A Druid With No Wild Shape, Looking for ideas

[Emparawr]

So here is what I'm trying to do. I have been playing an Aracokra Cleric of the Light Domain. ATM his attributes are STR-10 DEX-16 CON-14 INT-10 WIS-20 CHA-10. Currently I'm level 8, and honestly the teen levels of cleric are just looking pretty trash to me so I have been looking at multiclassing options. My INT/CHA/STR of 10 and the fact that I am a blaster not a smacker has pretty much removed any incentive to multiclass into anything. I have thought about multiclassing into druid, but Wild Shape really just doesn't fit with this character. So what I'm looking for, is homebrew ideas for what you think would be a fair set of abilities to trade for Wild Shape.

Any help/opinions are appreciated :)

[hymer]

opinions

Multiclassing hurts your casting. Serious multiclassing cripples it. And casting is your strongest feature. So, my opinion is that you should look at what spells you get more than what class features cleric offers, and decide that this is really very good, and stick with it. :smallsmile:

[Mara]

IMO: Don't multiclass.

[djreynolds]

At level 8 you have a 16 in dex and a 20 in wis and a 14 in con. Those stats are awesome, but if you a bored of this flying bird casting warding flare and spirit guardians, grab a Monk of Light.

Honestly I wish they would just make caster only druid, I am so tired of moon druids, they are everywhere, polearm master here and druid over there, and the smite goes.....

Go monk of light, good fit.

[Hudsonian]

Don't multiclass. You are about to really get to the fun spells

[georgie_leech]

At level 8 you have a 16 in dex and a 20 in wis and a 14 in con. Those stats are awesome, but if you a bored of this flying bird casting warding flare and spirit guardians, grab a Monk of Light.

Honestly I wish they would just make caster only druid, I am so tired of moon druids, they are everywhere, polearm master here and druid over there, and the smite goes.....

Go monk of light, good fit.

Land Druids make perfectly respectable casters in their own right, falling neatly into a natural support role. They have a variety of buff and conjuration spells, some nasty control, and a variety of utility spells they can prepare if needed. WS isn't so much for damage as the utility, and there are enough forms that you can almost always find something to contribute if you're not aiming at fighting in whatever form. Moon Druids are undeniably powerful (turns out a class feature that says 'is actually a bear inside another bear with a Druid stapled on' is really strong), but that doesn't mean Land Druids are weak.

That said, I'd advise the OP against multiclassing with Druid. I really don't think that level 1 and 2 Druid spells are worth giving up Level 5 or 6 or even 7 Cleric spells for. The ability to make Goodberries is a bit superfluous when you have Heroes' Feast and Heal, and Blade Barrier makes Spike Growth look like Lego blocks.

[Hudsonian]

*snip*
Blade Barrier makes Spike Growth look like Lego blocks.

I'll take the Lego blocks.... Those things are straight out of the 9th circle.

[georgie_leech]

I'll take the Lego blocks.... Those things are straight out of the 9th circle.

As annoying as they are you can at least avoid those by standing still.:smalltongue:

[goodpeople25]

I'll take the Lego blocks.... Those things are straight out of the 9th circle.
For the untrained sure, but with living for years with legos (not all bricks though) on the floor of my room i can say that with practice you'll never step on them even in the dark or if covered in clothes,ect if you know there might be lego.:smallsmile: (Trick is that it only hurts when you step on them, so lead in with your toes to clear/check for a safe spot and/or just shuffle your feet under them)
So dexterity save to avoid all damage? Or you can avoid it if you move half speed? Or just some sort of skill check?

[georgie_leech]

For the untrained sure, but with living for years with legos (not all bricks though) on the floor of my room i can say that with practice you'll never step on them even in the dark or if covered in clothes,ect if you know there might be lego.:smallsmile: (Trick is that it only hurts when you step on them, so lead in with your toes to clear/check for a safe spot and/or just shuffle your feet under them)
So dexterity save to avoid all damage? Or you can avoid it if you move half speed? Or just some sort of skill check?

Rather appropriately given your description, Spike Growth is a perception check to notice if you don’t see it get cast, but otherwise it's 2d4 per 5 foot square you pass through. Needless to say, 6d10 on first entering or starting the turn within the BB is substantially more, even with a safe for half.

[tieren]

Land Druids make perfectly respectable casters in their own right, falling neatly into a natural support role. They have a variety of buff and conjuration spells, some nasty control, and a variety of utility spells they can prepare if needed. WS isn't so much for damage as the utility, and there are enough forms that you can almost always find something to contribute if you're not aiming at fighting in whatever form. Moon Druids are undeniably powerful (turns out a class feature that says 'is actually a bear inside another bear with a Druid stapled on' is really strong), but that doesn't mean Land Druids are weak.

That said, I'd advise the OP against multiclassing with Druid. I really don't think that level 1 and 2 Druid spells are worth giving up Level 5 or 6 or even 7 Cleric spells for. The ability to make Goodberries is a bit superfluous when you have Heroes' Feast and Heal, and Blade Barrier makes Spike Growth look like Lego blocks.

I agree that Land Druids make nice casters, particularly if you like summons spells.

I'd also agree that multiclassing a caster is sub-optimal. If Op went cleric 8/druid 8 they would have a lot of neat spells from a lot of neat sources (up to 4th level in each class, domain spells, circle spells), but 4th level spells from 2 places are not as powerful as 8th spells from one.

That said however I wouldn't counsel against the multiclass without more information from the OP on what the concept of the character is and what they enjoy doing in the game. It is possible the sub-optimal choice on a power consideration may be ideal on a concept or RP stand point, and even at less than maximized can be a whole lot of fun.

For instance if they want to get into a lot of hijinx summoning beasts, woodland beings, elementals, and giant insects, they will never achieve that as a single class cleric. If they want to control the weather and cause earthquakes before shifting to the ethereal plane, staying cleric is better.

[georgie_leech]

The stated reason for the multiclass was seeing the teen Cleric levels as 'trash.' While it's possible the spells just aren't grabbing them from an rp standpoint, that's language usually associated with dissatisfaction with power levels. If that's the case, then multiclassing Druid is almost certainly counterproductive, more or less regardless of any potential boons traded for Wild Shape.

[Flashy]

honestly the teen levels of cleric are just looking pretty trash to me so I have been looking at multiclassing options.

I had this attitude to Cleric for a really long time simply because they go super generic super hard at 10th level. You transition from a support full-caster with a subclass defined specialty to a perfectly generic cleric getting exclusively generic cleric features for seven levels. Coming up out of the domain heavy early levels it really does seem like you're losing all the power and progression. There's no features between 10th and 20th level apart from ASIs, steady improvements on Destroy Undead, gradual improvements to Divine Intervention, and a single domain feature.

It can be hard to accept that most of the new power is coming out of spell slots when you've lost new domain spell progression, and understand that Nature, Knowledge, Trickery, and arguably Light and Tempest aren't really going to be supported as concepts anymore. I've found people tend to get more attached to the domain concept than the class concept with clerics. It's really hard to be a 9th level Light Cleric and realize that the only spell left in 10 full levels of progression that directly supports your concept is Firestorm (Arguably Harm, if you're prepared to accept the necrotic damage). There's this sudden shift and it can absolutely feel like you're losing all your sources of power. Up until now the cleric spell list has been your fallback feature. Suddenly, it's your power source.

Sticking with the class from a power perspective is absolutely the right thing to do, but I totally understand why the low teens feel weak.