How does one build a Moon Druid?

[Xayah]

I'm interested in the Moon Druid race, most likely starting at lvl 1 and don't know yet how far I'll go, but honestly, I'm struggling to come up with a direction for background and theme.

Usually when I build characters, I have at least some sort of race/class combination in mind because they synergize well (Half-Elf Bard, Half-Elf Sorcerer, Goliath Barbarian, etc) and I like seeing that in action. The thing is, for Moon Druid, I don't really see anything like that. The best I can do is Ghostwise Halfling/Kalashtar for Telepathy, or Shifter for thematic synergy. But honestly, I have no idea where to go from there.

So I'm curious. What builds did you have for your Moon Druids? What was their theme/backstory? And, most importantly, what race did you play, why, and do you suggest it?

[hymer]

I'd be careful not to focus too much on wild shape. If you expected only to play at level 2-3, then it'd make perfect sense. But the effectiveness of the wild shape is not as steadily increasing as e.g. spells. I have not played a moon druid properly through the levels (yet), but a lot of the time I would expect to rely on spells over wild shape in battle.

So I would probably not pick themes that were much different from land or shepherd druids. I'd likely go with a hill dwarf. The reduced movement would go away in wild shape. He would be a gruff, aloof, but insightful man. Patient, secretive, and when required very forceful. He would have left his clan, angry at what their greedy mining was doing to the countryside. This is the main tear in his personality, because he does believe in loyalty and he loves his family. He would be deeply suspicious of most civilization, pointing to disease, pollution, poverty, and mistreatment of animals as his reasons.

I'd give him wis>con>dex>int=cha=str before racial stat increases. I would pick Warcaster at level 4, unless he had an uneven con score. Then it'd be Resilient (con). Then max Wisdom. I would not have him fill a tanking role in the party, though at a pinch I'd fill in there. Instead I would use wild shape for utility and emergencies.

[OgataiKhan]

Mechanically, pick a race that increases your Wis and ideally Con or Dex. Hill Dwarf, Ghostwise Halfling, or Wildhunt Shifter are perfect.

Your stats should be, in order of importance, Wis>Con=Dex>Cha (for out of combat utility)>Str=Int.

As for the ASI, start with something that improves concentration (Resilient-Con for the Hill Dwarf since you'll be at 17, War Caster for everyone else), then max your Wisdom and finally pick the concentration feat you didn't pick at level 4. Anything works at level 19, I'd probably go Lucky for the more dangerous saving throws.

Don't multiclass, your level 20 capstone is the best in the game.

I can't help you with the background and the character's personality, it will be much more satisfying to create it yourself.

[CTurbo]

Moon Druid is possibly the easiest thing to build in 5e. Literally just pick any race that bumps Wis, (human, Half-Elf, Aarakocra, Ghostwise Halfling, Hill Dwarf, Wood Elf, Protector Aasimar, Kenku, Firbolg, Water Genasi, Lizardfolk, Kalashtar, or Centaur), Then max Wis and take either Res(Con) or Warcaster. Start with at least a 16 in Wis, and at least a 14 in Dex and Con. You can safely dump Str, Int, and Cha. Even 15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8 array would be fine.

[Xayah]

I'd be careful not to focus too much on wild shape. If you expected only to play at level 2-3, then it'd make perfect sense. But the effectiveness of the wild shape is not as steadily increasing as e.g. spells. I have not played a moon druid properly through the levels (yet), but a lot of the time I would expect to rely on spells over wild shape in battle.

So I would probably not pick themes that were much different from land or shepherd druids. I'd likely go with a hill dwarf. The reduced movement would go away in wild shape. He would be a gruff, aloof, but insightful man. Patient, secretive, and when required very forceful. He would have left his clan, angry at what their greedy mining was doing to the countryside. This is the main tear in his personality, because he does believe in loyalty and he loves his family. He would be deeply suspicious of most civilization, pointing to disease, pollution, poverty, and mistreatment of animals as his reasons.

I'd give him wis>con>dex>int=cha=str before racial stat increases. I would pick Warcaster at level 4, unless he had an uneven con score. Then it'd be Resilient (con). Then max Wisdom. I would not have him fill a tanking role in the party, though at a pinch I'd fill in there. Instead I would use wild shape for utility and emergencies.


Mechanically, pick a race that increases your Wis and ideally Con or Dex. Hill Dwarf, Ghostwise Halfling, or Wildhunt Shifter are perfect.

Your stats should be, in order of importance, Wis>Con=Dex>Cha (for out of combat utility)>Str=Int.

As for the ASI, start with something that improves concentration (Resilient-Con for the Hill Dwarf since you'll be at 17, War Caster for everyone else), then max your Wisdom and finally pick the concentration feat you didn't pick at level 4. Anything works at level 19, I'd probably go Lucky for the more dangerous saving throws.

Don't multiclass, your level 20 capstone is the best in the game.

I can't help you with the background and the character's personality, it will be much more satisfying to create it yourself.

Thanks both of you, this definitely helped a lot! I wasn't sure how important WIS would be since most guides that I've read on it seem to imply that you don't really care about your stats, you'll usually be in Wild Shape anyway, but it seems that was a wrong interpretation.

One more question though, what do you think of Kalashtar? It gives telepathy, advantage on WIS saves, +2 WIS (+1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 any, and you can pick WIS again from the wording), so it seems pretty good. I also think it can be cool thematically where you call on different Quori spirits as your Wild Shapes.

[nickl_2000]

Thanks both of you, this definitely helped a lot! I wasn't sure how important WIS would be since most guides that I've read on it seem to imply that you don't really care about your stats, you'll usually be in Wild Shape anyway, but it seems that was a wrong interpretation.

One more question though, what do you think of Kalashtar? It gives telepathy, advantage on WIS saves, +2 WIS (+1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 any, and you can pick WIS again from the wording), so it seems pretty good. I also think it can be cool thematically where you call on different Quori spirits as your Wild Shapes.

That is a perfectly fine race choice, in fact it is one of the better ones that you can choose. One of the problems that you will run into with being a Moon Druid is communication with party members, but with that race you solve the problem.

As for stats, having a good wisdom is still important. When you are a Moon Druid, you will use wildshape to rip apart encounters at level 2-4 (or possibly 2-5), after that wildshapes tend to lose some power compared to other options. You AC will be awful in wildshaping and your to hit won't be that high compared to your allies. During those times, it's very useful to have the stats to be able to survive in your caster form (good Wisdom for DC/spell attack, 14 in AC for medium armor, a decent con, etc).

That being said, if you can get a boost in your to hit or AC, your wildshape will last longer. Those will often require help from allies or concentration spells (barkskin, mage armor, and bless can all make a big difference). You can also take a level in Barbarian or Monk to boost the AC in all forms.

[Goldlizard]

I play moon druids often. just follow the main rule: it needs a wiz buff, and Skills (Like elves) or innate abilities (Like Firbolgs) are what you look for otherwise. Ultimately, jus tfind something that gives you exra things to do out of shape but still helps in it

[TheUser]

Kobold is my personal favourite.
Pack Tactics is easy advantage which moon druid benefits from greatly; often in tier 2 and tier 3 the + to hit provided by forms is lacking and getting easy advantage becomes necessary.

Wildshape also obly retains "benefits" which sunlight sensitivity is not.

[Willie the Duck]

Thanks both of you, this definitely helped a lot! I wasn't sure how important WIS would be since most guides that I've read on it seem to imply that you don't really care about your stats, you'll usually be in Wild Shape anyway, but it seems that was a wrong interpretation.

Well, it is not wrong, it is just more nuanced then that. The Mon Druid part of being a Moon Druid is stat independent. That means that you can kind of build any kind of druid you want under that shell (be it 'focus on maxing casting stat ASAP'-type caster, 'diversify stats as much as possible'-type character, 'ignore stats and just get all. the. feats.'-type character, or whatever else.

[DrKerosene]

I would pick VHuman, Half-Elf, or Firbolg if I was going to play a Moon Druid again.

I did play a Half-Orc Moon Druid in a super meat-grinder dungeon. Probably would of had at least two different TPKs before level 5 if not for my uses of Wildshape to tank (and abusing Goodberry by using all my spell slots on it right before “sleep”).

The extra critical dice when in a Bear form is nice, and the near-death survival ability combos well with taking a **** load of damage and losing your Wildshape form. Absorb Elements was important too.

[GlenSmash!]

My wife is playing a level 6 Hill dwarf moon Druid right now. That thing is a monster. Extra survivabilty when not wildshaped, and doesn't really care about the slower movement speed when wildshaped.

Direwolf at low levels gets advantage when standing next to my Barbarian or our fighter or Rogue, and give us advantage by knocking enemies prone. For our group it was even better than Brown Bear.

Giant Octopus and Giant Constrictor Snake restraining the Boss in fights is a game changer.

[Man_Over_Game]

It's important to note that some DMs do have different opinions as to what gets applied while Wild Shaped. I've heard of some people not even allowing something like Barbarian's Unarmored Defense. Most I've seen will say that your physical racial bonuses (Darkvision) can't be applied, but your mental (Gnomish magical resistance) do.

A Moon Druid, more than any other Druid, will find themselves in melee combat. I'd recommend being a Race that has some kind of benefit that works in melee combat better than others. Hill Dwarves, Half-Orcs, and the like. You'll want some way of being able to delay death long enough to Wild SHape again or to cast a spell that'll save your team. You already have tools, what you need to do is buy yourself enough time to use them.

[Navmaxlp]

As for theme and background, I came up with an idea that I haven't had a chance yet to use.

An extremely wealthy young guy goes on vacation with his family to a popular rich people spot. He heads out one night with the other wealthy kids looking for trouble. They stumble upon a druid circle performing a ritual and dares get tossed around to break it up. The guy accepts the dare and goes to break it up. Once in the center of the ritual, he gets "transformed" and finds himself in the body of a wolf on the hunt with the pack. He gets the kill and becomes addicted to it. He learns to transform and hunt but has a hard time controlling it. He eventually goes to a different group of druids and learns their ways and how to control the addiction. He's still addicted but can control it to some extent. I call the addiction the "kill thrill". I feel like it would be fun in game to have him get all excited when it was his turn to transform and attack hoping to get the killing blow.

Use it if you like it.

[E’Tallitnics]

Dearest Xayah,

Allow me to introduce you to the amazing work done by Hymer and the, "5e Druid Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?545558-5e-Druid-Handbook-Dreams-Land-Moon-and-Shepherd)"! It's sure to answer every question you could have about Druid options.

My favorite combo (regardless of subclass) is Human (Variant) with a background like Criminal that includes proficiency with Thieves Tools.

Affectionately,
E’Tallitnics

[Benny89]

Just start with anything that can start with 16 or 17 WIS (17 elf/half-elf is good cause Elven Accuracy rounds up to 18). Mental stats are more important as they stay in your wildshapes. Your physical stats not so much as you will be 9/10 cases in Wild Shapes (if not, don't pick Moon Druid, play other Circles).

How to optimize: War Caster first (advantage is bigger at lower tiers than Resilent), then Resilent (CON). Due to low AC you will get hit a lot so secure that concentration saves. After it's safe to focus on your WIS, though Mobile/Lucky are both great for Moon Druids.

As for playing one: usually you want to cast a strong CC or Summoning Spell (concentration), bonus action Wild Shape and go into battle.

Or Conjure Woodland beings - pixies and change your party members into T-Rexes.

My wife plays Moon Druid (level 8 now) and she just summons 1/4 CR wolfs from Conjure Animals and dives into battle with them. Tons of DPR, CC and extra bodies that tank hits.

Another one is casting some strong AOE CC like Entangle or Fearie Fire etc. and keep concentration on it. Damaging spells like Lighting Strike (good on flying forms!), Flaming Shpere, Moon Beam etc are also good.

Between combat just cast Healing Spirit and heal party to full.

You won't use much slots as Moon Druid, so you can when needed burn them to heal yourself.

Tip: don't start burning slots for healing yourself unless you are already in your second form. You can change form two times per short rest. So only if you are knocked out of your first form and in second one- healing from slots starts to make sense.

Generally a fun class if you have tons of wild shapes known. Summoning bunch of Giant Cons. Snakes + you changing into one is tons of grapples. Giant Octopus with it's auto-restrain is also great!

[Contrast]

Tortle.

Boosts wisdom and if you get beaten out of wildshape you have a good AC.