D&D 5E Any Land (Mountain) Druid players/DM’s of players out there?

I played a dwarf mountain druid in a Storm King's Thunder campaign, got to level 12 and had fun with him. Like others have said, flexibility seemed to the big advantage. We had a bard acting as the main healer, so I was mainly going for control type spells and acting as a backup healer. The extra hitpoints from a Con bonus and hill dwarf plus extra weapon proficiency with a few points spent on Str meant I could stand up in the front line if needed, with even limited wildshape helping open up other options as well (My favorite tended to be the giant spiders for scouting and ability to poison with bites once fighting started for a bit of extra damage until I got hit a couple times). Though I did feel this didn't hold up quite as well later in the campaign once cantrip damage got boosted and I had access to better spells.

I got a lot of use of having access to lightning bolt to deal out damage. Other spells were also nice, even if they were already on the druid list just for freeing up available slots for preparation. Spike growth and wall of stone were good ways to restrict movement around the battlefield. Passwall and stone shape were handy to get around obstacles outside of combat.

Land's stride (avoid difficult terrain penalty) and Nature's ward (immune to charm or frighten by fey and elementals) didn't come up too much, but depending on DM could be real nice to have if the right circumstances come up.

Dan Chernozub said:

Somewhat offtopic - what is a Gunsmith?

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UA Artificer. Sorry don't know the real name.

Nevvur said:

I have to admit I'm curious how you would refluff lightning bolt as being "from the deep."

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Yeah I struggled with that one, but some kind of stunning your prey type attack. It's been a lot of fun reskinning spells

Fog Cloud: Black ink fans out from an unknown orifice to obscure all.

Mould Earth: Every trench dweller needs an escape. I burrow into the sand.

Primal Savagery manifests itself in two ways:
● A coral-sharp sword emerges from my arm
● My mouth becomes huge and shows the needle-like teeth of deep sea monster fish.

Produce flame: An enticing and luminous antenna bows forward from my head creating light

etc. etc.

rgoodbb said:

UA Artificer. Sorry don't know the real name.

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And I know close to nothing about UA, so no apology necessary.

Nevvur said:

I have to admit I'm curious how you would refluff lightning bolt as being "from the deep."

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The Leviathan, the most bad-ass creature in the depths, uses massively powerful Lightning attacks.

Think of it as an Electric Eel, but even more seriously amped up.

I'm playing a Mountain Druid right now. It's awesomely fun.

It sounds like you're using Elemental Evil Companion or Xanathar's Guide in your game. Good. Those are full of amazing elemental spells that give a Druid a LOT more flexibility and depth. Basically, you're a controller and support caster that has some seriously sweet skill buffs and stealth from wild shape.

Need to track something? Become a Wolf, boom, instant advantage on your Survival skill check.
Need to do recon on a bandit fort? Pass Without Trace, become a badger, boom, dig under walls and into buildings to scout.
Need to go somewhere fast? Longstrider, become a horse, boom, 70' travel speed.
Need to get everyone out of a pit? Borrow a rope and grappling hook, become a cat, boom, Climb speed. Get to the top, tie off the rope, and let it down.

You need to do your homework on your wild shapes. Look for ones with unique traits, like some snakes having Blindsight. Think of those as 'spells' to add new capabilities out of combat.

As far as the spells, Mountain is excellent. Spike Growth has stopped a few mass combats cold for us already. Lightning Bolt is serious. And, Meld With Stone: you can literally stick your entire party inside a rock wall one by one to camp overnight - it's a ritual! Add in the cool stuff in Xanathar's like Thunderclap, Earthbind, Earth Tremor, Erupting Earth, Transmute Rock, etc. and you can be really effective and flavorful in combat to go with the normal Druid utility.

The only thing I can say is it's very homework intensive. Once you get your minion-mancy Conjure spells, you risk angering your DM and other players big-time. You need to figure out the creatures you want to summon ahead of time, and get all your stats ready or else you will slow combat to a crawl and get the spells banned. I recommend buying 4 pairs of d20s in clearly different colors (I bought red/yellow/blue/white) and a dice tray, so you can - say - summon 4 wolves and resolve all their attacks with Pack Tactics advantage in one throw. (Just read off the highest number off of each pair.)

[MENTION=6681949]mcmillan[/MENTION] @schnee I am glad to hear you are having fun with your land druids. It sounds as is if everyone here is the same. This provides me with great confidence moving forward, thank you. I don't intend on spending too much time on the front lines but Primal Savagery and Thorn Whip without the pull(I believe?) give me something up front should I wish to help share the damage around a bit. I actually had the same idea with Meld into Stone during rests but was unsure if it would work. Nature's version of Leomund's.

I must confess, being Land and not Moon, I hadn't thought too much about wild shape other that stealth/recon. You have given me food. I was thinking of not using Conjure spells, as long ago I remember another player doing this and everyone else had one go to his six or eight. Only one person was enjoying that game!

Aside from Absorb Elements (which I see as essential), How situational do you think things like Earth Bind and the other New spells are?

Thanks for all the info input.

Earth Bind is awesome for wilderness encounters, because it makes your martial characters - especially like a Barbarian or Rogue - able to deal much more damage to flying enemies. Wyverns, for example, pick their times and places to attack, and EarthBind takes that away from them. So, I always pick it for overland travel.

Those two attack cantrips are excellent, and get better once you have Spike Growth, Moonbeam, and other concentration spells that you can pull enemies into - this will only happen occasionally, but is super sweet when it does. If you're really invested in synergy with the other players, then if you have a fighter with Polearm Master feat, you can pull one of their attackers away 10', then when that attacker closes within reach again, it triggers the Reaction for the feat and the fighter gets a free swipe. Or, if you have someone with Booming Blade, then if you Thorn Whip an attacker after they've been hit by the energy, it doesn't automatically trigger the second 'boom', but it means if they want to attack anyone else their next turn, they will.

I think the other spells are balanced and typical for Druids - less immediate damage, but other interesting effects that linger. For example, Erupting Earth is less damaging than a Fireball, has a damage type that many creatures have Resistance to, but none are Immune to - but it also creates difficult terrain that delays opponents from entering the battle for a round or two. So, if you use it in the middle of a group of foes, it lets your martial characters gang up on a smaller number of opponents long enough to take a few out. When the ones hit by the spell arrive - they're softened up and much more easily taken out, and anyone else who had to move through the entire difficult terrain is delayed even further. It's also useful to use near the rear of a group, so any stragglers trying to escape to warn others are slowed down enough for your ranged attackers to get another round or two to take them out.

[MENTION=16728]schnee[/MENTION] Great roundup, thanks! I shall have to take another serious look at my spell selections. I suppose the great thing about Druids is that their spells can be adjusted on a daily basis. Versatility. I'm getting that feeling a lot from you good folks. The more I read, the more excited I get about playing this PC.

Cheers.