Level Up (A5E) What should the first Adept/Druid synergy feat give?

[Tessarael]

I have been thinking about a multi-classed Adept/Druid build and what the first synergy feat would be for it.

Maybe something along these lines:

Force of Nature feat
Prerequisites: Adept level 3+ and Druid level 3+

• Your Adept and Druid levels stack for Martial Arts die progression.
  • Example: Druid 6/Adept 6 would have d8 martial art die.
• If your natural weapon attacks have a lower damage die, you may use your martial art die instead.
  • Example: Druid 6/Adept 6 could replace a natural weapon attack doing d4 damage with the d8 damage die.
• Your Adept and Druid levels stack for Druid wild shape CR progression.
  • Example: Druid 6/Adept 6 has maximum wild shape CR of 3, or 4 if Skinchanger archetype for Druid.
• Your Adept and Druid levels stack for Druid wild shape AC progression.
  • Example: Druid 6/Adept 6 has minimum wild shape AC of 15 = 12 + (6+6)/4, with Wisdom modifier if Skinchanger archetype for Druid.
• Exertion can be swapped 2:1 for spell slot levels, once per long rest, for one spell slot up to a maximum of 5th level.
  • Example: Druid 6/Adept 6 has 10 exertion points (2x proficiency bonus + 2 bonus exertion at Adept level 6), and could swap these once/long rest for one 5th level spell slot.

Thoughts?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

i'd cap the exertion conversion to 5th level. what are you writing this up for? like, what's the concept of the chain?

 

[Tessarael]

Good suggestion. I have made that change.

I am not thinking about a full synergy feat chain at this stage. I am just trying to figure out what is reasonable and what would work for a multi-classed Skinchanger Druid/Adept. Most Druid builds want to maximize Wisdom to 20 with ability score improvements before selecting other feats, so they're unlikely to take more than one feat in the chain before level 12 at the earliest.

Without the Adept/Druid synergy feat, the wild shape CR and martial arts die damage scaling are both significantly weaker. As a result, I think a multi-classed Adept/Druid Skinchanger build is typically going to be sub-par without such a feat, unless you're say multi-classing after Druid level 9.

There's strong reason to be single-classed through Druid level 6 to be able to wild shape to CR 2 and get the Nature's Wrath +d6 damage bonus on attacks when wild-shaped. And note that Flurry of Blows works with the Attack action, not Multi-Attack. (Permitting Flurry of Blows to work with Multi-Attack is very strong, so belongs at the 3rd level level in a synergy feat chain.) So at least with this feat, you're not sacrificing Druid CR wild shape progression, though Nature's Wrath and Tyranny of Nature, from Druid levels 6 and 15 respectively, will be deferred.

If someone still wants full spell casting, their maximum level dip is Adept 3, and most campaigns don't go particularly high level. There is some motivation to go to Adept level 5 to pick up Extra Attack, as that can still be used to give Flurry of Blows bonus action + 2 natural weapon attacks as your action in wild shape. The Additional Attack focus feature at Adept level 11 is also strong. Tyrannize is not available for +d8 damage/attack until Druid level 15, so not viable until a very high level build.

So several possible build splits to consider with Druid Skinchanger if the focus is maximizing melee capability. The example damage calculations below just assume the Adept's martial arts damage for simplicity, but wild shape natural weapon attacks usually do more than this.

• Adept 2/Druid 2, minimum level at which to use natural weapon attack + flurry of blows. Doesn't qualify for the synergy feat.
  • 3 attacks total per round, doing d4+4 (6.5) each with Strength 18 (Brown Bear). Average 19.5 damage if all hit, no criticals.
• Adept 3/Druid 4 or Adept 4/Druid 3, minimum level at which to take the synergy feat.
  • 3 attacks total per round, doing d4+5 (7.5) each with Strength 20 (Cave Bear). Average 22.5 damage if all hit, no criticals.
• Adept 3/Druid 6, Nature's Wrath for +d6/attack on 3 attacks in CR 3 wild shape (natural weapon attack + flurry of blows).
  • 3 attacks total per round, doing 2d6+5 (12) each with Strength 20. Average 36 damage if all hit, no criticals.
• Adept 5/Druid 6, Nature's Wrath for +d6/attack on 4 attacks in CR 3 wild shape (2x natural weapon attack + flurry of blows).
  • 4 attacks total per round, doing d6+d8+5 (13) each with Strength 20. Average 52 damage if all hit, no criticals.
• Adept 11/Druid 6, Nature's Wrath for +d6/attack on 5 attacks in CR 3 wild shape (3x natural weapon attack + flurry of blows).
  • 5 attacks total per round, doing d6+d10+6 (15) each with Strength 22. Average 75 damage if all hit, no criticals.
• Adept 2/Druid 15, Nature's Wrath + Tyrannize for +d6+d8/attack on 3 attacks in CR 6 wild shape (natural weapon attack + flurry of blows). This is the earliest build that can have both Flurry of Blows and Tyrannize. Doesn't qualify for the synergy feat.
  • 3 attacks total per round, doing d4+d6+d8+6 (16.5) each with Strength 22. Average 49.5 damage if all hit, no criticals.
• Adept 5/Druid 15, Nature's Wrath + Tyrannize for +d6+d8/attack on 4 attacks in CR 6 wild shape (2x natural weapon attack + flurry of blows).
  • 4 attacks total per round, doing d10+d6+d8+7 (20.5) each with Strength 24 (Mammoth). Average 82.0 damage if all hit, no criticals.

Druid spells can also be used to boost damage output. For example, Aspect of the Moon provides an additional unarmed attack per round, or Invigorated Strikes for +d4 damage per attack - both require concentration, so only one of these is usable at a time.

As a quick comparison vs. single-classed Skinchanger Druid, I have the following calculated (details excluded for simplicity):

• Druid level 2: 16.5 damage per round assuming all attacks hit, no criticals.
• Druid level 6: 26.0 damage per round assuming all attacks hit, no criticals.
• Druid level 9: 37.0 damage per round assuming all attacks hit, no criticals.

So the above for a multi-classed Adept/Druid Skinchanger is in about the same range for these levels. My numbers above are on the low side as they should be adjusted for the natural weapon attack damage dice: 2d6 for CR 1 Brown Bear; but only d8 for CR 2 Cave Bear, though it has multi-attack; and 3d10 for Mammoth. (So the Mammoth-shaped Adept 5/Druid 15 does d10+d6+d8+7 on the two Flurry of Blows, and 3d10+d6+d8+d7 with two gore attacks, for an average of 104.0, and which can be boosted further with spells as I mentioned.) Which form works best varies with the build, but you'd be better off with forms with a single high damage attack, as multi-attack doesn't work with Flurry of Blows.