The Circle of the Moon is a feature in Dungeons and Dragons 5e that turns Druids into versatile martial characters while still providing full spellcasting. Druids can start casting spells from their Circle of the Moon Spells table as early as level 3, allowing them to choose between staying in their Beast form or using circle spells connected to their chosen land. Circle forms are mostly a utility feature for most Druids, but for Circle of the Moon Druids, they can start casting spells from their Circle of the Moon Spells table as early as level 3.
At levels 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th, Druids gain access to circle spells connected to their chosen land, such as arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, or Underdark. These spells can be changed as the moon, allowing Druids to transform themselves into various forms. At level 3 and beyond, Druids gain access to additional spells known as part of their Circle of the Moon subclass. Land Druids excel at casting spells with added versatility from Circle Spells related to their terrain, while Moon Druids become formidable front-line fighters with increased survivability.
The Circle of the Moon is arguably the most popular choice for Druids, especially those still fairly new to the game. However, it’s not an easy or basic Circle, and it carries a primal ferocity. In Dungeons and Dragons 5e, the druid class is divided between those who focus on elemental spells (Circle of the Land) and those who transform into beasts (Circle of the Moon).
Land Druids get additional spells that they always have prepared, such as Entangle for restraining enemies and Barkskin for boosting AC. D and D 5e druids are among the game’s best spellcasting classes, but Moon druid builds cannot cast in Wild Shape until very high levels. Druids can use a druidic focus as a spellcasting focus for their spells.
📹 Why You Should Play Circle of the Moon Druid
This is my FAVORITE Druid subclass to play. It is part of the reason why I fell in love with D&D. So it’s easy to say why you should …
Do Circle of the moon druids get spells?
Level 3 of the Circle of the Moon Spells table allows you to always have prepared spells when reaching a Druid level. This feature can be used while in Wild Shape form. Level 3 also allows you to channel lunar magic when in Wild Shape form, providing challenges, armor class, and temporary hit points. The maximum Challenge Rating for the form is your Druid level divided by 3, and your AC until leaving the form is 13 plus your Wisdom modifier if it’s higher than the Beast’s AC.
Can Circle of the moon Druids fly?
Druids, including Moon Druids, cannot take forms with a swim speed until level 4 and fly speed until level 8, making many fantastic forms for their CR poorer. Wild Shape is an exciting and versatile Druid class feature, but it is easy to use poorly. Understanding Wild Shape involves understanding which forms work, which work in specific situations, and which forms never work. You can only use Wild Shape twice per short rest, and a single use of Wild Shape often needs to last at least an entire fight on average.
Healing yourself as a bonus action is expensive compared to casting a spell with that slot. There is confusion around Wild Shape rules and its interaction with racial traits and class features. Listening to an episode of the Dragon Talk podcast, where Jeremy Crawford discusses the minutiae of Wild Shape and its interaction with other things, is highly recommended.
How good is Circle of the moon druid?
The Circle of the Moon druid in D and D 5e is a subclass that prioritizes using Wild Shape in combat over spellcaster abilities. It offers improved Wild Shape forms, more abilities, and the ability to become an elemental at high levels. Combat Wild Shape is a bonus action that allows a Moon druid to enter combat, shift, and take almost a full first turn. However, its bonus action healing is inefficient but can be life-saving.
Circle Forms ensures that a D and D 5e druid can rely on their Wild Shapes in combat, lifting the CR cap for Wild Shape forms significantly. This keeps a Moon druid competitive but results in unpredictable spikes and dips in power across twenty levels.
What race is best for Circle of moon druid 5e?
The Best Moon Druid Races in Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Editions feature various races, including Kobold, Aasimar, Hobgoblin, Orc, and Bugbear. The Circle of the Moon Druid is unique in its use of Wild Shape as its primary combat tool, increasing the CR of Beasts it can turn into and unlocking Elementals as a higher-power option. This gives the Moon Druid an unconventional role as a close-range striker and tank, unlike most other Druid subclasses in D and D 5e.
However, the unclear rules that allow Druids to use their race and lineage open up new options that would be too situational for most characters. The Moon Druid’s unique combat Wild Shape allows it to be a close-range striker and tank, making it an interesting and versatile race.
Can a druid turn into an owlbear?
It is not possible for druids to assume the form of an owlbears, as such a transformation would be regarded as a monstrosity in the context of the fifth edition of the game. However, owlbears exhibit comparable statistics to beasts with an equivalent challenge rating, thereby allowing a Dungeon Master to permit a druid to transform into one without compromising the overall equilibrium of the game.
Do druids worship the moon?
In ancient Ireland, the moon was a mysterious and superstitious object, with Celtic druids placing great emphasis on it and arranging their calendars. Work or business undertaken during the moon’s growth (waxing) was considered successful, while work begun during the moon’s waning was less likely to succeed. A child born during a new moon had good health and wealth prospects. It was considered good practice to set seeds as the moon waxed, and scollops for thatching roofs were cut as the moon increased.
The waning moon also indirectly benefitted body-sores and warts, as they decreased in size. Pigs and sheep were usually killed during the waxing period, and people were more inclined to save money as the moon filled and spend it as it waned.
Do druids have access to all spells?
Druids are constrained in the number of spells they can prepare on a daily basis. Furthermore, their capacity for spellcasting is contingent upon the number of spells on their spell list, which may be rendered inoperable or obstructed by extensions.
What can I turn into as a Circle of the moon druid?
At the second level of advancement, Circle of the Moon druids are able to assume the form of beasts with a challenge rating of 1 or lower. At the sixth level, the druid is able to transform into a beast with a challenge rating equal to or lower than their druid level divided by three, rounded down. It should be noted that this feature is disabled or blocked by extensions, and that browsers do not support cookies.
Do druids know all their cantrips?
At the initial level, the player gains proficiency in two cantrips from the druid spell list. Additional cantrips are learned at higher levels, as illustrated in the Cantrips Known column of the Druid table. In the event that JavaScript is disabled or blocked by an extension or browser that does not support cookies, the functionality described herein will not be available.
How many druid circles can you have?
Druids in Dungeon and Dragons are nature-centric characters who can summon animal allies, control plant life, and shape their bodies into dangerous or celestial forms. They share an affinity with the natural world and elements, and spend their long lives attempting to maintain the balance of nature. There are seven Druidic Circles to choose from, each offering an opportunity to explore nature.
Druids are often portrayed as Wild Shape users who love nature, but there are more to this class and its seven official subclasses. They have a deep understanding of their land and can cast specialized spells at levels three, five, seven, and nine, connected to their original land. These regions include arctic regions, grasslands, deserts, coastal regions, forests, mountains, swamps, and even the Underdark.
In summary, Druids are a nature-centric class with seven official subclasses and eight regions to choose from. They have a deep understanding of their land and can cast specialized spells at different levels.
Did druids worship the moon?
The myth of Lugh, the god of light, was killed by Tanist, the lord of misrule, during the end of summer. Samhain marks the transition from life to death, and Tanist becomes ruler of the Druids’ world. The long nights of moonlight were believed to be due to Tanist’s cruel and cold nature. The Feast of the Dead, held on Samhain Eve, united the past, present, and future, with the spirits of the dead and unborn walking among the living.
This divine time was considered one of two times when the “veil” between Earth and the Otherworld was at its thinnest. The ancient Druids believed that a person’s spirit lived in their head, and displaying the head of an enemy killed during Samhain prevented harm to the living.
📹 You Might Be a Circle of the Moon Druid | Druid Subclass Guide for DND 5e
Dnd #druid #moon Hey! Guess what. You’re Awesome and thanks for watching. I promise this is the best DND tutorial based on a …
My first class in a DnD campaign and I simply love it… Hard to see myself as other class! It was a bit hard on the beginning, but rules are not so hard for new players as you said! All you need is some extra prep and homework to get used to all possibilities, I’m currently level 4 and still thinking/learning new strategies because brown bear is starting to feel repetitive haha
I’ve just gotten into D&D during the pandemic and my very first character atm is a Circle of the Moon Druid Tiefling born to a tribe of wild-elves, I roleplay him as basically “a more civilized tarzan” – the process for creating my character was very simple – when I play games like MOBAs – RPGs and MMORPGs I like to play as the durable archetypes like bruisers and fighters and tanks, and I have huge fondness for animals and specially an affinity for BEARS – so basically: Me: which class I should choose? DM: Druid, Circle of the Moon. Me: ….and why is that? (me about to google up info) DM: you have a very potent ability to turn into a bear and be tanky- Me: – SOLD!!!!!! I absolutely love Circle of the Moon, before making my character I already knew I would lean towards Druid because I like nature-magic-themes in fantasy – surely it has been a task to learn all the intricacies and specifics of the class and subclass, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience and the vast tools of creativity – it’s my very firs character but I can already say this’ll be one of if not my absolute favorite class and subclass in the game
My Moon Druid character was a Chaotic Neutral Human-Dhampir, who was attacked by a vampire. After turning into a half-vampire thing she got scared and run away from home, isolating herself in the forests, so she couldn’t hurt anyone. Following the path of the Moon Druid, helped her find inner peace and accept her new self. As well as control the hunger for blood. We agreed with the GM, that my character had to make Wisdom Saves, when she smells a lot of blood, feels strong emotions, after a long rest, etc. If she fails 3 times in a row, she goes into “blood frenzy” and attacks anyone close to her to feed. So maxing Wisdom was not only class related, but also to the character. Especially, I loved to you use Vampire Fangs in Beast Shape, since I convinced the GM that if the animal has fangs, it could also use this ability.
Way late on commenting here but i had a similar thought towards thousand shapes not really being ‘the best’, so i took a little bit of time and came up with a semi replacement for it, though will lead with the caveat that i am rather newish so…probably incredibly broken. Primal Rage: Tapping into the truest wild nature of your animal forms, you’re able to call upon even stronger CR beasts to transform into. You are able to transform into higher level CR beasts than before, but in order to keep control of the more powerful and dangerous form must pass a DC 15 intelligence check, with rolling at disadvantage if the beast CR rating is greater than half your druid level. In addition, for every 2 CR ratings beyond half your druid level, increase the required intelligence check by 1. If you fail the intelligence check, you go ‘primal’ and become a neutral but hostile party to both friends and foe alike, and any concentration spells active from the player will ‘break’ (still working on how to best balance, if give control to DM as though player was hypnotized by a third party bad guy or something similar.) The player must make an intelligence saving throw of whatever their initial required throw was,+1. This wild shape form is volatile and powered by extreme emotions, and puts immense strain on both the druids body and magic, and thus can only be held for a minute before the player is reverted back to their normal form.
I decided my BB/druid MC goes into mania and is ruled by his base urges and instincts when his Rage ends. That way, my character has a reason to want to avoid using the OP power- there is a roleplaying cost to choosing that OP strategy. In fact, it can be a combat cost too if the Rage ends before the fight ends.
I tried to play moon druid 3 times, never get to level 5… The first time my DM said “druids are so broken so you can’t play him anymore” (lvl 3) Second time the DM said “we need to nerf the wild shape, it’s no longer a bonus action, it’s an action now”, rending it just unplayable and limited my choices to only tanky beasts so that I don’t die in the first round (level 4, I quit). And finally 3rd time, my level 3 party came against a dragon, out of nowhere, and guess who was the only one that died without even get the chance to roll a die… Sad that DMs out there don’t want people to play druids, and then the community say that the druids sucks
my biggest problem is the lack of spell casting . to lock like your main class behind a level 18 feature is beyond supid . like if a barberian when raging cant use weapons sound stupid but thats exactly it ! the one dnd “fix” is abbesmel the first draft with pre determind stats was …. ok but the stats was AWFUL . the second change with 3 up to 5 wildshapes … are you kidding me !!!!! limiting the flixblity of wildshape that much is beyond stupid ! and removing the elementals stats to be a sailor moon druid … aaaaaagh Just … give half the HP of the beast as either Temp hp or a ward … that is the fix … really …. half the HP of a cr1 creature is the same hp as a cr1/4 …. I did a homebrew where taht was the rule and that is what I FOUND !!! make the druid use spells and the items of thier charcter … just make it easy the stats arent that broken so they get to butcher my charcter and keep looking oh what I can use against what I cant use. so keep the unlimited flixblity. Give us 2 stats . a verstile utlity . a verstile combat and a third stat for moon combat stats . give us the temp HP but I would like a ward like feature because so many features give temp HP “including the new barkskin spell so thats redundant” or just say that temp HP can be stacked … like what is the worst can happen ! ooooh temp hp spells and healing would acctually be worth it booooo scaaary the stat would have sky land sea beasts and then another choice be is it strong or is it agile . depend on the second choice change the str or dex stat to equal wisdome and finally just have an unarmed strike .
I would definitely say that the Moon Druid is the most front-loaded of any subclass in the game. You can the ability to Wildshape into CR1 creatures at level 2. That’s insanity. A Moon Druid at level 2 is equivalent to an entire party of level 2 players. In fact, I would say that, as a DM, I would even avoid level 2 play with a Moon Druid in the party to make sure the other players still feel valuable and the druid still feels challenged. The first time I played a Moon Druid, I was a Lizardfolk from Chult who knew about dinosaurs because dinos are everywhere in Tomb of Annihilation. Being able to Wildshape into a deinonychus and evicerate everything with your three attacks in one turn while being this big defensive blob of HP is absolutely absurd lol. The Moon Druid at level 2 likely has more HP between those two wildshapes and their own than the rest of the party combined, unless the rest of the party is all barbarians. And this continues to be the case every time the Moon Druid goes up a CR for their Wildshapes, at least up to level 10, after which point the Moon Druid starts to fall off, but since you almost never play beyond level 10 anyway, that’s fine.
Im making a Tiefling druid hippie, in his backstory he was raised by wolves so i thought being a moon druid would be fitting since wolves love the moon. i originally did the circle of the forest and i am kind of conflicted because by choosing circle of the moon im throwing away three spells for a stronger wildshape and im trying to rationalize whether or not its worth it since my group already has two fighters.
My favorite character is a moon Druid I’m playing right now. While he’s not full on lunacy he does believe he’s a dragon to the very fiber of his being and no one can convince him otherwise. This being the case he only wildshaped into reptiles or dragon looking creatures being dinosaurs. Also grew up in the wild so clothes are usually optional for him
I played: barbarian totem warrior, fighter champion, fighter samurai, ranger beast master, warlock genie, sidekicks (all 3 types), rogue scout… and now I’m playing moon druid. its potential is absolutely uncomparable to all other classes I played ~ healing, utility, support, area of control, full caster, tank, frontliner, striker, infiltrator, survivalist, etc. u can change spells during rest, fun roleplay, high wisdom, versatility, ultimate party helper, guide… freaking awesome. like all druid subclasses though, they all fun. highly recommend to have druid in your party, so cool
I love playing my moondruid. Only thing Im a little bummed out by is that your spells don’t really synergize all that well with your wildshape until you get shield of fire at level 7. I would love to burn my spellslots to buff my ac or my damage in beastform bust most spells feel kinda lackluster and not worth it. Druid spells are great, just not really that nice of a synergy. Also a shame that there are so little beasts with a higher cr than 2.
I honestly hate the moon subclass. It’s so helplessly overpowered that almost nobody ever plays any other druid subclass. Plus if you do play a different subclass, then there’s always someone telling you that you should have gone for moon druid because it’s just way better than your thematically amazing spore or dreams druid.
Been playing Moon Druid now for 3 months. I’ve found it to be balanced if not slightly weaker than a Circle of Lands. Fun factor is definitely A+ but overall I can’t give it better than a B/B- ranking because of its mechanical limitations. Note: We often have 5+ encounters or 2 to 3 “Deadly” encounters a long rest. So your mileage may very.
My favorite thing about these guides is while most just focus on the pros and cons, while stressing the meta options, these guides just focus on how badass specifically that subclass can be. It’s kinda refreshing to see someone highlighting the intended purposes of each classes instead of just picking the statistically strongest of each class and being boring.
Loving these articles! I just wanted to mention that I’m playing a Moon Druid rn and you get 2x Wild Shapes per short, not long rest, so theoretically if you’re taking your short rests you can have 6x Dire Wolf HP totals to burn through per day. Somehow this class is even more busted than you already said. I love it!
A Druid Evil Overlord would be an absolute nightmare to deal with. Imagine this scenario: You’ve managed to find the Resistance, and have all the major players needed to take Treehugger the Evil down, when suddenly a pigeon flys overhead, craps on you, and suddenly a Sunburst goes off in the middle of you all. At least half the people who got hit are probably dead, and there’s a good chance that several of them are blind. Suddenly the bird swoops down, transforms into Treehugger, and then Wildshapes again into a T-Rex while simultaneously casting Firestorm. Assuming you’re still alive, you manage to make it forward, and you’re finding it dastardly hard to hit the T-Rex while it apparently has forgotten how to miss(Foresight), and if you DO manage to finally hit the bastard, he regenerates almost immediately(Regenerate). Oh yeah, and if you do the math, Treehugger still has 18 Spell Slots left.
So, people always look at moon druid as the most complicate subclass in the game, but in reality you only need to have your hands on a few stat blocks every level. The reason being is that your always going to use the strongest beasts you can turn into, so you’ll only need those stat blocks plus a handful more for specific occasions.
I’m playing my first druid and without knowing too much about it, just picking for what sounded fun, I made a Tortle Moon Druid. Last session (at level 5) I cast Summon Fey for the first time, and I think our DM is starting to hate me. I also was a giant spider crawling over the ceiling and right on top of one of the baddies I dropped wild shape and all 535 pounds of giant desert tortoise dropped on his head. He failed a dex save and my DM had to figure out how much damage that did when hitting you from 20 feet up. And as a Tortle, even when they carve through my Direwolf form, I have an AC of 19 as a tortle with a shield. I rarely get any personal damage once I take my first turn. I didn’t set out to min-max Olo, but it sure as heck is working out that way. Hmmm. Think my DM would have a problem with me adding a level of Twilight Cleric? (ducking and running)
Even better be a Longtooth shifter then if your DM allows pick Quandrix/Prismari Student or Rakdos Cultist backgrounds this adds haste to your spell list now precast haste & wildshape into a bear which has multi-attack now you get a third attack from haste & a 4th bonus action attack from longtooth shifter. You get 3rd level spells at level 5 the same level most martials get extra attack. Real cute fighter you attack twice I attack 4 times.
Since you can only shape change into a beast you have seen, it does limit some craziness. My 8th level dwarf druid has only just seen his first polar bear and can now shape change into one. Hasn’t seen any whales, elephants or rhinos yet. We’ll see if he ever does. Otherwise, yeah he is pretty good. But the other 8th level characters in our group are pretty darn good in their own right.
The metal armor restriction is INVALID because it tells you what your character is willing to do. It’s YOUR character, the rules do not tell you what you are or aren’t willing to do (outside of curses or other mind control stuff). You invented this character, you created its personality, no one has any right to tell you that your character isn’t willing to wear metal armor.
BladeSinger: Deals so much damage with so many attacks level 10, it already trumps a fighter paladin that’s at level 20. HexBlade: Mr I’m a wizard at level 5 that can outlive your level 20 wizard. Tottem Warrior: literally a Barbarian on steroids on steroids. Moon Druid: so overly powered even Gaia, the freaken Mother of the Earth itself, is shaking in her boots
i have a player who made a moon druid that has like three hundred hp effectively. there level 10 btw (at least I think they’re level 10 I keep forgetting their bloody level). Oh and before I go I should mention he still almost dies this one villain shows up that was actualy his character in the last campaign. Seriously that guys damage was bullshit. And I low ball it as the dm if he was a player he’d wreck face. PS stealing that idea for an evil druid btw thxxx
Druids are brokenly good at lvl2 then gets worse and worse until they are pretty bad at lvl9. Basically the spell you cast before wildshape and concentrate on does more damage then you. Lvl 10 is okay. Honestly elemental shapes are pretty much always the best thing you can wileshape into. But then beast spells make them top tier casters in their forms. And Archdruid is the most broken thing ever. Every turn you can wildshape into an Earth Elemental with 126hp and resistance to non-magical physical damage. So unless your opponent is doing more than 126 (or 252) dmg, you can just flat ignore them.
Why pick only 1 element if can use all 4 at once (at least flavor wise, mechanically not sure though) pick mark of warding dwarf, Levistus tiefling, 1 lvl of warlock or 2 lvls of clockwork soul for Armor of Agathys (cold damage=ice/water), cast fire shield on yourself (fire), cast gust of wind (air) and turn into an earth elemental (earth).
Calculating CR is pretty busted in DND, your CR is your level divided by three rounded down, this means a level 20 player as a challenge rating of 6. The developers over at Wizards of the Coast were always supposed to take this mathematical formula into account and make sure that a single playable class with maxed out class features is no stronger than a challenge rating six creature.😂
moon druids are busted early and fall off later, it’s kinda sad. you break the game early and then later your stuff doesn’t scale very well through the whole mid game. and then late game your standard druid spells are SO good that it’s still better to just sling spells and use wildshape for utility or backup, which other druids can also do.
I got to disagree with moon druid being unquestionably bane able before 17+, you’d be surprised how fast a moon druid can go down compared to the fighter just because of AC we spent a full afternoon looking for the tankiest wild shapes available for our moon druid and there still being brought down, meanwhile I don’t think I’ve ever seen our fighter hit 0 hit points, ac is important and the moon druid doesn’t get a good ac until they dip in monk or use shapechange. still this was a very fun article regardless
Though Druids are mechanically incredibly powerful, in terms of flavor they get incredibly shafted. A Druid’s magic is neither arcane, eldritch, nor divine in origin – it literally comes from creation itself. And yet for SOME reason, everyone just assumes that means plants, animals, and a couple elemental spells here and there. It’s honestly kinda frustrating, considering in most magic settings Druids are often the OG casters. You’d think they’d have access to older, more powerful stuff, right? Nope, but you can be a furry, how cool is that! 😀 (This is not a dig on furries btw I just really don’t like how Druids are treated)
A nice combo for a antagonist for a group of 4 level 13-14 players would be: A shadar-kai archdruid of the moon that knows that the party is coming casts foresight (lasts 8 hours/ no concetration), uses trance, gets back 9 level spell in 4 hours. A few moments before the party arrives, casts fire shield (optional spell for druids) using the cold version and when the heros arrive turns in an acient white dragon Right now your antagonist has resistance to fire and necrotic (so F to your necromancer) and is imune to cold, all atacks against him have desavantage, everything he does has advantage, atacks that manages to hit gets 2d8 cold damage. After the party manages to eat the 333 hit points of the white dragon, they will have to deal with the full might of the animal kingdom (I would recomend bonus action mammoth, action draconic transformation. You would have a fly pachyderm throwing kamehameha every turn) Hope someone likes the idea
Tbh, I think you’re blowing the power of Moon Druids out of proportion a little bit. Moon Druids actually have some weaknesses, and some of them are very, very glaring. For example, your DM can easily just straight-up kill you instantly while in Wildshape with Power Word: Kill or Divine Word if they decide they’re fed up with your tankiness (which, uh… totally hasn’t happened to me…), and the second problem with Moon Druid is that it scales badly at high levels. Once you get Elementals, that’s realistically the most powerful option available to you until level 18 when you finally get something just marginally stronger in the Mammoth, and that elemental isn’t going to be defeating Arcgon, the Dragon-King of Fire. And one other, more minor weakness of Moon Druids is that their AC is never going to be great. Beasts tend to have terrible AC, so while you might be a big ball of HP, you can go through that HP pretty quickly given the frequency with which you’ll be taking hits, and of course any time you take hits, you can drop concentration on whatever spell you cast before Wildshaping, so Moon Druids actually make pretty terrible spellcasters. Well, unless they pick up Resiliant (Con) or War Caster, but you have to spend a whole ASI on that. And sure, you can cast Barkskin, but 16 AC still isn’t great, and concentrating on Barkskin means you’re not concentrating on, you know, literally anything else.
The only thing is that Moon Druids are busted from 2-4 (because yay cave bear with multi-attack!) and 18-20, but pretty mid from 5-17 (the meat of most campaigns). Druids are the best class in the game because of their glut of shutdown spells. Let the martials handle the damage dealing while you just absolute lock the battlefield down (remember: taking damage will break your concentration eventually). Moon Druid is *fun*, but not the overpowered monstrosity a lot of players think they are. Again, Moon Druid is busted in lowbie adventures since they just have an asston of HP and can access multi-attack, but falls behind once all the martials get Extra Attack.
That was hilarious 😂 I already knew druids are strong, but this… 😅 It’s not just raw power either. The versatility! You can deal both physical and magic damage, you can shapeshift into creatures immune to specific types of damage, you can turn into a mouse, or a cat, or a spider (who would ever notice a spider on the ceiling????) and squeeze through cracks to infiltrate places and spy on enemies without being noticed, and you will do a better job than any thief ever could! You can heal, you can inflict different types of damage, fire, ice, poison, acid, necrotic – etc, and you can turn into massive beasts with huge hp pools capable of dealing massive damage, is there ANYTHING a druid can’t do?
It’s not anywhere near busted. You can only wild shape into a beast. And beasts are notorious for scaling horribly in 5e. Levels 1-4 your god. Level 5 when martials get multitrack really levels the field. Casting in wild shape is amazing…. If your game ever reaches that level (which 99% of games don’t)
Isn’t the concentration spell + wild shape combo kind of unnecessary? When you’re wildshaped you probably want to go in the front lines and then with just one failed constitution saving throw you lose concentration immediately. Ofc it can still work for flying combos (the heat metal stuff) – no doubt about that.
Imagine when you like a level 12 or 13 magic turning into an elephant and then using the elemental power becoming a literal elephant made of fire running at about 25 miles an hour that would mean the bad guy could be mind their own business trying to get ready and then a littoral flaming ball of death is charging at them at 25 mph you’re a freaking Cannonball
so hear me out… 21st level druid bad guy. turns into a giant ape every turn. congratulations u did 155 damage in one turn now u can hurt the boss. oops u did 170 damage so only 15 damage to there base form better luck next turn. and druids live forever so reaching 21 level is something the bad guy should be able to do.
Fun fact go 2 levels Barbarian and the rest moon Druid at level 20 you can turn in to a dragon and rage there for Halfling a lot of damage taken while still attacking recklessly and using breath attack. This is my plan but where currently level 8 and the dm said at level 20 where gunna end on a free for all for fun 😈
So if you’re a DM running a very tactical game and the party has a Moon Druid, what spells do you give to your intelligent enemy spellcasters to shut him down? The obvious answer is Hold Monster, but that’s a Wisdom Save and Wisdom is a Druid’s whole thing. Strength Saves are good if the druid is in their natural form, but most of the time they’ll be something with a ridiculously high Strength mod.
I love these breakdowns I hope you keep doing more of them also just sidenote on the Beast Boy comment he doesn’t just get wild shape he gets sheep change the only reason you don’t see him turn into anything else other than animals is because he’s too dumb to understand that he can turn into stuff like demons and Dragons
Hey REALLY quick. I know this is very minor but at 0:08 to 0:13 I can see a problem where that MIGHT trigger someones epilepsy. I got a slight headache from it and I am not even epileptic. I absolutely love this article and once again you did GREAT work. But that actually seems like something crucial to point out.
Man, you think the 5e Moon Druid is broken, I legit ran a 3.5 campaign off the rails with my Druid he was so damn powerful. In the end, my DM did what you suggested and threw our party against a shadow version of ourselves. My Druid facing off against his own shadow is by far the hardest fight I have had in 20 years of playing the game, through multiple editions. Amazing content by the way, I can’t wait to watch your next one!