Why You Should Play Circle of the Land Druid
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2024
- Why should you play Circle of the Land Druid? Well, watch the video.
This is a part of a series I will be doing covering all the Druid subclasses. Subscribe if you like this series and want it to keep going.
Disclaimer: This guide is made from my own opinions and experiences. It is filled with my own bias. You might have a different opinion. Great! Leave it in the comments. However, be respectful and don't shutdown discourse. Thank you - Colin
00:00 Intro and Rating System
00:59 What is Fun?
03:12 Land's Stride RANT
05:31 The Best Circles
09:27 Character Concepts
11:49 Subclass Weak Spots
14:08 Final Ratings
#dungeonsanddragons5e #ttrpg #dungeonsanddragons #dnd5e #DnDBuilds #DnDAdvice #rpg #dnd5e #dndcharacter #tierlist #DnDTierlist #Dragon #DruidDnD #Druid #CircleOfTheLand #Druid5e #DruidGuide #DruidSubclasses #DruidSubclass #landDruid - บันเทิง
This will be my last video of 2021! Thank you all for a break year. However, check back January 1st, I've got something big planned
Thanks your Druid series here is amazing.
I have to beg to differ on the Circle of the Coast though.
Commune with Nature is nearly as powerful as Divination and in certain respects even more OP aF.
RAW it'll give you the location of caves, flora, fauna, rivers bodies of water, etcetra.... this is where the rule of cool kicks in; buildings, mines, shipwrecks full of shamblers that can't free movement under water and are surrounded by your creature friends just waiting for someone to clean up the joint, your two legged friends are lookin for booty, the easier the pickins without having to murder hobo nests of goblins just trying to make it in this world the better.
You and your surface friends get free action for free, water breathing anything you'd want.
Druidcraft cantrip gives you the weather report and a large boat - small ship is crewable with a full party and a few hirelings.
Go to the pet store and look at the deco and think of it as minis.
I played Circle of The Land Forest as my first character, and now I feel pretty confident with most of the mechanics in the game
With so many concentration spells on their list, druids don't burn through slots as fast as other casters. Coupled with Natural Recovery land druids have more magic than they ever need (Which is always handy).
Great way to put it!
I'm gonna say it: circle of the land is my favourite Druid Circle because it's basically seven or eight subclasses in one. The Spell list you're gonna choose can give you a whole different role as a spellcaster, it's amazing, and flavorwise, you can have so many different roleplay concepts by just switching the landscape you choose, so thanks for giving this subclass some love!
However, I totally disagree with you when it comes to Coast! I think Mirror Image is one of the best spells out there, and basically an amazing way to keep concentration for a while (and druids have so many spells relying on concentration). Misty step is widely considered as a great spell as well, as movement is very important, and it only takes a bonus action. Sure the 3rd and 4th level are more specific to a water campaign, but when I actually played coast during a water campaign, they were all actually very useful. As for scrying, if you like divination, you should enjoy the roleplay and information potential of a good scry. I don't know, I think the coast spell list is pretty great. Like not the best of the Land druid options, but not the worst, and it definitely not sucks, in my opinion. I'd be curious to know why you think it's not good, cause I honestly expected it to be the 3rd position one after grassland and mountain
You're correct that Mirror Image and Misty Step are good to great spells. Personally I think there are better buffs than Mirror Image but there are a lot of branching ideologies about buffing spells so I won't say that my thoughts on it are more valid than another's.
However, my gripe is with the other spells. Firstly, all the spells from 5th to 9th level are already on the Druid's spell list. Since you can prepare them at any time, you are really paying to have the spells on your list instead of other spells from the circles. And if you get zero new spells above 3rd level and those spells are situational at best, I've got to rank Coast significantly lower.
The reason Swamp is above Coast is because it gives you those unique spells while also having water walk and scrying.
So are the first two spells you get great, yes. The others though just aren't up to the level of the other circles. Theoretically you should have things like water breathing always prepared anyway in a water campaign. I'd rather have powerful spells *outside* the druid spell list.
However, my take on the subclass is full of my own bias and if you loved Circle of the Coast, more power to you. Thank you for commenting and adding to the discussion.
I rolled up a Tortle Land Druid for my first Druid I have ever played, and I went Desert due to the setting, basing a bit of his appearance off of a Desert Tortoise that live in the Southwestern United States all the way to Mexico. Those early options for defense (Blur) and shutting down spellcasters (Silence) and the other pieces of utility you get with Protection from Energy and Wall of Stone are honestly pretty solid!
His shell and limbs even look a bit rocky, while his skin tone is more brown to light tan on the underside, more earthy tones in general
Land stride definitely works for plant growth but not for spike growth. Spike growth can be dispelled, and it’s lost when concentration is dropped . Plant growth on the other hand has a casting time of instantaneous so the magic is gone right after the plants grow. Great video!
Yeah the thing on Land's Stride talks about saving throws against "magically created or manipulated" plants. Spike growth doesn't necessarily create the plants (although I would argue it does), but it certainly manipulates them. With plant growth, the plants *are magically manipulated*, but only in that instant of growth, so when they're affecting enemies they're not actually being manipulated anymore.
The bit about moving through difficult terrain/taking damage is a bit more vague though. It just says "nonmagical plants". Does that mean plants that are not being manipulated by magic? In which case spike growth would still cause damage. From a game balance perspective it 100% makes sense for this to allow land druids to be unaffected by their own spike growth/plant growth/entangle, but the way the rule is written I'm not sure it should actually work that way.
It would be great if we had a clearer explanation of what is considered "magical" or "nonmagical" plants. Would plant creatures like blights or shambling mounds be considered magical plants? Would their entangle abilities be considered magical? (I don't think they're considered as spells)
Circle of the Land could also be applied to cities, Swamp and Underdark could be the sewers, while mountains can apply for big cities with big buildings like Sharn.
It certainly could! That would be a very unique take on a Circle of the Land druid. Maybe I'll have to steal this and add a sewer dwelling Underdark Land druid to one of my campaigns
I actually played as one years ago. The DM was nice enough to allow me to attune to the land I was in and Had been in. So, I could choose from the current land's list or the last land's list. Kept it in the last and current to give variety a bit and not ultimately lock one in too hard. Worked really great!
Attuning to the Land is such a cool idea that I wish was in the subclass already. Hopefully the new PBH they're working on will have that :p
As someone that likes to homebrew, at 6th level, I'd add an ability called Nature's Attunement, which would let you as an action expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to "attune" to an environment your Druid has been to (which basically means switching your land circle spells to a different choice of land circle spells). Also, at 14th level, I'd POTENTIALLY add Nature's Concentration, which let's you concentrate on 2 druid spells at a time. Not sure if this would be too strong though. Still, they'd add alot of oomph to the class :) oh, and I'd also buff Nature's Sanctuary to include Elementals because that seems thematic enough.
Starting a Swamp druid today. She's a hagborn from the swamps. Sent off to learn more about people and their vices.
Not gonna lie, it’s never made sense to me that the moon becomes the elementals when it feels much more in line with the nature based land druid. Also mirror image and misty steps are two of my favorite spells so I love the coast druid for giving them to druid.
I agree that I wish circle of the land got the elemental wildshapes. It feels right for their 10th level ability. Maybe they could've given moon a handful of specific monstrosities and land the elementals.
Thank you for commenting and I hope you stick around the channel!
Control water is also amaaaaazing if your DM allows for creativity. I was playing a tempest cleric and my DM let me use the different effects for different applications. Swatting people around, binding enemies, picking up and placing teammates, manipulating the terrain. Crazy spell.
I'm playing a mountain druid and am having a blast. Love having lightning bolt to blast enemies as they try to get to me through spike growth. Wall of Stone is a great way to stop the bad guys. Passwall is great for getting into places and sinking ships.
I absolutely love your videos. I am brand new to DnD and in the current campaign I decided to play a Land Druid. It was a character I had played in other rp situations and wanted to give her a shot. She is a fairy land druid from the faewild and her circle is Forrest. She has been such a blast to play, and the DM has been really accommodating for allowing me to incorporate where she is from into her spell casting. She is currently 5th level and feels so powerful. I have been using your videos to help me flesh her out. Thank you for your videos.
Welcome to hobby! Thank you for the kind words. I hope your campaign goes well and that you stick around the channel!
I like all the magic card art you use in your videos
I've watched a few of your videos. Definitely worth a Sub
Very good take on CotL. Apart from Landstride. They really lack that X-factor.
What could be really fun would be to give them a thematic mechanic a'la Rune Knight's runes, or Samurai's Fighting spirit them that X-factor you talk about.
It's the circle that probably needs a rework. Right now, they're like a significantly weaker, and only slightly nature-themed wizard... It would need an entire separate spellbook with druid-based nature/life spells.
A comment on the Underdark Land Druid, you said it started slow, but isnt web a crazy good 2nd lv spell? Gives you a headstart on the plant grown.
I'm excited I'm making a circle of the land Arctic druid. I'm making them an Arctic fairy with the folk hero background. It's going to be fun with all the cold flavored spells and role-playing a winter fey that follows certain rules ( because yes I'm going to follow some fey rules) and has stories about them~
Happy holidays folks!!!
In my opinion, and i would like to hear yours as well, I think this subclass should be allowed to take ALL of the optional features in Tashas cauldron of everything.
Also, with the intro of Tasha's, Druids now have a new option for Wildshape, Wild Companion. We can now expend a Wildshape to cast Find Familiar that is fey, and stays for a number of hours equal to half your druid level.
Nice Video
Hey, i just came across your Druid content and I just wanna say that your Videos are amazing. I just started dnd and Druid is my first character. I looked a lot of Druid guids and I can honestly say that your Videos are top tier and incredibly helpfull for me as a beginner. Im planning too take the circle of the Land Route (mountain) and I love the roleplay Aspekt of this circle. I dont want to Powerplay and just take the strongest stuff. So I think the "restrictions" with circle of the Land really help New Players with the hole role Player aspekt.
Do you have any Tipps for some usefull low cr animals. Even if there is no Focus on wild shape in this circle i still want to get some interesting and creativ uses out if the ability. But I am Kind of overwhelmed with the amount of choice und I Think there are no good wild shape guides for non moon Druids.
Keep up the amazing work! Greetings from Germany :)
Ihren Englisch ist sehr toll, danke für alle Ihre Hilfe! (Sorry if I said that wrong, my German is rusty at best)
Here is a list:
Badger - Dig to escape trouble or get *into* places. This will be one of your go to forms.
Cave Badger - Same as your other badger, but this one leaves tunnels behind it. Your party can follow you.
Constrictor Snake - You can grapple *and* restrain a target in combat. Great for stopping an enemy spellcaster. Without a bonus action wildshape, you'll need to catch them by surprise though.
Cow - Best Disguise. The bad guys never suspect the Druid spying as a cow. Works every time
Elk - FAST and surprisingly good damage. A party member can ride you too.
Giant Wolf Spider- If you reduce a target to zero, they are stabilized and paralyzed for an hour! Great for kidnapping a bad guy's henchman. Plus, you have a +7 to stealth and can walk on walls. Staple wildshape along with the Badger. This is also you main battle form.
Wolf - Another battle form
*Squirrel* - Not an official statblock so I just use the lizard's. Great climbing and no fall damage.
With these seven wildshapes, you should be set!
@@enterthedungeon Thank you so much! That helps me a lot!
Wish you an amazing year 2022.
Ps: your german ist exzellent :)
@@enterthedungeon one question tho, can i use the constrictor snake at lvl 2? I thought i could not use it because it has swimming speed.
You are correct. It's swimming speed slipped my mind
2024 watch: I love this subclass as a 4lvl grassland dip. Wonderful way to add travel bonuses and relatively cheap investment for Pass Without Trace and Invisibility.
I really have trouble with some of the rules interpretations you provide as if they were RAW or every table will agree. Certainly for Land's Stride, you might be correct on plant growth (it is an instantaneous spell), but spike growth is a concentration spell that deals damage (and whose effect can be dispelled or suppressed). Do you also rule that spike growth damage doesn't overcome magical immunity? Do you also rule that spike growth can't be dispelled? Is spike growth a spell? (That's one of the questions you can ask to figure out if something is magical.)
I've noticed some other hot takes that aren't actually RAW defended with the same hostility on this channel. No, beasts don't have traits or features that aren't in their stat blocks; so it **has to be** entirely DM discretion whether a squirrel can avoid fall damage or whatever else. If your DM rules favorably for you, that's great; but that isn't player advice because that player advice essentially boils down to "get a better DM."
It's a shame though, because I really like the druid class and some of the ideas presented in the channel.
Agreed. I don't see any way Spike Growth isn't considered magical plants. They only exist while the spell is active. 100% they are magical plants.
How is circle of the coast your worst? It has the some of the most amazing spells druids normally don''t get. Right at level 2 you get 2 spell the druid was really missing. A bonus action teleport is very good and a concentration free defensive spell is amazing. Water walk and water breathing are utility spells the druid already has so that sucks. Same is true for 4th level although these spell sometimes randomly pop up to be very usefull, so they are not the worst. The 5th level spell are also on your list. But they are really good so no problems with them
I have a question , do the spells you get every time you level up, “stack” ?
lol, first time playing a druid so i didn't know. I picked CoL, Coast, lol watched this video waiting to be inspired and opps, "don't play Coast" lol. guess its just made my Netherdeep campaign more challenging. still loved the video though. two thumbs up
He unfairly negs on Coast, it's really good. Mirror Image and Misty step are outstanding spells, and allows for a bit of a "trickster" sort of playstyle for the druid. It's not the worst by far.
This video left me really torn apart. Because on one side i heard Moon Druid is the most powerfull and gives you access to better wild shape. On the other hand circle of land allows you to cast a lot more spells and having a lot more spells prepared at the same time
Good news is you cannot really go wrong with either. However, as for the most powerful Druid subclass, I think that Circle of the Wildfire is the most powerful Druid has ever been. Fantastic Wild Shape usage, great spells, and amazing subclass features. It might clear up your dilemma.
@@enterthedungeon oh yeah I heard about this one, however the concept of Druid-Pyromaniac doesn't really vibe with me so I will probably stick with Circle of Land or Circle of Moon
The Land Druid is tied with Spore Druid as my favorite RP Druid.
The Land's Stride debate is nothing but a win-win situation. If the DM wants to say that Spike Growth is magical, then wow.... what a powerful druid spell!! 😂😂
Do you have a video on spore druids? Wanting to make a tortle, witherbloom spore melee build.
th-cam.com/video/KB5MRVpdOMQ/w-d-xo.html
Here is the link!
Spike growth is very clearly a spell effect. Theres nothing in the language to imply that it requires plants to already be in the location, and the spiked terrain disappears when you stop holding concentration. I don't know where you're getting the idea that it's at all comparable to plant growth in that regard, but its obviously not.
A shame, because it makes the effect nearly worthless
I've literally never seen a land druid played don't understand why land stride would be nerfed. Rangers and druids should get something. lol
i feel like the reason why divination is so underused/underrated is that it is highly depend on your GM.
with a cool Dm, sure it will be great. with a more restricting one however, it might just be a waste of 10 ingame minutes at best or even be used against you at worst.
Hey man. I really enjoy your videos and the hot takes. But I also have some hot takes and hot take #1 is that your land circle spell opinions are terrible! How can you dump on Coast when mirror image and misty step are both amazing spells not on the druid list? Underdark starts slow... with WEB??? You can't be serious. Grassland is middle of the road. Invisibility is okay, but you have wild shape for sneaking around already. Haste is overrated (especially with all the great conc. spells druids have) and has massive downside.
For Wild Shape, tasha's added the ability to cast find familiar with your wild shape which was a pretty solid boon for land druids.
I hope if WotC does a revamp of the PHB classes, they will let Land druids do a ritual to change their circle spell list.
Would you not recommend Land Druid to a veteran player who wants to go mainly caster with spell versatility?
Not shaming anyone but doesn't a veteran player know enough (or know where to look it up) to make up their own mind?
People be like ya spike growth doesn’t work with Land’s Stride because it’s magic! Ahh yes that’s why it deals piercing damage…
Circle of the Artic is absolutely fantastic.
It was honestly one of the ones vying for a top 3 spot. Hold person, spike growth, sleet storm and slow make for an incredible start. You wouldn't go wrong picking Artic!
@@enterthedungeon also, a one level cleric dip is pretty good for a Circle of the Land Druid. Gets you all your healing prepared and a domain
Can you tell me more? Im really curious about playing a circle of the artic druid and it would be my first druid, so I Would like to know more
@@emilianocarnaya1602 not too much to say. All the spells that are automatically prepared are fantastic.
3rd:
hold person, spike growth
5th:
sleet storm, slow
7th:
freedom of movement, ice storm
9th:
commune with nature, cone of cold
Not a bad spell
Yeah, I'm aware the spells are amazing ngl, but I was asking for more details about multiclassing into cleric
Weird to say Coast is bad and Swamp is better. You sure, mate? :P
Shrek > Aquaman
@@enterthedungeon hahaha I'm convinced!
Coast is indeed much better than swamp. Mirror Image is one of the best defensive spells in the game. Can't believe he picked Grassland as the best either. Invisibility and Haste aren't that great on a druid. Much rather have a wizard or sorc cast it since they have better non-concentration options and much better range on their cantrips. Druid is about controlling the battlefield with effects and/or summons.
@a99barnsey Mirror image and misty step on a druid with warcaster makes for a very slippery spellcaster.
Definitely some takes in the video I disagree with
Are you sure coast druids are that bad ? They get misty step. You can do some pretty cool stuff with that
Saying mirror image and misty step isn't a good spell to get on a druid makes me laugh.
Here I was looking to play my coast druid better and instead I just get.. choose something else
I just kind of play mine like a water bender. It isn’t the most powerful, but thematically, it is fun for my campaign.
@@vezonf3nrak Maybe that's just what it is, situational lol
Circle of Land Druids should still be allowed to take wild shapes, just fewer of them.
very informative video but divination just kind of seems like breaking the fourth wall. sure it might sae the party from a tpk but maybe the party deserved a tpk. idk as someone who has dmed and played i think this ruins the fun , just my opinion tho
Land's stride raw let's you walk through trees.
Was anyone else shouting Magic card names at their screen this whole vid?
“Coast just sucks” me: 👎🏽
Doesn't spike growth require concentration to stay?
Not me wanting to play a coast druid and watching videos to get someone else's opinion 😅
Kinda sucks that as a Tortle Druid the only land classes that make sense are Coast, grassland, and maybe forest. 😢
Imagining ranting so hard and being so wrong 😅
I’m playing a lvl 9 Circle of the Land: Arctic Druid for my first D&D character. 🤍❄️💚He also has 2 life cleric levels.