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When it comes to Dungeons & Dragons‘ adventuring parties, each class has a significant role to play, but not all parties are created equally. Sometimes, the party may be lacking a dedicated healer or a tank, requiring everyone to pull their weight to make up for what’s missing. Luckily, some classes can fill a variety of roles — and the Druid is one of these.
Druids have access to powerful healing spells that keep everyone up and running, even in the unfortunate event that they fall dead. Some Druids can even call upon the training of their Circle to transform themselves into powerful beasts that more than make up for the lack of a tank. Catering a Druid’s build to fulfill a multitude of roles makes them an indispensable member of the party that no one will want to leave home without.
Focus On Wisdom to Create a Powerful Druid
Wisdom is a Druid’s most important stat. Not only does it determine their spell modifier and attack damage, but it also gives a boost to important skills like Animal Handling, Survival, Perception, Insight and Medicine. These will allow a Druid to do things like track and scout, determine important details about a person’s behavior or a situation, and perform an essential healing role within the party.
Secondary to WIS are Constitution and Dexterity. When a Druid uses their Wild Shape, they become powerful animals and adopt the stat block for the beast they transform into, but when they are in their humanoid form, it’s important for them to have solid CON and DEX. Many of the Druid’s spells rely on concentration to maintain, and a strong CON modifier will lend to the likelihood of a success when making a concentration check to maintain a spell.
Best Races for a Druid
When it comes to choosing a race for a Druid, those that provide a powerful WIS boost are best. Getting as much WIS as possible at the start of the game means more powerful spell attacks and a higher level of difficulty when it comes to enemies making spell saves against their attacks. Firbolgs and Kalashtar both start out with +2 WIS, though their secondary stats (Strength and Charisma, respectively) are both dump stats for a Druid.
Lizardfolk and Loxodon on the other hand, gain +1 WIS and +2 CON, while Kenku and Aarakocra both get +1 WIS and +2 DEX, which gives all four of these options a much-needed boost to two important stats. Additionally, Aarkocra can fly, which makes them even more appealing.
The Most Powerful Druid Circle
When it comes to choosing a powerful Druid Circle at level three, the Circle of the Moon can’t be beat. This Circle focuses more heavily than the others on the Druid’s Wild Shape abilities, making them a tanking force to be reckoned with. Not only can they use their bonus action to Wild Shape and take their movement to get closer to their target, they can then attack — all in one round. In time, this Druid can even Wild Shape into Elemental forms, which are formidable enemies in combat. The Circle of Spores is another great option that provides the Druid with incredibly useful necromantic magic that continues to grow alongside them as they level up.
The Best Spells for Druids
As the party grows, the enemies they face become more daunting, and a Druid’s Wild Shape ability feels far less effective at higher levels. That means Druids will have to choose powerful spells to help them increase their power and maintain their role within the party. Early on, cantrips like Shape Water, Thorn Whip and Guidance can help the party out of sticky situations or aid them in finding their way.
At level one, the bonus action spell Healing Word is a must-have because not only can the Druid heal an ally from a short distance, but they can still take their action and movement to play a role in battle. Entangle is a great way to capture enemies the party wants to keep alive for questioning, while Goodberries can provide minor healing and sustenance when the party is running low on supplies. Level two is great for spells like Pass Without a Trace, which helps the entire party keep on the stealthy side, and Summon Beast allows the Druid to summon an extra ally to fight alongside everyone in battle.
Spell levels three and four provide access to more powerful options like Dispel Magic, Conjure Animals, Stone Shape, Stone Skin and Polymorph. As enemies become more dangerous and Wild Shape starts losing its appeal, Polymorph is a great solution to turn oneself or other party members into more intimidating beasts, like T-Rexes. At levels five and six, spells such as Greater Restoration and Heroes Feast become must haves, as they can rid the party of debilitating effects and buff them before big battles.
During the last three spell levels, Druids can learn how to do things like Planeshift and Reverse Gravity. Feeblemind can destroy an enemy’s mind completely, making it impossible for them to recover unless someone else dispels the effect at a later time. Finally, while Wild Shape is definitely an amazing feature, Shapechange at level nine is even more awesome.
Best Feats for Druids
When it comes to taking a feat to empower a Druid, there are two that really stand out. First and foremost, Resilient allows a +1 increase to any stat, which can push that ever-important Wisdom closer to the max. They also gain proficiency in saving throws the rely on that stat.
However, the most important feat for a Druid to take is War Caster, as it allows them to really take advantage of their ability to maintain concentration on the spells that may be keeping everyone else alive. War Caster grants the Druid advantage on CON saves, allows them to cast spells without somatic components and lets them cast a spell as an attack of opportunity when a target tries to move away from them.
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