Hi everyone! I'm having some hard time enjoying the combat/playstyle for Star Druid and I want some advice on how to make him stronger and more fun to play in combat, as well as ideas for spells/multiclass if needed/magic items, that can make him stand out and be more fun to play. My DM is fine with modifications to the subclass or adding things/giving magic items to balance things out and make them more fun, as long as it doesn't make the character broken (basically if it's for fixing a flaw in Druid or making him more fun).
My first two long-term campaigns I played a Berserker Barbarian (who eventually changed to Bear Totem) and a Lore Mastery Wizard (I didn't abuse him). The playstyle for the barbarian was nice since I just had to do a shitton of damage and attack all the time while making use of cool weapon abilities and receiving buffs from the wizard, etc. The playstyle I had for the wizard was going completely utility based: Concentrate on Bless, while casting silvery barbs, vortex warp, misty step, hold person, slow, etc. Basically, controlling the battlefield, teleporting around myself, allies, and enemies (e.g. would vortex warp an ally to the healer, gets blasted with heals, then teleport them back into the midst of the fight). Those were very fun and different playstyles, and now that I'm at level 5 Star Druid, I can't seem to enjoy the playstyle. Thematically and for the lore, having this subclass opened up reaaally cool stories and backgrounds for me so this is the most fun I've had playing the character itself, but not necessarily the most fun in combat.
Our party currently consists of Berserker Barbarian, Samurai Fighter (very cool), Drakewarden Ranger, and Lore Bard. We're still using 2014 rules and will be switching to 2024 once we have VTT set up. My usual playstyle right now is casting bless on the barbarian, fighter, and ranger (even though they have good modifiers and magic weapons but they're the damage dealers so we need them to hit), and keeping concentration on that while going on archer form to try hit my 1d8+4 for my bonus action, and casting guiding bolt as my action. I've used moonbeam a couple of times, but when I do, the overall damage output of the group drops significantly since I'm decreasing the chance of 3 players with multiattack to hit just for a possible 2d10. So I kind of feel forced to cast Bless and dishing out minimal damage. I usually switch to chalice when someone is about to go down and I heal them along with someone else with either cure wounds or healing word. I cast the occasional entangle if the situation allows for it/if needed, and fog cloud in case we're being overwhelmed while the bard is usually keeping up faerie fire (he's kinda in the same boat).
I noticed that Druids don't really get anything for 8/20 levels when we're leveling up as we recently leveled up and I just simply didnt get a cool feature, while the martial classes got multiattack, and once we switch to the 2024 rules will be getting even stronger. For reference, the DM is allowing me to hold a shield and ignore the star map rule.
Here's a breakdown of where I'm at (we're still using the 2014 handbook but switching soon to 2024):
Main 1st level spells: Bless (Feytouched), Cure wounds, Entangle, Fog Cloud, Guiding Bolt (Star Druid), Goodberry, Healing word
2nd level spells: Misty step (Feytouched), Moon beam, Pass without a trace, Occasional Hold Person/Flaming Sphere
3rd level spells (havent used them yet): Call lightning, Sleet Storm
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments on this! I'm considering multiclassing to take 2 levels of Twighlight Cleric for some nice additional healing, but hesitant cz the Druid 2024 level 19/20 abilities look nice, and we are planning to go all the way to level 20. Plus I never multiclassed before and it feels wrong cz you're kinda falling behind while others are leveling up idk.
Okay I mostly read this through, let me know if I missed anything, but it seems like you are really "rating" your character on how much damage they can do, and druids will never keep up in that metric. While the archer form is a good mook killer, dragon form is the real treat of stars druid, as it boots your concentration saves. Get out there and start throwing some crowd control. You say you've used entangle a bit; it remains useful into high levels. Shut down enemies with sleet storm. THAT is where you'll shine as a druid. https://vshare****/
Star druid is pretty great, actually. They may not be a top damage dealer but are still have at least good options there and can be skill powerhouses (through dragon) or healing powerhouses (through chalice ).
And yes, druids, generally, are great for crowd control. The trick is usually getting the party to work with, but the capacity is actually rather great.
I believe I limited myself to casting Bless, because seeing the damage on any other concentration spell, it wouldn't be better than the chance of the 6 attacks from our 3 martials to hit, as well as giving them an edge on saving throws. Assuming I let go of Bless, what are some good combos or spells to use for Star Druid? I'm talking about the 2024 book so no broken conjure pixies.
I think you're missing so many amazing spells the druid had to offer.
You're at least level 5, and if damage is your kick, check out conjure animals. Just be careful, the more animals you summon, the slower the game runs. I typically just summon two animals with the spell. It's still very powerful and a big damage increase. With that spell active with say 2 dire wolves, casting one of your free guiding bolts, and using archer form for another bonus action attack, you're doing some really outstanding damage. Far more than blessing your martial friends.
Personally what i love about the druid is the variety they bring to any situation. Non combat they have a lot of great spells to aid in exploration or social situations (talk to plans and animals!). In combat, they can buff or heal allies, control enemies, or deal great damage. Plant growth can stop a group of rampaging melee enemies from touching your party for quite some time. Heat metal can do little damage but its real benefit is making a big bad guy swinging that sword a much smaller threat. That's just the tip of the iceberg of their creative spell list.
If Bless's bonus to attack rolls is making a huge difference in how much damage the party is doing by whatever level you're currently at, I'd say that it indicates that either the rest of the party did a bad job of optimizing their characters and have attack bonuses that are worse than they should be for their levels or else the GM is using an excessive amount of high-AC foes.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
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Hi everyone! I'm having some hard time enjoying the combat/playstyle for Star Druid and I want some advice on how to make him stronger and more fun to play in combat, as well as ideas for spells/multiclass if needed/magic items, that can make him stand out and be more fun to play. My DM is fine with modifications to the subclass or adding things/giving magic items to balance things out and make them more fun, as long as it doesn't make the character broken (basically if it's for fixing a flaw in Druid or making him more fun).
My first two long-term campaigns I played a Berserker Barbarian (who eventually changed to Bear Totem) and a Lore Mastery Wizard (I didn't abuse him). The playstyle for the barbarian was nice since I just had to do a shitton of damage and attack all the time while making use of cool weapon abilities and receiving buffs from the wizard, etc. The playstyle I had for the wizard was going completely utility based: Concentrate on Bless, while casting silvery barbs, vortex warp, misty step, hold person, slow, etc. Basically, controlling the battlefield, teleporting around myself, allies, and enemies (e.g. would vortex warp an ally to the healer, gets blasted with heals, then teleport them back into the midst of the fight). Those were very fun and different playstyles, and now that I'm at level 5 Star Druid, I can't seem to enjoy the playstyle. Thematically and for the lore, having this subclass opened up reaaally cool stories and backgrounds for me so this is the most fun I've had playing the character itself, but not necessarily the most fun in combat.
Our party currently consists of Berserker Barbarian, Samurai Fighter (very cool), Drakewarden Ranger, and Lore Bard. We're still using 2014 rules and will be switching to 2024 once we have VTT set up. My usual playstyle right now is casting bless on the barbarian, fighter, and ranger (even though they have good modifiers and magic weapons but they're the damage dealers so we need them to hit), and keeping concentration on that while going on archer form to try hit my 1d8+4 for my bonus action, and casting guiding bolt as my action. I've used moonbeam a couple of times, but when I do, the overall damage output of the group drops significantly since I'm decreasing the chance of 3 players with multiattack to hit just for a possible 2d10. So I kind of feel forced to cast Bless and dishing out minimal damage. I usually switch to chalice when someone is about to go down and I heal them along with someone else with either cure wounds or healing word. I cast the occasional entangle if the situation allows for it/if needed, and fog cloud in case we're being overwhelmed while the bard is usually keeping up faerie fire (he's kinda in the same boat).
I noticed that Druids don't really get anything for 8/20 levels when we're leveling up as we recently leveled up and I just simply didnt get a cool feature, while the martial classes got multiattack, and once we switch to the 2024 rules will be getting even stronger. For reference, the DM is allowing me to hold a shield and ignore the star map rule.
Here's a breakdown of where I'm at (we're still using the 2014 handbook but switching soon to 2024):
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments on this! I'm considering multiclassing to take 2 levels of Twighlight Cleric for some nice additional healing, but hesitant cz the Druid 2024 level 19/20 abilities look nice, and we are planning to go all the way to level 20. Plus I never multiclassed before and it feels wrong cz you're kinda falling behind while others are leveling up idk.
Okay I mostly read this through, let me know if I missed anything, but it seems like you are really "rating" your character on how much damage they can do, and druids will never keep up in that metric. While the archer form is a good mook killer, dragon form is the real treat of stars druid, as it boots your concentration saves. Get out there and start throwing some crowd control. You say you've used entangle a bit; it remains useful into high levels. Shut down enemies with sleet storm. THAT is where you'll shine as a druid. https://vshare****/
Star druid is pretty great, actually. They may not be a top damage dealer but are still have at least good options there and can be skill powerhouses (through dragon) or healing powerhouses (through chalice ).
And yes, druids, generally, are great for crowd control. The trick is usually getting the party to work with, but the capacity is actually rather great.
I believe I limited myself to casting Bless, because seeing the damage on any other concentration spell, it wouldn't be better than the chance of the 6 attacks from our 3 martials to hit, as well as giving them an edge on saving throws. Assuming I let go of Bless, what are some good combos or spells to use for Star Druid? I'm talking about the 2024 book so no broken conjure pixies.
I think you're missing so many amazing spells the druid had to offer.
You're at least level 5, and if damage is your kick, check out conjure animals. Just be careful, the more animals you summon, the slower the game runs. I typically just summon two animals with the spell. It's still very powerful and a big damage increase. With that spell active with say 2 dire wolves, casting one of your free guiding bolts, and using archer form for another bonus action attack, you're doing some really outstanding damage. Far more than blessing your martial friends.
Personally what i love about the druid is the variety they bring to any situation. Non combat they have a lot of great spells to aid in exploration or social situations (talk to plans and animals!). In combat, they can buff or heal allies, control enemies, or deal great damage. Plant growth can stop a group of rampaging melee enemies from touching your party for quite some time. Heat metal can do little damage but its real benefit is making a big bad guy swinging that sword a much smaller threat. That's just the tip of the iceberg of their creative spell list.
If Bless's bonus to attack rolls is making a huge difference in how much damage the party is doing by whatever level you're currently at, I'd say that it indicates that either the rest of the party did a bad job of optimizing their characters and have attack bonuses that are worse than they should be for their levels or else the GM is using an excessive amount of high-AC foes.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.