So, since I unfortunately lost my last character sheet while moving, this time I decided to make a Druid, I'm not sure on what the race will be, but I found two subclasses that I like. Which one should I go for, Circle of Stars or Circle of Spores?
Why Star? I just wanna know why Spores is trickier than it to play.
Spore is tricky because half the ability(symbiotic entity)depends on you maintaining those temporary hit points. A few hits and your subclass feature is useless.
Stars is fantastic at low level for dishing out damage via Archer, and spreading out heals with chalice, while at higher levels, the dragon is fantastic to assist your immensely devastating concentration spells like Call lightning or Polymorph, or summons.
Why Star? I just wanna know why Spores is trickier than it to play.
Spore is tricky because half the ability(symbiotic entity)depends on you maintaining those temporary hit points. A few hits and your subclass feature is useless.
Stars is fantastic at low level for dishing out damage via Archer, and spreading out heals with chalice, while at higher levels, the dragon is fantastic to assist your immensely devastating concentration spells like Call lightning or Polymorph, or summons.
But what about the extra necrotic damage from melee attacks, and the fact that you can boost your Halo of Spores by adding the damage die twice? And the fact that you can cast a 10 area of spores at higher levels. You can use spells like Entangle and Thorn Whip to restrain/pull them into the cloud, right?
I have not played spores, but I did play a Stars from level 1 for 8 hours yesterday. At low level play, it was amazing. Really, really enjoyed it because it always gives plenty of options for what to do in a given turn. I find that to be more important to having fun than raw damage totals.
There's no such thing as a bad druid subclass, because the base druid is a strong chassis. That said, I do think Stars shines (hah, see what I did there?) because not only does it enhance core druid strengths (chalice, dragon), it also uniquely adds ranged direct damage options (archer, always prepped guiding bolt) that you can use whilst concentrating on another spell; plus on top of that it adds a use for your reaction at L6. All in all, a good package and probably the strongest all-rounder subclass mechanically. Reasons not to play Stars? If the flavour doesn't sit right with you, and that's cool - the other druid subclasses are all just fine.
Spores can be fun, but it is heavily reliant on both positioning and damage types that monsters frequently have resistance/immunity to. However, if you want to mix it up in melee and you don't want to do it as a bear, this could be for you.
I like both of those. The spores druid is designed to sit in melee and use their temp HP to be beefy. At lower levels, they use weapons a lot, but as they level up, they will rely on their awesome spells. In terms of flavor, it has real necromancy vibe to it.
The stars druid at lower levels can do great healing or damage, and at mid and high levels, it is amazing at concentrating on whatever amazing druid spells you choose. In terms of flavor, it is an astrologer.
Spores is an excellent pick. It's fun to play and can be excellent, but yes it is tricky. Some of the features are a trap, meaning that you can end up being worse off. Halo of spores is very disappointing. Most of the time it just slows the game down and ends up doing no damage because monsters have good con saves. Plus it burns your reaction which might be needed for absorb elements, attack of opportunity, or fungal infestation. More importantly, using your whole action to activate symbiotic entity is very costly and usually not worth it.
Tasha's helped spores melee builds out quite a lot, but you can also play spores as a full caster, largely ignoring melee [my preferred style. 1 lvl dip into death cleric is great]
I see two great ways to go full-in on the melee aspect. One, you can go high elf or high half elf. Now with Tasha's, you can boost your wisdom with the racial ASI. And high elf lets you pick up booming blade as a cantrip (reflavor as thorny vines that entangle on a hit and damage when the target moves).
Two is to go wood elf and make dex your primary stat. Attacking with finesse frees up your bonus action economy a bit, and gives you 35 ft move speed (see later). Go to 5 druid 4 sorcerer, then you can pick back up with druid for the rest. Metamagic with quickened spell is really good with spores. You can quicken an action spell and then use your action for symbiotic entity. This is key because it means you aren't sitting there being useless for a whole round. Sorcerer also gives you access to the shield spell, which will help make up for the fact that your symbiotic entity scaling is taking a hit. Furthermore, storm sorcerer allows you to use your bonus action to move 10 ft without provoking opportunity attacks. Pick up the slasher feat to bump up your dex and make your attacks slow the enemy. Now you are really good at hitting an enemy with booming blade and moving away.
p.s. another good option is 1 lvl dip into arcana cleric which gives you the melee cantrips as cleric spells (GFB will do damage based on wisdom).
I like both of those. The spores druid is designed to sit in melee and use their temp HP to be beefy. At lower levels, they use weapons a lot, but as they level up, they will rely on their awesome spells. In terms of flavor, it has real necromancy vibe to it.
The stars druid at lower levels can do great healing or damage, and at mid and high levels, it is amazing at concentrating on whatever amazing druid spells you choose. In terms of flavor, it is an astrologer.
I really do like the flavor of Spores. Just the overall vibe and somewhat unsettling nature my Wood Elf could have will certainly affect the party...But I really think that most of it will come down to what my party needs. If we're low on front-liners, I'll take Spores, and if we need casters, I'll take Stars.
So, since I unfortunately lost my last character sheet while moving, this time I decided to make a Druid, I'm not sure on what the race will be, but I found two subclasses that I like. Which one should I go for, Circle of Stars or Circle of Spores?
Spores is really cool, but might be a bit tricky to play. I recommend Stars, it’s a very solid subclass.
Why Star? I just wanna know why Spores is trickier than it to play.
Spore is tricky because half the ability(symbiotic entity)depends on you maintaining those temporary hit points. A few hits and your subclass feature is useless.
Stars is fantastic at low level for dishing out damage via Archer, and spreading out heals with chalice, while at higher levels, the dragon is fantastic to assist your immensely devastating concentration spells like Call lightning or Polymorph, or summons.
But what about the extra necrotic damage from melee attacks, and the fact that you can boost your Halo of Spores by adding the damage die twice? And the fact that you can cast a 10 area of spores at higher levels. You can use spells like Entangle and Thorn Whip to restrain/pull them into the cloud, right?
I have not played spores, but I did play a Stars from level 1 for 8 hours yesterday. At low level play, it was amazing. Really, really enjoyed it because it always gives plenty of options for what to do in a given turn. I find that to be more important to having fun than raw damage totals.
There's no such thing as a bad druid subclass, because the base druid is a strong chassis. That said, I do think Stars shines (hah, see what I did there?) because not only does it enhance core druid strengths (chalice, dragon), it also uniquely adds ranged direct damage options (archer, always prepped guiding bolt) that you can use whilst concentrating on another spell; plus on top of that it adds a use for your reaction at L6. All in all, a good package and probably the strongest all-rounder subclass mechanically. Reasons not to play Stars? If the flavour doesn't sit right with you, and that's cool - the other druid subclasses are all just fine.
Spores can be fun, but it is heavily reliant on both positioning and damage types that monsters frequently have resistance/immunity to. However, if you want to mix it up in melee and you don't want to do it as a bear, this could be for you.
I like both of those. The spores druid is designed to sit in melee and use their temp HP to be beefy. At lower levels, they use weapons a lot, but as they level up, they will rely on their awesome spells. In terms of flavor, it has real necromancy vibe to it.
The stars druid at lower levels can do great healing or damage, and at mid and high levels, it is amazing at concentrating on whatever amazing druid spells you choose. In terms of flavor, it is an astrologer.
Spores is an excellent pick. It's fun to play and can be excellent, but yes it is tricky. Some of the features are a trap, meaning that you can end up being worse off. Halo of spores is very disappointing. Most of the time it just slows the game down and ends up doing no damage because monsters have good con saves. Plus it burns your reaction which might be needed for absorb elements, attack of opportunity, or fungal infestation. More importantly, using your whole action to activate symbiotic entity is very costly and usually not worth it.
Tasha's helped spores melee builds out quite a lot, but you can also play spores as a full caster, largely ignoring melee [my preferred style. 1 lvl dip into death cleric is great]
I see two great ways to go full-in on the melee aspect. One, you can go high elf or high half elf. Now with Tasha's, you can boost your wisdom with the racial ASI. And high elf lets you pick up booming blade as a cantrip (reflavor as thorny vines that entangle on a hit and damage when the target moves).
Two is to go wood elf and make dex your primary stat. Attacking with finesse frees up your bonus action economy a bit, and gives you 35 ft move speed (see later). Go to 5 druid 4 sorcerer, then you can pick back up with druid for the rest. Metamagic with quickened spell is really good with spores. You can quicken an action spell and then use your action for symbiotic entity. This is key because it means you aren't sitting there being useless for a whole round. Sorcerer also gives you access to the shield spell, which will help make up for the fact that your symbiotic entity scaling is taking a hit. Furthermore, storm sorcerer allows you to use your bonus action to move 10 ft without provoking opportunity attacks. Pick up the slasher feat to bump up your dex and make your attacks slow the enemy. Now you are really good at hitting an enemy with booming blade and moving away.
p.s. another good option is 1 lvl dip into arcana cleric which gives you the melee cantrips as cleric spells (GFB will do damage based on wisdom).
I really do like the flavor of Spores. Just the overall vibe and somewhat unsettling nature my Wood Elf could have will certainly affect the party...But I really think that most of it will come down to what my party needs. If we're low on front-liners, I'll take Spores, and if we need casters, I'll take Stars.