What Druid should I play for Mad Mage?

[Spo]

Torn between Land Druid and Shepard Druid. Starting lvl 5 after group finishes Dragon Heist.

Probable team is as follows;
Ancient Barbarian
Assassin Rogue
Life Cleric
Bard
Gloom stalker ranger
Wizard

Appreciate your input.

[Great Dragon]

(on phone, so AFB)

Druids are pretty nice in DotMM, especially if your Druid knows the local animal types to be able to Shift and scout without attracting attention. (Very DM dependant)

Underdark Land Druid might be ok, depending on if the Abilities (being able to recover spell slots once a day is nice) and spells it gives Appeals to your Character concept.

Conjure Animal is very good at Crowd Control
Shepard Druid is great, especially after 6th level, with bonus HP to Summoned Creatures.


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Knowing what the party is going to be fighting helps. Smaller numbers means that you can pull out the tougher CR Summons; and groups get the full eight CR 1/4 Summons, hoping for either Wolves (for better attacks when working with Allies, as well as a small chance of trip knocking foes prone) or Spiders (for poison).

I'd advise focus fire - dog pile one target until it's down: unless there is an overwhelming number of foes, in which case put one Summoned Creature on as many different foes that aren't being engaged by a party member, to slow them down; and preventing them from tag-team-ing your party.

Don't expect it to happen too often, but any remaining Summoned Creatures (including Fey, when you can cast that) are still useable in any combats for the remaining hour duration.

Hope this helps.

[Mutazoia]

I'm running a Spore druid in a different game (not DotMM) and I use summons a lot. The dog pile strategy works wonders, both as crowd control as well as pure DPS. My other go-to spell has been Healing Spirit. It's a free action to cause it to heal some one, and it heals again if they start their turn in the same space as the spirit. A bonus action moves it around, so I can plop it on a character, heal for xD6 (depending on the level cast) and then when their turn starts, the get an additional xD6. Couple this with Beacon of Hope and it get's really stupid.

Now that we've hit 6th level, I get to raise spore zombies to augment my summoned creatures. 5 zombies (the max I can raise per long rest) and 8 wolves makes a pretty good summon army to throw at things. Spore Druid's also get access to Raise Dead, so I can throw extra zombies in when needed. If I start multi-classing into Wizard and go Necromancer, I'll get double the zombies/skeletons per raise, making my personal walking army even more of a threat.

[Sexyshoeless]

From a mechanical standpoint - either really. Both are very powerful as druids.
That being said, one thing to keep in a mind is you have a pretty darn big party at 7. From a group enjoyment standpoint it may be a more enjoyable experience if you go land and focus on CC and buffing spells for concentration, rather than taking several turns worth of time with summoned creatures.

[KillingTime]

That being said, one thing to keep in a mind is you have a pretty darn big party at 7. From a group enjoyment standpoint it may be a more enjoyable experience if you go land and focus on CC and buffing spells for concentration, rather than taking several turns worth of time with summoned creatures.

This
Big parties are enough hastle for the DM without adding minions.
Go Land and enjoy.

[Fable Wright]

Shepherd is useful even without summoning, as it comes with Inspiring Leader+ and Unicorn Totem. Both take a lot of pressure off the party.

One thing to do in large parties is to, say, summon Giant Bats to act as a party wide Fly +60' Blindsense, or to Shove enemies out of the air with Bear Totem advantage on Str checks. Or a herd of disposable cattle to trigger traps. You can use them as utility primarily, and only summon offensively in a pinch.

Also, I find that Quicklings make good combat summons to avoid slowing down play. Good to-hit, no advantage mechanics, they use ranged attacks so they're often unthreatened, and they take up no space on fhe board between 120' move and Tiny.

[Great Dragon]

Or a herd of disposable cattle to trigger traps. You can use them as utility primarily, and only summon offensively in a pinch.

Also, I find that Quicklings make good combat summons to avoid slowing down play. Good to-hit, no advantage mechanics, they use ranged attacks so they're often unthreatened, and they take up no space on the board between 120' move and Tiny.

Shepard Druid Animal Spirits are really neat.

The Elemental List isn't too hard (yet) once CR is chosen, since that's not a huge list.

As a DM - I'm kinda stuck on how to handle the Conjure Animals and especially the Conjure Fey.

Letting the Player pick can lead to trouble (Pixies ! or your Quicklings) but I can't figure out how to make a decent Random Chart by CR (which the player can pick) for either Conjure.

[Scarytincan]

I would also recommend caution with using summons with a group that large. If ur choosing the options to just summon one or two should be fine, but masses would really slow things down. Buffs and especially cc do well with more allies to capitalize on them

[Fable Wright]

Shepard Druid Animal Spirits are really neat.

The Elemental List isn't too hard (yet) once CR is chosen, since that's not a huge list.

As a DM - I'm kinda stuck on how to handle the Conjure Animals and especially the Conjure Fey.

Letting the Player pick can lead to trouble (Pixies ! or your Quicklings) but I can't figure out how to make a decent Random Chart by CR (which the player can pick) for either Conjure.

Quicklings are fairly benign and speed things up greatly. Compared to the fighter, you have six attacks at +8, 8.5 damage on a hit, for a total of 51 potential raw damage.

A Sharpshooter Ranger at level 9 will, assuming a +1 bow and bracers of archery, have a to-hit of +7 when Sharpshooting for two hits with a potential damage of 26 per hit with Hunter's Mark and more from Gloomstalker/Hunter/etc. We'll say Colossus Slayer to be safe, for 56.5 potential raw damage.

Of course, the druid can Thorn Whip, but he can also have Quicklings instantly die to environmental effects or an enemy firing a ranged attack, and Druid is in trouble if Concentration breaks. Roughly even, and the Druid can't really add much else to the combat because Concentration.

The best strategy is to just have a quick talk with the player, and make sure that the player understands how to make things reasonable. I'd have them prepare, say, four monster stat blocks. Each must be approved by the DM (say no to pixies and velociraptors). They can swap out the blocks with GM permission between sessions. They can summon those, amd only those, this session.

Keep things light, flexible, and don't frustrate the dude with wolf skulls and a wolf name and a wolf animal companion by giving him a table that causes him to keep summoning horses.

[loki_ragnarock]

Shepherd is more powerful. It's also the most fiddly, difficult to DM, difficult to play with at a table, and difficult to design around generally. You might have fun playing it, but everyone else? Maybe not.

Land druid isn't a chump, will be easier to play around, and easier to DM. If you care about the other people you play with, take Land druid. Just.... just avoid the conjuring. *clapclap*

[Great Dragon]

The best strategy is to just have a quick talk with the player, and make sure that the player understands how to make things reasonable. I'd have them prepare, say, four monster stat blocks. Each must be approved by the DM (say no to pixies and velociraptors). They can swap out the blocks with GM permission between sessions. They can summon those, and only those, this session.

That's great ! Thanks !!


Keep things light, flexible, and don't frustrate the dude with wolf skulls and a wolf name and a wolf animal companion by giving him a table that causes him to keep summoning horses.

ROFLOL !!!
maybe do that against the Summoning CoDzilla ?