busterswd
2017-03-28, 03:18 AM
Full Metal Bear: A Thought Experiment
This is not a full fledged guide. I'm not knowledgeable (or dedicated) enough, and this heavily relies on a permissive DM.
However, the forums have been discussing lately the potential of a druid who is allowed to wear metal armor that chooses to be on the front lines, and I think the idea is interesting enough to warrant some productive discussion.
If you want an excellent Druid guide, go here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?397940-5e-Druid-Handbook-Land-amp-Moon). A lot of what Hymer says will overlap, because the sad truth is that if you want to play an armored Druid "optimally" you're still going to stay away from the front lines. However, if you want to enhance one of the existing frontliners with a splash of Druid, you'll be able to do things that a single Fighter or Paladin would never be able to do.
For starters, you are the only class in the game able to completely ignore the primary drawback of heavy armor: just shift, and you're as stealthy as ever. Additionally, you have extremely easy ways of inflicting (and ignoring) disadvantage on your opponents, as well as ways to gain advantage. This is primarily accomplished through the low level Druid spell list, which has a lot of spells that are just very powerful, even later game.
Handy ranking key:
Gold - Amazing. Build isn't complete without it
Sky Blue - Great. One of the stronger options possible.
Dark Blue - Good. Solid choice, but not necessarily a priority.
Green - Mediocre
Red - Ignore it.
Purple - Situational pick
Stats:
Strength - You're a frontliner, not a caster. You NEED at least 15 to wear plate, and your goal will to get at least 1 multiattack, so starting with a 16 in this is probably a good idea.
Dexterity - Dump Stat, unless you go Dex Paladin/Fighter. If that's the case, though, you're probably not going to be wearing metal armor, anyway. You never want this to be too low if you can help it, though.
Constitution - You can't ignore it. Get at least 14. If you start as a Fighter, you get proficiency in Con saves, which does double duty for concentration.
Intelligence - Dump it.
Wisdom - You need at least a 13 to multiclass. I'd get at least 14, and preferably a 16, if you don't mind having 8s in your dump stats.
Charisma - If you go Paladin, you may not want to completely dump this, but the build is going to be starved for stats.
Races:
Variant Human as always is wonderful, but it pulls double duty for this build, because it's fairly MAD and it gets you War Caster without an issue. Instead of going through all the potential possibilities for other races, I'll list some strong options later.
Feats/ASI:
War Caster is an obvious pickup. Hopefully you went variant human and got it, but if not, it may simply be your best choice for your first ASI.
I'd probably focus on getting Strength to 18 with my second ASI, and then considering either bumping Wisdom or getting another feat.
Napkin Scratch Build:
Fighter 1 --> Moon Druid 2 --> Fighter 5 --> Moon Druid 5 --> figure out if you want a 3rd multiattack or better casting. Strongly consider going Fighter 6 for that extra ASI at some point, though. Ultimately you will be either Fighter 6/Druid 14, or Fighter 11/Druid 9.
This build makes leveling a multiclass a lot less painful. You have Brown Bear at levels 3 and 4, which is great, and also at 5 and 6, which is a little less great, but still serviceable. You get your first "real" multiattack" at 7, which is nice. You're incredibly durable in the early levels and can help with offhealing through Goodberries.
You're either going to want to go Battlemaster, to help out your summons and give you more short rest resources, or Eldritch Knight, which gives you Shield, Find Familiar, and the War Magic and Eldritch Strike class features. Eldritch Strike is REALLY nice, because there's not a lot of ways to debuff spell saves. Comboing Druid spells with disadvantage on saves will help compensate for your subpar wisdom while still letting you do your most important job, whacking people in the face.
Napkin Scratch build 2:
Dump Wisdom, go land druid to supplement your loss of spells known.
But Why Melee Druid?
Remember: you're not "improving" on the druid chassis, which I regard as one of the strongest classes in the game to single class - every party can benefit from another Druid, because they cover CC, healing, utility, and even offense. You're adding benefits to a melee frontliner, and the benefits are considerable.
There are not a lot of "sticky" melee in this game. Something like Sentinel is literally once per turn, and aside from a DM who just swings at whoever is in front of them, there's nothing actually preventing enemies from just running past you and at your party.
With your spells and summons, you suddenly become one of the stickiest melee combatants in the game. Additionally, you are still an out of combat monster, and have all the regular spells that make Druids so stupidly good, as well as the ability to switch to spells you need when you need them.
Goodberry makes you an amazing offhealer early game and gives you a way of consuming slots you haven't used up yet. About to long rest? Goodberry, get the free healing. Plate Mail's power goes up multiplicatively with healing, and you are going to be extremely hard to take down early game.
Healing Word is a level 1 wonder; you can bring up an ally with a bonus action, and you generally won't miss that extra Wisdom modifier. It's useful all the way throughout the game. Though you may want another ally to cover it, having a ranged way to pick up allies prepped will save your butt when you're stuck in the front lines.
Fog Cloud combos really well with save cantrips; you can attack your enemies inside of it without a penalty before running into melee and swinging at them. If they attempt to run from you, you get another free cantrip cast because of War Caster. If they stay, you're preventing them from getting to your backline and forcing them to attack your 18+ AC, with disadvantage, and with an advantage on maintaining Fog Cloud thanks to War Caster. Stickiness!
Pass Without Trace is just as broken as ever.
Conjure Animals... enable a giant constrictor to Restrain an enemy by proning him first, have two brown bears grapple enemies, get a couple of Giant Eagles to help out with flying enemies (or have them carry your lighter party members to safety/ideal sniping spots). I love this spell. It doesn't scale as well as it could (but then again, it would be even more broken if it did) but lots of action economy is always a good thing.
None of the above spells *really* rely on your Wisdom. Keep in mind, your stereotypical Druid spells are going to be a little less effective than usual, but not to the point where they're unusable. Sometimes a well placed Hold Person will just swing the fight in your favor, or flinging an Erupting Earth to soften up a huge group of enemies first will help you cut down numbers even faster.
This is not a full fledged guide. I'm not knowledgeable (or dedicated) enough, and this heavily relies on a permissive DM.
However, the forums have been discussing lately the potential of a druid who is allowed to wear metal armor that chooses to be on the front lines, and I think the idea is interesting enough to warrant some productive discussion.
If you want an excellent Druid guide, go here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?397940-5e-Druid-Handbook-Land-amp-Moon). A lot of what Hymer says will overlap, because the sad truth is that if you want to play an armored Druid "optimally" you're still going to stay away from the front lines. However, if you want to enhance one of the existing frontliners with a splash of Druid, you'll be able to do things that a single Fighter or Paladin would never be able to do.
For starters, you are the only class in the game able to completely ignore the primary drawback of heavy armor: just shift, and you're as stealthy as ever. Additionally, you have extremely easy ways of inflicting (and ignoring) disadvantage on your opponents, as well as ways to gain advantage. This is primarily accomplished through the low level Druid spell list, which has a lot of spells that are just very powerful, even later game.
Handy ranking key:
Gold - Amazing. Build isn't complete without it
Sky Blue - Great. One of the stronger options possible.
Dark Blue - Good. Solid choice, but not necessarily a priority.
Green - Mediocre
Red - Ignore it.
Purple - Situational pick
Stats:
Strength - You're a frontliner, not a caster. You NEED at least 15 to wear plate, and your goal will to get at least 1 multiattack, so starting with a 16 in this is probably a good idea.
Dexterity - Dump Stat, unless you go Dex Paladin/Fighter. If that's the case, though, you're probably not going to be wearing metal armor, anyway. You never want this to be too low if you can help it, though.
Constitution - You can't ignore it. Get at least 14. If you start as a Fighter, you get proficiency in Con saves, which does double duty for concentration.
Intelligence - Dump it.
Wisdom - You need at least a 13 to multiclass. I'd get at least 14, and preferably a 16, if you don't mind having 8s in your dump stats.
Charisma - If you go Paladin, you may not want to completely dump this, but the build is going to be starved for stats.
Races:
Variant Human as always is wonderful, but it pulls double duty for this build, because it's fairly MAD and it gets you War Caster without an issue. Instead of going through all the potential possibilities for other races, I'll list some strong options later.
Feats/ASI:
War Caster is an obvious pickup. Hopefully you went variant human and got it, but if not, it may simply be your best choice for your first ASI.
I'd probably focus on getting Strength to 18 with my second ASI, and then considering either bumping Wisdom or getting another feat.
Napkin Scratch Build:
Fighter 1 --> Moon Druid 2 --> Fighter 5 --> Moon Druid 5 --> figure out if you want a 3rd multiattack or better casting. Strongly consider going Fighter 6 for that extra ASI at some point, though. Ultimately you will be either Fighter 6/Druid 14, or Fighter 11/Druid 9.
This build makes leveling a multiclass a lot less painful. You have Brown Bear at levels 3 and 4, which is great, and also at 5 and 6, which is a little less great, but still serviceable. You get your first "real" multiattack" at 7, which is nice. You're incredibly durable in the early levels and can help with offhealing through Goodberries.
You're either going to want to go Battlemaster, to help out your summons and give you more short rest resources, or Eldritch Knight, which gives you Shield, Find Familiar, and the War Magic and Eldritch Strike class features. Eldritch Strike is REALLY nice, because there's not a lot of ways to debuff spell saves. Comboing Druid spells with disadvantage on saves will help compensate for your subpar wisdom while still letting you do your most important job, whacking people in the face.
Napkin Scratch build 2:
Dump Wisdom, go land druid to supplement your loss of spells known.
But Why Melee Druid?
Remember: you're not "improving" on the druid chassis, which I regard as one of the strongest classes in the game to single class - every party can benefit from another Druid, because they cover CC, healing, utility, and even offense. You're adding benefits to a melee frontliner, and the benefits are considerable.
There are not a lot of "sticky" melee in this game. Something like Sentinel is literally once per turn, and aside from a DM who just swings at whoever is in front of them, there's nothing actually preventing enemies from just running past you and at your party.
With your spells and summons, you suddenly become one of the stickiest melee combatants in the game. Additionally, you are still an out of combat monster, and have all the regular spells that make Druids so stupidly good, as well as the ability to switch to spells you need when you need them.
Goodberry makes you an amazing offhealer early game and gives you a way of consuming slots you haven't used up yet. About to long rest? Goodberry, get the free healing. Plate Mail's power goes up multiplicatively with healing, and you are going to be extremely hard to take down early game.
Healing Word is a level 1 wonder; you can bring up an ally with a bonus action, and you generally won't miss that extra Wisdom modifier. It's useful all the way throughout the game. Though you may want another ally to cover it, having a ranged way to pick up allies prepped will save your butt when you're stuck in the front lines.
Fog Cloud combos really well with save cantrips; you can attack your enemies inside of it without a penalty before running into melee and swinging at them. If they attempt to run from you, you get another free cantrip cast because of War Caster. If they stay, you're preventing them from getting to your backline and forcing them to attack your 18+ AC, with disadvantage, and with an advantage on maintaining Fog Cloud thanks to War Caster. Stickiness!
Pass Without Trace is just as broken as ever.
Conjure Animals... enable a giant constrictor to Restrain an enemy by proning him first, have two brown bears grapple enemies, get a couple of Giant Eagles to help out with flying enemies (or have them carry your lighter party members to safety/ideal sniping spots). I love this spell. It doesn't scale as well as it could (but then again, it would be even more broken if it did) but lots of action economy is always a good thing.
None of the above spells *really* rely on your Wisdom. Keep in mind, your stereotypical Druid spells are going to be a little less effective than usual, but not to the point where they're unusable. Sometimes a well placed Hold Person will just swing the fight in your favor, or flinging an Erupting Earth to soften up a huge group of enemies first will help you cut down numbers even faster.