Curse of Strand Druid Multiclass?

[Aaedimus]

I'm starting a Curse of Strand campaign in Sunday, and want to build my character footer both fun and for success. As of right now, the group is formed as follows:

Human Variant Draconic Sorcerer
Goblin Samurai

Me:
Planned: Protector Aasimar Druid

Character concept:
Woke up in the underdark, no idea who I am or where I came from. Spent a few years escaping. Doesn't talk much (at all really) or have any faith or trust in people or in celestial beings (I was abandoned). Kind to the innocent, with a caged/injured animal kind of feral reaction towards anything I feel threatens myself or those I feel don't deserve it. I was abandoned by the divine because I'm willing to be a little dark to do good, and I'm a haunted one with "some darkness trapped within that I must not let out" I plan on starting feral and slowly gaining my humanity through a growing sense of responsibility for those in need.

#1: I can't decide wether to go Moon or Shepherd druid. I really like the Shepard Druid concept but I'm afraid I'll regret not having the better wild shapes.

#2: Thematically, druidcraft and primal savagery seem appropriate, however I really think Guidance would be an almost must to counter our skills proficiency deficiencies and as the silent slightly feral type, I really want Message, to help my character communicate with only people he trusts. Also no way to get message unless by multicasting. I'm also afraid I'll regret not having a ranged cantrip, but the druidic ones don't match the theme.

#3: my group seems... like it needs skills and vareity. The Sorcerer is a first timer and is going pure damage, and all saves spells because he played once in AL and got a bunch of nat 1's (and the DM punished crit fails) I was thinking about getting 1 class in rogue for the double proficiency in Perception and Insight, that still wouldn't get me message though... The DM will also be using the "Non humans are weird in Barovia" concept, so I wanted to try to give us some tools to help with the "you've got a goblin in your party" issue we're going to encounter. Maybe I should take a level in Bard for the message and Guidance/Inspiration synchronicity... but if I do that, I might as well go Druid 2 Bard 3, and would we be far enough through the campaign by than that the proficiency bonuses are wasted?

I even thought about multiclassing Celestial Warlock Pact of the tome, with Detect Magic expert and True Reading. I might be useless in combat, but out of it I'm indispensable?

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Been playing as a L1 Arcane Cleric, L7 Divine Wizard with luck and magic initiate feats, and DMing for over a year and a half, so I'm cantrip/good roll spoiled but this is my first non Adventures League game and I don't want to metagame or ruin the feel for the DM or other players, so support seems like a great roll for me. Advice?

[Aaedimus]

Are bumps against the rulesrules? ...bump

[ProsecutorGodot]

I've running curse of strahd for a while now, playing bi-weekly, and I can suggest a few things:
-Having a way to detect undead or directly combat them with radiant is very useful, radiant damage will be your best friend
-I would highly recommend taking a dip into cleric over celestial warlock, the subclass doesn't matter but you could go Knowledge for the skill proficiencies you want

It seems like you know what you want out of your character and I'm honestly not very well versed in what druids can do. All I would recommend more than anything is to take a level in cleric.

[prototype00]

Hmm, Life Cleric I hear is a good 2 Level dip. If only for the goodberry on steroids.

[sophontteks]

Be a moon druid, your animal shapes can help with skills. Moon druid can cover many skills with animal shapes, but your party will miss a decent face dearly. If at all possible, convince the sorcerer to grab a social skill or 2. You should get insight, you'll be happy you grabbed it.

Clerics or paladins come highly recommended.

I'm playing a teifling bard specced very heavily in social skills. Being an outsider isn't a problem when you have a silver tongue. So far it seems to be a really good campaign for a smooth talker.

[Spore]

I am afraid my advice will not be helpful or appreciated. CoS is a low-level adventure and multiclassing is - imho - not advisable. If your build starts to come together at levels 5-7 you effectively gimped your character for more than half the journey (possibly more since often people find ways to confront Strahd at an earlier level than 10).

Also I dislike your backstory to the maximum - how you manage to squeeze the Underdark, feral nature and a hatred for gods into that is beyond me. Clerics and Paladins should not be a possibility with that backstory.


wether to go Moon or Shepherd druid

Depends on your party really. Moon Druid is insanely at early levels and thus encouraged.


#2: Thematically, druidcraft and primal savagery seem appropriate, however I really think Guidance would be an almost must to counter our skills proficiency

Guidance is nice but NOT to cover for lacking skill proficiencies. To be honest I would go bard or rogue for that. (or even start off as one, and then go into druid). Why you want message though is beyond me (ever heard of whispering?)


#3: my group seems... like it needs skills and vareity.

Rogue 1/Druid x sounds smart to me. Have your Thieves' Cant be a secret sign language that you can teach your fellow players to understand you. You will NEED Stealth for your whole backstory reasons and sign languages and sneaking are great together.

[Aaedimus]

@Sporeegg,
Don't worry about helpful or appreciated lol, it was. I agree with Clerics and Paladins being out of character (which is why I excluded them) and realize we will possibly suffer without one, which is on reason for my worry.

The explanation for the backstory issues you mentioned: he had a past of some type, doesn't remember it, woke up in the underdark alone and after years of hiding and surviving felt abandoned by the higher powers he should have a connection to. When he woke up and for the first few years he prayed for help escaping what seemed to be hell to him, but he has spent so much time alone that the "feral" aspect (he's not an animal, just can be compared), and social issues grew from that.

I wanted to leave room for the DM to build in whatever kind of story he wanted to connect my character to his world. Why was I in the underdark? What was my past? Why am I the way I am? He can, over the next few months slowly build that if he wants into the story, there are a million ways to build upon that.

As I level up, I felt that some of it could be remembering or recovering old skills and memories, while also growing to be a new person based upon his experiences in Barovia. I felt like that would be a more organic way of building him up. He's starting with st leeway stealth and perception proficiencies, being that he's socially inept, I'm not sure if insitewould be appropriate (although I 100% realize its worth)

The purpose of the Message cantrip being 100% fluff oriented, and guidance being combined with bardic insparation if i went that route. I didn't want him to really talk much at all. He doesn't feel comfortable with social interactions or with people, so a majority of how he speaks would be either through body language, or for those he trusts a few words spoken silently with message or something similar. When I actually do use my voice than, there's reason, purpose, and impact. Thieves Cant is effectively similar in that it's silent, but it's a planned, learned, secret language, not the quiet whispers of a silent, tortured outcast (which is what he sees himself as)

The Rogue1 Druid X does sound pretty legit though, and was one of my top choices...

[sophontteks]

From what I've played in Curse of Strahd so far a large part of the appeal is how the campaign changes your character. Its something you will miss if you do the whole amnesia backstory. It gives the DM less to work with. I can all but guarantee that you will not be regaining your humanity there.

[Aaedimus]

What kindof changes would you suggest to help make life easier for the DM and improve the story? What I'm most interested in keeping is his personality. For some reason I like the concept (After playing a semi narcissistic charlaitin for over a year)

[sophontteks]

The more you give to the background, the more he can work with. For ours we wrote up backstories, favorite memories, most important person, biggest fear, favorite place. You know, create a full dynamic character full of interesting quirks and hidden traits.

A good place to start is by reading about some of the regions. Figure out where your character came from then read up on what that place is like. You may find some cool ideas.

Like I found that my region has its own dialect. And then I found that there is a small dictionary for thos dialect I can use. I use the regions history as a foundation for folk tales my character would know and habits he may have.

The DM has a lot on his plate remember. Its asking a lot of him/her to write your backstory while running the rest of the story.

[Aaedimus]

You have a point lol, sometimes I forget people aren't like me. I enjoy obsessive perseveraton, spending much to much time and thought on tasks like that. Other people aren't all like that lol

[Amdy_vill]

any other holy class so paladin cleric celestial warlock the holy sorcerer thing(can't remember the name for the life of me) and if your dm lets Mat mercers stuff his blood hunter has a warlock subclass with a Celestial option that fits nicely.