Circle of the Shepherd Druid for Dragon Heist home game.

[NecessaryWeevil]

How bad an idea is this, from a mechanics standpoint? (I think I have the 'why are you here?' aspect covered.)

[Nhym]

How bad an idea is this, from a mechanics standpoint? (I think I have the 'why are you here?' aspect covered.)

What are you asking specifically? Is it a bad idea to play a Shepherd Druid in the Dragon Heist setting or is it a bad idea to play a Shepherd Druid in general?

If it's the first, summoning the giant spider options would work in the urban setting, and since you aren't a moon druid, you can use your wild shape for infiltration.

If it's the latter, if you are well enough prepared, you can run a Shepherd Druid in almost any group. I wrote a Shepherd Druid guide here
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588987-Circle-of-the-Shepherd-Druid-Guide-to-Fuzzy-Fury&highlight=shepherd+druid
and the section "How to make your DM not hate you" gives information about how to play with summons more efficiently.

[NecessaryWeevil]

In Dragon Heist, specifically. I saw your guide, looks good, thanks!

[Nhym]

In Dragon Heist, specifically. I saw your guide, looks good, thanks!

https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/monsters/

You can filter by environment to Urban and by type to beast and fey. There is a whole list of possible summons for Urban settings.

[Merudo]

Unfortunately you are unlikely to reach level 5 in Dragon Heist, so I wouldn't really bother with looking up the summons.

You might want to start with the Urchin background as it lets you start with a pet mouse, which you'll be able to talk with :).

[Fable Wright]

Starting at level 2, you're probably packing more healing than the Life Cleric, between dumping all your unused spell slots into Goodberries at the end of the day (since they are good for 24 hours), Bear Totem on the party right after you wake up for 7 THP * number of party members, refreshing that perhaps twice a day for potentially 21 HP per person per day, plus Goodberries.

Oh, and you're a Druid. That means +7 Stealth checks at level 2, +17 at level 3, encounter ending spells like Entangle, Fog Cloud, and Spike Growth, and you can interrogate a whole host of NPCs the rest of the party can't.

So... do you like being able to do everything but stab people? If so, Shepherd Druid is a solid choice.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Unfortunately you are unlikely to reach level 5 in Dragon Heist, so I wouldn't really bother with looking up the summons.

You might want to start with the Urchin background as it lets you start with a pet mouse, which you'll be able to talk with :).

Amusingly, my concept is I'm a Tabaxi tending to the feral cat population, so that would...interesting.

[Benny89]

I had Druid in my party for a long time (Moon one, but he was using Conjure Animals all the time so same "problem") and I didn't have a problem with him summoning like 24 wolfs into a fight.

How I did handle it:

1. One Initiative roll for all wolfs (so they all go at once).
2. When it's their turn I just asked player to roll 48 d20s :D (advantage from pack tactics) using an app. Then I simple told him "anything above X hits".
3. So let's say 16 wolfs hit. Then he rolled using app 32d4 + 34 damage and if he was attacking one target it was easy. If not, we divied that fast.

Everything once we got a hang of it took like 2 minutes.

So I had no problem with all those additional summons.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Thanks folks. Supplemental question: How attribute-dependent are shepherd druids? My friends and I are rather taken with the idea of a Tabaxi shepherd druid, but they make much better martial characters than spellcasters.

[NatureKing]

Honestly they are Stat agnostic. As usual, Dumping Wis, Dex and Con are not recommended though.

[Mikaleus]

Also Warcaster feat will help maintain concentration for your spells especially the conjure X spells.

Currently playing a water genasi shepherd Druid and that feat has worked wonders so far.

[Nhym]

Only Con matters when you are concentrating on Conjure X since it's for concentration, but you probably will need a respectable Wis for casting other spells. The way I do it, +3 Con and Wis is comfortable for most of the game while you get your feats (Warcaster and Res: Con). Don't worry about more than +2 Dex since you will most likely be using medium armor.

If you are allowed to go above 15 with point buy, I'd suggest you stat 8-12-15-10-16-9. With Tabaxi that brings you to -1, +2, +2(+3 with Res:Con), 0, +3, 0. Str Doesn't matter for you and since stats past +3 don't matter as much as other classes, you can get no other negative modifiers.

[Vogie]

It's fine - while a pile of summons inside a normal sized estate sounds insane, unless your DM is increasing the level of the game, you're going to be done with the adventure before you can actually summon anything.

Since you're likely starting at 1, having at least +2 Dex is important for your AC with medium armor. Note if you start at level 3 or above, you can skip that and just use Barkskin instead.

As a Shepherd Druid, you don't have a defined role until level 3. You'll be healing and tossing the occasional Ice Knife or Entangle, but largely leaning on your cantrips. Your DM may or may not allow you to use Animal Friendship to get yourself an animal companion, which you can then have them attack alongside you with Beast Bond.

Bear Spirit allows everyone to faux-rage, useful if you're going Shillelagh & Shield, augmenting your survival & damage with Absorb Elements. You'll later upgrade to Flame Blade (unless you go PAM), or use the bonuses to strength checks to grapple and toss a target into your Spike Growth meat grinder.
Hawk Spirit is faux-miliar, and more powerful if you have a Hexblade, Champion Fighter, Any Rogue, or Paladin smites, as you weaponize your reactions by granting them advantage. You can even use this to give yourself advantage, which I'd suggest you only do if you're doing ranged attacks, as it uses your reaction, thus no Attacks of Opportunity.
Unicorn Spirit makes all of your heals splash everywhere, which can get nuts with goodberry and, later, Healing Spirit. which can give your Healing Words and Cure Wounds much more bang for your buck.

At level 3, you unlock 2nd level spells, thus Moonbeam, but more importantly, your first faux-summon, the lowly Dust Devil (EE) who acts like a Spiritual Weapon who pushes your targets around.

[NatureKing]

Only Con matters when you are concentrating on Conjure X since it's for concentration, but you probably will need a respectable Wis for casting other spells. The way I do it, +3 Con and Wis is comfortable for most of the game while you get your feats (Warcaster and Res: Con). Don't worry about more than +2 Dex since you will most likely be using medium armor.

If you are allowed to go above 15 with point buy, I'd suggest you stat 8-12-15-10-16-9. With Tabaxi that brings you to -1, +2, +2(+3 with Res:Con), 0, +3, 0. Str Doesn't matter for you and since stats past +3 don't matter as much as other classes, you can get no other negative modifiers.

Con matters for not dying, and for Con Saves. At low levels, having an additional 4 or 5 hit points is pretty good. You could potentially replace with Tough.

The game might end at 5th, but Dungeon of the Mad Mage and a number of other modules allow the game to continue from 5th. Banking on the game ending at 5th might not be wise unless you want to roll up a new character/DM allows rebuilds

Vogie: you only splash when you cast the healing spell, not that anyone gains HP from it.

[Vogie]

Vogie: you only splash when you cast the healing spell, not that anyone gains HP from it.

That's a good catch - Goodberry & Healing Spirit wouldn't trigger it then, as they only summon berries and spirits.

[NatureKing]

That's a good catch - Goodberry & Healing Spirit wouldn't trigger it then, as they only summon berries and spirits.
I mean, I'd rule that they are healing spells, but not that it AoE'd every time someone ate a Berry or stepped into the healing spirit within the totem.

I may have that wrong however.

[Nhym]

Con matters for not dying, and for Con Saves. At low levels, having an additional 4 or 5 hit points is pretty good. You could potentially replace with Tough.

The game might end at 5th, but Dungeon of the Mad Mage and a number of other modules allow the game to continue from 5th. Banking on the game ending at 5th might not be wise unless you want to roll up a new character/DM allows rebuilds

Vogie: you only splash when you cast the healing spell, not that anyone gains HP from it.

I think OP was referencing stats in conjunction with the Shepherd Druid, not the stats themselves in general.