonlight and shadow sounds neat, but it is strictly worse than a tiny hut. Sure you could combine them, but again only comparing them directly, the dreams feature falls short.
To look at Balm another way: I am completely of the opinion that healing (in combat or out) should be a last resort. Of course free healing is great, but healing really should be used in emergencies in combat and after hit dice out of combat. If you are running into a lot of those combat emergencies, then maybe your group isn't spending the rest of their actions well. Considering that even if you do use a balm and a cure wounds together, your probably still not healing a multiattack from a CR2 beast (unless you start pumping extra resources into one or both), you might have been better off just making a friend out of that bear. (And of course, if the bear doesn't hit then have a resource that you can't use.)
A land druid gets a half a spell slot per level. That is way better than a d6+1 healing because it allows you to do anything that you'd normally be able to do, including prevent way more than 20d6+20 damage. You can't point to a level 2 feature that druids get and find a weaker one. Balm is an Ok feature, but not compared to the other level 2 druid features.
Not every party has access to Tiny Hut. And even those that do will sometimes appreciate not having to spend a spell on it.
Wolf I'm confused by your stance on healing compared to how you insist on looking at Balm. Obviously combining balm and cure wounds is going to look unsatisfying to you if you believe healing should only be a last resort (which I generally agree with by the way). Instead, you should be looking at the fact that Balm is a bonus action and thus allows you to revive a downed teammate while also being able to do a meaningfully proactive action like using moonbeam or call lightning. It really can't be stressed enough how important it is for it to be a bonus action.
Certainly not in the market to debate comparative strengths of Druid subs. My whole thing is that Dreams is a solid support class, but is generally unexciting to people because it's nothing special mechanically and its abilities aren't flashy. Dreams is not one of the worst subclasses in the game as the OP posits.
Note that if your teammate goes down after the round that you cast moonbeam or call lightning, then you can still use the actions that they provide and cast healing word. Their actions are not casting spells. Or if you choose to cast a cure wounds, then you can use one of the many bonus actions that the other druid subclasses provide.
I'm confused by your stance. If you aren't in the market to debate the relative strengths of subclasses, what are you doing posting in a thread that is expressly about that subject?
I also don't understand what is so confusing about disliking healing in general and also an ability that is mediocre (at best) at providing it.
That's the title of the thread. This isn't make a tier list of druid subclasses time, or at least it didn't start as such and I'm not interested in making one. I stated my opinion on the subclass and gave an explanation why I think OP is wrong. Seems like a perfectly valid way to interact with the thread to me.
I'm not confused by disliking healing Wolf. I'm pointing out that you're setting yourself up to not like the ability by thinking about its use in exactly the ways you don't like healing. Spending your whole turn healing is generally not good no matter what ability you use to do it. But using a bonus action is fantastic.
I'm confused by what you're trying to communicate here.