How do you build a Druid? What role do they play?

[Fried Noodles]

I just picked up Halsin as a proper party member now and I have a Lv.1 Druid that needs building up.

Wildshape looks pretty cool, but it is limited.
You can only transform twice per short rest, right?
So must be choosy about which battles to transform in.

I've been using pretty much all of the companions on rotation. I think they're all pretty useful.

I've only built them up as pure whatever classes they started out as. No one's got any multiclassing going on.

What's Halsin going to be doing when I'm engaged in a battle that I deem to not be worth a wildshape?
Just tossing his cantrip around?

He has pretty high WIS, but that probably doesn't help him in melee or ranged combat.
Do you even put a weapon on him?

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Wildshape is only great if you make it to lvl 10 as a Druid (Elemental Shape).

Otherwise, there are certain milestones which are very good:

Lvl 3: Spike Growth, Moonbeam, Flame Blade
Lvl 5: Call Lightning, Sleet Storm, Plant Growth
Lvl 11: Wall of Thorns

There might be some other things too, but that's what I play Druids for.

[seeker1]

Think of it this way:

Druids are OK healers, Clerics are better.
They are OK at offensive magic. Wizards are better.
In melee, you can have them engage with weapons, but often it's far better to have them do it in Wildshape.

All that said, as a Moon Druid, Halsin will be a better shapeshifter. As a Land Druid, Jaheira will have more and better spells. That's how they are specialized.

The game sort of of course emphasizes Halsin can turn into a bear, but that animal form, while good for tanking, is not always best for all situations. Explore the others. And yeah, I agree the elemental forms are really good. The elementals can all teleport (elemental warp) and fly.

[AvG]

you can think of moon druid as a very beefy tank
assuming you pick up tavern brawler feat you get a concentration caster who casts something, shapeshifts, then controls the battlefield, digging, jumping, flying and knocking most enemies prone without needing to shortrest every attack
while shapeshifted you can think of the shapeshifted form as a pile of temporary hp on top of your normal hp, if your shapeshifted form runs out of hp you just revert back to whatever hp you had in normal form.
their hp and special abilities tend to upgrade every 2 levels as well, and most gear doesn't affect them, except for things that give +1 ac, +stats, some resistances, and some rare magics that apply, making them pretty light on gear requirements, except when you are caught in caster form.

[Fried Noodles]

Oh, so if I use the Wildshape does it go away immediately after battle? Like the Barbarian's buff that disappears after a turn has passed without dealing or taking damage?

Or can I just keep it on until I turn it off, or it is defeated?

[Lain]

i believe the wild shapes stay of for as long as you like/long rest

if you speak to a companion whos wild shaped they seem to transform back to human to talk to you, then back when the convo is done

if your wild shape form dies you return back to whatever health human form you had before - so its an extra health bar which is pretty useful

[Fried Noodles]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Lain:

i believe the wild shapes stay of for as long as you like/long rest

if you speak to a companion whos wild shaped they seem to transform back to human to talk to you, then back when the convo is done

if your wild shape form dies you return back to whatever health human form you had before - so its an extra health bar which is pretty useful

Gotcha. That's much better than I thought then.
I have several pieces of gear that do something special when you strike with unarmed attacks.
Wildshape attacks should count as unarmed too, then?

[Dragon Master]

Druids are an interesting and very powerful class, but they are also a complicated one to play right.

I suppose it depends on what role you want to play in the party, or want Halsin to play.

To begin, let's discuss druids in general.

Druids are one of the most versatile classes in the game

A druid can be at any location in the battle, on the front, on the back, be dps, be a healer, a buff/debuff machine. They also get three of my absolute favorite spells at first level that make both in-combat and out-of-combat experiences great. Longstrider is a ritual spell that increases the movement speed and lasts until a long rest, meaning everyone in the party can move an extra 10 feet without using a single spell slot, fairie fire lets every attack on enemies within it have advantage if they fail the save and speak with animals is always good.

Any druid from any subclass can fill almost any role but each subclass is so good at what they do that it kind of defines their entire playstyle.

Circle of the Land

Circle of the Land are effectively spell-casters like wizards, and even get the nature equivalent of arcane recovery to regain spell slots. They also get spells that druids normally don't get that are always prepared as you level up by choosing circles you study the spells from based on various lands such as swamps, the underdark, forests, and so on.

These druids are at their best in the back line casting devastating spells such as ice storm, conjuring woodland beings, debuffing enemies, buffing allies (such as the Haste spell).

Circle of the Moon

These are druids are basically front line fighters and tanks. They are the only druids who can wildshape as a bonus action and get the strongest transformations. They also have their animal attacks be considered magical to overcome damage resistance whereas the other two do not get that while transformed.

A wildshape's health is completely separate from the druid's health, so it's basically just free health you can use to avoid dying. If you became a panther not only would you be able to use it as a bonus action but you could also use the action to become invisible and then reposition, or you could transform into an elemental at higher levels, or become a sabre tooth tiger to get health regeneration and being able to lower an enemies AC.

A moon druid won't be casting spells as often as the other two subclasses because a lot of their spell slots will be used to help top off their health.

Circle of Spores

These druids are actually very interesting. They can use a wildshape charge and not transform at all to get Symbiotic Entity. This gives them temporary hp and so long as they have it they will do extra necrotic damage for ever weapon attack they do, can do extra damage with a spore attack using their reaction and get a free ranged cantrip (chill touch) which actively prevents enemies from healing.

Spore druids also automatically learn animate dead and at level 6 can create 4 fungal druids Last of Us style without using a single spell slot to create a zombie apocalypse.

This means this druid is more than capable of being at any range. They can function as a spellcaster when needed. They can get into melee with shillelagh to do extra damage using wisdom instead of strength or dexterity with a guaranteed 1d8 points of damage + wisdom modifier for every hit, even if the weapon in question is a club (1d6) or a one-handed quarterstaff (also 1d6).

This druid is probably at their best as a well-rounded character who can fill in the niche that the rest of the party lacks. Need another front-line fighter they can cover (not as good as a fighter, paladin or barbarian but they will hold their own), they can fall back and be a spellcaster if that's needed. Their specialty, however, is overwhelming the enemy with lots of low-level zombies who can absorb a ton of attacks so the party won't have to.

[Quillithe]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Fried Noodles:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Lain:

i believe the wild shapes stay of for as long as you like/long rest

if you speak to a companion whos wild shaped they seem to transform back to human to talk to you, then back when the convo is done

if your wild shape form dies you return back to whatever health human form you had before - so its an extra health bar which is pretty useful

Gotcha. That's much better than I thought then.
I have several pieces of gear that do something special when you strike with unarmed attacks.
Wildshape attacks should count as unarmed too, then?

Unfortunately I believe no gear effects wildshape form unless it explicitly states it will - when you're a bear you aren't wearing the stuff

I kinda view them as a jack of all trades - you can start a battle and burn through your biggest spells with no worry, because you're also a pretty solid fighter in wild shape form.

And if you get beat up as wild shape, you shift right back into human form with full health and turn into a caster.

[Sentient_Toaster]

There's always (well, at level 6+) the Owlbear wild shape, which has a Crushing Leap ability that does more damage if the druid is enlarged or falling from a greater height. If for some reason you have a surplus of Elixirs of the Colossus, that's an option. :P

Druids have some interesting spells like Spike Growth for area control, or Heat Metal vs. gear-dependent humanoids.

If you want him to use a weapon, quarterstaves are a decent choice if you have him pick the Shillelagh cantrip, because that'll let him use his spellcasting attribute for determining attack/damage modifiers rather than the default strength.

[Quadsword]

Wildshape got a pretty nice buff recently as it now benefits from Tavern Brawler. It's also great for tanking as getting taken to 0 HP while wildshaped doesn't knock you unconscious, but turns you back to your normal form. If you have wildshape charges left, you can just use it again. Moon druids make great tanks and still get some pretty nice spells to use outside of wildshape.

[Fried Noodles]

Feels almost cheaty that Halsin can just passively heal up to full for free while he's transformed.

Though that might just be a feature of his Sabertooth Tiger transformation.

Could save a ton of resources if I just respec everyone to Druid, I think.

[Dragon Master]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Fried Noodles:

Feels almost cheaty that Halsin can just passively heal up to full for free while he's transformed.

Though that might just be a feature of his Sabertooth Tiger transformation.

Could save a ton of resources if I just respec everyone to Druid, I think.

It also only affects his wildshape's health, not his own.

Any druid's health is completely separate from that of the wildshape.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Wildshape isn't just for combat - as a Raven, for example, you can fly places you wouldn't otherwise be able to reach, and as a Tiny creature you can fit through small openings.

[Dragon Master]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Pan Darius Loveless:

Wildshape isn't just for combat - as a Raven, for example, you can fly places you wouldn't otherwise be able to reach, and as a Tiny creature you can fit through small openings.

You can also be a cat to fit into the tight spaces that normally halflings and gnomes fit through if you are a larger race.

[Hobocop]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Fried Noodles:

Feels almost cheaty that Halsin can just passively heal up to full for free while he's transformed.

Though that might just be a feature of his Sabertooth Tiger transformation.

Could save a ton of resources if I just respec everyone to Druid, I think.

Yeah, that's just that specific Wild Shape and the HP doesn't (or shouldn't) carry over into any other form.