Thoughts on Druid with Custom Lineage?

[TheMoxiousOne]

Tried going back about 10 pages looking for this, but I haven't seen any thread addressing this: Are there any races that are suddenly mechanically bonkers with the Druid now that attribute bonuses can be changed? I'm personally excited to try my Kalashtar Moon Druid, being able to be in Wild Shape most of the time, still able to communicate using telepathy, which also feels pretty fluffy and gets around the lack of communicating with the party in Wild Shape at lower levels. I also feel a Mountain Dwarf swapping proficiencies into a maul and attributes to Wis and Con would be impressive. Give me your favorite new race interactions, now that only the racial features seem to matter!

[Rara1212]

Kobold Moondruid. No longer gets a -2 str(if I remember correctly) and can move the +2 dex to wis, and I'd rule you keep Pack Tactics in any wildshape. Any shape that already has it doesn't benefit, but the others get a lot stronger. Lvl 2, Bear with permanent advantage!

Yuan-Ti is great for most classes, and Druid is no exception. Be a druid with a snake theme, get a very meh attack cantrip, magic resistance & immunity to poison.

Half Orc can be fun, one of the few ways to get extra damage in wildshape form.

[Hael]

It likely opens up some dragonmarked races for a few subclasses like Spore or Land druids. But druids are usually pretty easy on stats, so I don’t think this helps as much as for other MAD classes.

[Verble]

I've found lizard folk to be great as a moon druid. High AC, bonus action bite and THP in wildshape. Natural stats aren't bad but you can swap to wis/dex of you want that over con. I've even found the swim speed and hold breathe ability useful.

[J.C.]

Tortle, Kobold, and Goblin are all great races for a Druid.

[sithlordnergal]

There are three off the top of my head:

Yuan-Ti: This race is great for anything already. Poison Immunity, advantage on saves vs. magic effects, and free Suggestion at level 3. You'll keep the advantage on saves and the poison immunity if you Wild Shape, making you even more tanky then before.

Goblin: Imagine a Moon Druid that can also bonus action Hide/Dash for free, and the ability to add their level to some damage. That's gonna be scary.

Basically any Aasimar: You get non-magical healing, resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage, and either a fly speed or an AoE on top of dealing damage equal to your current level.

[J.C.]

There are three off the top of my head:

Yuan-Ti: This race is great for anything already. Poison Immunity, advantage on saves vs. magic effects, and free Suggestion at level 3. You'll keep the advantage on saves and the poison immunity if you Wild Shape, making you even more tanky then before.

Goblin: Imagine a Moon Druid that can also bonus action Hide/Dash for free, and the ability to add their level to some damage. That's gonna be scary.

Basically any Aasimar: You get non-magical healing, resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage, and either a fly speed or an AoE on top of dealing damage equal to your current level.

I agree except for your last recommendation. Tiefling (especially Winged Tiefling) is better than any Aasimar. Evil races have it easier.

[sithlordnergal]

I agree except for your last recommendation. Tiefling (especially Winged Tiefling) is better than any Aasimar. Evil races have it easier.

Keep in mind that the Winged Tiefling's trait are physical wings. Its not a magical effect, its a physical one, and as such you most likely lose it, just like you lose Darkvision. The Aasimar's abilities aren't physical, but magical in nature. Meaning you get to keep them and can access them, if your DM allows it. Heck, the Protector Aasimar's Radiant Soul ability gives you wings, so you can gain a 30 foot fly speed while in Wild Shape for 1 minute.

Now it is up to the DM, but I suspect the Aasimar abilities are less likely to be lost then the Winged Tiefling's physical traits. As for the other Tieflings, they mostly get spells that use Charisma to be cast. Depending on the Tiefling, that could be unimportant or it could mean everything. For example, a Levistus Tiefling won't care about Charisma because their spells are Armor of Agathys and Darkness, but a Tiefling of Baalzebul will because they get Crown of Madness and Ray of Sickness. Though the Levistus Tiefling will still lose out, even with the superior spells, simply because you can't cast spells while Wild Shaped until level 17

[J.C.]

Keep in mind that the Winged Tiefling's trait are physical wings. Its not a magical effect, its a physical one, and as such you most likely lose it, just like you lose Darkvision. The Aasimar's abilities aren't physical, but magical in nature. Meaning you get to keep them and can access them, if your DM allows it. Heck, the Protector Aasimar's Radiant Soul ability gives you wings, so you can gain a 30 foot fly speed while in Wild Shape for 1 minute.

Now it is up to the DM, but I suspect the Aasimar abilities are less likely to be lost then the Winged Tiefling's physical traits. As for the other Tieflings, they mostly get spells that use Charisma to be cast. Depending on the Tiefling, that could be unimportant or it could mean everything. For example, a Levistus Tiefling won't care about Charisma because their spells are Armor of Agathys and Darkness, but a Tiefling of Baalzebul will because they get Crown of Madness and Ray of Sickness. Though the Levistus Tiefling will still lose out, even with the superior spells, simply because you can't cast spells while Wild Shaped until level 17

Physical traits are resilient in certain environments. Magical traits are resilient in others. Still, grabbing flight with your racial is ideal.

[Ettina]

Stat modifiers don't really make much difference to your power level. At most it's just a +1 to save DC and spell attacks. And that depends on how your group decides stats - if you roll for stats, the guy who rolled an 18 and picked a race with no relevant modifier is as good at their core thing as the guy who rolled a 16 and picked a race with a +2, and is less likely to have a nasty dump stat.

[MrStabby]

Stat modifiers don't really make much difference to your power level. At most it's just a +1 to save DC and spell attacks. And that depends on how your group decides stats - if you roll for stats, the guy who rolled an 18 and picked a race with no relevant modifier is as good at their core thing as the guy who rolled a 16 and picked a race with a +2, and is less likely to have a nasty dump stat.

I think that stats are a bit more important than you give credit for - especially the main one. For a druid, wisdom saves, spells prepared, skills and spell DC is actually quite a lot. If you are adding in things like the dragonmarked races because you want their spells, then your sells prepared will be somewhat squeezed.