Unleash Your Inner Beast: A Moon Druid Guide (5e)

[Merudo]

Unleash Your Inner Beast: A Moon Druid Guide (v1.3)


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/blackbandos-homebrew/images/2/2e/Circle_of_the_summoner.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20171018133731

My guide to the other Druid Circles is available here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584818).

Table of Content:

Post1: Introduction (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764847)
Post2: Ability Scores & Races (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764849)
Post3: Feats, Skills, Languages, and Equipment (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764851)
Post4: Wildshape Forms, Shapechange, & Polymorph (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764854)
Post5: Creature Forms Availability, & Wild Shape Communication (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764855)
Post6: Conjuring Spells (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764857)
Post7: Druid Spells Analysis (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764861)
Post8: Multiclassing, Party Synergies, & Builds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583036&p=23764849&viewfull=1#post23764866)

Color Scheme:

Sky Blue: Amazing
Blue: Good
Black: Decent
Purple: Bad
Red: Horrible


This distinguishes itself from the other Druid guides through the following:

Extensive Bestiary: My guide constitutes the largest collection of creatures for Wild Shape, Polymorph, & Conjure spells. It covers every AL Legal source, plus GGtR & WGtE. Every other list, app, and guide I've consulted is missing some of the creatures listed here.

Every Beast/Fey/Elementals Reviewed: Every creature listed has been reviewed, and the color of its name indicates how good I believe it is. This allows the viewer to rapidly zoom in on the most useful creatures.

Every Spell Reviewed: Every spell on the Druid's list has been reviewed, and the color of its name indicates how valuable I believe it is.

Extensive Analysis of Druid Features: The guide goes beyond the usual analysis of Races / Skills / Feats, and describes often ignored aspect of the Druid such as Languages, Communication while in Wild Shape, Party Synergies, and more.


The Circle of the Moon Druid is a powerhouse – it combines the full spellcasting abilities of the Druid with the power & utility of the numerous beasts published in DM resources. Highly versatile and extremely resilient, the Moon Druid can fill numerous roles during combat: debuffer, tank, healer, summoner, grappler, etc.

The main limiting factor of the Moon Druid is that it requires a high level of knowledge. To perform optimally, a Moon Druid needs to be intimate with his spells, his Wildshape options, as well as the creatures it can summon through Conjure Animals, Conjure Woodland Beings and Conjure Feys. To keep track of the extensive list of creatures involved, I strongly recommend players consult the free Companions for D&D 5e (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sixdeight.companions) app.

The Moon Druid has a strongly uneven growth curve. Widely considered broken at level 2, Wildshape does not improve until level 6, when CR2 forms become available. The next big jump occurs at level 10, with the new possibility to Wildshape into Elementals. Players who stick with the Moon Druid until level 18 will be happy to gain the ability to cast spells while Wildshaped, and those who reach level 20 can Wildshape every turn to become near unkillable.

Although Wildshape can deal immense damage at low levels, other martial classes easily surpass it starting at level 5. After this level has been reached, the Moon Druid will find itself relying on its spells more and more. This doesn’t invalidate the use of Wildshape – to the contrary, perhaps the optimal way to play a Moon Druid is to concentrate on a powerful spell (typically Summon Animals) before Wildshaping and entering the fray.

This guide is designed to lead players to maximize their Druid PC by helping them choose the right Wildshape form and to combine it with spells, feats, and racial abilities.


Druidic, 1: Knowing the language of the druids. For fluff.

Spellcasting, 1: The Druid spell list is excellent, but tends to rely heavily on Concentration.

Ritual Casting, 1: A few of your spells can be cast as rituals to save spellslots. Some such as Speak with Animals can be used almost every session.

Wild Shape, 2: Your Wildshape forms can grant you damage, utility, HP, and can inflict conditions on enemies. Later on, you'll almost always want to Concentrate on a spell before Wildshaping.

Combat Wild Shape, 2: Using a Bonus Action to Wildshape typically saves you a round of action, if you Wildshape during combat. Burning spellslots to heal is not efficient but can be occasionally helpful.

Circle Forms, 2: The max CR of beasts you can Wildshape into starts at CR1 and increase as you level up.

Wild Shape Improvement, 4, 8: You gain access to forms with an aquatic speed at level 4, and forms with a flying speed at level 8. Some of the aquatic forms (Giant Toad, Giant Octopus, Giant Constrictor Snake) are amazing when you get them, and the flying forms are helpful for scouting.

ASI/Feats, 4, 8, 12, 16, 19: Wisdom helps with spells, although some of your best options don't use DCs. Feats can be immensely helpful, both in caster form and during Wildshape.

Primal Strike, 6: Your attacks count as magical. Helpful if you want your forms to do damage instead of concentrating on inflicting conditions.

Elemental Wild Shape, 10: You get access to four powerful Elemental shapes with resistance to nonmagical weapons.

Thousand Forms, 14: You can cast Alter Self, a level 2 spell, at will. Awful.

Timeless Body, 18: You age at 1/10 the rate. A fluff ability, although potentially helpful for races with a short longevity.

Beast Spells, 18: You can now cast spells without material components while Wildshaped! Its now much easier to concentrate on a powerful spell while Wildshaped.

Can be cast with Beast Spells:


Cantrips: Control Flames, Create Bonfire, Druidcraft, Frostbite, Guidance, Gust, Magic Stone, Mold Earth, Poison Spray, Primal Savagery, Produce Flame, Shape Water, Thunderclap,
1st: Absorb Elements, Charm Person, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Earth Tremor, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Fog Cloud, Healing Word, Purify Food & Drink, Speak with Animals, Thunderwave
2nd: Beast Sense, Earthbind, Find Traps, Healing Spirit, Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison, Skywrite, Warding Wind
3rd: Call Lightning, Conjure Animals, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Flame Arrows, Meld into Stone, Plant Growth, Protection from Energy, Speak with Plants
4th: Blight, Charm Monster, Conjure Minor Elementals, Dominate Beast, Elemental Bane, Giant Insect, Gasping Vine, Guardian of Nature
5th: Antilife Shell, Commune with Nature, Contagion, Control Winds, Geas, Mass Cure Wounds, Tree Stride, Wrath of Nature
6th: Bones of the Earth, Conjure Fey, Heal, Investiture of Flame, Investiture of Ice, Investiture of Stone, Investiture of Wind, Primordial Ward, Transport via Plants
7th: Fire Storm, Mirage Arcane
8th: Animal Shapes, Tsunami
9th: Storm of Vengeance

Cannot be cast with Beast Spells:

A: Also can't be cast with Archdruid

Cantrips: Infestation, Mending, Resistance, Shillelagh (A), Thorn Whip
1st: Animal Friendship, Beast Bond, Create/Destroy Water, Detect Poison&Disease, Goodberry, Ice Knife, Jump, Lonstrider, Snare(A)
2nd: Animal Messenger, Barkskin, Darkvision, Dust Device, Enhance Ability, Flame Blade, Flaming Sphere, Gust of Wind, Heat Metal, Hold Person, Locate Animals/Plants, Locate Object, Moonbeam, Pass without Trace, Spike Growth
3rd: Erupting Earth, Feign Death, Sleet Storm, Tidal Wave, Wall of Water, Water Breathing, Water Walk, Wind Wall
4th: Confusion, Conjure Woodland Being, Control Water, Freedom of Movement, Hallucinatory Terrain, Ice Storm, Locate Creature, Polymorph, Stone Shape, Stoneskin (A), Wall of Fire, Watery Sphere
5th: Awaken (A), Conjure Elemental, Greater Restoration (A), Insect Plague, Maelstrom, Planar Binding (A), Reincarnate (A), Scrying (A), Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone
6th: Druid Grove, Find the Path (A), Heroes' Feast (A), Move Earth, Sunbeam, Wall of Thorns, Wind Walk
7th: Plane Shift (A), Regenerate, Reverse Gravity, Whirlwind
8th: Antipathy/Sympathy, Control Weather, Earthquake, Feeblemind, Sunburst
9th: Foresight, Shapechange (A), True Resurrection (A)

Archdruid, 20: You can Wildshape an unlimited number of times, and you can ignore the verbal, somatic, and material (lacking a price) components of your spells. You can now cast almost all your spells in Wildshape, plus you can turn into a new form (with full HP) as a bonus action every round. Game breaking.

Moon Druid Guides:

Hymer's 5e Druid Handbook - Dreams, Land, Moon, and Shepherd (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?545558-5e-Druid-Handbook-Dreams-Land-Moon-and-Shepherd&p=22693950)

MinokeTheWise's How to be unBEARable, a Guide to druiding (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/druid/10768-how-to-be-unbearable-a-guide-to-druiding)

Rcanine's Thy Fearful Symmetry: A Circle of the Moon Handbook (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?477830-GUIDE-Thy-Fearful-Symmetry-A-Circle-of-the-Moon-Handbook-(original))

RPG BOT's Druid Handbook (https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/druid/)

RPG BOT's Guide to Wildshape (https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/druid/wildshape.html)

Treantmonk's Moon Druid Guide Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XodxXFxF-vs)

Other Related Guides:

ChameleonX's By your Powers Combined: A Land Druid Handbook (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468810-GUIDE-By-your-Powers-Combined-A-Land-Druid-Handbook)

Irhtos Sauriv's Guide to front line druidism (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?518832-Irhtos-Sauriv-s-guide-to-front-line-druidism)

Nhym’s Shepherd Druid Guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588987-Shepherd-Druid-Guide-to-Fuzzy-Fury&p=23938575)

Flick_Montana's Circle of Spores experience (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/druid/43497-my-circle-of-spores-experience)



Bestiaries:

https://5etools.com/bestiary.html

https://chisaipete.github.io/bestiary/

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters



Core Books: These three are the primarily books; most content listed here come from them. DMs will usually let you freely use material from these books.

Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG): Rules for crafting, and most magical items.

Monster Manual (MM): Most Beasts, Fey & Elementals.

Player's Handbook (PHB): The Druid class, plus most races, spells, feats, circles, & equipment.


Supplement Books: These five supplements are widely available but not as prevalent as the core books. Many DMs will let you use material from these sources but might ban some options.

For Adventure League (AL), the "PHB + 1" rule says your character creation & advancement can only use material from the PHB plus one of these sources.

Elemental Evil (EE): Spells & races. Free PDF. The spells are reprinted in XGtE.

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (MToF): A few races options, and the Frost Salamander.

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (SCAG): A few races variants, new cantrips, & Spiked Armor.

Volo's Guide to Monsters (VGtM): 12 races, and more Beasts, Fey & Elementals.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything (XGtE): Two new circles, many spells, racial feats, and crafting rules.

Non-AL Legal WotC Sources: These are published by WotC but not AL Legal. Most of the races are not native to the Forgotten Realms.


Eberron: Rising From The Last War (ERLW): New races, Clawfoot, Fastieth, Dusk Hag, and three Valenars.

Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica (GGtR): Five races, the Circle of the Spores, three Elementals and the Conclave Dryad.

One Grung Above (OGA): The Grung race.

Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron (WGtE): Four races, and the Clawfoot Raptor.



WotC Adventures: These contain magical items to find, and Beasts to observe for Wild Shape. Whether or not you are allowed to conjure the various Beasts, Fey & Elementals included in these adventures is up to the DM.


Curse of Strahd (CoS): Sangzor the Goat.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh (GoS): Giant Coral Snake, Giant Sea Eel, Sea Lion, Giant White Moray Eel.
Hoard of the Dragon Queen (HotDQ): Insignia of Claws.
Lost Mine of Phandelver (LMoP): Staff of Defense & Snarl the Wolf.
Out of the Abyss (OotA): Many new Beasts & Beast variants.
Princes of the Apocalypse (PotA): Crystal Scale Mail & Stone Breastplate, & Elemental Myrmidons.
Storm King's Thunder (SKT): Stone Breastplate, Ice Spiders, Hulking Crab, & Tressym.
Tales from the Yawning Portal (TftYP): Six Beasts, and the Nereid & Siren.
Tomb of Annihilation (ToA): Scorpion Armor, Chwinga, & Jaculi.
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage (DotMM): Flying spider.

Guild Adept (AL Legal): These third party supplements have been judged AL Legal through the Guild (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/dms-guild-adept-news) Adept (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/guild-adept-content) program (https://twitter.com/dnd_advleague/status/1051658412306718726). They contain additional Beats, Fey, and Elementals to use for Wild Shape & for conjuring spells. Unfortunately, few DMs own them, so you might trouble getting them into play.


DDHC-TOA-2 - The Tortle Package (TTP): Tortle Race, & the Geonid
DDHC-TOA-3 - Beasts of the Jungle Rot (BotJR): 12 extra dinosaurs
DDHC-TOA-8 - Return of the Lizard King (RotLK): Krenshar, Giant Spitting Lizard, & 3 Mutated Beasts
DDHC-TOA-14 - Xanathar's Lost Notes to Everything Else (XLNtEE): 3 Urban Dryads & 4 Gens
DDHC-WDH-04 - Durnan's Guide to Tavernkeeping (DGtT): Alewife & Yeastling

AL Adventures: These AL missions give you magical items as rewards. The Staff of the Woodlands is especially worth seeking out.


DDEX2-09 Eye of the Tempest: Giant Snow Spider.
DDEX3-11 The Quest for Sporedome: Mushroom Half-Plate.
DDAL05-13 Jarl Rising: Shroud of the Mourning Warrior.
DDAL05-16 Parnast Under Siege: Young Mammoth.
DDAL07-08 Putting the Dead to Rest: Staff of the Woodlands, & Awakened Giant Ape.
DDAL08-11 Poisoned Words: Awakened Flying Snake.


1.3 (11/26/2019): Added races, beasts and fey from Eberron: Rising From The Last War.

1.2 (5/26/2019): Added beasts from Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

1.1.1 (4/21/2019): Added information about Wizard 2 multiclass.

1.1 (4/19/2019): Edited information for Korred, and added Conjure Elemental & Fey information.

1.0 (4/16/2019): First complete version.

[Merudo]

Ability Scores

The Moon Druid is arguably the character that is the less dependent on ability scores. Physical attributes are replaced while Wildshaped and are thus relevant only when in caster form. Additionally, many of the strongest Druid spells do not depend on Wisdom. The Moon Druid is thus an excellent choice if you rolled poor stats at character creation.

Strength gets replaced by Wildshape. For melee combat in caster form, Shillelagh does a far better job. It’s mainly useful for Athletics rolls, and multiclassing into Barbarian.

Dexterity gets replaced by Wildshape, but helps with Initiative, saving throws, and AC outside of Wildshape. Also helps with the Monk multiclass. Typically your 3rd most valuable attribute.

Constitution gets replaced by Wildshape, but helps with hit points and saving throws outside of Wildshape. If multiclassing Barbarian, can also improve AC. Your 2nd most valuable attribute.

Intelligence helps with some niche skills, and with saving throws against Mindflayers.

Wisdom helps with some spells as well as important skills (mainly Perception). If you multiclass into Monk, it can also provide a bonus to AC in all forms. Your most useful attribute.

Charisma helps with social interactions outside of Wildshape, and a few saving throws. Somewhat
better if playing as Ghostwise Halfling because you can still socialize while Wildshaped.



Races

While Wildshaping, the Moon Druid retains the benefit of any feature from its race and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so. Since a Moon Druid spends a considerable amount of time Wildshaped, this puts a premium on races that provide such features. You have lot of room to be creative with your race choice here, as stats do not matter much to the Moon Druid.

Determining if a features carry over while Wildshaped requires close examination to the wording of the feature – for example, the Dragonborn’s Breath Weapon ability technically only requires a mouth and can thus be used while Wildshaped. When in doubt, ask your DM if the features of a race work with Wildshape.

Dragonborn: Element resistance is good and the breath can be used while Wildshaped.

Dwarf (Hill): +2 Con, +1 Wis, +1HP/level, and Poison Resistance.

Dwarf (Mountain): +2 Con, and Poison Resistance. Go Hill Dwarf instead.

Elf (Drow): 2 Dex: Drow Magic is better taken from the Half-Elf Drow Variant.

Elf (High): +2 Dex, the Wizard cantrip can be semi-useful out of combat, and bow proficiency is okay.

Elf (Wood): +2 Dex, +1 Wis, 35' speed and improved stealth in natural settings. The later two can be used in Wild Shape.

Gnome (Forest): +1 Dex, Gnome Cunning is amazing, minor illusion is one of the best cantrips, and Speak with Small Beasts works while Wildshaped.

Gnome (Rock): +1 Con, Gnome Cunning is still amazing but the other features are of dubious utility.

Halfling (Lightfoot): +2 Dex, Brave & Lucky are great but the Stout variant is much better.

Halfling (Stout): +2 Dex, +1 Con, Brave & Lucky + Resistance to Poison are great.

Half-Elf: Alright stats, and decent features. The Drow variant is probably the best one.

Half-Orc: +1 Con, Savage Attacks work in Wildshape and Relentless Endurable makes you even more unkillable, but the rest is bad.

Human (Standard): Awful choice. The extra stats are wasted on you, and you don’t get any cool ability or feature.

Human (Variant): Arguably the strongest choice as most feats will help you in Wild Shape form.

Tiefling: Resistance to Fire (the most common element) is quite helpful, and the spell are fine.

Aasimar: +1 Wis, the resistance & spells are great, but the options in Volo's are even better.

Elf (Eladrin): +2 Dex, Misty Step 1/rest in elf form is rarely useful – you’d be better off using the bonus action to Wild Shape

Aarakocra: +2 Dex, +1 Wis, 50' flying speed while wearing light armor, but contrarily to the Winged Tiefling no resistance or spells.

Genasi (Air): +2 Con, +1 Dex, & Levitation 1/day is okay

Genasi (Earth): +2 Con, Earth Walk works while Wildshaped, and Pass with Trace 1/day is good but redundant with your spelllist.

Genasi (Fire): +2 Con, fire spells & resistance.

Genasi (Water): +2 Con, +1 Wis, resistance to acid, swim speed & some utility water spells. Decent.

Dwarf (Grey): +2 Con, Duergar Resilience protects against multiple ailment & Duergar Magic is top notch. Sunlight Sensitivity doesn’t apply while Wildshaped.

Gnome (Deep): +1 Dex, Gnome Cunning is still amazing. Superior Darkvision & Stone Camouflage while awesome do not work with Wildshape.

Halfling (Ghostwise): +2 Dex, +1 Wis , Lucky, Brave, plus the option to talk during Wildshape makes this one of the best options around.

Half-Elf Variants: The Drow variant is rather strong – the Darkness is good if you Wildshape into a form with Blindsight (Giant Spider).

Tiefling Variants: Fire resistance and some Fire spells. Feral gives slightly better stats, while Winged gives a flying speed

Grung (OGA): +2 Dex, +1 Con, Poison immunity, & your piercing attacks do extra Poison damage. Sadly not compatible with Wild Shape or Shillelagh.

Tortle (TTP): +1 Wis, and Natural Armor provides good AC. Wildshape doesn't benefit from this race, though.

Aasimar (Protector) : +1 Wis, Healing Hands might work while Wildshaped, Celestial Resistance is always helpful, & you get a flying bear at level 3.

Aasimar (Scourge): +1 Con, Healing Hands might work while Wildshaped, Celestial Resistance is always helpful, you can do extra damage with your ability

Aasimar (Fallen): The worst of the Aasimar, you don't get a useful stat boost or a good ability.

Bugbear: +1 Dex, Reach doesn’t appear to work while Wildshaped. Surprise Attack is decent but doesn’t scale.

Firbolg: +2 Wis, Speech of Beast and Leaf & Firbolg Magic are neat but don't work in most Wild Shape & are ultimately made obsolete. Hidden Step is an amazing use of a bonus action while Wildshaped but limited to 1/rest.

Goblin: +2 Dex, +1 Con. Nimble Escape is great to use while Wildshaped and is near broken when combined with forms with Charge/Pounce or the Fire Elemental. Fury of the Small is quite hard to use while Wildshaped but can work against Huge creatures.

Goliath: +1 Con, Good damage mitigation 1/rest but little else

Hobgoblin: +2 Con & Saving Face are helpful but the rest isn’t.

Kenku: +2 Dex, +1 Con, and interesting social abilities.

Kobold: +2 Dex, Pack Tactics is amazing for the Wildshape forms that don’t have it. Grovel, Cower, and Beg can be used in Wildshape and combo extremely well with the summoning spells.

Lizardfolk: +2 Con, +1 Wis. Natural Armor helps a lot with the Druid’s armor restriction, & Hungry Jaws can be used while Wildshaped. Natural Armor may work if Wild Shaped into a Beast with "tough scaly skin" such as the Deinonychus or Giant Constrictor Snake.

Orc: +1 Con, Aggressive is great to use while Wildshaped. The rest of the package isn’t – I’d rather pick Goblin.

Tabaxi: +2 Dex, Feline Agility while Wildshaped is quite powerful but the rest of the race is mediocre for the Druid.

Triton: +1 Con, resistance to cold damage is helpful. The spells are okay, and Emissary of the sea can work in Wildshape. Good for a sea campaign.

Yuan-Ti Pureblood: Magic Resistance & Poison Immunity are almost broken, plus you get some spells.


Elf (Eladrin): +2 Dex, the bonus action Fey Step is excellent while Wildshaped.

Elf (Sea): +2 Dex, +1 Con, and Friends of the Sea can be used while Wildshaped. Better in an aquatic campaign.

Elf (Shadar-Kai): +2 Dex, +1 Con, necrotic resistance, and a bonus action teleport that gives damage resistance

Githyanki: Okay spells but not much else.

Githzerai: +2 Wis, advantage on charmed & frightened saving throws, and good spells.

Centaur: +1 Wis, but not much else. It's unclear to me if the Charge feature works while Wildshaped into a Giant Elk - if so, it could make this race great.

Loxodon: +2 Con and +1 Wis, advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, and possibility to dump both strength and dexterity and keep good AC. Less good if your DM provides you with magical armor.

Minotaur: +1 Con, with nothing else useful.

Simic Hybrid: +2 Con and +1 Wis. Carapace gives +1 AC, but the enhancements go away while in Wild Shape.

Vedalken: +1 Wis and advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws is good

Changeling: +1 Dex, some tools & skills proficiency and a shape changing ability. Sadly, the later doesn't synergize with the Druid's abilities at all, plus you can already Wild Shape.

Kalashtar: +1 Wis, +1 to something else, and you can use up your reaction to gain advantage on Wis saving throws. You also gain telepathy, one social skill, and you gain advantage on all checks using that skill. A strong alternative to the Ghostwise Halfling.

Shifter (Beasthide): +2 Con, +1 Dex, proficiency in Athletics & Perception. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con Mod + 1d6 THP and 1 AC, which works in Wild Shape.

Shifter (Longtooth): +1 Dex, proficiency in Intimidation & Perception. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con THP and the ability to do a 1d6 + Str Mod as a bonus action.

Shifter (Swiftstride): +2 Dex, proficiency in Acrobatics & Perception, +5' speed. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con THP and another +5' speed.

Shifter (Wildhunt): +2 Wis, +1 Dex, proficiency in Survival & Perception, plus the ability to "mark" a target to find it more easily. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con THP and advantage on Wisdom checks.

Warforged (Envoy): +1 con, +1 to two abilities, resistance to Poison, plus an excellent AC.

Warforged (Juggernaut): +1 con, resistance to Poison, plus an excellent AC.

Warforged (Skirmisher): +2 Dex, +1 con, +5' speed, resistance to Poison, plus an excellent AC.


The Changeling, Kalashtar, Shifters, and Warforged are different from their Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron versions.
The Orc is better than the Volo's Guide version.

Changeling: +1 to any stat, some skills proficiency and a shape changing ability. Sadly, the later doesn't synergize with the Druid's abilities at all; you can already Wild Shape.

Kalashtar: +2 Wis, and advantage on Wis saving throws. You also gain telepathy. A strong alternative to the Ghostwise Halfling.

Orc: +1 Con, +2 skills, Aggressive is great to use while Wildshaped. Better than the Volo version, but I’d still rather pick Goblin.

Shifter (Beasthide): +2 Con, proficiency in Athletics. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con Mod + 1d6 THP and 1 AC, which works in Wild Shape.

Shifter (Longtooth): +1 Dex, proficiency in Intimidation. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con THP and the ability to do a 1d6 + Str Mod as a bonus action.

Shifter (Swiftstride): +2 Dex, proficiency in Acrobatics. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con THP and +10' speed, and an extra +10' as a reaction.

Shifter (Wildhunt): +2 Wis, +1 Dex, proficiency in Survival. You can shift 1/rest for Level + Con THP and advantage on Wisdom checks + no one within 30' can make an attack roll with advantage against you. Of the Shifter, this gives the best stats and a rather good shift.

Warforged: +2 Con, +1 to something else, resistance to poison, +1 to AC in caster form, one skill proficiency. A good alternative to the Hill Dwarf.

[Merudo]

Feats

Feats are extra valuable for the Moon Druid - they often offer substantial benefits, both when Wildshaped and when not.

Alert: Bonus to initiative is always useful for casters.

Athlete: A +1 to Dexterity and some minor movement bonuses.

Lucky: An excellent feat that can be invaluable. Using it right requires some skill and foresight, though.

Mage Slayer: With your movement and grappling you could be an okay mage slayer.

Magic Initiate: Find Familiar: The Owl can perform the Help action without triggering OAs, and it can feed your Goodberries to allies with 0HP. If you Wildshape into a tiny creature the Owl can carry you while it flies around. Fun, versatile and occasionally powerful.

Magic Initiate: Mage Armor: A 0-3 bonus to AC for beast & elemental forms - but hopefully you have a better way to get the spell.

Mobile: Highly useful for the Wildshape forms that charge. Can also help using hit and run tactics with the more fragile animals.

Observant: +1 Wisdom and a significant bonus to passive perception.

Resilient: Res(CON) is decent - you don't get the +1 con while Wildshaped but you do get a better proficiency bonus to concentration checks.

Ritual Caster: Lets you cast Find Familiar, as well as all the wonderful rituals available to the Wizard.

Sentinel: Lets you defend your teammates better, although if you concentrate on a spell you might not want to be damaged.

War Caster: Best way to keep concentrating on spells until the high levels. Also help with casting with hands full & for better OAs.

A Druid can cast spells with both Somatic & Material components while holding a druidic focus (such as a quarterstaff) and a shield.

However, by RAW, a Druid cannot cast a spell with Somatic components and no Material components unless either one hand is free or the Druid has the War Caster feat. In practice, this rule is ignored at most tables.

If you play by RAW, War Caster is required cast the following spells with your hands full:

Cantrips: Control Flames, Create Bonfire, Druidcraft, Frostbite, Guidance, Gust, Magic Stone, Mold Earth, Poison Spray, Primal Savagery, Produce Flame, Shape Water, Thunderclap
1st: Absorb Elements, Charm Person, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Earth Tremor, Entangle, Fog Cloud, Purify Food and Drink, Speak with Animals, Thunderwave
2nd: Beast Sensne, Find Traps, Healing Spirit, Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison, Skywrite
3rd: Call Lightning, Conjure Animals, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Flame Arrows, Meld into Stone, Plant Growth, Protection from Energy, Speak with Plants
4th: Blight, Charm Monster, Conjure Minor Elementals, Dominate Beast, Elemental Bane, Giant Insect, Grasping Vine, Antilife Shell
5th: Antilife Shell, Commune with Nature, Contagion, Control Winds, Mass Cure Wounds, Tree Stride, Wrath of Nature
6th: Bones of the Earth, Conjure Fey, Heal, Investiture of Flame, Investiture of Ice, Investiture of Stone, Investiture of Wind, Primordial Ward, Transport via Plants
7th: Fire Storm, Mirage Arcane
8th: Animal Shapes, Tsunami
9th: Storm of Vengeance



Bountiful Luck (XGtE): Somewhat decent in large parties.
Dragon Fear (XGtE): You don't need the stat boost but the roar is a decent improvement over the breath.
Dragon Hide (XGtE): The hide doesn't work while Wildshaped.
Drow High Magic (XGtE): Detect magic at will is okay but you can't use it in Wildshape.
Dwarven Fortitude (XGtE): : Can be used while Wildshaped but you have better ways to heal hit points.
Elven Accuracy (XGtE): Sadly, only applies to beast with dexterity attacks.
Fade Away (XGtE): Decent invisibility as a reaction 1/rest
Fey Teleportation (XGtE): Can't be used while in Wildshape
Flames of Phlegethos (XGtE): You don't have that many good fire spells.
Infernal Constitution (XGtE): Multiple resistance that carry over while Wildshaped.
Orcish Fury (XGtE): The second ability doesn't work while in Wildshape.
Prodigy (XGtE): Can be decent, depending on the skill. Athletics helps a lot if you Grapple often with Elementals.
Second Chance (XGtE): Since you don't care about the stat boost, Lucky is much better.
Squat Nimbleness (XGtE): Doesn't apply if you Wildshape into a beast size Medium or larger.
Svirfneblin Magic (MToF): The spells are just not good enough to be worth it.
Wood Elf Magic (XGtE): The spells are good, you just know them already.

Actor: You can already impersonate other creatures
Charge: The bonus action requirement makes this incompatible with most charging forms
Defensive Duelist: Works with scimitar but the bonus isn't worth it
Dual Wielder: Terrible feat for everyone, but especially for the Druid
Dungeon Delver: With your tons of hit points you're not a bad choice to send on traps, but there are better feats
Durable: You have so many ways to regain hit points that this is unnecessary
Elemental Adept: You don't use that many elemental spells.
Grappler: Grappling is great but this doesn't really help. You are better off just pushing the grappled enemy prone.
Healer: Unless your DM lets you use a Healer's Kit while Wildshaped, this is a bad feat.
Heavily Armoured / Heavy Armor Master: Sadly, almost all heavy armors are made of metal.
Inspiring Leader: Sadly, almost all Wildshape forms can't speak.
Keen Mind / Linguist: You have little value for intelligence
Martial Adept: Could be fun to do maneuvers as a beast but one superiority dice is just not enough.
Medium Armor Master: Doesn't increase AC in Wildshape form at all
Mounted Combatant: You can't really use a mount while Wildshaped.
Polearm Master: Could be used with Shillelagh with a Quaterstaff but you have better things to do
Savage Attacker: Can help damage done while Wildshaping, but the feat just doesn't do enough
Sharpshooter: You won't be using a ranged weapon much.
Shield Master: At least this has some defensive value. Still awful though.
Skilled: You can't use most skills well when Wildshaped.
Skulker: If can use your Wildshape when you really need to hide
Spell Sniper: The extra cantrip is neat but not required. The extra range is rarely useful.
Tavern Brawler: Your Wildshape use their natural weapons, not improvised weapons.
Tough: Doesn't affect Wildshape hit points.
Weapon Master: Your quarterstaff is pretty much all the weapons you need.



Skills

Arcana: Most useful Knowledge skill, which isn't saying much. Sadly, you can't tell the result of this check to your party while Wildshaped.
Animal Handling: You can cast spells to deal with animals, but you can use this while Wildshaped. Especially useful if you pick a race that can easily interact with animals (Firbolg, Forest Gnome, Triton & Sea Elf).
Insight: Very helpful social skill that works well with your high Wisdom
Medicine: The most useless skill in the game. A 5gp Healing Kit can replicate most of its effects.
Nature: Generally tells you obvious lore. For you though, it could justify having seen so many animals forms.
Perception: The best skill in the game, it comes up multiple times per session.
Religion: Can be occasionally helpful to identify supernatural effects
Survival: Better than Nature, as it allows you to do practical things such as tracking. Especially helpful to track & locate beasts you need to observe to Wildshape into.

Acrobatics: Fewer uses compared to Athletics - and the later is more effective to defend against Grapples during Wildshape (almost all beasts have Str > Dex). Can help defend against Grapples in caster form, and to keep your balance.
Athletics: Helps with all kind of movement while Wildshaped, and Grapples. Most Wildshape forms don't have proficiency in it.
Deception: Useful social skill, plus could reasonably apply to body language while Wildshaped.
History: One of the least useful skills in the game.
Intimidation: Decent social skill, plus you can definitely use it while Wildshaped.
Investigation: Without hands, its hard to investigate complex mechanics.
Performance: I guess it could be used to make a cute little dance as a Wildshaped animal
Persuasion: The most useful social skill
Sleight of Hand: Your animal forms don't have the hands to pick pockets.
Stealth: Great for scouting, and helpful both in and out of Wildshape. A must for races that grant advantage to stealth (Wood Elf, Deep Gnomes).


Languages

Although your conjured creatures can understand any verbal commands you issue them, you can't understand them back unless you know their own language.

Blink Dog: Blink Dogs could make okay scouts, but Giant Eagles/Owls are better.

Giant Elk: Pretty useless, unless the DM says its the only language you can speak while Wildshaped into a Giant Elk.

Giant Eagle: Decent if you plan on using them as scouts.

Giant Owl: Decent if you plan on using them as scouts.

Dragonic: For the GGtR Blistercoil Weird & Fluxcharger. Mainly used to spy on creatures including Kobolds and Dragons, but most of them also speak Common.

Primordial: To understand virtually all of the Elementals you can conjure. Crucial to work with the Invisible Stalker.

Sylvan: To understand Boggles / Pixies / Yestlings, and Darklings/Darkling Elders/Dryads if nobody knows Elvish.

Abyssal: To communicate with Demons.
Giant: Giants are plentiful, and can be reasoned with.
Goblin: To spy on Goblins, but quickly becomes useless as you stop facing these foes.
Infernal: To communicate with Devils.
Undercommon: Most intelligent creatures from the Underdark speak it.


Equipment
DS: Disadvantage on Stealth checks

Club: For Shillelagh use only. Lighter than a Quarterstaff, but less damage without Shillelagh.

Dagger: Darts are cheaper and lighter than Daggers.

Darts: If you really need Piercing ranged damage that uses Dex. Slings have better range and do Bludgeoning damage.

Javelin: Your best ranged option if you have good Strength.

Greatclub: The Quarterstaff is strictly better than this

Mace: The Quarterstaff is strictly better than this

Quarterstaff: Best option for Shillelagh or for Strength melee damage. Can also work as a druidic focus.

Scimitar: Best melee weapon that uses Dex, or of the Slashing type.

Sickle: Less damage than a Scimitar and without the Finesse tag.

Sling: Your best ranged option if you have good Dexterity. Less damage than a Javelin but cheaper to use.

Spear: Like a Javelin but heavier, twice as expensive, and with worse range.


Magical Weapons

Staff of Defense: Increases your AC by 1, and more importantly lets you cast Mage Armor. Found in LMoP.

Staff of Fire: Lets you cast Fireball, as well as Wall of Fire & Burning Hands. Druids get few direct damage options, so this can be wonderful. Found in HotDQ & SKT.

Staff of Frost: Lets you cast Cone of Cold, Fog Cloud, Ice Storm, & Wall of Ice. A good variety here. Cone of Cold is decent damage, and Wall of Ice is a Wizard-exclusive spell that is quite efficient. Found in CoS & TftYP.

Staff of Swarming Insects: The spells Giant Insect and Insect Plague are okay, but it's the unique ability "Insect Cloud" that is good here. Activating it is roughly equivalent to casting Improved Invisibility / Shadow of Moil on yourself, except (1) it doesn't take concentration and (2) it lasts 10 minutes instead of one. Definitely a nice buff to activate before Wild Shaping, or to combine with conjured animals with blindsight.

Staff of the Woodlands: Excellent staff for any Druid, although it does not help your Wild Shape. Found in DDAL07-08, DDEP07-01 & DDHC-TOA-13.



Druids cannot wear metal armor. A kind DM might allow you to buy or craft "natural" armor equivalent to metal armor, opening up options. By default though, you are only allowed to wear these few types of armor:

Shield, +2 AC: You can start with a shield and should always have it equipped

Padded, DS, AC11 + Dex Mod: Awful, you should upgrade as soon as possible

Leather, AC11 + Dex Mod: Decent if you are saving up for better armor

Studded Leather, AC12 + Dex Mod: Your best choice if you have great Dex.

Hide, AC12 + Dex Mod (Max 2): If you have less than 16 Dex, this works like a cheaper, lighter Studded Leather

Spiked Armor, DS, AC14 + Dex Mod (Max 2): Rare armor made by dwarves & costing 75gp, your best option for AC unless you have 18+ Dex. From SCAG.

Ring Mail, DS, AC14: Heavy armor, for which you don't get proficiency by default. Sadly your best option for AC if you have less than 14 Dex and don't have access to Spiked Armor.

Survival Mantle, DS, AC15 + Dex Mod (Max 2): Created by Mind Flayers, this non-magical carapace armor has the same AC as half-plate, allows the wearer to breath in any environment, and gives advantage on saving throws against gas. Excellent, but hard to come across and few DMs know about it. From VGtM p.81.


Magical Armors

Crystal Scale Mail +1, DS, AC15 + Dex Mod (Max 2): Found in PotA (p. 140)

Dragon Scale Mail, DS, AC15 + Dex Mod (Max 2): Bonus to Saving Throws against Dragon abilities, and Resistance to a type of damage.

Mushroom Half-Plate of Poison Resistance, DS, AC15 + Dex Mod (Max 2): Provides Resistance to Poison. From DDEX3-11.

Scorpion Armor, AC18: Cursed Heavy Armor made of Scorpion parts. Gives +5 to Initiative. Found in ToA.

Shroud of the Mourning Warrior, DS, AC15 + Dex Mod (Max 2). Functions as a +1 Scale Mail but is made of wood. From DDAL 05-13.

Stone Breastplate, DS, AC14 + Dex Mod (Max 2): Found in PotA (p.136) and SKT (p.103)


As seen in the previous section, Magical Armor not made of metal is extremely rare and outright absent from many published WotC adventures. Unless your DM tweaks the treasures in published adventures or runs homebrew, your best bet is probably to craft the armor yourself.

The DMG and XGtE both contain optional rules for crafting magical items - ask your DM if you can use them.

According to these rules (p.128 of both books), to craft a Magical Item you'll need:


A formula describing the item's construction
Special materials, decided by the DM
Gp, determined by the item's rarity
Time, determined by the item's rarity
A high enough level, determined by the item's rarity (DMG only)
Spells, if the item will produce them (DMG only)
Appropriate equipment, tools, & tools proficiencies (XGtE only)

The gp & time requirement are much more relaxed in XGtE; for example, a Legendary item takes 100,000gp and 1 year in XGtE but 500,000 gp and 55 years in the DMG!


Crafting Materials

The materials needed are up to the DM. To procure them, XGtE suggests that the PCs face a creature with a CR appropriate to the rarity of the item to be crafted.

The list of magical armor listed above suggest the following materials are suitable: Crystal, Scale, Petrified Giant Mushroom, Scorpion part, Stone, and Wood.

The Wood could be mundane such as Cedar, Ebony, Oak, or Yew, or magical such as Darkwood, Greenwood, Ironwood, or Wyroot.

Alternatively, other materials might be appropriate: Bone/Hide/Mane/Skin, Chitin/Shell, Bark/Cord/Leaf, Gem, Obsidian, Spidersilk, etc.

Most magical items do not help the Druid while in Wildshape. DMs may thus struggle to reward a Moon Druid PC with exciting loot. Here are a few ideas:


RAW Legal Items

Animated Shield: Can be activated before Wildshaping to retain the +2 Bonus to AC.

Dancing Sword: Can be activated before Wildshaping to gain an extra attack as a Bonus Action. Only lasts four turns, though.

Ioun Stones: These can orbit your head while Wildshaped. Among other things, they can provide a +1 bonus to AC, a +2 to a stat, and Regeneration.

Insignia of Claws (HotDQ): Can be worn while in Wildshape and provides +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls

Scarab of Protection: Gives advantage on Saving Throws against Spells. The medallion only needs to be "on your person" to work, so carrying it is enough.

Stone of Good Luck: Provides a +1 bonus to Ability Checks & Saving Throws. The stone only needs to be "on your person" to work, so you could make a pendant out of it or something.


"Up to the DM" Items

Amulets/Belts/Bracers/Capes/Gloves/Handbands/Lenses/Medallions/Rings/etc.: "The GM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment".

Barding Armor: Can dramatically increase the AC of some Wildshape forms. However, some DMs may claim that the Druid is not proficient in Barding Armor and thus has disadvantage on ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls involving Strength or Dexterity while wearing Barding.

Saddle of the Cavalier: Attacks have disadvantage against the Moon Druid so long as they are wearing this and have a rider. It's unclear under which form(s) a PC qualifies as a mount.

[Merudo]

DG: Expected damage if all attacks are non-critical hits


Wildshape Forms

These forms are generally terrible at combat, and that's the point: by looking non-threatening, you can infiltrate and spy on others. The best form is probably one that is inconspicuous: a cat in a city, a frog in a marsh, a weasel in the forest, etc. Still, a few forms provide benefits that may not be obvious:

Ape, AC12, 19HP, 13 DG: Has a ranged rock attack for 6.5DG, hands to manipulate objects, and Athletics +5 for Grappling.

Badger, AC10, 3HP, 1 DG: 5' burrow speed.

Cranium Rat (VGtM), AC12, 2HP, 1 DG: Telepathy, immunity to divination & mind read effects.

Giant Badger, AC10, 13HP, 10.5 DG: 10' burrow speed.

Giant Centipede, AC13, 4HP, 15 DG: 30' Blindsight.

Mastiff, AC12, 5HP, 4.5 DG: An extremely fragile Medium size mount that can knock Prone (DC11).

Pony, AC10, 11HP, 7 DG: A fragile Medium size mount.

Spider, AC12, 1HP, 3.5 DG: Has Spider Climb.

Weasel, AC13, 1HP, 1 DG: +5 stealth, and less conspicuous than the Almiraj.

War Horse, AC11, 19HP, 11 DG: 60' speed mount.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Almiraj (ToA), AC13, 3HP, 5.5 DG: 50' speed, advantage on Sight/Hearing checks, +5 stealth.

Cave Badger (OotA), AC12, 13HP, 10.5 DG: 15' burrow & 60' Tremorsense. Variant of the Giant Badger.

Giant Riding Lizard (OotA), AC12, 19HP, 6.5 DG: 30' speed, but 30' climbing speed and Spider Walk. An excellent mount for vertical travel.

Jaculi (ToA), AC14, 16HP, 9 DG: 30' Blindsight.


Brown Bear, AC11, 34HP, 19.5 DG: 40' speed. Good HP and damage, but terrible AC.

Deinonychus (VGtM), AC13, 26HP, 19.5 DG: 40' speed. Pounce attack to knock Prone and give extra attack (DC12), but low HP. Outdamages the Brown Bear if Pouncing every round - works amazingly with the Mobile feat. Medium size.

Dire Wolf, AC14, 37HP, 10 DG: 50' speed, Pack Tactics. Excellent defensive form. Relatively weak damage but can knock Prone (DC13).

Giant Hyena, AC12, 45HP, 10 DG: 50' speed. If Rampage procs, can be as damaging as the Brown Bear.

Giant Spider, AC14, 26HP, 16.5 DG: Spider Climb, 10' Blindsight, good Poison damage (DC11), a Web attack that auto-restrain on a hit (no saves).

Lion, AC12, 25HP, 7.5 DG: 50' speed. Has Pack Tactics and a Pounce attack (DC13). Weak damage and defense.

Tiger, AC12, 37HP, 8.5 DG: 40' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC13), but unlike the Lion doesn't have Pack Tactics.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Crag Cat (SKT), AC13, 34HP, 8.5 DG: 40' speed, Nondetection, Spell Turning, and a Pounce attack (DC13).

Clawfoot (ERLW), AC13, 19HP, 15 DG: 40' speed, Pack Tactics, and a Pounce attack (DC11). Amazing offense, but extremely vulnerable.

Dilophosaurus (BotJR), AC13, 26HP, 6.5 DG: Has a ranged spit attack that does no damage but can Blind and Paralyze an enemy (DC12).

Female Steeder (OotA), AC14, 30HP, 16.5 DG: Crazy 90' jump, Spider Climb, 120' darkvision, good Acid damage (DC12).

Giant Rocktopus (OotA), AC11, 52HP, 10 DG: A variant of the Giant Octopus that evolved to live on land. Has a 20' speed on land & advantage on stealth checks, but no swim speed.

Mutated Hunting Dog (RotLK), AC14, 39HP, 9 DG: 40' speed. Its attack can knock the target Prone (DC12). Has Pack Tactics. Can do 1 extra damage as a BA if it had advantage on the attack roll. Immune to Cold but Vulnerable to Fire. Roughly as good as the Dire Wolf.

Sangzor (CoS), AC11, 33HP, 8 DG: 40' speed. Resistance to nonmagical attacks. Has a Charge attack that does 5 extra damage & knocks Prone (DC13). Has advantage against most Prone effects. Excellent at defense but poor offense. Unique variant of the Giant Goat. Unfortunately, by the time you encounter Sangzor you'll likely have access to CR2+ creatures.

Spider (Giant Snow) (EotT), 14AC, 26HP, 16.5DG: A variant of the Giant Spider with Cold resistance and Ice Walk.

Spider (Ice) (SKT), AC14, 26HP, 16.5 DG: A variant of the Giant Spider with Cold resistance. Its Webbing does 1 cold damage per turn but is no longer immune to bludgeoning damage.

Spider (King) (OotA), AC14, 44HP, 16.5 DG: Unique variant of the Giant Spider with Proficiency in Perception, Constitution & Wisdom saving throws. Advantage on Perception checks, and against many debuffs.

Troodon (BotJR), AC13, 22HP, 7.5 DG: Has Pack Tactics & Improved Critical. Pretty much strictly inferior to the Dire Wolf.


Giant Octopus, AC11, 52HP, 10 DG: 10' speed, 60' swim. Its 15' range tentacles auto-restrain enemies on hit (escape DC16). Low mobility on land, but can be improved with the Mobility feat or Longstrider.

Giant Toad, AC11, 39HP, 13 DG: 20' speed, 40' swim. A Bite that auto-restrain (escape DC13). Can Swallow the grappled enemy to inflict 10.5 acid damage but the process is very slow (takes 3 turns minimum for the acid to kick in).


Adventure-specific Beasts

Archelon (BotJR), AC14, 26HP, 12 DG: 10' speed, 40' swim. Terrible stats, plus no special features.


Allosaurus, AC13, 51HP, 15 DG: 60' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC13). Okay form, but much inferior to the Zealoraptor.

Aurochs (VGtM), AC11, 38HP, 14 DG: 50' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC15) for 9 extra damage. Has offensive & defensive capacities close to the Brown Bear, which is pretty outdated by now.

Giant Boar, AC12, 42HP, 10 DG: 40' speed. Has a Charge attack (DC13) for 7 extra damage. Relentless 10. About as bad as the Aurochs.

Giant Constrictor Snake, 12AC, 60HP, 13 DG: 30' swim Amphibian, 10' Blindsight. Has auto-restrain attack (escape DC16). Slightly better than the Giant Octopus in almost every way, and has much better mobility on land.

Giant Elk, AC14, 42HP, 11 DG: 60' speed. Can Ram an enemy from 10' away, then retreat. If Charging, can knock the target Prone (DC14) and do 7 more damage. You can speak while in this form.

Hunter Shark, AC12, 45HP 13 DG: 40' swim. Blood Frenzy gives advantage very often, but the damage is lackluster and it lacks the restraining ability of the Giant Constrictor Snake & Giant Octopus.

Plesiosaurus, AC13, 68HP, 14.5 DG: 20' speed, 40' swim. Great defenses but little else.

Polar Bear, AC12, 45HP, 21.5 DG: 40' speed, 30' swim. Slight upgrade to the Brown Bear, but by now there are much better forms. The Cave Bear variant has 60' Darkvision.

Rhinoceros, AC11, 45HP, 14 DG: 40' speed. Has a Charge attack (DC15) for 9 extra damage. Another mediocre charging/pouncing form.

Saber-Tooth Tiger: 12AC, 52HP, 12 DG: 40' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC14). Yawn.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Giant Crayfish (TftYP), AC15, 45HP, 14 DG: 30' swim, 30' Blindsight. Has two claw attacks that can auto-grapple.

Giant Spitting Lizard (RotLK), AC12, 45HP, 13.5 DG: A ranged attack that can hit two adjacent creatures for 13.5 damage, and a melee grapple attack. Oh, and a reaction that pushes enemies away, knocks them prone, and ends their movement. What!?

Giant White Moray Eel (GoS), 12AC, 60HP, 13DG: 40' swim, 10' Blindsight, can only breath underwater. A variant of the Giant Constrictor Snake that can't breath air or constrict, but with a +4 to stealth checks. The constrict attack is the main draw of the Giant Constrictor Snake, so this variant is pretty useless.

Ice Spider Queen (SKT), AC14, 44HP, 16.5 DG: A variant of the Giant Spider. Its webbing does 2.5 cold damage per turn. Resists cold damage, and does 5 cold damage to creatures that start their turn near it.

Krenshar (RotLK), 13AC, 28HP, 14DG: 40' speed. Has a 60' Frightening Roar (DC11 Charisma) that knocks enemies Prone and Frighten them. A creature making the saving throw becomes immune - use this before combat until your team is immune. Beside its roar, the form is mediocre.

Pachycephalosaurus (BotJR), AC13, 68HP, 8.5 DG: 40' speed. Has a Charge attack (DC14) for 5 damage. Great defenses but its damage is a joke at this point.

Zealoraptor (BotJR), AC15, 52HP, 19 DG: 50' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC13) and Pack Tactics. Excellent at offense and defense.



Non-combat forms
Bat (AC12, 1HP, 1 DG): 30' fly & 60' Blindsight, Keen Hearing
Bat (Giant), AC13, 22HP, 5.5 DG: 60' Fly & 60 Blindsight', Keen Hearing
Owl, AC11, 1HP, 1 DG: 60' fly & 120' Darkvision, Keen Hearing & Sight, Flyby
Owl (Giant), AC12, 19HP, 8 DG: 60' fly & 120' Darkvision, Keen Hearing & Sight, Flyby
Raven, AC12, 1HP, 1 DG: 50' fly, can speak through Mimicry


Combat forms
Giant Eagle, AC13, 26HP, 16.5 DG: 80' fly speed. The main draw is that you can speak while in this form.

Giant Vulture, AC10, 22HP, 16 DG: 60' fly speed, with Pack Tactics. Can do decent damage, but fragile.

Quetzalcoatlus (VGtM), AC13, 30HP, 12.5 DG: 80' fly speed. Dive Attack is easy to trigger and can do 10 extra damage. Has both Flyby and Reach 10 to keep it out of trouble. By far the best flying form so far.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Flying Monkey (ToA), AC12, 19HP, 13 DG: 30' fly, and has hands.

Nemicolopterus (BotJR), AC12, 1HP, 1 DG: 50' fly, adv. to hide in the Jungle/Forest.

Tressym (SKT), AC15, 3HP, 1 DG: 40' Fly and 50' Detect Invisibility .

Flying Spider (DotMM), 14AC, 26HP, 16.5 DG: 40' Fly, good damage, a Web attack that auto-restrain on a hit (no saves), and Blindsight 10'. Variant of the Giant Spider.

Mutated Giant Vulture (RotLK), AC10, 37HP, 16 DG: 60' fly speed, with Pack Tactics. Can do 2 extra damage as BA. Much more durable than the Giant Vulture.


Ankylosaurus, AC15, 68HP, 18 DG: 10' Reach attack that can knock creatures Prone (DC14). Works similarly to the Giant Elk but more durable.

Giant Scorpion, AC15, 52HP, 42.5 DG: 40' speed, 60' Blindsight. Multiattack with 2 claws that auto-grapple, and a stinger that does poison damage (DC12). Great offense but poor defense.

Killer Whale, AC12, 90HP, 21.5 DG: 60' swim, 120' Blindsight. Has tons of HP.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Amphisbaena (TftYP), 12AC, 60HP, 24 DG: 30' swim Amphibian, 10' Blindsight, and its attack auto-restrains (escape DC16). A variant of the Giant Constrictor Snake that can attack twice.

Giant Lightning Eel (TftYP), AC13, 42HP, 29 DG: 5' speed, 30' swim. Blindsight 60'. Only to be used underwater, where its Lightning Jolt can stun multiple creatures (DC12).

Giant Snapping Turtle (ToA), AC17, 75HP, 18 DG: 40' swim. By far the most defensive form yet.

Mutated Crocodile (RotLK), AC12, 60HP, 11 DG: 30' swim. Its attack auto-restrain (DC13), and it can reduce the HP of the restrained enemy by 3 as a Bonus Action. Worse than the CR2 Giant Constrictor Snake.


Elementals can speak and resist nonmagical weapons.

Air Elemental, AC15, 90HP, 28 DG: 90' fly. Arguably the worst of the Elementals for combat, it has bad HP and a weak Whirlwind ability (DC13). It does make for an excellent scout, and it can fight well against flying enemies or highly maneuverable opponents..

Earth Elemental, AC17, 126HP, 28 DG: 30' burrow, 60' Tremorsense. No-nonsense elemental with excellent defense and good offense. With Earth Glide, it can burrow at the end of its turn to be fully protected against AoE and other attacks. Works wonderfully with abilities that obscure vision.

Fire Elemental: AC13, 102HP, 20 DG: 50' speed. Set enemies on fire, by walking into them or touching them. An enemy on flame takes 5.5 damage per turn unless an action is spent to douse the flame. With such low AC, it may be preferable to take the Disengage action & just walk through them. Works amazingly for a Goblin Moon Druid because they can Disengage as a Bonus Action.

Water Elemental: AC14, 114HP, 26 DG: 90' swim speed. Its Whelm ability is its main feature. It can restrain up to two creatures and has a relatively high DC (15). Cold damage destroys its mobility.

Elephant, AC12, 76HP, 19.5 DG: 40' speed. Trampling Charge (DC12) to knock Prone & attack again for 22.5 DG. Sadly, the DC is too low to work reliably.

Stegosaurus (VGtM), AC13, 76HP, 26 DG: 40' speed. Similar to a Ankylosaurus that doesn't knock enemy prone but does a tad more damage.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Giant Coral Snake (GoS), AC13, 90HP, 8DG: 30' swim. On a hit, stuns for a round and inflicts a short-term madness (DC12), most of which are incredibly debilitating. Unfortunately, the low DC and damage makes this beast highly unreliable.

Giant Subterranean Lizard (TftYP), AC14, 66HP, 28 DG: 50' swim. Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks Prone (DC15). Can also Swallow a grappled creature for 16 damage immediately and 10 Acid damage every round. Good but barely an improvement over the Amphisbaena.

Mammoth (Young) (PUS), AC11, 90HP, 14DG: 40' speed, 10' Reach. Charge attack to knock Prone (DC16) & do a BA attack (21.5 DG). Compared to the Elephant, this has 14 more HP, a slightly weaker attack, better reach, and a much better Charge.


Brontosaurus (VGtM), AC15, 121HP, 32 DG: 20' reach. Also has alternative tail attack that does 27.5 damage but knocks enemies Prone (DC14).

Giant Crocodile, AC14, 85HP, 35.5 DG: 50' swim. Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks prone (DC16). Good amphibian animal.

Giant Shark, AC13, 126HP, 22.5 DG: 50' swim, 60' Blindsight, Blood Frenzy gives advantage against the wounded.

Triceratops, AC13, 95HP, 24 DG: 50' speed. Like the Elephant, has a Trample attack that knocks Prone (DC13) & gives extra attack. The Brontosaurus has better stats overall.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Hulking Crab (SKT), AC17, 76HP, 41 DG: 20' speed, 30' swim, 30' Blindsight. Multiattack with two claws that auto-grapple (DC15), and an interesting Camouflage ability. The Crocodile inflicts better debuffs.

Large Subterranean Lizard (TftYP), AC14, 85HP, 35.5 DG: Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks prone (DC16). This variant of the Giant Crocodile has no swim speed, a 30' climb speed, and 60' darkvision.

Therizinosaurus (BotJR), AC14, 104HP, 35 DG: Okay damage and defense but no abilities.


Mammoth, AC13, 126HP, 25 DG: 40' speed. Has a Trampling Charge with Reach and a wonderful DC18 that knocks an enemy prone & allows an additional 29 damage attack.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Brachiosaurus (BotJR), AC16, 145HP, 40 DG: 20' Reach. Also has alternative tail attack that does 34.5 damage but knocks enemies Prone (DC15). Gargantuan size. Alternative to the Mammoth if its Charge can't work. A straight upgrade to the Brontosaurus, and has excellent defenses.



Shapechange Forms

The level 9 spell Shapechange works similarly to your Wild Shape, letting you adopt the form of a creature you have have seen. The CR of the creature can't exceed your level, and the creature can’t be a construct or an undead.

This section heavily depends on what creatures you have seen through your adventuring career, but here are a few ideas:

Aboleth: To enslave other creatures.

Adult Dragon: 60' Blindsight, excellent mobility, legendary resistance, Frightful Presence, and a powerful long range Breath weapon. Best used to harass enemies with the Breath while staying out of their range.

Androsphinx: Has 3 Roars that affect everyone hearing them within 500 feet, immune to nonmagical attacks.

Beholder: 150' Antimagic cone.

Chwinga (ToA): Magical Gift lets you give a charm to one of your allies.

Couatl: Cure Wounds, Lesser Restoration & Greater Restoration, immune to nonmagical weapons.

Death Slaad: Regeneration 10 & Plane Shift

Neothelid/Ulitharid/Elder Brain: Sense every creature within 1/2/5 miles

Pit Fiend: Amazing in combat.

Planetar: 120' True Sight, 120' fly, resists nonmagical attacks, magic resistance, Divine Awareness (lies detection), & Healing Touch.

Rakshasa: Immune to nonmagical attacks & Limited Magic Immunity, Plane Shift



Polymorph Forms

Cranium Rat (VGtM), AC12, 2HP, 1DG: 30' speed. Makes your target immune to divination, in case its allies try to locate it. Sadly, this also gives your target Telepathy & immunity to mind read effects.

Frog, AC11, 2HP, 0DG: 20' speed & 20' swim, & can jump well. Can't attack.

Killer Whale: AC12, 90HP, 21.5DG: Can't move on land but can breath air, & decent HP in case someone attacks it.

Rat, AC10, 1HP, 1DG: 20' speed and 1HP attack.

Scorpion, AC11, 1HP, 5.5DG: 10' speed (slowest), but it can do some damage.

Sea Horse, AC11, 1HP, 0DG: 20' swim, & can't attack. Great for underwater battles.

Brontosaurus (VGtM), AC15, 121HP, 32DG: 20' Reach. Also has alternative tail attack that does 27.5 damage but knocks enemies Prone (DC14). Inferior to the CR6 Brachiosaurus.

Giant Ape, AC12, 157HP, 45DG: 40' speed, 10' Reach. Has a ranged attack for 30.5 damage. May be your best CR7 bet if you don't have access to BotJR.

Giant Crocodile, AC14, 85HP, 35.5DG: 50' swim. Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks prone (DC16). Decent aquatic animal if you can't get the Sarcosuchus.

Giant Shark, AC13, 126HP, 22.5DG: 50' swim, 60' Blindsight, Blood Frenzy gives advantage against the wounded. Decent aquatic animal if you can't get the Sarcosuchus.

Mammoth, AC13, 126HP, 25DG: 40' speed. Has a Trampling Charge with Reach and a wonderful DC18 that knocks an enemy prone & allows an additional 29 damage attack. If you can use its Charge well, its a good alternative to the Giant Ape.

Triceratops, AC13, 95HP, 24DG: 50' speed. Like the Elephant, has a Trample attack that knocks Prone (DC13) & gives extra attack. Get the CR6 Mammoth instead.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Brachiosaurus (BotJR), AC16, 145HP, 40DG: 20' reach. Also has alternative tail attack that does 34.5 damage but knocks enemies Prone (DC15). Gargantuan size. Better version of the Brontosaurus. If you have access to this, get the Titanosaurus instead.

Hulking Crab (SKT), AC17, 76HP, 41DG: 20' speed, 30' Blindsight. Multiattack with two claws that auto-grapple (DC15), and an interesting Camouflage ability. Decent aquatic animal if you can't get the Sarcosuchus.

Large Subterranean Lizard (TftYP), AC14, 85HP, 35.5DG: Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks prone (DC16). This variant of the Giant Crocodile has no swim speed, 30' climbing speed, and 60' darkvision. Low HP. For battles on land, there are better options.

Sarcosuchus (BotJR), AC15, 137HP, 47.5DG: Reach 10'. 40' speed, 50' swim. Reach 10'. Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrain and a Tail that knocks Prone (DC17). Good impact on the battlefield, and arguably the best aquatic form.

Therizinosaurus (BotJR), AC14, 104HP, 35DG: If you have access to this, get the Titanosaurus instead.

Titanosaurus (BotJR), AC17, 201HP, 45.5DG: 20' reach. Has a Stomp attack for 40 damage and knocking Prone (DC16). Good offense and excellent durability. Sadly, you can't use the Legendary Actions.

Tyrannosaurus Rex, AC13, 136HP, 53.5DG: Has a Bite attack with auto-restrain (DC17). Better than the Mammoth & the Giant Ape, but the CR7 Titanosaurus is more durable.


Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Huge Giant Crab (TftYP), AC15, 161HP, 27DG: 30' swim. 10' reach. Has a Claw attack that grapples (DC14). A variant of the Giant Crab that is weaker than CR7 creatures.

Mosasaurus (BotJR), AC13, 159HP, 33DG: 50' swim. Can't move or breath outside water. Has a Bite attack with auto-restrain (DC17), and can Swallow. An alternative to the CR7 Sarcosuchus for a strictly aquatic adventure.



Adventure-specific Beasts

Giganotosaurus (BotJR), AC14, 217HP, 60DG: 60' speed. 15' reach. Its Bite auto-restrains (DC18). Can swallow enemies for 21 acid damage every turn. A definite improvement over the T-Rex, but the Titanosaurus has superior AC. Sadly, you can't use the Legendary Actions.

[Merudo]

Creature Forms Availability

Existence: The first requirement of Polymorph, Wild Shape and the Conjure spells is that the target form must exist in the game universe. The existence of dinosaurs is typically the primary concern here - dinos are among some of the most powerful and versatile Beasts available, but some DMs exclude them from their world.

AL: If you play in Adventure League (AL), the creatures available are those listed in AL legal sources (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/208178/DD-Adventurers-League-Player--DM-Pack). These include the MM, most WotC supplements, published WotC Adventures, and content from the Guild Adept program such as BotJR.

All of the creatures I list in this guide are AL legal, except for those in GGtR and WGtE.

Additional restrictions: Beside the existence of the creature, there are some additional restriction on the target form:


Polymorph: your character must know about the creature.

Wild Shape: your character must have seen the creature before.

Conjure Animals / Minor Elemental / Fey : the creature(s) are selected by the DM.

Conjure Elemental: the elemental is appropriate for the area you choose, and selected by the DM.


Polymorph has the least restrictive requirement: having heard or read about the Beast is sufficient. The DM could reasonably ask for a Nature or History check if the Beast is rare or foreign.

For Wild Shape, observing a polymorphed or conjured Beast may be enough to let you Wild Shape into the form.

With the Conjure spells, you can request specific creature(s), although the DM is free to ignore your suggestions. Some DMs may also be more likely to oblige if your character knows about or has seen the creatures before, or if they are native to the land you are visiting.

DM Courtesy: Not a requirement, but if you wish to use a creature from a source your DM doesn't own, it is common courtesy to show him a picture or printed copy of the relevant stat block.

Awaken: The Awaken spell (level 5) can "awaken" a Beast of size Huge or smaller, increasing its Intelligence to 10 and allowing it to speak one language.

By RAW, there is nothing preventing a PC from using Wild Shape or Polymorph to turn into an Awakened Beast, or to conjure Awakened Beasts. Of course, some DMs may object to this.

Benefits: Choosing an awakened version of a Beast instead of the regular yields the following benefits


Wild Shape: you retain the ability to speak while Wild Shaped.
Polymorph: the target's intelligence becomes 10 (instead of the usual 1-2), and it can understand (but not speak) a language.
Conjure Animals/Fey: the conjured Beasts obey your orders more intelligently, and can report verbally to you.


Wild Shape Requirement: To Wild Shape into the awakened version of a Beast, you must have seen such awakened Beast before. If you are level 9+, the most straightforward way to do so is to awaken a member of the specie yourself.

The following adventures feature Awakened Beasts:


Ghosts of Saltmarsh: Giant Crab (Barnacle Bess).

Poisoned Words: Flying Snake (Zsoksia).

Putting the Dead to Rest: Giant Ape.

Tomb of Annihilation: Giant Constructor Snake (Azi Mas).

Waterdeep Dragon Heist: Draft Horse (Maxeene), Giant Shark (Obliteros), & Rat.

Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Brown Bear, Elk, and Giant Wasp.


Polymorph Requirement: I assume you need to know about a specific awakened Beast; knowing that a given beast could be theoretically awakened is not sufficient.

Some Beasts have a name and unique stats. By RAW, these Beasts are legal forms for Wild Shape, Polymorph, and the Conjure Animals / Fey spells.

In practice, the DM is unlikely to conjure these creatures, and some may even prohibit Wild Shaping and Polymorphing into them.

The following adventures feature unique Beasts:


Curse of Strahd: Sangzor the Giant Goat (p.160).
Lost Mine of Phandelver: Snarl the Wolf (p.40).
Out of the Abyss: The Spider King (p.74).
Tales from the Yawning Portal: Guthash the Giant Rat (p.21), Huge Giant Crab (p.103)

The Spider King is rather problematic here - the form is a greatly buffed Giant Spider yet remains CR 1. Although not RAW, the fluff of the creature suggests to me it should be an Monstrosity instead of a Beast, and thus not a valid target for Wild Shape.

Some Beasts do not have their own stat block, but are instead variants of existing monsters with some changes. By RAW, there is nothing stopping you from using these altered forms for Wild Shape, Polymorph, & conjuring spells.

The MM & VGtM have the following variants:


Monster Manual: Cave Bear, Diseases Giant Rat, Giant Lizards (Swiming/Climbing), & Satyr (Pipe)
Volo's Guide to Monsters: Ox, Rothe, & Stench Kow.


Additionally, some easily missed monster variants are described in the middle of an adventure:


Out of the Abyss: Cave Badger (p.96), Fiendish Giant Spider (p.97), Giant Rocktopus (p.28)
Storm King's Thunder: Ice Spider (p.127), Ice Spider Queen (p.128)
Tales from the Yawning Portal: Amphisbaena (p.83), Four-Armed Gargoyle (p.129), Large Subterranean Lizard (p.176)
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Flying Spider (p.150)



While looking for creatures for the summoning spells, I've decided to exclude the following:


Encounters in Port Nyanzaru: Cursed Water Elemental (p.19, unique).
Chelimber's Descent: Stone Mephit (p.22, obscure & too powerful).
Giant Diplomacy: Oblivillish (p.23, unique).
Szith Morcane Unbound: Azer Acolyte & Priest (pp. 26-27, weak & obscure forms).
The Iron Baron: Ironmonger (p.41, unique Earth Elemental Myrmidon), Vigorel (p.43, unique).
Uneasy Lies the Head: Wobbles (p.36, magically enhanced).
Waterdeep Dragon Heist: Lady Gondafrey (p.152, unique).
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Big Xorn (p.51, unique), Haungharassk (p.258, magically enhanced), Poison Weird (p.127, dies out of brew).




Wild Shape Communication

When Wild Shaped, your ability to speak is limited to the capabilities of your beast form. This means you generally can't speak as a Brown Bear, as a Wolf, etc. However, there are some workarounds that allows you to communicate while in Wild Shape:

Telepathy: Telepathy is the most straightforward method of communicating while Wild Shaped. Most Telepathy effects are one-way and only work with a single person.


Races: Ghostwise Halfling, Kalashtar
Beast: Cranium Rat
Item: Helm Of Telepathy
Class: GOO Warlock (Awakened Mind)
Spells: Telepathic Bond, Telepathy
Find Familiar: You can communicate telepathically with a Raven familiar, and have it say your words through Mimicry.


Understanding Beasts: While Wild Shaped, you qualify as a Beast. Features & effects that let someone understand Beasts will work on you, allowing you to be understood.


Class: Shepherd Druid (Speech of the Woods)
Spell: Speak with Animals
Races: Forest Gnome (small & tiny beasts only)



The Giant Eagle, Giant Elk and Giant Owl all speak their own language; the Druid can thus communicate to some extend while Wild Shaped into them.

However, there is some ambiguity regarding what language(s) you can speak while Wild Shaped into these forms:


Can you speak their native language?: By RAW, you automatically learn the Giant Eagle/Elk/Owl's language while Wild Shaped, because Languages are part of a Beast's statistics. Your DM might disagree.
Are you prohibited from talking with their "can't speak" languages?: The three Giant Beasts can understand, but not speak, Common and either Elvish&Sylvan or Primordial. If it's because they just don't know how, then these Beasts can be assumed to be capable of talking, and you'll be able to speak these languages while Wild Shaped into them. If they can't speak these languages because they physically can't, you won't be able to either.
Can you speak other languages?: If these Beasts cannot vocalize properly, then they likely won't be able to speak other languages as well.


Under the harshest interpretation, you'll only be able to speak the native tongue of these Beasts and only if you learnt them beforehand.
Under the most related interpretation, you can speak any language you knew before and you even temporarily learn an extra language.

How it works is really up to the DM.

Note that if you are a Firbolg or a Forest Gnome, you'll be to use your racial ability to be understood by beasts if your wild shape is capable of speak at least one language.


A simple communication method is to make a physical list of frequently words such as "Danger", "Treasure", "Fight", etc. While Wild Shaped, you point at the correct word(s) to communicate.

Examples of lists: a wooden board, a large scroll, a series of flash cards with words of them, shield engravings, embroidered words in a cloak, etc.

The main advantage of this method is that it doesn't require any extra work from other players; you just say "I point at the words "Danger", "Traps", and "Ahead" and everyone will get what you meant.

The main problems is that the list itself may have to be physically large (especially if you become a Huge or larger Beast) and that you need to be physically close to the list. The later makes it near impossible to communicate this way during combat.

Here are examples of words to use.

Basics


Yes
No
I
You
They
Thanks
Sorry
Numbers 0-9

Things


Danger
Enemy
Friend
Door
Traps
Treasure

Actions


Fight
Retreat
Scout
Search
Listen
Go
Get
Hide
Heal
Rest

Directions


Ahead
Behind
Above
Under
Left
Right


At the most basic, you can have your Druid attempt to communicate through Charades. Although Charades can be hilarious, they can be quite imprecise and inefficient; after a few, your party risks getting bored & may start ignoring you.

At the other extreme, you and your friend could learn the Morse language; you'd then be able to communicate freely regardless of the Beast form. The commitment for this is substantial, though.

An alternate approach is to come up with a rudimentary "language" making use of the signs & sounds a Beast can make. For example, moving a right paw to the ground could mean "Watch for Traps", while a Growl could mean "Let's attack".

The advantage of the pseudo-language approach is that the Druid can communicate at any time (including combat) with his allies.

The disadvantage is that it requires some work to come up with the language & memorize it. Also, it may be difficult to make up a language for Beasts with unusual appendages (Giant Spider, Constrictor Snake, etc)

A kind DM might assume the characters themselves memorize the language, so you can just say "My character does the sign for Danger".

Example: Bear Communication

Yes: Nod.
No: Shake head.
I / You / They : Point one paw at person.
Thanks: Bow
Sorry: Paws cover both eyes.
Numbers: Clap paws.

Danger: Put a paw around head with mouth open (as if scared).
Enemy: Punches in front.
Friend: Paw over heart.
Door: Make the outline of a door with a paw.
Traps: Stomp paw on ground.
Treasure: Lick lips.

Fight: Punch both paws together horizontally.
Retreat: Wave paw toward the back.
Scout/Search: Paw horizontally above eyes while slowing shaking head.
Listen: Paw behind ear.
Go: Point paws at place to go.
Get: Put both paws together on the floor and raise them (as if picking up an object).
Hide: Two arms in front, as if hiding behind them.
Heal: Make a cross with both pawns.
Rest: Crossed pawns on the chest.

[Merudo]

DG: Expected damage if all attacks are non-critical hits.


Conjure Animals

Conjuring Animals gives the Druid four options for summoning:

Eight CR 1/4 Beasts
Four CR 1/2 Beasts
Two CR 1 Beasts
One CR 2 Beast
Technically, the DM gets to pick the creature(s) you get; in practice, most DMs let the player choose the creatures.

Conjuring Eight CR 1/4 Beasts: Extremely powerful option - the total HP pool and damage of eight CR 1/4 creature are generally superior to those of four CR 1/2 creatures, two CR1 creatures or a single CR2 creature. It's also better to have 8 chances of restraining or knocking Prone instead of one or two.

There are three main reasons why you'd prefer to conjure higher CR beasts instead:

CR 1/4 creatures are extremely vulnerable to AoE damage.
It can be difficult to maneuver so many creatures around, especially if they are Large.
It can take too long for a player to control so many creatures around
Conjuring Four CR 1/2 Beasts: These creatures are barely more durable than the CR 1/4 options, and don't do much more damage either. Frankly, you are almost always better off getting twice as many CR 1/4 creatures instead.

Conjuring Two CR1 Beasts: A few creatures at this rating (Dire Wolf, Giant Octopus, Giant Toad, etc.) have decent hit points - enough to have a good chance to survive a Fireball. Summoning these creatures is a good compromise between damage and durability.

Conjuring One CR2 Beast: Almost all the creatures at this tier are durable but getting half as many as the CR1 option hurts. Good choice if you need durable creatures and the best CR1 options don't work for you.


Axe Break, AC11 19HP, 6.5DG: 50' speed. Poor damage and no features.

Boar, AC11, 11HP, 4.5DG: 40' speed. Awful stats and a mediocre Charge for 3.5 extra damage, and can knock Prone (DC11).

Constrictor Snake, AC12, 13HP, 6.5DG: 30' swim, 10' Blindsight. The auto-restrain attack (DC14) is great.

Cow/Ox/Rothe (VGtM), AC10, 15HP, 7.5DG: Powerful Charge for 7 extra damage but no Prone effect.

Deep Rothe (VGtM), AC10, 13HP, 7.5DG: Like the Cow, but with 2 less hp and the ability to cast dancing lights.

Dimetrodon (VGtM), AC12, 19HP, 9DG: 20' swim. Okay stats.

Draft Horse, AC10, 19HP, 9DG: 40' speed. Slow mount with good HP.

Elk, AC10, 13HP, 6.5DG: 50' speed. Has an amazing Charge that does 7 extra damage & knocks Prone (DC13).

Giant Badger, AC10, 13HP, 10.5DG: 10' dig speed and good damage.

Giant Bat, AC13, 22HP, 5.5DG: 60' Blindsight and impressive durability, but low damage.

Giant Centipede, AC13, 4HP, 15DG: 30' Blindsight. Great poison damage (DC11) but extremely fragile.

Giant Frog, AC11, 18HP, 4.5DG: 30' swim & Amphibious. Auto-restrain attack (DC11) & can swallow the restrained creature. Substantially more durable than the Constrictor Snake. Medium size.

Giant Lizard, AC12, 19HP, 6.5DG: Poor stats but has variants with Swimming / Spider Climb.

Giant Owl, AC12, 19HP, 8DG: 60' fly. Quite durable and versatile, and can avoid damage through Flyby.

Giant Poisonous Snake, AC14, 11HP, 17DG: 30' swim, 10' reach, 10' Blindsight, the best AC and the most damage if not resisting poison (DC11). An amazing beast with low hp.

Giant Wolf Spider, AC13, 11HP, 11.5DG: 40' speed, Spider Climb, 10' Blindsight and good Poison damage (DC11).

Hadrosaurus (VGtM), AC11, 19HP, 7.5DG: 40' speed. Okay stats but no features.

Mastiff, AC12, 5HP, 4.5DG: 40' speed. An extremely fragile Medium size mount that can knock Prone (DC11).

Panther, AC12, 13HP, 5.5DG: 50' speed. Underwhelming Pounce for Prone (DC12) & chance to do 4.5 extra damage.

Pony, AC10, 11HP, 7DG: 40' speed. A fragile Medium size mount.

Pterandon (VGtM), AC13, 13HP, 6DG: 60' fly. Has Flyby. A worse version of the Giant Owl, but that's still pretty good.

Riding Horse, AC10, 13HP, 8DG: 60' speed, can act as a fast mount.

Stench Kow (VGtM), AC10, 15HP, 7.5DG: Like a Cow, but has resistance to Fire/Cold/Poison and automatically poisons creatures (DC12) within 5' of it with (!).

Velociraptor (VGtM), AC13, 10HP, 10DG: Pack Tactics and good damage. Tiny size.

Wolf, AC13, 11HP, 7DG: 40' speed, Pack Tactics, and its attack can Prone (DC11).


Adventure-specific Beasts

Cave Badger (OotA), AC12, 13HP, 10.5DG: 15' dig speed, Tremorsense 60', and does good damage. Variant of the Giant Badger.

Fastieth (ERLW), AC14, 9HP, 8.5DG: 50' speed, can take Dodge as bonus action about 1/3 of the time. Dodging compensates for poor HP, but little else here is of value.

Giant Riding Lizard (OotA), AC12, 19HP, 6.5DG: 30' speed, but 30' climbing speed and Spider Walk. An excellent mount for vertical travel.

Guthash (TftYP), AC12, 16HP, 4.5DG: Pack Tactics but awful damage. Unique variant of the Giant Rat.

Male Steeder (OotA), AC12, 13HP, 12DG: Has Spider Climb and good Acid damage (DC12).

Snarl (LMoP), AC13, 18HP, 7DG: Unique variant of the Wolf with 7 more HP.


Ape, AC12, 19HP, 13DG: Has a ranged rock attack for 6.5DG, and Athletics +5 for Grappling.

Black Bear, AC12, 19HP, 12.5DG: 40' speed. Faster than the Ape but without the ranged attack or Grappling.

Crocodile, AC12, 19HP, 7.5DG: 20' speed, 30' swim. Auto-restrain on a hit (DC12). Slower on land than Giant Frog but otherwise slightly better.

Giant Goat, AC11, 19HP, 8DG: 40' speed. Has a Charge attack that does 5 extra damage & knocks Prone (DC13). Advantage against Prone. Similar to an Elk but with 6 more HP.

Giant Sea Horse, AC13, 16HP, 4.5DG: 40' swim. Charge attack does 7 extra damage & knocks Prone (DC11). The best aquatic animal that charges.

Giant Wasp, AC12, 13HP, 16DG: 50' fly. Good poison damage (DC11). Essentially a Giant Poisonous Snake without reach but that can fly.

Reef Shark, AC12, 22HP, 6.5DG: 40' swim, 30' Blindsight. Has Pack Tactics.

Warhorse, AC11, 19HP, 11DG: 60' speed mount. Has a Trampling Charge that knocks Prone & give another attack (DC14). Beside the charge, it's very similar to CR1/4 horses.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Clawfoot Raptor (WGtE), AC14, 16HP, 10DG: 50' speed, has a Pounce attack to knock Prone (DC13) & allow a Bonus Action attack for 8 damage. Medium mount quite similar to the Warhorse, but with more AC and less HP.

Fiendish Giant Spider (OotA), AC13, 11HP, 11.5DG: 40' speed, Spider Climb, 10' Blindsight, resistance to Cold/Fire/Lightening and Immunity to Poison. Variant of the Giant Wolf Spider that isn't worth the extra CR.

Giant Sea Eel (GoS), AC14, 19HP, 13DG: 40' swim, can only breath underwater. Great damage but doesn't have the Reef Shark's abilities.

Jaculi (ToA), AC14, 16HP, 9DG: 30' Blindsight. Can do a "spring" attack that can grant advantage and do 7 extra damage.

Sea Lion (GoS), AC16, 15HP, 18.5 DG: 15' speed, 30' swim, hold breath for 15 minutes. Amazing AC and damage.


Brown Bear, 11AC, 34HP, 19.5DG: 40' speed. Good HP and damage, but terrible AC.

Deinonychus (VGtM), 13AC, 26HP, 19.5DG: 40' speed. Pounce attack to knock Prone and give extra attack (DC12), but low HP. Why not get four times as many Elk instead?

Dire Wolf, 14AC, 37HP, 10DG: 50' speed, Pack Tactics. Excellent defensive form. Relatively weak damage but can knock Prone (DC13).

Giant Eagle, AC13, 26HP, 16.5DG: 80' fly. Why not get four times as many Giant Owls instead?

Giant Hyena, 12AC, 45HP, 10DG: 50' speed. If Rampage procs, can be as damaging as the Brown Bear.

Giant Octopus, 11AC, 52HP, 10DG: 10' speed, 60' swim. Its 15' range tentacles auto-restrain enemies on hit (escape DC16). Low mobility on land.

Giant Spider, 14AC, 26HP, 16.5DG: Spider Climb, 10' Blindsight, good Poison damage (DC11), a Web attack that auto-restrain on a hit (no saves). Summoning four times as many Giant Wolf Spiders may be preferable.

Giant Toad, 11AC, 39HP, 13DG: 20' speed, 40' swim. A Bite that auto-restrain (escape DC13). Can Swallow the grappled enemy to inflict 10.5 acid damage but the process is very slow (takes 3 turns minimum for the acid to kick in).

Giant Vulture, AC10, 22HP, 16DG: 60' fly speed, with Pack Tactics. Decent offense & defense for a flyer.

Lion, 12AC, 25HP, 7.5DG: 50' speed. Has Pack Tactics and a Pounce attack (DC13). Weak damage and defense.

Tiger, 12AC, 37HP, 8.5DG: 40' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC13), but unlike the Lion doesn't have Pack Tactics.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Archelon (BotJR), 14AC, 26HP, 12DG: 10' speed, 40' swim. Terrible stats, plus no special features.

Clawfoot (ERLW), AC13, 19HP, 15 DG: 40' speed, Pack Tactics, and a Pounce attack (DC11). Amazing offense, but extremely vulnerable.

Crag Cat (SKT), 13AC, 34HP, 8.5DG: 40' speed, Nondetection, Spell Turning, and a Pounce attack (DC13).

Dilophosaurus (BotJR), 13AC, 26HP, 6.5DG: Has a ranged spit attack that does no damage but can Blind and Paralyze an enemy (DC12).

Female Steeder (OotA), 14AC, 30HP, 16.5DG: Crazy 90' jump, Spider Climb, 120' darkvision, good Acid damage (DC12).

Giant Rocktopus (OotA), AC11, 52HP, 10 DG: A variant of the Giant Octopus that evolved to live on land. Has a 20' speed on land & advantage on stealth checks, but no swim speed.

Mutated Hunting Dog (RotLK), AC14, 39HP, 9DG: 40' speed. Its attack can knock the target Prone (DC12). Has Pack Tactics. Can do 1 extra damage as a BA if it had advantage on the attack roll. Immune to Cold but Vulnerable to Fire. Roughly as good as the Dire Wolf.

Sangzor (CoS), AC11, 33HP, 8DG: 40' speed. Resistance to nonmagical attacks. Has a Charge attack that does 5 extra damage & knocks Prone (DC13). Has advantage against most Prone effects. Excellent at defense but poor offense. Unique variant of the Giant Goat.

Spider (Flying) (DotMM), 14AC, 26HP, 16.5DG: 40' Fly, 10' Blindsight, good Poison damage (DC11), a Web attack that auto-restrain on a hit (no saves). Variant of the Giant Spider.

Spider (Giant Snow) (EotT), 14AC, 26HP, 16.5DG: A variant of the Giant Spider with Cold resistance and Ice Walk.

Spider (Ice) (SKT), AC14, 26HP, 16.5DG: A variant of the Giant Spider with Cold resistance, and its Webbing does 1 cold damage per turn but is no longer immune to bludgeoning damage.

Spider (King) (OotA), AC14, 44HP, 16.5DG: Unique variant of the Giant Spider with Proficiency in Perception, Constitution & Wisdom saving throws. Advantage on Perception checks, and against many debuffs.

Troodon (BotJR), 13AC, 22HP, 7.5DG: Has Pack Tactics & Improved Critical. Pretty much strictly inferior to the Dire Wolf.


Allosaurus, AC13, 51HP, 15DG: 60' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC13). Okay form, but much inferior to the Zealoraptor.

Aurochs (VGtM), AC11, 38HP, 14DG: 50' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC15) for 9 extra damage. Has offensive & defensive capacities close to the Brown Bear - so why not get twice as many of the later?

Giant Boar, AC12, 42HP, 10DG: 40' speed. Has a Charge attack (DC13) for 7 extra damage. Relentless 10. About as bad as the Aurochs.

Giant Constrictor Snake, 12AC, 60HP, 13DG: 30' swim Amphibian, 10' Blindsight. Has auto-restrain attack (escape DC16). Slightly better than the Giant Octopus in almost every way, and has much better mobility on land.

Giant Elk, 14AC, 42HP, 11DG: 60' speed. Can Ram an enemy from 10' away, then retreat. If Charging, can knock the target Prone (DC14) and do 7 more damage.

Hunter Shark, 12AC, 45HP 13DG: 40' swim. Blood Frenzy gives advantage very often, but the damage is lackluster and it lacks the restraining ability of the Giant Constrictor Snake & Giant Octopus.

Plesiosaurus, 13AC, 68HP, 14.5DG: 20' speed, 40' swim. Great defenses but little else.

Polar Bear, 12AC, 45HP, 21.5DG: 40' speed, 30' swim. Slight upgrade to the Brown Bear, but at this CR there are much better forms. The Cave Bear variant has 60' Darkvision.

Quetzalcoatlus (VGtM), AC13, 30HP, 12.5DG: 80' fly speed. Dive Attack is easy to trigger and can do 10 extra damage. Has both Flyby and Reach 10 to keep it out of trouble. Barely stronger than a Giant Eagle.

Rhinoceros, AC11, 45HP, 14DG: 40' speed. Has a Charge attack (DC15) for 9 extra damage. Another mediocre charging/pouncing form.

Saber-Tooth Tiger: 12AC, 52HP, 12DG: 40' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC14). Yawn.


Adventure-specific Beasts

Giant Crayfish (TftYP), 15AC, 45HP, 14DG: 30' swim, 30' Blindsight. Has two claw attacks that can auto-grapple.

Giant Spitting Lizard (RotLK), 12AC, 45HP, 13.5DG: A ranged attack that can hit two adjacent creatures for 13.5 damage, and a melee grapple attack. Oh, and a reaction that pushes enemies away, knocks them prone, and ends their movement. What!?

Giant White Moray Eel (GoS), 12AC, 60HP, 13DG: 40' swim, 10' Blindsight, can only breath underwater. A variant of the Giant Constrictor Snake that can't breath air or constrict, but with a +4 to stealth checks. The constrict attack is the main draw of the Giant Constrictor Snake, so this variant is pretty useless.

Ice Spider Queen (SKT), AC14, 44HP, 16.5DG: A variant of the Giant Spider. Its webbing does 2.5 cold damage per turn. Resists cold damage, and does 5 cold damage to creatures that start their turn near it.

Mutated Giant Vulture (RotLK), AC10, 37HP, 16DG: 60' fly speed, with Pack Tactics. Can do 2 extra damage as BA. Beside the HP, extremely similar to the Giant Vulture.

Krenshar (RotLK), 13AC, 28HP, 14DG: 40' speed. Has a 60' Frightening Roar (DC11 Charisma) that knocks enemies Prone and Frighten them. A creature making the saving throw becomes immune - use this before combat until your team is immune. Beside its roar, the form is mediocre.

Pachycephalosaurus (BotJR), 13AC, 68HP, 8.5DG: 40' speed. Has a Charge attack (DC14) for 5 damage. Great defenses but its damage is a joke at this point.

Zealoraptor (BotJR), 15AC, 52HP, 19DG: 50' speed. Has a Pounce attack (DC13) and Pack Tactics. Excellent at offense and defense.



Conjure Minor Elementals

Conjuring Minor Elementals gives the Druid four options for summoning:

Eight CR 1/4 Elementals
Four CR 1/2 Elementals
Two CR 1 Elementals
One CR 2 Elemental
Technically, the DM gets to pick the creature(s) you get; in practice, most DMs let the player choose the creatures.

Conjuring Eight CR 1/4 Elementals: Decent enough choice. The Mephits can fly, have excellent HPs for their CR, trigger Deathburst on death, & use breath weapons that can either inflict status or do damage. Sadly their ability DC are really low (10-11). Its also nice to ask for a single Chwinga, for Pass without Trace.

Conjuring Four CR 1/2 Elementals: You get this for the spells; Dust Mephit for Sleep, Ice Mephit for Fog Cloud, & Magma Mephit for Heat Metal. The Mephits of this tier are not any more durable than their CR 1/4 cousins. The Gens can cast Tongue which isn't on your spell list. They have other cool spells but their HP are really low.

Conjuring Two CR1 Elementals: These creatures are not any sturdier than the CR 1/4 options, and their increased damage doesn't compensate for the fact that there are 4x less of them.

Conjuring One CR2 Elemental: The Gargoyle makes a decent scout. If you have access to the four-armed Gargoyle, this is actually really nice.


Mephit (Mud), AC11, 27HP, 4.5DG: 20' fly. Single target Mud Breath & AoE Deathburst that can both restrain (DC11) Medium or smaller creatures. Creatures restrained by the Breath have a saving throw every turn (with disadvantage) to end the effect. A more durable alternative to the Constrictor Snake & Giant Frog.

Mephit (Smoke), AC12, 22HP, 4.5DG: 30' fly. Cinder Breath cone that can Blind (DC10), Dancing Lights 1/day. Death Burst creates a cloud of smokes which works against its Breath: Blinded enemies can just go inside the cloud to negate the penalties.

Mephit (Steam), AC10, 21HP, 5DG: 30' fly. Steam Breath cone and Death Burst AoE both do 4.5 damage, Blur 1/day. For pure damage, Conjure Animals probably works better.


Adventure-specific Elementals

Chwinga (ToA), AC15, 5HP, 0DG: 60' Blindsight, Evasion & Natural Shelter, can cast Druidcraft/Guidance/Pass without Trace/Resistance at will. Can also give a Supernatural Charm, which is so easy to abuse that no sane DM would allow it. Getting one Chwinga for Stealth is useful, but I wouldn't get more.

Geonid (TTP), AC17, 26HP, 3.5DG: 30' tremorsense & excellent defenses, but no offensive abilities beyond spamming the Help action.


Magmin, AC14, 9HP, 7DG: Resistance to nonmagical attacks. Has Deathburst for 7 damage within 10', and its attack sets an enemy on fire for 3HP every round. Decent offensively, but vulnerable.

Mephit (Dust), AC12, 17HP, 4.5DG: 30' fly, Blinding Breath cone and Death Burst can both Blind with DC10. The Blinding lasts 1 minute or until the creature makes its saving throw. Can cast Sleep 1/day. Good against lower CR minions.

Mephit (Ice), AC11, 21HP, 6DG: 30' fly, awful Bludgeoning & Fire vulnerabilities. Has Frost Breath cone & Death Burst for 4.5 damage, Fog 1/day. Steam Mephits are a better choice, unless you combine Fog Cloud with a Wild Shape form with Blindsight.

Mephit (Magma), AC11, 22HP, 6DG: 30' fly, Fire Breath cone & Death Burst for 7 damage. Can also cast Heat Metal 1/day, which is amazing.


Adventure-specific Elementals

All Gens can cast Detect Evil and Good & Tongues.

Gen (Air) (XLNtEE), AC12, 7HP, 11DG: 60' fly, Resistance against nonmagical attacks & Magic Resistance, Fog Cloud & Tongues 2/day. Not a lot going on with this, but you could combine Fog Cloud with a Wild Shape form with Blindsight.

Gen (Earth) (XLNtEE), AC11, 10HP, 9DG: 40' fly. Magic Resistance, Tremorsense 30', can cast Entangle & Earth Tremor (DC12). Useful spells but extremely fragile.

Gen (Fire) (XLNtEE), AC12, 9HP, 11DG: 50' fly, Resistance against nonmagical attacks & Magic Resistance. Can cast Heat Metal 1/day, which is amazing. Faster version of the Magma Mephit, but without the Fire Breath & Death Burst.

Gen (Water) (XLNtEE), AC12, 10HP, 9DG: 60' fly, 90' swim Amphibian, 30' Blindsight, Magic Resistance. Has a Tidal Wave attack that does 5 damage in a cone and can knock Prone (DC 13). Extremely fragile.


Fire Snake, AC14, 22HP, 14DG: Resistance to nonmagical attacks. Does 3.5 damage if hit by a melee attack. For raw damage, the lower CR options are superior.


Adventure-specific Elementals

Galvanice Weird (GGtR), AC12, 22HP, 10.5DG: Resistance to nonmagical attacks. Deathburst for 7 damage within 10'. Its attack can cause the target to lose its reaction for a turn (DC13). Mediocre damage & debuff.


Azer, AC17, 39HP, 15.5DG: Does 5.5 damage if hit by a melee attack. Mediocre damage.

Gargoyle, AC15, 52HP, 11DG: 60' fly. Resistance to nonmagical attacks. Excellent at defense but awful at offense. Good scout, especially if someone in the party can understand its language.


Adventure-specific Elementals

Gargoyle (Four-Armed) (TftYP), AC15, 63HP, 16.5DG: Strictly better version of the Gargoyle, with three attacks instead of two and 11 more HP.


Conjure Woodland Beings

Conjuring Woodland Beings gives the Druid four options for summoning:

Eight CR 1/4 Fey
Four CR 1/2 Fey
Two CR 1 Fey
One CR 2 Fey
Technically, the DM gets to pick the creature(s) you get; in practice, most DMs let the player choose the creatures.

Conjuring Eight CR 1/4 Fey: You get this to exploit the heck out of Pixies & Boggles. Absolutely devastating.

Conjuring Four CR 1/2 Fey: What's the draw of this, exactly? The special abilities are underwhelming, the HP & damage aren't good... I guess you can get this if you want semi-durable critters with Magic Resistance. The exception here is getting four Satyrs with Panpipes, which is almost as broken as getting eight Pixies.

Conjuring Two CR1 Fey: Good options if you can make good use of the Quickling's absurd speed or the Dryad's charm.

Conjuring One CR2 Fey: The Nereid is excellent around water but the rest is quite mediocre.


Blink Dog, AC13, 22HP, 4.5DG: 40' speed. Can teleport 40' and attack in the same turn. A kind DM might let a small PC ride on the Blink Dog & teleport with it.

Boggle (VGtM), AC14, 18HP, 2.5DG: Makes Oil Puddles that last one hour each - amazing to prepare a battlefield. Can secrete sticky oil from its body, giving it Spider Climb & advantage on Grapples. It can also teleport Grappled creatures 30' through Dimensional Rift - great for moving PCs around or for dropping enemies into hazards.

Pixie, AC15, 1HP, 0DG: 30' fly, Magic Resistance, Superior Invisibility, and an almost broken spell list including Confusion, Fly and Polymorph.

Sprite, AC15, 2HP, 1DG: 40' fly. Can turn invisible, and its Shortbow can Poison (DC10). Its main draw is its touch (Heart Sight), which reveals a creature's emotions and can break social campaigns by revealing its alignment (DC10, auto-fails against Celestials/Fiends/Undead)


Adventure-specific Fey

Willow Wilden Watcher (RotLK), AC12, 11HP, 7.5DG: +3 THP when an ally goes down 1/rest. At will Thorn Whip, & can cast Cure wounds, Faerie Fire, & Longstrider (DC13, 1 slot). Good damage, and the Thorn Whip could be abused.


Darkling (VGtM), AC14, 13HP, 5.5DG: 30' Blindsight but Light Sensitivity. Does an extra 7 damage if it has advantage on the attack roll. Death Flash blinds in a 10' radius (DC10 Con). Very low HP.

Satyr, AC14, 31HP, 6.5DG: 40' speed, Magic resistance, ranged attack and good defense but awful damage.

Satyr Pipes, AC14, 31HP, 6.5DG: Variant of the Satyr with Panpipes to Charm / Frighten / Put to Sleep creatures within 60' (DC13). Creatures that make their saving throws become Immune. Excellent for mass debuff.


Adventure-specific Fey

Alewife (DGtT), AC13, 22HP, 5.5DG: 20' speed. Magic Resistance, 30' Intoxicating Aura (DC14) to become Charmed & compelled to drink alcohol. Can cast useful spells: Charm Person, Grease, & Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. It's unclear if the Aura works during battle, but in any case it isn't party friendly.

Pine Wilden Warrior (RotLK), AC13, 22HP, 7.5DG: +5 THP when an ally goes down 1/rest. Has a Sentinel-ish ability that does 3 damage as a reaction (DC11). Okay HP & damage, but lacks interesting features.

Urban Sproutling (XLNtEE), AC11, 13HP, 9DG: 20' speed, 60' Blindsight, Magic resistance. Too slow & weak to be of much use.

Valenar Hound (ERLW), AC14, 19HP, 6.5DG: 40' speed, attack can prone (DC13). The 1 hour duration means it can't bond with you.

Valenar Steed (ERLW), AC13, 22HP, 10DG: 50' speed. The 1 hour duration means it can't bond with you.

Yestling (DGtT), AC15, 28HP, 5.5DG: 40' speed, 30' Tremorsense, Intoxicating Sludge can Poison a creature (DC11) at 30' range, and Death Burst also Poisons within 10'. Similar enough to the Mud Mephit, but you only get half as many.

Dryad, AC11, 22HP, 8.5DG: Magic Resistance. Fey Charm is amazing & can work against 1 Humanoid or up to 3 Beasts (DC14). Can cast excellent spells including Entangle & Pass without Trace. Tree Stride makes it highly maneuverable in forests.

Quickling (VGtM), AC16, 10HP, 25.5DG: 120' speed. 20' Ranged attack and absurd speed means it can harass melee enemies relentlessly. Low HP but resilient thanks to AC, Blurred Movement, and Evasion.

Darkling Elder (VGtM), AC15, 27HP, 13DG: 30' Blindsight, 21 extra damage if the attack roll has advantage. Can cast Darkness 1/rest, and on death causes 7 damage and Blindness (DC11) in a 10' radius. Good if you can fight among it inside its Darkness spell with a Wild Shape form with Blindsight/Tremorsense, but its low HP make it unreliable.

Meenlock (VGtM), AC15, 31HP, 7DG: Its attack can paralyze, and it has a party unsafe 10' Fear Aura against Humanoids (DC11). Also has Telepathy, Light Sensitivity and a Shadow Teleport. Hard to use well.

Sea Hag, AC14, 52HP, 10DG: 40' swim. Horrific Appearance can Frighten Humanoids in a 30' radius (DC11), but those who make their saving throws become immune. Death Glare can be used on any Frightened creature to drop them to 0HP (DC11). The later works best when combined with other Frightening effects such as the Fear spell.


Adventure-specific Fey

Nereid (TftYP), AC13, 44HP, 16DG: 60' swim. Its attack automatically Blinds an enemy. Also has a 17 damage Water Lash that can knock Prone and a Drowning Kiss that does 22.5 damage (DC13). Has permanent Invisibility while in water, and can cast Control Water at will. Excellent choice in water.

Pine Wilden Ranger (RotLK), AC14, 55HP, 20.5DG: : +10 THP when an ally goes down 1/rest. Has a Sentinel-ish ability that does 5 damage as a reaction (DC12). Good damage & HP, but little else.




Giant Insect

10 Giant Centipedes, AC13, 4HP, 15DG: 30' Blindsight. Great poison damage (DC11) but extremely fragile. You only get 2 more than from Conjure Animals.

5 Giant Wasp, AC12, 13HP, 16DG: 50' fly. Good poison damage (DC11). Essentially a Giant Poisonous Snake without reach but that can fly. You only get 1 more than from Conjure Animals.

3 Giant Spiders, 14AC, 26HP, 16.5DG: Spider Climb, 10' Blindsight, good Poison damage (DC11), a Web attack that auto-restrain on a hit (no saves). You get 1 more than from Conjure Animals.

Giant Scorpion, 15AC, 52HP, 42.5DG: 40' speed, 60' Blindsight. Multiattack with 2 claws that auto-grapple, and a stinger that does ridiculous poison damage (DC12). Can't get this from Conjure Animals.


Conjure Elemental

All Elementals have resistance to nonmagical attacks
Exceptions: Flail Snail, Xorn, & Frost Salamander

Conjure Elemental can be upcasted to summon stronger Elementals.

No Upcasting: The 4 Elementals & the Salamander offer a wide variety of good options.

CR6: Great if you need a Invisible Stalker, but unimpressive choice otherwise. The Galeb Duhr is finicky to use and not appreciably stronger than the Earth Elemental.

CR7: The Elemental Myrmidons have Plate Armor and Magical Weapons, but very little else. Their Strikes only recharges on a 6, too. You are probably better off getting a Fey instead.

CR9: The Frost Salamander is a decent choice, if you can use its Breath every turn. Just have a minion poke at it with a torch or something.


Flail Snail (VGtM), AC16, 52HP, 32.5DG: 10' speed, 60' Tremorsense. Can stun within 30' for a turn 1/rest (DC13) and it has a very random pseudo Anti-Magic shell. Doesn't have weapon resistances. Too vulnerable to compete with the CR5 Elementals.

Water Weird, AC13, 58HP, 13.5DG: 60' swim, 30' Blindsight, Water Bound & Invisible in Water. Its attack has 10' reach and auto-restrains. The CR5 Water Elemental is much better.


Adventure-specific Elementals

Blistercoil Weird (GGtR), AC13, 45HP, 14.5DG: 40' speed, 60' swim. Can feed on fire to become larger, increasing its DG to 27 and eventually creating an explosion for 28 damage in 30' (DC12). Sets creatures on fire if they hit it with a melee attack or if they share the same space. Fun creature but its low HP make it extremely vulnerable.

Elemental (Air), AC15, 90HP, 28DG: 90' fly. Arguably the worst of the Elementals for combat, it has bad HP and a weak Whirlwind ability (DC13). It does make for an excellent scout, and it can fight well against flying enemies or highly maneuverable opponents.

Elemental (Earth), AC17, 126HP, 28DG: 30' burrow, 60' Tremorsense. No-nonsense elemental with excellent defense and good offense. With Earth Glide, it can burrow at the end of its turn to be fully protected against AoE and other attacks. Works wonderfully with abilities that obscure vision.

Elemental (Fire), AC13, 102HP, 20DG: 50' speed. Set enemies on fire, by walking into them or touching them. An enemy on flame takes 5.5 damage per turn unless an action is spent to douse the flame. With such low AC, it shines brightly but doesn't last long.

Elemental (Water), AC14, 114HP, 26DG: 90' swim speed. Its Whelm ability is its main feature. It can restrain up to two creatures and has a relatively high DC (15). Cold damage destroys its mobility.

Salamander, AC15, 90HP, 34.5DG: Excellent damage and an attack with auto-restrain (DC14). Too bad it has such low HP.

Xorn, AC19, 73HP, 20DG: 20' speed, 20' burrow. Doesn't resist bludgeoning damage. Has a "Treasure Sense" ability, but otherwise inferior in every way to the Earth Elemental.

Galeb Duhr, AC16, 85HP, 12DG: 15' speed (30' when rolling, 60' downhill). 60' Tremorsense. Can create two copies of itself for 1 minute 1/day (requires Concentration) and has a Charge that does 7 damage and can knock Prone (DC16). Mediocre if it loses concentration or after the 1 minute is up.

Invisible Stalker, AC14, 104HP, 20DG: 50' fly. Always invisible, and can track down a quarry anywhere on the same plane. Knowing Primordial is recommended to work with this.

All Elemental Myrmidons yield magical weapons.

Elemental Myrmidon (Air) (MToF), AC18, 117HP, 25.5DG: 30' Fly, has a Lightning Strike attack for 26.5 damage that can Stun (DC13).

Elemental Myrmidon (Earth) (MToF), AC18, 127HP, 22DG: Has a Lightning Strike attack for 27.5 damage that can knock Prone (DC14). Awful mobility, and the Stun effect of the Air Myrmidon is much more useful.

Elemental Myrmidon (Fire) (MToF), AC18, 117HP, 22.5DG: 40' Speed, has a Fiery Strikes attack for 39 damage. Low HP and regular damage for a Myrmidon.

Elemental Myrmidon (Water) (MToF), AC18, 127HP, 22.5DG: 40' Speed & 40' Swim, has a Freezing Strikes attack for 39 damage that also reduces mobility. Almost strictly better than the Fire Myrmidon.


Adventure-specific Elementals

Fluxcharger (GGtR), AC16, 60HP, 60DG: 60' Fly. Lightning spells with the Fluxcharger in their area do 9 more damage. Its Arc Lightning can damage a second target as well (DC15 to avoid), but using it costs 5.5 HP. Powerhouse offensively but the low HP combined with the self-hurt attacks makes it quite hard to keep alive.

Frost Salamander (MToF), AC17 168HP, 49DG: 60' Speed, 40' burrow, 60' Tremorsense. Attacks with Reach. Can do a Cone of Cold Breath for 44 damage, which recharges if the Salamander takes Fire damage. Vulnerable to Fire, and no resistance to weapons. Powerful choice if you can keep it alive and recharge its Breath reliably.


Conjure Fey

Conjure Fey can be upcasted to summon a stronger Beast or Fey.

No Upcasting: The Elder Dryad is the only powerful choice here, if you don't have access to the form, this is really weak.

CR7: Access to the amazing Korred, plus the Bheur Hag, Titanosaurus & Sarcosuchus. If you have lack access to either BotJR or VGtM, the Giant Ape is your only option, which is awful.

CR8: The extra dinosaurs are less useful and weaker than the CR7 Fey.

CR9: The Conclave Dryad has the unique ability to disable magic items, can cast spells, and can stun with its multiattack. Decent enough choice.

Ankylosaurus, AC15, 68HP, 18DG: 10' Reach attack that can knock creatures Prone (DC14). Worse than the CR6 options.

Giant Scorpion, AC15, 52HP, 42.5DG: 40' speed, 60' Blindsight. Multiattack with 2 claws that auto-grapple, and a stinger that does poison damage (DC12). The CR6 Beasts are much stronger than this.

Green Hag, AC17, 82HP, 13DG: Can turn invisible, hide, or cast cantrips. Weak without being part of a covenant.

Killer Whale, AC12, 90HP, 21.5DG: 60' swim, 120' Blindsight. Has decent HP, but the CR5 Giant Shark performs much better.

Redcap (VGtM), AC13, 45HP, 27DG: 25' speed. Has a attack that moves 25' & trip, and terrible stats.


Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Amphisbaena (TftYP), 12AC, 60HP, 24DG: 30' swim Amphibian, 10' Blindsight, and its attack auto-restrains (escape DC16). A variant of the Giant Constrictor Snake that can attack twice.

Giant Lightning Eel (TftYP), AC13, 42HP, 29DG: 5' speed, 30' swim. Terrible defenses. Blindsight 60'. Its Lightning Jolt can stun multiple creatures (DC12), but that's not enough to prefer it to CR6 options.

Giant Snapping Turtle (ToA), AC17, 75HP, 18DG: 40' swim. The CR6 Beasts are much stronger than this.

Mutated Crocodile (RotLK), AC12, 60HP, 11DG: 30' swim. Its attack auto-restrain (DC13), and it can reduce the HP of the restrained enemy by 3 as a Bonus Action. Worse than the CR2 Giant Constrictor Snake.

Siren (TftYP), AC14, 38HP, 7.5DG: 30' swim. Magic resistance, a Stupefying Touch that stuns (DC13), & can cast Greater Invisibility once per day. Extremely fragile compared to the CR6 options.


Elephant, AC12, 76HP, 19.5DG: 40' speed. Trampling Charge (DC12) to knock Prone & attack again for 22.5 DG. The CR6 Mammoth is much better than this.

Stegosaurus (VGtM), AC13, 76HP, 26DG: 40' speed. The CR6 dinosaurs are much superior to this.

Yeth Hound (VGtM), AC14, 51HP, 11DG: 40' fly. Immunity to nonmagical attacks that aren't silvered, which is huge. Has Telepathy, and a Bay that frightens every enemy within 300 feet (DC13). Does 14 more DG to frightened creatures. Is evil & banished by sunlight. CR6 creatures are preferable for damage, but this makes a great scout & AoE debuffer.


Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Giant Coral Snake (GoS), AC13, 90HP, 8DG: 30' swim. On a hit, stuns for a round and inflicts a short-term madness (DC12), most of which are incredibly debilitating. Unfortunately, the low DC and damage makes this beast highly unreliable.

Giant Subterranean Lizard (TftYP), AC14, 66HP, 28DG: 50' swim. Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks Prone (DC15). Can also Swallow a grappled creature for 16 damage immediately and 10 acid damage every round. The CR5 Giant Crocodile is superior.

Mammoth (Young) (PUS), AC11, 90HP, 14DG: 40' speed. Charge attack to knock Prone (DC16) & do a BA attack (21.5 DG). Strictly inferior to the Mammoth.

Willow Wilden Sentinel (RotLK), AC12, 66HP, 8.5DG: +15 THP when an ally goes down 1/rest. Cannot be surprised and has advantage on its initiative rolls. Is a level 8 spell caster (DC14), with spells like Heat Magic, Call Lightning, Dispel Magic, Confusion, & Ice Storm. Decent spells, although they are probably not worth your concentration & a level 6 slot.

Brontosaurus (VGtM), AC15, 121HP, 32DG: 20' reach. Also has alternative tail attack that does 27.5 damage but knocks enemies Prone (DC14). Inferior to the CR6 Brachiosaurus.

Giant Crocodile, AC14, 85HP, 35.5DG: 50' swim. Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks prone (DC16). Decent aquatic animal.

Giant Shark, AC13, 126HP, 22.5DG: 50' swim, 60' Blindsight, Blood Frenzy gives advantage against the wounded. Decent aquatic animal.

Triceratops, AC13, 95HP, 24DG: 50' speed. Like the Elephant, has a Trample attack that knocks Prone (DC13) & gives extra attack. Get the CR6 Mammoth instead.


Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Hulking Crab (SKT), AC17, 76HP, 41DG: 20' speed, 30' swim, 30' Blindsight. Multiattack with two claws that auto-grapple (DC15), and an interesting Camouflage ability.

Large Subterranean Lizard (TftYP), AC14, 85HP, 35.5DG: Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrains and a Tail with Reach that knocks prone (DC16). This variant of the Giant Crocodile has no swim speed, a climbing speed of 30', and 60' darkvision. The CR6 creatures are better.

Therizinosaurus (BotJR), AC14, 104HP, 35DG: The CR6 creatures are better.

Urban Dryad (XLNtEE), AC13, 78HP, 38DG: Resistance from nonmagical attacks & Magic Resistance. Has a few level 1 & 2 druid spells, but otherwise the CR6 Elder Dryad is much better.

Annis Hag (VGtM), AC17, 75HP, 46.5DG: 40' speed. Resistance from nonmagical attacks. Has a Crushing Hug that Grapples and do 36.5 damage, which prevent the Hag from attacking but repeats the 36.5 damage every round. Can cast Disguise Self and Fog Cloud 3/day. Evil alignment. Good if you can combine the Fog Cloud with a Wild Shape form with Blindsight/Tremorsense.

Mammoth, AC13, 126HP, 25DG: 40' speed. Has a Trampling Charge with Reach and a wonderful DC18 that knocks an enemy prone & allows an additional 29 damage attack.


Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Brachiosaurus (BotJR), AC16, 145HP, 40DG: 20' reach. Also has alternative tail attack that does 34.5 damage but knocks enemies Prone (DC15). Gargantuan size. Alternative to the Mammoth if its Charge can't work.

Dusk Hag (ERLW), AC17, 82HP, 36DG: Magic Resistance, can cast Disguise Self, Dream, Hypnotic Pattern, Sleep (9d8), Scrying. Can heal and damage for 11HP as a reaction when something regains consciousness. Good spells, but vulnerable.

Elder Dryad (XLNtEE), AC15, 105HP, 52.5DG: 40' speed, 60' Blindsight. Resistance from nonmagical attacks & Magic Resistance, Blight 1/day, & a pseudo Entangle power (DC15). Good offense & defense.


Bheur Hag (VGtM), AC17, 91HP, 13.5 DMG: 40' fly (with broom) and cast 3/day Cone of Cold, Ice Storm, & Wall of Ice, as well as 1/day Control Weather. Can devour a dead enemy to incapacitate enemies in a 60' radius (DC15). Can also cast Hold Person at Will. Excellent spellcasting, but fragile. Evil alignment.

Giant Ape, AC12, 157HP, 45DG: 40' speed, 10' reach. Has a ranged attack for 30.5 damage, and that's it. Hardly worth the slot.

Korred (VGtM), AC17, 102HP, 48DG: 30' burrow, 120' Tremorsense, & Resistance from nonmagical attacks. Small Size & 60' ranged weapon. Does half damage if not on ground. Can use its Hair as a Bonus Action to restrain (DC13), but said hair is easily destroyed (20HP). Can cast a restricted Conjure Elemental 1/day (Earth Elemental & Galeb Duhr are the best options), which means this spell could potentially create a whooping 4 minions for you (the Korred, Galeb Duhr, and two Galeb Duhr clones). Can also cast Otto's Irresistible Dance 1/day, but with DC it is unlikely to stick more than a round. Stone Shape at will, which is near broken for building fortifications or tearing apart a stone dungeon. Amazing ranged support.


Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Sarcosuchus (BotJR), AC15, 137HP, 47.5DG: 40' speed, 50' swim. Reach 10'. Multiattack with a Bite that auto-restrain and a Tail that knocks Prone (DC17). Good impact on the battlefield, but vulnerable for a melee animal. Arguably the best aquatic form, but lacking otherwise.

Titanosaurus (BotJR), AC17, 201HP, 45.5DG: 20' reach. Has a Stomp attack for 40 damage and knocking Prone (DC16). Good offense and excellent durability. Sadly, you can't use the Legendary Actions.

Tyrannosaurus Rex, AC13, 136HP, 53.5DG: Has a Bite attack with auto-restrain (DC17). Despite the coolness factor, not any better than the CR7 options.


Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Huge Giant Crab (TftYP), AC15, 161HP, 27DG: 30' swim. 10' reach. Has a Claw attack that grapples (DC14). A variant of the Giant Crab that is weaker than CR7 creatures.

Mosasaurus (BotJR), AC13, 159HP, 33DG: 50' swim. Can't move or breath outside water. Has a Bite attack with auto-restrain (DC17), and can Swallow. Not any better than the CR7 Sarcosuchus.



Adventure-specific Beasts & Fey

Conclave Dryad (GGtR), AC16, 143HP, 36DG: Comes with an Elk mount (speed 50'). Magic Resistance. Can disable any magic item within 120' with no saves. In melee, attacks three times with each hit restraining (DC17). Can cast Dispel Magic, Moon Beam, Wall of Thorns, & Entangle. Very nice Fey, but rather fragile in melee. Is it really worth a level 9 slot?

[Merudo]

Druid Spell Analysis

B : Bonus Action Spell
C : Concentration Spell
R : Ritual Spell
X : Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Control Flames (X): One of the few effects that can create 40' bright light and 80' dim light. Better if playing on roll20 with dynamic lighting.

Create Bonfire (C, X): If you can reliably have it hit twice, it becomes the most damaging cantrip in the game. Sadly, its 5-foot cube area is too small to let it have a reliable impact on the battlefield, and you have much better spells to concentrate on.

Druidcraft: Cute spell, but the practical applications are limited to predicting the weather & making magical imitation of natural sounds. Better in RP heavy groups or a group without the Minor Illusion cantrip.

Frostbite (X): d6 cold damage that inflicts disadvantage on the next weapon roll. The Constitution save is the worst part of the spell. Significantly less useful against enemies with multi-attack.

Guidance (C): Provides a d4 bonus to an ability check. Extremely useful when your druid is not using Wildshape or Concentrating on a spell.

Gust (X): Push a Medium or smaller creature, or an object less than 5 lbs. Occasionally useful, but Thorn Whip is much more valuable for battlefield control.

Infestation (X): Con save, low range, unreliable effect

Magic Stone (B, X): 1d6 Shillelagh at range. Weaker & requires casting every 3 pebbles, but said pebbles can be given to another minions/allies. Like Shillelagh, doesn't scale well at all.

Mending: Repairing broken objects does come up every now and then. Better during long wilderness trips where replacing gear is difficult.

Mold Earth (X): You can now excavate 5-foot cube of loose earth every 6 seconds. Lets you create trenches, dig pits, dig out coffins, etc. in a blink of an eye.

Poison Spray : Great damage but poor type, range, & saving throw.

Primal Savagery (X): Decent melee spell. Typically better than Shillelagh starting level 5, unless you specifically build your Moon Druid for Shillelagh (and why would you).

Produce Flame: Can be used as a Light cantrip with a 1/2 the area of affect, or as a decent ranged attack. Depending on the form, the spell might continue to work after you Wildshape.

Resistance (C): You have much better spells to concentrate on during combat.

Shape Water (X): Moving a 5-foot cube of water is far less useful than moving a 5-foot cube of dirt.

Shillelagh (B): Turns your staff into a d8 magical weapon that uses your Wisdom modifier. Good at early levels, but loses steam fast after level 5.

Thorn Whip: Slightly less damage than Produce Flame but has great battlefield control potential.

Thunderclap (X): Decent AoE damage, although the Con saving throw is bad.


Absorb Elements (X): Excellent defensive spell in caster form. A must at higher levels.

Animal Friendship: The "charmed" condition is of limited use in 5e - all it does is prevent the target from attacking the caster and give you advantage on social rolls. Bribing the animal with food may be preferable to casting this spell.

Beast Bond (C, X): The beast gets advantage to combat roll on enemies within 5 feet of you. Could be useful if the party has a powerful beast as a pet (think Beast Master). The 10 minute duration is too short.

Charm Person : An alright spell to use out of combat to befriend someone and get advantage on social rolls.

Create or Destroy Water: Only ever useful in settings where the party may run out of water (think Tomb of Annihilation)

Cure Wounds: Goodberry and Healing Spirit do much better out-of-combat healing. Healing Word is typically better in-combat healing as well, unless you use your bonus action to direct a Flaming Sphere or Wildshape or something.

Detect Magic (C,R): Pretty useful ritual to identify traps, magical items, illusion effects, curses, etc.

Detect Poison and Disease (C,R): Extremely niche uses, but at least its a ritual

Earth Tremor (X): Knock enemies Prone in an area around you. The effect is decent, but the area makes it hard to avoid friendly fire. Better if you have some allies with flying or with spiderclimb.

Entangle (C): Being restrained is a rather punishing effect. One of the rare spells with a strength saving throw. Remains useful at higher levels.

Faerie Fire (C): Gives advantage to attack rolls and cancels out invisibility. Use this instead of Entangle when the enemies have high strength but low dexterity, such as an heavily armored fighter.

Fog Cloud (C): Typically, this is a niche spell, because of 5e non-intuitive vision rules (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?521394-RAW-Fog-Cloud-does-nothing-at-all). However, if you Wildshape into a beast with Blindsight such as Giant Spider or Giant Constrictor Snake, it effectively works as an Improved Invisibility spell for you.

Goodberry: Extremely efficient way to heal up after a battle, and can be cast before you Wildshape so you have a reserve of berries to use. Can be feed to 0hp allies during battle to bring them back, although some DMs may object to this as the spell does not explicitly allow you to do so. You can also give some berries to a Familiar and other minions so they can bring back a party member without spending your action. Even better, you can cast this at the end of a day if you have some spellslots left, to start the next adventuring day with a stack of berries and all your spell slots. I always prepare this.

Healing Word (B): Efficient way to bring back an ally at 0hp. Significantly less useful if you have a Familiar that can feed a Goodberry to an unconscious ally.

Ice Knife (X): Decent single target damage with some minor splash damage. Quickly becomes obsolete, though.

Jump: Cast this on a PC to let them jump from tree to tree, on top of rooftops, across ravines, etc. which could be beneficial to an archer or in a chase scene. In most terrains, this is useless though.

Longstrider: One of the most underrated spells in the game, this concentration-free buff gives the target an extra 10 feet of movement. Handy to let archers kite better. Rogues can attack an enemy, then disengage and move out of reach. And it's basically required if you plan on Wildshaping into aquatic forms such as the Octopus on land. With a coordinated party (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19681571&postcount=10), this can be amazing.

Purify Food and Drink: You can Create Water outright, and Goodberry feeds you. If you suspect foul play at a banquet you can Detect Poison and Disease as a ritual instead. I have a hard time finding a use for this spell.

Snare (X): Spend 10 minutes to create a restraining trap. With some planning, can be used to trap the battlefield before engaging the enemy there. Excellent use of a spell slot at higher levels.

Speak with Animals (R): Probably the best ritual on your list. Make sure to carry ample seeds, dry fruits, veggies, etc. to bribe the various animals you'll meet. You can talk the animals into being scouts, giving you directions, spying on you, etc. Even better if you can buy a pet animal or a mount (the Urchin background gives you a free pet mouse). I always prepare this.

Thunderwave: Good AoE damage at low levels, but becomes obsolete fast.

Animal Messenger (R): Excellent alternative to the Sending spell that can be cast as a ritual. If you afraid that a predator might eat the animal, you can cast it multiple times to make sure at least one of the messengers makes it.

Barkskin (C): Okay spell to cast before you Wildshape for a long period of time. Can really improve the AC of some forms such as Brown Bear. Near useless if you have access to Mage Armor or if you multiclass into Barbarian or Monk.

Beast Sense (C, R): You can send a beast to spy for you. You are a Druid though, so you could just as well Wildshape into a beast yourself. At least it's a ritual...

Darkvision: Give Darkvision to allies, or let you have Darkvision in a form that doesn't have it.

Dust Devil (C, X): A terrible spell for a Sorcerer or Wizard, this is actually decent for you. You can use it together with a Wildshape with Blindsight to get yourself pseudo Improved Invisibility that can do some damage/area denial to boot. The Giant Spider's Web ability can keep enemies in the Dust Devil's area and the webbing is immune to the Dust Devil's Bludgeoning damage.

Earthbind (C, X): Brings a single flying enemy to the ground. Only single target, but has a large 200 feet range and doesn't allow a save at the end of the target's turn. Good against a flying archer but extremely situational.

Enhance Ability (C): Excellent buff. Can give advantage to all checks related to one ability - so you choose Dexterity before stealth missions, Charisma before a long social encounters, etc. In combat, Dexterity gives advantage on Initiative rolls and Strength gives advantage on Grapple checks.

Find Traps: Low range, & doesn't tell you anything about the traps it detects. One of the worst spells of all D&D.

Flame Blade (B, C): Your cantrips do about the same damage and don't take up your concentration. You are most likely better off with the Flaming Sphere spell.

Flaming Sphere (C): Okay damage as a bonus action. Best used as area denial in narrow corridors, and for long battles. Sadly, enemies in the area only take damage if they *end* their turn in the 15' by 15' area of effect. Works great together with grappling forms to hold an enemy in the spell's area.

Gust of Wind (C): Enemies can just use their diagonal movement to sidestep this. Better if you can combine it with area effect spells from other casters.

Healing Spirit (B, C, X): Best out-of-combat spell. Keep in mind you can drag others PCs through the spell effect to heal them on your turn. At the very least this will heal your whole party for 20d6.

Heat Metal (C): Amazing against armored enemies, significantly less helpful if you expect to fight monsters.

Hold Person (C): Attacking a paralyzed enemy with result in auto-crits for tons of damage. Upcasting this works amazingly well too.

Lesser Restoration: Decent if you expect to fight monsters that can induce the status effect. Dispel Magic can often replace it in a pinch.

Locate Animals or Plants (R): Mostly a way to learn new Wildshape forms.

Locate Object (C): Useful to locate a lost or stolen item. Can also work as a Locate Person spell if the target is carrying an unusual object. The low range, duration, and inability to detect through lead significantly worsen the spell.

Moonbeam (C): Good Radiant damage (1d10 per spell level), and can hit enemies every turn in a 10' by 10' area. Especially strong against creatures with the "shapechanger" tag, but those are rare. The main problem is that it costs you an action to move the beam. Best used if you can reliably hit 2+ enemies, or if the enemies can't easily move out of the beam. Works well with grappling forms to hold an enemy in the spell's area.

CR 1/2: Jackalwere
CR 1: Quasit
CR 2: Mimic, Werebat, Wererat
CR 3: Deep Scion, Doppelganger, Werewolf, Yuan-ti Malison
CR 4: Barghest, Incubus, Succubus, Wereboar, Weretiger, Yuan-ti Nightmare Speaker, Yuan-ti Mind Whisperer
CR 5: Werebear, Yuan-ti Pit Master
CR 7: Yuan-ti Abomination
CR 8: Green Slaad
CR 9: Gray Slaad
CR 10: Death Slaad, Yochlol
CR 12: Yuan-ti Anathema
CR 13: Vampire
CR 24: Graz'zt
Pass Without Trace (C): Gives the party an enormous +10 to Stealth. Keep in mind it doesn't actually turn you invisible.

Protection from Poison : Good but situational. Can be used ahead of time, or on the spot to remove a poison. Amazing if you can accurately predict when you will encounter poison.

Skywrite (C,R, X): Like Animal Messenger but for shorter distances.

Spike Growth (C): Excellent area denial spell, and can be combined with Thorn Whip and other movement effects cause extra damage.

Warding Wind (C, X): Decent to protect your party against a mass of archer but near useless otherwise.

Call Lightning (C): Similar to Moonbeam, with a worse type (Lightning) but a better save (Dex). The killer here is that Call Lightning doesn't do area denial like Moonbeam, and requires a large environment. Highly situational spell - best for prolonged outdoor fights such as sieges where can you get the full 10 minutes worth of blasting. Otherwise, stick with the Moonbeam.

Conjure Animals (C): The Wizard gets Fireball, the Cleric gets Spirit Guardians, the Druid gets this. Incredibly versatile spell. Need damage? Summon 8 Elks and do a deadly charge that knocks enemies prone. Need movement? Conjure 8 Giant Owls to carry your party. Someone invisible is around? Conjure 8 Giant Bats to locate the creature. Need something restrained? Conjure 8 Constrictor Snakes that inflict the Restrained condition on a hit. A must-have.

Daylight: A waste of a slot. The light radius is barely larger than a torch + Control Flame cantrip. It can be used to counter Magical Darkness - but so can Dispel Magic, or an upcast Continual Flame spell. And contrarily to its name, Daylight doesn't even create real sunlight.

Dispel Magic: Use it to remove buffs or debuffs, magical barriers, magical traps, etc. Amazing if you expect to fight a spellcaster.

Erupting Earth (X): Deals about 70% of the damage of Fireball in a much smaller area. It does leave an area of difficult terrain, but the area is too small for it to be really helpful.

Feign Death (R): Casting Feign Death is awful during combat - it removes one of your allies from the fight. Its out-of-combat utility is also extremely limited.

Flame Arrows (C, X): A single Erupting Earth targeting two creatures will do roughly the same damage in a much shorter time and without using concentration. And Conjure Animals is a much superior spell to cast ahead of time.

Meld into Stone (R): You can take a rest while melded into stone. That's about the extend of this spell.

Plant Growth: Battlefield control spell that doesn't take up concentration and that has a permanent duration. Massive area of effect. Stacks with difficult terrain so that 1 foot of movement costs 5 feet of speed.

Protection from Energy (C): Requires Concentration, which makes it substantially less useful than Protection from Poison.

Sleet Storm (C): Large area of effect. Creates difficult terrain & heavy obscuration, knocks creatures prone, and forces concentration checks. Works best when combined with Plant Growth.

Speak with Plants: Speak with Animals can do roughly the same, as a ritual, at level 1.

Tidal Wave (X): Low damage with flexible AoE that inflicts the Prone status, which your summoned creatures can take advantage of. At level 5, you are probably better using the spell slot for Conjure Animals, but Tidal Wave is good at higher levels when you have more spell slots.

Wall of Water (C, X): Pretty weak spell compared to Wall of Wind, which itself isn't that good. I guess it could be of some use against Red Dragons and other fire related creatures.

Water Breathing (R): 24h duration and ritual tag means you should cast this every time there is a risk of ending up in the water. Definitely cast this before Wildshaping into an aquatic form in case you receive enough damage to be transformed back.

Water Walk (R): Prepare this if you expect to travel on liquid surfaces. The 1h duration makes the spell somewhat awkward to use.

Wind Wall (C): Excellent protection against ranged weapons and gases, and does 3d8 damage. Note that you can shape the wall in any continuous path, so you can shape this to hit multiple enemies while avoiding your party.

Blight: Mediocre damage. Only prepare it if you know you'll fight some plants.

Charm Monster: Hostile monsters you'd want to use this on are likely to attack you on sight, granting them advantage on the saving throw.

Confusion (C): One of the few Wisdom based debuff for the Druid. Tends to be much less effective than Wizard/Bard spells Hypnotic Pattern & Fear because of the tiny area of effect, and relatively high chance (20%) of the enemy acting normally.

Conjure Minor Elementals (C): Conjure Animals & Conjure Woodland Being are much more likely to be helpful, and the 1 minute casting time makes it impossible to cast during combat. Summoning 4 Dust Mephitis for their Sleep spell and blinding breath, or 4 Magma Mephit for their Heat Metal are good options.

Conjure Woodland Beings (C): Conjuring Pixies that can buff your party with Polymorph and Fly is probably the best option.

Control Water (C): Excellent for sinking ships, but too specific for most other purposes.

Dominate Beast (C): The target gets an extra saving throw every time it receives damage, and the duration is quite short (1 minute).

Elemental Bane (C, X): A meager 2d6 extra damage is quite underwhelming. Unless you have a large party or multiple minions using the same damage type, I can't see why you'd want to cast this.

Freedom of Movement: A decent non-concentration buff that protects against multiple conditions. The main issue is that these conditions don't come up all that often. By RAW, it doesn't protect against Plant Growth.

Giant Insect (C): Compare this to Conjure Animals: this spell has much shorter duration (10min vs 1 hour), uses a higher level slot, requires you to have some insects on hand, and only lets you conjure 4 types of beasts. The centipede, spider, and wasp could already be summoned through Conjure Animals - this spell only lets you get 1 or 2 more. The CR3 Giant Scorpion is the main reason to get this spell - it can restrain two enemies & do damage way above what its CR would suggest.

Grasping Vine (B, C): Could be of some value to pull enemies into a hazard such as a trap or pit, but requires an intimate knowledge of where the battle will take place at preparation.

Guardian of Nature (B, C, X): The main benefit of this spell is granting advantage on your attacks. It's probably preferable to Conjure Animals and ask them to perform the Help action.

Hallucinatory Terrain: One use is to hide something - the spell can work like a much larger Leomund's Tiny Hut. Another use is to lure enemies into unfavorable terrains or into traps. You can also create illusionary cover that your team can see through. Its 24h duration means you can spam it before taking a long rest.

Ice Storm: About 3 damage less on average than an upcasted Erupting Earth, but at 2.5 times the range and with a much bigger area of effect.

Locate Creature (C): Alright spell to use for a rescue mission in a BBEG's lair. The short range makes it extremely limited.

Polymorph (C): Can turn any level 8 ally into a T-Rex with 136 hp. Or, polymorph a strong monster into a slug, throw it into the enemy's camp and drop concentration. Note that Conjure Woodland Beings can summon 8 Pixies that each can cast this once for free.

Stone Shape: Can create doors into stone walls, or topple stone pillars. Only rarely worth a level 4 spell slot.

Stoneskin (C): Pricey spell that gives you resistance to non-magical weapons. If you take this often, consider a Barbarian dip instead.

Wall of Fire (C): A "wall" that does 22.5 damage when people go through it. You are typically better off casting off Erupting Earth / Ice Storm to do about the same damage without using up concentration. Much better if you can force enemies to take the damage multiple times.

Watery Sphere (C, X): The Strength save together with having to spend an action to move the sphere makes this underwhelming.

Antilife Shell (C): A great anti-melee spell with a 1h duration. Sadly, it doesn't work well at all with melee Wildshape forms.

Awaken: Highly DM dependent spell. This could potentially let you build an army of beast/plant minions. Or, a DM could very well have the awaken creatures/plants refuse to help you.

Commune with Nature (R): By this level, you can Wildshape into a Eagle or send a hoard of Owls to survey a territory. Still, it's nice to be able to do this as a ritual.

Conjure Elemental (C): The Elementals have nice immunities and resistances, but are somewhat bad at offense. Losing control of the elemental can be catastrophic. The Water Elemental can restrain up to two creatures and is my favorite. Best when combined with an upcast Planar Binding.

Contagion: Impressive concentration-less debuff: on a hit, guaranteed to make the target Poisoned for at least 3 rounds. If the target fails the 3 Constitution saves, Slimy Doom will shut it down completely. The 7 days duration makes it perfect for a hit-and-run.

Control Winds (C, X): Downdraft is a strong anti-air option, the other effects are rather mediocre.

Geas: Best used on hired NPCs if you suspect they will betray or abandon you once you turn your back. The long duration means you can prepare and cast this in downtime.

Greater Restoration: Heal some very nasty ailments.

Insect Plague: Similar damage to Wall of Fire but in different area and in a more advantageous damage type.

Maelstrom (C, X): Similar damage to Wall of Fire. It also doesn't cause immediate damage, and a saving throw negates its effects outright. The only saving grace is its relatively large area of effect.

Mass Cure Wounds: Heal up to six PCs / minions for roughly 18 hp each. Best used to bring multiple unconscious allies back on their feet with one spell.

Planar Binding: With a little bit of work and 1000gp, it can grant you a decent ally for a day. The duration increases dramatically to a month or year if you use a higher level slot, which makes this spell far more cost-effective. Less good if the DM gives the creature a share of the party XP.

Reincarnate: An alternative to Raise Dead, but changes the race of the target. Min-maxers won't like it - it will hurt their build. Try to find a high level Cleric before casting this.

Scrying (C): Excellent to spy on a foe or to find out what happened to someone who disappeared.

Transmute Rock (X): One of the rare battlefield control spell that doesn't require Concentration. Too bad Rock to Mud has a Strength save, and that the restrained condition can automatically be removed by spending an action.

Tree Stride (C): An emergency Dimension Door that only works near trees and that can't bring anyone with you. In optimal conditions, you can use it to move about a mile in a minute.

Wall of Stone (C): A decent Wall spell, though strong creatures can burst through its 180hp relatively quickly. The best part is that it can be made permanent by concentrating 10 minutes on it.

Wrath of Nature (C, X): Party friendly spell that can restrain an enemy and knock another one prone each round. Also causes Difficult Terrain and does some minor damage. Situational, but can be highly effective if in a terrain that supports all effects. You could also carry some rocks and potted trees with you to take advantage of this spell wherever you are.

Bones of the Earth (X): Can Restrain 6 creatures, or make a pseudo wall without using up your Concentration. The brittleness (30hp) of the pillars is the main issue with this spell.

Conjure Fey (C): Arguably the worst of your Summoning spells when you get it, I would only use this together with Planar Binding at first. Upcasted to Level 7, it is significantly better, able to summon two powerful fey spellcasters (Bheur Hag & Korred) as well as a dinosaur with Legendary Actions (Titanosaurus).

Druid Grove (X): Hallucinatory Terrain does a better job at keeping your campsite safe. Hard to use offensively - most enemies will just avoid the area.

Find the Path (C): You are a Druid. By now you have tons of tools to find your way, and they don't require a Level 6 slot.

Heal: Decent healing spell that cures blindness, deafness, and diseases.

Heroes' Feast: Amazing buff that should be cast the night before any major fight if the funds permit it. Note that Familiars, pets, minions, etc. can also partake in the feast.

Investiture of Flame (C, X): The immunity to fire is decent but the rest is garbage. Using your concentration and action to do 4d8 damage is almost a bad joke at this point.

Investiture of Ice (C, X): The immunity to ice is okay but not as valuable as fire. The combo here is for the form to create difficult terrain and then use the cone of freezing wind to reduce the speed of enemies by half. If you really want to delay enemies, you'd probably be better using Sleet Storm / Plant Growth / Transmute Rock outside, and Antilife Shell indoor.

Investiture of Stone (C, X): If you want non-magical weapon resistance, you are better off with Stoneskin. Contrarily to your Earth Elemental form, this allows you move through any solid earth or stone (including worked stone), which can be occasionally useful.

Investiture of Wind (C, X): Essentially a Fly spell + Warding Wind rolled into one. Decent if you need to cast spells while flying and nobody in the party can cast Fly on you.

Move Earth (C): Mold Earth does essentially the same thing, at as cantrip.

Primordial Ward (C, X): You can use up the spell to get Immunity to one elemental attack for a turn, which can be life-saving. Too bad the duration is so short.

Sunbeam (C): Beam of sunlight that blinds enemies and do 27 radiant damage. Useful against the Undead because they have disadvantage on the save.

Transport via Plants: Similar to Teleport, but requires large plants. Excellent to travel around the world in a blink, but can't be used to escape a dungeon.

Wall of Thorns (C): Like Plant Growth & Transmute Rock, it creates "double" difficult terrain. Unlike these two lower level spells, it takes up your concentration to do some mediocre damage.

Wind Walk: Transform your party into clouds to travel quickly and stealthily. Characters are vulnerable while transforming out of the cloud form, though.

Fire Storm: Flexible area, good range, lackluster damage. Unless you are facing a horde, you are better off casting other spells.

Mirage Arcane: Hallucinatory Terrain is more flexible at a lower spell level.

Plane Shift: Excellent spell to escape danger or visit other planes. You cast also cast it twice in a row to teleport anywhere on your current plane of existence.

Regenerate: Restore 1hp a turn, which is negligible in combat. Out of combat, you can just cast Healing Spirit. Why is it good? It can work as a Death Ward that doesn't go away after activation.

Reverse Gravity (C): Can outright neuter melee-centric creatures. Also do alright damage from the fall - typically 10d6 but up to 20d6. Note that a creature auto-fails the save if there are no fixed object within their reach.

Whirlwind (C, X): Alright (~35) damage, and can inflict the restrained condition. The Whirlwind can be moved each round to hit multiple enemies while ideally avoiding your party. The main flaws of the spell are that creatures have to fail two saves to be restrained, and that moving the Whirlwind takes an action.

Animal Shapes (C): Transform any number of willing creatures into CR3 Large or smaller beasts (there are no CR4 beasts eligible). The key words here are "any number". You can potentially transform a whole army into Giant Scorpions, Giant Elks, Giant Owls, etc. Note that you can spend your action to transform them into new shapes, which also restores their hps. With the right preparation, this spell can be absolutely insane.

Antipathy/Sympathy: If you know you are against a specific creature kind, you can spend several days casting the related Antipathy on every party member. Once you met said creature kind, they'll have to succeed on multiple Wisdom saves or become Frightened. The range on this is absolutely insane too (60 feet OR sight).

Control Weather (C): It takes a long time for the full effect of this to kick in, and even then it won't last more than a few hours.

Earthquake (C): Many effects are quite weak (difficult terrain, knocks enemies prone, creates pits). The good parts: its range and radius are humongous, it can damage structures, and it can break concentration of multiple enemy spellcasters.

Feeblemind: Concentration-less debuff that will completely wreak Bards, Clerics, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and other spellcasters with poor Intelligence saves.

Sunburst: A giant (60' radius) radiant fireball that does an average of 42 damage and blinds for a minute. Undead and oozes have disadvantage on the Con save. Good mass debuff that doesn't take concentration, but for consistent damage you might be better served by Sunbeam.

Tsunami (C): The main use of this is to damage an army. It works best if the Tsunami pushes the creatures in a natural hazard such as a cliff. The range is Sight - so buy yourself a Spyglass and cast this from miles away.

Foresight: Grants advantage on all attack rolls, ability checks, & saving throws; attacks against the target are made at disadvantage. The best buff in the game, and it doesn't take Concentration.

Shapechange (C): The value of this spell heavily depends on the creatures you've seen. The Adult Dragons are especially strong with Legendary Resistance, top notch mobility, Blindsight, Frightful Presence and a powerful Breath.

Storm of Vengeance (C): Does about 39 damage spread over 10 rounds to creatures in a gigantic 360' radius. The main issue is that creatures can dash away from the area of effect, avoiding most of the damage.

True Resurrection: Finally, you can bring someone back to life without changing their race! The 25k cost is quite disheartening, though.

[Merudo]

Multiclassing

Level 0: By Level 0, I mean starting in a different class before switching to Druid. Do this to get Constitution save proficiency.
Level 1: The Moon Druid is a powerful house at level 2 - you don't want to multiclass now!
Level 2: The biggest power spike in the game. The two next levels don't get you that much, so its an excellent time to multiclass if you expect the campaign to end at level 5 or lower.
Level 3: To get Level 2 spells and double the spellslots.
Level 4: Getting Conjure Animals is better than what you get from a multiclass
Level 5: For Conjure Animals. Not bad, but the next level is better.
Level 6: Your can Wildshape into CR2 creatures and your attacks become magical. The next big boost will be at level 10.
Level 7: For Conjure Woodland Beings & Polymorph. But, since you need your target to be Level 8 for T-Rex, you might as well multiclass at level 6 instead.
Level 8: For the ASI/feat. The flying forms are not that desirable.
Level 9: The elemental forms are more valuable than a multiclass.
Level 10: The elemental forms, at last! The next Moon Druid improvement is at level 18, and most campaign don't reach that level.
Level 11: For Heroes' Feast. The rest of the spells are rather underwhelming.
Level 12: For the ASI/feat and the Giant Subterranean Lizard form
Level 13: For Planeshift & Reverse Gravity. The next 4 levels don't get you that much.
Level 14: You get... Alter Self at will. Garbage level.
Level 15: CR5 forms. You also get Level 8 spells, which require some thinking but can be powerful
Level 16: An ASI/feat. By now they aren't really adding much.
Level 17: You want Beast Spells as soon as possible
Level 18: You are so close to Archdruid, only multiclass now if you have no chance of getting it.
Level 19: Why would you throw away the chance to get Archdruid?

Barbarian 1: Starts with Con saves proficiency. Unarmored Defense increases the AC of some forms by as much as +3. Raging gets you resistance to physical damage while Wildshaped. Combined with the high hp of some forms, this can let you absorb outrageous amounts of damage. The +2 damage is also quite useful on forms with multiple attacks such as the Deinonychus. Later on, you'll prefer to concentrate on spells instead of raging, although raging can still be useful if you lose concentration while in Wildshape form.
Barbarian 2: You get Reckless Attack & Danger Sense. Reckless Attack is excellent if you have Reach or a way to disengage, but is not compatible with Dex based attacks.
Barbarian 3: For a Primal Path, of which some are decent (Ancestral Guardian & Totem), and an extra Rage per day.

Bard: The Bard spells you would get are largely redundant with your Druid spells.

Cleric 1: You get spells, including Bless & Command. Life Cleric buffs your healing spells (including Goodberry), Light has Warding Flares, Tempest give you a damaging reaction, War gives you extra attacks (but not if using Multiattack).

Fighter 2: For Action Surge. You can't make use of the Fighting Style while in Wildshape. The 2 levels represents a delay of almost a full CR for your Wildshape. Not worth it.

Monk 1: For Unarmored Defense. Amazing if you have high Wisdom - can provide a +5AC bonus to some forms such as the Air and Fire Elementals, and usually helps in caster form too. Note that Beasts of CR4 or more gain very little from Unarmored Defense.The following section on Monk AC provides more information.

Paladin 2: You can now Smite while Wildshaped! Works best with Multiattack forms. Would be ranked higher, but the attribute requirements for this multiclass are quite difficult to meet.

Paladin 3: For the oath. Most useful is probably Oath of Vengeance for Vow of Enmity & Hunter's Mark.

Ranger: Similar to the Bard, this gives you stuff you already have.

Rogue 2: Sneak attack doesn't work while Wildshaped. The reason to get this is Cunning Action. I suggest yo take the Mobile feat or pick the Goblin race instead.

Sorcerer 1: Starts with Con save proficiency. Gets you Shield, Mage Armor, and a bunch of cantrips. Divine Soul is probably the best bet with the extra spell and the Favored by the Gods ability for saving throws.

Warlock 1: Eldritch Blast is of little value to you, and most other abilities are underwhelming. Armor of Agathys would be nice to have, though.

Wizard 1: For Find Familiar, some rituals, and Shield & Mage Armor.

Wizard 2: Bladesinger provides a defensive dance that gives bonuses to Concentration, AC, and speed. War Magic provides better Initiative & a +2AC/+4 saving throw reaction. Divination gives Portent, which is of course amazing. All three subclasses give benefits that work with Wild Shape.

The Monk's Unarmored Defense lets you calculate your AC as 10+ Dex Mod + Wis Mod. This means forms with strong Natural Armor don't benefit much from Unarmored Defense, while forms without it gives you a straight Wis Mod bonus to AC.

Here I list the effect of Unarmored Defense on Wildshape forms. I assume a Druid with 20 Wisdom; the maximum bonus is thus +5. If you have 18-19 Wisdom, reduce all numbers by 1; if you have 16-17 Wisdom, reduce them all by 2; etc. Note that Mage Armor gives you the same bonus to AC as Unarmored Defense with a Wisdom of 16.

CR1:
Archelon: AC16, +2
Brown Bear: AC15, +4
Crag Cat: AC18, +5
Deinonychus: AC17, +4
Dilophosaurus: AC17, +4
Dire Wolf: AC17, +3
Female Steeder: AC18, +4
Giant Eagle: AC18, +5
Giant Hyena: AC17, +5
Giant Octopus: AC16, +5
Giant Spider: AC18, +4
Lion: AC17, +5
Tiger: AC17, +5
Troodon: AC17, +4

CR2:
Allosaurus: AC15, +3
Aurochs: AC15, +4
Giant Boar: AC15, +3
Giant Constrictor Snake: AC17, +5
Giant Crayfish: AC16, +1
Giant Elk: AC18, +4
Giant Spitting Lizard: AC15, +3
Hunter Shark: AC16, +4
Krenshar: AC18, +5
Pachycephalosaurus: AC17, +4
Plesiosaurus: AC17, +4
Polar Bear: AC15, +3
Quetzalcoatlus: AC16, +3
Rhinoceros: AC14, +3
Saber-Toothed Tiger: AC17, +5
Utahraptor: AC19, +4
Zealoraptor: AC19, +4

CR3:
Ankylosaurus: AC15, +0
Giant Lightning Eel: AC18, +5
Giant Scorpion: AC16, +1
Giant Snapping Turtle: AC17, +0
Killer Whale: AC15, +3

Elementals:
Air Elemental: AC20, +5
Earth Elemental: AC17, +0
Fire Elemental: AC18, +5
Water Elemental: AC17, +3

CR4:
Elephant: 14AC, +2
Stegosaurus: 14AC, +1

CR5:
Giant Crocodile: AC14, +0
Giant Shark: AC15, +2
Hulking Crab: AC17, +0
Triceratops: AC14, +1
Therizinosaurus: AC15, +1

CR6:
Brachiosaurus: AC16, +0
Mammoth: AC14, +1

The Barbarian's Unarmored Defense lets you calculate your AC as 10+ Dex Mod + Con Mod. This means forms with low Con & strong Natural Armor don't benefit much from Unarmored Defense, while forms without Natural Armor gives a straight Con Mod bonus to AC.

Here I list the effect of Unarmored Defense on Wildshape forms:

CR1:
Archelon: AC14, +0
Brown Bear: AC13, +2
Crag Cat: AC16, +3
Deinonychus: AC14, +1
Dilophosaurus: AC14, +1
Dire Wolf: AC14, +0
Female Steeder: AC15, +1
Giant Eagle: AC14, +1
Giant Hyena: AC14, +2
Giant Octopus: AC12, +1
Giant Spider: AC14, +0
Lion: AC13, +1
Tiger: AC14, +2
Troodon: AC14, +1

CR2:
Allosaurus: AC14, +1
Aurochs: AC14, +3
Giant Boar: AC13, +1
Giant Constrictor Snake: AC13, +1
Giant Crayfish: AC15, +0
Giant Elk: AC15, +1
Giant Spitting Lizard: AC12, +0
Hunter Shark: AC13, +1
Krenshar: AC13, +0
Pachycephalosaurus: AC15, +2
Plesiosaurus: AC15, +2
Polar Bear: AC13, +1
Quetzalcoatlus: AC13, +0
Rhinoceros: AC11, +0
Saber-Toothed Tiger: AC14, +2
Utahraptor: AC16, +1
Zealoraptor: AC16, +1

CR3:
Ankylosaurus: AC15, +0
Giant Lightning Eel: AC16, +3
Giant Scorpion: AC15, +0
Giant Snapping Turtle: AC17, +0
Killer Whale: AC12, +0

Elementals:
Air Elemental: AC17, +2
Earth Elemental: AC17, +0
Fire Elemental: AC16, +3
Water Elemental: AC16, +2

CR4:
Elephant: 12AC, +0
Stegosaurus: 13AC, +0

CR5:
Giant Crocodile: AC14, +0
Giant Shark: AC15, +2
Hulking Crab: AC17, +0
Triceratops: AC13, +0
Therizinosaurus: AC14, +0

CR6:
Brachiosaurus: AC16, +0
Mammoth: AC14, +1


Party Synergies

Bless: You need to keep your concentration, and you make attack rolls pretty much every turn. This helps with both.

Beast Bond: If you rolled horribly and have 3 in Intelligence, this will work on you during Wildshape.

Darkness/Fog Cloud/etc: Spells that impair vision combine excellently with your Blindsight shapes to give you pseudo Improved Invisibility.

Feather Fall: You like flying as a flying beast or an Air Elemental? This is your safety net.

Fly: Only a handful of Wildshapes have ranged attacks. This lets you engage with flying foes.

Haste: Some forms (Brontosaurus, Brachiosaurus, etc) have a single really powerful attack. This lets you do it twice.

Mage Armor: This simple Level 1 spell can increase the AC of your forms by up to 3, and it lasts 8 hours. Can make some otherwise fragile forms (Air Elemental) tanky.

Mounted Combatant: Gives you Evasion and gives the rider advantage on attack rolls. Some DMs might not allow it: its unclear under which conditions you qualify as a mount.

Speak with Animals: The caster can understand you while you are in Wildshape. Said caster can than act as an interpreter for you. It's a ritual, so it can be cast every 10 minutes for free.

Stinking Cloud / Cloud Kill: Your elemental forms are immune to Poison and can fight in the cloud. The Earth Elemental also lets you see.

Telepathic Bond / Telepathy: Lets you communicate while in Wildshape.

Web: Your spider forms can move freely on webs, and your Air & Water Elemental forms are immune to being restrained.


Crusader’s Mantle: Every ally in a 30' radius of the caster can do an extra 1d4 damage per attack. If you summoned 8 Giant Badger, that's a potential extra 16d4 damage - not too bad.

Earth Tremor / Grease / Thunderous Smite / etc: Combine attacks/spells that knocks Prone with summons that can Grapple to keep enemies Prone.

Inspiring Leader: This can give free temporary hp to some of your summons, if they can understand the speaker. Sylvan helps with fey, Primordial with elementals.

Magic Circle: For your Planar Binding spell with Conjure Elemental / Conjure Fey. It's strange that this is not on your spell list.


Find Familiar & Wildshape: You can Wildshape into a small or tiny beast and ask the flying familiar of the Wizard to carry you in its claws. Can be helpful before you get access to the flying forms.

Minions & Goodberry: Give your familiars/minions a Goodberry each so they can bring back unconscious PCs in combat.





Action Economy

Spells (Casting Time):


Cantrips: Magic Stone, Shillelagh
1st: Healing Word
2nd: Flame Blade, Healing Spirit
4th: Grasping Vine, Guardian of Nature


Spells (Ongoing Effect):


2nd: Dust Devil, Flame Blade, Flaming Sphere, Gust of Wind, Heat Metal, Healing Spirit
4th: Grasping Vine

Class Powers:


Moon Druid: Wild Shape
Barbarian (Multiclass): Rage


Races:


Firbolg: Hidden Step
Goblin: Nimble Escape
Lizardfolk: Hungry Jaw
Shifter: Shifting

Wild Shape:


CR 1/4: Panther (Pounce)
CR 1/2: Clawfoot Raptor (Pounce), Warhorse (Trampling Charge)
CR 1: Crag Cat (Pounce), Deinonychus (Pounce), Giant Hyena (Rampage), Lion (Pounce), Tiger (Pounce)
CR 2: Allosaurus (Pounce), Saber-Toothed Tiger (Pounce), Utahraptor (Pounce), Zealoraptor (Pounce)
CR 4: Elephant (Trampling Charge)
CR 5: Triceratops (Trampling Charge)
CR 6: Mammoth (Trampling Charge)


Spells: Absorb Elements, Primordial Ward
Giant Spitting Lizard: If a creature moves adjacent, you can push it away & prone, ending its movement
Races: Githzerai (Shield), Kalashtar (Advantage on Wis saving throws)
Sentinel: Extra attack when a creature within your reach makes an attack against a target other than you




Example Builds

Strength: 13
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 8

Feat: Mobile

Favorite Forms: Brown Bear & Deinonychus

Strategy: Try to Wildshape into Deinonychus ahead of time. Once the fight start, Rage then Pounce the enemies. Mobile lets you disengage if you catch too much heat, and Pounce more easily. A full charge can knock two enemies Prone and will cause an average of 34 damage if every attack hits, which is quite impressive given your utility and immense resilience.


Strength: 13
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 8

Feat: Sentinel

Favorite Forms: Dire Wolf
Strategy: Stick close to your teammates and draw all the aggro through Sentinel. You can take it.



Strength: 8
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 20 (+4)
Charisma: 10

Feats: Warcaster

Favorite Forms: Air Elemental, Fire Elemental, Giant Constrictor Snake, Giant Octopus

Strategy: Cast spells such as Transmute Rock, Hold Person, etc. that inflict conditions before turning into an Elemental. Air Elemental now has AC 20 and Fire Elemental has AC 18 and both should be tanky.



Strength: 8
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 18 (+1)
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 18 (+3)
Charisma: 10

Feats: Warcaster, Resilient(Con)

Favorite Forms: Deinonychus (CR1), Giant Elk (CR2), Zealoraptor (CR2), Fire Elemental, Mammoth (CR6)

Strategy: Rely heavily on using forms that can charge/pounce together with the Disengage action to keep yourself safe and avoid OAs. Since these types of attacks can knock an enemy Prone, try Concentrating on Conjure Animals and other summoning spells that will work well against Prone enemies.

[Merudo]

Reserved for later. Please leave your comments below.

[Rara1212]

I like Druids and Moon Druids even more, so it's nice seeing guides on them.

The Moon Druid has a strongly uneven growth curve. Widely considered broken at level 2, Wildshape does not improve until level 6, when CR2 forms become available. The next big jump occurs at level 10, with the new possibility to Wildshape into Elementals. Players who stick with the Moon Druid until level 18 will be happy to gain the ability to cast spells while Wildshaped, and those who reach level 20 can Wildshape every turn to become near unkillable.

[Man_Over_Game]

I am very surprised that Gnome isn't listed higher on the list. Moon Druid + Barbarian Gnome means:

You have high HP.
You take half damage from weapons.
You have high Strength or Dexterity.
You have high Constitution.
You have Advantage to save against spells targeting your non-physical stats.
You retain any Saving Throws granted by your Druid and your Wild Shape forms.

How exactly would someone plan to take down something like that? Because I could expect to attempt to cripple a Moon Druid Barbarian with some kind of crippling spell (Tasha's Laughter, or Banishment), but Gnome no longer makes anything an option. Tack on Sentinel, and now even ignoring the darn thing isn't an option.

[Merudo]

I am very surprised that Gnome isn't listed higher on the list. Moon Druid + Barbarian Gnome means:

You have high HP.
You take half damage from weapons.
You have high Strength or Dexterity.
You have high Constitution.
You have Advantage to save against spells targeting your non-physical stats.
You retain any Saving Throws granted by your Druid and your Wild Shape forms.


I ranked the Forest Gnome high, but I did not give it the highest rating.

The Yuan-Ti Pureblood is ranked higher still, because it has Magic Resistance (advantage against all spells) and Poison immunity.

[Man_Over_Game]

I ranked the Forest Gnome high, but I did not give it the highest rating.

The Yuan-Ti Pureblood is ranked higher still, because it has Magic Resistance (advantage against all spells) and Poison immunity.

Ah, right, the damned Yuan Ti.

[OverLordOcelot]

How exactly would someone plan to take down something like that? Because I could expect to attempt to cripple a Moon Druid Barbarian with some kind of crippling spell (Tasha's Laughter, or Banishment), but Gnome no longer makes anything an option. Tack on Sentinel, and now even ignoring the darn thing isn't an option.

You only get rage twice per day unless you bump up barbarian levels, in which case your druid forms and spellcasting fall behind more and more, so the ability to even do this is limited. If you do use rage, you lose the ability to maintain things like conjured creatures. Sentinel is grossly overrated online. It just means you get a single bonus attack using your reaction, it doesn't mean people can't ignore you; a potential 10 damage each round from a bear is not bad, but it's not encounter breaking. Same thing with advantage, it doesn't mean 'immune to effects that target this save', it means 'gets something that generally works out to around +5 on this save'. You're probably not proficient with any of the mental saves (assuming you took barbarian at first level for the higher HP and con proficiency), so if someone hits you with a DC13 CHA save with your 10 CHA, you're looking at going from a 40% chance to save to a 64% chance to save - an improvement, but you're pretty unlikely to stay up through two casts of it and it's not exactly unheard of for you to fail. Same thing with doubled hit points - it's a literal beast in tier 1, where moon druids are overpowered anyway, but in tier 2 and tier 3 enemies can just burn through form hit points even with resistance, especially since you're generally going to have low AC and you're going to be behind on form progression (if you're in tier 4 you sob pitifully as you realize you've given up the chance to be a nigh-unkillable god at 20).

It really doesn't help people who look at a guide to grossly exaggerate how good abilities are.

[Man_Over_Game]

You only get rage twice per day unless you bump up barbarian levels, in which case your druid forms and spellcasting fall behind more and more, so the ability to even do this is limited. If you do use rage, you lose the ability to maintain things like conjured creatures. Sentinel is grossly overrated online. It just means you get a single bonus attack using your reaction, it doesn't mean people can't ignore you; a potential 10 damage each round from a bear is not bad, but it's not encounter breaking. Same thing with advantage, it doesn't mean 'immune to effects that target this save', it means 'gets something that generally works out to around +5 on this save'. You're probably not proficient with any of the mental saves (assuming you took barbarian at first level for the higher HP and con proficiency), so if someone hits you with a DC13 CHA save with your 10 CHA, you're looking at going from a 40% chance to save to a 64% chance to save - an improvement, but you're pretty unlikely to stay up through two casts of it and it's not exactly unheard of for you to fail. Same thing with doubled hit points - it's a literal beast in tier 1, where moon druids are overpowered anyway, but in tier 2 and tier 3 enemies can just burn through form hit points even with resistance, especially since you're generally going to have low AC and you're going to be behind on form progression (if you're in tier 4 you sob pitifully as you realize you've given up the chance to be a nigh-unkillable god at 20).

It really doesn't help people who look at a guide to grossly exaggerate how good abilities are.

I mean, compare all that to how a stock Barbarian would be able to handle it.

Raging twice per day, while also bumping the AC of your beast forms with Unarmored Defense, is a very solid investment.

You don't necessarily lose the ability to cast your Concentration spells, you gain an alternative to them. Rather than casting Conjured Animals to lose it partway through your Wildshape, you now have the advantage of having Proficiency on your Concentration Saving Throws, having a harder time being hit by rapid-fire mooks due to Unarmored Defense. Worst case scenario, you lose your Conjured Animals a hit or two later than you would have without the level of Barbarian, and THEN you Rage so that you don't lose any effectiveness during your Wildshape. With Rage running, you're unlikely to lose your Wildshape AND lose all of your Druid HP before you can flee/Wildshape again. Rage also increases the damage of your Multiattack.

What Concentration spell would enhance your stats to the point of being more valuable than Rage (which is to say, roughly increasing survivability by 50% and increasing damage by about +4 per turn?)

My question to you is, in what reasonable scenario would a full classed Barbarian outclass a Moon Druid with Barbarian 1?

[OverLordOcelot]

I mean, compare all that to how a stock Barbarian would be able to handle it.

That's dodging by moving the goalposts. Your claims were incorrect, I pointed out how they were incorrect, now you're trying to shift to something else.


My question to you is, in what reasonable scenario would a full classed Barbarian outclass a Moon Druid with Barbarian 1?

One area where the barbarian comes ahead is raw damage output. In T2 a full classed barbarian with PAM and GWM using reckless attack to hurl 3-4 (2 class, 1 bonus action, 1 reaction when an enemy approaches) +5/-10 attacks a round with advantage is hard to beat, and when he adds higher level barbarian features it just keeps getting worse. If it goes to level 20, the barbarian tacks on a ton more stuff, including 24 strength for damage. (And of course at that level the straight moon druid is just shaking his head in a different form every round at the 1/19 barb/druid who doesn't have a capstone).

But this is silly and I'm not going to continue doing it; responding to 'this combo is a neat gimmick that is really good at some levels and not bad overall, but not the invincible juggernaught you claim it is' with 'OK, take another class and do specific scenario comparisons' is just an attempt to move the goalposts to another field entirely.

[MaxWilson]

One area where the barbarian comes ahead is raw damage output. In T2 a full classed barbarian with PAM and GWM using reckless attack to hurl 3-4 (2 class, 1 bonus action, 1 reaction when an enemy approaches) +5/-10 attacks a round with advantage is hard to beat, and when he adds higher level barbarian features it just keeps getting worse.

Nitpick for the sake of clarity: he doesn't get advantage on the reaction attack because Reckless Attack applies only on your turn.

I'm sure you're aware of this but just stating it for the record in case anyone didn't already know.

Edit: BTW, I agree with your argument. I see the theoretical value of Barbarian 1 for a Moon Druid that will never reach high levels, but I don't like to play PCs that are permanently gimped, so I would never play a Barb/Moon Druid except at a table where the DM had rules for going above level 20 or dropping unwanted levels. It's not like regular Moon Druids aren't plenty durable already anyway.

[Ovarwa]

Hi,

Druid Guides are always a good thing, so thanks.

Notes:

Monk 1 does not provide +Wis to AC. It allows a different way to calculate AC, based on Dex+Wis. This will often be better than a critter's AC, but often rather worse because many creatures don't have good Dex and do have ACs that include bonuses for carapaces and similar features. Pretty much never +5, even with Wisdom 20. Going Monk for better AC isn't all that great. If your GM rules that animal attacks count as unarmed attacks and can therefore be used with Flurry of Blows, monk becomes more attractive (as does wildshaping into creatures with one awesome attack).

RAW, the druid does not get to pick which creatures are summoned. The GM does. So a druid can say that he wants CR 1/4 creatures, but the GM decides which ones he gets. A druid therefore cannot "summon pixies to get Polymorph." He gets pixies only if the GM gives them to him, and has absolutely no control over this other than bribing, threatening or cajoling the GM, either to give him pixies or to ignore RAW and let the druid choose.

A section about magic items is worthwhile for any class guide, but is particularly important for a moon druid guide because many items that might seem great are useless when Wildshaped. (If I missed this section, apologies!)

Anyway,

Ken

[Bjarkmundur]

Finally Moon Druid makes sense to me!
Thank you!

Still wrapping my head around the multiclassing bit. I'll figure it out eventually.

[rmnimoc]

I feel like you should mention the awesome synergy of being the mount for a cavalier with mounted combatant. Getting Evasion, +1d8 AC, and a whole host of other nice bonuses is no joke in the right campaign.

Other than that, don't really see anything you missed and it looks good.

[OverLordOcelot]

Edit: BTW, I agree with your argument. I see the theoretical value of Barbarian 1 for a Moon Druid that will never reach high levels, but I don't like to play PCs that are permanently gimped, so I would never play a Barb/Moon Druid except at a table where the DM had rules for going above level 20 or dropping unwanted levels. It's not like regular Moon Druids aren't plenty durable already anyway.

And it's not just the level 20 bit; you're always one level behind in your spellcasting and forms. The barbarian level makes you acquire your crazy power one level later, then boosts your forms a lot during the time when they're already overpowered, but it becomes much less impressive when you move into high T2 and low T3 when you find yourself needing to do more casting. You get constrictor snake (and the other CR2s) and a magic weapon at 7 instead of 6, get your elemental forms in T3 instead of at the end of T2, get your conjured elementals at 10 instead of 9, and so on. And feat choices are low-level oriented too - the sentinel feat you loved at level 5 for that extra 2D6+4 bear bite that could crush an orc isn't really scaring people now that it's upgraded to a whopping 2d8+5 in elemental form. If you know your campaign will peter out in the middle of tier 2 then the barbarian dip is great, but if the campaing goes long you'll really feel the cost of that level.

And yeah, moon druids are tough to kill without barbarian, it's really offense and 'aggro' that you have to work on. You'd be amazed how many T2 and T3 enemies don't do magical attacks, which makes elemental form as defended against their attacks as the raging barb is. Boosting defense when you're already very hard to kill just doesn't give you much, and doing so at the expense of your offense and utility is counter productive.

And the whole thing about gnome bearbarian being invincible is just over the top, and was the main thing I objected to. Gnomes are a great race choice, but don't make the mistake of confusing 'advantage' and 'immune'.

[MaxWilson]

And the whole thing about gnome bearbarian being invincible is just over the top, and was the main thing I objected to. Gnomes are a great race choice, but don't make the mistake of confusing 'advantage' and 'immune'.

Especially when you've already traded away saving throw proficiency. Proficiency + advantage is sort of like immune in the sense that enemies would be wise to acid targeting that save; but advantage alone is worse than proficiency after a certain point. So really the gnome barbarian is just getting Con saves and Cha saves "in addition" to his regular Int and Wis saves. Not terrible, but as you say nothing like immune.

If a gnome barbarian feels invulnerable, it's because 5E is designed to make everything a curbstomp, at least with vanilla 5E, out of the box.

P.S. Also, Rage and Combat Wildshape both compete for your bonus action.

[Merudo]

I like Druids and Moon Druids even more, so it's nice seeing guides on them.

The Moon Druid has a strongly uneven growth curve. Widely considered broken at level 2, Wildshape does not improve until level 6, when CR2 forms become available. The next big jump occurs at level 10, with the new possibility to Wildshape into Elementals. Players who stick with the Moon Druid until level 18 will be happy to gain the ability to cast spells while Wildshaped, and those who reach level 20 can Wildshape every turn to become near unkillable.

Thank you! I've corrected the typos.



Druid Guides are always a good thing, so thanks.


You are welcome!



Monk 1 does not provide +Wis to AC. It allows a different way to calculate AC, based on Dex+Wis. This will often be better than a critter's AC, but often rather worse because many creatures don't have good Dex and do have ACs that include bonuses for carapaces and similar features. Pretty much never +5, even with Wisdom 20.


I've added a new subsection describing the AC bonus of Monk 1. You'll find that multiple animals give the full bonus (including Giant Octopus, Giant Constrictor Snake, Air Elemental & Fire Elemental) and that many more have a +4 bonus. Monk 1 is admittedly pretty useless for beasts with CR3+, though.



A section about magic items is worthwhile for any class guide, but is particularly important for a moon druid guide because many items that might seem great are useless when Wildshaped. (If I missed this section, apologies!)

Thanks for the suggestion! I've added a subsection describing equipment compatible with Wildshape.


I feel like you should mention the awesome synergy of being the mount for a cavalier with mounted combatant. Getting Evasion, +1d8 AC, and a whole host of other nice bonuses is no joke in the right campaign.

Other than that, don't really see anything you missed and it looks good.

Thanks! I've now added this to the guide.

[OverLordOcelot]

A couple of comments on the guide itself:

I don't see languages mentioned anywhere. While it's not required, having primordial as a language is useful later on - it lets you communicate with conjured elementals, most notably the invisible stalker. While the elemental will obey commands regardless of language (the wording of the spell says they obey any command), it's possible to use them for scouting, but you can't get any information out of them without the language. The earth elemental (gliding through rock) and invisible stalker (see the name) are especially good at it. Sylvan is also good for conjured fey, but a lot of them speak common so it's not as big of a deal.

I would rank acrobatics as black. My experience is that if you're in melee, there are a number of 'make an acrobatics check' environmental hazards/obstacles that you run into. It's not nearly as useful as Athletics, but it's something you will sometimes find yourself missing if you skip it.

Should specifically mention athletics proficiency as useful in the prodigy feat, at higher levels you tend to use elementals or the higher CR forms that don't have built in grapple.

Also you left the Salamander and Xorn out of conjure elemental. The Salamander is a very nice choice that has an attack with a grapple/restrain rider, which is quite useful.

EDIT: Also, I disagree with some of your rankings of elemental. I think fire elemental should be ranked a bit better, and definitely should mention the persistence of the 'set on fire' ability. A fire elemental can take the disengage action and move through all enemies in a 50' long, 10' wide path to set them on fire. It's only 1d10 damage a round, but once it's done it happens every round with no save or to-hit roll, and that adds up pretty fast, unless they want to give up an entire round to put it out (and possibly have the elemental come up and touch them again).

Air elemental definitely should not be purple. The fact that it moves 90' per round and flies is very, very good. In 'white room' combat simulation the ability to move is often not taken into account, but in actual combats, especially with moving or flying creatures, it can be a big deal, and for exploration being able to fly over any terrain at triple speed and move through 1" wide gaps is incredibly useful. If I'm trying to think of a form to shift into and stay in for exploring, it's usually a decision between air for mobility and earth for durability.

[OverLordOcelot]

If a gnome barbarian feels invulnerable, it's because 5E is designed to make everything a curbstomp, at least with vanilla 5E, out of the box.

IMO the biggest problem for a moon druid in hard combats is not 'how can I survive getting attacked' it's 'how can I make enemies attack me'. If your DM just says 'oh, you have sentinel, everyone attacks you because they are terrified of giving one extra attack' then sure, the bearbarian is going to be effective. But if he just has enemies soak the potential 12 damage per round and do whatever they want otherwise, you start to feel like a lump. Yeah, it's cool that theoretically you're hard to kill, but the fact that you could keep on fighting the enemy for several rounds after the rest of the party dies really isn't that great. That's the problem with the 'what spell is better than resistance to damage' line of thinking - resistance to lots of damage types doesn't matter if the enemy doesn't target you in the first place.


P.S. Also, Rage and Combat Wildshape both compete for your bonus action.

Usually I don't lose sleep over conflicting bonus actions that you fire and forget, but in this case it distinctly hinders your ability to get into the fight. You have to spend your entire round one getting into fight mode if you don't cast a spell, you don't get to 'wild shape and attack' or 'rage and attack' or 'cast concentration spell, then wild shape'. Since a lot of combats are decided by round three, that's a pretty significant lump of time.

[Merudo]

Usually I don't lose sleep over conflicting bonus actions that you fire and forget, but in this case it distinctly hinders your ability to get into the fight. You have to spend your entire round one getting into fight mode if you don't cast a spell, you don't get to 'wild shape and attack' or 'rage and attack' or 'cast concentration spell, then wild shape'. Since a lot of combats are decided by round three, that's a pretty significant lump of time.

I'm not sure if I get the problem.

If you are planning to cast a spell, you cast the spell during Turn 1, then Wildshape. During Turn 2, you Rage & Attack. The Rage hasn't slowed anything down.

If you don't plan to cast a spell, you just Wildshape ahead of time. During Turn 1, you Rage then Attack. Again, nothing slowed down.

There are a few times where you can't Wildshape ahead of time - in which case you just cast a spell in the first round anyway. It's not nearly as problematic as you make it out to be.

[OverLordOcelot]

If you are planning to cast a spell, you cast the spell during Turn 1, then Wildshape. During Turn 2, you Rage & Attack. The Rage hasn't slowed anything down.

Then you don't have your super defense array up in turn 1, which is 20-33% of a typical combat.


If you don't plan to cast a spell, you just Wildshape ahead of time. During Turn 1, you Rage then Attack. Again, nothing slowed down.

Then you're stuck wandering around in animal form, unable to cast even OOC spells and unable to pick which wild shape is best for the combat you get into. At lower levels, it's quite possible that you end up running out of time on your wildshape before you get to a combat. So you have to give up a lot of your versatility just for being tougher in a form that already can take a lot of punishment.

[Merudo]

I don't see languages mentioned anywhere. While it's not required, having primordial as a language is useful later on - it lets you communicate with conjured elementals, most notably the invisible stalker.


I added a subsection on language - I agree knowing Primordial is highly important to a Druid.



I would rank acrobatics as black. My experience is that if you're in melee, there are a number of 'make an acrobatics check' environmental hazards/obstacles that you run into. It's not nearly as useful as Athletics, but it's something you will sometimes find yourself missing if you skip it.

True. It's limited, but then again most other skills are even more limited.



Should specifically mention athletics proficiency as useful in the prodigy feat, at higher levels you tend to use elementals or the higher CR forms that don't have built in grapple.


I agree, Expertise in Athletics is very useful.



Also you left the Salamander and Xorn out of conjure elemental. The Salamander is a very nice choice that has an attack with a grapple/restrain rider, which is quite useful.

Thank you, I've now added these Elementals.

[Zuras]

FYI, when you polymorph or shapechange into a creature with legendary actions, per the MM legendary creature rules you don’t get to use the legendary actions. You DO get to use legendary resistances, if any.

[NaughtyTiger]

Then you don't have your super defense array up in turn 1, which is 20-33% of a typical combat.
.

My moon druid is always concentrating on a spell when i enter wildshape. Rage is for the next turn IFF i lose concentration. No turns lost.

Consistenly the top damage dealer cuz i live longer than the barb

[Merudo]

FYI, when you polymorph or shapechange into a creature with legendary actions, per the MM legendary creature rules you don’t get to use the legendary actions. You DO get to use legendary resistances, if any.

Thank you. I knew about the Shapechange restriction on Legendary Actions but I had forgotten it also applies to Polymorph (the restriction appears in the Monster Manual Errata)

[TheUser]

In this case of the kobold do you assume that sunlight sensitivity carries over to your wild shape form?

[Zuras]

In this case of the kobold do you assume that sunlight sensitivity carries over to your wild shape form?

Since the Darkvision doesn’t carry over, few DMs will have the sunlight sensitivity carry over.

[TheUser]

Since the Darkvision doesn’t carry over, few DMs will have the sunlight sensitivity carry over.

My take on it is that Wildshape specifically points to retaining "the benefit" of any feature etc. etc. and sunlight sensitivity isn't a benefit.

With that in mind would you think that Kobold Moon Druids are one of the best moon druids?

[Zuras]

My take on it is that Wildshape specifically points to retaining "the benefit" of any feature etc. etc. and sunlight sensitivity isn't a benefit.

With that in mind would you think that Kobold Moon Druids are one of the best moon druids?

The pack tactics is nice at lower levels, but ultimately not as useful as stuff like the Ghostwise Halfling telepathy. No beast or elemental form does impressive damage compared to martials in Tier 2 and higher play, so your best tactics generally revolve around using concentration spells to enhance your tanking, not damaging via attacks.

[TheUser]

The pack tactics is nice at lower levels, but ultimately not as useful as stuff like the Ghostwise Halfling telepathy. No beast or elemental form does impressive damage compared to martials in Tier 2 and higher play, so your best tactics generally revolve around using concentration spells to enhance your tanking, not damaging via attacks.
It's to help make up for the reduced attack bonus with some forms.
Landing auto grapples and making good use of sentinel is how I utilize a good wildshape druid

[Zuras]

It's to help make up for the reduced attack bonus with some forms.
Landing auto grapples and making good use of sentinel is how I utilize a good wildshape druid

The only form that is really off the curve and needs help with the attack bonus is the Giant Scorpion at 9th level, in my experience. I’m sure the advantage would be helpful in many situations, but I’ve found most Deadly+ combats did not involve many actual attacks in beast form in practice, because the DM was always doing something crazy that meant a flying Brontosaurus, flaming water elemental or glowing death cloud was a better solution.

[Merudo]

The pack tactics is nice at lower levels, but ultimately not as useful as stuff like the Ghostwise Halfling telepathy. No beast or elemental form does impressive damage compared to martials in Tier 2 and higher play, so your best tactics generally revolve around using concentration spells to enhance your tanking, not damaging via attacks.

I agree damaging enemies is not usually very effective at Tier 2+ (exception: the CR2 Zealoraptor & the CR3 Scorpion).

However, some of the Beasts are pretty handy to inflict debuffs - the Giant Elk can knock prone, and the Giant Constrictor Snake can restrain.

That's very useful, and Pact Tactics helps making these abilities land.

Contrarily to you, I don't find Telepathy that valuable - the Giant Elk & the Elementals can all speak, and the other forms can use signs to communicate.

[Zuras]

Merudo,
I like your guide, but I think the spell discussion could use some extra detail, especially because the utility and scaling of different spells means their value varies widely as you advance in levels.

Case in point: At low levels, Flaming Sphere is far superior to Moonbeam in most situations, since moving it is a bonus action vs. moonbeam’s action. At higher levels, certainly by Tier 3, Moonbeam has become far superior because it scales better, deals radiant damage and doesn’t accidentally light things on fire. I’ve upcast Moonbeam as high as 8th level in desperate circumstances, and didn’t cast Flaming Sphere much at all after getting deep into Tier 2 play.

Conjure Animals has a similar curve—by 11th level I was using summoned creatures more as CC than damage.

Also, you should give the Korred much more love as a Conjure Fey target. It has a ranged attack and can actually fit in a dungeon hallway, while still also being capable of breaking the DMs story with it’s at-will Stone Shape.

“The passage is now blocked by an impassable pile of rubble”

“Ok, I summon a Korred and it Stone Shapes a tunnel through the rubble.”

“How many times can it do that?”

“At-will, so it can do about 15,000 cubic feet in the hour I have it summoned. It can also summon an Earth Elemental or Galeb Duhr to help.”

“Why did I agree to continue the campaign past level 11?”

[Merudo]

Case in point: At low levels, Flaming Sphere is far superior to Moonbeam in most situations, since moving it is a bonus action vs. moonbeam’s action. At higher levels, certainly by Tier 3, Moonbeam has become far superior because it scales better, deals radiant damage and doesn’t accidentally light things on fire. I’ve upcast Moonbeam as high as 8th level in desperate circumstances, and didn’t cast Flaming Sphere much at all after getting deep into Tier 2 play.

I'm not convinced by this argument.

First, Flaming Sphere does around 64% of the damage of a Moonbeam of the same spell level - I don't see how upcasting changes the relative value of the two spells.

Secondly, Radiant damage is nice, but the Constitution save isn't - the Dexterity save of Flaming Sphere is better.

Thirdly, the Action requirement to move the beam is crippling, especially for a Moon Druid. A lot of Wild Shape forms can restrain as an action (Giant Constrictor Snake, Water Elemental, Giant Crocodile, etc.), which not only prevent the target from moving out of the sphere, but also gives disadvantage to the Dexterity saving throw.


Also, you should give the Korred much more love as a Conjure Fey target.

Agreed.

[Zuras]

I'm not convinced by this argument.

First, Flaming Sphere does around 64% of the damage of a Moonbeam of the same spell level - I don't see how upcasting changes the relative value of the two spells.

Secondly, Radiant damage is nice, but the Constitution save isn't - the Dexterity save of Flaming Sphere is better.

Thirdly, the Action requirement to move the beam is crippling, especially for a Moon Druid. A lot of Wild Shape forms can restrain as an action (Giant Constrictor Snake, Water Elemental, Giant Crocodile, etc.), which not only prevent the target from moving out of the sphere, but also gives disadvantage to the Dexterity saving throw.


Do you regularly see Flaming Sphere used in Tier 3 play by Moon Druids? I stopped using it because far too many times it was useless. Moonbeam scales much better, it can actually be used on aerial targets, more nasty things fear radiant damage, and so many creatures are resistant to fire.

In practice, you use Moonbeam in situations where Conjure Animals is ineffective, and many creatures resistant to weapon damage also resist fire. Plus, grappling attacks make Moonbeam better, not worse. Once you grapple them, you can drag them into the Moonbeam for extra damage.

[Yunru]

I agree with Wizard's overall rating, but... consider this: Whalesinger.
Sure, it means you have to be (partially) elven, but Whalesong helps you keep concentration on whatever you cast before Whaleshaping, it increases your land speed, it boosts your AC, and probably something else that I'm forgetting.

Edit: Also I'm not sure where you'd put it, but note that after level 3 (it's half rounded up, right?) you can enter Wildshape before taking a short rest.
In a similar vein, note that your Wildshape form has its own Hit Dice it can spend.

[sophontteks]

Do you regularly see Flaming Sphere used in Tier 3 play by Moon Druids? I stopped using it because far too many times it was useless. Moonbeam scales much better, it can actually be used on aerial targets, more nasty things fear radiant damage, and so many creatures are resistant to fire.

In practice, you use Moonbeam in situations where Conjure Animals is ineffective, and many creatures resistant to weapon damage also resist fire. Plus, grappling attacks make Moonbeam better, not worse. Once you grapple them, you can drag them into the Moonbeam for extra damage.
They both scale terribly. Spells scale terribly.

[Zuras]

They both scale terribly. Spells scale terribly.

Have you actually read the spells? Moonbeam at 6th level does more damage to a single target than Sunbeam, and is a very competitive versus other damage dealing options at 4th-5th level. 4d10 damage/turn is nothing to sniff at. Often, something else is better, but if I was to only prep one damage dealing spell in a list filled with utility and control, it would be Moonbeam.

[Yunru]

As a rule of thumb, if it's bigger than a d8, it scales positively. Smaller and it scales negatively.
Going from memory, so don't quote me on that.

[sophontteks]

Have you actually read the spells? Moonbeam at 6th level does more damage to a single target than Sunbeam, and is a very competitive versus other damage dealing options at 4th-5th level. 4d10 damage/turn is nothing to sniff at. Often, something else is better, but if I was to only prep one damage dealing spell in a list filled with utility and control, it would be Moonbeam.
It is doing an average of 2 more damage per upcast then flame sphere. How is that making such a big difference?

Correct me if I'm wrong here. The arguement is that flame sphere is better initially but eventually moonbeam is superior because it does 4 more damage at level 4?

[Yunru]

Correct me if I'm wrong here. The arguement is that flame sphere is better initially but eventually moonbeam is superior because it does 4 more damage at level 4?
And can hit flying enemies. And revert shapeshifters.

[Zuras]

It is doing an average of 2 more damage per upcast then flame sphere. How is that making such a big difference?

Correct me if I'm wrong here. The arguement is that flame sphere is better initially but eventually moonbeam is superior because it does 4 more damage at level 4?

Mostly Moonbeam is better at high levels because it scales better and is a cheap source of radiant damage, which is much more important at higher levels. 4d10 vs 4d6 is an average of 22 vs 14. That is 57% more damage. Wizards had to errata Call Lightning because the number crunchers realized it was inferior to a 3rd level Moonbeam except in actual warfare (where the 10 min. duration matters).

The radiant damage is the most critical consideration. Most Druid spells are situational—Conjure Animals, Moonbeam, Spike Growth, and all the other quality Druid concentration spells are amazing sometimes, and abysmal others, the key is having a good concentration spell to cast for most occasions.

I like Flaming Sphere, but by level 11 I stopped preparing it. Too often we were fighting on a ship or building I didn’t want to burn, or fighting underwater, or fighting resistant or immune creatures, or undead that needed Radiant damage to KO. Moonbeam might not be optimal in every situation, but it is almost always at least moderately effective.

Philosophically, I like to prepare lots of utility and control spells, with only a few combat-focused spells that work in most situations, with a few show stopper spells for boss fights. Moonbeam does that. More than once I have started the adventuring day excited to prepare Rverse Gravity, only to discover that the only foe that day worthy of a 7th+ level spell was a Beholder who really didn’t care which way was up, but still cared about an 8th level Moonbeam in its face.

I’m not saying you will always use it in every encounter, just that it is always going to be useful in combat, and that flexibility will let you prepare a mix of other spells for non-combat situations.

[Merudo]

I agree with Wizard's overall rating, but... consider this: Whalesinger.


I'll admit it, it took me a few seconds to understand what you meant by "Whalesinger".

But yeah, I sort of had forgotten about Wizard 2. I fixed that.

[Zuras]

Merudo,
For the Korred, you may also want to note that for a 500 gp investment in an Adamantine Dagger or some adamantine scissors, your summoned Korred can use an Adamantine rope.

[rolan7]

This is one for the books! Thank you so much for taking it to the next level. Far superior to all moon druid guides I've seen to date.

Unfortunately, the 4-8 pixies with polymorph pissed off my team enough that it was banned (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?586343-Broken-Things-DND5e&p=23860660#post23860660). So I need to focus on other aspects of the moon druid massive dpr. This guide has provided enough options to peak my interest.:smallsmile:

[Merudo]

Merudo,
For the Korred, you may also want to note that for a 500 gp investment in an Adamantine Dagger or some adamantine scissors, your summoned Korred can use an Adamantine rope.

The Korred would need to weave the strands of Adamantine hair together to create an Adamantine rope.

I don't think the Korred can do that, and even if it could it would likely take about 1 hour to do so.


This is one for the books! Thank you so much for taking it to the next level. Far superior to all moon druid guides I've seen to date.

Unfortunately, the 4-8 pixies with polymorph pissed off my team enough that it was banned. So I need to focus on other aspects to make this work. This guide has provided enough options to peak my interest.:smallsmile:

Thank you! That means a lot to me.

[sambojin]

Great guide, and it's nice that you've made it specifically for one archetype, based off reasonable information from the other full class overview. Cheers! Moon Druid seems scary as hell for some players, but between a phone and an app (Companions for 5e D&D, just pass your phone to your DM so he has the stats appropriate), it makes things run fairly smoothly. Especially when it's narrowed down to "good/maybe/nah-don't-need-to-consider-it". Taking the "I don't want to be a Druid because it's too much book-keeping" into "Druids, Moon Druids especially, are awesome, there really isn't *too* much you need to know to be awesome at this" is a service for the 5e D&D community. Thanks!
You're doing a great job!

Probably would crank the rating of "Ape" up to black though, for wildshape uses. It is very rarely a conditional statement that you'd want to have hands and semi-opposable thumbs and a climb speed. +8 on athletics checks as well.

Not black on a usable combat form, but it is still very usable as a free scouting form. Do you need to headbutt a complicated trap with free HP to the value of 19? Ape's your man (or variant human or ghostwise halfling or firbolg, etc). Purple combat-wise, yes, maybe, for a Moon.... But unless your DM knows how squidly a Giant Octopus could be (they should "have hands" on doing stuff, considering that it's a fully aware humanoid doing the squidly'ing), having something that says "you are now a scout person/grappler holder/object manipulator/etc with free HP" makes it at least black. It's not good, but you won't get "hands" in wildshape ever again. Way better than "conditionally good". It's just good. Hands and free HP. The only thing that gives you that, in human understandable levels of it.

Not great. Not amazing. But definitely good. So black. Solid form. As a creative player, with a climb speed and decent athletics, you probably won't pop out of it until that HP is gone, unless you really need to speak or cast spells.

[Merudo]

Great guide, and it's nice that you've made it specifically for one archetype, based off reasonable information from the other full class overview. Cheers! Moon Druid seems scary as hell for some players, but between a phone and an app (Companions for 5e D&D, just pass your phone to your DM so he has the stats appropriate), it makes things run fairly smoothly. Especially when it's narrowed down to "good/maybe/nah-don't-need-to-consider-it". Taking the "I don't want to be a Druid because it's too much book-keeping" into "Druids, Moon Druids especially, are awesome, there really isn't *too* much you need to know to be awesome at this" is a service for the 5e D&D community. Thanks!
You're doing a great job!

Thank you!


Probably would crank the rating of "Ape" up to black though, for wildshape uses. It is very rarely a conditional statement that you'd want to have hands and semi-opposable thumbs and a climb speed. +8 on athletics checks as well.

Not black on a usable combat form, but it is still very usable as a free scouting form. Do you need to headbutt a complicated trap with free HP to the value of 19? Ape's your man (or variant human or ghostwise halfling or firbolg, etc). Purple combat-wise, yes, maybe, for a Moon.... But unless your DM knows how squidly a Giant Octopus could be (they should "have hands" on doing stuff, considering that it's a fully aware humanoid doing the squidly'ing), having something that says "you are now a scout person/grappler holder/object manipulator/etc with free HP" makes it at least black. It's not good, but you won't get "hands" in wildshape ever again. Way better than "conditionally good". It's just good. Hands and free HP. The only thing that gives you that, in human understandable levels of it.

Not great. Not amazing. But definitely good. So black. Solid form. As a creative player, with a climb speed and decent athletics, you probably won't pop out of it until that HP is gone, unless you really need to speak or cast spells.

I must admit I do not value the Ape's hands as highly as you do. I've read most WotC adventures and I find that very traps/puzzles actually require hands. And frankly, if I see a puzzle I'd rather stay in caster form to discuss the solution with my team instead of turning into a 19hp Ape.

For the record, the Ape only gets a +5 for Athletics checks. For comparison, the Brown Bear has a +4 for Athletics checks (+6 if the Druid is proficient).

[Zuras]

The Korred would need to weave the strands of Adamantine hair together to create an Adamantine rope.

I don't think the Korred can do that, and even if it could it would likely take about 1 hour to do so.


This sort of thing is all DM interpretation, but I envision the Korred as having the ability to psychically control all their hair, not just the part they cut off as a rope, so I would rule it takes them a minute or less, not possible in combat but not difficult. I can see how you might feel like the hair rope is a crafted item, but I roll with it like a hair-based super power.

[Aimeryan]

Thanks Merudo for the guide; I am just about to start in a new campaign as a Moon Druid - Ghostwise Halfling, hates being so small so will be wildshaped as much as possible. So, this has come in real handy at just the right time.

An interesting point of this campaign is that we will combating a corrupted version of nature - so expecting plant creatures and animals as primary enemies. Given that this nature will be hostile and not likely to be susceptible to commands or diplomacy even through commune spells (I'll try, though), what kind of spells would you recommend for combating such? Flaming sphere seems obvious (and produce flame if not wildshaped). Blight would be useful against a single or couple of powerful plant enemies.

Any other spells that particularly take advantage of foes being plant and/or animal? Same for any particular wildshapes that you think might be useful (dinosaurs probably not in play, sadly).

[Zene]

This looks great. Thanks for putting together such a comprehensive guide—I look forward to reading it when I have some downtime.

[Merudo]

Thanks Merudo for the guide; I am just about to start in a new campaign as a Moon Druid - Ghostwise Halfling, hates being so small so will be wildshaped as much as possible. So, this has come in real handy at just the right time.


You are welcome.


An interesting point of this campaign is that we will combating a corrupted version of nature - so expecting plant creatures and animals as primary enemies.

What character levels will the campaign cover? And are the corrupted animals be of the "Beast" type, or something else such as Monstrosities?

[Yunru]

It annoys me Griffons and Owlbears are monstrosities.

[Aimeryan]

What character levels will the campaign cover? And are the corrupted animals be of the "Beast" type, or something else such as Monstrosities?

We'll be starting at 5, probably covering up to mid teens if we get there. I'm not actually sure whether they will be Beasts or Aberrations, will depend on how the DM flavours them - could see them being both. Not familiar with Plant enemies, has never came up before - I am presuming they will be vulnerable to fire, but whether that will be RAW or not I do not know.

Fire Elemental wildshape seems like it will be powerful if facing hordes of Plant enemies. Before that, guessing not poison based wildshapes (so Spider and Scorpion not so effective, which is a shame). Actually thinking we'll face a lot of disease and poisons, so probably wildshapes with good Con scores.

For spells, fire as mentioned in general. Blight seems powerful if facing miniboss types. For Beasts/Aberations, I guessing saves that target the mental stats would generally be more effective, not sure what good spells Druids have that will target those. Think I'll dig through the spell lists see if anything stands out.

[Gilgeam]

I specifically registered here just to let you know how AMAZING that guide is! It's completely blown my mind.

So far I've never been really drawn to the class, but came up with an interesting story a while back and finally realized - and it's rather embarrassing to say that - that Moon Druids might actually solve my problem of wanting to play a tank while at the same time not giving up on the spellcasting between fights. Now I'll have a lot of studying to do!

That said, I have one question: I already installed the app and I understand why you like it. However, I'd definitely love to have something physical for these shapes, the same way that I like to use spellcards. Do you know of any reasonably complete wild shape cards that are premade? I found one or two but they were incomplete, though I assume that given how extensive your guide is, it'll probably be tough to find a deck that even comes close...

Again - you did AMAZING! Many, many thanks :smallsmile:

[Merudo]

We'll be starting at 5, probably covering up to mid teens if we get there. I'm not actually sure whether they will be Beasts or Aberrations, will depend on how the DM flavours them - could see them being both. Not familiar with Plant enemies, has never came up before - I am presuming they will be vulnerable to fire, but whether that will be RAW or not I do not know.

Fire Elemental wildshape seems like it will be powerful if facing hordes of Plant enemies. Before that, guessing not poison based wildshapes (so Spider and Scorpion not so effective, which is a shame). Actually thinking we'll face a lot of disease and poisons, so probably wildshapes with good Con scores.

For spells, fire as mentioned in general. Blight seems powerful if facing miniboss types. For Beasts/Aberations, I guessing saves that target the mental stats would generally be more effective, not sure what good spells Druids have that will target those. Think I'll dig through the spell lists see if anything stands out.

It seems your game will have a lot of custom monsters, so it is hard to give useful advice.

The following spells may be useful:

- Speak with Animals can provide hints on why the corruption happened.
- Flaming Sphere & Wall of Fire are great if the plants are vulnerable to fire.
- Confusion is an okay mass debuff with a Wisdom save.
- Plant Growth is always great outside.
- Blight is typically mediocre but does double damage against plants.
- Antilife Shell is amazing against beasts & plants as they are mostly restricted to melee.
- Commune with Nature gives you information about the land.
- Wrath of Nature is always a standout if you can get all effects to work.
- Heroes' Feast is pricey but fully protects your whole party against Poison.

Conjuration spells would be useful here too. If you are facing a lot of poison, you could conjure elementals as most of them are immune to poison. And if you face beasts, you'll want to consider conjuring some CR1 Dryads - each can charm up to three beasts for free, and can speak with beasts & plants.

[McSkrag]

First, thanks for the awesome guide. Really well written and thought out. Bookmarked!

"Lizardfolk: +2 Con, +1 Dex..."

Minor correction: Volo's Lizardfolk get +2 CON and +1 WIS.

For me, this makes them a great choice for all kinds of druids with good mechanics and great flavor.

[Captain Panda]

This guide should be added to the list of GitP class guides, any way to ask the mods to add it?

[Merudo]

First, thanks for the awesome guide. Really well written and thought out. Bookmarked!

"Lizardfolk: +2 Con, +1 Dex..."

Minor correction: Volo's Lizardfolk get +2 CON and +1 WIS.

For me, this makes them a great choice for all kinds of druids with good mechanics and great flavor.

Thank you for the kind words! I fixed the error you spotted, nice catch.


This guide should be added to the list of GitP class guides, any way to ask the mods to add it?

Unfortunately, the GitP guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?377491-Guides-Tables-and-other-useful-tools-for-5E-D-amp-D) hasn't been updated since October 2018.

[MaxWilson]

FYI, when you polymorph or shapechange into a creature with legendary actions, per the MM legendary creature rules you don’t get to use the legendary actions. You DO get to use legendary resistances, if any.

Interestingly though, this does not apply to creatures summoned via e.g. Conjure Fey, so if you're playing in an AL game where that dino book is legal, go wild on the legendary dinosaur summoning + Planar Binding. IIRC there's a CR 7 dino with a legendary AoE tail attack, which you could get with a Conjure Fey VII.

Edit: yep, Titanosaurus, AC 17, 201 HP, 30' move, Stomp (20') at +13 for 6d10+7 (40) bludgeoning damage plus DC 16 Str save prone, or Tail (20') at +13 for 7d10+7 bludgeoning damage. Legendary actions are (1 action) half speed move without provoking opportunity attacks, (2 actions) becoming resistant to one of bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage until the start of its next turn, or (3 actions) making a tail attack with disadvantage against every creature in a 20' cone.

When I do the math against the DMG CR tables, it looks to me like the Titanosaurus should be a CR 13ish creature. It's CR 10 even if you completely ignore the legendary actions. Whoever wrote Beasts of the Jungle Rot was clearly off his or her rocker, and the fact that it's apparently AL legal is just plain crazy.

[Merudo]

FYI, when you polymorph or shapechange into a creature with legendary actions, per the MM legendary creature rules you don’t get to use the legendary actions. You DO get to use legendary resistances, if any.


Interestingly though, this does not apply to creatures summoned via e.g. Conjure Fey, so if you're playing in an AL game where that dino book is legal, go wild on the legendary dinosaur summoning + Planar Binding. IIRC there's a CR 7 dino with a legendary AoE tail attack, which you could get with a Conjure Fey VII.

Beasts summoned through Conjure Fey cannot use legendary actions, unfortunately.

The Monster Manual (p.11) has the following text:


If a creature assumes the form of a legendary creature, such as through a spell, it doesn’t gain that form’s legendary actions, lair actions, or regional effects.

Meanwhile, Conjure Fey has the following text:


You summon a fey creature of Challenge rating 6 or lower, or a fey spirit that takes the form of a beast of Challenge rating 6 or lower.

When you use Conjure Fey to get a Titanosaurus, what you get is actually a fey that assumes the form of the Titanosaurus. From the MM rule, the resulting fey/Titanosaurus can't use legendary actions.

[Zuras]

Interestingly though, this does not apply to creatures summoned via e.g. Conjure Fey, so if you're playing in an AL game where that dino book is legal, go wild on the legendary dinosaur summoning + Planar Binding. IIRC there's a CR 7 dino with a legendary AoE tail attack, which you could get with a Conjure Fey VII.

Edit: yep, Titanosaurus, AC 17, 201 HP, 30' move, Stomp (20') at +13 for 6d10+7 (40) bludgeoning damage plus DC 16 Str save prone, or Tail (20') at +13 for 7d10+7 bludgeoning damage. Legendary actions are (1 action) half speed move without provoking opportunity attacks, (2 actions) becoming resistant to one of bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage until the start of its next turn, or (3 actions) making a tail attack with disadvantage against every creature in a 20' cone.

When I do the math against the DMG CR tables, it looks to me like the Titanosaurus should be a CR 13ish creature. It's CR 10 even if you completely ignore the legendary actions. Whoever wrote Beasts of the Jungle Rot was clearly off his or her rocker, and the fact that it's apparently AL legal is just plain crazy.

Trust me, it doesn’t feel like a CR 10 creature when you try to kill PCs with it. It doesn’t have a swallow attack or anything to help its action economy except so-so legendary actions. A CR 13 Behemoth type creature means something insane like a Neothelid.

[Merudo]

Trust me, it doesn’t feel like a CR 10 creature when you try to kill PCs with it. It doesn’t have a swallow attack or anything to help its action economy except so-so legendary actions.

The Stone Golem (CR10) seems weaker than the Titanosaurus, so that's that.

Other CR10 creatures are harder to compare because most rely heavily on magic spells & abilities.

Btw the Titanosaurus takes some serious skill for the DM to play it well. You need to make full use of its Momentum ability, together with smart positing and its 20' reach to consistently keep it 35+ feet away from melee characters, round after round.

[GM_3826]

Unfortunately, the GitP guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?377491-Guides-Tables-and-other-useful-tools-for-5E-D-amp-D) hasn't been updated since October 2018.

For some reason, it felt like it had been updating more than it did...

[MaxWilson]

Trust me, it doesn’t feel like a CR 10 creature when you try to kill PCs with it. It doesn’t have a swallow attack or anything to help its action economy except so-so legendary actions. A CR 13 Behemoth type creature means something insane like a Neothelid.

It doesn't matter how it feels to you subjectively, because AC 17, 201 HP, +13 to hit, and ~90 HP of damage per round = CR 13. Compare to a CR 13 Adult White Dragon, which has similar HP, slightly better AC and Multiattack damage and slightly worse to-hit, and a much less damaging set of Legendary actions. (+13 at disadvantage for 45 HP in a 20' cone = lots of damage.) The dragon is a tougher foe, but that's due only to its stealth and mobility, which don't factor into CR.

The point is, the Titanosaurus is clearly not CR 7, that's just crazy. CR 7 is a 126 HP Stone Giant attacking at +9 for ~39 HP of damage, and the Titanosaurus is nearly twice that in both HP and DPR.


The Stone Golem (CR10) seems weaker than the Titanosaurus, so that's that.

Other CR10 creatures are harder to compare because most rely heavily on magic spells & abilities.

Btw the Titanosaurus takes some serious skill for the DM to play it well. You need to make full use of its Momentum ability, together with smart positing and its 20' reach to consistently keep it 35+ feet away from melee characters, round after round.

If you want to play it simply, just Dodge every round and use your Legendary action for that enormous AoE attack, in addition to any potential opportunity attacks with Stomp. This is very party-friendly if you're hypothetically using a Planar Bound Titanosaurus as one of your party tanks. The disadvantage on attacks hardly even matters when it's got +13 to hit, and you can always have the wizard's Familiar Help to cancel out disadvantage against a high-AC target.

P.S. Also, I may be biased because I think giving a gigantic sauropod the ability to nimbly "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" is just ridiculous, and calling the maneuver "Momentum" does not make it any less ridiculous.

[Merudo]

If you want to play it simply, just Dodge every round and use your Legendary action for that enormous AoE attack, in addition to any potential opportunity attacks with Stomp. This is very party-friendly if you're hypothetically using a Planar Bound Titanosaurus as one of your party tanks.

As I said earlier, you sadly can't use legendary actions with a Titanosaurus obtained through Conjure Fey.

[MaxWilson]

As I said earlier, you sadly can't use legendary actions with a Titanosaurus obtained through Conjure Fey.

I don't believe this is correct. If you're referring to this clause of the MM: "If a creature assumes the form of a legendary creature, such as through a spell, it doesn’t gain that form’s legendary actions, lair actions, or regional effects," then that applies to Polymorph effects, but not to summoning spells. Conjure Fey isn't changing one creature into another type of creature, it's just summoning a spirit in the form of a fey or beast.

[Zuras]

It doesn't matter how it feels to you subjectively, because AC 17, 201 HP, +13 to hit, and ~90 HP of damage per round = CR 13. Compare to a CR 13 Adult White Dragon, which has similar HP, slightly better AC and Multiattack damage and slightly worse to-hit, and a much less damaging set of Legendary actions. (+13 at disadvantage for 45 HP in a 20' cone = lots of damage.) The dragon is a tougher foe, but that's due only to its stealth and mobility, which don't factor into CR.

The point is, the Titanosaurus is clearly not CR 7, that's just crazy. CR 7 is a 126 HP Stone Giant attacking at +9 for ~39 HP of damage, and the Titanosaurus is nearly twice that in both HP and DPR.


Damage based guidelines are only a starting point—are you seriously saying playtesting has no role in calculating a creature’s CR?

Getting 80 DPR out of the Titanosaurus is making some very generous assumptions about how often you will get that Tail Thunder Legendary Action to work. 20’ reach does not make up for lacking a ranged attack. A Stone Giant or a Mind Flayer is definitely more likely to actually KO a PC than that big sack of HP. If you made the Titanosaurus a CR 13 creature, it would be a “Vampire” CR 13, not a “Beholder” CR 13.

[MaxWilson]

Damage based guidelines are only a starting point—are you seriously saying playtesting has no role in calculating a creature’s CR?

Getting 80 DPR out of the Titanosaurus is making some very generous assumptions about how often you will get that Tail Thunder Legendary Action to work. 20’ reach does not make up for lacking a ranged attack. A Stone Giant or a Mind Flayer is definitely more likely to actually KO a PC than that big sack of HP. If you made the Titanosaurus a CR 13 creature, it would be a “Vampire” CR 13, not a “Beholder” CR 13.

In terms of actual difficulty, I agree, mobility is huge. In terms of CR though it doesn't factor in.

If you think that a Titanosaurus should be CR 7, what CR do you think a CR 16 Iron Golem should have? They are both melee monsters (the dinosaur at least has more reach and mobility via legendary actions). Do you downgrade your Iron Golems to CR 6?

[Merudo]

I don't believe this is correct. If you're referring to this clause of the MM: "If a creature assumes the form of a legendary creature, such as through a spell, it doesn’t gain that form’s legendary actions, lair actions, or regional effects," then that applies to Polymorph effects, but not to summoning spells. Conjure Fey isn't changing one creature into another type of creature, it's just summoning a spirit in the form of a fey or beast.

Conjure Fey literally says it summons "a fey spirit that takes the form of a beast".

A "fey spirit" is a creature, and "taking the form" means the same as "assumes the form", so legendary actions aren't available to the summoned beast.

[MaxWilson]

Conjure Fey literally says it summons "a fey spirit that takes the form of a beast".

A "fey spirit" is a creature, and "taking the form" means the same as "assumes the form", so legendary actions aren't available to the summoned beast.

It's not a creature. Shepherd druids summon totem "spirits" which are explicitly not creatures. AFAICT "spirit" is WotC-speak for "mystical force" a.k.a. "handwavium." Does your theory make conjured fey vulnerable to anti-shapeshifter spells like Moonbeam? What stats should these hypothetical creatures have, and when you defeat them should you get XP for their true forms instead of just their hypothetical shapeshifted forms? Where's your evidence for your theory?

At minimum you must acknowledge that you're stating an opinion by saying it can't be done, not citing a rule like you could for Polymorph. My opinion is the opposite: clearly this is legal. But stupid.

[Merudo]

Does that make conjured fey vulnerable to anti-shapeshifter spells like Moonbeam?

The special effect of Moonbeam only works on creatures with the Shapeshifter type - it doesn't work with transformation effects such as Polymorph, Wild Shape, etc.

[MaxWilson]

Moonbeam only works on creatures with the Shapeshifter type - it doesn't work on most transformation effects such as Polymorph, Wild Shape, etc.

Again, where's your evidence that a Fey spirit is a creature, when other spirits explicitly are not creatures?

[Merudo]

Again, where's your evidence that a Fey spirit is a creature, when other spirits explicitly are not creatures?

Fey is a category of creatures.

[MaxWilson]

Fey is a category of creatures.

And a bear is a creature--but a Shepherd Druid's bear spirit explicitly is not. What makes Fey different than bears?

Don't abuse the MM rules by trying to apply the creature transformation clause to things which aren't creature transformations. Feel free to change the rules, especially when they're stupid, but let's be clear first on what the rules actually say. Forbidding legendary actions to a conjured Titanosaurus fits in the same category as forbidding legendary resistance to a Shapechanged Adult Red Dragon: not in the rules, but not unfair either.

[Merudo]

And a bear is a creature--but a Shepherd Druid's bear spirit explicitly is not. What makes Fey different than bears?


The Shepherd Druid's Spirit Totem has the following text:


[The spirit] counts as neither a creature nor an object

[MaxWilson]

The Shepherd Druid's Spirit Totem has the following text:

Therefore, "spirit" is not evidence of creature status.

[Zuras]

In terms of actual difficulty, I agree, mobility is huge. In terms of CR though it doesn't factor in.

If you think that a Titanosaurus should be CR 7, what CR do you think a CR 16 Iron Golem should have? They are both melee monsters (the dinosaur at least has more reach and mobility via legendary actions). Do you downgrade your Iron Golems to CR 6?

Iron Golems suffer from different problems in CR calculation, as their defensive immunities are over-estimated in the calculations, since a Tier 2 or higher party will have normally access to magic weapons. They don’t have legendary actions, though, so there is no indication in the Monster Manual that they are intended to threaten a party solo.

5e CR isn’t a good measure of a creature’s threat, and WotC’s CRs are all over the place. An Iron Golem is not the same level of challenge as a CR 16 Adult Blue Dragon. Any improvement on this would be based on playtesting and comparing creatures. If the Titanosaurus playtested as noticably stronger than the CR 6 Saurapod and noticeably weaker than the CR 8 T-Tex or CR 10 Giganotosaur, why shouldn’t it be CR 7?

[MaxWilson]

5e CR isn’t a good measure of a creature’s threat, and WotC’s CRs are all over the place. An Iron Golem is not the same level of challenge as a CR 16 Adult Blue Dragon. Any improvement on this would be based on playtesting and comparing creatures. If the Titanosaurus playtested as noticably stronger than the CR 6 Saurapod and noticeably weaker than the CR 8 T-Tex or CR 10 Giganotosaur, why shouldn’t it be CR 7?

I agree with this part in bold, at least. CR is mostly just a way to calculate XP awards.

If you think a Titanosaurus is weaker in play than a T-Rex, you're wrong.

[Zuras]

I agree with this part in bold, at least. CR is mostly just a way to calculate XP awards.

If you think a Titanosaurus is weaker in play than a T-Rex, you're wrong.

Clearly this isn’t something that can be resolved in forum comments, but I really don’t understand why you think the Titanosaurus is better.

I assume it is the legendary actions, but in practice, against the parties I ran through Chult, you either choose to use the mobility option and try to abuse your reach, or you let the party pound on it in exchange for one good shot with Tail Thunder before it goes down. I have no idea how they set the CRs, but discounting the effective Offensive CR after playtesting, due to the single attack and difficulty employing Tail Thunder seems like a reasonable decision.

Even 5th level PCs have massive amounts of tools, and you are so limited in your options (being a big dumb monster) that just one wrong cantrip can halfway shut you down. Ray of Frost and Vicious Mockery are both pretty bad for the Lord of the Sauropods, with its low speed (for a gargantuan creature) and single attack. Every party I ran in Chult also had a Druid or Ranger, and Spike Growth is a problem for Big T as well.

The T-Rex has the same problems, but at least in an ideal situation you can bite someone and move 50’ away from the other melee combatants to force them to waste a full turn catching up, at least making the PC in its jaws contemplate their mortality.

Both of them fall short of an effective plan of attack. It’s the Giganotosaurus, which adds Momentum to the Grapple/Bite and 60’ speed that might actually make a meal of some PCs

[MaxWilson]

Clearly this isn’t something that can be resolved in forum comments, but I really don’t understand why you think the Titanosaurus is better.

I assume it is the legendary actions, but in practice, against the parties I ran through Chult, you either choose to use the mobility option and try to abuse your reach, or you let the party pound on it in exchange for one good shot with Tail Thunder before it goes down...

The T-Rex has the same problems, but at least in an ideal situation you can bite someone and move 50’ away from the other melee combatants to force them to waste a full turn catching up, at least making the PC in its jaws contemplate their mortality.

Both of them fall short of an effective plan of attack...

I think you answered your own question here, but to reiterate: T Rex is a less mobile, much lower AC, much lower HP version of the Titanosaurus which can't even focus its Multiattack. In an ideal situation where you play the T Rex with human intelligence, you might buy an extra round of attacks to let you deal as much damage over two rounds as the Titanosaurus deals in one.

Do you really think the T Rex is better?



Both of them fall short of an effective plan of attack. It’s the Giganotosaurus, which adds Momentum to the Grapple/Bite and 60’ speed that might actually make a meal of some PCs

Giganotosaurus is roughly comparable to the Titanosaurus. E.g. its legendary action has more speed but doesn't prevent opportunity attacks; it has a fear legendary action but no damaging one, so it doesn't have the tanky Dodge + legendary attack option like a Titanosaur does; slightly more HP but significantly worse AC (effect is multiplied by disadvantage from Dodge or fear); slightly lower to-hit and about 20% more damage. Overall roughly comparable. Giganotosaurus is strictly better against a melee-heavy party in open terrain; Titanosaurus is strictly better against large melee-heavy parties like a Shepherd Druid swarm. (Not being tool users, both of them stink against ranged-heavy parties, especially in open terrain.) T Rex is not better than either.

You can't use the T Rex to justify the Titanosaurus's absurdly low CR. QED.

[Nhym]

Speaking of which, does anyone have the pdf version of beasts of the jungle rot? I would much appreciate it.

[MaxWilson]

Speaking of which, does anyone have the pdf version of beasts of the jungle rot? I would much appreciate it.

I do, but I don't think I can legally distribute it. You can get it here for $5 https://www.dmsguild.com/product/220567/Beasts-of-the-Jungle-Rot

If price is an issue, PM me with your email address and I'll send you a $5 gift certificate.

[Zuras]

I think you answered your own question here, but to reiterate: T Rex is a less mobile, much lower AC, much lower HP version of the Titanosaurus which can't even focus its Multiattack. In an ideal situation where you play the T Rex with human intelligence, you might buy an extra round of attacks to let you deal as much damage over two rounds as the Titanosaurus deals in one.

Do you really think the T Rex is better?


Yes, I definitely think the T-Rex is better. We’re clearly talking past each other, so let me restate what appears to be our disagreement:

You think the Titanosaurus will have a reasonable chance of landing its Tail Thunder AoE on 2 or more PCs more than once during the projected 3 rounds of fighting used to compute CR.

I agree that if you could do that, ol’ Thundertail would justify a higher CR than 7. My own experience has been that the low speed and fact that you must choose between mobility or offense for your legendary actions means the T-Saur’s effective DPR is much closer to 45 (for an offensive CR of 7) than 90.

You mention playing dinos with human intelligence, but darting in, grabbing one member of the herd in your jaws, then running off to devour it before you make another pass at the herd seems like standard hunting tactics a T-Rex or Giganotosaurus would use, so that’s how I play them.

At any rate, yes, I think Speed > 30’ and an auto-grapple + restrain on a hit are significantly better than the T-Saur’s legendary actions, enough so that they easily make up the difference in HP and AC.

If it helps, I consider the T-Saur as dishing out and absorbing damage appropriate to a CR 9ish creature, but then mark it down for being a big sack of HP without any range, speed or tricks/gimmicks worth worrying about. It’s so dang big and loud it’s difficult (for me at least) to imagine it gets to melee range before eating at least one round of missile attacks (this is how it played out at my table).

[Nhym]

I do, but I don't think I can legally distribute it. You can get it here for $5 https://www.dmsguild.com/product/220567/Beasts-of-the-Jungle-Rot

If price is an issue, PM me with your email address and I'll send you a $5 gift certificate.

Acquired. Much appreciated!

[MaxWilson]

Yes, I definitely think the T-Rex is better. We’re clearly talking past each other, so let me restate what appears to be our disagreement:

You think the Titanosaurus will have a reasonable chance of landing its Tail Thunder AoE on 2 or more PCs more than once during the projected 3 rounds of fighting used to compute CR.

Sort of. If the situation is appropriate for "ideal" T-Rex mobile tactics, it's also ideal for Titanosaurus mobile tactics, which means it's going to be better off using Momentum instead of Tail of Thunder--it's still better than the T-Rex, but in a different way. (More damage/HP/AC.)


I agree that if you could do that, ol’ Thundertail would justify a higher CR than 7. My own experience has been that the low speed and fact that you must choose between mobility or offense for your legendary actions means the T-Saur’s effective DPR is much closer to 45 (for an offensive CR of 7) than 90.

You mention playing dinos with human intelligence, but darting in, grabbing one member of the herd in your jaws, then running off to devour it before you make another pass at the herd seems like standard hunting tactics a T-Rex or Giganotosaurus would use, so that’s how I play them.

I see standard hunting behavior as the exact opposite: dart in, grab a member of the herd, and then all the others run away from you. How often does a cheetah run away from a herd of gazelles? It doesn't. Same would apply to a T-Rex. It doesn't expect to need to retreat--unfortunately, against PCs that is a mistake.

Against PCs a T-Rex ought to peel off and avoid them entirely as soon as they show their teeth (e.g. after inflicting 20+ HP of damage on the T-Rex), but that isn't any fun for the players. If you're a DM determined to play the T-Rex with human level intelligence and a willingness to die in futile combat, then hit-and-run tactics are your best bet, but they are no in way natural for the T-Rex. And again, a Titanosaurus is better than a T-Rex at hit-and-run tactics anyway thanks to Momentum.


At any rate, yes, I think Speed > 30’ and an auto-grapple + restrain on a hit are significantly better than the T-Saur’s legendary actions, enough so that they easily make up the difference in HP and AC.

Effective speed 45'-75' without taking opportunity attacks, plus way better HP and AC and an anti-swarm AoE >> Speed 50' and an auto-grapple + restrain, in a mobile scenario.


If it helps, I consider the T-Saur as dishing out and absorbing damage appropriate to a CR 9ish creature, but then mark it down for being a big sack of HP without any range, speed or tricks/gimmicks worth worrying about. It’s so dang big and loud it’s difficult (for me at least) to imagine it gets to melee range before eating at least one round of missile attacks (this is how it played out at my table).

Huh. It's weird that you consider the T-Saur to be "without speed" when it actually moves faster than a T-Rex under your apparent assumption that its legendary actions will be devoted entirely to Momentum (otherwise its HP/damage is higher than CR 10). 75' movement and reach 20' is considerably better than 50' movement and reach 10'. If that speed isn't worth worrying about then neither are most monsters in the MM. You're going to have to downgrade lots and lots of monsters, e.g. Goristro CR 17 => CR 7ish.

[Zuras]

I see standard hunting behavior as the exact opposite: dart in, grab a member of the herd, and then all the others run away from you. How often does a cheetah run away from a herd of gazelles? It doesn't. Same would apply to a T-Rex. It doesn't expect to need to retreat--unfortunately, against PCs that is a mistake.

Against PCs a T-Rex ought to peel off and avoid them entirely as soon as they show their teeth (e.g. after inflicting 20+ HP of damage on the T-Rex), but that isn't any fun for the players. If you're a DM determined to play the T-Rex with human level intelligence and a willingness to die in futile combat, then hit-and-run tactics are your best bet, but they are no in way natural for the T-Rex. And again, a Titanosaurus is better than a T-Rex at hit-and-run tactics anyway thanks to Momentum.


Effective speed 45'-75' without taking opportunity attacks, plus way better HP and AC and an anti-swarm AoE >> Speed 50' and an auto-grapple + restrain, in a mobile scenario.


T-Rexes might not use hit and run tactics on small theropods, but they also hunt ceratopsian dinos, and they won’t be sticking around to face a bull Triceratops. Whether or not a T-Rex will have learned humans can be dangerous is an open question, but in Chult they would. Plus, when they attack PCs it’s easy to say that they were being possessed by nature spirits or some other contrived reason to bother them.

As far as our CR argument, I checked and the King of Feathers gets no change to its CR after all its modifications, so obviously we are both wrong and nothing matters, since adding 64 hp and a massive mobility upgrade means nothing.

Beasts of the Jungle Rot is awesome, though. My dinosaur Zombies still went out like punks, but they had a lot more variety. If you think the Titanosaurus is in the same league as the Giganotosaurus though, you’re crazy. It’s all about trying to eat the PCs, man!

[MaxWilson]

T-Rexes might not use hit and run tactics on small theropods, but they also hunt ceratopsian dinos, and they won’t be sticking around to face a bull Triceratops.

They sure won't be used to using grapple tactics, then, because a Triceratops is Huge, and the T-Rex's grapple/restrain only works up to size Medium. And again, a T-Rex that takes noticeable damage while hunting should peel off and retreat, not risk death for the sake of a meal. You're selling the notion that hunting tactics translate to PC-killing tactics, and I'm not buying.


Whether or not a T-Rex will have learned humans can be dangerous is an open question, but in Chult they would. Plus, when they attack PCs it’s easy to say that they were being possessed by nature spirits or some other contrived reason to bother them.

Sure. Which is why I don't necessarily object to playing T-Rexes or Titanosaurs with human-level intelligence if you contrive a good reason for it--the game isn't actually challenging if all of the monsters act rationally.


As far as our CR argument, I checked and the King of Feathers gets no change to its CR after all its modifications, so obviously we are both wrong and nothing matters, since adding 64 hp and a massive mobility upgrade means nothing.

I don't know what you're saying here. I don't remember saying anything at all about the King of Feathers--did you?


Beasts of the Jungle Rot is awesome, though. My dinosaur Zombies still went out like punks, but they had a lot more variety. If you think the Titanosaurus is in the same league as the Giganotosaurus though, you’re crazy. It’s all about trying to eat the PCs, man!

Tell you what. Let's auto-generate four 9th level PCs on fastcharacter.com. You come up with a scenario that's ideal for the Giganotosaurus, and specify the tactics it will use, fighting to the death. I'll come up with a scenario that's ideal for the Titanosaurus and specify the tactics it will use, again fighting to the death. If you want we can actually run the fight over chat or something, otherwise we could just crunch the numbers. If the Giganotosaurus does at least 150% as much damage to the PCs before dying than the Titanosaurus does, you win the argument. If not, they are roughly comparable. Agree?

[Zuras]

Tell you what. Let's auto-generate four 9th level PCs on fastcharacter.com. You come up with a scenario that's ideal for the Giganotosaurus, and specify the tactics it will use, fighting to the death. I'll come up with a scenario that's ideal for the Titanosaurus and specify the tactics it will use, again fighting to the death. If you want we can actually run the fight over chat or something, otherwise we could just crunch the numbers. If the Giganotosaurus does at least 150% as much damage to the PCs before dying than the Titanosaurus does, you win the argument. If not, they are roughly comparable. Agree?

Look, we’re clearly talking past each other and derailing this thread, but if you want to start a king of the dinos thread, or even a CR 7-10 brute monster comparison thread, knock yourself out. However, giving either “ideal conditions” elides my whole point that the Titanosaurus suffers from its low speed and will likely eat an entire round of ranged attacks before it can hit the enemy, so you should be able to see my point just running a scenario starting at 60’ apart vs 30’.

[MaxWilson]

Look, we’re clearly talking past each other and derailing this thread, but if you want to start a king of the dinos thread, or even a CR 7-10 brute monster comparison thread, knock yourself out. However, giving either “ideal conditions” elides my whole point that the Titanosaurus suffers from its low speed and will likely eat an entire round of ranged attacks before it can hit the enemy, so you should be able to see my point just running a scenario starting at 60’ apart vs 30’.

My reply is here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589256-Is-Titanosaurus-CR-7-really-appropriate&p=23946028#post23946028

If you want to respond, feel free, and I'll respond back, but I don't think there's anything to say that hasn't already been said.

[col_impact]

It is great to see some much deserved recognition for Goblins being one of the best races for Moon Druid in this well-researched guide to Moon Druids. For a racial feat they get a lite version of Cunning Action/Mobility which is probably as good as it gets. Suddenly you have a lot more action economy whether wildshaping or not and can net big power ups from all wildshapes but especially charging and stealth forms. All of this without having to dip into levels of Rogue.

What race is the absolute best for Moon Druid? I vote Goblin.

[sambojin]

Really stupid druid trick for "air proning" flying creatures by lvl3 (about the exact same time battlemasters can do it with a bow). Yes, you'll do it better later on, but a nice early option is good to have. From another thread on the Warding Wind spell.

*****
Wondering how well a Warding Wind jump/grapple from a Female Steeder would play out against flyers too. Is this the druid's Trip Attack compared to a battlemaster doing the same with a bow? 10min duration, so if you get the spell up the moment you see a flyer (before actual combat starts), it can't move within 90' of you or you'll drop it out of the air like a stone, just like Trip Attack with a bow from a battlemaster, except you can get double proficiency on grapples :)

You can attack at any point during your movement, grappling turns yours and their movement to zero, you've got a strong wind surrounding you as well, and you really don't care about the fall damage. Lvl3 option for 90' air "proning", kind of. Should work in theory. Maybe even without the grapple attack hitting. Just specify that you're jumping "onto" the dragon, and expect an acrobatics roll at some point, but you've got a grapple attempt as well. If either sticks, the flying lizard drops. You've got a +5 Sticky Leg attack too, if that's better than your grapple attempt would be as well.
*****

Changing out of wildshape doesn't necessarily remove the grappled condition, whether it's from fall damage or by choice (or the restrained condition for that matter, when using other forms). So you can keep them there and use other stupid druid tricks the turn after as well.

There's always options with Moon Druids. Always :)

[Coidzor]

Creature Forms Availability

Existence: The first requirement of Polymorph, Wild Shape and the Conjure spells is that the target form must exist in the game universe. The existence of dinosaurs is typically the primary concern here - dinos are among some of the most powerful and versatile Beasts available, but some DMs exclude them from their world.

AL: If you play in Adventure League (AL), the creatures available are those listed in AL legal sources (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/208178/DD-Adventurers-League-Player--DM-Pack). These include the MM, most WotC supplements, published WotC Adventures, and content from the Guild Adept program such as BotJR.

All of the creatures I list in this guide are AL legal, except for those in GGtR and WGtE.

Additional restrictions: Beside the existence of the creature, there are some additional restriction on the target form:


Polymorph: your character must know about the creature.

Wild Shape: your character must have seen the creature before.

Conjure Animals / Minor Elemental / Fey : the creature(s) are selected by the DM.

Conjure Elemental: the elemental is appropriate for the area you choose, and selected by the DM.


Polymorph has the least restrictive requirement: having heard or read about the Beast is sufficient. The DM could reasonably ask for a Nature or History check if the Beast is rare or foreign.

For Wild Shape, observing a polymorphed or conjured Beast may be enough to let you Wild Shape into the form.

With the Conjure spells, you can request specific creature(s), although the DM is free to ignore your suggestions. Some DMs may also be more likely to oblige if your character knows about or has seen the creatures before, or if they are native to the land you are visiting.

DM Courtesy: Not a requirement, but if you wish to use a creature from a source your DM doesn't own, it is common courtesy to show him a picture or printed copy of the relevant stat block.

Awaken: The Awaken spell (level 5) can "awaken" a Beast of size Huge or smaller, increasing its Intelligence to 10 and allowing it to speak one language.

By RAW, there is nothing preventing a PC from using Wild Shape or Polymorph to turn into an Awakened Beast, or to conjure Awakened Beasts. Of course, some DMs may object to this.

Benefits: Choosing an awakened version of a Beast instead of the regular yields the following benefits


Wild Shape: you retain the ability to speak while Wild Shaped.
Polymorph: the target's intelligence becomes 10 (instead of the usual 1-2), and it can understand (but not speak) a language.
Conjure Animals/Fey: the conjured Beasts obey your orders more intelligently, and can report verbally to you.


Wild Shape Requirement: To Wild Shape into the awakened version of a Beast, you must have seen such awakened Beast before. If you are level 9+, the most straightforward way to do so is to awaken a member of the specie yourself.

The following adventures feature Awakened Beasts:


Ghosts of Saltmarsh: Giant Crab (Barnacle Bess).

Poisoned Words: Flying Snake (Zsoksia).

Putting the Dead to Rest: Giant Ape.

Tomb of Annihilation: Giant Constructor Snake (Azi Mas).

Waterdeep Dragon Heist: Draft Horse (Maxeene), Giant Shark (Obliteros), & Rat.

Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Brown Bear, Elk, and Giant Wasp.


Polymorph Requirement: I assume you need to know about a specific awakened Beast; knowing that a given beast could be theoretically awakened is not sufficient.

Some Beasts have a name and unique stats. By RAW, these Beasts are legal forms for Wild Shape, Polymorph, and the Conjure Animals / Fey spells.

In practice, the DM is unlikely to conjure these creatures, and some may even prohibit Wild Shaping and Polymorphing into them.

The following adventures feature unique Beasts:


Curse of Strahd: Sangzor the Giant Goat (p.160).
Lost Mine of Phandelver: Snarl the Wolf (p.40).
Out of the Abyss: The Spider King (p.74).
Tales from the Yawning Portal: Guthash the Giant Rat (p.21), Huge Giant Crab (p.103)

The Spider King is rather problematic here - the form is a greatly buffed Giant Spider yet remains CR 1. Although not RAW, the fluff of the creature suggests to me it should be an Monstrosity instead of a Beast, and thus not a valid target for Wild Shape.

Some Beasts do not have their own stat block, but are instead variants of existing monsters with some changes. By RAW, there is nothing stopping you from using these altered forms for Wild Shape, Polymorph, & conjuring spells.

The MM & VGtM have the following variants:


Monster Manual: Cave Bear, Diseases Giant Rat, Giant Lizards (Swiming/Climbing), & Satyr (Pipe)
Volo's Guide to Monsters: Ox, Rothe, & Stench Kow.


Additionally, some easily missed monster variants are described in the middle of an adventure:


Out of the Abyss: Cave Badger (p.96), Fiendish Giant Spider (p.97), Giant Rocktopus (p.28)
Storm King's Thunder: Ice Spider (p.127), Ice Spider Queen (p.128)
Tales from the Yawning Portal: Amphisbaena (p.83), Four-Armed Gargoyle (p.129), Large Subterranean Lizard (p.176)
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Flying Spider (p.150)



While looking for creatures for the summoning spells, I've decided to exclude the following:


Encounters in Port Nyanzaru: Cursed Water Elemental (p.19, unique).
Chelimber's Descent: Stone Mephit (p.22, obscure & too powerful).
Giant Diplomacy: Oblivillish (p.23, unique).
Szith Morcane Unbound: Azer Acolyte & Priest (pp. 26-27, weak & obscure forms).
The Iron Baron: Ironmonger (p.41, unique Earth Elemental Myrmidon), Vigorel (p.43, unique).
Uneasy Lies the Head: Wobbles (p.36, magically enhanced).
Waterdeep Dragon Heist: Lady Gondafrey (p.152, unique).
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Big Xorn (p.51, unique), Haungharassk (p.258, magically enhanced), Poison Weird (p.127, dies out of brew).




Pretty thorough and a well put together guide!

I must admit, though, I'm a little surprised that you went through and even included an excluded forms section but didn't also mention Half-Dragons, if only to say that you were intentionally excluding them.

[Reevh]

Great guide. But why do you say that you can speak as a Giant Elk? The stat block says you understand Common/Elvish/Sylvan but can't speak it.

[Trustypeaches]

Really stupid druid trick for "air proning" flying creatures by lvl3 (about the exact same time battlemasters can do it with a bow). Yes, you'll do it better later on, but a nice early option is good to have. From another thread on the Warding Wind spell.Fun fact. Prone doesn’t reduce the targets speed to 0. A prone target can still “crawl”, where just expand 2 feet of movement for every 1 foot they travel.

Prone
A prone creature’s only Movement option is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition.So knocking an Airborne target prone doesn’t cause them to plummet out of the air, sorry Battlemasters.

[Daghoulish]

Fun fact. Prone doesn’t reduce the targets speed to 0. A prone target can still “crawl”, where just expand 2 feet of movement for every 1 foot they travel.
So knocking an Airborne target prone doesn’t cause them to plummet out of the air, sorry Battlemasters.

In the combat section of the Player's Handbook.

Flying Movement
Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.

[Zuras]

Great guide. But why do you say that you can speak as a Giant Elk? The stat block says you understand Common/Elvish/Sylvan but can't speak it.


Since giant elk can speak Giant Elk, they can speak a language, so it is less of a stretch to argue that you can converse, at least haltingly, with the rest of the party.

[NorthernPhoenix]

Great guide! The only mistake that stood out to me instantly is how you criminally underrate Mirage Arcana. It's arguably one of the most broken spells in the game, and recent Sage Advice does nothing but encourage the most powerful interpretation of the spell possible. You could reasonably expect many DMs to ban it if you push your luck, but the same can be said for Woodland Beings, or any of the mass conjure spells, which you still rate extremely high.

[KorvinStarmast]

Unleash Your Inner Beast: A Moon Druid Guide (v1.2)


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/blackbandos-homebrew/images/2/2e/Circle_of_the_summoner.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20171018133731

My guide to the other Druid Circles is available here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584818).
*Applause*
That's a very organized and thorough approach you have taken, and I like how you folded in the adventure specific stuff.

Nice job, thanks for the hard work.

[Zigludo]

I hope I can be forgiven for bumping this very interesting thread despite the fact that it's been inactive for a few months.

Great guide, Merudo. This is a pretty insane amount of detail and really goes over basically everything. My only complaint is that you seem to ignore accuracy when talking about damage output. This is a pretty big deal when comparing the damage output of say, Polar Bear and Quetzalcoatlus. It may be fair to mention that you'll often be able to obtain Advantage or bonuses to hit from magical effects, but you don't always have those.

There's one possible multiclassing path that I think you've overlooked, one which has been a bit of a hobby-horse of mine lately: taking Moon Druid to 6 for CR 2 forms, then going into an Extra Attack class for five levels. This results in a big boost to damage output bonus at 11th level which is the second big break-point after 5th level. I've been running quite a bit of math on it and although it does require you to split your attention, if you choose a proper form (such as Aurochs) your melee damage output in Wild Shape is on-par with optimized 11th characters like GWM + PAM fighters and Barbarians. Not only that, but this build's melee output continues to scale towards 20th level as you unlock beasts with increasing accuracy and stronger attacks. Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Brontosaurus are pretty terrifying with Extra Attack. Obviously, the huge downside is that, should you actually hit 20, you won't have 9th level spells, and you won't have Archdruid. But frankly the infinite HP of Archdruid tends to be kind of overkill. A raging Rhinoceros or and this boosts your damage a lot (although it does rob you of Foresight).

My ideal path would probably be Barbarian to 5 for Fast Movement, Rage resistance and Extra Attack. Rage (especially Bear totem) makes you less likely to be knocked out of Wild Shape in the first round which is probably going to be the biggest threat to your resources / action economy. But Fighter (BM/EK), Monk, Ranger (Gloomstalker) and even Paladin have advantages over the Barbarian.

I would combine it with Mobile to set up turns with multiple charges on Giant Elk or Rhinoceros. Extra Attack also enables Giant Elk to occasionally use Charge and Hooves on the same turn.

Now obviously this is a lot of text to say "Going Barb 5 is nice because Extra Attack is good with Higher CR beasts." But I do think it's worth considering :smallwink:

[Yunru]

I hope I can be forgiven for bumping this very interesting thread despite the fact that it's been inactive for a few months.

Great guide, Merudo. This is a pretty insane amount of detail and really goes over basically everything. My only complaint is that you seem to ignore accuracy when talking about damage output. This is a pretty big deal when comparing the damage output of say, Polar Bear and Quetzalcoatlus. It may be fair to mention that you'll often be able to obtain Advantage or bonuses to hit from magical effects, but you don't always have those.

There's one possible multiclassing path that I think you've overlooked, one which has been a bit of a hobby-horse of mine lately: taking Moon Druid to 6 for CR 2 forms, then going into an Extra Attack class for five levels. This results in a big boost to damage output bonus at 11th level which is the second big break-point after 5th level. I've been running quite a bit of math on it and although it does require you to split your attention, if you choose a proper form (such as Aurochs) your melee damage output in Wild Shape is on-par with optimized 11th characters like GWM + PAM fighters and Barbarians. Not only that, but this build's melee output continues to scale towards 20th level as you unlock beasts with increasing accuracy and stronger attacks. Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Brontosaurus are pretty terrifying with Extra Attack. Obviously, the huge downside is that, should you actually hit 20, you won't have 9th level spells, and you won't have Archdruid. But frankly the infinite HP of Archdruid tends to be kind of overkill. A raging Rhinoceros or and this boosts your damage a lot (although it does rob you of Foresight).

My ideal path would probably be Barbarian to 5 for Fast Movement, Rage resistance and Extra Attack. Rage (especially Bear totem) makes you less likely to be knocked out of Wild Shape in the first round which is probably going to be the biggest threat to your resources / action economy. But Fighter (BM/EK), Monk, Ranger (Gloomstalker) and even Paladin have advantages over the Barbarian.

I would combine it with Mobile to set up turns with multiple charges on Giant Elk or Rhinoceros. Extra Attack also enables Giant Elk to occasionally use Charge and Hooves on the same turn.

Now obviously this is a lot of text to say "Going Barb 5 is nice because Extra Attack is good with Higher CR beasts." But I do think it's worth considering :smallwink:Going Long Death Monk 5 is also great for the TempHP.

[Zuras]

Obviously, the huge downside is that, should you actually hit 20, you won't have 9th level spells, and you won't have Archdruid. But frankly the infinite HP of Archdruid tends to be kind of overkill. A raging Rhinoceros or and this boosts your damage a lot (although it does rob you of Foresight).


Archdruid isn't just for the infinite forms. Archdruid and Beast Spells letting you cast in wild shape are a huge improvement at high levels.

[ATHATH]

Really stupid druid trick for "air proning" flying creatures by lvl3 (about the exact same time battlemasters can do it with a bow). Yes, you'll do it better later on, but a nice early option is good to have. From another thread on the Warding Wind spell.

*****
Wondering how well a Warding Wind jump/grapple from a Female Steeder would play out against flyers too. Is this the druid's Trip Attack compared to a battlemaster doing the same with a bow? 10min duration, so if you get the spell up the moment you see a flyer (before actual combat starts), it can't move within 90' of you or you'll drop it out of the air like a stone, just like Trip Attack with a bow from a battlemaster, except you can get double proficiency on grapples :)

You can attack at any point during your movement, grappling turns yours and their movement to zero, you've got a strong wind surrounding you as well, and you really don't care about the fall damage. Lvl3 option for 90' air "proning", kind of. Should work in theory. Maybe even without the grapple attack hitting. Just specify that you're jumping "onto" the dragon, and expect an acrobatics roll at some point, but you've got a grapple attempt as well. If either sticks, the flying lizard drops. You've got a +5 Sticky Leg attack too, if that's better than your grapple attempt would be as well.
*****

Changing out of wildshape doesn't necessarily remove the grappled condition, whether it's from fall damage or by choice (or the restrained condition for that matter, when using other forms). So you can keep them there and use other stupid druid tricks the turn after as well.

There's always options with Moon Druids. Always :)
Didn't female steeders get updated to be Monstrosities in a later book?

[ATHATH]

There's one possible multiclassing path that I think you've overlooked, one which has been a bit of a hobby-horse of mine lately: taking Moon Druid to 6 for CR 2 forms, then going into an Extra Attack class for five levels.
Does Extra Attack work with some of the weird Attack options of wild shape forms? I could have sworn that I saw some clarification somewhere that they don't work together, but I could be wrong.

Also, the author of this guide might want to update their description of Contagion to reflect the spell's errata.

[Yunru]

Didn't female steeders get updated to be Monstrosities in a later book?

No. They've been released as both and are, as officially as we know, both depending on where in the realm you are.

[DreadNecromancy]

You never rate the Mosasaur under polymorph forms (but you do under Conjure Fey). How is it for polymorph?

It's in BotJR, CR 8.

[Orc_Lord]

I have probably read hundreds of guides. This might be one of the most in depth ones I have seen.

Great job.

[Zuras]

You never rate the Mosasaur under polymorph forms (but you do under Conjure Fey). How is it for polymorph?

It's in BotJR, CR 8.

It doesn’t have a walking speed, meaning it only helps in fully aquatic situations. Since it only has one attack as well, it’s just an OK emergency combat form. The Sarcosuchus is significantly better in almost every conceivable situation, with its two attacks and ability to move on land.

Also remember that most aquatic encounters involve boats or significant non-combat complications, meaning wildshaping into an Orca or Giant Octopus while concentrating on Control Water or Call Lightning will be more effective.

Mosasaur is basically for letting the fighter distract the Dragon Turtle/Kraken by themselves temporarily. It’s not even much better than the Giant Shark, which does only 2/3 the damage but usually gets advantage and has 60 feet of blindsight.

[Tetrasodium]

Couple things you missed or that should be made more clear First is that you left out the feats from Morgraves misc(MorMisc), eberron druids are pretty different from FR's & it includes a few things to help in that regard Here's one of the less judgement/dm style reliant ones. I expect rising will change a few thing as well because of how different druids are there.


hierophant
Requirements: The ability to cast a druid or ranger spell.
You have strengthened your connection to the beasts of the natural world. You gain the following benefits:
• You gain proficiency in either the Nature or Survival skill.
• You learn the speak with animals spell and can cast it once without expending a spell slot. Once you do, you can’t do so again until you complete a short or long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
• You gain one use of the Wild Shape feature available to the druid class and can use it to shift into any beasts you have seen before with a CR rating 1/8 or below, including those with a swim or fly speed.
• Once you do, you can’t do so again until you complete a short or long rest. If you have the Wild Shape feature from another source, you gain an additional use with the benefits and restrictions of that feature instead.


also you might be underselling warforge as a race to a significant degree

Per crawford in the druid/wildshape podcast (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/chris-avellone-and-philip-daigle-planescape-torment-enhanced-edition)... ~1640:"we state in the wildshape rule that this transformation is magical", 20:20:"There's another bit of wildshape that generates a lot of questions, & that is.. we state, that while in wildshape you retain access to your class, your race, and any other source. and you can use them if the new form is capable of doing so. when we say any other source, this also includes stuff like feats. You have access to alk of these things as long as you are physically capable of using them. Now this is very open ended & we were very purposeful in leaving this open ended because there are so may different animals you can turn into , feats, features, racial traits. If we got too specific, we would then wind up being far more restrictive than we intended. Really the message I want to give out to our listeners is that this ruling is written in the spirit of permissiveness, we actually want you to be able to use as many of your of class features, racial traits, feats, etcetera as possible but within a sort of limit based more on narrative than game balance. think about what is your person physically capable of doing, if it's a feature that obviously requires the kind of manual dexterity that needs humanlike hands, your not going to be able to do it in your beast form. If a feature specifically refers to a kind of anatomy that you lack.. hypothetical, lets say you have a racial trait that refers to your wings say an aarakokra & you transform into something that lacks those wings... well you don't have access to that racial trait. Those aren't the combinations that people usually have questions about. They usually have questions about things like... one that comes up a lot is 'im a dragonborn, I transform into a beast, do I get to use my breath weapon?'. Well again, this rule is written in an attitude of permissiveness and also as a DM my attutude is very permissive. The dragonborn racial trait, all it says is you exhale this breath weapon. You don't talk about it tied to a particular organ in your body">"alright basically any creature that has lungs or the ability to exhale something would you say?">I would even be more permissive than that. That as long as the creature has a mouth like orifice I would be fine with the dragonborn using their reath weapon"

That bolded bit is super relevant to the wording of integrated protection

Integrated Protection. Your bodyhas builtin defensive layers, which determine your armor class. You gain no benefit from wearing armor, but if you are using a shield, you apply its bonus as normal.

Every wildshape form has something that would be called "your body", crawford making that bizarre kneejerk tweet about integrated protection that conflicts with both his own guidance from the podcast (linked & quoted above) as well as the rules themselves calls into question if the big important difference is really the fact that dragonborn are a "cool" race "in FR" compared to warforged being a "tragic" race that some consider to be a "cool race" present "in eberron" since the same hand-waiving he applies to "exhale" to dismiss the need for lungs & the ability to actually exhale breath can just as easily be applied to "your body" & "defensive layers".

A GM could choose to ignore both guidance from wotc along with the rules themselves & declare that integrated protection doesn't work in wildshape & then your colors for warforged might be about right. Alternately a prospective moon druid could talk to their GM, mutually agree that the crawford tweet is bunk (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunk) & decide to follow both guidance on interpreting wildshape interactions, wildshape rules, and the wording for warforged integrated protection. In that case the color code should probably go up a notch or two. Regardless & either way, the need for this discussion should be noted until WotC finishes fully coming to its senses with druids.

[sambojin]

Funny little thing for Firbolgs as a race choice as a Moon. Since Giant Elks/Eagles/Owls and all CR5 Elementals speak a language, and you can talk when wildshaped as one, your "Speech of Beast and Leaf" will kick-in and let all animals and plants understand you as well.

It's a fairly minor thing, but you probably will spend at least a bit of your time as a Giant Elk, Eagle or Elemental as a Moon Druid, so it's a weird little side-bonus you get for lvl6-10+ play. And no, apparently you can't turn it off. Everything that could be considered a beast can understand you, whenever you talk.

Just figured I'd mention it, because there's an entire section on wildshape talky'ness in the guide. Common+Elvish+Primordial (or Sylvan), with mini talk-to-animals isn't a terrible language package in most games as a Moon, even better when you keep beast speech as an Elemental.

It also never really runs out of usefulness to always have Detect Magic and Super Disguise Self prepared, even as 1/sr, even if one of them is a ritual (you just saved one prepared spell slot each day, for a black/blue rated spell!). Being able to look like a Gnomish Wizard or a (Dark?)Elvish Bard or an orc/ goblin/ kobold/ whatever before the wildshaping begins, essentially for free with no concentration, never really gets old either. It doesn't get replaced by your other abilities as a Moon, ever. +1 higher level spell prepared, +Super Disguise Self, done. They're probably still only worth rating as blue as a race choice though (not light blue), due to stats, this is just an extra side-thingo that isn't mentioned in the guide, or where it is implied that the racial abilities don't keep being handy all campaign long. There's also no real reason why "Powerful Build" doesn't carry over into wildshape either, so why not carry 30lbs as a tiny spider? Even just to merge loot into yourself and then disappear. Or thousands of pounds as a Giant Constrictor Snake?


Also, it's another pretty niche thing, but a Fighter dip's "fighting style" does give you +2 to-hit on a wildshape form's ranged attacks with the Archery style. They are still a "Ranged Weapon Attack". So Giant Spiders, Dilophosauri, Frilled Deathspitters, Giant Spitting Lizards, Giant Apes, etc get a tiny bit of a boost from the archery style.

[sambojin]

Simply because this is one of the best guides about, a couple of suggested additions:

When Wildshaping into an Air Elemental, you can use a shield to boost AC (because you're proficient in them and it has a "natural" 10+dexmod AC). So they're mostly 17AC or better.
"17AC with a basic shield, can use a sling/dagger for a backup ranged weapon due to high Dex, anti-flying condition immune" would do it. Let people work out that magic armour resizes, etc from there.
(doesn't change the rating. Earth Elementals can use javelins for a backup ranged option. By RAW, they'd be magical attacks too. But Air Elementals are pretty good. 21AC with a +1 shield/+1 studded leather armour is nice to have).

Tidal Wave probably should be rated as black. It air-prones, and you can make it a lot smaller than 30'x10'x10'. It can be the size of a drop of water and it will still cause magical bludgeoning + potential proning. Great for tightly packed combats (which you tend to make happen with Conjure spells).
It's not a great spell, but being able to cast it both in the air, and at any angle within 120' (around a dungeon corridor corner for example), as well as smaller than its maximum size, gives it added versatility that's not really apparent when you read the spell description for the first time. No concentration damage is rare for a druid, at least this one is highly modifiable in just where/who it will effect.
Probably just a "Can be cast at aerial targets, or made smaller than its maximum size" would do it.

[Zuras]

Simply because this is one of the best guides about, a couple of suggested additions:

When Wildshaping into an Air Elemental, you can use a shield to boost AC (because you're proficient in them and it has a "natural" 10+dexmod AC). So they're mostly 17AC or better.
"17AC with a basic shield, can use a sling/dagger for a backup ranged weapon due to high Dex, anti-flying condition immune" would do it. Let people work out that magic armour resizes, etc from there.
(doesn't change the rating. Earth Elementals can use javelins for a backup ranged option. By RAW, they'd be magical attacks too. But Air Elementals are pretty good. 21AC with a +1 shield/+1 studded leather armour is nice to have).

Tidal Wave probably should be rated as black. It air-prones, and you can make it a lot smaller than 30'x10'x10'. It can be the size of a drop of water and it will still cause magical bludgeoning + potential proning. Great for tightly packed combats (which you tend to make happen with Conjure spells).
It's not a great spell, but being able to cast it both in the air, and at any angle within 120' (around a dungeon corridor corner for example), as well as smaller than its maximum size, gives it added versatility that's not really apparent when you read the spell description for the first time. No concentration damage is rare for a druid, at least this one is highly modifiable in just where/who it will effect.
Probably just a "Can be cast at aerial targets, or made smaller than its maximum size" would do it.

Wearing/wielding items in wild shape is going deep into “ask your DM territory”, but I agree Tidal Wave is underrated. Once you get more 3rd level slots it’s a solid AoE to use if something else is using your concentration. Knocking opponents prone and targeting Dex saves makes it a solid counter for heavily armored foes with low Dex like Fire Giants.

Knocking prone with Tidal Wave also combos with Conjure Animals - suddenly everyone gets advantage, not just those with pack tactics, and all the beasts with special trample or pounce attacks will work without the target needing to fail a low DC strength save. Any creatures with auto grapple attacks can then lock down the enemy and keep them prone, as well.

Since Tidal Wave explicitly leaves water behind and puts out fires, it has clever utility uses as well. I’ve used it to fill a room with a few inches of water to find an invisible foe, and put out wildfires the Wizard started with an ill advised fireball. It’s head and shoulders above Erupting Earth.

[sambojin]

We've always played it that the water disappears immediately after cast (the spell suggests that it's an instant effect), but your way would be handier. RAW, the spell is great though. More like a mini-water-explodey-EMP pop, than a tidal wave. So targetable, so useful, it's just a pity you can't scale damage with higher slots (it's one of those bits of spell research, that if it is ever available, every druid should do).

But yeah. Sort of like an instant-geyser-EMP-grenade-beam or something (modifiable on cast for angle and size, and can be targeted anywhere within 120' LoS), and definitely black rated (if it could scale RAW, it would be dark blue).

[Merudo]

Simply because this is one of the best guides about, a couple of suggested additions:

When Wildshaping into an Air Elemental, you can use a shield to boost AC (because you're proficient in them and it has a "natural" 10+dexmod AC). So they're mostly 17AC or better.

Unfortunately, there is nothing in the MM suggesting Air Elementals are capable of using tools. If your DM is fine with it, good for you!



Tidal Wave probably should be rated as black. It air-prones, and you can make it a lot smaller than 30'x10'x10'. It can be the size of a drop of water and it will still cause magical bludgeoning + potential proning. Great for tightly packed combats (which you tend to make happen with Conjure spells).
It's not a great spell, but being able to cast it both in the air, and at any angle within 120' (around a dungeon corridor corner for example), as well as smaller than its maximum size, gives it added versatility that's not really apparent when you read the spell description for the first time. No concentration damage is rare for a druid, at least this one is highly modifiable in just where/who it will effect.
Probably just a "Can be cast at aerial targets, or made smaller than its maximum size" would do it.


Wearing/wielding items in wild shape is going deep into “ask your DM territory”, but I agree Tidal Wave is underrated. Once you get more 3rd level slots it’s a solid AoE to use if something else is using your concentration. Knocking opponents prone and targeting Dex saves makes it a solid counter for heavily armored foes with low Dex like Fire Giants.

Knocking prone with Tidal Wave also combos with Conjure Animals - suddenly everyone gets advantage, not just those with pack tactics, and all the beasts with special trample or pounce attacks will work without the target needing to fail a low DC strength save. Any creatures with auto grapple attacks can then lock down the enemy and keep them prone, as well.

Since Tidal Wave explicitly leaves water behind and puts out fires, it has clever utility uses as well. I’ve used it to fill a room with a few inches of water to find an invisible foe, and put out wildfires the Wizard started with an ill advised fireball. It’s head and shoulders above Erupting Earth.

I agree, ranking Tidal Wave so low was a mistake. It's not very good when you get it at level 5, but it becomes good at higher levels, when you can effort to cast level 3 spells more freely. It's definitely a useful concentration-free damage+debuff, one which pairs nicely with conjured animals.

[Zuras]

I agree, ranking Tidal Wave so low was a mistake. It's not very good when you get it at level 5, but it becomes good at higher levels, when you can effort to cast level 3 spells more freely. It's definitely a useful concentration-free damage+debuff, one which pairs nicely with conjured animals.

If you’re updating rankings, I’d argue you should update Daylight to purple. It is a super niche spell, but as a prepared caster you can pick it up when fighting heavy users of magical Darkness like Drow, Devils, Demons and Warlock NPCs. Dispel Magic is often a poor solution in these situations, since your opponents may use multiple castings or even the ability to create darkness at will, while Daylight continues repressing the darkness as long as it is active.

Obviously less useful if your DM never throws the Darkness+Devil’s Sight combo at you, but every time I pulled that on my PCs they shocked me by having Daylight prepared and rolling the encounter (once I was only shocked that a player actually remembered their Driftglobe could cast it, tbf). More likely to come up in Avernus this season as well.

It gets a bad rap more for its misleading name than anything else. If they had called it Abjure Darkness, more players might understand what it actually does.

Also, you might note Water Walking is also a great defensive spell for water adventures. Even if you don’t plan on walking on the water (or in one recent case, raw sewage), water walking can keep creatures like Froghemoths and giant crocodiles from dragging you under the water (if they actually swallow you you're still out of luck, though). I have actually cast it as an action in those circumstances more than once.

[MaxWilson]

If you’re updating rankings, I’d argue you should update Daylight to purple. It is a super niche spell, but as a prepared caster you can pick it up when fighting heavy users of magical Darkness like Drow, Devils, Demons and Warlock NPCs. Dispel Magic is often a poor solution in these situations, since your opponents may use multiple castings or even the ability to create darkness at will, while Daylight continues repressing the darkness as long as it is active.

Obviously less useful if your DM never throws the Darkness+Devil’s Sight combo at you, but every time I pulled that on my PCs they shocked me by having Daylight prepared and rolling the encounter (once I was only shocked that a player actually remembered their Driftglobe could cast it, tbf). More likely to come up in Avernus this season as well.

It gets a bad rap more for its misleading name than anything else. If they had called it Abjure Darkness, more players might understand what it actually does.

Remarks on Daylight vs. the opportunity cost:

In most cases I'd advocate Fog Cloud over Daylight for these scenarios. By blinding everyone equally, you still negate the advantage of anyone with devil's sight, but now you as a druid can still Wildshape into anything with blindsight (Hulking Crab, Giant Constrictor Snake) and get advantage on your attacks. You also negate a lot of demonic spellcasting like Power Word Stun (Glabrezu). And Fog Cloud still has applications outside of countering magical darkness specifically, and it's much cheaper in terms of spell slots.

However, Daylight is better if your allies need to do spellcasting, e.g. if you've got a nuclear wizard who relies on vision for his Magic Missiles, or a warlock who can only Eldritch Blast things that he can see, or if you're engaged in a running battle and need to be able to move your anti-darkness with you. In that case you might indeed want Daylight instead of or in addition to Fog Cloud, although a pre-cast Continual Flame III is obviously cheaper (in terms of spell slots spent during the adventure) and also excellent (but not on the Druid spell list).

[Merudo]

Remarks on Daylight vs. the opportunity cost:

In most cases I'd advocate Fog Cloud over Daylight for these scenarios. By blinding everyone equally, you still negate the advantage of anyone with devil's sight, but now you as a druid can still Wildshape into anything with blindsight (Hulking Crab, Giant Constrictor Snake) and get advantage on your attacks. You also negate a lot of demonic spellcasting like Power Word Stun (Glabrezu). And Fog Cloud still has applications outside of countering magical darkness specifically, and it's much cheaper in terms of spell slots.

However, Daylight is better if your allies need to do spellcasting, e.g. if you've got a nuclear wizard who relies on vision for his Magic Missiles, or a warlock who can only Eldritch Blast things that he can see, or if you're engaged in a running battle and need to be able to move your anti-darkness with you. In that case you might indeed want Daylight instead of or in addition to Fog Cloud, although a pre-cast Continual Flame III is obviously cheaper (in terms of spell slots spent during the adventure) and also excellent (but not on the Druid spell list).

The main advantage of Daylight is that it does not require Concentration. This is quite valuable, especially to a Druid.

[MaxWilson]

The main advantage of Daylight is that it does not require Concentration. This is quite valuable, especially to a Druid.

Touche. Continual Flame doesn't either but you're right, this is an advantage over Fog Cloud (and druids don't get Continual Flame anyway). You've convinced me: Daylight could be worth preparing sometimes.

[Scarytincan]

I'm not familiar with one of the sources, where some of the dinos are coming from like troodon and therizino?

[Merudo]

I'm not familiar with one of the sources, where some of the dinos are coming from like troodon and therizino?

Beasts of the Jungle Rot (BotJR), a supplement allowed in AL games.


Touche. Continual Flame doesn't either but you're right, this is an advantage over Fog Cloud (and druids don't get Continual Flame anyway). You've convinced me: Daylight could be worth preparing sometimes.

Are there any monsters in M&M or MToF that can, straight out of the book, take advantage of Darkness effects? I've never fought one, or read about one.

My understanding is that unless the DM throws a custom monster / NPC at you that can abuse Darkness, you'll never need the Daylight spell.

Plus, as you said, Continual Flame is the correct counter to Darkness effects, not Daylight.

[MaxWilson]

Are there any monsters in M&M or MToF that can, straight out of the book, take advantage of Darkness effects? I've never fought one, or read about one.


Sure. Glabrezu, Black Abishai, Nycaloths come immediately to mind, plus Volo monsters such as Orc Fang of Shargaas (not sure of the spelling), Neogi Masters, and Darkling Elders.

(Plus liches and Arcanoloths I think if they swapped around their prepared spells first per MM guidelines on prepared spell swapping, but they have better things to do with their concentration anyway than cast Darkness.)

[Merudo]

Sure. Glabrezu, Black Abishai, Nycaloths come immediately to mind, plus Volo monsters such as Orc Fang of Shargaas (not sure of the spelling), Neogi Masters, and Darkling Elders.

(Plus liches and Arcanoloths I think if they swapped around their prepared spells first per MM guidelines on prepared spell swapping, but they have better things to do with their concentration anyway than cast Darkness.)

Now that you mention it, I remember an Arcanaloth in CoS that starts off within a Darkness spell.

Okay, Daylight can be useful if you expect to face one of these monsters and nobody has access to Continual Flame.

[MaxWilson]

Now that you mention it, I remember an Arcanaloth in CoS that starts off within a Darkness spell.

Okay, Daylight can be useful if you expect to face one of these monsters and nobody has access to Continual Flame.

Note that some of them have tools that Daylight can't help with either, e.g. Mezzoloths have Cloudkill + Blindsight as well as Darkness + Blindsight. So you may just be forcing them to spend a round switching.

[Garokson]

It seems like you're missing all the dragon mark races. At least I haven't seen them. Right now there's quite a bunch of people going for the mark of warding dwarf even though he doesn't give you a wisdom buff since you learn mage armor and armor of agathys for free. Another strong choice is of course the mark of the sentinel human which allows you to take a hit for your allies and gives you fun spells like bigby's hand and counterspell.

[ftafp]

Since this is getting discussed in another thread I think we should bring it up here as it's particularly relevant to moon druids:

Recent version of the Monster Manual include a Half-Dragon template that can be applied to Beasts and lists explicit cases in which a Beast can gain blindsight, resistances and a breath weapon without its CR changing. Specifically, any Larger or smaller creature of CR 2 or greater, and any Huge creature of CR 7 or greater experiences no change change in type or CR, meaning with the apropriate backstory, a Moon Druid could for example wildshape into a Half-Dragon Polar Bear at the same level a Polar Bear becomes a viable wild shape choice

In addtion Mystic Oddessy of Theros lists Nyxborn creatures as retaining their other statistics (which includes their type and CR) meaning you can add Nyxborn traits like Magic Resistance or the Intangibility to your beasts as well

This could be seriously game-changing

[Xenken]

Well damn, sounds pretty hot.

Are these AL legal? I'm pretty sure none of my home game DMs will let me mess around with templates.

Edit: I just looked these up, and if they are legal then they won't be soon. 7d6, recharging Breath Weapon on a level 6 Moon Druid is just blatantly overpowered.

[sambojin]

There's some doozies.
While it's only DC12 Str, a 30' cone for 30' push from a half Bronze wyrmling sounds hilarious. With a backup mini-lightning if you need it for less amusing stuff.

The "yes, I still have a functional sleep spell" from a Brass would be pretty cool to use as well. It's only DC11 Con, 15' cone, but hey, it still works. The Sleep spell doesn't by this level.

Or, you know, a DC13 Con, 15' cone *paralyzation* breath from a Silver wyrmling. Ouch!


I guess it gets down to two things. How likely you are to have seen a half-dragon polar bear/ whatever? Or can you summon one with Conjure Animals, so you have then seen it? Pretty unlikely, and no, would be the answers for those questions I'd say.

Here's the basic template, anyway:
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Half-Dragon Template

[ftafp]

There's some doozies.
While it's only DC12 Str, a 30' cone for 30' push from a half Bronze wyrmling sounds hilarious. With a backup mini-lightning if you need it for less amusing stuff.

The "yes, I still have a functional sleep spell" from a Brass would be pretty cool to use as well. It's only DC11 Con, 15' cone, but hey, it still works. The Sleep spell doesn't by this level.

Or, you know, a DC13 Con, 15' cone *paralyzation* breath from a Silver wyrmling. Ouch!


I guess it gets down to two things. How likely you are to have seen a half-dragon polar bear/ whatever? Or can you summon one with Conjure Animals, so you have then seen it? Pretty unlikely, and no, would be the answers for those questions I'd say.

Here's the basic template, anyway:
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Half-Dragon Template

Admittedly it's far more useful when you use it with Polymorph, as a Half-Dragon Tyrannosaurus or Giant Ape gets the breath weapons of a young dragon instead of a wyrmling

[Zuras]

There's some doozies.
While it's only DC12 Str, a 30' cone for 30' push from a half Bronze wyrmling sounds hilarious. With a backup mini-lightning if you need it for less amusing stuff.

The "yes, I still have a functional sleep spell" from a Brass would be pretty cool to use as well. It's only DC11 Con, 15' cone, but hey, it still works. The Sleep spell doesn't by this level.

Or, you know, a DC13 Con, 15' cone *paralyzation* breath from a Silver wyrmling. Ouch!


I guess it gets down to two things. How likely you are to have seen a half-dragon polar bear/ whatever? Or can you summon one with Conjure Animals, so you have then seen it? Pretty unlikely, and no, would be the answers for those questions I'd say.

Here's the basic template, anyway:
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Half-Dragon Template

Seems a little problematic that the template doesn’t make them count as a Dragon as well as a Humanoid/Beast/Whatever, but doing that would probably create its own set of issues.

[Ikedashi]

Staff of Defense: Increases your AC by 1, and more importantly lets you cast Mage Armor. Found in LMoP.


How this staff is a good option? The item text says that the spells on it are limited to classes that already have them in their spell list.

[Rara1212]

How this staff is a good option? The item text says that the spells on it are limited to classes that already have them in their spell list.

Also, pretty sure it only lets you cast it as an action, nor reaction

[DukeCityCowboy]

[U]
[B]Magical Weapons

Staff of Defense: Increases your AC by 1, and more importantly lets you cast Mage Armor. Found in LMoP.



The Staff of Defense specifies that even if you are attuned to it, the use of its spells can only be used by individuals who have those spells on their class spell list. Not the ability to cast that spell. Not access to that spell. A class with a spell list that has that spell on it. That would mean that even if you could cast either of those two spells from a racial ability (githzerai, dragonmarked dwarf) your class spell list would remain unchanged. Even if you took Magic initiate, you would gain the ability to cast a spell from another class spell list, but would still lack a class and thus the spell list for it to be on. The only way this item could become usable by a moon druid would be through multiclassing to obtain a class with a spell list with those spells on it, or features which actually add spells to your spell list options but don't actually grant them, such as the additional spells from dragonmarks (none of which contain mage armor or shield) or something like the guilds from Ravnica (none of which contain mage armor or shield). Until new mechanics are published in a similar vein that explicitly modifies/adds to the moon druids spell list to include mage armor or shield, your moon druid is simply sol with this item.

[Gignere]

Also, pretty sure it only lets you cast it as an action, nor reaction

Yeah I housed ruled it so shield spell in the staff can be cast with a reaction but you’re correct RAW shield spell from the staff is practically useless.

[jdizzlean]

The Mod Life Crisis thread raised by request

[MaxWilson]

@OP, I just noticed you had Annis Hag listed under Conjure Fey:


Annis Hag (VGtM), AC17, 75HP, 46.5DG: 40' speed. Resistance from nonmagical attacks. Has a Crushing Hug that Grapples and do 36.5 damage, which prevent the Hag from attacking but repeats the 36.5 damage every round. Can cast Disguise Self and Fog Cloud 3/day. Evil alignment. Good if you can combine the Fog Cloud with a Wild Shape form with Blindsight/Tremorsense.

It's worth noting that the Annis can double-dip on the Crushing Hug damage, since the damage occurs at the start of her turn. For example, if an enemy triggers an opportunity attack and she hits, they'll take 36.5 damage on average immediately, and then 36.5 damage at the start of her turn, and she can then release the Crushing Hug grapple and then immediately Crushing Hug the enemy for another 36.5 damage (or do Multiattack, or Dodge, or whatever). In effect, this makes every Crushing Hug that hits do 70+ HP of damage unless the enemy spends actions to break the grapple before the second half of the damage arrives.

It wouldn't be wrong to add a note to the Annis Hag: Has a Crushing Hug that Grapples and does 36.5 damage, which prevents the Hag from attacking but repeats the 36.5 damage every round (can do 70+ damage per round if you release the grapple and then immediately Crushing Hug again each round).

[DragonIceAdept]

What do you think of the Sperm Whale form in IDRotFM? I'm curious how it scales up against the other aquatic forms.

[MaxWilson]

What do you think of the Sperm Whale form in IDRotFM? I'm curious how it scales up against the other aquatic forms.

It's a lot of HP but otherwise nothing special, and if the DM (quite reasonably) declines to let you bite or tail slap a creature you've already swallowed, the swallow feature can be actively harmful to your chances of winning the fight--and it's not optional.

Amusingly, casting Longstrider on a sperm whale results (by RAW) at least in a whale that can move at 10' on land, unless I am overlooking some rule somewhere that prevents speed 0 creatures from benefiting from speed increases. (The grappled condition, restrained condition, etc. do explicitly forbid speed increases, but those conditions don't apply here.)

Obviously the sperm whale form is better than a T Rex or Giant Ape for an aquatic fight, but in most other cases I'd pick Giant Ape for land fights over Sperm Whale. Possible exception: fighting giants. But even there, the giant ape's mobility and ranged attacks are probably more valuable than the whale's extra HP and damage.

[Yoldroth]

Oh my god I love this! Thank you!!

[Zuras]

I honestly don’t think any of the Elemental forms should be less than dark blue.

Based on my play experience at levels 10+, the Air Elemental should be dark blue or better. It’s relatively low on HP, but the fly speed is extremely useful in a form that can manipulate objects and grapple. I’ve used it almost as often as Earth Elemental, since complex combat environments are extremely common in high level play.

The amazing mobility also provides powerful interactions with other spells. With Haste, for example, your move becomes ridiculous and you can do things like grapple an opponent and use your 90’ movement (half of your hasted 180’) to fly into the air and drop them on a single turn. That’s 9d6 damage if you fly back down to do it again next turn, or 18d6 if you use both your move and haste dash action to gain altitude. Your opponent is also prone for the GWM Fighter to abuse.

Even without Haste, if you have proficiency in Athletics (much less expertise) grappling a creature and using your move to fly up 45’ and drop it will deal it 4d6 damage and knock it prone for your allies. If this isn’t an exciting enough use for your action, note that 45’ is just enough to clear the height of a Moonbeam (40’ high), so you can drop them back in the moonbeam you cast last turn for another 2d10+ damage, depending on your upcast). Dumping them back in Spike Growth or a Wall of Thorns is also nice.

The Air Elemental form also has tremendous utility. Obviously it gives you a flight speed, but it’s large size also lets you easily carry other party members, but you’re also made of air, which lets you do all sorts of interesting stuff. Your whirlwind ability can disperse spells like Fog Cloud and Cloudkill, and you can even move into a suffocating ally’s space to provide them breathable air if you have an evil DM who dispels your Water Breathing during an underwater combat or you’re fighting something in deep space.

Really, the only drawback to the air elemental is the vulnerability to Power Word Kill, and if that’s a major concern (like when you know you’re fighting a lich or necromancer Archmage) the solution is Death Ward, not hoping your elemental form stays above 100 HP.

Overall I don’t see how Air isn’t at least dark blue. It’s certainly been useful more often than Fire. I just haven’t encountered many situations where dealing 1d10 damage to a large number of creatures seemed useful. If you’re fighting enough low CR enemies that it’s useful you’re generally better off just casting an AoE spell. Not to say that Fire has been useless, or even bad, just that I’ve used it mostly for its Fire immunity (grappling things that output fire damage) and ability to deal damage without an action (allowing you to Dodge while still dealing a bit of damage). The effective AoE on movement has mostly been useful against horrific creatures from beyond that spewed nasty distraction creatures like Rot Grubs constantly.

Also in discussing Shapechange forms, you might want to add a reminder that creatures with Legendary Resistance (like Adult Dragons) are always going to be your preferred combat forms, because otherwise you are losing concentration the first time you take a hit for 50+ damage.

Also, you should note that the Beholder, in addition to its anti magic cone, effectively has at-will disintegrate, allowing you to tunnel through solid rock or other materials for a full hour while transformed.

[sambojin]

I'd agree with you. Although black still means "pretty useful and usable", I reckon they're dark blue due to their versatility and condition immunity (you can't be proned, restrained, grappled, paralyzed or de-concentrated out of the air for a start. You can always fly until your HP or a proper spell says you don't. You will probably have a pretty good Wis save, and not completely horrible Dex and Int saves regardless, against any spells that do that. You might even have Warcaster or Resilient (Con) by this point as well). While there's plenty of reasons to drop out of plenty of other wildshapes, there's very few reasons to drop out of Air Elemental other than for casting spells or talking lots or not scaring people. And you get so much movement freedom and condition immunity and resistances that it's kind of like you have a plethora of buff spells already up, so you are just saving some slots for later (or to blow them on healing. I mean, you could, they're spare slots). Not every combat is that important that you need to maximize damage at all times. Hell, just have someone ride around on you if people say you're not making enough impact in battle. They'll change their minds pretty quickly on that one.

If there's any other reasonable caster in the party, screw it, stay in Air Elly form. You can probably make whatever they're casting work better anyway. You might even get the full five hours of it at level 10, to the point of having a short rest somewhere along the way, so your wildshape charges are refreshed and you're still in Elly form.

(There's also the "can Barb or Monk multiclass" thing to them as well. AC17(barb1)-AC20(monk1 with Wis20) is a nice difference from the standard AC15, to the point of it being a later level form as well. Yeah, the damage sucks though.

Try and convince your DM that since you are proficient in shields, and Air Elementals can have hands/arms, that you can use a shield still. It helps a lot. Myrmidons use weapons and armour, Mephits have hands/claws similar to Imps, Gens/ Geonids/ Magmins/ etc all have hands or punch or touch or use actual weapons, Azers have natural armour and a weapon and a shield, so it's not that big of a stretch to think that in between these power levels of creatures that normal CR5 Elementals can use stuff too. And you are a really smart elemental. "Normal Elementals" might not be proficient in stuff, but you are, because you're a player-character Druid wildshaped into an Elemental form, not "just another elemental". Int 8+ seems to be the cut-off point on elementals that can use stuff, and you will always have Int 8+ as a player character if you use point-buy for your stats.
AC17 minimum, going up to AC19-20 with Barb or Monk mc'ing, is a lot nicer than their base statblock suggests for an Air Elemental.

Remember that you can squeeze through 1" gaps at will, so you can probably put your arm through a smaller-than-large shield's arm vambraces, and fit into armour shaped in any way if it was big enough. Buy yourself some barding if needed...).

((Weirdly enough, Magma Mephits might be just a bit too dumb to use tools, if the Int 8+ thing is applied to possible tool-use for elementals. They're Int 7. I actually like it that way. They're described as being a bit slow to understand things))

(((Get a magic shield and magic studded leather armour. Problem solved. From the DMG, pg140:
In most cases, a magic item that's meant to be worn can fit a creature regardless of size or build. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or they magically adjust themselves to the wearer. Rare exceptions exist. If the story suggests a good reason for an item to fit only creatures of a certain size or shape, you can rule that it doesn't adjust.

So a +1 shield, and a +1 suit of studded leather, is an AC21 Air Elemental waiting to happen, without multiclassing. They're definitely dark blue. Air Elementals have normal flat +Dex AC.
Actually works ok for Fire too, unless they burn your toys, for 19AC. Water will get them wet as well, for 18AC. Air doesn't hurt your toys, but gets really good AC, and are definitely dark blue rated. Earth doesn't look quite as good as soon as you understand this (they're still really good, just not because of their AC).
You can't automatically assume you'll get magic armour or a shield, but you tend to by lvl10-15 in most campaigns, especially if you're doing a fair bit of melee fighting. It's a reasonable assumption, just not a definite thing. Still, it's exactly the kind of gear every Druid of any subclass wants anyway, you just put it to really good use. In theory, magic armour and shields might even resize as you pop through 1" wide gaps, but you'd have to ask your DM. Lol
The correct answer from your DM is: "it might. It depends on how funny it would be if I decided it didn't that one time you tried it."
)))

((((This post ended up way longer than intended. But I reckon I've given every reason of why Air Elementals probably *can* use shields and armour, and why they're better than black rated. Sorry about that :) ))))

[sambojin]

Tldr; Air Elemental form essentially means you have super-Freedom of Movement and super-Fly cast on you, for hours at a time, with a bonus action. No concentration required, you just can't cast another spell until you drop this one (as a bonus action). Plus an AC buff spell if you have decent equipment, as well as a 1" gaps/whirlwind utility gubbins spell and a size increase/better-than-full-caster-melee spell too. And it comes with good Dex saves and skills too. And none of that can be dispelled or counter-magic'd or anti-magic fielded, or anything. You don't even have to pre-buff with this, you just do it on the spur of the moment, while combat is going. If anything, you pre-buff that combat with another spell if you want, then do this, but that's optional too.

Lvl1AC/Utility +lvl2LargeSize/DexSpell +lvl3Fly +lvl4AlwaysMove spell cast on you, and they synergize with each other and with any party, for two wildshape charges, for up to five hours or more, with a bonus action to do it, and you get free HP and resistances as well. No concentration needed. It's really good. Kill this spell somehow, but not kill me? No worries, I'll cast something else next turn.

Having a proper lvl10 capstone is really nice for any class (remember, you're a full-list-preparation, full-slot-caster, with little-ritual casting as well, and have big-beast wildshape too. This is icing on the cake, and Air Elemental is very yummy). Even long campaigns often end here, or soon after, before stuff gets really whack.
At level 9 you go "yay, CR3 forms and level 5 spells and slots! Ok, yay for the slots...".
At level 10 you go "none of the bad rules apply to me, but all the bad ones still apply to you. Only the beneficial ones apply to me. I can be an Air Elemental now!".
Yeah, you can fly, even with others onboard at lvl8 with wildshape, but you can't do it in such a BS-broken way that the DM *wants to kill you, every day*. That's a capstone, that is :)

[sambojin]

Tldr 2;
Air Elemental is at least dark blue definitely, possibly light blue, or even gold (depending on armour usage). The damage still sucks. But it's up there alongside Earth Elemental, and may actually be better than it.

It'll give your DM something to think about, at the very least. And it's in the PHB, so there's that too (geez wildshape is a poorly written class ability, and then they made it worse for DMs/parties to deal with if there's a Moon Druid there, and then they went "Yep, this is what druids are. This is going to print. This is the base level of f'd-upness we're going for with that class." WotC.....

[truemane]

Metamagic Mod: Thread Necromancy