Mounted Druid

[Ogun]

Is there a good way to build a mounted druid?
I was thinking about spore druid.
It seems like it could benifit from a skirmish play style.
Mounted, with a lance ,could be a way to use thier Symbiotic Entity bonus die while avoiding direct contact.
A whip might work as well.
Later levels offer a plethora of weird mounts to choose from , with animal friendship, summoning, awakening ,and animate dead.
A huge flying beast would be the obvious goal.

[Schwann145]

There isn't a good way to do mounted anything. <_<
Best bet is an awakened animal that you become besties with. Expect it to die easily. Many funerals in your future. :P

[whateew]

I dont think anything sticks out to me - you'd be better of with a small race wisdom focused beast master ranger I think, between multi attack, a guaranteed companion, and a better AC.

However, it's not impossible at all. Druids can cast summon animal now at 3rd level for a companion on demand, or just buy a draft horse. Focus on dexterity ASIs, wear studded with a shield, and you'll have pretty competitive AC - your wis is low, but who cares? focus on buffs, healing spells, and no-saves like plant growth and spike growth.

You only get one attack, but who cares? Take a high half elf for +2 +1 +1 and booming blade, and use the mount disengaging mechanics to have super easy booming blade procs. Alternatively, go high elf +2 +1, but you can trade 3 proficiencies for a heavy crossbow / hand crossbow at long range, a rapier for damage, and even a whip if you want it. Your single attack won't matter since BB scales for you
Another fun option is the UA kobold, who also gets that free cantrip, but with a cool bonus action advantage ability.

However, you have to ask - does it have to be a druid? Because an arcana cleric could do all of this also, and has options like wrathful smite.

Having the option to cast Conjure Animals for a flying mount would be a good one - you and the eldritch knight each get a giant vulture to booming blade the poor creatures beneath you (wow, conjure animals working in a way that the table won't hate!) - and using plant growth to hassle floor creatures from the sky would be another - this tactic suits the druid too, since vultures would (I assume) move on their turn, not yours - you can use your action to ready a booming blade and not waste your multi attack

[Unoriginal]

Shepherd Druid can lead a small cavalry charge.

[CheddarChampion]

I think having a mount would not add much to a Druid playstyle.
Mounts are good for mobility: melee hit & run, melee needing to attack a far away enemy, and ranged characters keeping away from melee enemies.
Druids don't get much out of this.

Excluding subclass spells, D&D Beyond tells me Druids have 5 spells that use melee attacks: 4 cantrips & Contagion.
None of them seem like premier ways of spending your turn & resources: the offensive part of the MC feat seems wasted here.
(If you want lance/whip proficiency, you'd need to get lance/whip proficiency from a race, feat, or multiclass.)
Ranged characters usually prefer staying away from melee enemies because they're squishy and/or because ranged attack rolls are made at disadvantage when an enemy is within 5' of you. This is not an issue for a Druid.
Druids have medium armor + shields (16 AC), a d8 hit die, and can easily afford 16 Con: not exactly squishy (but that's subjective, I suppose).
Most of their offensive spells force saving throws instead of requiring an attack roll: disadvantage probably won't come up.
Melee enemies will usually go after someone they can reach, so this tactic usually doesn't help the group as a whole.
Druids have 4 ways of getting a mount: conjuring one, buying one, awakening one, or taming one.

With conjure animals, if your DM is nice and lets you choose an animal type, you're spending a 3rd+ level spell slot (Conjure Animals) and your concentration to get extra mobility for one hour. Maybe: depending on how your DM does initiative and if your mount is considered controlled or uncontrolled.

With buying a mount, you're either getting a low HP horse or a small-boost-to-speed elephant. (Having an elephant on your side is probably more effective than trying to ride one as a controlled mount.) Exotic animals being available is nice, but you can't really expect those.

With casting Awaken, you need to be at least 9th level & pay 1000 gp or manage to find a scroll of Awaken. You also need to find a beast that has good stats, fits the requirements, and will not attack you repeatedly for the 8 hours you spend casting the spell. This requires a lucky find or a DM that will let you spend time finding such a beast.

With taming a mount, you need to find a nice creature like with Awaken, but you need an even more lenient DM (and likely a very good animal handling bonus).

So you can get a weak mount by spending a little, several temporary weak mounts with a moderate spellcasting investment, or you can get a strong mount by spending a lot, having a lenient DM, and getting lucky.
To summarize: your options for getting mounts aren't great and the benefits you gain from getting one don't do much.

[Ogun]

Ah well, I thought it could be good synergy but I was wrong.
I love the flavor of spore druid, but the bonus to melee weapon attacks seems really hard to use wisely.
Maybe Ill ignore the wise path.

[chando]

There is at least a path that might work.
whitout disregarding the points broght up by CheddarChampion, Druids are casters, full of "control the battlefield" spells making sure you can hit and run your enemies with any mount or just movig around and moving the npcs around with Whip/thorn whip, etc.

While its not a cookie cutter strategy or the absolute best way to use your class abilities, I'd say Shepperd or Spore druid are prebably the best druids to use with mounts, and i think that preparing one or two spells that can give you a mount but also can resolve a whole encounter such as animal friendship or summon a bunch of wolfs is really very little investment, and by 9th level 1000gp is not unreasnable, or a DM that has been DMing for the group and with this specifc druid for 9 levels to actually put some beasts and allow for tames awekens, etc...
I would have a private talk with the DM about the boundaries and wishes, so you dont get a overpowerd thing or let go of some really good thing after a little bit so it doens become campagin breaking.... Ex: One Dm of my once allowed for a Animate Dead effect bring back a ownbear for an epic battle. It was a big moment for my character and the campagin, and only for the session before the thing died in battle but ****ing epic, kinda like belkar having a pet dino for a couple strips in the desert (i think?)

anyway, play around with nonconvetional ideas, they are usually great fun

[CheddarChampion]

To try and be more positive/helpful, a Druid is the best bet for obtaining an awesome mount. Especially with DM buy in.

Ask your DM if you can:
#1 Add Find Steed/Find Greater Steed to your Druid spell list, perhaps even a nerfed version. Nerf examples include: does not improve the animal's Intelligence, cannot change the creature type, cannot dismiss the creature with your action, only lasts until you finish a long rest.
#2 Find/create a subclass for the druid based on getting an animal companion.
#3 Have a young Cave Bear that starts with the stats of a Black Bear, then turns into a Brown Bear, and later into a Cave Bear - at the cost of having to cast Animal Friendship once or twice every long rest (and thus reducing the amount of levelled spells you can cast).

[Sherlockpwns]

Yeah, druids work best as the mountee, not the mount...er.

[Ogun]

For what it's worth I've decided to play a Spore Druid in our next campaign, optimization be dammed.
I will be riding odd beasties around, but that might well mean a walking plant creature with 20' of movement...
For race I'm considering: bugbear for the long armed Sasquatchiness, warforged for durability and endurance, Yuan-ti Pureblood for Parseltongue friendships, or dhampir for wall crawling and healthy appetite.



So , I'm still stoked about spore druid but I've decided to go all in on fun over function.

[carkl3000]

This topic hit home with me. I'm playing a halfling arcana cleric 1/spores druid x. DM pulled out a mini of a halfling riding a wolf in our first play session and asked (half jokingly) if I wanted a mount at some point. I wasn't even considering mounts until he asked, but after he asked I started thinking about it.

Understand that I know this doesn't comport with any rules for steeds that I'm aware of in any book, and I don't know what avantage this might give my character in game, but I have now decided that the most fitting mount for my little dude is a carrion crawler.

I will tame one by animating a zombie and commanding the zombie to tear off it's arm and advance on the creature while proffering it's arm as a treat. If DM doesn't go for it, I'll quit the game because it's awesome and it simply has to happen. I think this is what you should do.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

There isn't a good way to do mounted anything. <_<
Best bet is an awakened animal that you become besties with. Expect it to die easily. Many funerals in your future. :P

You can always just use an awaken purple worm if you want something that will stay alive.

[sambojin]

All druids get a bit of riding at 3rd level if you don't mind being a tiny Velociraptor. It's not great, it uses a fair few resources, but it's there. This lets you ride your Summon Beast birds (flyby attack and pack tactics) or wildfire spirit (for Wildfire druids, with a bit of teleport and pack tactics).

Spores doesn't pair up too badly with this. Summon a bird, WS into a Velociraptor, mount the bird, pop your spores when needed.

At third level this gives you 10HP+12tHP, two attacks at advantage of +4to-hit, 2d6+2 for one, d6+d4+2 for the other, and your bird attack. And a 2d4 spores reaction.

Have fun discussing with you DM whether you can even communicate with your summoned bird as a Velociraptor (telepathy or beast speech might be necessary), and exactly when your beast moves (if you're riding it, is it controlled, so on your turn, or is it straight after, like the spell says?).

Not exactly sure if I'd bother building around it. It's weaksauce, but the option is there for free. Well, for two WS charges and a level 2 spellslot. I don't think it's going to get much better, no matter how much you feat into it. But hey, flyby attacks, pack tactics, extra necrotic damage, a spore reaction and some tHP isn't too bad for some funsies some time. It's just a thing you can do. Have fun messing around with it.

(At level 5 you can Conjure Animals in a Giant Eagle or Giant Constrictor Snake to ride, WS into a Frilled Deathspitter, mount your summoned pet, pop spores, and really go to town. Again, it's not super optimal, or even good, but it is fun and you don't really have to do anything to get it. It's just a thing Spore druids can do
That's 3x +5to-hit attacks for 2d6+3, and two attacks from the Eagle at +5to-hit for d6+3/2d6+3. You actually do get a bit out of the Mounted Combatant feat, because a large/huge mount gives you advantage plenty of the time, and 3x +5to-hit with advantage really isn't too bad at 2d6+3 damage each. The 20tHP from spores gives you a bit more sustain than you'd think too.
I won't bother doing the average damages, it's not too good, but it's passable at lvl5. If anyone can give you advantage without the Mounted Combatant feat or Bless you, it is ok. Just. It is pretty fun though, so is worthwhile trying out when you don't mind blowing both WS charges, a lvl3 spellslot, and taking plenty of time to get into combat form)

[Sherlockpwns]

(At level 5 you can Conjure Animals in a Giant Eagle or Giant Constrictor Snake to ride, WS into a Frilled Deathspitter, mount your summoned pet, pop spores, and really go to town. Again, it's not super optimal, or even good, but it is fun and you don't really have to do anything to get it. It's just a thing Spore druids can do
That's 3x +5to-hit attacks for 2d6+3, and two attacks from the Eagle at +5to-hit for d6+3/2d6+3. You actually do get a bit out of the Mounted Combatant feat, because a large/huge mount gives you advantage plenty of the time, and 3x +5to-hit with advantage really isn't too bad at 2d6+3 damage each. The 20tHP from spores gives you a bit more sustain than you'd think too.
I won't bother doing the average damages, it's not too good, but it's passable at lvl5. If anyone can give you advantage without the Mounted Combatant feat or Bless you, it is ok. Just. It is pretty fun though, so is worthwhile trying out when you don't mind blowing both WS charges, a lvl3 spellslot, and taking plenty of time to get into combat form)

Only if your DM allows you, as mounts typically require a harness & saddle, and an unusual mount requires a special one. Cool as riding an eagle bare-back looks, I think it wouldn't fly at a lot of tables (pun intended).

[CheddarChampion]

if you don't mind being a tiny Velociraptor.
Today I learned D&D counts Velociraptors as tiny. Why!?


Only if your DM allows you, as mounts typically require a harness & saddle, and an unusual mount requires a special one. Cool as riding an eagle bare-back looks, I think it wouldn't fly at a lot of tables (pun intended).
Adding to this, Velociraptors don't have the physique for riding. Druids also to see a species before they can turn into that kind of animal.

[sambojin]

#1, they kind of do have the physique for riding. Like, they're not that different from a bipedal anything else. Especially considering they're riding a spirit that is small, that can look like any type of bird/ bat/ flying dinosaur native to the "air" environment. Yeah, sure, you might have to buy an itty-bitty bird saddle, that's fine by lvl3. You have nothing to spend your money on as a druid anyway.
Way easier to explain away with a Wildfire spirit, because they can look like however you want (mine come with a saddle built in).

#2, backstory it in, if at all possible. You'd be surprised how much stuff a druid has seen before/ at lvl1. It's the kind of the thing they do, after all. Even easier if you have the sailor or pirate background. You've been places...

[Unoriginal]

Today I learned D&D counts Velociraptors as tiny. Why!?

Velociraptors were pretty tiny. The Jurassic Park dinos were actually based on the Deinonychus, which was more than 1.5 time as long (and more than 1.5 time as high as the hip) as the Velociraptor, not to mention 5 times as heavy.

[Throne12]

Ah well, I thought it could be good synergy but I was wrong.
I love the flavor of spore druid, but the bonus to melee weapon attacks seems really hard to use wisely.
Maybe Ill ignore the wise path.

Why not go human with mounted feat and get a mount or conjor up a mount.

[carkl3000]

Velociraptors were pretty tiny. The Jurassic Park dinos were actually based on the Deinonychus, which was more than 1.5 time as long (and more than 1.5 time as high as the hip) as the Velociraptor, not to mention 5 times as heavy.

They should probably be small. Not tiny, but whatever...

[ftafp]

hey guys, i think we're judging without looking at the possibilities here. first and foremost most people doing mounted combat builds assume we're talking about a riding horse, warhorse or mastiff, but the PHB has elephants listed for a mere 200 gp, about the cost of a bag of holding. not only are elephants tanky enough to survive 3 fireballs in a row and strong enough to fend for themselves if used as an independent mount, their height means that a druid riding them can Thorn Whip enemies 10 feet into the air, doing an extra 1d6 fall damage and knocking them prone. this is a substantial advantage in combat

alternatively, a druid can get phantom steed from ritual caster or the mark of passage. while you dont get the same battlefield control from thornwhip, there is no character that cant benefit from 100 movement speed with action-free dash or disengage, and you can provide that to the whole party without expending resources

mounted druid is a great idea. thank you for bringing it up

[sambojin]

I'm kinda going to put "buy an Elephant" into my standard Wildfire Druid advice kit.

Because what's better than an elephant? One that can teleport because it's being ridden by a Wildfire Spirit, and can shoot because there's also 4 summoned Frilled Deathspitters/ Apes or 2 Dilophosaurus or 1 Giant Spitting Lizard and a Druid aboard.

Yes, the saddle/ howah will cost a bit too. But what? Like an extra 100-200 gold?

It might not come up too often in any given campaign, but when it does..... Seige engine ho! Sure, you scatter after the teleport, but wow :)

(Is there nothing druids couldn't potentially do? Mostly just for ****s and giggles. But yes, there is potential and support for a mounted druid in 5e)

[ftafp]

I'm kinda going to put "buy an Elephant" into my standard Wildfire Druid advice kit.

Because what's better than an elephant? One that can teleport because it's being ridden by a Wildfire Spirit, and can shoot because there's also 4 summoned Frilled Deathspitters/ Apes or 2 Dilophosaurus or 1 Giant Spitting Lizard and a Druid aboard.

Yes, the saddle/ howah will cost a bit too. But what? Like an extra 100-200 gold?

It might not come up too often in any given campaign, but when it does..... Seige engine ho! Sure, you scatter after the teleport, but wow :)

(Is there nothing druids couldn't potentially do? Mostly just for ****s and giggles. But yes, there is potential and support for a mounted druid in 5e)

don't forget that it can also teleport as a readied action if targeted with just about any harmful effect

[Fatefulforce]

There isn't a good way to do mounted anything. <_<
Best bet is an awakened animal that you become besties with. Expect it to die easily. Many funerals in your future. :P

True mounts die too easily but there are workarounds and specific classes/builds that can mitigate this to make them viable.

Paladin is the most obvious b/c their mount is summoned and Find Greater steed does become a Griffon (one of the options) so fireballs no longer kills the mount.

The new ranger beastmaster from Tasha's also helps solve some of this as well.

Another way to get around this using an onyx figurine. Yes, that requires either the help of the DM or to become lucky in the case the DM puts it into the campaign. This might suit the druid.