Druid Guide
The sun is just peaking over the mountains as four bandits prepare a morning meal in the forest clearing. Birds are chirping as a squirrel approaches the men. These guys are dicks and throw rocks at our little buddy causing it to flee back into the forest. After a moment, all the plants in the area grow to massive proportions, impeding all movement. Birds flock overhead and attack the men. They try to fight back but the birds are flying right by. They try to run but the overgrown plants make it impossible. Then, two flashes of light come out of the trees where the squirrel retreated, killing two men. The birds finish the rest. The DM says for the third time this session, "aww, that was supposed to be hard."
Polls show that druids are the least played class. Oddly enough, the same polls also show that people love human champion fighters. Maybe poll takers are boring? Not you though. You're a druid.
Why be a druid?!
Well, duh. Druids are awesome. That said, they are the most difficult class to play by a big margin. First of all, they’re a full spell caster. Spells are complicated especially for new players. That leads to Second of all; their spells are generally difficult to understand how they are useful. The first time I saw Plant Growth I thought… “so?” The 2nd time I looked at it I pooped my pants. Third, you basically need to learn what all the beasts in the book are and what makes them cool (especially if you’re a Circle of the Moon Druid). Wizards of the Coast has promised to make this easier though it might also make it less awesome. While these things sound like negatives, they’re actually positives once you master the class. Their spells are unique and amazing.
What races make a good druid? Thanks to Tasha, pretty much anything. Urook is a Firbolg which has been a great option. I love detect magic for free. Hidden step, a free short term invisibility is useful. Makes moving away from an enemy easy. Speech of best and leaf is just super fun. I love the idea of a giant just talking to flowers.
Spells of note! The Druid Spell List is great. There are too many nutty OP druid spells and combinations to talk about so I'll just mention a few of my personal favorites. Druid spells aren’t always as straightforward as other casters but the spell list is so good once you understand what druids do best, control the battlefield and summon shit.
CANTRIPS!
Guidance- as mentioned earlier, you get to mansplain to the bard how to play the flute better… or whatever. “Hey Cleric, suck less at sneaking! Get up on them toes!” +1d4 to stealth. “Hey Wizard, are you suuuuuuuuuuure you don’t remember that piece of arcane knowledge you learned in school that would totally help us out right now?” +1d4 to arcana. “Hey Bard, your flute playing would sound better if you stopped putting it up your ass so much” +1d4 to performance. It literally makes everyone better at every skill check they will ever roll. If you’re not a stars druid (lame), then take it FFS.
Thorn Whip- Scorpion is obviously the coolest character in Mortal Kombat and now you’re Scorpion except less creepy. Don’t overdo yelling “GET OVER HERE.” Bonus points if you’re pulling an enemy through something awful, like Spike Growth
FIRST LEVEL SPELLS!
Faerie Fire- Well now most of those guys are going to be getting attacked at advantage. Advantage is good. Also you can see those dumb invisible enemies now.
Goodberry- 10 points of healing at low levels is actually a ton. Being able to divy it out is amazing. Bard gets 3 berries, Barbarian can have 5, and 2 for you! That’s great. You can literally heal all your unconscious allies with this spell if you’re out of combat. It’s so good at low levels that I’m not even going to be snarky.
Speak with Animals- if you’re not a Firbolg (lame) this is great. Actually it’s great either way. Need to gather information and see a spider on the ceiling? “Hello little spider, do you know what way the bad guys went? Yes? Great!”
SECOND LEVEL SPELLS!
Flaming Sphere- Free damage on your bonus action! If you want to hurt people, this is a great spell for the level.
Heat Metal- Picture this, the Big Bad Evil Guy has a big ass magic sword. Well now that sword is red hot and burning him for 2d8 damage. If the chump manages to hold on to the sword, BBEG is now attacking at disadvantage. Disadvantage is bad. If BBEG drops the sword, well now you can drop concentration on the spell and now you have a big ass magic sword. Or you can cast this on BBEGs metal armor. BBEG can’t take that off so will take damage every turn using your bonus action (bonus action damage is good) and will attack at disadvantage.
Healing Spirit- It got nerfed. No more just healing the whole party to full while out of combat. It’s still really strong though. Up to 6d6 healing for a second level spell slot? Or upcast it? This is easily one of the best spells in the game to cast with higher spell slots. 12d6? for a third level spell slot?! This is still so good. You know what’s a good spell? Heal… 70 hp of healing! You know what’s a better spell? A 6th level Healing spirit for an average of 105 hp of healing! It might not be instant like Heal, but 50% more healing is amazing. Cast this if you’re trying to heal up between fights or cast it early in a fight to do a ton of consistent healing. Let’s not stop… 9th level spell slot and I can’t even do the math. I mean of course I can but I’m being dramatic.
Spike Growth- Slow enemies down and make them take damage for trying to get to you or away from you!
Summon Beast- who doesn’t want a pet?!
THIRD LEVEL SPELLS
Plant growth- remember that stupid cleric who was humble bragging about not needing to concentrate on his flying tool? Well you just made a forest envelope him to the point where he and his friends are moving 15 feet per turn, and that's if they're taking the dash action! Concentration free. It's like web if web were bigger, slowed more, and didn't require concentration. Wtf. If you're feeling particularly dickish, pair it with something that just moves them back to the middle like grasping vine or maelstrom. It's not fair to your DM but that’s what druids do.
Speak with Plants- Remember how fun it was talking to the spider? Well now you can talk to the fern too.
Conure Animals- the "how about you fight my pack of velociraptors instead?" spell. You don't get fireball, but who cares? We've all seen Jurassic Park. It taught us that the only thing better than a pack of velociraptors is a T-rex and…
FOURTH LEVEL SPELLS
Polymorph- …Now you’re a T-rex. This is arguably the most versatile spell in the game. Your dumb barbarian down to one hit point? ZAP! Now that barbarian is a big Ape with big Ape hit points. Because this spell grants the target the full Hit point value of the beast you turn them into, you just effectively healed that barb for 157 hit points. You can also use it to control an enemy turning them into a… I dunno… sloth? More or less Banishment without it being potentially permanent. SO OP!
Ice Storm- This is basically a druid’s fireball except better although using a higher spell slot. It does 2 damage types although slightly less damage overall, and turns the area into difficult terrain for a round.
Stone Shape- Storming the castle is slightly easier if you can politely ask the wall to get out of your way.
FIFTH LEVEL SPELLS!
Maelstrom- Remember how you can cast plant growth and not concentrate on it? This is so nutty if you can keep enemies in the area. Pair it with this and your enemy will basically be stuck in this area until they die.
Transmute Rock- So. Much. Fun. Solve problems or be a dick in combat, what’s not to love?! It’s like plant growth on steroids. Or just say you don’t want to go in the cave and collapse the entrance into a bunch of mud, then dispel it turning it back into rock. Now whatever was in there is trapped.
Conure elemental/planar binding. Because who doesn't want a pet earth elemental to ride around on? Upcasting Planar Binding with this is… amazing. It’ll cause it to no longer require concentration AND it’ll last way longer.
SIXTH LEVEL SPELLS
I would live in this grove…
Druid Grove- I just think this is a fun thematic spell. If you can cast it every day for a year in the same spot, you have a new permanent home! It’ll have trees so you can...
Transport via plants- travel basically anywhere to basically anywhere else. If you've previously set up a druid grove, you can teleport there whenever you want as long as you have a tree or staff of the woodlands.
Heroes’ Feast- Suck it bard! You might be asking, “why is this good?” Ugh… cures disease and poison, grants immunity to poison and being frightened, wisdom saves at advantage, maximum HP and current HP increased by 2d10, and it’s your whole party. This is such a good way to prepare for a difficult fight. If you’re about to fight a dragon, use this spell.
Wind Walk- If tree stride won’t get it done, then do this. You’re basically a slow airplane. Quick math, 600 ft/6 seconds using the dash action, 100 ft/second- about 68 miles per hour. ~544 miles in 8 hours. That’s Neverwinter to Waterdeep in under 8 hours. And you’re flying so probably won’t get interrupted by much, hopefully. Who would attack a cloud anyway?
SEVENTH LEVEL SPELLS
Regenerate- like if your dopey friend loses an ear, you can replace it. Not particularly useful but your friend will hear you make fun of him a little better. It's Raymond. I'm talking about Raymond.
Reverse Gravity- Remember that time when Rocket the Raccoon kept making guys fly up in the air and then fall again over and over? Now you can do that, well once anyway. In a room with a 100 foot ceiling? Make everyone fall up into the ceiling, taking fall damage, then drop them on the ground. More fall damage! 20d6 fall damage to everything in a pretty big area! Or just leave them up there for a while. Druid’s Choice!
EIGHTH LEVEL SPELLS
Honestly these are all really good. Earthquake and Tsunami are great and destroying towns, if that’s your thing.
Feeblemind- Now that enemy caster is just a really really really bad fighter.
NINTH LEVEL SPELLS
You only get 4 of these 🙁. Fortunately for you, one of them is OP!
SHAPECHANGE- You’ll never be the same again. I mean… Why continue to be a Firbolg when you can be a dragon instead?! Tired of being a dragon? Ok, use an action to be a Leviathan!
FORESIGHT- Best buff in the game by a mile. Can’t be surprised, advantage on attack rolls, ability chesks, and saving throws. Additionally, attacks against the Foresighted (Foresaught?) creature are at disadvantage!
Best Sub Class: Circle of Stars Druid!
Druids are bad ass and none more so than the Circle of Stars Druid. Well… that’s wildly subjective but I love them best.
Why Circle of Stars? Starting out at level two, you gain guidance to mansplain skill checks and guiding bolt, one of the best level one nuke spells. Attack roll? Check. Good damage? Check. Damage type that's not often resisted? Check. Neato rider on the damage? Advantage on the next attack! But wait, there's more! You can cast it without using spell slots! I mean, a few times anyway.
If that's all you got at level two I'd say cool but we're not even to the good stuff yet. While most druids are turning into shitty animals, you get to turn into shitty animals or a bad ass celestial light thingy! With Starry Form, you can do more damage, heal harder, or say F you to concentration checks! Your druid is the envy of bards everywhere, because you're a star.
Cosmic omens. It's annoying that you randomly roll every day to see if you get Weal or Woa but these level six abilities are great. Weal lets you help your buddies land an attack, pass a saving throw, or succeed a skill check while Woa makes your enemies suck at those things. So. Good. Save or suck spells suck less when your target has to subtract a d6 from the save. I wish you could have just chosen which you want when the need arises but it’s still a very good feature.
Level ten gives your starry forms more juice but you'll probably only ever use dragon at this point. You can now be a flying Tyrannosaurus Rex! You can also change which starry form you're in every turn but that would mean your t-rex would fall out of the sky.
Full of shit. That's what barbarians will call your level 14 ability. Your druid is now a barbarian who casts spells. Wtf.
So that's the Circle of Stars druid. Urook is one of my favorite characters I've ever played and I would encourage anyone to play one. New players should be aware though that it is not an easy class to master. When you’re a master though… you’ll love it!
-Urook