Yeah I like that, storm wizard basically with some fur in the backfield

One other thing, just cause the Druid's big power spikes come at off levels, if you're just trying to make it to the midgame best move is probably to Kite in almost every encounter. In BG3 kiting usually means drawing agro from a distance, pulling back and then skipping a bunch of turns, so that the enemies will defeat themselves against your spike growths and firewalls and such, with the minimal amount of work put in.

To me that's an awkward thing to get used to, just clicking End Turn a bunch of times and waiting for the enemy to reposition or run into their doom. Druids have some issues in that their standard kit doesn't involve a ranged weapon like a Bow for distance pings, but that's where Call Lightning really comes in handy since you can edge that AoE into frame, pull back, and watch as they all just die. Or you could just swoop the gloves of archery if you want a Long Bow. To kite with Spikes you can get your practice in at the Goblin camp main exterior area, since Goblins just run headlong half the time. Especially if you cast your Spikegrowth onto a spot where the enemy is already standing, so they don't try to walk around it but through it. Either way they'll cluster up and then you can use stuff like Ice Knife to edge em out. I think Flaming Sphere is pretty hard to use and instantly outmoded, easier to do the Spike Growth and ranged spells. Then later on in the game you'll basically do the same sort of thing, except instead of you, it'll be the Woodland Being running that sort of interference.

Once you've got Call Lightning at level 5, it will start to groove more because you can edge that little targeting radius into the spike growth traps where the enemies get clustered and ding a bunch at once that way. Like for the pentacrush! For the Circle Spells I tend to pick one of the options that gives a unique spell that isn't usually in the Druid list since those are fun. The first circle choices can be a little underwhelming, since it's usually a split between a very useful spell you'll use all the time and then a spell you'll probably only cast a couple times during the whole campaign lol. The top options are pretty reliable, Arctic is solid for example. Just depends if you like stealthy stuff, or invisibility type play or more attack oriented. I often pick Coast just cause Misty Step is so solid. You can pick it up from items and scolls pretty easily, but its nice to have in the bank. Mirror Image is alright though not really the best use of the lvl 2 slot probably or an action in-combat, but at least it's a non-concentration spell. Later on you'll almost always have a lvl 2 spell left to burn so it's not half bad for a pre-buff. Can come in handy vs Githyanki crossbows, which for me are always somehow the worst lol. I can't remember the last time I cast Barkskin, but every now and again I'll triple up there with Mirror Image if I know I'm likely to catch a bolt!

I think it's entertaining early on, because there's so much Druid-y stuff going down when we hit the beach. Then we got a couple other characters who tag along and make the campaign feel pretty Druid centered. I think those Druids are easier as Moon Druids since they're already set up that way from their initial presentation. It makes playing as a Circle of the Land druid feel a bit more worthwhile in that respect, like not stepping on anyone else's toes, or paws, or claws. If you want an Animal Companion, you can do Scratch's ball and get a more nature themed crew going. Druids don't get a bud by default sadly, although you could dip into Wizard or have someone else take a bird or a badger or the like for a familiar, so it feels easier to stay on theme in Act I. That's kinda enjoyable, the Corvid is pretty clutch early on with those Blinding strikes. Fly in fly out, that sorta thing, or try to draw an arrow away when setting up the spike growth runs. Wizard dip I think was my favorite, because it allows you to acquire cantrips that do elemental damage and also the cantrip Friends which is super useful in dialogue, along with an Animal Familiar for flavor. Costs a feat, but then you also get your pick of the Wizard spells and can stay on pace for the Spellslot unlocks using those via Wizard. The limit is 4 prepared Wizard spells with Lump's circlet, which isn't much but you can use those for the best in show from Wizard. 11 lvls in Druid are about as good as 12 levels in Druid, I mean aside from the feat you'll have to eat. Druids can also do a 10/2 split reasonably well, if you want to try other Multi-Class combinations that come online with 10 lvls in Druid and 2 in something else. Although it might just exacerbate the problem of already having too much versatility and that then leading to decision paralysis in the moment. Like Druids really don't need all those extra arcane spells, so when I tried that out, it did end up feeling like I was playing as a Wizard more than a Druid - summoning Skeletons or casting Artistry of War and doing other off-brand stuff like that. Later, depending on your choices, the innate abilities coming from tadpoles tend to blow everything else away. Like once someone has the Black Hole ya know. Or similarly once the Globe of Invulnerability scrolls are available for purchase, a lot of other considerations cease to really matter, though that's a ways off if the struggle is more in the early part of the game.

It gets much easier once you have the badass summon your own at lvl 7 though. The Woodland Being does a lot of the heavy lifting! I wish we could control the visualization a bit more. I think customizing summons could be just as entertaining as customizing PCs or hirelings, but the Woodland Being with different hairstyles or glows, that would be my top choice. Maybe with a few Woodwoad variants as well to compliment that.

ps. For equipment, the standard Attribute boosting stuff works very well for Druids, because you can use the Club of Hill Giant Strength with shillelagh for decent damage in the offhand. Or use it as your main with a Shield to make youself very hard to hit, like they basically have to AoE or hit you multiple times to break through something like mirror image with that Shield that grants +3 to AC. Or likewise with the DEX gloves if you want to dump that instead. 18 DEX is good enough to get the job done when paired with the medium armors that add the full modifier. Circlet gets you to 17 in INT, and Wisdom is already the prime, so it means you only have to worry about Charisma for the CHA saves and shopping if you want to splurge with ASI. Which is sorta amusing, like very BG1 in that way I guess. Back when all the druids were super charismatic hehe. Anyway, the itemization and feat stacking Ability increase for that one is sorta straight forward. Depending on Tav/Durge you can add a cape on top to pad the AC further. Or maybe try to hit a second 20 with Cat's Grace and Shield to achieve about the same AC. For Wildshape you can just think of it like an emergency health potion, like instead of trying to build the spellslinging rotation around the wildshape or tanking in animal form, you just do more crowd control and blast, using the shape as the last resort when the spellslots are mostly already expended. Sorta the reverse of Moon Druid where it's like Ice Storm and pounce, or trying to slash people into the firewalls as big bird, here BIg Bird would be at the very end of the rotation. I think healing word is the only spell you need for heal support, but then you want to be in the regular form to make the most of stuff like that. Sleet Storm is really usefull once you have Elementals who can float, or the right boots for no slip traction. It has the widest radius of any of those sorts of spells, so it's not a bad plan to save a lvl 3 spellslot for that and get it off right before wildshaping. The best part of that one is that it just almost always knocks half of everyone prone so they have to waste time standing up again, then slip, makes the turn order skip skip thing go a bit faster.

Last edited by Black_Elk; 03/01/25 07:31 AM.