DnD 5e Druid Subclass Breakdown

Introduction

While the core of the Druid’s capabilities remains functional regardless ofyour Druid Circle, your choice of circle adds a set of unique capabilities tocomplement the Druid’s core class features.

Introduction
Disclaimer
Druid Subclasses – Druid Circle
- Circle of Dreams (XGtE)
- Circle of Spores (GGtR / TCoE)
- Circle of Stars (TCoE)
- Circle of Wildfire (TCoE)
- Circle of the Land (PHB)
- Circle of the Moon (PHB)
- Circle of the Shepherd (XGtE)
3rd-Party Publishers

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Druid Subclasses – Druid Circle

Circle of Dreams ^(XGtE)

Circle of Dreams offers a few utility options and some healing, but most ofthe options are lackluster or highly situational. It’s not totally clear whatrole Circle of Dreams is intended to take in the party. They have a mix ofutility and healing options, but druids already have plenty of thosecapabilities. I think your best bet is to focus on spellcasting, but Circle ofthe Land does the same job better.

Balm of the Summer Court allowed the Circle of Dreams Druid to make a good showing in The Healbot Olympics, but it didn’t make the top 3.

Circle of Dreams Druid Handbook

Balm of the Summer Court: A pool ofhealing which you can use as a bonus action. It’s largely redundant withHealing Word, but it does have a few notable advantages. The pool of dicewill quickly outpace your number of low-level spell slots, allowing you toquickly and inexpensively rescue dying allies. The ability to use more thanone die is helpful if you want your ally past single-digit hit points, andthe temporary hit points can help keep them conscious, though with so fewtemporary hit points you shouldn’t expect a miracle. Finally, since Balm ofthe Summer Court isn’t a spell, you can use it in the same turn as casting aleveled spell.
Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow:Situational, and there are tons of other options available that cost resources to solve thesame issues better, though this feature automatically happens during every Short and Long Rest with no limitations. For example, Rope Trick will allow the party to climbinto an extradimensional space with an invisible entrance for the price of a 2nd-level spell slot and only for the length of a single Short Rest. Still, if youdon’t have a wizard in the party this is nice to have while camping indangerous places like dungeons.
Hidden Paths: Excellent range, it works asa Bonus Action, and you get a decent number of uses per day. It’s especiallynice because Misty Step isn’t available to druids and this can target a willing ally. This is a great way toget out of dangerous areas, to escape grapples, or to rescue allies from thesame.
Walker in Dreams: Dream andTeleportation Circle aren’t on the Druid spell list, but Scry is. The uniqueversion of Teleportation Circle is a nice way to get yourself and your partyback to a known safe point. Generally you can do that by other meanslike walking or turning into a bird and flying long distances, but don’t underestimate the utility of what is essentially a Town Portal. This feature could be invaluable for situations where you need to retrieve something or someone and half of the challenge is escaping after securing the target: Turn into a mouse, chill in the target’s cell for an hour, activate escape portal, mission over. If your partyincludes a character who can cast Teleport, this is an inexpensive way toget home after teleporting.

Circle of Spores ^{(GGtR / TCoE)}

Circle of Spores is strong, and brings a lot of really powerful offensiveoptions to the druid, in addition to a splash of undead. The circle featuresuse your Reaction and Bonus Action almost exclusively, which means that you’releft to use your Action for normal druid things like casting spells. SymbioticEntity, the only circle feature which uses an Action, provides a massive pileof temporary hit points, allowing even the most frail druids to take severalhits before dipping into their normal hit points.

It’s interesting to note that the Circle of Spores is capable of thriving inmelee without turning into an animal. This is generally how people play thesubclass, though doing so is complicated and takes a solid build to dosuccessfully. For detailed guidance, see myCircle of Spores Druid Handbook.

Circle of Spores is arguably the most complex druid subclass to buildsuccessfully. I do not recommend this for players who aren’t ready for themechanical complexities required for them to succeed with Circle of Spores.

Circle Spells: Almost everything on thespell is useful frequently, and you get a handful of options whicharen’t on the Druid’s spell list.
- Cantrip: You get Chill Touch for freeat 2nd level. It’s buried in the text of Circle Spells rather than inthe Circle Spells table alongside everything else, so it’s easy to miss.
- 3: A fantastic debuff and avery situational utility option.
- 5: The logic behind why Circleof Spores druids can raise undead is a huge stretch,but Animate Dead is great regardless. Having four human skeletonsis useful at any level because they’re expendable and easy touse as bait without feeling sad about killing an innocent person.Gaseous Form is great too for a variety of sneaking and exploratorypurposes.
- 7: A decent single-target damagespell that works really well on plants, and a mediocre, unreliabledebuff.
- 9: Two excellent offensive options.
Circle of Spores: When you first getthis, a free 1d4 damage is a really nice boost to your damage output.The damage scales very slowly, so it won’t be especially threateningat high levels, but consider how infrequently most druids get to dosomething with their Reaction this is a fantastic improvement to youraction economy. Find allies who make numerous attacks (fighters, etc.)to stun-lock enemies for extended periods of time. The range isshort, unfortunately, so make sure you have a tanky ally between youand whatever is trying to kill you.
Symbiotic Entity: Someone finally wrotea way for druids to thrive in melee without turning into an animal!Cast Shillelagh on a club or a quarterstaff, grab your shield, and goclubbing. The 10 minute duration may be enough to get you throughseveral fights if you move quickly, and even if you’re not walkingaround swinging a weapon, 4 temporary hit points per class level is amassive pile of hit points.
Fungal Infestation: You’re limited tosmall or medium beasts and humanoids, which means your best hope isfor a wolf or something to die right next to you. It’s cool that youcan activate this as a Reaction, but 1 to 5 CR 1/4 zombies aren’tgoing to do a whole lot. Best case scenario: whatever you’re fightingspends an attack on the zombie instead of you and yourallies (remember that your zombies only get 1 hp).
Spreading Spores: This creates an additionalarea in which enemies can take the damage from your Halo of Spores.You activate this as a Bonus Action, but after that creatures take thedamage without you spending your Reaction, so if you can keep enemiesinside the area it’s a better use of actions and you may even dealmore damage if you can affect multiple targets.
You lose the ability to useHalo of Spores as a Reaction, unfortunately, and the ability curiouslydoesn’t exclude you from the damage, so be careful not top dropSpreading Spores on yourself. Cast something likeEntangle to keep enemies from moving away quickly, then throw yourspores on top of them.
This can also monopolize your Bonus Action, which conflicts withcommon tactics like Polearm Master. That may be perfectly finedepending on your build and your situation. Not every turn needsto involve swinging a shillelagh, and alternating attack turnswith turns whereyou move Spreading Spores and cast a spell could be a greatway to bring all of your options into play consistently.
See Also
Druid 5e: DnD 5th Edition Class Guide – RPGBOT Druid Subclasses Overview | Arcane Eye Beginner’s Guide To Druid Subclasses In 5e D&D Druid - DND 5th Edition
Fungal Body: A nice list of conditionimmunitites. You can still take poison damage, which seems odd, butI’m never going to complain about condition immunities.

Circle of Stars ^(TCoE)

Circle of Stars is very powerful, adding a lot of both both damage output andhealing, as well as a support mechanic from Cosmic Omen. Starry Form is theclass’s signature mechanic, serving as a sort of combat overdrive mode similarto Circle of Spore’s Symbiotic Entity or the Barbarian’s Rage. Outside of thisform you’re mostly reduced to core druid features, but at that point you’restill sitting on a full spellcasting arsenal so you’re not struggling by anymeans.

Despite adding a mildly stressful tactical decision (do I use Starry Formnow? What constellation do I use?), Circle of the Stars is very approachableand I think it’s a great option for new players. It’s not quite as simple asCircle of the Land since it does add some new mechanics, but it’s considerablymore effective so it’s a great option for newer players in a party ofveterans. Despite being reasonably simple to play, this is also a greatsubclass for veteran players, especially if you’ve passed over the Druidpreviously because they looked underhwelming compared to otherspellcasters.

I don’t think Circle of Stars going to be a balance problem since the druidis both difficult to optimize and arguably the weakest spellcasting class, butif a Circle of Stars Druid is proving to be a problem at your table there aresome easy adjustments that you can make to the class to balance them. Youmight choose to use some or all of these changes, but I’m not totally certainthat they’re necessary. Try the subclass, try some of these changes, andemail me to let me know how it worksout for your table.

Starry Form: Reduce the dice for Archer/Chalice from d8 tod6 or even d4. That’s a pretty minor numerical change, but sometimes that’sall that you need.
Twinkling Constellations: Changing constellations requiresa Bonus Action. This prevents firing the Archer attack or usingChalice+Healing Word on the same turn in which you changeconstellations.
Full of Stars: Either change the resistance to damage fromnonmagical attacks or replace it with a pool of temporary hit points.

Circle of Stars Druid Handbook

Star Map: There are a total of fourbenefits buried in this feature, and they’re all fantastic.
- Star Map Focus: While it’s notmechanically impactful, this is a great bit of flavor. I’ve hoped formore unique spellcasting focuses for years and this is the first timewe’ve gotten one (the common magic item focuses in Xanathar’s barelycount since they’re still generic focuses with added stuff). I also lovethe idea of a druid running around with a big heavy stone slab or adelicate collection of glass disks, especially since even a tiny amountof damage to either would jeopardize years of delicate work.
- Guidance: The best support cantrip,and you get it for free so you can enjoy other cantrips without feelinglike Guidance is a cantrip tax because it’s too good to skip.
- Guiding Bolt: Very solid at low levelsboth as a support option and for damage output, and radiant damage is ararity for the Druid.
- Free Guiding Bolts: Not only can youcast Guiding Bolt using your spell slots, you get to cast it for free anumber of times per day equal to your Proficiency Bonus. This is done asa 1st-level spell, but 4d6 damage and Advantage on the next attackagainst that creature is better than any damage cantrip, even at 17thlevel. (Eldritch Blast+Invocations don’t count.) You won’t get enoughfree uses of Guiding Bolt to totally replace attack cantrips,unfortunately.
Starry Form: Turning Wild Shape into abuff rather than a utility option was first done in Circle of Spores, andit’s just as cool on Circle of Stars. Starry Form is Arguably even coolerbecause instead of locking you into a combat mode, Starry Form has an attackmode, a healing mode, and a utility/casting mode. Much like Circle of theMoon and Circle of Spores, expect to use Starry Form in any noteworthycombat, but remember that you only get two uses per short rest so you’llstill need to be functional without it sometimes.
Choosing which constellation to use is one of the most important tacticaldecisions that you can make in an encounter. If you’re in close quartersand need to keep your spells going, go for Dragon. If your party is shorton hit points going into the encounter, or if there’s some kind of hitpoint attrition issue (enemy has big AOE damage, or you’re fighting in aburning building), go for Chalice.
Otherwise, go for Archer and pump outdamage as fast as you can. This tactical decision goes away at level 10when you get Twinkling Constellations (In a way. Keep reading.), but untilthen this will be among the hardest and most impactful choices that youmake in a fight.
- Archer: 1d8+Wis radiant damage as aBonus Action. It’s a spell attack so the attack uses your Wisdommodifier and doesn’t benefit from things like the Sharpshooter feat.This is a great offensive option, and the fact that it doesn’t stop youfrom casting a leveled spell on the same turn is just spectacular. Thisis likely your go-to option in combat because it’s going to be useful inevery combat on every turn at any level. The damage improves at level10, but honestly if it didn’t this would still be great.
- Chalice: More than doubles the totalamount healed by Healing Word, and you can target a creature nottargeted by your spell so you can heal two creatures at once. However,this also encourages healing in combat which you should try very hard toavoid doing. The best use case for this is to use it right before aShort Rest if you have a Wild Shape usage left over. The healingimproves at level 10.
- Dragon: Druids have a lot ofConcentration spells, so guaranteeing a minimum roll of 10 on thosechecks is really helpful. Guaranteeing a minimum roll of 10 onIntelligence and Wisdom checks allows you to use this outside of combat,which is a great utility option if you have knowledge skills like Arcanaor Nature. At level 10, this adds a 20-foot fly speed, allowing you tofly while keeping your Concentration on a spell.
Cosmic Omen: Tactically similar to theBard’s Bardic Inspiration and Cuttings Words features. You won’t be able touse this as often as a bard can use Bardic Inspiration, but 3 to 6 times perday is still extremely impactful, especially since you can use this as aReaction. The Weal/Woe options are roughly equivalent, so when you roll tosee which one you get you’re essentially deciding if you get to use thisoffensively (weal) or defensively (woe) that day.
Twinkling Constellation: More damage fromArcher, more healing from Chalice, and flight from Dragon (even at just 20ft. speed) are all big improvements. The ability to change yourconstellation each turn without spending an action means that thedifficult tactical decision which you normally make when you activate StarryForm goes away, making your life much easier. Now you get to make thatdecision every turn instead. Do you suffer from Analysis Paralysis? Thiswill either make it way better or way worse.
Do you have an ally down at 0 hit points? Switch to chalice and healthem. Need to maintain a Concentration spell? Turn on dragon, fly out ofreach and do your thing. The rest of the time? Archer.
Full of Stars: A bit late, and strange ona subclass that’s so clearly intended to fill a back-line role, but considerthat the Druid has notoriously poor AC and just d8 hit points this is afantastic improvement to your durability.

Circle of Wildfire ^(TCoE)

The first druid subclass to feature a built-in pet, and rather than a BeastMaster-style animal companion, the Druid gets spirit made of fire. Not what Iwas expecting, but it’s pretty great. The subclass splits its focus betweenfire-based blasting, healing, and using the Wildfire Spirit as a combat pet.Between those three, you’ll be very busy any time that combat breaks out.

Unfortunately, Circle of Wildfire depends almost exclusively on fire damage,which is a problem because fire resistance and immunity are among the mostcommon resistances in the game. This has been a persistent issue for the Druiddating back to at least 3rd edition, and Circle of Wildfire isn’t doinganything to correct it. Take the Elemental Adept feat to help your own spells(your Wildfire Spirit doesn’t benefit from the feat) or you will face severeand persisten problems throughout your character’s career. If immunity evercomes up, make sure that you have adequate spell options for dealing otherdamage types.

You might also consider the Elemental Bane spell. It suppresses resistance tothe type of damage which you select, and with so many reliable ways to dealfire damage it will be a reliable boost to your damage output. However, it’son a Constitution save and those tend to be high, so it won’t be as reliableas Elemental Adept.

Beyond the resistance/immunity issue, Circle of Wildfire is a lot of fun.With staple damage and healing options built in, you have a lot of freedom toexplore other parts of the Druid’s spell list. The great balance betweendamage and healing makes this a great subclass for small parties or forparties who don’t have a big blaster caster like a sorcerer, wizard, orwarlock but also need more healing than most druids can provide.

I do wish that they got Fireball, but I’m still happy with the new spells which Circle of Wildfire gets.

Circle of the Land ^(PHB)

If you want to emphasize the Druid’s spellcasting, this is the way to do it. Circle of the Land adds almost nothing in terms of complexity to the Druid, which is great because it’s already such a complex class. However, if you can’t get by on just the Druid’s spellcasting, Circle of the Land won’t solve that problem for you because it expands on the Druid’s existing spellcasting capabilities but doesn’t add any new capabilities to the class.

Circle of the Land Druid Handbook

Bonus Cantrip: Druids get one less cantripthan other full casters, so this sets the Land Druid on even footing withother full casters.
Natural Recovery: This provides a bit ofsustainability that will help keep you functional throughout an adventuringday as you spend leveled spells. Without any backup options beyond cantrips,it’s crucial that you have enough spell slots to support your bestoptions.
Circle Spells: Varies by biome.
- Arctic: Several excellent areacontrol spells. Unfortunately, half of the options address similar needsand require Concentration, so it’s hard to use the spells in combinationwith one another.
  - 3rd Level: Hold Person and SpikeGrowth are excellent crowd control/area control options. However,both require Concentration.
  - 5th Level: Sleet Storm ismediocre, and given the choice between Sleet Storm and Spike Growth,I would pick Spike Growth every time. Slow is still good. And again,both require Concentration.
  - 7th Level: Ice Storm is bad.Freedom of Movement allows your allies to move through your areacontrol effects more easily and to escape grapples, but it’s stillonly situationally useful. You already have Land’s Stride, soFreedom of Movement doesn’t help you much.
  - 9th Level: A useful divination,and a good source of instantaneous area damage not normallyavailable to Druids.
- Coast: Coast starts off very strong,but most of the spell options will only rarely see use.
  - 3rd Level: Mirror Image is amongthe best defensive options in the game, and Misty Step is afantastically useful means of getting around. Neither are availableto Druids normally.
  - 5th Level: Both are verysituational.
  - 7th Level: Both aresituational.
  - 9th Level: Scrying is verysituational, but Conjure Elemental is pretty great. Summon a FireElemental and set fire to entire encounters. See myPractical Guide to Summoning Spellsfor help with Conjure Elemental.
- Desert: A good mix of differentoptions with different applications, and a couple of spells not normallyavailable to Druids.
  - 3rd Level: Blur is a decentdefensive option, and Silence is occasionally useful for stealth andfor disabling spellcasters.
  - 5th Level: Most groups will ignorethe consumption of food and water until you very suddenly can’t getany. Fortunately, you can typically survive a day to prepare CreateGood and Water, so having it constantly prepared isn’t helpful.Protection From Energy is considerably more useful.
  - 7th Level: Both are everysituational.
  - 9th Level: Both excellent areacontrol options.
- Forest: Nothing really spectacular.
  - 3rd Level: Barkskin is afantastic buff, though it’s not as important since Land Druids don’tfight in Wild Shape. Spider Climb is situational, and seems a bitsilly consider you can turn into a spider.
  - 5th Level: Call lightning is oneof the most iconic Druid spells, but it can be hard to use. Thedamage per round isn’t spectacular, but the ability to repeatedlyshoot lightning bolts makes it an extremely efficient use of spellslots, and once you cast it you can Wild Shape into a bird and keepactivating Call Lightning. Plant Growth is complex, but potentiallyvery effective area control.
  - 7th Level: Both options aresituational, but Divination isn’t normally available to Druids.
  - 9th Level: Commune with Natureis a nice divination, though Divination is probably better, and TreeStride is a decent way to get around, but can’t compete with realteleportation.
- Grassland: Some excellent buffs,several of which aren’t normally available to Druids, but big parts ofthe spell list are situational.
  - 3rd Level: Two excellent optionsfor stealth and infiltration. The effects remain in place when youuse Wild Shape, so you can turn invisible, turn into an owl, and flyaround almost undetectable, or you can use Pass Without Trace toallow your entire party to be effective at Stealth.
  - 5th Level: Daylight issituational, but Haste is one of the best buffs in the game if youhave martial characters like barbarians and fighters around to makeuse of it.
  - 7th Level: Both options aresituational, but Divination isn’t normally available to Druids.
  - 9th Level: Dream is extremelysituational, but Insect Plague is good area control.
- Mountain: Solid options all the way upthe list.
  - 3rd Level: Spider Climb isn’tvery useful since you can turn into a spider, but Spike Growth isone of my favorite area control spells.
  - 5th Level: Lightning bolt is adecent damage option, though somewhat difficult to bring to bearagainst crowds of enemies since it’s so difficult to target morethan two creatures with a line effect. Meld with Stone is verysituational.
  - 7th Level: Stone Shape is insanelyuseful, and Stoneskin is a great buff so long as you have enoughgold to pay the component cost.
  - 9th Level: Passwall is extremelyuseful, and Wall of Stone is an excellent utility and area controlspell.
- Swamp: Starts off very strong, butthe higher-level options are bad.
  - 3rd Level: Two good options,neither of which are available to Druids.
  - 5th Level: Water walk is verysituational, but Stinking Cloud is fantastic area control.
  - 7th Level: Both options are onlysituationally useful. Freedom of movement is helpful for grapplesand restraints, but it’s slightly less useful for druids becauseyou get Land’s Stride.
  - 9th Level: Scrying issituational, but Insect Plague is good area control.
- Underdark: Lots of fantastic options,many of which aren’t available to Druids normally.
  - 3rd Level: So I heard you likespiders. Web is good area control.
  - 5th Level: So I heard you likestrange gasses. Stinking Cloud is good area control, and Gaseous Formis a great escape/infiltration form.
  - 7th Level: Greater Invisibility isfantastic, and Stone Shape is immensely useful.
  - 9th Level: Cloudkill is extremelylethal, but it’s hard to hit the same target more than once unlessthey’re confined to a small area. Insect Plague is good areacontrol.
Land’s Stride: Situational, but thislikely allows you to walk through the area of a Plant Growth spellunaffected since the magic effect is instantaneous and the plants arenatural after that point.
Nature’s Ward: Excellent defenses againstcommon and frequently problematic effects.
Nature’s Sanctuary: Near-immunity to twotypes of creatures. By now you should have 20 Wisdom, and beasts and plantsboth tend to have low Wisdom saves. Unfortunately, beasts stopped beingthreatening a long time ago (especially if you prepare Animal Friendship)and plant creatures are rare, so this will rarely matter.

Circle of the Moon ^(PHB)

Circle of the Moon allows the Druid to use Wild Shape as a combat form.Depending on the composition of your party, this may allow you to take theplace of your party’s Fighter-equivalent, filling space as a Defender andStriker. However, in most parties the Druid is taking the place of theCleric-equivalent, so you may need to drop out of Wild Shape in order tocast spells from time to time. You also may not have enough Wild Shape usesto be in Wild Shape in every encounter of a full adventuring day (theadventuring day guidelines recommend 6-8 encounters per day) if your hitpoints don’t hold up or if you need to drop out of Wild Shape to cast spels.Fortunately, you can still use leveled spells in encounters where you’re notusing Wild Shape.

Because Wild Shape adds a second pool of hit points on top of your regular hit points, Circle of the Moon is arguably the most durable druid, and at level 2 the Circle of the Moon Druid is arguably the strongest character in the game. However, mastering Wild Shape is difficult, so I encourage you to read our Practical Guide to Wild Shape.

Circle of the Moon Druid Handbook

Combat Wild Shape: Moving into Wild Shapeas a bonus action means that you can transform, move, and attack in the sameturn. This makes it much easier to pick the right form for a combat sinceyou don’t need to guess before the fight starts. It also means that when youget knocked out of Wild Shape you can quickly get back into Wild Shape,often without taking significant damage to your real hit points.
Circle Forms: This allows you to take somedecent combat forms. See ourPractical Guide to Wild Shapefor a compilation and analysis of possible forms.
Primal Strike: You’re going to run into alot of things which resist non-magical weapon damage types, so this is veryimportant.
Elemental Wild Shape: Fire Elemental is aflaming murder machine that you can use from now until you hit level 18 andcan turn into a Mammoth. It does take both of your Wild Shape uses, but ifyou’re successful at setting everything on fire quickly, you may be able toavoid enough damage to stretch this through several fights.
Thousand Forms: This is a 2nd-level spell,and the problems it solves can be solved better by Wild Shape.

Circle of the Shepherd ^(XGtE)

Circle of the Shepherd offers excellent options for the Druid to support their party and to summon creatures. And while it’s certainly the best summoning subclass in the game, Circle of the Shepherd’s Spirit Totem feature also offers a ton of support for your party. Together, the Druid can serve as Controller, Defender, Striker, and Support and move between those roles fluidly.

Circle of the Shepherd Druid Handbook

Speech of the Woods: A free language andconstant Speak with Animals. Not always useful, but wonderful for a Druid tohave, and helpful if you’re summoning beasts because you can talk to them togain information about things that they may have seen, allowing you to usebeasts as effective disposable scouts. As an example, you might summon abunch of low-CR breasts with Conjure Animals (hope for things like rats,crows, or other small, common animals) and send them to scout an area andreport back to you.
Spirit Totem: Powerful and versatile, andas a bonus action it’s usable without cutting into your spellcasting.
- Bear Spirit: If your party is on thedefensive, this is a good way to get some temporary hit points onto yourallies. If you have a grappler in the party or if you’re facing an enemythat grapples your party, Advantage on Strength checks is fantastic.However, the temporary hit points only apply when you first create thespirit, so its effectiveness diminishes quickly in most cases.
  This is also very helpful if you summon numerous low-CR creatures.The temporary hit points apply to all allies in the area, so if youhave 8 summoned hyenas or something, they’re suddenly much moredurable and can soak considerably more damage which might otherwise bedirected at party members. Your summons get the benefits of Advantageon Strength checks, too, but most creatures that grapple have anattack that grapples automatically.
  Still, you may be able to commandthem to grapple by normal means, which may be more effective sincethey have Advantage.
- Hawk Spirit: Your go-to option in mostcases, especially if you don’t plan to flood combat with summonedcreatures. As a back-line spellcaster, you can use your largely ignoredReaction to grant Advantage on an attack roll. If you have a rogue in theparty, this is an easy way to get Sneak Attack. For other partymembers it’s just a nice buff that you can grant once per round,but as Extra Attack comes online it will feel less impactful.
- Unicorn Spirit: If you’re taking ashort rest and haven’t already expended Spirit Totem, use this beforeyour rest to get some extra healing. The spell you cast doesn’t need tobe anything fancy: It just needs to be a leveled spell that restores hitpoints. Healing Word works, for example, and it’s a great way to triggerthis repeatedly.
  It’s unclear if spells like Goodberry or Healing Spiritare intended to work since they don’t immediately heal a targeted creature when youcast the spell, but they do restore hit points, so RAW I think it works.
  This is an exciting option when you have numerous summoned creaturesbecause the additional healing doesn’t have a cap on the number oftargets. If you have a small army of summoned creatures, you can healthem for free, stretching the benefits of your spell slot.
Mighty Summoner: One of the biggestproblems with summoned creatures is that most can’t overcome damageresistance or immunity to non-magical attacks. This solves that issue, andalso makes your summoned creatures slightly more durable so that you getsome more mileage from your spell slots.
However, the new summon spells introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron ofEverything don’t appear to have hit dice, so they don’t appear to benefitfrom the additional hp. All creatures should have hit dice, and you mightargue that they have a number of hit dice equal to the spell level used tosummon them, but we haven’t gotten an official answer on the subject sodiscuss it with your DM before making any assumptions.
Summon Draconic Spirit, which follows the same mechanics as other Tasha’s-era Summon X spells, specifies that the spirit has one hit die per spell level, which seems like a very reasonable way to handle that.
Guardian Spirit: With this and MightySummoner, you can make Conjure X spells last for an exceptionally long timeeven while in combat, even if you don’t plan to use Unicorn Spirit to getfree healing for your summons.
Faithful Summons: At this level CR 2creatures aren’t likely to win a fight for you (even with the benefits ofMighty Summoner), but they might keep enemies at bay long enough for yourparty to come to your rescue.
The language is fairly clear that you can’t trigger this willingly, sounfortunately you can’t tell your allies to beat you unconscious to getfree summons (though they could technically decide to do so on their ownso long as you weren’t willingly going along with their plan).
This also uniquely allows you to select the beasts which you summon,which is weird since Conjure Animals doesn’t normally allow that. Irecommend the Giant Constrictor Snake because its attacks can grapple yourfoes and buy you more time for your allies to rescue you. But the GiantBoar is hard to kill thanks to Relentless, and the Polar Bear’s attacksare really good without needing to run around and leave your unconsciousbody defenseless.

3rd-Party Publishers

RPGBOT has covered some 3rd-party content from our favorite creators. This content is published under the Open Gaming License, under Creative Commons, or through DMsGuild, and is not considered official content. As such, it is not available in Adventurer’s League organized play, and your group may not allow it in your game. If your group wants to explore 3rd-party content, we hope that these articles will help you make them work for you.

Tal’Dorei Circle of the Blighted Druid Handbook

DnD 5e Druid Subclass Breakdown – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

Druid Subclasses – Druid Circle

Circle of Dreams ^(XGtE)

Circle of Spores ^{(GGtR / TCoE)}

Circle of Stars ^(TCoE)

Circle of Wildfire ^(TCoE)

Circle of the Land ^(PHB)

Circle of the Moon ^(PHB)

Circle of the Shepherd ^(XGtE)

3rd-Party Publishers

References

DnD 5e Druid Subclass Breakdown – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

Druid Subclasses – Druid Circle

Circle of Dreams (XGtE)

Circle of Spores (GGtR / TCoE)

Circle of Stars (TCoE)

Circle of Wildfire (TCoE)

Circle of the Land (PHB)

Circle of the Moon (PHB)

Circle of the Shepherd (XGtE)

3rd-Party Publishers

References

Circle of Dreams ^(XGtE)

Circle of Spores ^{(GGtR / TCoE)}

Circle of Stars ^(TCoE)

Circle of Wildfire ^(TCoE)

Circle of the Land ^(PHB)

Circle of the Moon ^(PHB)

Circle of the Shepherd ^(XGtE)