Perhaps the most interesting of the three subclasses to recently release, the "Circle of Stars" druid provides an archetype that is a stargazer...focusing their attention on the cosmic balance and heavenly bodies to interpret events and divine potential futures, while also infusing themselves with radiant starlight.
This is a drastically different sort of druid, one that provides fresh character concepts...aesthetically, it gives an otherworldly aspect that teeters on the verge of some of the more "eldritch" classes like "Great Old One Warlocks" or "Aberrant Mind Sorcerers", without fully committing to the unsettling dispositions of either. Mechanically, it straddles the line between limited combat utility and support, shoring up some druid abilities while also giving some roleplaying hooks.
Let's have a look:
An ancient lineage, the Circle of Stars allows druids to draw on the power of starlight. These druids have tracked heavenly patterns since time immemorial, discovering secrets hidden amid the constellations. By revealing and understanding these secrets, the Circle of the Stars seeks to harness the powers of the cosmos.
"At 2nd level, You've created a star map as part of your study of the heavens. The map is a Tiny object and can serve as a spellcasting focus for your druid spells.
If you lose your map, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to magically create a replacement. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous map.
You can cast the Augury and Guiding Bolt spells without expending a spell slot and without preparing the spell, provided you use the star map as the spellcasting focus. You can cast a spell from the map in this way a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
...it's nice to have a distinct object that can serve as the subclasses spellcasting focus. "Augury" allows for some out of combat moments without fear of burning precious spell slots, and gives the druid an image of the diviner, or fortune teller. At this level, I picture something similar to the Romani nomads, or gypsies, interpreting the stars and using their druidic language to guide their people along safe paths and roadways. "Guiding Bolt" is always useful...perhaps not strictly for damage, but rather as a support tool to grant advantage for allies. The idea of the druid flinging motes of radiant damage like shooting stars is a nice bonus.
Starry Form
At 2nd level, you gain the ability to harness constellations’ power to alter your form. As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to take on a starry form rather than transforming into a beast. While in your starry form, you retain your game statistics, but your body takes on a luminous, starlike quality; your joints glimmer like stars, and glowing lines connect them as on a star chart. This form sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. The form lasts for 10 minutes or until you’re incapacitated.
Whenever you assume your starry form, choose which of the following constellations glimmers on your body; your choice gives you certain benefits while in the form:
Chalice. A constellation of a life-giving goblet appears on you. Whenever you cast a spell using a spell slot that restores hit points to a creature, you or another creature within 30 feet of you can regain hit points equal to 1d8 + half your level in this class.
Archer. A constellation of an archer appears on you. You gain a bonus action that you can use to make a ranged spell attack, hurling a luminous arrow that targets a creature you can see within 60 feet of you. On a hit, the attack deals radiant damage equal to 1d8 + your Wisdom modifier.
Dragon. A constellation of a wise, ancient dragon appears on you. When you make an Intelligence or a Wisdom check or a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell, you can treat a roll of 9 or lower on the d20 as a 10
...if you like alternate uses for "Wild Shape", then this is one helpful feature. "Chalice" allows for a decent healer, "Archer" allows for some attack enhancements (especially coupled with "Guiding Bolt" or even "Shillelagh"), and the "Dragon" is going to be quite useful for druid concentration and conjuration spells...great synergy with the druid's normal preparation of spells, selecting the spells for the day that will best combine with these constellations.
Cosmic Omen
When you reach 6th level, you learn to use your star map to divine the will of the cosmos. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can consult your star map for omens. When you do so, roll a d6. You gain one of the following possible omens based on whether you rolled an even number or an odd number on the d6:
Weal (even). Whenever a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, a saving throw, or an ability check, you can use your reaction to roll a d6 and add the number rolled to the total.
Woe (odd). Whenever a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, a saving throw, or an ability check, you can use your reaction to roll a d6 and subtract the number rolled from the total.
You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
...furthering the support aspect of the subclass, this feature gives the druid a use for their reaction to tilt the odds in favor of your allies, or against your foes. This reminds me a bit of a Divination Wizards "Portents", a Lore Bards "Cutting Words" or "Bardic Inspiration", or even a cleric's "Guidance" cantrip. Some nice synergy with the whole "fortune telling" astrologist theme, and practical applications for gameplay without being too overpowered.
Full of Stars
At 10th level, while your Starry Form feature is active, you become partially incorporeal, giving you resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
...not much to say. Great quality of life enhancements to the druid to help them survive. Add "Primordial Ward" to the druid's resistances, and you can make a pretty sturdy caster if you know the threats for the day.
Star Flare
At 14th level, your connection to the cosmos allows you to conjure brilliant starlight. As an action, you conjure a burst of light in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you can see within 120 feet of you. You can immediately teleport each willing creature in the sphere to an unoccupied space within 30 feet of it. Each creature remaining in the sphere must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take 4d10 radiant damage and be blinded until the end of your next turn.
Once you have used this action, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher to use it again.
...I love teleporting; and so I love this feature.
Curious that the damage and "blind" debuff only work if the enemies fails their save...this implies that the teleportation feature is the main draw, and at 120ft, that could come in handy if your allies are in immediate damage. Interesting that there is no limit to the number of allies...you could save alot of NPC's, too.
Disappointed that the damage doesn't do half on a successful save; but otherwise, I could see some clever use of this ability.
Concepts:
I am VERY undecided on what race to pair with this new subclass...firbolgs are always a safe bet with druids, with their Wisdom bonuses, useful spells, and the opportunity to live for thousands of years at high levels...
...but a kalashtar or aasimar seems to fit this subclass a little better. The whole "communing" with cosmic forces seems to indicate that your druid would have a natural connection with an otherworldly entity, like the kalashtar's Quori spirit, or the aasimar's celestial guide.
Kalashtars get advantage of Wisdom saves, which is HUGE, a hefty Wisdom bonus, and a long-distance telepathy that only gets better over time.
Aasimar (particularly "Protector" aasimar) receive a package of useful features...healing, a cantrip, resistance to radiant & necrotic damage, a Wisdom boost, and most notably, their "Radiant Soul" ability...giving them a bonuses to their damage equal to their level once per turn, which helps with the "Circle of Stars" druid's damage output, flinging those shooting stars all the time.
...plus, "Radiant Soul" lets the assimar fly, which combined with "Starry Form", simply looks sweet and flavorful.
But I am very eager to hear what sort of character concepts other people plan to make for this druid subclass!
Huh. I just realized that a dragon constellation starry form makes concentration very difficult to break, especially once you reach 10th level. You need to take >40 points of damage to even have a chance to lose concentration due to taking that damage (even with a +0 con mod). Sleet storm is still effective against this druid though.
But a druid with resilient (con) and a decent con score might have a bonus to con saves high enough to make sleet storm ineffective. 10 + con mod + proficiency of the druid might beat 8 + spell casting mod + proficiency of the caster.
A Goliath who honors the ancestors and invokes the power of thoses who achieved such greatness that the gods placed them in the stars
Acting as Shamans/lore keeper/Advisers With other Duties being aware that there's "An Evil Beyond the Stars that Corrupts Nature " and Looks to make/find Hero constellations in the Stars "The Stars tell the Future and Past,For the Stars are ageless untouched by times grasp." for the purpose of bolstering the army for end of the world the battle in the stars
Toss in some Bards and Barbarians Npc as support characters
So with the Starry Map and the Archer form, you can cast Guiding Bolt as an action and the Star Arrow as a Bonus action each turn for 3-4 turns in a row without ever touching a spell slot at level 2.
When you consider that a level 2 caster has only 3 spell slots to cast with at that level this is a pretty amazing amount of power. What I like is that this lets the player act as a spell caster out of combat a lot sooner. My experience with casters is that you have to hoard your spell slots in case of combat at low levels, you cant be more free with your spell casting until later levels. However, by giving the Druid a basic 'attack spell' with that frequency, it frees up the opportunity cost of casting an appropriate spell during a social or exploration encounter.
I'd love to see this mechanic handed out a bit more across the board. Perhaps a "Magic Missile" Arcane Focus for Wizards at level 1 so they can cast a level 1 MM for free a number of times equal to the int modifier per day. I mean, is it power creep? absolutely. But it's the sort of power creep that can actually work out for the better overall.
EDIT: Although I guess that's what the Cantrips were for huh....
Huh. I just realized that a dragon constellation starry form makes concentration very difficult to break, especially once you reach 10th level. You need to take >40 points of damage to even have a chance to lose concentration due to taking that damage (even with a +0 con mod). Sleet storm is still effective against this druid though.
But a druid with resilient (con) and a decent con score might have a bonus to con saves high enough to make sleet storm ineffective. 10 + con mod + proficiency of the druid might beat 8 + spell casting mod + proficiency of the caster.
Also worth noting that Cosmic Omen's targeting stipulation of "a creature you can see within 30 feet of you" also includes you, meaning you could target yourself for Weal (and technically Woe, too) should you need to goose your concentration check even more.
The Official "My DM Is Going to Hate Me" Build, 2020 Edition.
Race: Yuan-Ti Pureblood for Advantage on all Saving Throws against Magic
Standard Array: 8/13/10/12 (+1)/14/15 (+2)
Level 1-6: College of Lore Bard - Dex Saving Throw + Bane + Expertise + Cutting Words + ASI (CHA + Dex) + Font of Inspiration + Magic Secrets (Counterspell + Blink)
Level 7-8: School of Divination Wizard - Portent + Shield
Level 8-13: Circle of Stars Druid - Medium Armor + Shield + Guidance + Cosmic Omen + ASI (Cha X 2)
Level 14+: Bard for 2 ASIs (Wis X 4) and Expertise
2 Portent Dice, 5 d10 Bardic Inspiration/Cutting Words dice per short rest, and 4 d6 Cosmic Omen Dice per long rest, Counterspell, Blink, Guidance, Bane, and 4 expertise...
The Official "My DM Is Going to Hate Me" Build, 2020 Edition.
Race: Yuan-Ti Pureblood for Advantage on all Saving Throws against Magic
Standard Array: 8/13/10/12 (+1)/14/15 (+2)
Level 1-6: College of Lore Bard - Dex Saving Throw + Bane + Expertise + Cutting Words + ASI (CHA + Dex) + Font of Inspiration + Magic Secrets (Counterspell + Blink)
Level 7-8: School of Divination Wizard - Portent + Shield
Level 8-13: Circle of Stars Druid - Medium Armor + Shield + Guidance + Cosmic Omen + ASI (Cha X 2)
Level 14+: Bard for 2 ASIs (Wis X 4) and Expertise
2 Portent Dice, 5 d10 Bardic Inspiration/Cutting Words dice per short rest, and 4 d6 Cosmic Omen Dice per long rest, Counterspell, Blink, Guidance, Bane, and 4 expertise...
The Official "My DM Is Going to Hate Me" Build, 2020 Edition.
Race: Yuan-Ti Pureblood for Advantage on all Saving Throws against Magic
Standard Array: 8/13/10/12 (+1)/14/15 (+2)
Level 1-6: College of Lore Bard - Dex Saving Throw + Bane + Expertise + Cutting Words + ASI (CHA + Dex) + Font of Inspiration + Magic Secrets (Counterspell + Blink)
Level 7-8: School of Divination Wizard - Portent + Shield
Level 8-13: Circle of Stars Druid - Medium Armor + Shield + Guidance + Cosmic Omen + ASI (Cha X 2)
Level 14+: Bard for 2 ASIs (Wis X 4) and Expertise
2 Portent Dice, 5 d10 Bardic Inspiration/Cutting Words dice per short rest, and 4 d6 Cosmic Omen Dice per long rest, Counterspell, Blink, Guidance, Bane, and 4 expertise...
Dear gods.
That, that, that's horrifying. I LOVE IT!
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
The idea of a lone hermit who just loves his life under the stars. Until he reads the stars, then finds out something bad is going to happen. Very, very BAD!
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
So I just ran a one shot with my friend to test out this subclass and it felt quite powerful. The Archer star-form seemed maybe too powerful, as he was indeed casting Infestation and using the bonus Archer attack in the same turn. So no spell slots spent but still doing 1d6 + 1d8+4 dmg a turn. I wonder if having this effect as a bonus action is too strong and could maybe be moved to an action? I do like how it actually gave him something to do as a BA though...
What if it was when you use your action to Wild Shape into Star form Archer, you get to make the ranged spell attack, but after that it uses your action each turn? Does that make it worse then some other sub-classes though, say Moon druid getting better beast shapes? They provide a new HP pool, different movement mechanics, and attacks (some even multiattack).
So I just ran a one shot with my friend to test out this subclass and it felt quite powerful. The Archer star-form seemed maybe too powerful, as he was indeed casting Infestation and using the bonus Archer attack in the same turn. So no spell slots spent but still doing 1d6 + 1d8+4 dmg a turn. I wonder if having this effect as a bonus action is too strong and could maybe be moved to an action? I do like how it actually gave him something to do as a BA though...
What if it was when you use your action to Wild Shape into Star form Archer, you get to make the ranged spell attack, but after that it uses your action each turn? Does that make it worse then some other sub-classes though, say Moon druid getting better beast shapes? They provide a new HP pool, different movement mechanics, and attacks (some even multiattack).
What do you guys think?
Well, that is the "blaster" setting for the Starry Form, shifting the druid into a combat role.
Looking through rose-tinted glasses, I'd hazard to say that this falls in line with a sorcerer using Metamagic to pile on the cantrips + damage, or a rogue using their bonus action for a weapon attack to activate their Sneak Attack.
...so I'd say a bit of extra oomph for the druid isn't totally out of the question...plus, that will draw threat from the enemy pretty quickly toward the druid.
So I just ran a one shot with my friend to test out this subclass and it felt quite powerful. The Archer star-form seemed maybe too powerful, as he was indeed casting Infestation and using the bonus Archer attack in the same turn. So no spell slots spent but still doing 1d6 + 1d8+4 dmg a turn. I wonder if having this effect as a bonus action is too strong and could maybe be moved to an action? I do like how it actually gave him something to do as a BA though...
What if it was when you use your action to Wild Shape into Star form Archer, you get to make the ranged spell attack, but after that it uses your action each turn? Does that make it worse then some other sub-classes though, say Moon druid getting better beast shapes? They provide a new HP pool, different movement mechanics, and attacks (some even multiattack).
What do you guys think?
I don't think dealing 1d6 + 1d8 + 3 with a cantrip and a bonus action is that crazy. A Moon Druid that goes Direwolf does 2d6 +3 damage and can knock things prone. Wildfire Druid's pet does 1d6 + 2 as a bonus action in addition to a 1d10 firebolt from the druid. A Spores druid with 16 dex deals 2d6 + 3 per attack with a scimitar, and could deal 4d6 +3 with two weapon fighting. All of those are at level 2. The archer's damage also doesn't scale up past the wisdom modifier.
If you compare it to a Level 3 Ranger (since it's an archer afterall), it's on par. The Monster Slayer bonus action does 1d6 damage on top of the Longbow damage (1d8+3). Horizon Walker bonus action does 1d8 Force + 1d8 + 3 Piercing damage. A Hunter Ranger with Colossus Slayer does 2d8 + 3 Piercing damage (on a target previously injured) without using its bonus action at all.
In order to get that extra 1d8 +3 damage, the Druid has to (a) use one of its Wild Shape charges, (b) forego the other two options. The real bonus for Starry Form, in my opinion comes at level 10 when you get resistance to all bludgeoning/slashing/piercing damage.
Horizon walker doesn't do piercing damage with 3rd lvl ability, all turns into force damage.
Heh. Yeah, that was a cool ability.
One of the concepts I'd been fiddling with was having a Rogue who did 3 levels of Horizon Walker, turning all that Sneak Attack damage into Force damage.
He'd zoom around the battlefield with Cunning Action "Dash", and release the force-damage on impact...sort of like the electric-discharge from The Flash, for example.
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Perhaps the most interesting of the three subclasses to recently release, the "Circle of Stars" druid provides an archetype that is a stargazer...focusing their attention on the cosmic balance and heavenly bodies to interpret events and divine potential futures, while also infusing themselves with radiant starlight.
This is a drastically different sort of druid, one that provides fresh character concepts...aesthetically, it gives an otherworldly aspect that teeters on the verge of some of the more "eldritch" classes like "Great Old One Warlocks" or "Aberrant Mind Sorcerers", without fully committing to the unsettling dispositions of either. Mechanically, it straddles the line between limited combat utility and support, shoring up some druid abilities while also giving some roleplaying hooks.
Let's have a look:
An ancient lineage, the Circle of Stars allows druids to draw on the power of starlight. These druids have tracked heavenly patterns since time immemorial, discovering secrets hidden amid the constellations. By revealing and understanding these secrets, the Circle of the Stars seeks to harness the powers of the cosmos.
"At 2nd level, You've created a star map as part of your study of the heavens. The map is a Tiny object and can serve as a spellcasting focus for your druid spells.
If you lose your map, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to magically create a replacement. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous map.
You can cast the Augury and Guiding Bolt spells without expending a spell slot and without preparing the spell, provided you use the star map as the spellcasting focus. You can cast a spell from the map in this way a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
...it's nice to have a distinct object that can serve as the subclasses spellcasting focus. "Augury" allows for some out of combat moments without fear of burning precious spell slots, and gives the druid an image of the diviner, or fortune teller. At this level, I picture something similar to the Romani nomads, or gypsies, interpreting the stars and using their druidic language to guide their people along safe paths and roadways. "Guiding Bolt" is always useful...perhaps not strictly for damage, but rather as a support tool to grant advantage for allies. The idea of the druid flinging motes of radiant damage like shooting stars is a nice bonus.
Starry Form
At 2nd level, you gain the ability to harness constellations’ power to alter your form. As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to take on a starry form rather than transforming into a beast.
While in your starry form, you retain your game statistics, but your body takes on a luminous, starlike quality; your joints glimmer like stars, and glowing lines connect them as on a star chart. This form sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. The form lasts for 10 minutes or until you’re incapacitated.
Whenever you assume your starry form, choose which of the following constellations glimmers on your body; your choice gives you certain benefits while in the form:
Chalice. A constellation of a life-giving goblet appears on you. Whenever you cast a spell using a spell slot that restores hit points to a creature, you or another creature within 30 feet of you can regain hit points equal to 1d8 + half your level in this class.
Archer. A constellation of an archer appears on you. You gain a bonus action that you can use to make a ranged spell attack, hurling a luminous arrow that targets a creature you can see within 60 feet of you. On a hit, the attack deals radiant damage equal to 1d8 + your Wisdom modifier.
Dragon. A constellation of a wise, ancient dragon appears on you. When you make an Intelligence or a Wisdom check or a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell, you can treat a roll of 9 or lower on the d20 as a 10
...if you like alternate uses for "Wild Shape", then this is one helpful feature. "Chalice" allows for a decent healer, "Archer" allows for some attack enhancements (especially coupled with "Guiding Bolt" or even "Shillelagh"), and the "Dragon" is going to be quite useful for druid concentration and conjuration spells...great synergy with the druid's normal preparation of spells, selecting the spells for the day that will best combine with these constellations.
Cosmic Omen
When you reach 6th level, you learn to use your star map to divine the will of the cosmos. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can consult your star map for omens. When you do so, roll a d6. You gain one of the following possible omens based on whether you rolled an even number or an odd number on the d6:
Weal (even). Whenever a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, a saving throw, or an ability check, you can use your reaction to roll a d6 and add the number rolled to the total.
Woe (odd). Whenever a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, a saving throw, or an ability check, you can use your reaction to roll a d6 and subtract the number rolled from the total.
You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
...furthering the support aspect of the subclass, this feature gives the druid a use for their reaction to tilt the odds in favor of your allies, or against your foes. This reminds me a bit of a Divination Wizards "Portents", a Lore Bards "Cutting Words" or "Bardic Inspiration", or even a cleric's "Guidance" cantrip. Some nice synergy with the whole "fortune telling" astrologist theme, and practical applications for gameplay without being too overpowered.
Full of Stars
At 10th level, while your Starry Form feature is active, you become partially incorporeal, giving you resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
...not much to say. Great quality of life enhancements to the druid to help them survive. Add "Primordial Ward" to the druid's resistances, and you can make a pretty sturdy caster if you know the threats for the day.
Star Flare
At 14th level, your connection to the cosmos allows you to conjure brilliant starlight. As an action, you conjure a burst of light in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you can see within 120 feet of you. You can immediately teleport each willing creature in the sphere to an unoccupied space within 30 feet of it. Each creature remaining in the sphere must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take 4d10 radiant damage and be blinded until the end of your next turn.
Once you have used this action, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher to use it again.
...I love teleporting; and so I love this feature.
Curious that the damage and "blind" debuff only work if the enemies fails their save...this implies that the teleportation feature is the main draw, and at 120ft, that could come in handy if your allies are in immediate damage. Interesting that there is no limit to the number of allies...you could save alot of NPC's, too.
Disappointed that the damage doesn't do half on a successful save; but otherwise, I could see some clever use of this ability.
Concepts:
I am VERY undecided on what race to pair with this new subclass...firbolgs are always a safe bet with druids, with their Wisdom bonuses, useful spells, and the opportunity to live for thousands of years at high levels...
...but a kalashtar or aasimar seems to fit this subclass a little better. The whole "communing" with cosmic forces seems to indicate that your druid would have a natural connection with an otherworldly entity, like the kalashtar's Quori spirit, or the aasimar's celestial guide.
Kalashtars get advantage of Wisdom saves, which is HUGE, a hefty Wisdom bonus, and a long-distance telepathy that only gets better over time.
Aasimar (particularly "Protector" aasimar) receive a package of useful features...healing, a cantrip, resistance to radiant & necrotic damage, a Wisdom boost, and most notably, their "Radiant Soul" ability...giving them a bonuses to their damage equal to their level once per turn, which helps with the "Circle of Stars" druid's damage output, flinging those shooting stars all the time.
...plus, "Radiant Soul" lets the assimar fly, which combined with "Starry Form", simply looks sweet and flavorful.
But I am very eager to hear what sort of character concepts other people plan to make for this druid subclass!
Please, share below!
Huh. I just realized that a dragon constellation starry form makes concentration very difficult to break, especially once you reach 10th level. You need to take >40 points of damage to even have a chance to lose concentration due to taking that damage (even with a +0 con mod). Sleet storm is still effective against this druid though.
But a druid with resilient (con) and a decent con score might have a bonus to con saves high enough to make sleet storm ineffective. 10 + con mod + proficiency of the druid might beat 8 + spell casting mod + proficiency of the caster.
A Goliath who honors the ancestors and invokes the power of thoses who achieved such greatness that the gods placed them in the stars
Acting as Shamans/lore keeper/Advisers With other Duties being aware that there's "An Evil Beyond the Stars that Corrupts Nature " and Looks to make/find Hero constellations in the Stars "The Stars tell the Future and Past,For the Stars are ageless untouched by times grasp." for the purpose of bolstering the army for end of the world the battle in the stars
Toss in some Bards and Barbarians Npc as support characters
This subclass is great for Spelljammer campaigns.
I'd like to play as a Warforged Circle of Stars druid, carving the Star Map onto my body, if possible.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
So with the Starry Map and the Archer form, you can cast Guiding Bolt as an action and the Star Arrow as a Bonus action each turn for 3-4 turns in a row without ever touching a spell slot at level 2.
When you consider that a level 2 caster has only 3 spell slots to cast with at that level this is a pretty amazing amount of power. What I like is that this lets the player act as a spell caster out of combat a lot sooner. My experience with casters is that you have to hoard your spell slots in case of combat at low levels, you cant be more free with your spell casting until later levels. However, by giving the Druid a basic 'attack spell' with that frequency, it frees up the opportunity cost of casting an appropriate spell during a social or exploration encounter.
I'd love to see this mechanic handed out a bit more across the board. Perhaps a "Magic Missile" Arcane Focus for Wizards at level 1 so they can cast a level 1 MM for free a number of times equal to the int modifier per day. I mean, is it power creep? absolutely. But it's the sort of power creep that can actually work out for the better overall.
EDIT: Although I guess that's what the Cantrips were for huh....
Also worth noting that Cosmic Omen's targeting stipulation of "a creature you can see within 30 feet of you" also includes you, meaning you could target yourself for Weal (and technically Woe, too) should you need to goose your concentration check even more.
Yeah I always wanted to be a Boomkin
Multiclass with fey wanderer...
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Ooh...going to have to have another look at that.
Now it's out!
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
The Official "My DM Is Going to Hate Me" Build, 2020 Edition.
Race: Yuan-Ti Pureblood for Advantage on all Saving Throws against Magic
Standard Array: 8/13/10/12 (+1)/14/15 (+2)
Level 1-6: College of Lore Bard - Dex Saving Throw + Bane + Expertise + Cutting Words + ASI (CHA + Dex) + Font of Inspiration + Magic Secrets (Counterspell + Blink)
Level 7-8: School of Divination Wizard - Portent + Shield
Level 8-13: Circle of Stars Druid - Medium Armor + Shield + Guidance + Cosmic Omen + ASI (Cha X 2)
Level 14+: Bard for 2 ASIs (Wis X 4) and Expertise
2 Portent Dice, 5 d10 Bardic Inspiration/Cutting Words dice per short rest, and 4 d6 Cosmic Omen Dice per long rest, Counterspell, Blink, Guidance, Bane, and 4 expertise...
Dear gods.
That, that, that's horrifying. I LOVE IT!
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
The idea of a lone hermit who just loves his life under the stars. Until he reads the stars, then finds out something bad is going to happen. Very, very BAD!
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
So I just ran a one shot with my friend to test out this subclass and it felt quite powerful. The Archer star-form seemed maybe too powerful, as he was indeed casting Infestation and using the bonus Archer attack in the same turn. So no spell slots spent but still doing 1d6 + 1d8+4 dmg a turn. I wonder if having this effect as a bonus action is too strong and could maybe be moved to an action? I do like how it actually gave him something to do as a BA though...
What if it was when you use your action to Wild Shape into Star form Archer, you get to make the ranged spell attack, but after that it uses your action each turn? Does that make it worse then some other sub-classes though, say Moon druid getting better beast shapes? They provide a new HP pool, different movement mechanics, and attacks (some even multiattack).
What do you guys think?
Bonus action. That makes it in line with the other subclasses. Most use a bonus action feature for lvl 3. Moon druid, wildfire etc.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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Well, that is the "blaster" setting for the Starry Form, shifting the druid into a combat role.
Looking through rose-tinted glasses, I'd hazard to say that this falls in line with a sorcerer using Metamagic to pile on the cantrips + damage, or a rogue using their bonus action for a weapon attack to activate their Sneak Attack.
...so I'd say a bit of extra oomph for the druid isn't totally out of the question...plus, that will draw threat from the enemy pretty quickly toward the druid.
I don't think dealing 1d6 + 1d8 + 3 with a cantrip and a bonus action is that crazy. A Moon Druid that goes Direwolf does 2d6 +3 damage and can knock things prone. Wildfire Druid's pet does 1d6 + 2 as a bonus action in addition to a 1d10 firebolt from the druid. A Spores druid with 16 dex deals 2d6 + 3 per attack with a scimitar, and could deal 4d6 +3 with two weapon fighting. All of those are at level 2. The archer's damage also doesn't scale up past the wisdom modifier.
If you compare it to a Level 3 Ranger (since it's an archer afterall), it's on par. The Monster Slayer bonus action does 1d6 damage on top of the Longbow damage (1d8+3). Horizon Walker bonus action does 1d8 Force + 1d8 + 3 Piercing damage. A Hunter Ranger with Colossus Slayer does 2d8 + 3 Piercing damage (on a target previously injured) without using its bonus action at all.
In order to get that extra 1d8 +3 damage, the Druid has to (a) use one of its Wild Shape charges, (b) forego the other two options. The real bonus for Starry Form, in my opinion comes at level 10 when you get resistance to all bludgeoning/slashing/piercing damage.
Horizon walker doesn't do piercing damage with 3rd lvl ability, all turns into force damage.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Heh. Yeah, that was a cool ability.
One of the concepts I'd been fiddling with was having a Rogue who did 3 levels of Horizon Walker, turning all that Sneak Attack damage into Force damage.
He'd zoom around the battlefield with Cunning Action "Dash", and release the force-damage on impact...sort of like the electric-discharge from The Flash, for example.