Hi There, I'm joining a long-established group tonight for my first online game. Had to start with a 16th level, Moon Druid. I find most of the Druid spells have a large radius effect. I'm worried about catching my party members in my spell! Thinking I can target the spell behind my opponent(s) so they are just inside the radius, but fighters in front of them won't get caught in it? Any tips? Thanks!
Depends on the spell. Most spells with large AoEs will damage anyone inside its effect. The only exceptions that I'm aware of are where you have somecontrol over specific areas in the designated AoE are Plant Growth, Fire Storm, Bones of the Earth, Move Earth, and Grasping Vine. For example, Plant Growth says says:
If you cast this spell using 1 action, choose a point within range. All normal plants in a 100-foot radius centered on that point become thick and overgrown. A creature moving through the area must spend 4 feet of movement for every 1 foot it moves.
You can exclude one or more areas of any size within the spell's area from being affected.
The text I emphasized stipulates that you can target specific areas within the 100-foot radius, which can make the spell much more effective. For example, you can cast Plant Growth and create walkways for your party members to traverse within the 100-foot radius without being affected by the spell!
All you can do is carefully read the description for each spell with a Range/Area > 0 feet. Good luck tonight!
I guess it went as well as my first Roll20 game could be expected. I didn't die, or hurt any of my own party, in fact I think, if a little clumsily, I pulled my own weight. Everyone but one was at least double-classed as a caster so stayed far away from targets, meaning I only had to avoid catching one fighter in my large-radius spells. I'm still the Newbie in the group though and they've all been playing together for over a year, so will take a while for them to warm up to me. We fought a lot of undead, so was glad for my radiant damage spells. If I had known this campaign world was going to have so much undead, I might have picked a Paladin to play instead. You're not just learning the game more, but new software as well (roll20 and my dndbeyond character sheet during play). Using a browser extension that lets me have a Beyond character sheet in Roll20. The DM spent a lot of unpaid time with me last week getting me up to speed, which was good of him. It's ******** Gaming. All in all was fun!
Sounds good (and fun) overall! Druids don't have a lot of spells that do radiant damage for undead--just 3 to be exact.
One more thing I should have mentioned about playing a Druid. Druids (and Rangers) have unique control spells that impact action economy of an enemy by restraining, slowing, and even doing damage (with spells like Spike Growth). So, one of the best offensive strategies for Druids is to cast a AoE control spell like Spike Growth and then have other party members push/shove enemies back into the spell AoE--or you by you while Wildshaping. The best of all possible combos in the game is Spike Growth (which requires concentration) with the [feat]Telekenetic]/feat] feat, so you can cast Spike Growth then
As a bonus action, you can try to telekinetically shove one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. When you do so, the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + the ability modifier of the score increased by this feat) or be moved 5 feet toward you or away from you.
Other control spells that only the Druid (or Ranger) has access to are:
Again, for concentration spells, having other party members (or you while Wildshaping) push/shove enemies into the AoE of these spells is great. For non-concentration spells, you could also cast another spell to push enemies into the AoE control spell like Dust Devil, Gust of Wind, Thunderwave, Thorn Whip, Investiture of Wind. Or hide the AoE of one of these (non-concentration) control spells behind Fog Cloud, Hallucinatory Terrain, Mirage Arcane and let enemies walk right into it :)
Last, many casting classes get access to Freedom of Movement (no concentration required), which negates the affects of these Druid AoE control spells. So, have you or another caster in your party cast Freedom of Movement (duration 1 hour), then they can enter into the AoE of any of these control spells with the trapped enemies without any penalty to movement or attacks.
Hi There, I'm joining a long-established group tonight for my first online game. Had to start with a 16th level, Moon Druid. I find most of the Druid spells have a large radius effect. I'm worried about catching my party members in my spell! Thinking I can target the spell behind my opponent(s) so they are just inside the radius, but fighters in front of them won't get caught in it? Any tips? Thanks!
Depends on the spell. Most spells with large AoEs will damage anyone inside its effect. The only exceptions that I'm aware of are where you have some control over specific areas in the designated AoE are Plant Growth, Fire Storm, Bones of the Earth, Move Earth, and Grasping Vine. For example, Plant Growth says says:
The text I emphasized stipulates that you can target specific areas within the 100-foot radius, which can make the spell much more effective. For example, you can cast Plant Growth and create walkways for your party members to traverse within the 100-foot radius without being affected by the spell!
All you can do is carefully read the description for each spell with a Range/Area > 0 feet. Good luck tonight!
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023
Thanks much!! :)
How did it go?
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023
I guess it went as well as my first Roll20 game could be expected. I didn't die, or hurt any of my own party, in fact I think, if a little clumsily, I pulled my own weight. Everyone but one was at least double-classed as a caster so stayed far away from targets, meaning I only had to avoid catching one fighter in my large-radius spells. I'm still the Newbie in the group though and they've all been playing together for over a year, so will take a while for them to warm up to me. We fought a lot of undead, so was glad for my radiant damage spells. If I had known this campaign world was going to have so much undead, I might have picked a Paladin to play instead. You're not just learning the game more, but new software as well (roll20 and my dndbeyond character sheet during play). Using a browser extension that lets me have a Beyond character sheet in Roll20. The DM spent a lot of unpaid time with me last week getting me up to speed, which was good of him. It's ******** Gaming. All in all was fun!
Sounds good (and fun) overall! Druids don't have a lot of spells that do radiant damage for undead--just 3 to be exact.
One more thing I should have mentioned about playing a Druid. Druids (and Rangers) have unique control spells that impact action economy of an enemy by restraining, slowing, and even doing damage (with spells like Spike Growth). So, one of the best offensive strategies for Druids is to cast a AoE control spell like Spike Growth and then have other party members push/shove enemies back into the spell AoE--or you by you while Wildshaping. The best of all possible combos in the game is Spike Growth (which requires concentration) with the [feat]Telekenetic]/feat] feat, so you can cast Spike Growth then
Other control spells that only the Druid (or Ranger) has access to are:
Again, for concentration spells, having other party members (or you while Wildshaping) push/shove enemies into the AoE of these spells is great. For non-concentration spells, you could also cast another spell to push enemies into the AoE control spell like Dust Devil, Gust of Wind, Thunderwave, Thorn Whip, Investiture of Wind. Or hide the AoE of one of these (non-concentration) control spells behind Fog Cloud, Hallucinatory Terrain, Mirage Arcane and let enemies walk right into it :)
Last, many casting classes get access to Freedom of Movement (no concentration required), which negates the affects of these Druid AoE control spells. So, have you or another caster in your party cast Freedom of Movement (duration 1 hour), then they can enter into the AoE of any of these control spells with the trapped enemies without any penalty to movement or attacks.
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023