D&D 5E Building a better Druid

[Paul Smart]

Hi everyone.

Lets talk Druids. What works about them? What would you change and why? How can they be improved?

I would love to hear everyones thoughts. I am especially interested in this class as it is the one class I have never played. Thanks.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Lets talk Druids. I would love to hear everyones thoughts. I am especially interested in this class as it is the one class I have never played. Thanks.

Druids became my favorite class fairly early on, when Magic-users had started to pall a little. The terse explanation of what the Druid was got me curious and I looked into Celtic mythology and fiction based on it, and got pretty into it, really. The AD&D version was off in left field (typical for D&D, really), but hey, it was a class that cast 3rd level spells (including Call Lightning) at 3rd level and Shapechanged at 7th (not got Shapechange as a 7th level spell, at 7th level, 3/day), and they could ultimately get as many as 14 HD (CON added to each of those y'know), when the fighter only got 9. Sure you had to fight for those last 3 levels and were prettymuch screwed after that, but it was still a pretty awesome run, and it's not like I ever actually did run up against the cap.

I've found each subsequent version of the D&D Druid after 1e disappointing on some level (yeah, even 3.x's coDzilla Druid) - until 5e. OK, it's not casting Call Lightning at 3rd level, but hey...

What works about them?

Spell list, Shapechanging.

What would you change and why?

I thought Circle of Oak was a cooler name than Circle of the Land.
Going into Druids' place in society (they were priests, seers, keepers of lore, healers and judges in ancient Celtic tribal cultures) would have been nice.
De-emphasize the hippie tree-hugger stereotype.
Ogham wands could've made a nice focus.
The weapon list could have been more Celtic (swords, spears, javelins, darts, slings), the whole scimitar as a stand-in for sickles wasn't the greatest, and the sickles & mistletoe were an 18th Century 'druid revival' thing, anyway.

How can they be improved?

A few more Circles might be fun. A Circle of Stone(s) (or of the Sky) that goes in for dolmens and henges and chromlechs and is particularly good at divination, especially prophecy. A Circle of Blood that performs human sacrifice and incites berserker rages in their allies. A Circle of Fire that, well, performs human sacrifice and... actually, the Druid has the Fire connection covered, just wanted to reference The Wicker Man, there.
Some fluff contrasting Druids' 'Old Religion' with Clerics' worship of the Gods (I was disappointed that 4e didn't take the plunge and associate the Primal power source with the Primordials), maybe some crunch to make it that much more interesting. Backgrounds or notes on adapting Backgrounds to the Druid (their role in society again).

 

[Xeviat]

First level Druids seriously lack ... something. Clerics get extra skills of extra proficiencies and Druids get ... Druidic. They're lucky their concept is so defined and so much different from the cleric that they still get picked.

I detest the way Wild Shape works. I love it's simplicity, but from a design perspective it has made me mad since day one.

The Druid definitely needs some more circles. One with an animal companion would be cool.


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[Zardnaar]

A tweak to Land Druids with variant class features as they do not get that much from wildshape.

 

[Seramus]

We know almost nothing about real Druids, so it gives us the opportunity to fill in the blanks with fantastical things. I personally love the Shapeshifting theme, since the idea of turning into a tough bear or a sneaky feline appeals to me on a thematic level.

Some editions have handled the shapeshifting rules better than others, but either way I find it fascinating to solve problems using the natural talents of animals. They are so incredibly diverse.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

The druid class is consistently powerful, entertaining, and unique. The class has powerful summoning, battlefield control, decent blasting and healing, pretty good skill utility. Including the most slot-efficient form of healing at low level (Goodberry). I do think that one niche that could be expanded upon would a weapon-focused variant with a bit more martial capability. Previous incarnations of the class had a bit more combat ability in that respect. From this legacy, we have Shillelagh and several other weapon-like druid spells - which are okay at low-level - but simply don't scale. The Circle of the Moon is plenty powerful in melee, but carries its own set of limitations, flavor, and stigmata. Naturally, any martially-oriented circle would have to balanced with the fact that the druid is a primary caster with a very powerful spell list. So, probably something along the lines of the cleric's melee-enhancing divine strike or the valor bard's capabilities.

 

[Li Shenron]

What works about them?

Everything.

What would you change and why?

The armor restriction, because it is idiotic.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Life Cleric combined with Goodberry Druid = Powerful Heal

Wild Shape can also make Druids the best HP sponge tanks that can also heal on top of it.

Other than that, it depends a lot of party composition. For example my current party has a lot of "push back" classes, so our Druid just casts Spike Growth and the spikes alone deal like 90% of all the damage in combat. The other PCs just make sure the enemies can't get off them and push them over them for even more ouch. As the spikes completely ignore AC and don't allow saving throws either, they work well against all kinds of enemies (except flying enemies).

 

[Mephista]

So. Druids. At the very base, they're defined by a few things.

* Shapeshifting.
* Animal hoards (druids make the best summoners in 5e imho)
* Terrain control spells (entangle is the classic example, but there are many others)
* Some healing

Now... wild shape in 5e makes me sad. For me, I envision shifting to play a werewolf, or something. I had a blast with my drow spider shifter in 4e. Instead, I have to encounter animals, then turn into them. Usually a bear, elephant or a dinosaur after a point, then elementals. I don't want to use those. I want to be a tiger, or a snake or something consistant across all levels. Instead, I outgrow those early on, and have to stick with just tanky beasts, since those are the only ones that can stand up to the physical challenges. This isn't fun, imho. Its not as evocative after a while. Maybe this is a problem of just not enough Beasts that are properly leveled, or needing rules to level up the CR of a beast, but when a tiger is being so outclassed so early on...


The other aspects are well done, imho. Land druid, however, is pretty much the ONLY other option. And that's summed up as "dedicated caster." We could seriously use some more variation. A weapon focused druid that's using things like Shilleigh or whatever (too lazy to look up spelling), Flame blade, and more. The latest one that seems to be good at summons is also nice.

In short? More variety in Circles. Lots more variety. Clerics and Wizards always get new subclasses. I feel like every class should have at least 5 subclasses.

 

[Eltab]

I preferred 4e's "you can Wild Shape whenever you want, into anything you want, but you never change your stats" model. I kept turning into whatever domesticated animal was appropriate and walked around, to scout or to evade enemies who hadn't realized that Heroes were in the vicinity.

I haven't played a 5e Druid yet, but chatter is that the tank-y ones are all the same: a real Bear in combat.
I'd like to try to design a "storm summoner" Druid, to just bring down the wrath of Nature on evildoers. I might name the character Andrew or Camille or Katrina and see who gets the joke.