Druid Class Guide for Dungeons and Dragons 5e

not the strongest of the species who survives or the most intelligent but the one most responsive to change adapt or die that is Nature's Way we're talking about the druid in Dungeons and Dragons edition greetings travelers my name is Monty Martin and I'm Kelley McLaughlin and we are the dungeon dudes on today's episode we're taking a look at the druid class in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition our in-depth video guide is going to help prepare your druid to bring balance and harmony to the natural order of the world we're going to look at the different druid subclasses spells abilities scores and other build options to help ready your druid for adventure but we're also gonna look at some role-playing ideas to round out your characters personality and background we're also gonna get you inspired by looking at some famous druids from mythology books television and movies with that let's get rolling so to start things off why play a druid well right from the beginning druids are such a unique and interesting class in Dungeons & Dragons perhaps the most adaptable class in the entire game extremely versatile with a combination of being able to cast spells but also some really cool other abilities like shape-shifting yeah it really puts them in tune with the natural order of the world and embodies their role in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons as sages and mystics but also guardians and protectors of plants animals and the sacred spaces throughout the world so your druid has the option to kind of tap into this this natural beauty of nature but then there's also the other side of that with the the ferocity of the circle of life I think the most important thing is that no matter what your druids outlook is no druid would ever claim to be the master of the wilds or have dominion over nature rather they see themselves as a part of the wider world they see the way all living things are connected to each other and I think that druids of all stripes have this spiritual connection to the animals plants and send natural forces that govern the cosmos of D&D they also have the benefit of being one of the most adaptable classes in the game it's unreal because of that focus on nature they have natural magic which embodies the fury of the natural elements so they get great damage dealing spells but also spells that let them seize control of plants and animals summoning creatures forth or bringing vines up to entwine their enemies or even calling upon earthquakes it makes them super super adaptable and this is different from the versatility that other classes have because the druid can look at a situation and choose the right spells and abilities to make them strong in that moment on top of all of their spell casting abilities they also have the ability to wild shape into other creatures which is a really big tool to use in almost any circumstance because a lot of people see that and they say oh I can turn into this animal for combat purposes but the the it's almost limitless what you can do with a wild shape in the right moment absolutely and I think that that reinforces the idea that with a druid it's a great choice for somebody who always wants to be thinking about how they can seize the moment how they can interact with the environment to gain the utmost advantage and whatever your situation your adventure calls for rather than needing to worry about building the perfect character because all Druids have this connection to nature that they are completely inseparable from regardless of how your druid specializes so let's talk about the Druids party role starting with what's the role in combat anything you want yeah with I mean we have all of these guys out here with with these guys I mean there's so many options for what your druid yeah can transform into and because of that your druid can be the bulk work they can be the damage dealer they can be the controller they can even be the healer right it really depends on what the composition of the rest of your party is gonna be where your druid falls into in combat but because your druid is always gonna have this connection to the terrain and to nature in combat you want to be thinking about how can I seize upon that in the moment and maybe in one battle your druid is going to be a raid on the frontlines and really making an impact there but in other battles you might need to be more of the spell caster and the support character it really depends on the situation and I think that that's the strength of the druid in combat and this carries through to in exploration as well where I think that druids are a match if not more so to the ranger for helping your party survive in almost any environment yeah they usually end up with being very attuned in nature survival a lot of these abilities that can really help out with the exploration yeah because the druid is a ritual spell caster it means that they can bring the spells that help the party survive in the mountains underwater in the deepest forests and lots of useful stuff even if you are delving into the dungeons or the urban jungle as well what about in social interactions so I think druids might be seen as this spiritual heart of their party they might be a prophet and a guide because they have some access to some pretty cool divination magic but the druid really doesn't have anything that makes them a specialist in talking to other people they might be the heart of the party but not necessarily the leader or its face um the only instance that they might really shine into social situations as if they are talking to other people in nature like other druids or hunters or Rangers yeah and because druids often have the ability to speak with animals or plants it can create these unexpected role-playing situations where the druid gets to roleplay social interaction in the middle of an exploration scene so they may not be good at talking to people but they can commune has everybody else when they talk to a tree for now let's look at some of the inspiration that we can draw from mythology books TV and other sources to really look in some of the famous druids well as a class the druid is deeply inspired and gets its name from the priests who were the spiritual and sometimes political heart of the ancient Celtic people's so there's a great connection to the people who built Stonehenge and many of the different tribal and early societies that emerged in what is now Ireland modern-day France and the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe one of my favorite druids though from Celtic mythology is cop/bad the legendary druid of Ulster who in some stories is maybe more of a bard but I really like the Ulster cycle is a great source for awesome druids getting involved in really political situations as well one of my favorites and he doesn't really do any any wild shaping but radagast the brown from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit series is probably my favourite depiction of the quirky Hermit in the woods he has like the bird's nest in his hair yeah as like all the pets and all the animals come to him and I just think like his tied to nature and the fact that he's so removed from society gives like this really cool role-playing idea I think we see this a lot in other sources of inspiration for druids because druids as characters in fiction have a lot of overlap with both witches and wizards so in some stories Merlin and Morgan la Fey from the Arthurian cycles are much closer to druids in what they do then they are maybe two wizards or witches and I would even say if you play Dragon Age Morgan really is more of a druid in the magic that she uses she's a shapeshifter first and foremost yeah and she just happens to have all these other spells which are pretty elemental depending on how you built her in your playthrough of the game if we're going a little bit more tongue-in-cheek I think poison ivy could be a really cool inspiration for drew it yeah it's it's it's not as much the nature hermit when you look at poison ivy but like she is casting a bunch of spells more or less she's controlling all of like the vines around her she's in love with plants the danger adventure and the seductive appeal that actually can exist in the natural world another one of my favorites it's Captain Planet by your powers combined and it's all the elements exactly they're they're all there together he has all that elemental power he's literally there to save the planet from like pollution and all of that like that's in its core it's very druid a very heroic I think also we would be remiss not to mention all the great inspiration that the druid class draws from in faerie legends of like Queen titania and mystical forests inhabited by fairy spirits or even the gods have gotten goddesses of nature like Freya and Demeter who really inspire kind of the priesthoods that built up around ruins so why don't we talk now about how to build your droid it's really actually hard to go wrong with building your druid because at its core an adaptable class makes it difficult to specialize and because you always have access to your animal forms and your different spells it's more about choosing the right things day to day and moment to moment so that you can be adaptable but there's a few key choices that you have to make early on so let's talk about our class overview the first thing that we're going to look at is the the hip points of the druid they get a d8 hit die not too bad plus they get light armor medium armor and shields but Druids will not wear metal armor of any kind yeah they they like their wooden shields their wooden armor if you can describe that in cool ways and really kind of role play into that how did you make your armor or your shield so druids have one of the more eclectic weapon proficiency lists yeah most people will get like simple weapons or marshal weapons they just got kind of like a barrage of strange weapons yeah you get things like the spear the javelin the quarter staff the scimitar dartz slings and club nickels yeah it's really strange and other you're not going to be using weapons too often though so just bring a scimitar and a quarter staff so Jared's also get proficiency with herbalism supplies for their tools and for their skills they get to choose two skills from skills that include animal handling nature perception and survival so really kind of those rugged wilderness type skills and you get to pick two of them so it's not a great selection hopefully you can get a few more cool ones from your background yeah but the ones that that are there are pretty specific to what a druid stands for anyway and then finally as a druid you are proficient in intelligence and wisdom saving throws so regarding spell casting for the Druids they are full spell casters they gain spells as they level up all the way up to ninth level it's about very very potent it all based on their wisdom ability score which determines their spell saving throw DC as well as their spell attack modifier and druids then prepare spells once per day they get to choose a number of spells equal to their character level plus their wisdom modifier and they can choose anything on the druid spell list which is a pretty big spell list and we're gonna go into detail later on exactly what some of the prime picks from that spell list are in light of all that let's talk about ability scores well obviously primary spell caster based on wisdom you want a really good wisdoms oh yeah if if you're not taking wisdom that's gonna be your spell casting ability it also ties into a lot of your proficiencies with skills that you get to choose yeah because wisdom connects to both animal handling at survival perception all skills which are going to be important for you to it so I think your primary ability score is going to be wisdom follow closely bright constitutions yes because once again as a primary spell caster one of the main things that the jury does is cast a spell to concentrate on and then goes into wild shape or starts casting other blasting spell yeah so then yeah you want that concentration exactly beyond that your dexterity is useful just for rolling for initiative and having a slightly better armor class particularly for drew plan on shape-shifting though your other ability scores are not too important no because every time you wild shape you take on those ability scores yeah nothing's really gonna make you or break you so that means that you can decide if you want your druid to be a little bit more social give them a good Constitution a good charisma score if you want them to be a little bit more intelligent maybe more knowledgeable about the biology and geography of nature give them a good intelligence score if you want to have a good strength score that's okay but you're probably not going to use it that often so let's talk about some of the best races to play when you're playing a druid um iconic druids are definitely elves yeah what elves have a great bonus for their wisdom a few extra knight little nice little perks and I think that they really fit in with the culture and society that befits drew is they have that strong natural connection that has just reinforced yeah another one that pops into my head as a great druid is the dwarf yeah I'm really surprising because we tend to think of dwarves as very industrious and very mechanically minded this witch might put them at odds with nature but he'll dwarfs get a bonus for their wisdom and a big bonus to their Constitution scores which is super useful and there's no there's no need to say that doors don't have an atonement to nature that nature could be stone or or anything of that but that's still part of nature I think dwarves in particular embody the connection to the earth we would be remiss not to mention the human and I think that the adaptability of humanity in Dungeons and Dragons syncs up really really nicely with the adaptability of the druid class yeah because you got so many so many choices you can really make your druid go either this way or that yeah there's a few other cool races like tanku and lizard folk from Volos guide to monsters that they had the ability scores in the right places uh and are much more closer to their animal ancestors than the other races if we are picking that variant human or just in general if we're looking at the feats that are available to a druid probably our best option being a primary spell caster is going to be wore cast yeah having the advantage on your concentration checks is really key for keeping the spells going in battle and I would add to that the resilient Constitution feat is a great pickup to get the proficiency and Constitution saving throws as well and as a druid depending on your spell selection you might not even want to race to maximize your wisdom score you just want to have that good wisdom score right away so picking up these feats is might really really help your spell casting more than maxing out your wisdom right away so let's get in to the best ability but I say the druid has and the one that everybody will always want to use and that is wild shape it's second only to their spell casting as the most iconic class feature of the druid but also it's the most mechanically complex one as well so your druid can assume a wild shape form twice as an action once you run out of uses you have to take a short rest to regain your uses of wild shape this combined with the fact that you can stay in wild shape form for one hour per druid level means that you pretty much have no excuse for not having wild shape available to you one important point to keep in mind is that when you do use wild shape your game statistics change to the ones of the Beast that you have wild shaped into so you're gonna put your character sheet aside and you're gonna grab the stats or rate from the Monster Manual of the Beast that you've chosen to transform into however there's some exceptions you retain your own alignment and personality so you've also got your own intelligence wisdom and charisma ability scores instead of those of the Beast so you can still roleplay your character your fully in control of your own actions you also maintain your skill proficiencies and your saving throw proficiencies and can use those if they're higher than those that the beast form has finally while your wild shaped you can't cast spells but you may be able to gain the benefit of certain feats that you've selected as well also regarding spell casting if you cast a spell before wild shaping that requires concentration you can maintain Kant's raishin on that spell after you've wild shaped however you can't speak and in addition to this you can't perform any actions that the creature that you've transformed into wouldn't logically be able to do there is a limit on the challenge rating of the beast that you can wild shape into yeah this is determined by the table in the players handbook so initially you can only transform into what see are one quarter creatures and also at low levels druids can't transform into creatures with swimming speeds or flying speeds yes now the moon druid just helps you reach these faster not right away but you do get more benefits to your wild shape from being a moon drip particularly being able to transform into higher challenge rating creatures but all druids can't fly in wild shape until they get to eight level regardless of that while she is so flexible because even just being able to transform into a CR 1/4 animal is a huge huge ability well at first you're like oh man that's a really low challenge rating but what about infiltration purposes we see this all the time in our campaigns with druids what dungeon is not filled with rats yeah or even just a squirrel or something I was going to say when you're in the forest a squirrel is the most inconspicuous thing to just run up the trees and see what's going on it's also amazing for navigating around underwater environments what you can turn into a fish yeah right ok that's after you can have a swim speed exactly which is it fourth level yeah and then once you hit that flying speed the tactical uses of being able to choose whether you want water speed fly speed or land speed and all the different ways that you can use wild shape to solve problems both in combat and outside of combat is incredible I love it because when you get to 8th level and you can be a cr1 creature with a flying speed that means you can become a giant eagle so you can transform yourself into a giant eagle before you transform past polymorph on an ally to turn that into a giant eagle then your other friends hop on your backs and you fly away and that's how you solve all problems that's enjoyed so what are we talk about our druidic circles let's start with the derivative the moon which is Kevin favorite we've been talking about wild shape I think it's everyone's favorite it's the quintessential druid because it really powers up the capability of your wild shape and makes it something that you can actually rely on in battle whereas the default wild shape really isn't that powerful for combat yeah when you choose circle of the moon it's basically a statement saying I like wild shape it's what I want to do with my druid and I want to do it better yeah because the first thing is that allows you to assume the form of an animal as a bonus action rather than an action so in a single turn you can cast a spell then transform into your your wild shape form it also ups the CR rating of the beast that you can wild shape into yeah so you get to start off being able to transform into a cr1 creature and then as you level up as a druid the in general it's one third year level is the maximum challenge rating so at level 6 you can become cr2 creatures level 9 CR 3 and so on and so on are there any other really cool features of circle of the moon is you can eat a spell slot as a bonus action to heal yourself while you're in the transformed so this makes the druid extremely tanky because you can put up a defensive spell turn yourself into a bear and rock the frontline what would you recommend for some of the best forms to change into a wild shape when in doubt become a bear that's it's all it's a great damage healing option I think all the the various bears like the cave bear the polar bear and the brown bear at the levels that you get them they're excellent damage dealers we mentioned of course the Giant Eagle is a fantastic form to assume not necessarily in combat but for exploration purposes yeah there are also some some beasts that can do cool things like knock a creature prone or grapple them like the giant scorpion or the giant constrictor snakes oh man the constrictor snake is so useful there nothing better than grabbing hold of a creature and keeping it in place with the rest of your party members beat the tar out of them eventually as a circle of the moon druid you gain the ability to use both your wild shape uses to transform into one of the Challenger aiding five elementals and this ability comes online at level 10 making it really superb because the elementals are super powerful so next we have circle of the land where if circle of the Moon focuses on the wild shape aspect of the druid circle of the land focuses more on the spell casting yeah and with the circle of the land you choose a natural environment that your druid has a special bond with and this gives you additional spells which you always have prepared some of which are exclusive to that specialization that druids don't normally get so it's a great way to expand the adaptability of the druid as a spell caster while still getting the cool perks of the basic wild shape you also get the natural recovery class feature just similar to the Wizards arcane recovery feature letting you get more out of your spells because you can recover some with a short rest um and finally the druids of the circle of the land also gain abilities that help them navigate through difficult terrain much better than even every druid does the circle of the Shepherd and the circle of Dreams aren't quite a little bit more specialized than the circle of the land and the circle of the moon and as a result I feel that they're not as adaptable and as we talked about this is one of the most adaptable classes so having these these kind of more specializations you really need to kind of like what they're offering and really be into it if you're gonna choose that the circle of Dreams will give your druid a very powerful healing ability and make them a much better healer so if you are kind of being driven towards that party role you might appreciate the extra strength here whereas the circle of the Shepherd really bolsters the summoning capabilities of the druid I don't think though the the boost that the circle of the Shepherd gets the Summoner is equivalent to the boost that the circle of the moon gets as a shapeshifter and so let's talk about some of our favorite spells to keep in mind as you're playing your druid we're gonna start with some of the best and damage-dealing spells yeah and right off the bat druids getting a lot of really effective direct damage dealing spells like thunder wave erupting earth and wall of fire druids also get quite a few spells that require their concentration but then deal damage every round so spells like Moonbeam call lightning wall of fire and insect play some of which are completely unique to the druid Moonbeam is I love seeing that one cast it's so cool and call lightning a super iconic yeah well right and these are all great spells to augment the damage-dealing capability of a really aggressive wild shape form so next up let's look at the battle field control spells so the druid spells are super unique in this regard well you get built to control nature they really are so you and a lot of it is done by like summoning up plants yeah so you get spells like entangle spike growth plant growth or the more stone controlling spells like wall o stone where it feels like plants are coming up out of the ground to grasp your foes and hold them in place yeah you're basically controlling all of the nature around you to to basically attack the enemies which is a really cool kind of way to visualize your druids summoning forth these vines or things of that nature yeah and so I think when compared to the damage dealing spells versus the control spells your druid us to make that choice in the moment of like what's going to be the right ticket so I find it's a really good idea to prepare one of each and then make that assessment at the start of a battle what's going to be the right solution for that fight you've got one other thing competing for your concentration and that's the druid summoning spells summoning spells summon woodland creatures and conjure animals conjure elementals conjure Fae are amazing and pretty unique to the druid yeah you can you can get a small army of different creatures fighting for you and their either a meat shield or they can be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield so another major aspect of the druid is they can be a big healer in the party yeah you get the full suite of restoration magic if you're the only one bringing that in your party you're gonna be just fine yeah you can be the party Hitler yeah absolutely so let's talk about the utility spells and this is a huge category for the druid yeah and I think because as a druid you start to get really overwhelmed at this point at all the different concentration spells you want to keep an eye out for spells like long Strider dark vision and protection from poison which are low-level spells that you can use that lasts an hour that don't demand your concentration but give you some really nice defensive and utility perks that will last the whole adventure yeah and as what as well there's a lot of other utility smells like pasta that race is really great there's a really cool spells in here as well like bark skin plant growth there's a few others as well but you can bring dispel magic which is a great all-round spell it's all easy yeah you should always bring it if you can cast it is useful for emergency one of both of me and Monty's personal favorites is polymorph yeah because with polymorph it's a fourth level spell it's a big boost to kind of your wild shape it has some limitations that wild shape doesn't but also some big benefits because you can get some much higher challenge rating beasts out of it like the t-rex right I think at this point we should also mention the interaction between conjurer woodland beings because there's a lot of controversy or conjurer woodland beings because you can use it to summon Pixies and Pixies themselves can cast polymorph and fly so there's this legend of the druid summoning eight Pixies who then transform the entire party into flying Tyrannosaurus rexes this is a lot of fun to happen once in a campaign one last category of spells that I think is pretty key for druids is their debuffs or their mane which is ferry fire yeah ferry fire is so helpful in any battle like I I never have played a character that casts it but I always like being at a party with somebody who does I would also mention contagion is a fifth level spell that is so adaptable as a debuff as an offensive battlefield control spell that it's really worthwhile packing as you get into higher levels it's worth mentioning that with the druid some Dungeon Master's feel that the druid summoning spells and wild shape spells are far too permissive and so they might want to restrict what wild shape forms are available to the druid and what animals can and cannot be conjured with these spells because they can cause a lot of problems one of the most common options that I see is a lot of DMS will say that you cannot turn into a creature or summon a creature that you have not encountered so it is worthwhile talking with your dungeon master about what their expectations are with both wild shape and conjuring animals and decide whether your campaign is the type of campaign where it's okay to summon the Tyrannosaurus Rex transforming Pixies or not because that is the type of thing that can trigger a knee-jerk reaction for a dungeon from a dungeon master then it's completely unprepared for it so let's talk about some fun ideas for role-playing your druid there are so many cool places to start with this but let's begin with backgrounds hermit birch and Outlander Outlander I think there's the there's a couple different ways to approach for playing the druid the first is to kind of view your druid as a wild person on the fringes of society may be coming from a tribal society or really connected to this druidic circle that lives on the edge of civilization or maybe deep in the wilderness right so I think of a really big role-playing question that you need to answer with your druid is both what is your connection to nature is that does that mean that you're part of a tribe or in our organization and how does your druid feel about civilization and I think that that really plays up the antisocial nature of the druid which is a little bit of tired trope but it can be a fun one in the right mix but you say antisocial but at the same time they're usually part of a circle which makes them a very social part of a group already and I think that with your druid because your druids gonna go off into a life and adventure maybe your druid circle has a rite of passage that they send their druids out into the world and your objective is to find a sacred place or rescue an endangered animal or find some sort of elemental artifact to bring back to your druid maybe your druids are sent out into the world because you need to raise a standing stone in a sacred place to kind of shore up the borders between the natural world and the far realm now on top of that you could also go the route of in any campaign there's usually something upsetting the natural balance mm-hm there's usually some sort of natural habitat or environment that is being corrupted or changed by the evils in the world being a druid who's sent out to look into what's going on in those areas and try to correct the unbalance is a very easy way to tie into to your druid loving nature and kind of setting forth to correct that there's a big reason for druids to be ever vigilant exploring the natural world and maybe just making sure that certain places that haven't been visited by humans in generations are seen by the eyes of the druids to make sure they're okay one of the other really cool ideas that we talked about in tying your druid to nature is we mentioned before that there's there's the nice side of nature there's the harmony and the beauty but there's also the ferocity of nature yes and your druid could you know embody that the strong survive right I think that there's a fun idea that people like to think well my drugs probably a vegetarian because they love animals maybe your druid is tied deeply to the savagery of nature and in order to assume the form of an animal your druid needs to eat it it's the circle of life exactly and so druids might be completely merciless in that respect and view the world through the lens of survival of the fittest at the same time they might still think about that spiritual connection and the animal spirits that you inhabit even though there's savage creatures could actually be iconic and inherited so maybe when your druid transforms into a wolf you're not just transforming into any wolf you are transforming into the great white wolf of the Moon Hills a legendary creature that has been passed down in your circle for generations at the same time if you want to play the nice side of nature that's okay too yeah and I think that there's this great angle to play that that very peace and harmony listening to the spirits and always going out as your druid and asking like what is nature's call what does the world demand of me at the same time you don't always have to be going into this like I'm in love with nature I'm one with the trees there is also the idea of the the juror that's the biologist you have it studying nature and wants to discover its secrets great if your druid has a high intelligence score no matter what you choose here the druid is going to be tied to nature and tied to the elements that really create a strong character with a very diverse range of options the natural world is all around you as a druid you are in tune with the heartbeat of the seasons the breath of the wind and of the earth and the great sacred places of our world and you can just go out and explore our own natural world and find inspiration for a druid almost anywhere so this has been our guide to the juried class in Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition we hope that you feel inspired to take on the call of the wild and stand as a force of nature of course we would always love to hear about the Druids that you've played in your own campaigns and if you have any questions about how any of the druid mechanics work let us know in the comments below and since they are a primary spellcaster you may be interested in checking out our video on spells and spell casting right over here if the druid is not for you you might want to check out one of our other class guides right up over here please subscribe to our channel so you never miss an episode thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time in the dungeon [Music]

Channel: Dungeon Dudes

Views: 552,576

Keywords: dungeons, dragons, tabletop, gaming, roleplaying, games, accessories, rules, rule, gameplay, play, game, rpg, d20, player, character, D&D, 5e, DM, PC, tips, advice, guide, guides, review, dice, books, book, class, druid, nature, hermit, outcast

Id: JN7rXyn0oq0

Length: 35min 40sec (2140 seconds)

Published: Thu May 10 2018