Millface
2018-09-27, 10:21 AM
I've been doing some delving into really beefing up the moon druid beast forms, and here's what I've come up with.
Start: Level 1 Druid, Aasimar (Protector)
Str: 13
Dex: 12
Con: 14
Int: 8
Wis: 16
Cha: 12
Levels 1-4 are Druid, take Moon (obviously). The first part of the fun of this build comes online at level 3, where you're able to wildshape into either a Brown Bear or a Deinonychus. We already know that Moon Druids sub level 4 are almost broken, so let's add to that 1 minute per day of wings and +3 damage/round from Radiant Soul. At level 4 we'll take Sentinel, arguably the best tank feat in the game.
Levels 5-6 are Paladin. We can take defense here, which does work with natural armor, to give us a minor boost to AC, we get Divine Smite (the real reason for the dip) Divine Sense, a small pool of Lay On Hands (all work in beast mode) and the ability to potentially precast Bless before Wild Shape to help out with Beasts poorly scaling attack bonuses.
Levels 7-10 We're back to Druid. At 10 we can take Warcaster to hold concentration on whatever prebuffs we add, or Mage Slayer for some additional tanking prowess. We're now 11th level casters, so we have 5th level spell slots and can smite for days or heal for days depending on the situation. Our options for pre-wildshape spellcasting are numerous, with Bless still being a frontrunner, or Conjure Animals upcast to 5th level for significantly more presence on the battlefield and arguably more DPR than almost any other class at this level. Lastly, we upgrade Brown Bear to Polar Bear for an additional +2 to our attack rolls.
11-13 We take our last dip into Zealot Barbarian. The goodies here are numerous. Reckless Attack, Danger Sense, Resistance to physical damage while raging, +2 to damage while raging, and at 13 we get 1d6+2 divine damage to our first hit in a round. We trade spell progression for this, but that shouldn't be a problem.
14-20 we go right back to Druid, capping off at level 15. We're treated as a 16th level caster, we have 8th level spells and spell slots, can upcast Conjure Animals to level 7 for triple the creatures, and have an absurd number of slots for smiting and healing.
Full Nova (now Giant Crocodile, Polar Bear, Brontosaurus, or Stegosaurus, depending on the environment) will see you dealing 11d8+3d6+36 + Conjure Animal damage per round as a Polar bear. Or 10d8+1d6+29 + Conjure Animal damage per round as a brontosaurus. Other options for smaller dungeon rooms are Anklyosaurus and Giant Scorpion, depending on how much damage you're taking.
The erratic nature of Conjure Animals has its DPR pretty hard to peg down, but at +7 to hit against AC 20 with Advantage is a 65% hit chance, So in Bear form you're looking at 63 DPR, 54 DPR as a Bronto, and then you ADD to that Conjure Animals and we're getting upwards of 100 DPR on a moon druid. This moon druid has resistance to physical damage, advantage on dex saves vs. spells, Advantage on saves vs. spells within 5 ft. Advantage on con saves to maintain concentration, and an absurd pool of slots for healing that ticks as a bonus action and doesn't reduce our damage at all.
EDIT: Forgot entirely about elemental forms. If your party takes enough short rests to do it, those would be superior to most beast forms in terms of damage and durability.
EDIT 2: You can't concentrate on spells with raging. Do you guys think that the barbarian dip is worth it just for reckless attack and the 1d6+2 extra damage per round? It might not be. Conjure Animals is really, really good.
What do you guys think? Worth rolling?
Start: Level 1 Druid, Aasimar (Protector)
Str: 13
Dex: 12
Con: 14
Int: 8
Wis: 16
Cha: 12
Levels 1-4 are Druid, take Moon (obviously). The first part of the fun of this build comes online at level 3, where you're able to wildshape into either a Brown Bear or a Deinonychus. We already know that Moon Druids sub level 4 are almost broken, so let's add to that 1 minute per day of wings and +3 damage/round from Radiant Soul. At level 4 we'll take Sentinel, arguably the best tank feat in the game.
Levels 5-6 are Paladin. We can take defense here, which does work with natural armor, to give us a minor boost to AC, we get Divine Smite (the real reason for the dip) Divine Sense, a small pool of Lay On Hands (all work in beast mode) and the ability to potentially precast Bless before Wild Shape to help out with Beasts poorly scaling attack bonuses.
Levels 7-10 We're back to Druid. At 10 we can take Warcaster to hold concentration on whatever prebuffs we add, or Mage Slayer for some additional tanking prowess. We're now 11th level casters, so we have 5th level spell slots and can smite for days or heal for days depending on the situation. Our options for pre-wildshape spellcasting are numerous, with Bless still being a frontrunner, or Conjure Animals upcast to 5th level for significantly more presence on the battlefield and arguably more DPR than almost any other class at this level. Lastly, we upgrade Brown Bear to Polar Bear for an additional +2 to our attack rolls.
11-13 We take our last dip into Zealot Barbarian. The goodies here are numerous. Reckless Attack, Danger Sense, Resistance to physical damage while raging, +2 to damage while raging, and at 13 we get 1d6+2 divine damage to our first hit in a round. We trade spell progression for this, but that shouldn't be a problem.
14-20 we go right back to Druid, capping off at level 15. We're treated as a 16th level caster, we have 8th level spells and spell slots, can upcast Conjure Animals to level 7 for triple the creatures, and have an absurd number of slots for smiting and healing.
Full Nova (now Giant Crocodile, Polar Bear, Brontosaurus, or Stegosaurus, depending on the environment) will see you dealing 11d8+3d6+36 + Conjure Animal damage per round as a Polar bear. Or 10d8+1d6+29 + Conjure Animal damage per round as a brontosaurus. Other options for smaller dungeon rooms are Anklyosaurus and Giant Scorpion, depending on how much damage you're taking.
The erratic nature of Conjure Animals has its DPR pretty hard to peg down, but at +7 to hit against AC 20 with Advantage is a 65% hit chance, So in Bear form you're looking at 63 DPR, 54 DPR as a Bronto, and then you ADD to that Conjure Animals and we're getting upwards of 100 DPR on a moon druid. This moon druid has resistance to physical damage, advantage on dex saves vs. spells, Advantage on saves vs. spells within 5 ft. Advantage on con saves to maintain concentration, and an absurd pool of slots for healing that ticks as a bonus action and doesn't reduce our damage at all.
EDIT: Forgot entirely about elemental forms. If your party takes enough short rests to do it, those would be superior to most beast forms in terms of damage and durability.
EDIT 2: You can't concentrate on spells with raging. Do you guys think that the barbarian dip is worth it just for reckless attack and the 1d6+2 extra damage per round? It might not be. Conjure Animals is really, really good.
What do you guys think? Worth rolling?