Sell me on Circle of the Shepherd?

[Schwann145]

I'll go through the powers and the impression they give me, so you see where I'm coming from:

•2nd Lvl - Speech of the Woods: Nifty, but essentially a ribbon.
•2nd Lvl - Spirit Totem: Effects range from "meh" to "okay" but the area is limited and you can only do it for one encounter per S/L rest. This screams 5MWD to me.
•6th Lvl - Mighty Summoner: The meat and potatoes of the Circle. I'm assuming this is why we're here?
•10th Lvl - Guardian Spirit: Upgrades Spirit Totem a bit but still... 5MWD.
•14th Lvl - Faithful Summons: Nifty, thematic, keeps you in the fight even after you're out of the fight, but triggered by the one thing you're constantly trying to ensure never happens. In other words, very situational and something you *don't* want to see happen.
•One final consideration: Half the effects do nothing without very specific spell-usage.

I think the Circle really shores up the "Summoner" playstyle, especially with Mighty Summoner, but I feel like Spirit Totem's limitations really hold everything back.

Thoughts?

[Spacehamster]

Whats 5MWD? In any case it looks competent at what its supposed to do and add that on top of the pretty good druid spell list IM pretty sure it wont suck at least. :)

[Gardakan]

You forgot the fact that they still have Wild Shape and a full Druidic spellcasting potential.

Druid's archetype isn't THAT defining, because the class is already powerful in itself.

Sheperd is just a nice addition to the Druid that lets it pushes forward his supportive side while standing side with allies in the frey of the battle.

[Schwann145]

Whats 5MWD?
5-Minute Work Day :)

[Gardakan]

5-Minute Work Day :)

Make them worth. The Bear one and the Unicorn are quite potent.

I've seen them in action, the Bear one gave them a boost to temporary hitpoints that was clutch at two moments.

Unicorn helps healing people with a simple healing word. It's a nice feature that is mimicking a powerful spell like Mass Healing Word.

As for the other one, I've not seen it in action so far but I could see a good use in exploration features (which is strong).

The sheperd is a strong character that benefits mostly at being a dedicated controller. You have versatility and probably pick Inspiring Leader to go the long route on maintaining your mates healthy (I swear, this feat is hella strong if you like being really helpful with hp that will be removed during combat and preventing real hp from being less, which is basically healing).

[Grod_The_Giant]

I think you're underselling Spirit Totem significantly. You're only expected to be having around two encounters per Short Rest, so you can use it fairly often (see: Warlocks), and it lasts for a full fight. The area is huge; a 30ft radius will cover a battlemap. Unicorn Spirit basically turns you into a double-strength Life Cleric for a minute; you can also think of it as being roughly analogous to Beacon of Hope (a third-level spell) with better scaling. Bear Spirit... Inspiring Leader is seen as a pretty strong feat, and this is that, but automatically maxed-out and as a bonus action. It's like, I dunno, a hypothetical Mass Aid spell, which would probably also fall around a third level spell. Hawk ain't bad either. (And don't forget, it's every creature in the area. Just summoned eight wolves? Well, now they've all got a crapton of extra health!)

tl;dr: "Get a strong ~3rd-level-spell-equivilent effect every other fight" is quite strong.

[Sigreid]

It's perfect for making a Disney princess, with the speaking to animals and all.

[Aett_Thorn]

I think you're underselling Spirit Totem significantly. You're only expected to be having around two encounters per Short Rest, so you can use it fairly often (see: Warlocks), and it lasts for a full fight. The area is huge; a 30ft radius will cover a battlemap. Unicorn Spirit basically turns you into a double-strength Life Cleric for a minute; you can also think of it as being roughly analogous to Beacon of Hope (a third-level spell) with better scaling. Bear Spirit... Inspiring Leader is seen as a pretty strong feat, and this is that, but automatically maxed-out and as a bonus action. It's like, I dunno, a hypothetical Mass Aid spell, which would probably also fall around a third level spell. Hawk ain't bad either. (And don't forget, it's every creature in the area. Just summoned eight wolves? Well, now they've all got a crapton of extra health!)

tl;dr: "Get a strong ~3rd-level-spell-equivilent effect every other fight" is quite strong.

You raise a ton of good points here.

Conjure Animals to get 8 wolves, and giving them all 5+Druid Level Temp hitpoints is amazing.

Having a Unicorn Spirit out and tossing out a Healing Word spell gives one creature 1d4+Wis in healing, and all other friendly allies of your choice in the aura get healed for your Druid level (i.e., at least 2 HP, and up to 20).

Hawk Spirit is great for when you've got a Rogue in the party, or anyone else that you want to give a better chance to hit/crit.

Also, since they only go away when you are incapacitated, it's not like you need to worry about concentration saves to keep it out on the field.

[Mortis_Elrod]

Have you ever watched a Disney princess and think, “I bet those pets could be nifty in a fight”? Do you want to be spirit shaman but can’t find the right class or subclass? Do you prefer being friends with all the creatures of the forest instead of turning into one? Have you felt the need to be a guardian of the week? Do you just want to summon lots of creepy crawly bugs and beasts to slay your enemies ?


Hi I’m Mortis and I’ve got the Druid for you.

Introducing the Circle of Shepherds Druid.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fd/a5/f7/fda5f71f180a42943fa3580de245face.jpg

Where you can be the most dangerous Disney Princess to ever walk the Forgotten Realms.


Circle of the Shepherd is Druid subclass that focuses on summoning fey and beasts and aiding allies.

It is one who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for she is truly her brothers keeper and the finder of puppies. And she will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy her brothers. And they will know her name is the Lady of the Forest, when she lays her vengeance upon them.

Anyway let’s get down with what you get. Good news is that with every Shepherd purchase I’m going to through in full Druid abilities and spellcasting for free! What a great deal.


At level 2 you get 2 abilities . We call that a 2 for 2 special. The first one is the ability to start chatting up all the animals and fey you want. You understand them, they understand you, it’s like free friends and friendship is priceless. You can now speak Sylvan and talk to mice or birds or other cute animals, start asking for favors and such just make sure to take care of your tiny friends and they will take care of you.

The second ability you get let’s you summon you’re very own Spirit of the Forest. (Read as brand new car!). Don’t worry though because the range is decent, the auras are as big as a paladin at level you 18, and only cost a bonus action. You can use it 1 per rest and it’s like a free 3rd level spell slot only better because it scales on its own and you can cast and use it.

You get 3! Countem 3 totems to chose from every time you use this ability. Bear gives THP when used, perfect for saving spell slots on healing or as a buffer right before get in close for a fight. Hawk gives free advantage to somebody you choose and better eyesight. That’s like free Sneak attack for the rogue. FrEEE!!! Unicorn makes healing worth it sense you also heal everyone in the aura when you heal somebody.

At level 6 you get better friends. Any friends you summon summon or call forth will be harder to hurt and have magic claws and fangs. Isn’t that just adorable ? Imagine if Jasmines tiger was suddenly twice as tough and the claws sheared through that magical armory or hide the big meanie had on.

At level 10 those very same friends also heal when they are near you spirit buddies. Yay friends helping friends. That’s Care Bear power levels of sharing and caring. Who wouldn’t want that?

At 14 we have the best deal. We give you the ability to call upon the mightiest woodland creatures to come to your aid in your time of need. Introducing the most feared first responders:
https://images.encyclopediadramatica.rs/thumb/7/76/BearCavalry2.jpg/300px-BearCavalry2.jpg

Suddenly four polar bears drop from orbit (we call these ODSBs) and immediately secure the area of all danger for you. Usually everybody only get one, but order now and you can call them every time you wake up!!!

Buy now!!

[Grod_The_Giant]

Having a Unicorn Spirit out and tossing out a Healing Word spell gives one creature 1d4+Wis in healing, and all other friendly allies of your choice in the aura get healed for your Druid level (i.e., at least 2 HP, and up to 20).
Oh geez, you're right. That's even more nuts than I thought.

[Aett_Thorn]

Oh geez, you're right. That's even more nuts than I thought.

Snow White ain't nothing to %^($ with!

[Millstone85]

Snow White ain't nothing to %^($ with!She sure ain't!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-wGG8vYbZU

[Mith]

Suddenly four polar bears drop from orbit (we call these ODSBs) and immediately secure the area of all danger for you. Usually everybody only get one, but order now and you can call them every time you wake up!!!

Buy now!!

ODSBs = Orbitally Dropped Spirit Bears?

[Mortis_Elrod]

ODSBs = Orbitally Dropped Spirit Bears?

Orbital Drop Shock Bears. Like ODSTs (shock troopers)

But yeah that works too.

[Citan]

I'll go through the powers and the impression they give me, so you see where I'm coming from:

•2nd Lvl - Speech of the Woods: Nifty, but essentially a ribbon.
•2nd Lvl - Spirit Totem: Effects range from "meh" to "okay" but the area is limited and you can only do it for one encounter per S/L rest. This screams 5MWD to me.
•6th Lvl - Mighty Summoner: The meat and potatoes of the Circle. I'm assuming this is why we're here?
•10th Lvl - Guardian Spirit: Upgrades Spirit Totem a bit but still... 5MWD.
•14th Lvl - Faithful Summons: Nifty, thematic, keeps you in the fight even after you're out of the fight, but triggered by the one thing you're constantly trying to ensure never happens. In other words, very situational and something you *don't* want to see happen.
•One final consideration: Half the effects do nothing without very specific spell-usage.

I think the Circle really shores up the "Summoner" playstyle, especially with Mighty Summoner, but I feel like Spirit Totem's limitations really hold everything back.

Thoughts?
Hi!

Well, if by 5MWD you mean fifth-wheel as in "ability that makes you primarily good at supporting others" then 1) you're right and 2) what's the matter really?

I've been drooling over Shepherd Druid 2 dip as well as full Druid since Xanathar's came out.
As a dip, Bear effect gives you a low level mass-THP that beats whatever else you could try at that level. And if you don't use it for that, you'll be thanked anyways by any non-Barbarian martial who can now easily shove or grapple creatures as they need, as well as laughing in the face of most restraining effects that target STR checks.
At a high-level, it gives a very nifty cushion of THP that can make the difference between "badly hurt" and "downed" when you are on the wrong side of an AOE. Plus there is no time limit, so you can perfectly "stash" it at the start of the day by casting it and taking a short rest before everyone else wakes up.

Hawk? Druid have some trouble getting a good use for their reaction. Now you can help your Hexblade Pact Warlock, Ensnaring Strike Ranger or plain Rogue secure a powerful and potentially disabling attack. All the while still doing Druidic things (moving things around with Thorns Whips, taking care of people with Healing Words, moving some Moonbeam/Flaming Sphere/Dust Devil around).

Unicorn? When you fight an invisible creature that managed to escape a Faerie Fire, unless it is also completely silent and odorless for some reason, your party won't have so much trouble locating it. And the "extra HP equal to Druid" makes you very potent at keeping one (or a few) alive against a heavy hitter, or quickly allowing them to regain a pretty good amount of HP. Do you realize that it effectively means that just a Healing Words could in the end heal for up to 80 additional HP? :)

Honestly the Shepherd is one shoulder ahead all others at low level. Things probably smooth out later (with Moon Druid taking the head and keeping it 10+ imo, although I honestly have trouble to see the maximum potential of the buffed conjurations. Apart that it makes them leagues above normal summons, and potentially makes a Shepherd better than a Conjurer provided they had the same spells available).

[sambojin]

Speech of the Woods is actually pretty useful. You kind of get free, but dumb, spies and scouts. As a druid, you're very good at bribing animals to do all kinds of things (good berries are the best bribe ever. Fed all day and healed for 1HP for the cost of 1/10th of a lvl1 spell slot is a bargain. And being fed is a big plus in most animal's eyes. Wrap a bit of meat around them for carnivores).

Some DMs will even let you use it in wildshape, if you're of a vaguely similar animal type to what you're "talking" to.

I mean, it's not great. But it's a free lvl1 spell whenever you want. I'm kind of glad that it doesn't usually backfire on you. Hopefully DMs never catch on (yes, ALL animals can understand you, ALL THE TIME. You CAN'T turn it off. Thankfully, animals don't usually care what you're saying. And hey, you'll never get fleas. Someone else might though).

All the rest is actually good when slapped over the basic druid chassis. Combined with Unicorn or Bear totem, you can have a virtually unlimited amount of animal servants before the week's out. You'll be healing them all the time, which as continuous bribes go, is pretty high on the list of "nice things you could do for an animal", especially alongside food/good berries. Or making ants, rats or cats have +7tHP or more each (it can get seriously stupid. But from a small/tiny animal's perspective, you just made them "invincible"). It's probably best to consider them as a "Disney swarm" rather than actually keeping track of them individually. Just another reason why charisma is a pretty good stat for shepherd druids. Persuade *anything*.

(A Disney swarm is essentially a Swarm of Ravens, but it can be healed and gain temporary hitpoints, to encourage you to look after them. A swarm of anything, really, depending on what the majority of your current animal friends are. It might seem like a grossly overpowered familiar, but honestly, this is the easiest way. You will end up with a LOT of small/tiny animal friends eventually)


(I wonder how far down the chain of life this ability can go? I mean, are bacteria "beasts"? Because everyone has a certain amount of bacteria in them that isn't them. But I doubt they could hear you to use the ability anyway. But within hearing distance of me right now, there's probably hundreds if not millions of multi-cellular creatures that can sense sound, that are essentially "beasts", ie: natural creatures. There's also the totem's effects. You choose which creatures get affected by healing/tHP, they don't have to be your ally to get it. It could actually be the thing you use to make them your ally. Or you could just bear totem, say "All the animals", and run like hell as every creature within 30' gets +7tHP, including ants, mosquitoes, flies, grasshoppers, lizards, birds, earthworms, mites, fleas, etc. I'm not sure if it's that useful, but could you do that? Because I'm sure that's weaponizable. It's not even magic, so you can do it whilst wildshaped.
I mean, individual crabs, lizards, scorpions, sea horses, quippers (little fish), frogs, rats and spiders have actual stat blocks in the beast section. So it can go pretty far down the size chain, be it for the speech thing or totem'ing.
I live in Australia. If I lived in DnD Australia, that could be more than slightly worrying, when they just laugh at the average rolled up newspaper attack. Actually, now I think about it, maybe shepherd druids is what happened here......).

[MaxWilson]

Speech of the Woods also allows you to communicate with your summoned creatures. You can send them out as scouts in all directions and they can report back to you on the dungeon layout and you'll actually be able to understand them! As well as any other animals you come across.

It's one of the nicest non-combat abilities in the game. Forest gnomes wish they had it so good.

[Sigreid]

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/72/e1/fe/72e1fe9a836c6afcf2b99cf75a589cab--new-disney-princesses-next-disney-princess.jpg

[sambojin]

Hey, I feed wild kookaburras and wedge tailed eagles occasionally on my verandah (think, back porch, elevated). Am I a shepherd druid (and/or Disney princess)?

Yes. Probably.

[Millface]

I'm gonna necro this for anyone still wondering something like this but...

Conjure Animals is incredibly strong. At level 5 if you pick 4 1/2 or 8 1/4 creatures the DPR from this spell every round will vary from ~25-35, which is on par with a reckless attacking great weapon barbarian at the same level. Add to this the fact that you still get to act on your turn, the DPR from CA is entirely passive.

Now... all druids can cast this, but CA has two major weaknesses. 1. Concentration (so you need to take warcaster and maybe even resilient: con asap) and 2. The damage is better the more you summon, but the more you summon the squishier they are. This is where Shepherd really shines to me, and why I can't wait to play one.

At level 6 lets say you summon 8 wolves (won't always be that good but for this example it's fine). Wolves have 11 base HP, but with a Shepherd druid they come in with 15 base. As a bonus action you drop your totem and now they have 26 HP the turn they appear (on top of giving your party 11 temp HP each, in a party of 4 you just dropped 132 hitpoints on the good guys, which is honestly broken in my opinion).

So your 8 wolves that had 11 HP now have 26, more than double. The enemies you're fighting now have to deal an extra 132 damage to drop the entire party at level six!

Add to this that CA scales incredibly well, bringing in double the creatures with a 5th level slot, triple with a 7th, and quadruple with a 9th and your Temp HP given increases with each level in druid that you take. At level 20 that's 32 wolves with 39 HP each or 16 Apes with 50 HP, or 8 Giant Toads with 76 HP. Or 4 Giant Elks with 77 HP.

Like any summoner, your creatures are, of course, still weak to AoE damage in the form of fireballs and the like, but this is your bread and butter, it's all of your offense. If your summons go down, you cast it again, period. At higher levels when you have access to Giant Insect and Conjure Fey you'll have no issue keeping summons on the field.

Shepherd Druids should be in the top 3 highest damage builds in the entire system, if not the clear number 1, for the entire leveling process starting at level 5 and just getting more ridiculous as you go on. This is including the errata that DMs pick your summons. The average damage, not the best possible, for CA on any given round still puts you in the top tier from level 5 onward. There are situations where a grueling dungeon will see you running out of summoning spells at mid levels, but if you're running out so is everyone else. The DM basically has to party wipe you in order to run you dry.

Finally, while all this is going on you can still use your lower level slots or odd level slots on healing. The Temp HP from your totem on top of your heals and creatures to take damage off the party makes you one of the strongest support classes in the system as well.

TL;DR, ****e's broken yo.

[sulimo0310]

Also of note, if you're playing in Eberron, the Mark of Handling from House Vadlis plays especially nice with Cricle of Shepherd. The mark lets you effect monstrosities on spells that would normally only effect beasts. That conjure animals, yeah how about a few axe beaks... do your enemies use weapons and armor, how about 8 rust monsters

[ImperiousLeader]

We've had a Shepard Druid in our party going through Curse of Strahd and it's been rad. Actually, the DM has been grousing that he seems overpowered. Summons are pretty beefy, and the amount of healing he's been able to drop has been so that we haven't been missing our Life Cleric. I'll admit, my favourite Druid is Circle of the Moon, but I think Shepard is second for me.

[MaxWilson]

I think you're underselling Spirit Totem significantly. You're only expected to be having around two encounters per Short Rest, so you can use it fairly often (see: Warlocks), and it lasts for a full fight. The area is huge; a 30ft radius will cover a battlemap. Unicorn Spirit basically turns you into a double-strength Life Cleric for a minute; you can also think of it as being roughly analogous to Beacon of Hope (a third-level spell) with better scaling. Bear Spirit... Inspiring Leader is seen as a pretty strong feat, and this is that, but automatically maxed-out and as a bonus action. It's like, I dunno, a hypothetical Mass Aid spell, which would probably also fall around a third level spell. Hawk ain't bad either. (And don't forget, it's every creature in the area. Just summoned eight wolves? Well, now they've all got a crapton of extra health!)

tl;dr: "Get a strong ~3rd-level-spell-equivilent effect every other fight" is quite strong.

In fact it lasts for more than a full fight. If you use Bear Totem to give 16 wolves/dogs/whatever extra HP, not only are you more likely to win that fight, but you're also fairly likely to still have wolves around for the next fight. (Conjure Animals lasts for a full hour, with concentration.)

Not only does Bear Totem mitigate one of a summoner's greatest weaknesses (AoE) by adding more HP (Fireballing an 11 HP wolf which dies even if it makes the save is very different from Fireballing a 30 HP wolf which doesn't die even if it fails the save), but it also makes your minions AND your fellow PCs more effective at grappling/shoving. If your wolves/elks knock an enemy prone and the cleric grapples him to prevent him from standing up, the cleric will have advantage on his Strength checks to initiate and maintain the grapple, so the fighter is much more likely to get to beat on the enemy with GWM at advantage for being prone, and the enemy will have lots of trouble attacking the cleric, fighter, and wolves (disadvantage due to being prone).

Unicorn is also quite good for healing in a pinch: it basically turns Healing Word into Mass Healing Word.

The biggest challenge a mid-level Shepherd Druid has lies in finding useful ways to engage without using concentration, because their concentration is likely to be spent on summons. (At higher levels they can switch to Planar Binding/etc. of giant beasts/fey/elementals to free up concentration.) So they can be kind of boring to play, if you don't multiclass.

[Citan]

I'm gonna necro this for anyone still wondering something like this but...

Conjure Animals is incredibly strong. At level 5 if you pick 4 1/2 or 8 1/4 creatures the DPR from this spell every round will vary from ~25-35, which is on par with a reckless attacking great weapon barbarian at the same level. Add to this the fact that you still get to act on your turn, the DPR from CA is entirely passive.

Shepherd Druids should be in the top 3 highest damage builds in the entire system, if not the clear number 1, for the entire leveling process starting at level 5 and just getting more ridiculous as you go on.
While I think you're really exaggerating in your last sentence (you seem to dismiss far too quick all 7th+ level spells other casters can get ;)) I completely agree that Druids are overall the best damage dealers between level 5 and somewhere around level 12...
*At least, as long as their concentration holds all time*.
Which is not a given at all if you use and abuse this as your signature tactic, enemies are bound to learn over time as you roam around the world.
And even without that, in a small party, you will get your share of pain, if only because of ranged attacks/spells.
So in that regard it's kinda a glass-cannon or a double-edged sword, consuming a great amount of resource that may be wasted much earlier than expected.

But, yeah, mostly Shepherd Druid rocks.
Especially once you shore up the concentration problem one way or another (ally's Warding Bond + Resilient usually does the trick ;)).
Especially also since you can grab Inspiring Leader feat and use it after ritual-casting Speak With Animals (but only up to 6 creatures if you are in a hurry ^^).
Especially also since you could multiclass into Cleric for Aid or Divine Soul Sorcerer for Extend: Extend means...
- time to use Inspiring Leader two times and still have a good run for your slot (so you can conjure more creatures).
- time to get into a fight, take time to stabilize/revive conjured creatures, take a short rest (so they can use their hit die) and pursue a bit further
- or simply double the time for whatever non-combat use (like traveling).
(Yeah, because you don't care that much about high WIS if you really play the conjurer card, so might as well push CON instead and keep enough CHA to multiclass ;)).

This makes conjuring a few higher level creatures reaaally beneficial.

[JackPhoenix]

Also of note, if you're playing in Eberron, the Mark of Handling from House Vadlis plays especially nice with Cricle of Shepherd. The mark lets you effect monstrosities on spells that would normally only effect beasts. That conjure animals, yeah how about a few axe beaks... do your enemies use weapons and armor, how about 8 rust monsters

Conjure Animals doesn't affect animals. It summon fey spirits that take shape of animals. Even then, it wouldn't be affecting animals, as animals aren't its targets.

[Merudo]

The biggest challenge a mid-level Shepherd Druid has lies in finding useful ways to engage without using concentration, because their concentration is likely to be spent on summons. (At higher levels they can switch to Planar Binding/etc. of giant beasts/fey/elementals to free up concentration.) So they can be kind of boring to play, if you don't multiclass.

Shepherd Druids don't really need Wisdom, so they are free to get some neat feats instead.

Maybe something like Shield Master would help the druid engage while concentrating? Shove enemies prone (likely with advantage) to help your beasts land their blows.

[MaxWilson]

Especially also since you could multiclass into Cleric for Aid or Divine Soul Sorcerer for Extend: Extend means...
- time to use Inspiring Leader two times and still have a good run for your slot (so you can conjure more creatures).
- time to get into a fight, take time to stabilize/revive conjured creatures, take a short rest (so they can use their hit die) and pursue a bit further
- or simply double the time for whatever non-combat use (like traveling).
(Yeah, because you don't care that much about high WIS if you really play the conjurer card, so might as well push CON instead and keep enough CHA to multiclass ;)).

This makes conjuring a few higher level creatures reaaally beneficial.

Extend also means (even more) ridiculous amounts of healing off of your Healing Spirit, even without abusing the action economy cheese clause (which DMs should not allow). 280 HP of healing from a single 5th level spell slot? Don't mind if I do!

Furthermore, Divine Soul (or any sorc) gets you access to Mage Armor and Shield, which together with your shield proficiency makes you surprisingly tanky. It also gets you access to better attack cantrips with longer range and more damage or better riders. If you start out Sorc initially it even gets you Con save proficiency, on top of the once per rest saving throw bonus which you can use to keep concentration.

Shepherd + Divine Soul + Celestialock is top-notch. It does slightly delay your Shepherd progression (hurts most at level 4, when you are a sorc 1/druid 4 instead of a druid 5) but IMO it's definitely worth considering.


Shepherd Druids don't really need Wisdom, so they are free to get some neat feats instead.

Maybe something like Shield Master would help the druid engage while concentrating? Shove enemies prone (likely with advantage) to help your beasts land their blows.

The way I see it, MADness and losing out on feats are typically the top downsides to multiclassing, so the relative SADness of Shepherd Druids plus their ability to leverage high-level spell slots with Conjure Animals is a prime reason to pick up some other classes. Honestly, Shepherd Druid 6 + anything except Barbarian (because concentration) would probably work out reasonably well. Shepherd Druid + Arcane Archer Sharpshooter is another fun possibility for example.

[sophontteks]

Its easy to sell someone on what is easily the strongest druid archtype. Its hard to make it sound bad. You did all the hard work already :smallcool:

To actually contribute. Talking to animals is quite good. Your "little birdies" are literally little birdies. They hear all and see all. Don't undersell everything that isn't combat related.

[Millface]

While I think you're really exaggerating in your last sentence (you seem to dismiss far too quick all 7th+ level spells other casters can get ;))

I don't think that's the case. :)

24 or even 12 (if you're going for ease of use over flat out optimization) beasts with over double their original HP are either going to A. Be left alone and do their damage every round, and with your action added to it I can pretty much guarantee if you add up damage over combat you'll have done the most, or B. Be the target of enemies trying to remove them quickly, who will then proceed to waste 2-X turns, X being potentially quite high depending on what you're fighting and their AoE potential. Especially when we're talking about 7th level spells, by that point if you stay in 30 feet your beasts also have regeneration: 7.

So I guess maybe instead of saying they are in the top 3 in damage, I'll say that they are in the top 3 of overall value in combat. They will either dish out unparalleled damage or cause unparalleled crowd control. The enemy side either burns an ungodly amount of action economy for the cost of one 7th level spell slot on your end or takes hundreds of damage, also at the cost of just one 7th level spell slot. With party synchronization it's even worse for the other side, because arcane casters can be on the ready to counterspell. Or, alternatively, YOU can be ready to counterspell in the late game, as Divine Soul pairs insanely well with the Shepherd Druid. Counterspell goes a long way shutting down the Shepherd's weakest spots.

Add to that you can use Planar Binding on top of CA for one bigger, badder summon that can last 10+ days at this level and I don't think I'm exaggerating much, if at all. MTOF added Myrmidons to the mix, which, if you end up with some down time at all, can be binded to your service for 10 days with one day of downtime (you'll use your 6th and 7th level slots for it). Having an AC 18 120 HP BFF by itself is incredibly powerful. You can bind a regular elemental or risk trying for a Hag without giving up so many spell slots that you can't be potent for that day, though, if you're short on time. I prefer elementals though because Hags are going to try pretty hard to be a pain in your rear and would make poor company from an RP perspective.