D&D 5E (2014) Druid Glut

[Zardnaar]

I printed out my PHB 3 for 5E. It contained.

Unlikely Heroes (Kobold Press)
6 EN5ider classes
Fey Kindred En5ider races
Magic in the Blood (fey archtypes)
3 Druid Subclasses
Zendiker PDF.

Out of all the stuff I have got for 5E I decided to add up the Druid variants.

EN5ider
Elemental Druids (Air, Earth Fire, Water)
Circle of Life
Circle of Birds and Beasts
Circle of the Untamed Wilderness

DMGuild
Circle of the Deathbloom
Circle of the Mountain
Circle of the Beast
Circle of the Crescent (additional archetypes PDF)

UA
Circle of Dreams
Circle of the Sheppard
Circle of Twilight

With the PHB Druids thats 13 Druidic archetypes, most of them fairly meh (the Circles of Power EN5ider article was very good).

Archetypes are the new prestige classes!!!

I think there is an urban Druid in the EN5ider stuff as well. Outside the PHB theres maybe 3 Druids I would play (Circle of Life, Elemental Druids, 1 of the UA ones maybe 1 more?). I also have variant lands for land Druid such as Volcanos and Storm Planes I would play. .

 

[Istbor]

Good thing there is nothing stopping you from preventing material you see as chaff from ever seeing play at your table.

 

[Zardnaar]

Good thing there is nothing stopping you from preventing material you see as chaff from ever seeing play at your table.

I'm not being to serious, I did not have to DL 6 of the free ones.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I think the glut of homebrew material is a response to the relative dearth of druid archetypes in the PHB. If a bunch of DMs each want three Druid archetypes, but nobody knows about each other's archetypes, then they all end up writing their own.

 

[Ancalagon]

Is there a real dearth though? The land druid is a bit like the cleric's multiple domains? Maybe they needed more differentiation?

 

[Ketser]

I feel that the circle of the land has caused similar issue to druid that the battlemaster has caused to the fighter. It covers so much and is on the same time enough good to impair development of any new subclasses

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Is there a real dearth though? The land druid is a bit like the cleric's multiple domains? Maybe they needed more differentiation?

There are similarities to cleric domains, but cleric domains have more differentiation. Domains bring extra proficiencies, Channel Divinity uses, and miscellaneous powers (like flight or resistance to normal damage or better healing) in addition to the extra spells.

I still don't think domains have a lot of differentiation compared to good old AD&D spell spheres (a cleric with access to the Mind and Mathematics spheres played completely differently from one with access to Healing, Travel and War spheres), but land druids have less yet. Frequently there's just one or two key spells (like Greater Invisibility for Grasslands, IIRC) that differentiate a whole circle.

 

[Shiroiken]

Archetypes are the new prestige classes!!!

I always felt this was the case. It's a better system for it, IMO, and when they did a UA for Prestige Classes, I cringed inside.

 

[Satyrn]

I'd have said archtypes are the new kits. Although backgrounds are also the new kits . . . so, uh, yeah

 

[Ancalagon]

I feel that the circle of the land has caused similar issue to druid that the battlemaster has caused to the fighter. It covers so much and is on the same time enough good to impair development of any new subclasses

This is an excellent point, but I'm not sure if a "broad archetype" like the battlemaster (which you can then use to make a master fencer character, a crack archer, a samurai etc) is a bad thing or a *good* thing. I mean it's terrible if you want to publish further material, but for us players and GM, it's a god sent not?

I always felt this was the case. It's a better system for it, IMO, and when they did a UA for Prestige Classes, I cringed inside.

I agree that it's superior. The fact that they can't be stacked is a big benefit too iMO.