Playing Druid in D&D 5e: A Complete Guide

This article will consolidate Druid Fortnight! I know it was a pretty niche topic, but I hope you enjoyed reading about one of the most multi-faceted character classes I’ve encountered in any gaming system. If you took away anything from this series, I hope it’s that druid is definitely worth experiencing. If you feel any desire to try the class out yourself, I highly recommend you give it a shot.

Table of Contents

• Introduction (How I Learned to Love the Druid)
• The 5 Best Races For Druids
• 5 Good Feats For Druids
• • The Oddest Shapeshift Form in the Game
  • 5 Ways to Fly as a Low-Level Druid
  • 5 Lesser-Known But Versatile Combat Options For Druids
• Why Every Druid Should Have a Familiar
• 10 All-Purpose Druid Spells
  • Comparing Druid’s Healing Spells
  • 5 Under-Used Druid Spells
  • Creative Uses for the “Shape Water” Spell
  • Creative Uses for the “Minor Illusion” Spell (not a druid spell, but I recommend grabbing it anyway if you can)
• On Choosing Your Weapons and Armor
  • 10 Pieces of Gear Every Adventurer Should Have

For the rest of this article, I’m going to quickly cover aspects of the druid I didn’t give their own article:

1. Backgrounds

Some people really like optimizing backgrounds, I think they’re more important for roleplay flavor. If you really want advice here, imo the best thing to do is pick something that gives you proficiency with thieves’ tools and/or Stealth.

Urchin has always been my favorite, doubling your travel speed in cities and giving you a pet mouse. The cheesiest background is no doubt Knight, granting you three retainers who travel with you and follow your orders. You can abuse their presence in all sorts of ways, not to mention lord other NPCs around because you’re a knight.

2. Subclasses

I think it’s pretty obvious by now that I never play anything but Moon Druid. I just can’t resist combat shapeshifting, plus immediately having access to as many different animal forms as possible. But I get that some players might want to focus on a different element of the class. And the good news is, druid doesn’t really have a bad subclass. No matter which one you pick, you’re still gonna kick ass and have a ton of options to bring to the table. If one of them’s calling to you, go for it. You won’t regret it.

3. On Multiclassing

Honestly, druids are one of the worst multiclassing candidates in the game. I wouldn’t recommend doing it. Firstly, you’re versatile enough, you don’t really need another classes’ abilities. Secondly, your Wildshape doesn’t combo with anything since it overrides your default form. Plus every dip slows down the rate at which you unlock new forms. And lastly, even a single dip prevents you from reaching one of the greatest capstones in the game, Archdruid at level 20. Unlimited wildshapes is one of the most incredible buffs in the game, you essentially have infinite HP so long as nothing one-shots you. It’s worth holding out for.

4. On Summoning

Druids (or conjuration wizards) are the best class in the game for summoning builds. Summon beast and healing spirit come online early, and later spells like conjure animals, summon fey and conjure woodland beings only add to your beastmaster options. These animals can be used to tank damage, create party mounts, or overwhelm enemies through sheer volume of attacks. The ‘Circle of the Shepherd’ subclass massively augments this playstyle, granting magic damage and teamwide buffs for your critters.

5. Magic Items

I don’t lose sleep over these, as it’s usually the GM’s prerogative what magic items come anyone’s way. But if I somehow get the chance to weigh in, there are two magic items that are seriously worth any efforts to obtain them. The first is the Tome of Understanding, literally just a permanent +2 Wisdom. Considering you normally need to level up four times to get that opportunity, this is incredible and worth it for any druid. The second item is any Belt of Giant Strength. Strength is a dump stat for druids, so that belt’s gonna chonkify the hell out of you. But more importantly, it still works during Wildshape! Almost every beast uses Strength to calculate their damage, so this empowers your entire wildshape arsenal. Even if you’re not a Moon Druid, you now get the ability to turn into a mouse with 20+ Strength.

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And with that, I’ll give Medic her blog back and return us to regularly-scheduled video-gaming articles. I’m glad I was able to give her a half-month off, she puts in so much work writing articles. Hope you’re all doing well, and see you later!

(Update: I wrote another silly druid article, 5 Wildshapes Your DM Will Not Allow, which you might also like!)