I need some help making Spore Druid

[dragsaw]

So i have a SKT game starting soon and i decided to make a spore druid as it seems like a interesting build playing it as a gish that just turning into a bear like most druids.
Im having some problems picking a race. Lizardfolk is kinda leading as they have a survival mentality that fits well with how i want to rp. Problem is im having problems picking a race/backstory that's both good but most importantly once im exited for. They are all just kinda "eh" Weirdly part of my backstory would work well for a SporeLock but i dont have the stats to be that AND a gish. (14 14 15 11 8 12)
I do also have a rough idea of more of a sea based druid but i dont think any of that would be useful in SKT.

At best my backstory is "The swamp lived in harmony until the mushrooms attacked and thus i became a druid and left to fight giants or something.

[Jackofskulls]

Lizardfolk is a fine race. But might I suggest a Tortle? You get bonuses to wisdom and strength which helps being a gish type character. As well as their AC just being straight up 17(19 with a shield) regardless of your dex bonus. Plus it could work with your backstory. “The fungal spores grew on your shell over the long years lurking in the swamp.”

Another option I’d recommend is finding a way to get Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade cantrips. From either multiclassing or the Magic Initiate feat. This combined with Shillelagh will help keep your melee attacks competitive.

[sambojin]

If you want to just be lazy, a variant human with PAM does pretty well too. +Spore damage on your bonus action attack with a quarterstaff is a nice boost to your offense. Shillelagh can give you a bit of SADness too alongside it. It competes at 10th level with your spore chucking, but that's a very long way down the track, and you might just want to hit people more often a lot of the time anyway.

[dragsaw]

If you want to just be lazy, a variant human with PAM does pretty well too. +Spore damage on your bonus action attack with a quarterstaff is a nice boost to your offense. Shillelagh can give you a bit of SADness too alongside it. It competes at 10th level with your spore chucking, but that's a very long way down the track, and you might just want to hit people more often a lot of the time anyway.

Wouldn't that start to compete with my other bonus actions and reactions?

[sambojin]

Yes, but you've only got so many of them usually. Lvl10 spores, Flaming Sphere, and maybe a few other things?

Another would be to go for MI: Wizard with a vhuman so you get booming blade + GFB straight away. Neither are exactly going to make you a combat monster, but having them at lvl1 can help a bit. It gets you used to what you'll be doing a lot of the time. Chuck in Find Familiar and you're set. Spore druids are a little bit more feat/ASI hungry than some other subclasses, so vhuman's extra makes things easier. It's boring, but it works.