Newbie in Dragon Of Icespire Peak

[canana]

I'm almost entirely new to DnD, and I could be starting a campaign of DoIP soon.

Any tips for creating a character? Any kind of advice will work, whether it's choice of class, equipment, or even backstory & background.

[Eldariel]

Well, DoIP is an intro adventure. It can be fairly brutal; as the name suggests, there is indeed a Dragon there and you start off at level 1. My first piece of advice would be: pick a class that can fight at range. You're fighting mostly on the surface so you want the ability to engage at distance and melee. There's nothing wrong with Barbarian: indeed, it's a supertanky frontliner on this level. But it's not a ranged combatant. Barb can at best throw weapons but thrown weapons have short range increments, which makes this impractical and doesn't work with Rage.

That said, Barbarian is again fine. If you do go Barbarian, go Totem Warrior: getting the Bear totem lets you use Rage against things like breath weapons too, which is obviously hugely useful. Berserker's level 3 ability sadly invokes exhaustion, which is a really brutal condition that shuts you down quite quickly so you can't use it very often. To that end I would not recommend it.


Honestly though, any class will work. It's worth noting that contrary to your probable expectations, spellcasters are actually quite durable in this edition: mostly due to few low level spells (Shield, Absorb Elements) giving them spike defenses when you need them. So if you're at all interested, I wouldn't shy away from trying a Wizard, a Druid, a Cleric or a Bard either. All of them can be quite good for what you're doing here. And I wouldn't say they're any less "safe" than Barbarian: not quite as tanky but able to keep their distance and defend themselves after their own fashion each.

If you want to be the ultimate tank, Circle of the Moon Druid is just great on these levels. On level 2 it lets you turn into animals (essentially just replacing your character sheet with the creature's - I've had total newbies play it to good effect so it's not actually that complex) like Dire Wolf, Brown Bear, Tiger or Giant Spider two times per short rest. This gives you a huge bundle of hit points and decent attacks in addition to your casting. And your casting can be used for recovery or making enemies unable to move/act (Entangle and Goodberry are excellent spells to that end and easy to prepare). Of course, it has the same problem as Barbarian that it's better in melee than at range: you can turn into an Ape that can throw rocks at range and you have your own Magic Stone but outside 60' Druid doesn't have many good options (Barbarian's good options end at 30' for what it's worth).

Spellcaster would invoke a bit more complexity but I've seen totally new players pick up spellcasters no problem so I wouldn't let that dictate my class pick.


Short:
- Barbarian is fine but lacks ranged prowess
- Berserker I wouldn't recommend: rather Totem Warrior as a simpler option
- Consider all classes and think what suits your fancy
- If you want safety cushion (to avoid getting squashed), Druid of the Circle of the Moon is the way to go on these levels


Far as the other things go, backstory you'll want to work with your DM but it should give you a reason to help the town and adventure. Don't make a character who has no reason to be there. For race, Variant Human is great if using feats: otherwise Hill Dwarf, High Elf, Wood Elf, etc. are all fine. Pick one that boosts your class's main stat (Wisdom for Druid/Cleric, Strength for Barbarian, Intelligence for Wizard, Charisma for Bard/Warlock/Sorcerer/Paladin, etc.).

[Willowhelm]

Literally anything will work just fine. You can make all the “wrong” decisions and be fine. Even if your character dies it is a great chance to learn from your experiences and build a new character that suits you better.

I’d still pay attention to the advice in the phb about starting characters (the quick build advice I think it’s called?) and put your highest ability score in the “main” ability for the class.

The key is to have fun, not worry about trying to “win” or “lose”... that isn’t really possible.

What is it that appeals to you when you picture playing dnd? Let us know that and we might be able to give more advice on what to play. (Sometimes the fluff on the class seems appealing but the mechanics don’t quite match up.)

[cookieface]

I recently ran DOIP for a new player. It is a good intro for newbies -- plenty of exploration, not many super difficult combat encounters.

DND (and DOIP in particular) is pretty forgiving for players' choices. So do what you think sounds like a fun character. That said, Berserker has a reputation as one of the worst subclasses -- exhaustion is VERY punishing, and any mechanic that assesses it on a player is very rough. There are very good Barb options, though! Pick one that speaks to you, even if it is Berserker ... just be prepared to be annoyed by constant exhaustion.

If you want a simple subclass, Fighter Champion is mechanically strong but very simple. Fighters are also generally more versatile than Barbarians, so you could be a ranged Fighter if you like in a way that Barb does not jive with. That said, PLAY WHAT YOU THINK SOUNDS FUN!

Regarding the dragon confronting you at low levels: Yes it is a risk. Yes it can kill you outright with one attack. No, these should not be major concerns for you. Without showing too much behind the curtain, the module explicitly instructs the DM not to fight to the death in these early encounters with the dragon.

If you are concerned about player death, remember this key rule: Not every conflict needs to be resolved with killing the other party. That, alongside the understanding that the DM does not want to kill the PCs, will open up a bevy of fun options for you. There is one early-adventure encounter in particular that appears to be a situation of "kill the monster, save the innocent", but the monster involved will completely wreck the party if they attempt to fight to the death. New players might not realize this: DND wants you to be creative and seek alternate solutions to problems that are not simply stabbing them until they go away.

[Demon 997]

Literally anything will work just fine. You can make all the “wrong” decisions and be fine. Even if your character dies it is a great chance to learn from your experiences and build a new character that suits you better.

I’d still pay attention to the advice in the phb about starting characters (the quick build advice I think it’s called?) and put your highest ability score in the “main” ability for the class.

The key is to have fun, not worry about trying to “win” or “lose”... that isn’t really possible.

What is it that appeals to you when you picture playing dnd? Let us know that and we might be able to give more advice on what to play. (Sometimes the fluff on the class seems appealing but the mechanics don’t quite match up.)

I would second all of this.

It's an intro adventure. The DM wants you to feel a sense of threat, but if they're not a jerk they won't be just trying to kill you with a dragon at level one.

If you're brand new and learning the rules, I would advise against playing a spellcaster. Learning spells is just another layer of complexity, not something you need while first learning the rules.

[Eldariel]

If you're brand new and learning the rules, I would advise against playing a spellcaster. Learning spells is just another layer of complexity, not something you need while first learning the rules.

This is just a suggestion I can't agree with. I've introduced dozens of players to 5e alone (as their first RPG) and closer to a hundred to D&D of some persuasion and EVERYONE figures out spells alongside everything else. Spells are prepackaged, and while they add a bit of complexity, as long as someone just points you in the right direction of decent spells, the actual mechanics of "You can do X twice per day" is something people grog pretty readily. I've had more trouble teaching skill checks and attacks than spells all things considered: spells literally judt do what it says on the tin.

Like the last group of brand new players I started up ended up with:
- Tiefling Rogue (AT)
- Dragonborn Bard (Glamour)
- Half-Elf Druid (Moon)
- Stout Halfling Druid (Custom Wolf Druid)
- Dragonborn Paladin (Conquest)
- High Elf Warlock (Fiend)
- Stout Halfling Warlock (Celestial)
- Hill Dwarf Cleric (Forge)
- High Elf Wizard (Diviner)

These are 14-15 year old kids with zero TTRPG experience (except for the Rogue player); some have MMORPG background, some literally had no gaming of any kind. Everyone got spells by level 3 and everyone but the Celestial Warlock player (who is kinda extrinsically motivated and more into seducing anything that moves than mechanics) was using them fluently by then.

Spells are a source of complexity but also a source of variety and story participation. I generally find players who have spells to be more happy with their characters especially when they come up with a clever way to solve some non-combat issue with some of their cantrips or leveled spells for instance; they'll talk long about how cool that was.

So I recommend giving yourself spells if you're at all so inclined. It just lets you do more different cool things especially in the downtime, in addition to those skills and such.

[Willowhelm]

If part of what you picture as fun when you picture dnd is throwing fireballs and turning invisible - don’t let any worries about extra complexity of being a caster stop you. It is a minor speedbump that you can overcome with a good DM and/or some reading of your class, the spells themselves, and clarifications via google as needed.

But!

If you are not going to have time out of game to do the spell reading you may find the spells you pick based on fluff less amazing in practice.

If you have a lot of time out of game to pick spells but then you don’t want to make choices every day in-game... the class matters (bard great, Druid not so great)

If you want to have interesting choices every game-day and not be restricted by being stuck with a “bad” spell you never use until your next level-up... the class matters. (Sorcerer less good, cleric better)

Etc etc

That’s why we need to know what you’re picturing in your mind. Then we can help with how to get there.

[Eldariel]

Thank you so much, I'll go look at other classes, even the spellcasting kinds. I'm tempted for Warlock for what I heard is relatively simple spellcasting ("I cast Eldritch Blast!"). If I'm not wrong, I can write a warlock's backstory as "I almost died, but a demon came up and let me sign a contract to stay alive, so I did".

Warlock is a fine ranged archer that also does some minor casting. It's not a typical caster, it's more of its own thing. It casts one-two long duration buffs every now and then and then just pew pews with Eldritch Blast. It's a decent class and certainly a fine ranged damage dealer but you might find the low number of spells per short rest frustrating if spellcasting is specifically the thing you're after. As an magical Archer it's great though.


I also have heard good things about Moon Druid, so that's on the list too. Plus, animals are great.

Incidentally, is there a way to deal "Fire-type" attacks that inflict more damage to "Ice-type" monsters? I suspect that's not how DnD works, but I'll ask anyway.

There's a mechanic called "Vulnerability" that isn't universal with types but some creatures do have for Fire specifically. However, generally having opposed elements confers you resistance, not vulnerability; though in the case of Dragons, they generally have neither. But yes, e.g. against mummies Fire spells do double damage because they light on fire very easily. But Vulnerability is a rare mechanic.

[cookieface]

Thank you so much, I'll go look at other classes, even the spellcasting kinds. I'm tempted for Warlock for what I heard is relatively simple spellcasting ("I cast Eldritch Blast!"). If I'm not wrong, I can write a warlock's backstory as "I almost died, but a demon came up and let me sign a contract to stay alive, so I did".

I also have heard good things about Moon Druid, so that's on the list too. Plus, animals are great.

<snip>

Simplicity is one of my top priorities, if not the top priority. I get paralyzed by indecision & anxiety very easily. Even if I have "time out of game to do the spell reading", my brain often fails to actually make a choice.

I'm entertained by pretty much anything, so my worries aren't about that.

Given your desire for simplicity, at least in terms of in-game choices, I would 100% recommend Warlock over Moon Druid.

Warlock get only a few spell slots at a time, and only a few spells at a time. They are complex in that there are LOTS of player options (Eldritch Invocations customize your character, and spellcasters in general get more choices than non-spellcasters), but at the table they can play pretty directly into the "cast Eldritch Blast" and have fun mold. (This is reductive, but there are very very easy ways to make the massively complex beast of choices that is Warlock into a simple and straightforward character at the table, if that makes sense.)

Moon Druids are the opposite of that. To summarize:
1) All spellcasters in DND or either "prepared" spellcasters or "known" spellcasters. "Prepared" spellcasting means that there is a long list of spells that you have access to, and each day you pick which spells you want to have for that day. Even for experienced players, it can be stressful to always want to pick the right things. That is what Druids are (alongside Clerics and Wizards, etc). "Known" spellcasting means that each time you level up, you gain one or two more spells "known". These are the only spells you can cast, and the choice is made once each time you level up. It can be stressful, but with a class like Warlock there are a lot of generally-agreed-upon best options for spells known (Eldritch Blast as a cantrip, Armor of Agathys and Hex as first level, etc). Sorcerers and Bards also use this kind of casting.
2) Transforming into a beast gives Moon Druids tons of options for gameplay. Does your party need to have a scout in this dark dungeon? Maybe a rat is best, but also maybe a spider! Does your party need someone to eavesdrop on that private conversation in a crowd? Maybe a cat is best, but also maybe a horse! Do you need more combat utility? Maybe a constrictor snake, but also maybe a bear! If you fear being paralyzed by choice, Moon Druids are a very versatile, flexible class.

I don't think there's any reason to avoid spellcasting as a new player. My partner is playing a sorcerer as her first character ever, and she loves it.

I do think it is smart of you to know that an overabundance of choices will dampen your enjoyment. My answers here are based on that statement -- Moon Druids are super fun and super strong, but "simple" they are not. (For one thing, you'll need to learn how to read a creature statblock, which is not necessary for 90% of other classes/subclasses and adds just another thing for a new player to learn that isn't needed in most cases.)


Incidentally, is there a way to deal "Fire-type" attacks that inflict more damage to "Ice-type" monsters? I suspect that's not how DnD works, but I'll ask anyway.

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Not exactly how you describe it, but that is the DM's concern. Worry about your character if you are only going to be a player. It's not secret that "Dragon of Icespire Peak" leads to a confrontation with a cold-based dragon, but your character may or may not know what that exactly entails. Work with your DM to figure out what is reasonable for them to know. (For instance, a soldier background Fighter might have no idea what dragons are like, since they have only experienced combat in war with other humanoids. A sage background Warlock might have a fair deal of knowledge about dragons because they have read about them -- or at the very least, they know where a library with a book on dragons is located.)

In general, some of your more technical questions (like this one above) are not necessary to enjoy the game. I'm not saying you are wrong to ask them, just cautioning that seeing too much behind the curtain can lead to the enjoyment of the story being lessened when you get there. Embrace not knowing! Explore the world and have fun.

ETA: These types of questions should be answered via your activity within the campaign, is what I am trying to say. If that is something you really want to know, work with your DM and they will either (a) tell you or (b) give you a miniquest to discover the answers. This is how I worked it when I ran it -- my PCs wanted to know more about how they could fight the dragon, so I gave them an opportunity to go on a side-quest to find a library with a book on dragons. (One of the PCs had the Sage background, so this fit her character.) They found a book, but it didn't have everything they were looking for. It did have information on the vulnerabilities and immunities of white dragons, though :smallsmile:.

[DwarfFighter]

How difficult is the campaign? Should I avoid doing anything too off-the-wall? I was told that the dragon can attack the party anytime anyway, so I'm worried.

I get the sense that you are looking to prepare for this campaign. I would want to point out that commonly GMs do not like the players "looking at their notes", as it were.

Personally I feel the players should experience the adventure through play, not reading up on guides and optimizing play-through.

-DF

[Eldariel]

Moon Druids are the opposite of that. To summarize:
1) All spellcasters in DND or either "prepared" spellcasters or "known" spellcasters. "Prepared" spellcasting means that there is a long list of spells that you have access to, and each day you pick which spells you want to have for that day. Even for experienced players, it can be stressful to always want to pick the right things. That is what Druids are (alongside Clerics and Wizards, etc). "Known" spellcasting means that each time you level up, you gain one or two more spells "known". These are the only spells you can cast, and the choice is made once each time you level up. It can be stressful, but with a class like Warlock there are a lot of generally-agreed-upon best options for spells known (Eldritch Blast as a cantrip, Armor of Agathys and Hex as first level, etc). Sorcerers and Bards also use this kind of casting.
2) Transforming into a beast gives Moon Druids tons of options for gameplay. Does your party need to have a scout in this dark dungeon? Maybe a rat is best, but also maybe a spider! Does your party need someone to eavesdrop on that private conversation in a crowd? Maybe a cat is best, but also maybe a horse! Do you need more combat utility? Maybe a constrictor snake, but also maybe a bear! If you fear being paralyzed by choice, Moon Druids are a very versatile, flexible class.

While this is true, I don't think it's that big of a problem. I think prepared spells are better for a new players than known spells: you can just prepare the same spells every day until you feel like you wanna get to know new spells and then try preparing a different spell and seeing what it does/how often you wanna use it. And repeat.

Moon Druid specifically is great in that a simple system will work just fine: you don't need to dig out for esoteric forms or polished spell loadouts for the class to be great nor do you need to know all the options. It's strong enough that while it Moon Druid can be complex, they're also really solid "introduce everything in the game"-class. They introduce fighting, spellcasting, cantrips & shapeshifting but in a simple manner.


How to enjoy Moon Druid 101:

1) Pick one decent combat form and turn into it whenever you fight. Just use all your Wildshapes to turn into a Brown Bear or a Dire Wolf or a Tiger (pick the one that suits your fancy and stick with it: be a Wolf Druid or a Feline Druid or a Bear Druid). Print a stat sheet for that animal. Whenever you Wildshape, use the animal sheet instead of your own. If you drop to 0 animal HP, go back to your own character sheet. Spend your time mauling enemies in said form. The forms are largely redundant, all of them will do fine in most cases. No need to think about other uses of Wildshape, this'll generally be the best option for Moon Druid specifically (yes, you can scout or such too but you'll be just fine as a melee brute). If you've used both your Wildshapes, ask that the party short rests ASAP.

2) Pick a basic spell list and stick to it. No need to switch spells around day-to-day until you feel like you wanna try something new (then just try!). Druid list in particular is such as that building such a list for early game is easy and you aren't losing much power either. For example:

- Entangle [vines restrain targets in an area, good against smaller and faster enemies]

- Goodberry [conjure up 10 healing, nourishing berries, used for healing between fights]

- Healing Word [heal an ally for 1d4+Wisdom at distance, used in emergencies if ally is in danger of dying in combat]

- Faerie Fire [paint enemies in an area as easy targets helping allies' attacks hit, reveals invisible enemies, good against larger and stronger enemies]


Then just run with those spells and figure out what they do. It'll take a couple of sessions but there's a pretty simple flowchart there for combat.
Turn 1, if you are in humanoid form:
1a. If you see small enemies & lots of them, cast Entangle. Then proceed to 2.
1b. If you see big, dangerous-looking enemies, cast Faerie Fire. Then proceed to 2.
1c. If you are aware of invisible enemies, cast Faerie Fire. Then proceed to 2.
1d. If you see only a small amounts of small enemies, proceed directly to 2.
2. Shift into your Beast form [Dire Wolf, Brown Bear, Tiger] and proceed to turn 2.

Turn 1, if you are in beast form: Proceed to turn 2.

Turn 2+: Rip things' throats open in your preferred manner (claws, jaws, a combination thereof) until they all stop moving.

For the other spells, Healing Word is for emergencies. If an ally gets downed and looks to be going down, you can shift back to humanoid form and Healing Word them back up (if nobody else can do it). Goodberry is an evening spell. If you didn't cast all your spell slots, cast Goodberry before long rest. It lasts for 24 hours so they'll be available next day. 10 berries per casting, each heals 1 HP. Whenever someone takes damage the next day, if you have Berries left, feed them a Berry.

Once you level up, you can add Absorb Elements to the list (lets you halve damage from elemental attacks like dragon breath weapons while in humanoid form). And later on [character level 3] when you unlock level 2 spells, just take Barkskin (makes your animal forms harder to hit) & Pass without Trace (makes your party extremely hard to notice while hiding). And go from there.

Basically, I recommend starting up as if you were playing a spells known caster. For a Druid, this isn't even really suboptimal since the Druid list is pretty general and the same spells always remain good: all of those spells I listed aside are still stuff you can prepare and cast on level 1 or 20. Learn those few spells first and if you wanna broaden your horizons, read through the list at your leisure and try preparing different spells another day.


Oh and you also have cantrips. Take Guidance, Magic Stone and on level 4 like Mold Earth or Shape Water (pick to style whether you wanna be an earthbender or a waterbender). Magic Stone is your ranged option: if you are fighting a ranged opponent (such as a Dragon staying airborne), stay in humanoid form and throw Magic Stones at it (you can use them within 60' at no penalty and within 120' with a sling). Guidance makes everyone better at doing things: if someone needs to find a trap or ford a chasm or jump over an obstacle or whatever, cast Guidance. This gives them +1d4 on the roll. You can cast it on yourself too. It even helps with making you a smoother talker and such; just beware that people may not like you obviously casting spells in their presence so be discrete when in a social situation.

Mold Earth lets you dig holes and create barriers and such, Shape Water lets you create basically anything out of ice and redirect water currents and such. Both are obviously useful, use whichever you want as you see fit.

[Cheesegear]

I'm almost entirely new to DnD

Play a Fighter. Learn about Attack Rolls and how AC.
Learn about Bonus Actions; Two-Weapon Fighting and Second Wind.
Learn about using Short Rest abilities; Learn about Action Surge and the action economy.

If you want, DoIP is set up to include Eldritch Knights, so you can even learn how spellcasting works...But only after you've spent 2 levels learning about Attack rolls, first. So when it comes to spellcasting, you already know the 'basics' before you get into complicated stuff like 'VSM' and why you need to put away your weapon to cast spells but also bring it out again to attack.


Any tips for creating a character for that campaign?

First, discuss with your party about who wants to play what. In beginner adventures, it can be...Lame...If two players take the same class and/or role, since most adventures only really need one player per role. And it sucks if one person does everything for that role, and the other person who could do that role, just isn't necessary.

As a beginner adventure, you're expected to play:
Dwarf, Elf, Halfling or Human;
Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard.
Acolyte, Criminal, Entertainer, Sage, Solider.

The Backgrounds are supposed to match their 'obvious' class. But that's not necessary, because the adventure is simple enough. The point is, it's Dragon of Icespire Peak. You don't need to get complicated, because you don't know how anything. You're supposed to be learning about how Skill Checks works, and how to make attack rolls. You're supposed to cast no more than very basic spells. You're supposed to learn about when to look for traps. And you're supposed to learn about how certain mechanics work by fighting various hostiles, and gaining Advantage and Disadvantage and what that means.

Just play the adventure, get yourself killed at least once, roll a new character, and continue learning how the game works.
Part of learning how the game works, is failing at things, and yes, even dying. That's okay. Keep doing that. Just roll a new one. It's not that hard.


Any kind of advice will work, whether it's choice of class, equipment, or even backstory & background.

Play something simple because you're a beginner. The half-PHB that comes with Dragon of Icespire Peak gives you everything you need to know about the game.


I want to keep things simple for myself, since I'm very new and I like to play safe.

Don't play safe.
If you want to walk slowly through a dark tunnel, do so. If you want to kick in a door, do so.
If you make a 'mistake', you die.
That's okay.
Make a new character and carry on.


In fact, this is why I'm considering a Barbarian with Path of the Berserker.

Play a Champion Fighter, which is the exact same role, and is in the half-PHB that comes with the adventure.
Play an Eldritch Knight, and learn how spells work at the same time.


How difficult is the campaign?

The campaign is only difficult if the party splits up. There are many encounters that are designed to have the full compliment of party members in the room (e.g; 2 hostiles, plus 2 hostiles per player). If you end up with one player going off to explore on their own whilst the others Short Rest "Well if everyone's sitting around for an hour, I might explore on my own.", that single player can open a door and end up in an encounter that's designed for all four players (e.g; There are 10 hostiles in the room), get Surprised by 10 hostiles, and die immediately, no shout, no warning. Just dead.

And that's okay.

Dying, does not mean 'Game Over'. Never has. Never will.


Should I avoid doing anything too off-the-wall?

In case I haven't been clear by this point:
Do. Whatever. The ****. You Want.

If something seems like you - or your character - would do, do it.
If you die, you die.


I was told that the dragon can attack the party anytime anyway, so I'm worried.

The Dragon can kill low-level characters extremely easily, especially if it goes high in the initiative order.

If the Dragon uses its Breath Weapon intelligently, it can AoE several characters dead.
If the Dragon rolls Recharge on its Breath Weapon, and uses it in back-to-back rounds, it can kill entire parties in short order.
That's okay.

Everyone rolls a new character invested in slaying the dragon.

Your goal is to learn how to play. Not to win.


Source: I've run DoIP twice. New players die. They're actually kind of supposed to.
Game 1. Everyone died at least once, before facing the Dragon.
Game 2. Nobody died until the Dragon fight. There was one survivor.

[MrStabby]

I think that the bigger part of complexity for newer players than spells is managing the action economy.

Rogues with cunning action get bonus actions relatively early, for example, and newer.players often dont make the best use of it.

I think that the arcane spellcasters need their spells of different casting times and durations to survive: getting the most out of mage armour and shield is an extra burden of complexity. If a newer player wants to play a spellcaster I would guide them towards something like a cleric with stronger passive defenses - if they want to be a blaster then light cleric, if a healer then life cleric, as an all-rounder nature cleric.

Spell complexity is a real burden if you jump into the game at higher levels but if you are going to have multiple adventuring days before level 3 and 2nd level spells you should have time to learn and adjust. Read the spell descriptions in advance and just select the spells with the complexity with which you are comfortable.

[cookieface]

While this is true, I don't think it's that big of a problem. I think prepared spells are better for a new players than known spells: you can just prepare the same spells every day until you feel like you wanna get to know new spells and then try preparing a different spell and seeing what it does/how often you wanna use it. And repeat.

Moon Druid specifically is great in that a simple system will work just fine: you don't need to dig out for esoteric forms or polished spell loadouts for the class to be great nor do you need to know all the options. It's strong enough that while it Moon Druid can be complex, they're also really solid "introduce everything in the game"-class. They introduce fighting, spellcasting, cantrips & shapeshifting but in a simple manner.


How to enjoy Moon Druid 101:

1) Pick one decent combat form and turn into it whenever you fight. Just use all your Wildshapes to turn into a Brown Bear or a Dire Wolf or a Tiger (pick the one that suits your fancy and stick with it: be a Wolf Druid or a Feline Druid or a Bear Druid). Print a stat sheet for that animal. Whenever you Wildshape, use the animal sheet instead of your own. If you drop to 0 animal HP, go back to your own character sheet. Spend your time mauling enemies in said form. The forms are largely redundant, all of them will do fine in most cases. No need to think about other uses of Wildshape, this'll generally be the best option for Moon Druid specifically (yes, you can scout or such too but you'll be just fine as a melee brute). If you've used both your Wildshapes, ask that the party short rests ASAP.

2) Pick a basic spell list and stick to it. No need to switch spells around day-to-day until you feel like you wanna try something new (then just try!). Druid list in particular is such as that building such a list for early game is easy and you aren't losing much power either. For example:

- Entangle [vines restrain targets in an area, good against smaller and faster enemies]

- Goodberry [conjure up 10 healing, nourishing berries, used for healing between fights]

- Healing Word [heal an ally for 1d4+Wisdom at distance, used in emergencies if ally is in danger of dying in combat]

- Faerie Fire [paint enemies in an area as easy targets helping allies' attacks hit, reveals invisible enemies, good against larger and stronger enemies]


Then just run with those spells and figure out what they do. It'll take a couple of sessions but there's a pretty simple flowchart there for combat.
Turn 1, if you are in humanoid form:
1a. If you see small enemies & lots of them, cast Entangle. Then proceed to 2.
1b. If you see big, dangerous-looking enemies, cast Faerie Fire. Then proceed to 2.
1c. If you are aware of invisible enemies, cast Faerie Fire. Then proceed to 2.
1d. If you see only a small amounts of small enemies, proceed directly to 2.
2. Shift into your Beast form [Dire Wolf, Brown Bear, Tiger] and proceed to turn 2.

Turn 1, if you are in beast form: Proceed to turn 2.

Turn 2+: Rip things' throats open in your preferred manner (claws, jaws, a combination thereof) until they all stop moving.

For the other spells, Healing Word is for emergencies. If an ally gets downed and looks to be going down, you can shift back to humanoid form and Healing Word them back up (if nobody else can do it). Goodberry is an evening spell. If you didn't cast all your spell slots, cast Goodberry before long rest. It lasts for 24 hours so they'll be available next day. 10 berries per casting, each heals 1 HP. Whenever someone takes damage the next day, if you have Berries left, feed them a Berry.

Once you level up, you can add Absorb Elements to the list (lets you halve damage from elemental attacks like dragon breath weapons while in humanoid form). And later on [character level 3] when you unlock level 2 spells, just take Barkskin (makes your animal forms harder to hit) & Pass without Trace (makes your party extremely hard to notice while hiding). And go from there.

Basically, I recommend starting up as if you were playing a spells known caster. For a Druid, this isn't even really suboptimal since the Druid list is pretty general and the same spells always remain good: all of those spells I listed aside are still stuff you can prepare and cast on level 1 or 20. Learn those few spells first and if you wanna broaden your horizons, read through the list at your leisure and try preparing different spells another day.


Oh and you also have cantrips. Take Guidance, Magic Stone and on level 4 like Mold Earth or Shape Water (pick to style whether you wanna be an earthbender or a waterbender). Magic Stone is your ranged option: if you are fighting a ranged opponent (such as a Dragon staying airborne), stay in humanoid form and throw Magic Stones at it (you can use them within 60' at no penalty and within 120' with a sling). Guidance makes everyone better at doing things: if someone needs to find a trap or ford a chasm or jump over an obstacle or whatever, cast Guidance. This gives them +1d4 on the roll. You can cast it on yourself too. It even helps with making you a smoother talker and such; just beware that people may not like you obviously casting spells in their presence so be discrete when in a social situation.

Mold Earth lets you dig holes and create barriers and such, Shape Water lets you create basically anything out of ice and redirect water currents and such. Both are obviously useful, use whichever you want as you see fit.

Yup, won't necessarily disagree with anything you have here.

My advice was keyed off of OP's comments that lots of options will be a detriment to enjoyment. As with any class, a player can always artificially limit their choices to only a few things a day, but I would argue that even having choices between "Wildshape", "Cast a Spell", and "Attack with Magic Stone/Shillelagh" (or whatever) can be difficult to choose at the table. Heck I love playing Monks and I often have to give pause between choosing FOB, Step of the Wind, and Patient Defense! Choosing in the moment is hard.

Warlocks, despite having lots of character creation options, can be fun and powerful in combat by simply spamming Eldritch Blast. Minimal choice, lots of power.

And all of your spell advice is very good as well. I was avoiding giving too much instruction there so that OP could formulate their own character, but they have not been particularly explicit about how much instruction they would like.

In conclusion -- We agree! I think we just chose to answer the core topic in different ways.

[thoroughlyS]

Each of the classes in D&D 5E can be built in such a way that you have a very straightforward strategy in play, so you can pick basically any of them and keep it simple. I'd recommend asking the party what role each of them wants, and finding a niche to fill. After that, you can choose any of the classes, and give us an update. We can give you a general outline of what you can do every turn, so that you have a solid game-plan going into your first actual session. Do you know what rules your DM is using for character creation? Specifically, what sources your allowed to use and how you determine ability scores? Also, are they allowing the "Customizing your Origin" rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything? This information will help us to provide more useful advice later.