Druid dip: 1-2 levels of Monk or Barbarian?

[rahimka]

I'm going to be playing in a one-shot adventure (level 5 or 6 from what I've heard), and I'm leaning towards playing a Circle of the Moon Druid with a dip of 1-2 levels in Monk or Barbarian. Basically, make sure I get 4levels of Druid for the Wild Shape advancement, then put the remaining 1-2 levels into the dip class.

I'm trying to decide which class, Monk or Barbaran, is more useful mechanically:

Monk
lvl1
Unarmored Defense - based on Wisdom, useful in my Humanoid form and with a build that focuses on a high score for my casting anyway, this will be a nice improvement over the base AC of almost any Wild Shaped form
Martial Arts - doesn't synergize well with Wild Shape since Natural Attacks don't count as Unarmed or Monk weapons
lvl 2
Ki - only 2pts but replenishes on short rest, Flurry of Blows can be a nice damage spike for forms that don't use Multi-Attack, Dodge can help me tank, Disengage/Dash can help with mobility
Unarmored Movement - nice speed boost in any form

Barbarian
lvl 1
Unarmored Defense - based on Con, so probably not AS useful in Humanoid form, and only useful in SOME Wild Shape forms (those with better Con than Nat Armor)
RAGE - increased tanking, increased damage, but limited uses per long rest; will also break any concentration spells
lvl 2
Reckless Attack - make those big attacks for Wild Shape forms HIT and like any Barbarian, I'm resisting damage (in Wild Shape meat-suit ideally) so I'm less worried about how much damage I'll take in return
Danger Sense - advantage on Dex saves speaks for itself (especially if I got with a Gnome and start as a Barbarian -> advantage on Dex, Int, Wis, & Cha saves + proficiency in Str & Con saves)

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SO, overall it seems like the Barbarian abilities are all more APPLICABLE, whereas the Monk offers some things (like Martial Arts) that just aren't gonna line up usefully. That said, the Monk abilities that DO work, seem pretty handy. The trade off seems to be that the Monk will offer some better AC overall and be able to use Ki to spike on attacks or defense or mobility for a few rounds every SHORT rest, where as the Barbarian will be able to use Rage to spike attacks+damage+defense for a couple of entire fights every LONG rest.

Am I missing anything on syngergies and utility of abilities? Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions on how these different dips will work and feel in play?

[Grod_The_Giant]

You're proooobably going to want 5 levels of Druid so you can get 3rd level spells. For a single level dip... Probably Barbarian.

[djreynolds]

You can cast shillelagh on a staff and use wisdom.

So if wisdom is maxed out. +5 to hit by 9th level, assuming 1 level of monk. And +5 to AC

When you shift to beast form, you take the beast's physical stats. So if their dex and con are not good, its too bad

Monk is better for wildshape,

Barbarian is good but rage prevents you from concentrating on moonbeam or call lightning while in animal form, monk does not.

So, IMO, monk serves you better

[MinMaxMunchking]

If you want more survivability and effective HP, go Barbarian.
If you want to play a kung-fu panda, go Monk.

[holywhippet]

Rage doesn't just stop you from concentrating on spells, it stops you from being able to cast them at all. Not a good idea for a spellcasting class like a druid.

[Arkhios]

Ideally, Monk is more straight-forward for a druid, if you use point buy, because Wisdom is (or should be) your highest ability score as a druid, and having a decent Dexterity helps with your AC outside of wild shapes; Point being, you would probably have those two stats high enough for the multiclass even if you didn't plan to do it.

Strength is not that necessary for a plain druid, so it would (kind of) be a bit MAD if you planned for a barbarian dip.

That said, I agree that, to benefit from the multiclass in all situations, whether you are in wild shape or not, concentrating on a spell or not, or simply casting spells for other reasons, Monk is much more applicable (with no restrictions to any of those; and subsequently even aids your spellcasting since Monks benefit from high wisdom as well).

[bid]

You can't waste build points for Str13, barbarian is out unless you roll lucky.

As you said, monk is good for unarmored movement (45' with wood elf!) and Wis16 offers better AC than any light armor. Going for Str13 is not worth reducing from Dex16 / Wis16 / Con14 IMO, and Wis18 seals the deal.

[PeteNutButter]

The way I see it, the barbarian build is practically wasted by the time you hit druid 5. Level 3 spells are worth more to concentrate on than rage, especially since the biggest benefit of rage is the resistance to damage... which isn't a huge benefit when you've got 2 bags of free hp per short rest. You get what amounts to +1-3 AC for most forms, but unless you've got some other ways of stacking AC, your AC is still going to be crud most of the time. By the time you hit druid 10 you get elemental forms which are resistant to non-magical physical damage anyways, making rage almost completely redundant. It's definitely a fun build for a few key levels, but in the long run, I suspect it will be regretted.

The monk dip is a bit easier. There's not much reason to go past 1 level. You get a similar AC boost (usually slightly better), and that's about it.

I'm all about multiclassing, but this is one area where I think it's actually not worth. There are no clear breakpoints for when you want to leave druid. Every druid level gives something great, either more spells levels, better forms, an ASI or something similar. Unless your DM gives out a bunch of AC boosting items (and lets them all work in wild shape), you'll never have a great AC. Druid defense comes in bags of hp not AC. That should synergize well with barbarian, but the barbarian dip puts you behind on the natural progression towards resistance to physical damage at level 10. If you expect to see level 10 or higher on the character, go pure druid. If you don't, barbarian might be worth a 1 level dip.

If you really want to be a tanky moon druid, convince your party barbarian/fighter/paladin to take mounted combatant and park a healing spirit on top of both of you. Failing that, just take resilient con and warcaster and do that healing spirit thing.

[Vogie]

It really depends on what you're going after. If you're going to be bear-tanking, then go barbarian. You'll be more durable, oft with better than natural armor, and get a small damage boon. You can treat the rages as a 2 more Barkskin castings per LR.

If you would rather focus on being a damage dealer using things like Hyena or Crag Cat, dipping in & out of combat, then you'd prefer Monk. You get 2 Ki points, per Short rest, that allows you to dart in & out of combat, and the Step Into The Wind really augments pounce or similar abilities if you're trying to take out a single target, like a scout or a guard running for help.

[djreynolds]

Why not both?

Start 1 level monk
2 druid
3 druid
4 barbarian
5 barbarian

The reality is as a druid in wildshape, even with the monks possible +5 to AC, you are going to get hit, and the possibility of losing concentration is there. Then you rage next round as a BA

Why not go for both? If you are not going to 20th level moon druid, grab 1 level of monk and grab 2 levels of barbarian. Its not a huge cost. You will have proficiency in wisdom and intelligence saves, maybe you pick up resilient con.
Reckless attack in wildshape should work? AFB.

Take both

[Citan]

Hi OP, hi all, happy new year everyone!

My first obvious answer is: between Monk and Barbarian, I'll favor Monk everytime for a Druid (especially Moon) except if specific build.
Reasons being everything people said just above. With that said...


Why not both?

Start 1 level monk
2 druid
3 druid
4 barbarian
5 barbarian

The reality is as a druid in wildshape, even with the monks possible +5 to AC, you are going to get hit, and the possibility of losing concentration is there. Then you rage next round as a BA

Why not go for both? If you are not going to 20th level moon druid, grab 1 level of monk and grab 2 levels of barbarian. Its not a huge cost. You will have proficiency in wisdom and intelligence saves, maybe you pick up resilient con.
Reckless attack in wildshape should work? AFB.

Take both
I have a different view on how to take both, but I think the core idea of tri-class is doable.
The main tradeoff is choosing the (probably) best Unarmored Defense (Monk one) or getting good concentration from start (Barbarian).

So I'd still suggest first picking just one level of Monk around Druid 3, then another level of Monk as late as possible because you want to access at least level 3 spells as quickly as possible... Unless you are really really afraid of dying and think Dodge would really change things.

But Druid 2-3 -> Monk 1 -> Druid 6 -> Monk 2 -> Druid 10 -> whatever seems to make the most of your Druid imo.

However if you really envision your character as a beast tank (so you don't care that much about casting/concentrating as a beast and rather use spells outside combat), then I'd go as such instead.
Barb 1 or Monk 1 (depending on your stat and the beast form you'd prefer to pick the best UD) -> Druid 2 -> Monk 2- > Druid 6 -> Barb 2 -> Druid 10 -> end build Druid 10 / Barb 4 / Long Death Monk 6 (or Drunken Master | Open Hand if only DM considers Flurry of Blows and Unarmed attacks work as beast, which seems less than evident to me).