So the druid's strengths are obvious at a glance. I'll go ahead and list off its major weaknesses so that your fears might be put to rest.

1. Druid forms have a lot of HP because that is how they tank. Their AC is crushingly low though. That bear form should have an AC of about 11 and their best AC forms top out around 13-14. This means they get hit by almost every attack thrown their way, which in turn knocks them out of form frequently enough that their true HP is still vulnerable if they get focus fired.

2. Their animal forms don't have a very good hit chance as a general rule and at level 5 they don't get a second attack, so their melee damage lags far behind dedicated melee classes like fighter, barbarian, or rogue.

3. They can't cast spells in animal form until the 18th level, which means that if they lose concentration in animal form they can't re-cast a spell without exiting their form and losing that wildshape charge until their next rest. This might be an issue with how available short and long rests are in BG3 but that is an issue all classes currently have. It also means they can't make use of most of their cantrips or cast emergency support or control spells without abandoning their shape. To play a druid optimally you really need to be good at assessing when to use your wildshapes and when to hang back and play as a caster as you can't easily do both at once.

4. Most of their best spells are concentration based which means they're easy to shut down with focus fire. This has the benefit of letting them concentrate in animal form to boost their wildshape performance, but their low AC also makes them way more likely to lose concentration. It also limits their potential magical damage output compared to a wizard or warlock, as the druid is more tailored to control and support.

5. Their caster form is probably going to have middling AC too. Medium armor... But they can't wear metal. That means no mail or half-plate or what have you. Hide is the best armor they can manage and it is only 12+. So assuming optimized Dex and a shield they're sitting at only 16AC. Nothing ground breaking. I dunno if Larian is going to enforce this rule or not, but it is how 5e handles it. This could also change if we find a suit of dragonscale armor or an ironbark breastplate later in the game, but so far nothing like that exists in Act 1.

6. Speaking of AC, being a druid doesn't mean you can totally dump Dex or Con. You need Con to maintain concentration on spells when not in beast form and you need Dex to make sure your caster form's AC isn't abysmal, as you'll likely get knocked out of form at least occasionally. Likely while surrounded by enemies. Strength is an obvious dump stat, but what full caster can't safely dump strength and still be good?


All in all druid is a very strong class. Particularly moon druid which has a reputation for being OP at the very early levels. It evens out at levels 5 and up though.