Divine Soul/Circle of the Shepherd build

[gyor]

The purpose of this build is to get the spell Spirit of Healing on a Divine Soul.

3 levels of Circle of the Shepherd Druid gets you the spell and some more goodies.

The rest Divine Soul, maybe optionally Life Cleric.

By level 9 you can cast a Empowered Healing Extended Healing Spirit Spell. That's a lot of healing.

Thoughts? Does this work right? Is it broken?

 

[Gavin O.]

I see a few problems with this:
-Healing Spirit uses up your concentration, and by the time you're level 9, there are far more impactful spells for you to be concentrating on. Like say, Animate Objects, which can create 200 HP worth of fighting spoons that also contribute to combat.
-Healing spirit lasts a minute, or ten rounds. If you extend it, it lasts 20 rounds. I've yet to come across an encounter that lasted more than 10 rounds.
-On top of that, while you can move the spirit, you can only move it once per turn as a bonus action, so it's unlikely that all your allies will be able to benefit from it.
-Even upcast with a level 3 spell slot, healing spirit is only healing 3d6 damage per round. Even rerolling every dice that lands on a 1,2,or 3, that's still only an average of 12.75 HP restored per round. That's not very much at 9th level.
-You're delaying your sorcerer progression by 3 levels to pick up a healing spell when you already have access to the cleric spell list. Why not just pick cleric healing spells and have access to 5th level spell slots to cast them with?

 

[Undrhil]

I have a character in AL that I am playing that started life as a Life Cleric of Eldath, then took 9 levels of Circle of the Shepherd Druid, and then took a level of Divine Soul (Neutrality) at level 11. I am working on getting two more levels of Sorcerer so I can get metamagic (Extend is one .. I'm up in the air about the second one). The main point is that with my already 20 AC, my Cloak of Displacement, casting an Extended Sanctuary if it looks like the combat might last that long, and being able to cast Shield if something does get through all of that, I am pretty sure to never lose concentration on my Conjured Animals.

I play him as a pacifist who only fights if he absolutely has to. He has Wall of Thorns from a Staff of the Woodlands, Thorn Whip, and Create Bonfire and now he has Infestation from Divine Soul. Those are his only direct damaging spells. He has Conjure Animals and Conjure Woodland Beings. He's used Conjure Animals with a 5th level slot to get 16 Giant Owls, which was great! He hasn't used Conjure Woodland Beings yet. I think most of the DMs I've played with cringe and are just waiting for me to say that I cast it, but I just don't see the need for it. I may stop preparing it whenever I get 6th level Druid spells, in favor of Druid Grove.

 

[gyor]

I see a few problems with this:
-Healing Spirit uses up your concentration, and by the time you're level 9, there are far more impactful spells for you to be concentrating on. Like say, Animate Objects, which can create 200 HP worth of fighting spoons that also contribute to combat.
-Healing spirit lasts a minute, or ten rounds. If you extend it, it lasts 20 rounds. I've yet to come across an encounter that lasted more than 10 rounds.
-On top of that, while you can move the spirit, you can only move it once per turn as a bonus action, so it's unlikely that all your allies will be able to benefit from it.
-Even upcast with a level 3 spell slot, healing spirit is only healing 3d6 damage per round. Even rerolling every dice that lands on a 1,2,or 3, that's still only an average of 12.75 HP restored per round. That's not very much at 9th level.
-You're delaying your sorcerer progression by 3 levels to pick up a healing spell when you already have access to the cleric spell list. Why not just pick cleric healing spells and have access to 5th level spell slots to cast them with?

You cast Healing Spirit out of combat to get the most out of the spell, that is potentially a massive amount of healing.

 

[Grue AC]

I have a character in AL that I am playing that started life as a Life Cleric of Eldath, then took 9 levels of Circle of the Shepherd Druid, and then took a level of Divine Soul (Neutrality) at level 11. I am working on getting two more levels of Sorcerer so I can get metamagic (Extend is one .. I'm up in the air about the second one). The main point is that with my already 20 AC, my Cloak of Displacement, casting an Extended Sanctuary if it looks like the combat might last that long, and being able to cast Shield if something does get through all of that, I am pretty sure to never lose concentration on my Conjured Animals.

I play him as a pacifist who only fights if he absolutely has to. He has Wall of Thorns from a Staff of the Woodlands, Thorn Whip, and Create Bonfire and now he has Infestation from Divine Soul. Those are his only direct damaging spells. He has Conjure Animals and Conjure Woodland Beings. He's used Conjure Animals with a 5th level slot to get 16 Giant Owls, which was great! He hasn't used Conjure Woodland Beings yet. I think most of the DMs I've played with cringe and are just waiting for me to say that I cast it, but I just don't see the need for it. I may stop preparing it whenever I get 6th level Druid spells, in favor of Druid Grove.

Summon spells become alot tamer since the errata. Dms don't have to worry about pixie cheese anymore.

 

[Undrhil]

Summon spells become alot tamer since the errata. Dms don't have to worry about pixie cheese anymore.

Honestly, I think it would have been better to just reclassify Pixies as a higher CR, maybe CR 1. Then you wouldn't be able to summon as many. The main issue with Pixie cheese is the sheer number you can summon. And at level 8, being able to summon 24 Pixies would be a big problem... Lol