Help with Magic Items for Druid and Ranger

[Aemon]

Hello all. I'm DMing a campaign for three new players. I myself used to DM all the time, but haven't played in 15 years. Need some advice on ideas for good, low-level magic items for my druid and ranger PCs.

All of the players are new, and they are still learning the mechanics. Everyone is level 3. I don't want to give out too many powerful magic items in our game, at least yet. However, we have played for a month and a half or so and they beat their first "big boss" tonight. I think I've decked them out real good from that fight, but I am a bit out of ideas for these two now. The other character is a wizard and I have lots of ideas for him so I want to see if I can add to my list of ideas for the other two players.

Druid: She is a moon druid who mostly turns into a tiger. Brand new player and not too comfortable with combat yet. She is starting to understand the huge amount of hps she has with her animal forms and that has helped, but isn't too confident with spells in battle yet. I think she feels a bit bored in combat with just attacking as a tiger, though she usually does really well. She totally imagined this druid as a Disney princess with squirrels and rabbits cleaning her house and sewing things for her. Totally down with that, and working on getting her some cute critters to join up.

Items she currently has: a few one-use thorn javelins that add 1d6 damage to adjacent enemies, a dream catcher with 4 feathers (each feather can be pulled off to allow one more beast shape per rest), and she just got a Druid's cloak that gives +1 stealth in the forest and +1 nature checks always.

Ranger: Beastmaster with a panther. Uses a bow. We've house ruled a few things to make her ranger work a bit better for our small party. Using the UA ranger and I am adding a bit of flavor from hunter for her since she enjoys using her bow so much. Doing good in combat so far. Usually uses Hunter's Mark and Hail of Thorns. She already has a +7 to hit with her bow so she doesn't need any more help there yet.

Items she currently has: A few fire arrows that explode for 1d6 damage, a Philter of Beast Health that heals her pet totally with one drop (has 6 drops).

If you have any ideas of fun items these characters may enjoy, I would really appreciate it! Thanks for your help! (Also, if you have ideas for the wizard as well, I am all ears!)

[hymer]

An everfull pouch of seeds (usable only by those who can cast goodberry)? An amulet of speaking with animals (only works for those who can cast the spell)? A wand of Animal Friendship (again, only for those who already have the spell)?

But if you want the druid to have more fun, items aren't really the thing for it, it seems. She already has more options than she knows what to do with, and she does not seem particularly thrilled with what she is already doing. So buffing that means little. And anyway, over-reliance on wild shape is a problem when she gains levels. You could delay the onset of that problem with some wild shape friendly items, but most of those are a notch or two more powerful than what you seem to be giving out at the moment.
You could instead focus on encounters and scenes where her animal-loving skills are useful or at least feel good. Or maybe you can give her something that alters one or a few of her spells to a more appealing image. Entangle could be a horde of cute field mice that crawls all over someone and restricts their view, movement and balance.

[pdegan2814]

If the Druid is looking to make friends with little forest critters, maybe something that gives Advantage on Animal Handling rolls, or enhances the Animal Friendship spell, or Charms any creatures of type Beast below a certain CR as long as the party isn't hostile towards them, something along those lines.

For the Ranger, perhaps something that enhances the bond with their Beast Companion? Perhaps a collar for the Beast paired with a ring for the Ranger, and while both are attuned and worn by their owners, the Ranger gains use of abilities similar to what Wizards get with familiars(communicate telepathically & see through the Beast's eyes as long as they're within 100ft).

I wouldn't worry about loading them up with magic items at Level 3, though. They've already got some cool stuff.

[sambojin]

Amulet (just going amulet because they're fairly rare, and people like suggesting them bcoz of grl) of Find Familiar for the druid. Let her cast it on a zero slot, 1/day. If it dies horribly, well, the amulet casts Familiar once per day. Probably the same one comes back. Probably needs a goodberry every single day though. Maybe more than one, especially if it dies a lot.

And give her "squirrel girl" powers if she doesn't want to use Conjure Animals eventually for combat. Yep, two extra bears worth of attacks for a minute (so, only +5 to-hit), in lieu of that spell, but just as a non-concentration action-use spell. Which is what Conjure Animals can be, every time, but for an hour (if you don't get concentration knocked out of you). Saves you tonnes of effort. Seriously, this is a very weak version of the spell. Druids really "come online" at level 5, so it's kind of easy at that point to be a forest creature champion then, but you're just a burny, ground-spikey bear/cat/dog/spider-thing until that point. Until then, a little familiar friend isn't too gamebreaking (it doesn't sound like it'll just be a "help-bot" for this character anyway).

Anyway, Amulet of Find Familiar sounds good. "Squirrel Girl" kind of sounds demeaning, but still kind of awesome as a lvl3 spell.

[Beelzebubba]

Druids are a really, really, really complicated class. It's hard to add more without making it overkill for a new player.


If the Druid is looking to make friends with little forest critters, maybe something that gives Advantage on Animal Handling rolls, or enhances the Animal Friendship spell, or Charms any creatures of type Beast below a certain CR as long as the party isn't hostile towards them, something along those lines.
This is probably the best bet if she stays a Mood Druid.

But, instead of just solving this with magic items, I would encouraging 'theming' the abilities she has in the ways that give her the characterization she wants.

Like, the little creatures seem to be there, but they're basically special effects for her magic. You can rationalize they are Fey, show up when needed, disappear when not, and they are the ones that seem to execute on her abilities.

Here are some ideas:

Mending cantrip? Then a couple little well-dressed Disney-ish mice dart out of the sleeves of her robe and sew up the item with 'magic thread'.
Druidcraft? Some birds and a squirrel seemingly come out of nowhere to mime what the weather will be - like, the squirrel covers it's head with a big dry leaf while a few hummingbirds peck it to simulate the sound of rain. Or, the hummingbirds clutch to one finger and flap their wings as fast as they can while the squirrel mimics leaning forward into the wind.
Guidance? A wise old owl seemingly appears out of nowhere, alights on the person's shoulder, and whispers something encouraging in their ear like 'you can do this!'. You could both have a lot of fun with the improv here.
Detect Poison and Disease has several animals come out her garments at once. The owl peers into their eyes, a rabbit puts it's ear to their chest to check their pulse, and a squirrel whips out a tiny magnifying glass (Warner Brothers 'Coyote pulls out an Acme hammer out of nowhere style) and starts peering into their ears. Then the owl says 'say AAAAAH' and then uses a stick to push down their tongue and peer down their throat. When the spell is done, all the animals either chirp happily, or look sad and dejected, and then rush back into her garments.

If you do that a couple of times for her, and encourage her from there, I'm sure in no time she'll find ways of re-theming every spell she has to fit.

--

If that's not enough maybe she can take the Magic Initiate feat for Find Familiar, to have 'real' animals there that have the in-game effects of the spell. So, instead of one specific familiar, they take whatever animal shape is appropriate for the situation, and flit back inside some part of her belongings when done. The Owl darts in and out of her hood, the mice up her sleeves, the squirrel into her backpack, stuff like that.

To really make this work for her, maybe give her one example, then get her involved to pick the animals for the various effects the Familiars have, and design where they'd 'live' in her belongings. When she goes to sleep, they all pile out of their hiding places and curl up next to her, and when she wakes up they skitter back.

Seriously, I think this is totally solvable with existing rules, storytelling, and strong theming.

(I think I'm going to make this character as an NPC in my world now.)

[Trippic]

if she wants an animal friend type druid

(this may be a bit of a reach)
refluff/alter spore Druid for latest UA (if player up for archtype change)
halo of spores
spores change to a few lil birdies that follow her around
poison changes to piercing - her flock of animal birdie friends attacking

symbiotic entity
activating spores changes to sings or hums a tune for bonuses

fungal infestation
changes to summoning a plant creature with zombie stats(replace radiant with fire vulnerability) and maybe wis bonus/day since no longer using a corpse

spreading spores
a flock of birds instead(or squirrels etc)

fungal body
just refluff into another reason why it happens (princess powers? =P )

and may have to mod spells a bit...but base druid ones seem fine for theme anyway

edit
items for ranger, maybe a few specialty arrows from the thief games? (water arrow - arrow shifts to water just before impact. vine arrow transmutes to a length vine upon impact. etc for moss, noise, and the rest)
for wizard, recipes to make those arrows and some other minor nicknacks (if wiz can make themself then would prob like items a bit more + can feel a bit more wizardly in the process)

[Beelzebubba]

Some more thoughts:

Maybe just give her Find Familiar the next time she levels - it seems really big for her characterization and it's not that overpowered. Theming it like I suggested before would be fun as heck too.

--

Maybe she can re-spec? A few of those work well.

Circle of the Shepherd: She can talk to all animals all the time. The conjuration and animal summoning sounds like a better fit too. And the Sprit Totems are excellent buffs for the rest of the party.

Circle of the Land: They get a lot more spells prepared, and with their recovery cast ~25% more spells per day, so she'll be much more about spellcasting than fighting. Coast and Grassland are both really strong, and also have spells that feel 'magical'.

Maybe home-brew a new Circle of the Land for her: 'Circle of the Fey' and give her more fanciful Domain spells. (If you go for strong theming like I suggested before, then something like Phantasmal Force could be hilarious - 'dozens of rabbits burrow out of the ground and start fastening themselves to the Goblins with their teeth! They are buried in bunnies, and can't seem to move! :smallbiggrin:)

Any way you do it, re-speccing out of Moon means her Wild Shape stops being about combat. From experience, when you can only turn into things like Badgers or Squirrels, it forces creativity and cleverness. She'll have those Wild Shapes out of combat, so she'll become the party scout, recon, and will be able to solve a lot of problems that others can't. That might help her game play become more varied than being big bag of hit points.

Like, the one example I can give from recently: our party was being tracked by someone in the city, and we knew who sent them. When we discovered them, I quickly turned into a Riding Horse, three characters jumped on my back (an Elf, Gnome, and Halfling), and we outran them back to their hideout and intercepted them. It was awesomely fun.

--

Hope these help...I had more fun thinking about this than maybe you do running it!

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

First time player playing a druid currently. My DM asked me for what I might want enchantment wise.


Bracers of Defense [Rare][Attunement] Bracers change with me as long as I don't change into something tiny, small or huge at which point they just fuse with the form and don't provide the benefit.
Earring of message thought [Rare] [Attunement] (allowing me to communicate while beast shaped.)
Necklace of adaptation [uncommon] [Attunement]
Pearl of power [uncommon] [Attunement]
Ring of spell storing[Rare] [Attunement]
Staff of striking [Vrare][Attunement]
Staff of the woodlands [Rare][Attunement]
Tome of understanding If you want to be really really nice wait til they have their wisdom at 20 already
Wand of the war Mage

And the final two which will be OP for a moon druid at certain points.

Amulet of Barkskin, Set's AC at 16. Works in wild shape and caster shape.
Enchanted IronWood armor. The armor is made out of Ironwood and changes into Barding when the caster changes into beastshape. Can be pretty much any level of armor as it will nearly always be useful.


If she wants to get in the thick of it without wildshape have her grab magic initiate. [Warlock] Booming Blade or Greenflame Blade, Eldritch Blast and Hex. Hex will work as long as she maintains concentration even in beast form. If she uses Shillelagh then BB or GFB it wrecks things close in.

[Gardakan]

There is a brilliant magic item that I discovered by doing the Hoard of the Dragon Queen hardcover for 5th edition (the 1st one to be released if I'm correct).

Insigna of Claws (go seek the info online if you don't believe it).

It's a cheap magic item (uncommon) that gives + 1 to attack rolls/damage (like a magic weapon would do) with natural weapons and unarmored weapons (like Monks fist or Druid Wild Shape). This item is pretty good on a low-level Druid without destroying the game. A level 6 Druid with Circle of the Moon already has magic weapons at level 6.

[Specter]

There is a brilliant magic item that I discovered by doing the Hoard of the Dragon Queen hardcover for 5th edition (the 1st one to be released if I'm correct).

Insigna of Claws (go seek the info online if you don't believe it).

It's a cheap magic item (uncommon) that gives + 1 to attack rolls/damage (like a magic weapon would do) with natural weapons and unarmored weapons (like Monks fist or Druid Wild Shape). This item is pretty good on a low-level Druid without destroying the game. A level 6 Druid with Circle of the Moon already has magic weapons at level 6.

This. Also, a bow that lets your beast attack those hit by it with advantage could work.

[Azgeroth]

Druid, Broach of the forest.
whilst wearing this broach on your clothing you can understand and speak to any small or tiny beasts.

basically the forest gnome ribbon ability, so she can ask the little birds and squirrels if they are ready to sing the cleaning song..

you might want to just pack a bunch of cantrips (as mentioned before, mending, prestigitation, druidcraft, but done by small forest critters, by singing to them.) into a 'feat' (basically magic initiate) she can take at 4th to bring her wilderness princess dreams to fruition..

so you give her the broach now, so she can talk to the birds and squirrels and such, start teaching them the songs.. then 4th level she can take the feat, and have her new buddies come and do small menial tasks from time to time.. lvl5 she gets summon forest creatures, and can for a spell slot summon an entire menagerie of birds, squirrels, and even some deer! to do all those things and more..

for the BM ranger,

a saddle that confers some of the benefits of the mounted combat feat?
some RP ritual that truely binds the creature to the ranger (a la find familiar(but without the summon/dismiss part. and it can still attack)
equipment for the companion, wraps to protect feet, barding, anklets.. simple AC boosts, attack bonus boost, or some poison resistance? save proficiency?

[Aemon]

Thank you for all of these amazing ideas! This really helps me out a lot! I never played a druid before so I am learning both the mechanics as well as the flavor of the class. The player has always seemed a little sad in combat even though she can totally destroy things (especially as a tiger with pounce). However, I think these ideas will help me really align the class more to her vision of it.


Circle of the Shepherd: She can talk to all animals all the time. The conjuration and animal summoning sounds like a better fit too. And the Sprit Totems are excellent buffs for the rest of the party.


refluff/alter spore Druid for latest UA (if player up for archtype change)

I have heard of some of the UA druid circles, but not looked into them until today. I really appreciate these comments and am taking a good look at these options. I think she may really enjoy the Shepard Circle, although I do sort of want to give her the power to make a plant animal like your suggestion for the spore druid. It could have zombie stats, but be themed to look like a tiny treant or something.


But, instead of just solving this with magic items, I would encouraging 'theming' the abilities she has in the ways that give her the characterization she wants.

This, totally. I think that this comment, and the others like it, have really given me a chance to think of the druid in a slightly different light. While her spells are spells, they can totally be altered thematically to match more of her play style.

So much else that I would want to quote here, but I just want to say thanks for all of the ideas! I love the idea of a Broach of Speak with Animals, theming cantrips and spells to be more "woodland" flavored, and maybe even looking at getting her some extra themed spells that increase the immersion in her preferred druid theme for her.

I am going to look over all of this and then talk with the player and see what she thinks. I think the downside for her will be less powerful best forms, but if she isn't really having fun with that, I think these options will more than make up for it.


If she wants to get in the thick of it without wildshape have her grab magic initiate. [Warlock] Booming Blade or Greenflame Blade, Eldritch Blast and Hex. Hex will work as long as she maintains concentration even in beast form. If she uses Shillelagh then BB or GFB it wrecks things close in.

Really cool idea here. Just two questions: 1) I didn't see Booming Blade and Greenflame Blade in the Player's Handbook. Are these maybe in the SCAG or XGTE? I haven't gotten those yet, but am wanting too. 2) I am guessing these are spells like the ones that affect a Paladin's smite. These can be put on a weapon in addition to Shillelagh?

Thank you again for everything! This is a huge help and I am excited to look into all this and get it figured out!

[hymer]

You're welcome, and good luck with it. :smallsmile:
You can find some DM advice on druid magical items in post 10 of my druid guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?545558-5e-Druid-Handbook-Dreams-Land-Moon-and-Shepherd&p=22693950#post22693950), perhaps for future reference.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Really cool idea here. Just two questions: 1) I didn't see Booming Blade and Greenflame Blade in the Player's Handbook. Are these maybe in the SCAG or XGTE? I haven't gotten those yet, but am wanting too. 2) I am guessing these are spells like the ones that affect a Paladin's smite. These can be put on a weapon in addition to Shillelagh?

They both come out of SCAG. They are a little bit different then Divine Smite. DS you use a spell slot after succeeding in the attack. With these casting the spell is the action but part of successfully casting the spell is that you make a melee weapon attack.

Basically At Lvl 5 with BB you do 1d8+(wisdom)+an additional 1d8 thunder damage, and if they willingly move they take another 2d8 thunder damage. This gives spectacular battlefield control on a single target.

With GFB At Lvl 5 you do 1d8+(wisdom)+an additional 1d8 fire damage to one target and a second target within 5 feet of the first takes 1d8+(spellcasting modifier) damage. Great for lots of smaller enemies.

Booming Blade: As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell's range, otherwise the spell fails. On a hit, the target suffers the attack's normal effects, and it becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves before then, it immediately takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach higher levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level and 17th level.

Green-Flame BladeAs part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell's range, otherwise the spell fails. On a hit, the target suffers the attack's normal effects, and green fire leaps from the target to a different creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of it. The second creature takes fire damage equal to your spellcasting ability modifier.

This spell's damage increases when you reach higher levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 fire damage to the target, and the fire damage to the second creature increases to 1d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level and 17th level.

Also a note on beast shapes. Tigers are dope sounding and work well if you can successfully pounce, Direwolves on the other hand have 2 more AC, deal more consistent damage with 2d6+3 and still knock them prone unless they succeed in a DC 13 str check. They also have pack tactics so it allows her to make the most of her attacks and actually maneuver rather than just sitting there soaking damage and attacking.

[Aemon]

You can find some DM advice on druid magical items in post 10 of my druid guide, perhaps for future reference.

Thanks, Hymer! I'm going to take a look at this!


They both come out of SCAG. They are a little bit different then Divine Smite. DS you use a spell slot after succeeding in the attack. With these casting the spell is the action but part of successfully casting the spell is that you make a melee weapon attack.

Basically At Lvl 5 with BB you do 1d8+(wisdom)+an additional 1d8 thunder damage, and if they willingly move they take another 2d8 thunder damage. This gives spectacular battlefield control on a single target.

With GFB At Lvl 5 you do 1d8+(wisdom)+an additional 1d8 fire damage to one target and a second target within 5 feet of the first takes 1d8+(spellcasting modifier) damage. Great for lots of smaller enemies.

Thanks for the clarification on these and including the descriptions. Makes total sense now. (Also kinda makes me want to play a bladelock!)

I will look into those and your suggestions on wildshape. Dire wolves sound great!

Thanks so much!

[sambojin]

If she wants to play more of a "good" style character, she can snag both those cantrips via a level in Arcane Cleric, as well as getting some other useful spells. It all runs off Wis, which makes statting the character easy, and it almost doubles your prepared spells as well. Stuff like Bless is universally useful to have.

Although, Great Old One Warlock does give you telepathy, which is amazingly handy in widshape.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Although, Great Old One Warlock does give you telepathy, which is amazingly handy in widshape.

Telepathy is a lvl 8 spell and isn't on the expanded spell list for great old one, do you mean detect thoughts? DT is useful for a druid's ally to have so they can continue to communicate. But the wildshaped druid itself not quite as handy since it's one way.

[Beelzebubba]

Although, Great Old One Warlock does give you telepathy, which is amazingly handy in widshape.

Well, it's good to be a bit more precise, Awakened Mind lets you put thoughts in others' brains, but it doesn't enable 2-way communication.