Wouldn't it be better to allow form swapping at lvl 10 like stars druid? Otherwise seems great.
The two options aren't as different as they are for Stars druid so swapping is less necessary and IMO less desirable since Fey courts are usually pretty rigidly defined and swapping your character back and forth between them all the time doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I kind of expect each person who takes the class to mostly stick with either Seelie or Unseelie as their default and only swap to the other if absolutely necessary for a certain encounter.
Fair point. I will put it all together and post the final version shortly. I REALLY appreciate your help and feedback on it. Definitely been the most difficult homebrew for me to really quantify!
@IamSpoata I do agree with you, but trying to quantify qualities that represent both courts otherwise is difficult. Unless you have some suggestions? What features would you put into this subclass?
Well, I haven’t sat down and written any features for it, been a bit busy lately. But as I had stated in my previous posts, I would make the bulk of the subclass mostly generic “fey” in feeling and focus on illusions and those two conditions, maybe the stunned condition too. So there would be a more “generic fey” feature at base level (either 2nd or 3rd, depending on if this is for pre or post 5e24), and then again at 6th & 10th levels. I would also include another feature at base level that does the OP’s desired transition. That transformation would require the player to select one of the two courts each time. The basic transformation state would be pretty much the same either way, but the special stuff it did would be different. At 6th level, the player would also be presented with a genuine decision to make between the two courts which would affect different things at 6th & 10th levels, and which capstone feature they will eventually get. Finally, at 14th level they would get one of two variant capstones depending on which court they chose. So, maybe something sorta like this:
3rd level: Familiarity with the ways of the fey, their trixy nature, and alacrity with illusions, plus an affinity with those aspects of the fey grant the minor illusion cantrip as a bonus, advantage on all Charisma checks, advantage on checks and saves against illusions, and advantage on Insight checks against Fey creatures.
3rd level: Bonus Spells*
3rd level: Transformation (perhaps with an accompanying statblock, or perhaps with just certain bonuses to the regular character). They could do it 1ce/LR for free, and the rest of the time would require expending a use of Wild Shape. It would require choosing either Seelie (S) or Unseelie (U) each time it gets activated, and that choice would determine a unique bonus and specialies the transformation includes— (S): a buffing feature & a healing feature / (U): a debuff & a rider on attacks.
6th level: Resistance to psychic damage, Advantage on saves against fire and cold damage.
6th level: Choose between Seelie (S) or Unseely (U) Court for permanent affiliation. Advantage on saves vs either fire & radiant (S) or cold & necrotic (U) damage. While transformed also gain resistance to those same two damage types and a bonus to the special ability granted by the associated version (S/U) of the transformation— (S): an additional way to buff allies & a bonus to the healing / (U): an additional debuff & an additional damage rider. (In other words, if you choose Seelie at 6th level as your affiliated court, you would gain advantage on saves vs. fire & radiant damage all the time, resistance to fire & radiant damage while transformed, and when you pick the Seelie version of your transformation you also get the additional buffing feature and the bonus to healing.)
10th level: Some bonuses to the transformation regardless of which affinity is chosen. (I don’t have specifics since I haven’t fleshed out the basic transformation yet.)
14th level: one of two capstone features, either Seelie or Unseelie (to be determined).
Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to type all that up! Definitely a lot of awesome ideas here.
I like your lvl 3 feature:
Familiarity with the ways of the fey, their trixy nature, and alacrity with illusions, plus an affinity with those aspects of the fey grant the minor illusion cantrip as a bonus, advantage on all Charisma checks, advantage on checks and saves against illusions, and advantage on Insight checks against Fey creatures.
I'd probably say it has 1 too many advantages on checks, but otherwise, nicely flavourful.
What I'm really curious about, is the direction you would take the transformations and what effects they would offer.
Also, interesting spell list, very thematic. I see you went with 1 instead of breaking it out across Seelie and Unseelie.
Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to type all that up! Definitely a lot of awesome ideas here.
I like your lvl 3 feature:
Familiarity with the ways of the fey, their trixy nature, and alacrity with illusions, plus an affinity with those aspects of the fey grant the minor illusion cantrip as a bonus, advantage on all Charisma checks, advantage on checks and saves against illusions, and advantage on Insight checks against Fey creatures.
I'd probably say it has 1 too many advantages on checks, but otherwise, nicely flavourful.
What I'm really curious about, is the direction you would take the transformations and what effects they would offer.
Also, interesting spell list, very thematic. I see you went with 1 instead of breaking it out across Seelie and Unseelie.
Thanks. Yeah, when I was going through the spells they just didn’t seem to lend themselves to being split up at all, especially since I didn’t have the choice between the courts come until 6th level, so it would really have only been the 4th- & 5th-level spells anyway. I’m not sure how I would do the transformation honestly. Not much of a Druid player to tell the truth, it sure always would be best. I’m interested to see what Agilemindthinks of it.
Thanks. Yeah, when I was going through the spells they just didn’t seem to lend themselves to being split up at all, especially since I didn’t have the choice between the courts come until 6th level, so it would really have only been the 4th- & 5th-level spells anyway. I’m not sure how I would do the transformation honestly. Not much of a Druid player to tell the truth, it sure always would be best. I’m interested to see what Agilemindthinks of it.
I really like the bonus spells super thematic, Mislead is super Fey-ish wish I had thought of it.
For the transformation, I wouldn't do a statblock nor a free use, Druid already gets lots of WS uses since they come back on a SR so it's a rare day that you would run out of WS. Healing+Buff would work, Rider on attacks is kind of a waste - Druids are super squishy, and everything requires concentration so they aren't good in melee and have very few spells that give ranged attacks.
The other 3rd level feature is just too much stuff. Minor Illusion is fun, but giving advantage vs illusions is a bit problematic since it's hard to interpret for things like Invisibility or Simulacrum which are both Illusion spells. Likewise I don't know that Feys are particularly good and avoiding being tricked by their fellow fey, it seems like the Fey Wilds would be a boring stalemate if that was the case. In addition, Druid has access to Enhance Ability so advantage on skill checks as a class feature isn't that great for them.
6th level: TBH I dislike the whole "advantage on saves against X damage" Druid doesn't have proficiency in DEX or CON saves so advantage on the save is going to stop being helpful one enemy DCs get up into 17+, there's also loads of ways to take elemental damage that doesn't involve saves. Plus it just kind of feels weird, why would a Fey be good at dodging a fireball but not a lightning bolt? I'd stick with just the damage resistances here.
6th Stacking multiple riders / debuffs / buffs is annoying to track, rather than adding more just make the previous ones stronger. <- this feature also doesn't feel necessary since you have another buff to these at level 10.
14th level being a permanent choice rather than an on-the-fly choice might be better. Druids already have a monster amount of choices - to the point many players avoid it because it is "too complicated" - it could be good to pull back on the on-the-fly choices in the subclass and have more : choose when you gain this feature, options.
The more I'm thinking about it.. the more I like the idea of making the Seelie vs Unseelie choice a permanent choice during character creation rather than an on-the-fly choice. The two courts don't really intermingle and creatures wouldn't normally flip between them. Plus Druid really does not need more choices. I've been playing a druid for many years in and here are an example of choices I've had to make during combat & questions I've had to ask the DM to figure it out:
Situation: Fighting a coven of hags in a swamp
Options:
1. Try to deal damage to the hags directly - Moonbeam on one of them but more likely to deal full damage, OR Malestrom/Wall of Fire to hit multiple of them but more likely they are resistant OR Wrath of Nature to potentially hit multiple of them & make it dangerous for them to take cover. - had to ask the DM if the vegetation was bushes or trees, and whether there were visible rocks nearby. OR use Conjure animals to surround them with wolves at the risk of the wolves getting in the way of my ally's attacks.
2. Help my allies get into melee with them - Conjure Animals something fast (either flying or aquatic) to grapple & carry them closer to the hags, OR Transmute the swamp into rock so they can Dash to get there OR Control Water to create a current to push them toward the hags (or the hags towards us) - had to ask the DM if the swamp counted as "water" or "mud".
3. Try to protect my allies by blocking the hag's spell casting - Wall of Thorns to block their line of sight, Conjure Animals to provide half cover or to spread out my allies so they can't all be hit at once, WS into something big and beefy to provide cover.
4. Give a melee ally a ranged option - Polymorph into a Giant Ape or use Magic Stone and give them the stones to throw.
Its true, druids do have a lot of choices to make, in some ways, this is why in a previous iteration of the subclass for the Fey Form I just had a 'general fey theme' one that wasn't aligned with either court, and then as flavour a person could decide how this form looks each time they take it, perhaps it more Seelie one time or Unseelie the next. But, like you said Agilemind, this does make it less interesting.
That being said though, when it comes to any spell caster, there is always a wealth of choices to make and its just down to knowing your character, what you can do, and what feels right in the moment.
Seelie Form 2 - Radiant moonlight streams around you forming an iridescent robe or other form of clothing. You emit bright light in a 15 ft radius and dim light for an additional 15 ft. While in this form, when you or creatures within your bright light use a spell or other action to cause a creature to regain hit points that creature gains temporary hit points equal to 1d6+your Wisdom modifier.
For this, would it be too much to say instead of 1d6+WIS, it be 'your Druid level+WIS'? Or would that be too strong? I feel at higher levels of play, having a range of 6 - 12 temp hp might get destroyed very quickly.
Also, a slight detour, in 2024 PHB, druids WS now get: Temporary Hit Points. When you assume a Wild Shape form, you gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your Druid level.
Unseelie Form - You become a vision of nightmare, cloaking yourself in the dread shadow that is inexorably bound to you, wrapping it around you like a mantle. When you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to cause these shadows to terrify your attacker, they must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell DC or be frightened of you until the end of their next turn (this does not affect the triggering attack).
I do like this, but how could we make it more offensive? My concern with this, is if you are playing defensively anyways from the backline, laying down control spells etc it might not see a great deal of usage. I understand its a defensive ability that can apply control should one of your other control spells fail and you become target number 1. Would it be too OP to make it a bonus action?
Enthralling Form - When a creature gains temporary hit points as a result of your Seelie Form, you can use your reaction to channel your awe inspiring presence towards a creature you can see within 60 ft of you. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell DC or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn.
Would it be too much to add a rider to this "You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw." Or something like that perhaps.
For level 14, something like:
- You are immune to being frightened or charmed.
- You can swap between your Seelie and Unseelie forms once on your turn as a free action
Seelie Form
Moonlit Revival. Your radiant light now extends to 20ft and when an allied creature within your light is reduced to 0 hitpoints, you can use your reaction to instantly restore hit points to that creature equal to 2d8+ your wisdom modifier. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier.
OR
Entrancing Presence: You can use an action to radiate a powerful fey charm. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of you that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute. While charmed, creatures are friendly to you and cannot attack you or your allies. If you or your allies damage a charmed creature, it can immediately make another saving throw to end the effect. Once you use this ability, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Unseelie Form
Absolutely no idea. Probably something debuff based.
…when I was going through the spells they just didn’t seem to lend themselves to being split up at all, especially since I didn’t have the choice between the courts come until 6th level, so it would really have only been the 4th- & 5th-level spells anyway. I’m not sure how I would do the transformation honestly. Not much of a Druid player to tell the truth, it sure always would be best. I’m interested to see what Agilemindthinks of it.
I really like the bonus spells super thematic, Mislead is super Fey-ish wish I had thought of it.
For the transformation, I wouldn't do a statblock nor a free use, Druid already gets lots of WS uses since they come back on a SR so it's a rare day that you would run out of WS. Healing+Buff would work, Rider on attacks is kind of a waste - Druids are super squishy, and everything requires concentration so they aren't good in melee and have very few spells that give ranged attacks.
The other 3rd level feature is just too much stuff. Minor Illusion is fun, but giving advantage vs illusions is a bit problematic since it's hard to interpret for things like Invisibility or Simulacrum which are both Illusion spells. Likewise I don't know that Feys are particularly good and avoiding being tricked by their fellow fey, it seems like the Fey Wilds would be a boring stalemate if that was the case. In addition, Druid has access to Enhance Ability so advantage on skill checks as a class feature isn't that great for them.
6th level: TBH I dislike the whole "advantage on saves against X damage" Druid doesn't have proficiency in DEX or CON saves so advantage on the save is going to stop being helpful one enemy DCs get up into 17+, there's also loads of ways to take elemental damage that doesn't involve saves. Plus it just kind of feels weird, why would a Fey be good at dodging a fireball but not a lightning bolt? I'd stick with just the damage resistances here.
6th Stacking multiple riders / debuffs / buffs is annoying to track, rather than adding more just make the previous ones stronger. <- this feature also doesn't feel necessary since you have another buff to these at level 10.
14th level being a permanent choice rather than an on-the-fly choice might be better. Druids already have a monster amount of choices - to the point many players avoid it because it is "too complicated" - it could be good to pull back on the on-the-fly choices in the subclass and have more : choose when you gain this feature, options.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. Keep in mind, at this point in development I consider the entire project to be in the “spaghetti stage.” Basically I start by throwing everything I can think of at the wall to see what sticks (like spaghetti). Then I start sweeping away whatever falls off.
Seems like the spell list is sticking, I have been a little worried about that one, without the dichotomy of the 2 quarts. I thought it might be a little one note. I’m glad it’s not.
Yeah, I thought that feature was a little busy too. I originally had it as two features, but then after adding the transformation and the bonus spells on top it turned out to four features which I thought was just too many. But like I said spaghetti stage, so taking some stuff out is expected at this point. Dropping advantage against illusions makes sense, that’s an easy one to get rid of. But I do like keeping a benefit to Insight checks against fey though. The way I figure it, the fey must have to develop strong instincts at reading each other or they wouldn’t survive for very long. I mean… namean?
Yeah, I wasn’t too keen on the stat block idea either, but it’s spaghetti so I chucked it at the wall. Not being particularly familiar with Druids though, aside from a pool of THP, I’m not entirely certain what the transformation should add to the PC’s normal sheet. My first instinct is an initiative bump, that seems fairly obvious. I also thought the Extra Attack feature would represent the supernatural speed often attributed to the fey, but that wouldn’t come online until 6th level. Plus as you pointed out, druids are not typically known for their martial prowess, so would it really be worthwhile? I was also thinking a bump to Con would be useful, but I’m not entirely sure it fits thematically. Sure, many fey are tough cookies, but does it fit? Proficiency in Dex saves seemed appropriate too. However, if I were to include Extra Attack, it would result in better internal synergy if it was a general boost to Dex as that would result in better outcomes for Dex saves and better martial capabilities not only in terms of their Attack & Damage modifiers, but also higher AC. Also, not being a druid player I didn’t realize how many uses of Wild Dhape they get, so dropping the 1ce/LR free use is not a problem. 3.5. (As for the “attack rider” idea, I had originally written “damage rider,” but thought that might be too broadly applicable so I changed it to just an attack rider. It also seemed fitting with the ideas I have already listed here that would directly improve their combat chops. Do you think a general damage rider would be better?)
Changing advantage to resistance is simple enough.
With regards to the second 6th level feature, I didn’t mean to have anything “stack” at all. I was thinking as alternatives so the player could choose between buffs when in Seelie form, or choose between riders when in Unseelie form. For the buffs, debuffs, and riders I was imagining something that would activate when the character transformed that would simply persist for the duration of the transformation. So like auras for the buffs/debuffs, and a rider that would always apply to the character’s attacks (unless they chose not to apply it). The 6th level feature would just let the player choose either (buff/rider) A or (buff/rider) B when their character shifts and it would simply last until they transformed back to normal. Plus, whichever court they choose at 6th level is a permanent choice. If they choose Seelie, then they would get the improved healing and second buff option when they transform into their Seelie form but no improvement when the transform into their Unseelie form, If they choose Unseelie they get an improved debuff and an alternate rider they could use when in Unseelie form but no boost to their Seelie form. There also wouldn’t be any way to change their decision later (without DM buy-in), once they choose, that’s it. (Does that all make more sense? Was I better at explaining my intentions this time?) I am confused about why you mentioned the 10th level feature though….
The 10th level feature wouldn’t affect any of the (S) or (U) stuff of the Transformation at all. That improvement would only apply to the “generic fey” benefits of the transformation that I mentioned above in point 3 👆. So, for example, the initiative bump, Dex increase, and THP would be the stuff that is improved by this feature.
I didn’t intend for the capstone to be something they could vacillate between.what I was trying to convey is that the player would choose one of the two courts at 6th level, and that decision would dictate which of the two capstone Options they got. If they decide to ally themselves to the Seelie court at 6th level, then they get the Seelie capstone. If they choose Unseelie at 6th, they get the Unseelie capstone. Period. Full stop.
The more I'm thinking about it.. the more I like the idea of making the Seelie vs Unseelie choice a permanent choice during character creation rather than an on-the-fly choice. The two courts don't really intermingle and creatures wouldn't normally flip between them….
In my mind, druids of this circle would ultimately ally themselves to one of the two courts, but not being actually part of either, they can dabble a little in the other court too. (Kinda like how Sam Jackson could wield the Dark Side a li’l but not go full Sith, so he got the sweet-455 purple lightsaber as a flex.) Make more sense now?
(As for the “attack rider” idea, I had originally written “damage rider,” but thought that might be too broadly applicable so I changed it to just an attack rider. It also seemed fitting with the ideas I have already listed here that would directly improve their combat chops. Do you think a general damage rider would be better?)
Damage rider would make more sense. Druids don't make attacks, they are in between clerics and wizards in terms of gameplay. Almost all their decent spells are concentration, and their defences are mediocre-poor they do not want to be in melee. That's the trouble with doing the auras for the Fey Form as well, druids don't want to be near the frontline so any small radius aura is not going to be helping many of their allies and won't be touching their enemies. If there are 3 enemies within 15 ft of your druid, your druid is dead by their next turn.
Sure you could make the Fey Form similar to the Spore Druid WS ability make them a mediocre frontliner, but that's a very different type of subclass and I don't know how thematic that is for Fey, I associate them more with sneaky archers or charismatic manipulators than beefy frontline fighters.
Are you taking the Primal Aura and Elemental Fury features into account?
Are we talking 2014 rules or 2024 rules?
Even in 2024 rules, with Warden + Elemental Fury they are bottom tier melee characters, no Extra Attack, no Weapon Mastery, no Heavy Armour. Elemental Fury (weapon) is a trap, it will not make you a competent martial. It's 1d8 extra damage once per turn, a rogue is dealing 4d6 extra damage once per turn at this level with Sneak Attack (which Averages more damage than the maximum of Elemental Fury).
Consider: Thorn Whip + Potent Spellcasting vs Rapier + Elemental Fury at 7th level
Thorn Whip - melee attack with 30 ft reach, uses Wis for Attacks = +7 to hit, deals 2d6 + 4 damage on a hit once per turn = 7.15 DPR Rapier - melee attack with 5ft reach, uses Dex for Attacks = +5/+6 to hit, deals 2d8+2/3 on a hit once per turn. = 7.2 DPR if you have +3 DEX, or 6.05 if you have +2 DEX
Rapier + Elemental Fury is just worse than Thorn Whip + Potent Spellcasting
Note that dual wielding isn't viable for Druid since without Weapon Mastery they are using their Action and Bonus Action to make 2 weak attacks while sacrificing +2 AC leaving them at AC 16 (maybe 17) and no more than a +2 CON and a d8 hit die.
Vs the most basic Rogue:
Dual Wielding Scimitars with no feats: Attack 1: 1d6+DEX + 1d6 (Nick) + 4d6 Sneak Attack = 19.33 DPR AC = 16, with Evasion and Uncanny Dodge to boost their defences.
Vs a 2nd level Moonbeam:
2d10 damage per target (8.25 damage per target per trigger), can be moved 60 ft as an action hitting every creature it passes over, 120ft range
TL:DR Melee Druid does less than 1/2 the damage a Rogue does with similar to worse survivability. Whereas Caster-Druid can deal similar damage as Rogue as long as there is more than one target on the field from 100 ft away from the enemies with a single 2nd level spell slot.
PS Aside, I just realized Font of Moonlight only specifies "melee attack" so it works with Thorn Whip, but since Thorn Whip is a cantrip with a range greater than 10 ft that means Improved Elemental Fury applies to it, meaning a 15th level Druid can Thorn Whip to pull enemies off of the walls of a fortress from 300 ft away dealing 3d6+WIS piercing + 2d6 radiant damage to them on a hit.
For this, would it be too much to say instead of 1d6+WIS, it be 'your Druid level+WIS'? Or would that be too strong? I feel at higher levels of play, having a range of 6 - 12 temp hp might get destroyed very quickly.
Yes that would be too strong, unless you reduced the usability of it to "when you cast a spell using a spellslot that causes a creature to regain hit points". Then it is not going to be going off very often, so you can increase the amount of temporary hit points to Druid level + Wis. 6-12 temp hp is going to get destroyed quickly because that is the game, combat is supposed to last 3-4 turns which means if the combat is going to feel dangerous the enemies will be dealing ~1/6 of the total party's HP in damage each round on average. If a subclass blocks/negates a significant portion of that damage it trivializes the encounter, thus is unbalanced (OP). The vast majority of class features typically negate ~1 attack per combat (or ~1/20th-1/10th of the total damage dealt by the enemies), that is a balanced feature.
The problem of scaling should be rectified by higher level class features that straight up increase the numbers for the lower level feature - look at Starry Druid, it's high level feature doesn't add more stuff to Starry Form it mostly just makes Starry Form more powerful to keep up with enemy scaling.
TBH, I don't think you actually want a balanced subclass, you want an OP subclass like Twilight Cleric or Shepherd Druid or the majority of HB out there, so I'd suggest you just go make what you want. It's your game you can make unbalanced stuff to put in it and it's fine so long as all the players get some unbalanced stuff so they are all comparatively powerful to each other.
Also, a slight detour, in 2024 PHB, druids WS now get: Temporary Hit Points. When you assume a Wild Shape form, you gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your Druid level.
Yup, and as a cost it requires a full use of WS for each set of temporary hit points (including a BA) and prevents you from casting spells, and tanks your AC to ~12-13 (aka is worthless in combat). The proposed Fey Form would be unlimited uses of temporary hit points for 1 minute for 1 WS and not interfere with being a full spellcaster at the same time and not affecting your AC, and can be used on yourself or someone else like a Barbarian that gets even more use out of them.
TBH, I don't think you actually want a balanced subclass, you want an OP subclass like Twilight Cleric or Shepherd Druid or the majority of HB out there, so I'd suggest you just go make what you want. It's your game you can make unbalanced stuff to put in it and it's fine so long as all the players get some unbalanced stuff so they are all comparatively powerful to each other.
Hmm, well I can tell you, that fundamentally isn't true. I'm just trying to feel out my options as balancing has never been my forte, but I will take it from here then. Thank you for your help and guidance.
Are you taking the Primal Aura and Elemental Fury features into account?
Are we talking 2014 rules or 2024 rules?
Even in 2024 rules, with Warden + Elemental Fury they are bottom tier melee characters, no Extra Attack, no Weapon Mastery, no Heavy Armour. Elemental Fury (weapon) is a trap, it will not make you a competent martial. It's 1d8 extra damage once per turn, a rogue is dealing 4d6 extra damage once per turn at this level with Sneak Attack (which Averages more damage than the maximum of Elemental Fury).
Consider: Thorn Whip + Potent Spellcasting vs Rapier + Elemental Fury at 7th level
Thorn Whip - melee attack with 30 ft reach, uses Wis for Attacks = +7 to hit, deals 2d6 + 4 damage on a hit once per turn = 7.15 DPR Rapier - melee attack with 5ft reach, uses Dex for Attacks = +5/+6 to hit, deals 2d8+2/3 on a hit once per turn. = 7.2 DPR if you have +3 DEX, or 6.05 if you have +2 DEX
Rapier + Elemental Fury is just worse than Thorn Whip + Potent Spellcasting
Note that dual wielding isn't viable for Druid since without Weapon Mastery they are using their Action and Bonus Action to make 2 weak attacks while sacrificing +2 AC leaving them at AC 16 (maybe 17) and no more than a +2 CON and a d8 hit die.
Vs the most basic Rogue:
Dual Wielding Scimitars with no feats: Attack 1: 1d6+DEX + 1d6 (Nick) + 4d6 Sneak Attack = 19.33 DPR AC = 16, with Evasion and Uncanny Dodge to boost their defences.
Vs a 2nd level Moonbeam:
2d10 damage per target (8.25 damage per target per trigger), can be moved 60 ft as an action hitting every creature it passes over, 120ft range
TL:DR Melee Druid does less than 1/2 the damage a Rogue does with similar to worse survivability. Whereas Caster-Druid can deal similar damage as Rogue as long as there is more than one target on the field from 100 ft away from the enemies with a single 2nd level spell slot.
PS Aside, I just realized Font of Moonlight only specifies "melee attack" so it works with Thorn Whip, but since Thorn Whip is a cantrip with a range greater than 10 ft that means Improved Elemental Fury applies to it, meaning a 15th level Druid can Thorn Whip to pull enemies off of the walls of a fortress from 300 ft away dealing 3d6+WIS piercing + 2d6 radiant damage to them on a hit.
Absolutely everything you wrote is correct as far as my quick mental math can tell. However, I feel you are not considering the clas and my proposed subclass together as a whole. I specifically mentioned that the transformation would grant, among other things, a bonus to Dexterity, and starting at 6th level probably the Extra Attack feature. If, while transformed, the druid got a +4 bonus to Dex starting at 3rd level, Extra Attack starting at 6th level, and an additional +2 (total +6) bonus to Dex starting at 10th level, plus the free minor illusion cantrip at 3rd, now the Order of the Magician & Potent Spellcasting start to look less necessary, and Order of the Warden & Primal Strike start to look more viable. With a Weapon Mastery added in now that’s suddenly very viable, which inspires me. If I change the bonus to Dex from those static numbers to a number equal to the character’s Wis modifier… now we’re cookin’ with fire… unless you go Unseelie and then you are using an anti griddle I guess…. But I digress! (See how things are starting to take shape and really synergize? Take note burgeoning ‘brewers reading this in the near future, always get feedback on your brews as early and as often as possible, even when they’re still just spaghetti.) Now, lemme rattle this all around in my grapefruit for a bit and post back again later when it’s more flesh and less pulp. (I know, I’m mixing food metaphors like I’m making a salad. There! I just did it again. Now I’m hungry. Gonna go eat, and then… TO THE HOMEBREWER!!!)
Fey are, for me, not really front liners and definitely not the direction of this subclass. The main aspect is battlefield control.
I’m not endeavoring to make this subclass as a “front liner” exactly. What I am envisioning is most definitely a controller, however the manner in which I am attempting to implement that control would, by necessity, require a certain proximity to ether allies who would likely be on the front, or proximity to the enemy. That proximity necessitates a certain degree of combat capability to make the subclass viable. If they have to be within 30 ft. of the barbarian/fighter/paladin(& possibly ranger/rogue if speced for melee), then that likely puts them within charging distance of enemies. Typically speaking, the worst thing that can happen to spellslinging control characters is to get caught in melee as they tend to be fairly squishy and would loose concentration before their next turn even comes around. Even if the do manage to maintain concentration, their undesirable circumstance would likely necessitate a rapid exfiltration. That usually means someone who should be on the front then needs to break position and rush to rescue the squish. However, if the squish ain’t actually so squishy, then the exfil is not always so immediately urgent, and potentially unnecessary entirely. So for my concept to be viable, they either need to be able to hold their own or escape on their own without assistance. Of those two, escaping is typically the less effective and less desirable since it would mean they might no longer in position to control anything at all, or still close enough for the enemy to immediately reengage. But if they can actually survive toe-to-toe on their own, then they can continue to both remain in position and take care o’ bidness.
If, while transformed, the druid got a +4 bonus to Dex starting at 3rd level, Extra Attack starting at 6th level, and an additional +2 (total +6) bonus to Dex starting at 10th level,
Then it would be insanely broken if anyone could get +4 bonus to Dex for a 3 level dip, and once you got access to Conjure Minor Elementals you'd break the game entirely. But more over.. what's the point of them being a druid? How would someone tell the difference between this character and a Ranger? There's even already a Fey-themed Ranger available that's pretty sweet in the 2024 version: Fey Wanderer.
Typically speaking, the worst thing that can happen to spellslinging control characters is to get caught in melee as they tend to be fairly squishy and would loose concentration before their next turn even comes around.
How does Extra Attack prevent one from losing concentration on a spell?
However, if the squish ain’t actually so squishy.
We already have none-squishy Druids : Spore & Moon, we also already have a Druid with solid concentration: Stars.
If you would like to make a non-squishy druid simply borrow from what already exists:
Spore Druid non-squishy feature:
Symbiotic Entity
2nd-level Circle of Spores feature You gain the ability to channel magic into your spores. As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to awaken those spores, rather than transforming into a beast form, and you gain 4 temporary hit points for each level you have in this class. While this feature is active, you gain the following benefits:
When you deal your Halo of Spores damage, roll the damage die a second time and add it to the total.
Your melee weapon attacks deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to any target they hit.
These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points, or until you use your Wild Shape again.
Fey themed equivalent:
Fey Form
You gain the ability to channel the magic of the Fey. You can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to transform into a fey-version of yourself, rather than transforming into a beast form. You gain the following benefits:
You gain 3 temporary hit points for each level you have in this class.
You have advantage on Constitution saving throws to retain concentration on your druid spells.
Once on your turn when you deal damage to a creature using an attack or spell, you can deal an additional 1d6 damage to that creature. This damage is either radiant or necrotic you choose when you activate this form.
These benefits last for 10 minutes or until you are incapacitated or you use your Wild Shape again.
In fact we can ape off of the Circle of Spore for the whole subclass:
6th level - Fey Reinforcements rather than the animating a zombie feature.
10th level - instead of:
Spreading Spores
10th-level Circle of Spores feature
You gain the ability to seed an area with deadly spores. As a bonus action while your Symbiotic Entity feature is active, you can hurl spores up to 30 feet away, where they swirl in a 10-foot cube for 1 minute. The spores disappear early if you use this feature again, if you dismiss them as a bonus action, or if your Symbiotic Entity feature is no longer active.
Whenever a creature moves into the cube or starts its turn there, that creature takes your Halo of Spores damage, unless the creature succeeds on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. A creature can take this damage no more than once per turn.
While the cube of spores persists, you can’t use your Halo of Spores reaction.
We make this:
Enchanting Form
You gain the ability to impress other creatures with your Fey glamour. While in your Fey form you can use a bonus action to choose one creature with 60 ft of you, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell DC or be charmed or frightened for 1 minute (you choose when you use this feature). It repeats the save at the end of each turn ending the effect on a success. The effect also ends on it if you use this feature again or you dismiss it as a bonus action.
Then at 14th level instead of this:
Fungal Body
14th-level Circle of Spores feature
The fungal spores in your body alter you: you can’t be blinded, deafened, frightened, or poisoned, and any critical hit against you counts as a normal hit instead, unless you’re incapacitated.
We have:
Inscrutable- You are immune to being frightened or charmed or put to sleep, others have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Insight) checks against you.
Distracting Illusion
When you are targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to produce distracting illusions causing the attack to target the illusion instead of you. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier regaining all uses when you finish a long rest.
This is another way to make balanced subclasses: first pick a subclass that already exists that has a similar playstyle to what you want then swap the features for something more thematic adding and removing power to the features in equal measure.
If, while transformed, the druid got a +4 bonus to Dex starting at 3rd level, Extra Attack starting at 6th level, and an additional +2 (total +6) bonus to Dex starting at 10th level,
Then it would be insanely broken if anyone could get +4 bonus to Dex for a 3 level dip, and once you got access to Conjure Minor Elementals you'd break the game entirely. But more over.. what's the point of them being a druid? How would someone tell the difference between this character and a Ranger? There's even already a Fey-themed Ranger available that's pretty sweet in the 2024 version: Fey Wanderer.
I meant a temporary +4 to the Dex score, not the Dex modifier. So it would only result in a total +2 to attacks, AC, and Dex saves & checks. It can be adjusted down, this is still just the early part of the design, adjustments are still expected at this point. If +2 Dex (again, Score, not modifier) is more appropriate and it would get to +4 at 10th or something like that. It’s all still half cooked pasta at this point. When I start worrying about the formatting and the wording of the flavor text, that’s how you’ll know it’s sauced and I’m grating cheese on top.
As to the point of it, by that logic I ask you what the point of the bladesinger is then?
Typically speaking, the worst thing that can happen to spellslinging control characters is to get caught in melee as they tend to be fairly squishy and would loose concentration before their next turn even comes around.
How does Extra Attack prevent one from losing concentration on a spell?
Uhhh… nothing…? Why do you ask? I never said it had anything to do with making them less squishy, so I fail to understand why you’re bringing it up at all.
However, if the squish ain’t actually so squishy.
We already have none-squishy Druids : Spore & Moon, we also already have a Druid with solid concentration: Stars.
The two options aren't as different as they are for Stars druid so swapping is less necessary and IMO less desirable since Fey courts are usually pretty rigidly defined and swapping your character back and forth between them all the time doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I kind of expect each person who takes the class to mostly stick with either Seelie or Unseelie as their default and only swap to the other if absolutely necessary for a certain encounter.
Fair point. I will put it all together and post the final version shortly. I REALLY appreciate your help and feedback on it. Definitely been the most difficult homebrew for me to really quantify!
Well, I haven’t sat down and written any features for it, been a bit busy lately. But as I had stated in my previous posts, I would make the bulk of the subclass mostly generic “fey” in feeling and focus on illusions and those two conditions, maybe the stunned condition too. So there would be a more “generic fey” feature at base level (either 2nd or 3rd, depending on if this is for pre or post 5e24), and then again at 6th & 10th levels. I would also include another feature at base level that does the OP’s desired transition. That transformation would require the player to select one of the two courts each time. The basic transformation state would be pretty much the same either way, but the special stuff it did would be different. At 6th level, the player would also be presented with a genuine decision to make between the two courts which would affect different things at 6th & 10th levels, and which capstone feature they will eventually get. Finally, at 14th level they would get one of two variant capstones depending on which court they chose. So, maybe something sorta like this:
Well, wadaya think?
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Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to type all that up! Definitely a lot of awesome ideas here.
I like your lvl 3 feature:
Familiarity with the ways of the fey, their trixy nature, and alacrity with illusions, plus an affinity with those aspects of the fey grant the minor illusion cantrip as a bonus, advantage on all Charisma checks, advantage on checks and saves against illusions, and advantage on Insight checks against Fey creatures.
I'd probably say it has 1 too many advantages on checks, but otherwise, nicely flavourful.
What I'm really curious about, is the direction you would take the transformations and what effects they would offer.
Also, interesting spell list, very thematic. I see you went with 1 instead of breaking it out across Seelie and Unseelie.
Thanks. Yeah, when I was going through the spells they just didn’t seem to lend themselves to being split up at all, especially since I didn’t have the choice between the courts come until 6th level, so it would really have only been the 4th- & 5th-level spells anyway. I’m not sure how I would do the transformation honestly. Not much of a Druid player to tell the truth, it sure always would be best. I’m interested to see what Agilemind thinks of it.
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I really like the bonus spells super thematic, Mislead is super Fey-ish wish I had thought of it.
For the transformation, I wouldn't do a statblock nor a free use, Druid already gets lots of WS uses since they come back on a SR so it's a rare day that you would run out of WS. Healing+Buff would work, Rider on attacks is kind of a waste - Druids are super squishy, and everything requires concentration so they aren't good in melee and have very few spells that give ranged attacks.
The other 3rd level feature is just too much stuff. Minor Illusion is fun, but giving advantage vs illusions is a bit problematic since it's hard to interpret for things like Invisibility or Simulacrum which are both Illusion spells. Likewise I don't know that Feys are particularly good and avoiding being tricked by their fellow fey, it seems like the Fey Wilds would be a boring stalemate if that was the case. In addition, Druid has access to Enhance Ability so advantage on skill checks as a class feature isn't that great for them.
6th level: TBH I dislike the whole "advantage on saves against X damage" Druid doesn't have proficiency in DEX or CON saves so advantage on the save is going to stop being helpful one enemy DCs get up into 17+, there's also loads of ways to take elemental damage that doesn't involve saves. Plus it just kind of feels weird, why would a Fey be good at dodging a fireball but not a lightning bolt? I'd stick with just the damage resistances here.
6th Stacking multiple riders / debuffs / buffs is annoying to track, rather than adding more just make the previous ones stronger. <- this feature also doesn't feel necessary since you have another buff to these at level 10.
14th level being a permanent choice rather than an on-the-fly choice might be better. Druids already have a monster amount of choices - to the point many players avoid it because it is "too complicated" - it could be good to pull back on the on-the-fly choices in the subclass and have more : choose when you gain this feature, options.
The more I'm thinking about it.. the more I like the idea of making the Seelie vs Unseelie choice a permanent choice during character creation rather than an on-the-fly choice. The two courts don't really intermingle and creatures wouldn't normally flip between them. Plus Druid really does not need more choices. I've been playing a druid for many years in and here are an example of choices I've had to make during combat & questions I've had to ask the DM to figure it out:
Situation: Fighting a coven of hags in a swamp
Options:
1. Try to deal damage to the hags directly - Moonbeam on one of them but more likely to deal full damage, OR Malestrom/Wall of Fire to hit multiple of them but more likely they are resistant OR Wrath of Nature to potentially hit multiple of them & make it dangerous for them to take cover. - had to ask the DM if the vegetation was bushes or trees, and whether there were visible rocks nearby. OR use Conjure animals to surround them with wolves at the risk of the wolves getting in the way of my ally's attacks.
2. Help my allies get into melee with them - Conjure Animals something fast (either flying or aquatic) to grapple & carry them closer to the hags, OR Transmute the swamp into rock so they can Dash to get there OR Control Water to create a current to push them toward the hags (or the hags towards us) - had to ask the DM if the swamp counted as "water" or "mud".
3. Try to protect my allies by blocking the hag's spell casting - Wall of Thorns to block their line of sight, Conjure Animals to provide half cover or to spread out my allies so they can't all be hit at once, WS into something big and beefy to provide cover.
4. Give a melee ally a ranged option - Polymorph into a Giant Ape or use Magic Stone and give them the stones to throw.
Its true, druids do have a lot of choices to make, in some ways, this is why in a previous iteration of the subclass for the Fey Form I just had a 'general fey theme' one that wasn't aligned with either court, and then as flavour a person could decide how this form looks each time they take it, perhaps it more Seelie one time or Unseelie the next. But, like you said Agilemind, this does make it less interesting.
That being said though, when it comes to any spell caster, there is always a wealth of choices to make and its just down to knowing your character, what you can do, and what feels right in the moment.
For this, would it be too much to say instead of 1d6+WIS, it be 'your Druid level+WIS'? Or would that be too strong? I feel at higher levels of play, having a range of 6 - 12 temp hp might get destroyed very quickly.
Also, a slight detour, in 2024 PHB, druids WS now get: Temporary Hit Points. When you assume a Wild Shape form, you gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your Druid level.
I do like this, but how could we make it more offensive? My concern with this, is if you are playing defensively anyways from the backline, laying down control spells etc it might not see a great deal of usage. I understand its a defensive ability that can apply control should one of your other control spells fail and you become target number 1. Would it be too OP to make it a bonus action?
Would it be too much to add a rider to this "You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw." Or something like that perhaps.
For level 14, something like:
- You are immune to being frightened or charmed.
- You can swap between your Seelie and Unseelie forms once on your turn as a free action
Seelie Form
Moonlit Revival. Your radiant light now extends to 20ft and when an allied creature within your light is reduced to 0 hitpoints, you can use your reaction to instantly restore hit points to that creature equal to 2d8+ your wisdom modifier. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier.
OR
Entrancing Presence: You can use an action to radiate a powerful fey charm. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of you that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute. While charmed, creatures are friendly to you and cannot attack you or your allies. If you or your allies damage a charmed creature, it can immediately make another saving throw to end the effect. Once you use this ability, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Unseelie Form
Absolutely no idea. Probably something debuff based.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. Keep in mind, at this point in development I consider the entire project to be in the “spaghetti stage.” Basically I start by throwing everything I can think of at the wall to see what sticks (like spaghetti). Then I start sweeping away whatever falls off.
3.5. (As for the “attack rider” idea, I had originally written “damage rider,” but thought that might be too broadly applicable so I changed it to just an attack rider. It also seemed fitting with the ideas I have already listed here that would directly improve their combat chops. Do you think a general damage rider would be better?)
Plus, whichever court they choose at 6th level is a permanent choice. If they choose Seelie, then they would get the improved healing and second buff option when they transform into their Seelie form but no improvement when the transform into their Unseelie form, If they choose Unseelie they get an improved debuff and an alternate rider they could use when in Unseelie form but no boost to their Seelie form. There also wouldn’t be any way to change their decision later (without DM buy-in), once they choose, that’s it. (Does that all make more sense? Was I better at explaining my intentions this time?)
I am confused about why you mentioned the 10th level feature though….
In my mind, druids of this circle would ultimately ally themselves to one of the two courts, but not being actually part of either, they can dabble a little in the other court too. (Kinda like how Sam Jackson could wield the Dark Side a li’l but not go full Sith, so he got the sweet-455 purple lightsaber as a flex.) Make more sense now?
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Damage rider would make more sense. Druids don't make attacks, they are in between clerics and wizards in terms of gameplay. Almost all their decent spells are concentration, and their defences are mediocre-poor they do not want to be in melee. That's the trouble with doing the auras for the Fey Form as well, druids don't want to be near the frontline so any small radius aura is not going to be helping many of their allies and won't be touching their enemies. If there are 3 enemies within 15 ft of your druid, your druid is dead by their next turn.
Sure you could make the Fey Form similar to the Spore Druid WS ability make them a mediocre frontliner, but that's a very different type of subclass and I don't know how thematic that is for Fey, I associate them more with sneaky archers or charismatic manipulators than beefy frontline fighters.
Are you taking the Primal Aura and Elemental Fury features into account?
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Fey are, for me, not really front liners and definitely not the direction of this subclass. The main aspect is battlefield control.
Are we talking 2014 rules or 2024 rules?
Even in 2024 rules, with Warden + Elemental Fury they are bottom tier melee characters, no Extra Attack, no Weapon Mastery, no Heavy Armour. Elemental Fury (weapon) is a trap, it will not make you a competent martial. It's 1d8 extra damage once per turn, a rogue is dealing 4d6 extra damage once per turn at this level with Sneak Attack (which Averages more damage than the maximum of Elemental Fury).
Consider: Thorn Whip + Potent Spellcasting vs Rapier + Elemental Fury at 7th level
Thorn Whip - melee attack with 30 ft reach, uses Wis for Attacks = +7 to hit, deals 2d6 + 4 damage on a hit once per turn = 7.15 DPR
Rapier - melee attack with 5ft reach, uses Dex for Attacks = +5/+6 to hit, deals 2d8+2/3 on a hit once per turn. = 7.2 DPR if you have +3 DEX, or 6.05 if you have +2 DEX
Rapier + Elemental Fury is just worse than Thorn Whip + Potent Spellcasting
Note that dual wielding isn't viable for Druid since without Weapon Mastery they are using their Action and Bonus Action to make 2 weak attacks while sacrificing +2 AC leaving them at AC 16 (maybe 17) and no more than a +2 CON and a d8 hit die.
Vs the most basic Rogue:
Dual Wielding Scimitars with no feats: Attack 1: 1d6+DEX + 1d6 (Nick) + 4d6 Sneak Attack = 19.33 DPR
AC = 16, with Evasion and Uncanny Dodge to boost their defences.
Vs a 2nd level Moonbeam:
2d10 damage per target (8.25 damage per target per trigger), can be moved 60 ft as an action hitting every creature it passes over, 120ft range
TL:DR Melee Druid does less than 1/2 the damage a Rogue does with similar to worse survivability. Whereas Caster-Druid can deal similar damage as Rogue as long as there is more than one target on the field from 100 ft away from the enemies with a single 2nd level spell slot.
PS Aside, I just realized Font of Moonlight only specifies "melee attack" so it works with Thorn Whip, but since Thorn Whip is a cantrip with a range greater than 10 ft that means Improved Elemental Fury applies to it, meaning a 15th level Druid can Thorn Whip to pull enemies off of the walls of a fortress from 300 ft away dealing 3d6+WIS piercing + 2d6 radiant damage to them on a hit.
Yes that would be too strong, unless you reduced the usability of it to "when you cast a spell using a spellslot that causes a creature to regain hit points". Then it is not going to be going off very often, so you can increase the amount of temporary hit points to Druid level + Wis. 6-12 temp hp is going to get destroyed quickly because that is the game, combat is supposed to last 3-4 turns which means if the combat is going to feel dangerous the enemies will be dealing ~1/6 of the total party's HP in damage each round on average. If a subclass blocks/negates a significant portion of that damage it trivializes the encounter, thus is unbalanced (OP). The vast majority of class features typically negate ~1 attack per combat (or ~1/20th-1/10th of the total damage dealt by the enemies), that is a balanced feature.
The problem of scaling should be rectified by higher level class features that straight up increase the numbers for the lower level feature - look at Starry Druid, it's high level feature doesn't add more stuff to Starry Form it mostly just makes Starry Form more powerful to keep up with enemy scaling.
TBH, I don't think you actually want a balanced subclass, you want an OP subclass like Twilight Cleric or Shepherd Druid or the majority of HB out there, so I'd suggest you just go make what you want. It's your game you can make unbalanced stuff to put in it and it's fine so long as all the players get some unbalanced stuff so they are all comparatively powerful to each other.
Yup, and as a cost it requires a full use of WS for each set of temporary hit points (including a BA) and prevents you from casting spells, and tanks your AC to ~12-13 (aka is worthless in combat). The proposed Fey Form would be unlimited uses of temporary hit points for 1 minute for 1 WS and not interfere with being a full spellcaster at the same time and not affecting your AC, and can be used on yourself or someone else like a Barbarian that gets even more use out of them.
Hmm, well I can tell you, that fundamentally isn't true. I'm just trying to feel out my options as balancing has never been my forte, but I will take it from here then. Thank you for your help and guidance.
Absolutely everything you wrote is correct as far as my quick mental math can tell. However, I feel you are not considering the clas and my proposed subclass together as a whole. I specifically mentioned that the transformation would grant, among other things, a bonus to Dexterity, and starting at 6th level probably the Extra Attack feature. If, while transformed, the druid got a +4 bonus to Dex starting at 3rd level, Extra Attack starting at 6th level, and an additional +2 (total +6) bonus to Dex starting at 10th level, plus the free minor illusion cantrip at 3rd, now the Order of the Magician & Potent Spellcasting start to look less necessary, and Order of the Warden & Primal Strike start to look more viable. With a Weapon Mastery added in now that’s suddenly very viable, which inspires me. If I change the bonus to Dex from those static numbers to a number equal to the character’s Wis modifier… now we’re cookin’ with fire… unless you go Unseelie and then you are using an anti griddle I guess…. But I digress! (See how things are starting to take shape and really synergize? Take note burgeoning ‘brewers reading this in the near future, always get feedback on your brews as early and as often as possible, even when they’re still just spaghetti.) Now, lemme rattle this all around in my grapefruit for a bit and post back again later when it’s more flesh and less pulp. (I know, I’m mixing food metaphors like I’m making a salad. There! I just did it again. Now I’m hungry. Gonna go eat, and then… TO THE HOMEBREWER!!!)
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I’m not endeavoring to make this subclass as a “front liner” exactly. What I am envisioning is most definitely a controller, however the manner in which I am attempting to implement that control would, by necessity, require a certain proximity to ether allies who would likely be on the front, or proximity to the enemy. That proximity necessitates a certain degree of combat capability to make the subclass viable. If they have to be within 30 ft. of the barbarian/fighter/paladin(& possibly ranger/rogue if speced for melee), then that likely puts them within charging distance of enemies. Typically speaking, the worst thing that can happen to spellslinging control characters is to get caught in melee as they tend to be fairly squishy and would loose concentration before their next turn even comes around. Even if the do manage to maintain concentration, their undesirable circumstance would likely necessitate a rapid exfiltration. That usually means someone who should be on the front then needs to break position and rush to rescue the squish. However, if the squish ain’t actually so squishy, then the exfil is not always so immediately urgent, and potentially unnecessary entirely. So for my concept to be viable, they either need to be able to hold their own or escape on their own without assistance. Of those two, escaping is typically the less effective and less desirable since it would mean they might no longer in position to control anything at all, or still close enough for the enemy to immediately reengage. But if they can actually survive toe-to-toe on their own, then they can continue to both remain in position and take care o’ bidness.
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Then it would be insanely broken if anyone could get +4 bonus to Dex for a 3 level dip, and once you got access to Conjure Minor Elementals you'd break the game entirely. But more over.. what's the point of them being a druid? How would someone tell the difference between this character and a Ranger? There's even already a Fey-themed Ranger available that's pretty sweet in the 2024 version: Fey Wanderer.
How does Extra Attack prevent one from losing concentration on a spell?
We already have none-squishy Druids : Spore & Moon, we also already have a Druid with solid concentration: Stars.
If you would like to make a non-squishy druid simply borrow from what already exists:
Spore Druid non-squishy feature:
Symbiotic Entity
2nd-level Circle of Spores feature
You gain the ability to channel magic into your spores. As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to awaken those spores, rather than transforming into a beast form, and you gain 4 temporary hit points for each level you have in this class. While this feature is active, you gain the following benefits:
These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points, or until you use your Wild Shape again.
Fey themed equivalent:
Fey Form
You gain the ability to channel the magic of the Fey. You can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to transform into a fey-version of yourself, rather than transforming into a beast form. You gain the following benefits:
These benefits last for 10 minutes or until you are incapacitated or you use your Wild Shape again.
In fact we can ape off of the Circle of Spore for the whole subclass:
6th level - Fey Reinforcements rather than the animating a zombie feature.
10th level - instead of:
Spreading Spores
10th-level Circle of Spores feature
You gain the ability to seed an area with deadly spores. As a bonus action while your Symbiotic Entity feature is active, you can hurl spores up to 30 feet away, where they swirl in a 10-foot cube for 1 minute. The spores disappear early if you use this feature again, if you dismiss them as a bonus action, or if your Symbiotic Entity feature is no longer active.
Whenever a creature moves into the cube or starts its turn there, that creature takes your Halo of Spores damage, unless the creature succeeds on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. A creature can take this damage no more than once per turn.
While the cube of spores persists, you can’t use your Halo of Spores reaction.
We make this:
Enchanting Form
You gain the ability to impress other creatures with your Fey glamour. While in your Fey form you can use a bonus action to choose one creature with 60 ft of you, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell DC or be charmed or frightened for 1 minute (you choose when you use this feature). It repeats the save at the end of each turn ending the effect on a success. The effect also ends on it if you use this feature again or you dismiss it as a bonus action.
Then at 14th level instead of this:
Fungal Body
14th-level Circle of Spores feature
The fungal spores in your body alter you: you can’t be blinded, deafened, frightened, or poisoned, and any critical hit against you counts as a normal hit instead, unless you’re incapacitated.
We have:
Inscrutable - You are immune to being frightened or charmed or put to sleep, others have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Insight) checks against you.
Distracting Illusion
When you are targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to produce distracting illusions causing the attack to target the illusion instead of you. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier regaining all uses when you finish a long rest.
This is another way to make balanced subclasses: first pick a subclass that already exists that has a similar playstyle to what you want then swap the features for something more thematic adding and removing power to the features in equal measure.
I meant a temporary +4 to the Dex score, not the Dex modifier. So it would only result in a total +2 to attacks, AC, and Dex saves & checks. It can be adjusted down, this is still just the early part of the design, adjustments are still expected at this point. If +2 Dex (again, Score, not modifier) is more appropriate and it would get to +4 at 10th or something like that. It’s all still half cooked pasta at this point. When I start worrying about the formatting and the wording of the flavor text, that’s how you’ll know it’s sauced and I’m grating cheese on top.
As to the point of it, by that logic I ask you what the point of the bladesinger is then?
Uhhh… nothing…? Why do you ask? I never said it had anything to do with making them less squishy, so I fail to understand why you’re bringing it up at all.
Your point being…?
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