Druid spells ranked: Cantrips
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:37 Rating System
3:22 Control Flames
4:52 Create Bonfire
6:21 Druidcraft
7:24 Frostbite
8:25 Guidance
9:24 Gust
10:07 Infestation
10:58 Magic Stone
15:16 Mending
16:26 Sponsor
18:04 Mold Earth
20:24 Poison Spray
21:20 Primal Savagery
22:04 Produce Flame
23:40 Resistance
25:06 Shape Water
26:56 Shillelagh
28:31 Thorn Whip
29:52 Thunderclap
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So Guidance is the best cantrip on the list, as the only blue option. No surprise there... but one thing that Treantmonk didn't mention, and that is often overlooked -- Initiative rolls are ability checks. If you know you're about to enter combat in the next minute or less, cast Guidance on yourself or a party member and add 1d4 to initiative checks. This feature gets this cantrip used more often at our table.
That's awesome
I really think the game should just grant players the flavor Cantrips like Druidcraft automatically when you pick the class. You can't swap them out, but they don't cost against your list. For people who are more min/maxers, they will never use them anyway. For players who want to do some more flavor stuff, it doesn't force them to drop an actual useful cantrip (either battle or utility) for something that is going to be just used for flavor 99.9% of the time.
I've done this in a campaign, and it had literally zero effect on combat but made the rp much more interesting.
This is really what they've done with the Artificer, and although I'm not a big fan of Magical Tinkering and think that it's a serious problem how few cantrips Artificers have, I like it and agree with you. I would never use one of my two(!) cantrips as a Druid on Druidcraft.
@@harjutapa I imagine I'll do that the next game I run too.
I give casters their flavor cantrip at will at 10th level without spending a slot. Prestidigitation is the ultimate"old wizard in his tower" spell.
Especially when you consider that a nature cleric gets druid craft and one other druid can trip in addition to all three of their cleric can trips whereas druids only ever get two...
I'm not sure how reasonable this is, but would you mind showing the rankings of all the spells on one page at the end of the video as a summary?
Or in the description.
Control Flames - 2
Create Bonfire - 1
Druidcraft - 2
Frostbite - 3
Guidance - 5
Gust - 1
Infestation - 1
Magic Stone - 3
Mending - 3
Mold Earth - 2
Poison Spray - 1
Primal Savagery - 3
Produce Flame - 1
Resistance - 2
Shape Water - 2
Shillelagh - 3
Thorn Whip - 4
Thunderclap - 2
@@lexihaley2887 Hero
One magic stone consideration: It's of of the few ranged resourceless attacks that are a candidate for the Crusher feat, which adds more utility
It is also relatively useful in low resource campaigns. If you have to count ammo and your dm is stingy, you almost always will be able to find some rocks.
Thorn whip qualifies for piercer feat. Shillelag also qualifies for crusher. Just saying.
@@AjenjoAnejo Piercer doesnt have any utility, its purely damage based. And Shillelagh doesnt qualify for range attacks.
@@BigPapaMitchell I am guessing you were thinking about something else (happens to me to do it is all good). Those do qualify and I think that was all he was saying. In the case of shillalah, the crusher having the ability to move a target 5 feet back and the crit of advantage on your next attack make it fine if you are doing that in your multi class.
(I don’t think you take those feats for cantrips but it is there if it comes up)
@@leodouskyron5671 My point was about utility on resourceless range attacks, neither Piercer nor Shillelagh qualify for this. Piercer is damage, not utility, and Shillelagh is for melee attacks.
> I don’t think you take those feats for cantrips but it is there if it comes up
For utility you could if you intend to use your cantrips mainly after casting the spells you care about.
Control flames is also great for a party using darkvision because you can reduce or extinguish enemy torches and campfires. It has great range and only somatic components, so you can use it without revealing yourself
Cant prestidigitation do the same thing?
@@sharkforce8147 Yeah, I was talking about torches not campfires, I must not have read the comment good enough haha
@@AverageAnnusEnthusiast Presty is only a 10' range though and has a verbal component so it's not so good if you're being stealthy
I really love it on gloomstalkers since its so good for shutting down light effects as you crawl through a dungeon
it's also good if you're roleplaying in the wildfire circle, if you find your spells caused some damage or blocked off an exit, this can solve that
A note on control water:
Ice has a lower density than water, and freezing water can cause serious damage to structures when it's inside small cracks, due to its significant expansion. If a DM is willing to take that into account then it may become more useful. It isn't game breaking, but it means you could do stuff like shatter a lock using water from your canteen.
This is actually something you can try at home with some water, a cheap lock, and your freezer to find that...it doesn't actually work.
If DMs allow this, go for it - but ask first if it works that way. Freezing water in reality would have trouble breaking a lock, but not all DMs know that. Shape water lets you move water up high, say up stairs - then freeze it - and if u can push it off, that's a lot of weight to come crashing down on something.
Been there, done that.
Also, created some temporary manacles for someone we wanted to slow down.
@@SakraIgor0qNomoko It's because you can't "control water" IRL.
@@WexMajor82 your DM let you use Shape Water to slap ice manacles on someone??? Someone who wasn't unconscious? If so that is a _very_ liberal interpretation of the cantrip. Most DMs I know don't let you do stuff like that. You'd have to spend one action to move the water in a shape around their wrists and another action to then freeze it, and they would just free action move out. An action surge might do it, but most DMs would still say no or let them have a super easy ST, like DC 8 or DC 6. Maybe you meant something else - the part about it only freezing water w/ no creature in it makes it hard to use as manacles - cuz a DM can say a creature is enough "in" the water to disallow this.
Magic stone can be a way to grant weapon using partymembers that dont have magic weapons to be able to do damage against things like lycanthropes. Ita situational, but good to have when it shows up
Lycanthropes requires silvered weapon damage to be effected, not magic.
@@gavinerickson9392 actually i think youll find the text says "from nonmagical attacks that arent silvered". I.e magic weapons nuĺify it
@@shotgunridersweden
Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered.
This is the typical wording, have not checked if lycanthropes deviate from that.
My wife’s ranger does this exact thing, describing them as “special arrows”
Thanks so much for adding the asterisks!
I think shape water differs from mold earth in that there actually is almost always water around. At the least, every adventurer's pack includes a waterskin that holds 4 pints of water. This often isn't enough for making cover in combat, but it gets you the utility of making and freezing small simple shapes. You can freeze objects in place such as a door, make an ice slick, make a fake window to replace the one you just broke, etc. At the very least I'd say it's on par with mending, which it can often replace (it can also cover a larger area and patch things that mending can't such as burns).
I'm so sad Infestation is so bad, because thematically its hilarious that you summon a bunch of fleas or mosquitos to force a demigod to panic and wander randomly. Buuut yeah....
They could make a new Circle of Infestation! Sounds better than Spores...
@@Joemantler spores is dope, get the poisoner feat to bypass resistance. Their unique Wildshape ability adds a ridiculous amount of temporary hitpoints. 4 times druid level twice per short rest.
It's fun to use outside of combat, casting it on people in town as a distraction.
Infestation is the ultimate "break concentration" spell.
I do think that druid has a hard time with cantrips meant to fill in combat. The newer books have certainly helped, however.
100% I appreciate your formatting for color blindness and for folks just listening-Nice inclusivity on display, thanks!
Yep. Watch these when I’m driving
Thank you for the stars after the ratings! I'm colorblind myself, and while I can tell the differences between most of the colors you use, it is a bit tricky to distinguish between the shades of purple and blue you use. It's much appreciated!
The produce flame rating is extremely surprising to me, I generally see it used as a go-to druid attacktrip. I prefer thorn whip and primal but it's a respectable option with middling everything.
yeah I personally love it as well. Though I think its weird that RAW, you can't use this to light anything on fire.
If your DM allows you to light stuff on fire with it (which, is pretty damn reasonable), it's a quick and easy way to do so compared to other options. Something like a torch takes an action on its own to light, let alone do anything else with it. And a tinderbox requires a minute to light most things on fire.
Besides that, having an at-will heat and light source that doesn't take any fuel is at least circumstantially useful. Couple that with being an offensive cantrip as well, and it's a okayish value deal. I'd at least take it over control flames.
I’m surprised it is ranked so low as well. From a utility perspective, it might not shed as much light as a torch, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Lower illumination range can help with stealth and the fire’s inability to harm you or your equipment can be used for a little intimidation now and then. From a damage cantrip perspective, it is nothing special since it is low range and fire damage, but it does have the virtue of being one of the few attack roll cantrips available to the druid and the highest damage dice of the ranged options.
I think its go to because people go through the list of candidates and its a d8 at range. But it does suffer from all of the shortcomings listed, poor range, its benefit as a light source is marginal at best. It is a good emergency fire starter if you need one, and sometimes you do. But I can't image someone wouldn't drop it in a hot minute if they could get access to Toll the Dead.
I would agree, especially for Circle of Wildfire druids and for races that don't get darkvision, as it's the only non-concentration fire damage cantrip and the only light-producing cantrip on the druid spell list.
I think Treantmonk may be weighing the "you just threw away your light source" thing too heavily. Most of the time someone else in the party has a light source, too. Maybe DMs overlook this - I sure do - I get overwhelmed by all the minute details of this game and I just don't have the mental processing capacity for every tiny little stinkin thing. At most tables, this is going to get overlooked or not even be a thing. Now if you really blind yourself by throwing your light source and grant enemies an advantage on you, this is a problem - which you fix by not relying on it as your only light source. Drop your torch as the fight starts - someone else has light - or you have dark vision - etc. With that said, Treantmonk is a stickler for details, and I could see such a thing mattering more at his table (but again, just plan for it).
I'm surprised about Create Bonfire being this low, considering Tasha's and all the push/pull stuff available now. I get it, Concentration, but even so, it can really do a lot, and conserves resources. In a team setting, it's surprisingly good. Can stack damage. It encourages and promotes tactical play and teamwork. Love that the wording is " for the first time on A turn", which means anyone could play ping pong with an enemy, pretty much like any sustained damage spell, only it's a cantrip, so no worries about wasting spell slots. I think it's really interesting combined with a tank/melee running Booming Blade. All in all, makes every fight at a bare minimum fun and potentially engaging for other team players, vs everyone doing their thing. For RP purposes, it's frightening that someone can just make everything burn at will. Witch at the stake and all. Evil loan shark ties up someone to a chair and the rest is history. Idk, I like it a lot more than red.
And if this cantrip casts Graviturgy Wizard, he can damage that enemy two times - he can move target 5ft up if target fails a saving throw. So up to 4d8 from lvl 6, 6d8 from lvl 11 and 8d8 from lvl 17.
And I also agree with your examples - Crusher, Telekinetic, Swarm Keeper, Psi Warrior, Battlemaster, Shield Master, Repelling Blast, Thorn Whip, Minotaur, ...
It is easy to overlook, but control flames is somatic only, and has a decent range of 60 feet. This actually makes it fairly good for stealth purposes. Get within 60 feet of a nonmagical flame and dim it or snuff it out, making it easier for the rogue to sneak around.
It is definitely niche - but it performs well in that niche. I agree with the orange rating, and in my experience people tend to underrate it (basically considering it low end of red / "useless").
In a similar vein, Thunderclap also is Somatic only. So in situations where you're silenced it still has usefulness. Very dependent on how your DM runs combats.
@@Hiker_daniel So is primal savagery
Awesome accessibility considerations for this video, my guy! Thanks for taking the time to put it all together, great playlist!
You’re missing the Scalpel application of Shape Water. It controls UP to a 5 foot cube. You can easily shape the water from your water skin to freeze something, or create small one time use arrows or darts for an ally… doesn’t have to be a large amount of water
I can't wait for the rest of this series! 🤩
Thank you very much for the colorblind awareness and assistance.
An argument for Shape Water: My DM, knowing the frailty of conventional locks and how metal becomes brittle with intense cold, allowed me to flow water into a nonmagical lock then freeze it and shatter the lock with something blunt. Our party had no rogue skills so I had to get creative.
Niiiice!
I've been waiting for this!!!
create bonfire: the concentration requirement does suck, but it's not hard to target 2 (or more) creatures with the initial casting of this spell. further, anything that isn't worn or carried automatically catches fire. so, if you throw it in a doorway that is made of wood, then you can drop concentration after a round because the door and the wood frame are now on fire. if you also take control flames with this cantrip, there's a lot you can do when it comes to battlefield control (and you can immediately snuff out any flames that make things difficult). this should be an orange ranking at the lowest, but i feel like any druid would find uses for this spell.
poison spray: as it is it's garbage, but i've fixed it in my homebrew to make it something that people actually want now. instead of a 10ft range single target con save for d12s of poison damage, i've made it a 10ft line con save for the poisoned condition until the end of the caster's next turn. no damage. also, every time the players go up a cantrip die rank, the distance of the line increases by 5ft. so, at 5th level it's a 15ft line con save for the poisoned condition. the original mechanics made it almost completely useless to any caster, but now it's very useful both in and out of combat.
produce flame: i would argue that since you produce the flame that sits in your hand, if you wanted to you should be able to hit someone for a melee spell attack with this spell. this spell seems so enamored with being a utility cantrip that a variable attack type would fit right in. if you can get a dm to allow the caster to cast it as either a ranged or a melee attack cantrip, then i'd say it's a solid orange. otherwise, it's between an orange and a red. the lack of good range and the limit to a d8 for damage and no additional effects all combine to keep this from being able to be a purple.
What great timing, I just started my Shepherd Druid in a new campaign! Definitely went for the Spike Growth + Thorn Whip combo for these early levels.
Did you also grab Thunderwave for the next turn? Pull them 10 with Thorn Whip, then push them 10 with Thunderwave. That's 1D6+2D8 (assuming a failed save) + 8D4 damage over the course of two turns. I'm really looking forward to trying it with my Druid.
I was genuienly surprised when produce flame was ranked so low. But then I remembered I'm playing a wildfire druid and my DM allows me to cast the produce flame from my spirit even though the casting is "self" (We both think the "Self" casting of produce flame is silly)
The reason it is self is because by casting it you just create the fire on your palm. The attack with it is completely separate part that happens afterwards.
@@Klaital1 it makes sense and adds a little uniqueness to the spell. It's just unfortunate that this detail ends up having such a bad effect to the wildfire druid. It prevents you from being able to cast it from your spirit.
I'm a big fan of Mold Earth for utility purposes. It's primary function is great (as you mentioned, when the terrain allows it) by giving a prone creature full cover hiding in the hole, but the ability to create images in the ground or wall are great. Draw a map of the area you scouted, create a portrait of the suspicious guy you saw, leave an arrow in the wall to indicated where you chased the bad guy to, etc. The create/remove difficult terrain I mainly use to stomp around and smash the floor up for flavor reasons (somatic only)
thank you for the stars!!!
Very helpful for the color challenged
I do like create bonfire a bit more as it is a nice set up for controlling s space and creating bottle necks (fuel allowing of course). Most in world creatures just see flame also it remains so you can hit it with control to flair it up. Cut off or divert most pursuers or set fire to the most wood framed buildings. I would say it is a circumstantial 2 stars.
Yeah. First step for control druids.
Create bonfire is held from one of my chef characters for food preparation, since i let her use a tensors floating disk as a preparation/cooking table. Used every morning for breakfast. Definitely puts it in orange for role playing characters.
I’m bias towards Create Bonfire. I love it! I have a tendency to over value cantrip effects as a continuous source of damage, and druids have a Cantrip Combo with Create Bonfire and Thorn Whip. Being able to move enemies back into the fire is too fun. Not to mention that it sheds light. It typically becomes my first damage cantrip on any of my druids without Darkvision.
I like your idea of cooking with it! I’m totally stealing that.
I've found it ok at lower lvls in dungeons, its a cantrip that you can place at doorway tiles which mess with enemy positioning.
Awesome. Never thought of using Tensors floating disk like that
I've been looking more intently at druids lately, and I can't help but particularly appreciate the coincidence of one of my more favored D&D related channels deciding to make a series on their spells.
Thanks. : )
Also, I could have sworn that Thorn Whip forced you to always move them 10 feet, I've read it multiple times, and I can't believe I missed those two all important words "up to". Still, I just kind of like Frostbite better due to range, but I definitely rank it higher in my own personal preferences now.
20:00 My experience is most caves have a fairly decent layer of dirt as floor. Whenever water runs into a cave and it would every time it rains decently it takes dust with it into the cave and deposits it inside.
In my opinion, these cantrips are underrated:
1. Control Flames: It's the range and lack of verbal component that elevates this spell. Great for exploring, great for stealth, and decent for utility. Sneaking through an enemy hideout, having the option to silently, unfailingly extinguish flames at 60 foot range is impressive. My wizard had this cantrip when playing through Tales of the Yawning Portal (levels 1-11), and it was one of my favorite spells. I regretted taking Mage Hand. On a druid, Control Flames would likely rank even a little higher.
2. Druidcraft: having the ability to know the weather conditions for the next day allows the druid to help the party plan ahead (Call Lightning Y/N, strong winds Y/N, heavy precipitation Y/N, limited visibility Y/N). In campaigns such as Tomb of Annihilation and Rime of the Frostmaiden, both of which I've run, this cantrip would have had a big impact on the campaign... if players had selected it. On the other hand, since druidcraft has a verbal component, it's difficult to use for stealth. The wolf howl/goblin cave is a pretty good use of the spell though.
3. Resistance: saving throws can be DEADLY and there are few ways to increase the chance of success on these rolls outside of a few leveled spells and bardic inspiration, which are very limited resources. This could vary between tables, but in my experience, saving throws outside of combat can in fact be predicted most of the time. Cast Resistance just before walking near a suspicious section of floor, activating a strange switch, walking across a narrow platform, diving down a deep well, etc. There are many moments in an adventuring day when you can just feel the danger and you know you could be subjected to a saving throw. If a DM is adjudicating ability checks per the rules (ie, only to resolve actions with uncertain outcomes), they are not as easy to predict as one might think, and passive checks can't really benefit from the d4 either.
In defense of Produce Flame, what other ranged spell attack cantrip options does the druid even have? Thorn Whip is usually better but Produce Flame still has unique utility for the druid specifically. In a similar vein to what other attack cantrips they get, Produce Flame is also druid's best light source by default too, making it decent utility, even if said utility anti-synergizes with its damage function.
Cantrips are easily druid's weakest spell level relative to other classes and I see Produce Flame as just the best of a bad situation. It would certainly be trash for a spoiled wizard but it suddenly becomes a lot better when you don't have Fire Bolt or Light anymore.
The only druid damage cantrips that have any reasonable amount of range are Magic Stone and Frostbite.
@@TreantmonksTemple that's the idea, Produce Flame is more reliably hitting than Frostbite and does the most damage of druid's 4 ranged attack spell options. Produce Flames truly is the Fire Bolt of the druid cantrip list, warts and all
@@cradillium7089 Does it though? Before lvl 5 Magic Stone is D6+spellcasting mod. Guess it depends on your mod, but it's a min 2dmg where Produce flame is min 1, w/ a max of 9-10 where PF has 8. And it has double the range.
After lvl 5 PF gets the second D8 so a much higher max of 16, but then the avg is 9-10 and the Stone is behind at 7-8, but it's not a lot. And again, the min for PF is 2, where the Stone is 4+.
11th lvl it gets up to where it's typically double MS, so maybe if you need a ranged cantrip still at this point and don't have another option. But do we need this a lot at Lvl 11? (I really don't know)
So PF has the bigger dice, and later on more of them. But it has no static value so it's less reliable.
But fire hands are kinda cool, so there's that.
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Shape water:
125 cubic feet (3500 liters or 925 gallons) of water instantly freezing would create insane force due to expansion.
As long as you can somehow fit the water in a crack, for example by using, (wait for it!) Shape water, you should be able to crush almost any material, and even create explosions.
This use should come up at least once in one game played somewhere on earth, at some point in time.
I know that there aren't other spells like this, but create bonfire would be worth taking if you could use its "when you cast" part of it without concentrating, but had the option to concentrate for the rest of the effect.
i was hoping for the fighter subclass ranking when i saw the thumbnail, but this is fine too
Hard objection on Druidcraft. You missed out the part that it gives you weather forecasting. Excellent for when you decide when to engage with call lightning, use fog without concentration or sneak in somewhere and use heavy rain to drown out sounds and wash away footprints. It gives so much more options and maybe reminds the DM that weather is indeed a thing, we all probably a at least one campaign, where it never came up.
Thanks for going in-depth on Druid spells, I've always found their spell list to be the least straightforward out of all of the full casters.
Rogues can sneak attack with magic stones if they use a sling, and artificers have magic stone as one of their cantrip options, so if you take artificer initiate as an arcane trickster, you can feasibly prioritize intelligence over dexterity.
I don't think that works. It's a ranged spell attack so it won't work as a ranged weapon. Might be wrong but I'm 90% sure
A lot of problems with this.
1. Rogues use Dexterity for A LOT! Not prioritizing Dex will leave you with much worse initiative, saving throws, skills and AC.
2. You need to use your bonus action at the start of combat and then for every third stone, that makes you inflexible and leaves you with one or two less Cunning Action uses per combat.
3. RAW you can't use Magic Stone and cast a non-cantrip spell the same turn, which is probably how an Int focused Arcane Trickster would want to start a combat.
4. You cannot benefit from a magic weapon.
Came along just as I've gotten into a Druid kick. Perfect timing.
Love this as a series, as I do play a druid who mostly cast conjure animals. :-D
Some other notes.
Frostbite has normal range for a non druid, but as a druid cantrip it has the best range you will get, even if it isn't great. This is the one major reason to pick this cantrip imo. Druids are cursed with consentration spells and no good ranged cantrips.
Thornwhip's outstanding feature is its reliability. You want this simply because it will be there whenever you need it. Pretty much nothing resists magical piercing damage. Pulling creatures into hazards or similar is cool, but will only come up now and then.
Thorn whip won't do great damage, but that's just part of the game playing a druid, you get damage/utility through proper spells. It is however an eminently reliable damage cantrip that can be used if stuck in melee, at range (especially if you move around to make up for it's crap range). Then every now and then you will pull an enemy off a cliff, into a trap or in attack range of your barbarian, and it feels great.
Thorn whip and spike growth
@@jacobmoll2878 I like this idea, but never ended up playing it. At the relevant levels 3 & 4 I went with flaming sphere instead. It's too often down to companions already being in melee, an unknown battlefield or unfavourable geometry.
Now with summon beast, I feel even less inclined to as it is an even better and more applicable use of my concentration.
I used it in a one shot, think we were 6th lvl maybe, circle of land coast, so I had misty step also. Played this to show a circle of the moon fanatic the advantages of other circles. Used this combo to drag a boss back and forth across the spikes as he was smart enough to stand still unlike his minions. Yes it worked well because I went early but often it is about creating opportunity.
Control Flames is A-mazing for shadow monks, gloom stalkers and other subclasses that rely on combat lighting, so you don't have to rely on darkness because it is cheaper and doesn't use your concentration. Niche, yeah, bot for those subclasses is best cantrip. For magic initiate purposes or other means of getting cantrips from the druid class, of course. Guidance or Shillelagh +control flames.
I had Infestation on a Swarmkeeper Ranger with the Druidic Fighter fighting style, the theme was just too strong to pass up. I think I cast it twice ever, even at level 2 it couldn’t compare to just attacking. The time I used the cantrip to make a swarm of bees drag and assassin out of a tree was almost funny enough to justify the choice.
A Halfling with Thorn Whip pulling large opponents around the battlefield. And they can't resist 😆😂🤣
Suggestion for these types of videos. When putting the chapter titles in, also include the star rating for the spells.
One thing I really like Mold Earth for is for large scale engineering. Digging canals and trenches or making levees, stuff like that. Very circumstantial for PCs, but there are campaigns where that is quite valuable. But the worldbuilding implications are probably the bigger thing.
Also, Thorn Whip is fantastic if you are playing a race that can fly, since its pull (which need not be horizontal) is just enough to cause fall damage, which also knocks the target prone. An extra d6 isn't spectacular by the time you get access to other forms of flight, at best bringing your damage up to average for a cantrip, but giving allies advantage will always be significant, and the movement reduction is good for keeping enemies within spell AoEs. Heck, lifting a creature out of an AoE and then dropping them back in is even possible with a few spells like Spike Growth.
Excited for this series. There are plenty of spells unique to the Druid list that don't get talked about often enough. Bones of the Earth is a personal favorite, even if it isn't the best spell for its level in the game.
I was about to suggest arming the peasants with Magic Stone when you mentioned potentially doing this. I think there's a point where it would be really good though, like... if you're protecting a village, and you know you'll need to. Cast it while the bard/face of the party is negotiating.
Create Bonfire is orange for me. It can be used very tactically at low levels before the big second-level concentration spells come into play. It can be used to block off paths/hallways, funnel enemies or put directly under an enemy to force movement and AoO. It can also be used with thorn whip to provoke the extra damage more often. It definitely falls off once you reach 3rd level, but it is great at levels one and two when you don't have better options for concentration.
Yep, same here and with the optional class features you can just swap it out at level 4 for a different cantrip.
Here's the problem: at those very low levels, I will want to concentrate at least one battle a day on faerie fire. I guess I could shoot a light xbow while concentrating on FF. I get so few cantrips, and I do want guidance - and if my only other cantrip is bonfire, I can't cast it if I concentrate on FF - or entangle. My str is horrible - so unless I have shilelagh I don't want to melee. My dex is probably 14, so I'm not super great w/ a xbow. I'd rather my second cantrip at these levels be something more generally useful in combat that doesn't require concentration - shilelagh is a fine option - produce flame isn't that awful.
Now, if you plan on using all your slots to cast cure wound, healing word, or goodberry, then create bonfire is a fine option at the low lvls, and you're right. I am not planning on healing that much - in AL, which I play, we always start w/ a healing potion - and I buy a healers kit and can auto-stabilize someone down if I'm out of slots and potions (with everyone in party having a free potion, we don't cast heal as often as in other types of 5e).
Create Bonfire is working well on my level 3 Wizard, forcing creatures to move, funneling them down a path and generally being annoying. Coupled with Telekinetic for shoving fun. Picking up Gust next level for more shoving.
Mold Earth has some pretty impressive capabilities if you have a few minutes to fortify a position. Hell, with one minute, you can turn a 15 foot wide corridor into a horrendous obstacle course for many opponents.
Edit: Oops, I meant 2 minutes.
You can use this cantrip to instantly drop 2,750 lb of Earth on a prone creature.
I really like Magic stone for a great many of my own character ideas. I think an important factor is whether it can benefit from the extra attack feature.
I would argue that it can, as the ranged spell attack isn't the action used(rather, a modification to the normal mechanics), but the throw is, which arguably would be an attack action.
Magic stone is a way for you to give two of your party members at low level to have a decent ranged option THAT TAKES ONE HAND. So those with a shield can use them or the barbarian/monks without ranged options.
I will point out, gust has been an all star in my druid that is focused on battlefield control. It works great with spells like spike growth where you can make the creatures move and is a good replacement for thunder wave if you are out of spell slots(my druid is also in a coastal campaign where a lot of fighting happens on boats and I can usually try to push someone off the boat with gust)
Btw.: I somewhat disagree that it's normal for most cantrip lists to be mostly orange because cantrips tend to be situationally useful. I personally feel that the cantrip lists of wizards, sorcerers and warlocks feel quite a bit stronger than the druid list. Yes, they have some stinkers aswell, but I would love for druids to have access to Firebolt, Ray of Frost, Toll the Dead, Minor Illusion, Message or Mage Hand, just to name a few. I personally feel that very few of the druid cantrips are on that level.
You could use druidcraft to rob farms of rare flowers and seeds. You could ruin the botanical garden of a noble family by making every flower go to seed.
I was about to mention a color blind comment, but you made it first. Thank you very I much, I very much appreciate color blind thoughtfulness.
Tbh one thing I actually like about produce flame is that if you’ve got an extra moment to set up, you can prepare to attack with it without concentrating on it
Thanks for your insights!
Could you please include a quick round up at the end, just to get a sense of how many good options are available at this level for this class, or if we should be settling with more of the "orange" ones? Thanks!
Man.. your color scheme makes my mmo brain go bzzt
in a one shot, I had a warlock cast magic stone and hand them to his flock of familiars. the rest of the fight, he just sat back working support, casting minor illusion for the rogue, and getting his pact of chain familiars to pelt the enemy with stones. I don't think it worked very well, or was entirely legal. but it was one hell of a memorable encounter!
I'm curious how you obtained a flock o' familiars. I'm all for it, but my dm limits me to one. My menagerie dreams crumble.
@@ParaisoFlower Flock of Familiars is a spell, like 3rd level I think, not positive.
Magic Stone is a nice emergency backup for a party of martials who have no magic weapons and encounter a creature resistant to or immune to non-magical weapons. The druid can distribute stones to all the fighters, rogues, etc, all of whom can use them to make attacks.
I like Magic Stone on my Arcane Trickster. Granted that is taking it through Artificer as a way to get Intelligence to attack and damage with Sneak Attack
You could theoretically mix Primal Savagery with the Primal Companion, if you choose an owl, you can safely cast it through the owl familiar, turning it into a pseudo-ranged attack (as long as enemies don’t attack the owl)
dscryb seems really fun!
Here is the final thing for those who want it!
Blue***** Spells
Guidance
Green**** Spells
Thorn Whip
Purple*** Spells
Frostbite
Magic Stone
Mending
Primal Savagry
Shillelagh
Orange** Spells
Control Flames
Druidcraft
Mold Earth
Resistance
Shape Water
Thunderclap
Red* Spells
Create Bonfire
Gust
Infestation
Poison Spray
Produce Flame
Thanks!
Create Bonfire is my "go to', hardly red. That's crazy! You cast it, keep your concentration going and then cast whatever you want every other turn. If you did NOTHING else except cast it and let it die (no concentration), it does decent cantrip damage. For low level druids, this is the best cantrip in the game.
One case Resistance might come in handy is putting it on the party tank before they rush into battle to help them get in and maybe tank the first hit of a big attack. If you're going up against something with a really nasty attack you know has a recharge, like a Demilich's Howl for instance, putting resistance on someone and trying to bait that attack out, knowing they can use resistance to possibly tank it and make them use it up so the party can attack at will.
Granted, if you have someone with say Death Ward or a protective spell that counters it (say Protection From Evil and Good if you know that enemy can cause Charmed or Frightened) can do that job better, but if they're busy doing something else or you just want to save a spell slot, it's an option.
Another option is if you or a party member are under an effect with a recurring saving throw. You can pretty much be certain that turn they'll need resistance. If they're, for instance, Stunned, that might be the difference between them being out of the fight for the rest of the encounter or being back into the fray.
I'm soon to start a Tortle circle of Spores druid.. It might be cliche, but I've never played a druid, nor a tortle, and it sounds fun. Your Druid spell videos will be helpful for me.
My issue is that the druid gets only 2 cantrips at level 1. I plan to use Shillelagh (staff and shield), and Tasha's options to adjust attribute modifiers. I want at least one ranged damage cantrip.... so there's no room for guidance. Tasha's options really help to make the approach viable, shillelagh at lower levels and then switch it out as the druid become more spell focused.
I’m trying to build a ranger with shillelagh, I think that might be a way in which the cantrip can shine!
You could have to take magic initiate or multi-class to get it. It also means it is based on wisdom when you probably have a high dex and constitution. Pact of the Tome warlocks can get it, but again suffer from not having multiple attacks.
I did a cleric(nature) 1 / warlock (fey, blade) x who did the heavy armor, shield, and quarter staff with PAM. It was fun, but it was a really specific build. Still... with hex up, it was a flexible build. PAM often got an opportunity attack on the way in, plus a bonus attack, so something I could be hitting 3-4 times in a round. Still, facing a hill giant or something, I often needed big defensive spells (armor or agathys or greater invisibility) up. It was flexible, but clearly fighter types were better.
@@BW022 Rangers can take a fighting style that allows them to pick two druid cantrips.
@@scottbender9056 In Tasha's sure. Good catch.
Shape Water: when you freeze water it expands, this can be useful for breaking things like locks, or pour water into a crack in a wall/floor/ceiling and freeze it.
Not all DMs allow this. Have you ever taken a lock, put water in it, and placed it in your freezer? Did it break? Now if a DM allows these shenanigans, sure- it's nice. Expanding water in a limited time frame is not always as powerful as we might think, especially if metal is invovled.
Druids. Great healers or destroyers of entire villages. Vlove them! Thematically,vsubclasses, and the flexibility of their cast and playstyle. Go tagge or close. I always pick goodberru via magic initiate as a daily 1st level slot. Love this class.
I'm playing a first level Druid. I WISH I had more cantrips. I'd really like to have "Mending". Getting creative, I feel it could be very worthwhile. Kind of a bummer of the game that we need to focus on spells & cantrips that keep us alive in combat, lol....it is what it is...💥💥💥
With Tasha’s Rangers can prioritize Wisdom and use Shillelagh and Magic Stone as the two cantrip they get from the fighting style. It can let you play a very “Primitive” outdoors character who can still be effective with magic weapons both ranged (MS + sling) and melee (shillelagh) from the earliest levels and still be effective as you go up in levels with them. But yes... I wish they scaled a little bit. Even if it was just like GFB and BB where at the start they just let you use your casting stats instead of str/dex, then level 5 they become 1d8, then 2d8 at 11th, then 3d8 at 17th.
Resistance pairs extremely well with Spore Druid's Zombie Undead Fortitude. Especially the ones that spawn through the spores with 1 HP for an hour.
Another thing worth mentioning about Mold Earth, it is not just outside vs inside, but if you usually get to prepare your battlefield it goes up tremendously in value. I think that is actually the bigger thing. You can build pit traps, fortifications, and funnel your enemy with difficult terrain. If you expect to be ambushing the enemy, or using clever tricks to make the fight happen on your terms, Mold earth becomes amazing. If you expect to just face the challenges head on, and take the encounters as they come, mold earth is not so great.
At the end you should show a final listing in order of there ranking like in your subclass series.
Have you considered doing a video where you rank the class spell lists?
I haven't considered a single video to do that, but I am talking about the relative strength of class spell lists in my subclass ranking videos.
@@TreantmonksTemple yeah I’ve been watching them. Looking forward to the rest.
This is an interesting idea. It should however take into account the advantages clerics and druids get from having the full list available. This does add a fair bit of value to situational spells.
It's also hard to calculate for wizards who are more reliant on the DM for getting the spells they want/need.
As an example from my current campaign. We found ourselves in a dessert low on water at 3/4th lvl. As a druid I could switch my spells around to add create water. It would be a "bad spell" for any class that has to select spells (or a weird expense for a wizard) , but I had it in my big list of available spells that come free of cost.
Magic stobe early on is okay if you caat entangle or ferrie fire and use it as you dont break concentration action. Control flames I've use where DM said a creature next to flame or fire could be considered as having clothes tgat ate flamable and even tge padding under armor is flanable. Theyd take qd6 damage.
This is very helpful, thank you. I’m a new player, and I’m considering dipping into Druid as a multi-class for the Ranger I’m playing.
I actually use Create Bonfire in an optimized way on my latest Blastbron EfreetLock build, lol. It has value to a no-Dip Warlock who only gets 2x Pact Slots through Tier 2, and Push/Pull options on his Cantrip! It's not so great on Druids, though, no doubt.
I feel that Gust should be a bonus action type cantrip....then again that might overpower it in game play.
Shape water ... I have seen this spell being a BONKER shenanagns with decanter of endless water
Shape water: My players are using it regularly to pull the water from their wet clothes in our ROTF campaign, as well as using it in conjunction with Create Bonfire to melt snow to shape, then freeze for gritty survival tasks, quickly becoming an RP staple for the module.
12:10 oh i was confused for a second there. so the attacker doesnt use the caster's FULL spell modifier. the attacker uses their own proficiency bonus + the caster's spell ability modifier. i think it would probably work out to be the same as if it was the caster's full spell attack modifier (caster's prof. + caster's spellcasting mod), but yea it could be a little different.
also id probably try to argue to home-rule produce flame to be 60 ft, and the flame stays in the hand after thrown.
I like you underestimate Gust, that 5ft push can be very useful, especially as Thorn Whip gives a you a pull option. It's certainly circumstantial, muhc worse than Thorn Whip, but it definitely deserves an orange ranking for that alone in my opinion.
I think create bonfire is underrated because there is nothing that says that the 5-foot cube bonfire "snaps" to a 5-foot tile on a battlemap. Thus, if you were to center the 5-foot cube bonfire on the intersection of 4 tiles, you could deal damage to multiple creatures that are bunched together.
On the contrary, the rules on this are clear.
"Choose an intersection of squares as the point of origin of an area of effect, then follow the rules for that kind of area as normal. If an area of effect is circular and covers at least half a square, it affects that square." (DMG p.251)
Cube: "You select a cube's point of origin, which lies anywhere on a face of the cubic effect." (PHB p.204)
So the cube's point of origin, which lies on any face of the cube, must also be at an intersection of squares. For a small 5 foot cube effect, that forces the point of origin to be one of its corners. And if that wasn't enough, the area of effect of Create Bonfire is not circular, so it still wouldn't work using the "covers at least half the square" rule.
I stand corrected! My interpretation was based only on the PHB definition of a cube area of effect and was ignoring the rules in the DMG... that really should have been present in the PHB.
In T1 it's rare, but you sometimes encounter a monster that is immune to non-magic-weapon damage. And you sometimes encounter things that resist non-magic damage. If a meleer or archer in the party has no magic weapon, this can be a great spell - cuz I'm pretty sure this does *magical* bludgeoning damage (find out if your DM thinks otherwise - most DMs I know consider it magical (or even consider it a spell attack, not a ranged weapon attack), and that seems to be RAW). Anyway, give other party members stones to throw, and they're now doing magical damage. A bow vs something that resists it does 4.5 + 3 / 2 = 3.75 av dam. Magic stone is 6.5.
I agree magic stone is not useful past tier 1 (lvls 1 to 4). Tasha's letting you switch out a cantrip makes this one worth considering now for low lvl use.
I'd actually rank thunderclap as red. The key drawback is thus:Everything within 100ft now knows your party is there! In published dungeons this can be suicide as you suddenly alert half the dungeon of your presence! It doesn't matter much in 1-2 fights per day style campaigns, so maybe it'd be orange for those, but if we're talking anything with ANY dungeon crawling at all the spell will get you killed unless your gm ignores that element.
If there's running water and/or wind, there's almost certainly dirt or some other loose earthen deposit; I think mold earth is a bit better and a bit less situational than you think, but just a bit.
I think Create Bonfire is a bit underrated, but it very quickly loses its value as you level, 1-4 it has some decent uses especially when you can essentially force enemies to enter it and stay in it - it's a bit circumstantial but it's not targeting CON and it does have the ability to do ongoing damage.
A reasonable low level damage option, certainly better than most of the CON and/or Poison cantrips I'd have thought? The lack of light from it, and the inability to move it (because that'd be cool) about sort of sucks...
I think it's absolutely worth grabbing Create Bonfire if your DM uses the Druid Cantrip Versatility rules, as you can trade it out once you start getting better uses of concentration at higher levels. This is especially true if you have grapplers in the party that can knock enemies prone and drag them into the bonfire.
@@verbatim8892 I agree! I've seen it get some work done, notably versus Frostbite...
There is a major caveat where concentration is concerned, I really don't see it going far past Druid 4 - I'm favouring it on my Moon Druid until I finish multiclassing into Barbarian.
It's not a perfect choice but it's a bit more reliable than many of the other cantrips and it's hypothetically possible to keep it up in wildshape should the need arise, honestly with limited options I think Chris has presented a formidable analysis - most of the Druid cantrips were low level traps but now have some useful applications, I fully intend to make use of Cantrip Versatility...
I think if it had light of some sort and could be move, notably while in wildshape, it would be a great pick at low levels - in the best possible circumstance your position forces the enemy to attack through the cantrip...
I saw a comment from a dude about the movement thing, you can't recast a cantrip in wildshape at low levels, but you would be able to move one if that was in the text of the spell - even 5ft would be potentially handy...
"amateurishly hung deer"
Sick burn
21:20 Produce Flame
I'm joining a campaign in progress, in two days, as a Wildfire Druid. I'm taking this Red* cantrip, because it benefits from the level 6 subclass feat "Enhanced Bond" and I'll be starting out at level 5. Sure, it's range is short but 3d8 as a cantrip at level 6 is still a great option. With the druid's list of healing spells, staying midway between melee and ranged seems the logical place to be anyway. The pet's teleport can get me out of melee as my bonus action, if I was to get swarmed.
Appreciate this, very helpful! I started with Shileleagh & Magic Stones. Will consider Guidance & Thorn Whip next time I can add or switch things out! Shileleagh & Magic Stones have served me & my party (who I've handed Magic Stones to, along with Good Berries, prior to battle). I like your breakdown analysis a lot--THANK YOU!! 😁🌱🌰🌿
My case for Magic Stone or Shillelagh past 4th level:
Both cantrips add your modifier to the damage. Which I assume for many is going to be +3 or +4 at that point, +5 if you got lucky on rolling stats or had a +2Wis at the start and used your ASI for +2Wis. So a d6+3 tends wind up at 6-7 (7-8, 8-9 for higher bonus), but is never less than 4. Now 2D8 is 8-10 which is same or better, but has a low of 2.
For a typical rolling we might be a point shy but it's much more predictable, and I think that's the important bit. Neither requires a Con save which is nice for that as well, though we lose the secondary effect.
At 11th lvl the 3d8 is going to pull away more and while still possible to roll lower, is less likely. I don't really know how much we'll be worrying about that at 11th? Now if we're talking a D6 damage the MS/Shl I think holds up still, though just barely.
I do think thorn Whip is going to wind up better (or is always better) because of the movement effect and no saving throw requirement. Play it well and the D6 damage is actually the secondary effect. So I'm not saying MS/Shl is must have or anything. Just that I think the static bonus is good and it's often overlooked because the dice itself isn't as big.
For a druid create bonfire sucks but, with 2 feats, it's amazing for a rogue. Grab booming blade and create bonfire with magic initiate and get war caster. If they don't move they trigger the bonfire and if they do move they trigger booming blade
Shape Water is the most powerful cantrip in 5th edition as long as you have a decanter of endless water, or even just the create water spell. There are so many uses for water that you can freeze or turn into a simple animated construct. If your DM lets you use it on ice there are so, so many campaigns that make it S tier.
To me, resistance is useful for dealing with traps. If your DM likes to make lots of traps, resistance can be much more useful.
especially if someone else in party can also do guidance - but with limited cantrip choice, guidance is almost always better - if no one else in party can take guidance, take guidance over resistance, even if dm uses many traps
@@johneubank8543 well, yes, take guidance over resistance, but if you have several cantrip choices, and you run into enough traps, you may want both.
@@cmckee42 well sure - you can multi class to get many cantrips - you can do a feat. Might be worth it. If guidance = a better chance of not having to roll a ST, I still prefer it over resistance, which is not useless. Again, if a second person in party can take guidance, this is a lot better.
@@johneubank8543 yeah, it is definitely not a spell I would pick up with a non land druid. Maybe also Cleric or divine caster I would be multiclassing anyway
Druid is my go to class and I’m a long time Chris watcher and I almost always agree with the logic - but produce flames being red is a little silly by the criteria later out in the beginning. It’s an at will lantern that doesn’t require a free hand before it is an attack cantrip, and at the very least should be orange
I thought that box said, "amazingly hung deer." XD
Used thorn whip so many time to knock creatures off rooftops or toward our marshal or thubderclap with spice growth. I think druidcraft is underrated though and encourages creative use