D&D 5E 5E Survivor - Subclasses (Part V: Druids)

[CleverNickName]

Alright you granola-munching treehuggers, let's do this.

There's well over a hundred and twenty different classes and subclasses in the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game, and we're on a mission to determine which one is the Survivor! And this time around, we are comparing all 9 of the nature-bunny hippies from all of the Wizards of the Coast game resources against each other. The Survivor of this round will advance to the final round, where it will face off against the champions of all other character classes.

(Yes, I know that we've done this before, but lots of new subclasses have been released in the years since. It's time to see if the Coachella Crowd can hang with the Woodstock Generation.)

SURVIVOR: 5E CHARACTER CLASSES
Round V: The Druid

This week, we are going to examine all of the subclass options for the Druid class, in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Right now there are nine subclasses available for the Druid, and we're going to find out which one Survives!

The winner of this contest will advance to the Final Round, where it will represent ALL Druids in the 5th Edition D&D game.

The Finalists

Spoiler

Round I, Artificers: Battle Smith
Round II, Barbarians: Totem Warrior
Round III, Bards: College of Lore
Round IV, Clerics: Tempest Domain

The Rules and Stuff

• In this round, only the Druid subclasses are presented.
• Only the subclasses written by Wizards of the Coast qualify. No third-party entries!
• Each entry starts with 20 points.
• Every day, you vote for one subclass that you like, which gains 1 point. And then you vote for a different subclass, which loses 2 points. It is intentional that a negative vote is worth more than a positive vote - first, because it takes something extra to whittle these guys down to size. Second, because.
• Mark your upvotes in green, and downvotes in red. Or just show them in bold text and use "+1" and "-2" to mark them, if colored text is too difficult on your browsing device.
• It's easier if you just copy and paste the previous poster’s vote and change the numbers; the Quote function isn't the best for this.
• You may vote only once per day in each category. This is an honor system, and we are all honorable gamers; please do not abuse it. If this means you vote once at night one day, and once the next morning - that's fine, but don't vote again until the following day. Rule of thumb: if your most recent vote post says "yesterday" in the date tag, you can vote again.
• This is purely a popularity contest and you do not have to explain an upvote or downvote, but feel free to - explanations are where the fun is! When downvotes reach 0 the subclass is removed from the list.
• Finally, if an entry has one point left, then you have to make the choice to use all of your downvotes to eliminate it; there is no vote splitting. In addition, you can't upvote and downvote the same entry (no "see" votes). And you have to use BOTH YOUR UPVOTE AND DOWNVOTE if you vote.

The Most Important Bits
Three important points that you must read before voting--

1. This is a pure popularity contest, and is meant to be fun. You can cast your votes for whatever reason you want; spite, malice, favorite animal, gluten sensitivity, irrational love or hatred of camping trips, strategic voting, and so on are all perfectly acceptable. You can comment for the reasons for your vote, or not - up to you! But this is for enjoyment only.
2. This week (and the next few weeks to come) features a list of character subclasses from the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Unearthed Arcana, and other places. Only the subclasses written by Wizards of the Coast are included.
3. As always, the list is the list. If you have a complaint about the list, please direct it to /dev/null.

So. Onward to the contest!

DRUID SUBCLASSES
=====================================
Druid, Circle of Dreams (Xanathar's Guide to Everything)
Druid, Circle of the Land (Player's Handbook)
Druid, Circle of the Moon (Player's Handbook)
Druid, Circle of the Primeval (Unearthed Arcana: "Giant Options," 2022)
Druid, Circle of the Shepherd (Xanathar's Guide to Everything)
Druid, Circle of Spores (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
Druid, Circle of Stars (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
Druid, Circle of Twilight (Unearthed Arcana: "Druid," 2016)
Druid, Circle of Wildfire (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)

 

[CleverNickName]

Circle of Dreams 20-2=18
Circle of the Land 20+1=21
Circle of the Moon 20
Circle of the Primeval 20
Circle of the Shepherd 20
Circle of Spores 20
Circle of Stars 20
Circle of Twilight 20
Circle of Wildfire 20

 

[Maxperson]

Circle of Dreams 18
Circle of the Land 21
Circle of the Moon 20
Circle of the Primeval 20
Circle of the Shepherd 18 - I have better things to do than tend sheep.
Circle of Spores 20
Circle of Stars 21 - This one just seems so cool. If I ever play a druid, this will be the subclass.
Circle of Twilight 20
Circle of Wildfire 20

 

[TwoSix]

This might be the first one where a non-PHB class wins it. Moon is iconic, but kinda problematic in terms of balance, and no one really likes Land.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Circle of Dreams 18
Circle of the Land 21
Circle of the Moon 20
Circle of the Primeval 20
Circle of the Shepherd 18
Circle of Spores 21 - a shrooms druid is really on brand
Circle of Stars 21
Circle of Twilight 18 - get your sparkly vampire druids outta here
Circle of Wildfire 20

 

[OB1]

Circle of Dreams 18
Circle of the Land 21+1=22
Circle of the Moon 20
Circle of the Primeval 20
Circle of the Shepherd 18
Circle of Spores 21-2=19
Circle of Stars 21
Circle of Twilight 18
Circle of Wildfire 20

@TwoSix I love Land. Way better than Moon.

 

[CleverNickName]

This might be the first one where a non-PHB class wins it. Moon is iconic, but kinda problematic in terms of balance, and no one really likes Land.

(Besides. We had a non-PHB class win in Round Friggin' One.)

 

[Omand]

Circle of Dreams 18
Circle of the Land 22 + 1 = 23
Circle of the Moon 20
Circle of the Primeval 20
Circle of the Shepherd 18
Circle of Spores 19 - 2 = 17
Circle of Stars 21
Circle of Twilight 18
Circle of Wildfire 20

 

[DeviousQuail]

Circle of Dreams 18
Circle of the Land 23
Circle of the Moon 20
Circle of the Primeval 20
Circle of the Shepherd 18
Circle of Spores 15 - I see why people would want to play this but it's just not for me.
Circle of Stars 22 - Got to see one in action and it was as cool as I thought it would be.
Circle of Twilight 18
Circle of Wildfire 20

 

[Aldarc]

Circle of Dreams 18
Circle of the Land 23
Circle of the Moon 20-2=18
Circle of the Primeval 20
Circle of the Shepherd 18
Circle of Spores 15
Circle of Stars 22+1=23
Circle of Twilight 18
Circle of Wildfire 20