Ways to Get Damage Reduction Without Multiclassing?

[SociopathFriend]

I'm enjoying the thought of a Spore Druid and would like to play one- but I'm considering how long those temporary hit points will last for the Spore feature.

Obviously the easiest suggestion is just to become a Barbarian- but I very simply don't want to multiclass from Druid.

That resistance however doesn't apply to Races, Feats, Spells, or Magic Items. Any suggestions for keeping those temporary hit points going strong?

[Kane0]

Reincarnate into a Goliath? Heavy Armor Master feat probably isn't really an option for you as a Druid...

[Sherlockpwns]

Earth genasi gets bonus action bladeward.

Level 9 Druid gets Stoneskin (whether it’s worth casting is another matter entirely)

There are a wide variety of ways to get absorb elements for elemental damage.

Ideally have someone cast warding bond on you.

Among non-barbarian multiclass options there are a bunch of damage reducing features.

Psi-fighter (3)
Clockwork sorcerer (6)
All rogues (5)
Abjuration wizard (2)
Battlesmith (3, kinda via disadvantage)

I’m sure I missed a few.

Of course the reality is you have to gain more than 4hp of reduction per level spent on any multiclass for it to make any sense for this and the reality is that is questionable for all of those.

So yeah, unless you are doing something really wild I’d say the earth genasi Druid casting stoneskin is probably “best” and have your neighborhood cleric throw warding bond atop it. Maybe stand near a fighter with intercept.

[MisterD]

Bladesinger with

BLADE WARD
ABSORB ELEMENTS

[Psyren]

Heavy Armor Master feat probably isn't really an option for you as a Druid...

It can be if the DM is very generous and gives them a heavy armor that isn't made of metal, e.g. Mind Carapace Plate or Living Plate. But that is going to require so much fiat that you might as well ignore the restriction entirely.

[Kane0]

It can be if the DM is very generous and gives them a heavy armor that isn't made of metal, e.g. Mind Carapace Plate or Living Plate. But that is going to require so much fiat that you might as well ignore the restriction entirely.

That plus proficiency from somewhere that isnt multiclassing

[strangebloke]

Stoneskin lol. It's a bad spell but it is literally what you're asking for and it's on the druid list. Absorb elements covers a lot of damage types that stoneskin doesn't so you end up resisting most things. Invest in good con saves though lol.

Or for an even more terrible option you could grab blade ward from magic initiate.

Beyond that there's race options. Shadarkai, earth genasi, and Goliath all have very big damage reduction abilities. They're all very strong and Goliath resists cold as well! Tiefling (with infernal resistance!), dragonborn, and dwarf do all grant resistance as well, though Elemental resistances aren't worth as much because you already have absorb elements.

Beyond that you're looking at heavily armored plus heavy armor master or similar which is not good lol.

[Leon]

Reincarnate into a Goliath? Heavy Armor Master feat probably isn't really an option for you as a Druid...

Only if you let a vague superfluous bit of flavor text hold you back

[Kane0]

Druids dont get proficiency in heavy armor to begin with, which they would need to benefit from heavy armor master. They dont have any subclasses that grant it, so you're looking at a race that does (via feat) before you actually get that 3 points of nonmagical weapon damage while you are wearing that armor (and not wildshaped).

[Opsimos]

Fey Touched (Silvery Barbs) helps. Rings of Shared Suffering or Human (Mark of Sentinel), which gives you access to warding bond and Counterspell, are an option. But I recommend going first and not get hit at all instead of searching for damage reduction. Your best friend in this is Pass without Trace.

[animorte]

I tried two different builds for this. 1 level of Barbarian first, then into Spores Druid vs 1 level of Monk first.

Rage keeps you from being able to use much of anything else and the action economy isn't favorable.

Monk is less MAD and Unarmed Defense aligns much better. This one is much more satisfying to run.

[Ir0ns0ul]

A cheap way to look for damage mitigation is the spell Armor of Agathys. It scales really well, it doesn’t hold your concentration, it has a good damage kicker and you can get it without multiclassing by being a Mark of Warding Dwarf.

[Psyren]

That plus proficiency from somewhere that isnt multiclassing

OP doesn't want to multiclass FROM druid but starting as a Fighter 1 works :smallbiggrin:

[stoutstien]

Shadar-kai is busted but it fits the bill.

[RogueJK]

Yep. Shadar-Kai trounces Earth Genasi.

Both take a BA to activate.

Both are usable PB rounds per day.

Genasi gets resistance to only S/P/B damage and only from weapon attacks.

Shadar-Kai gets resistance to all damage from all sources.

Shadar-Kai wins by a mile. (And gets a teleport effect to boot.)



A cheap way to look for damage mitigation is the spell Armor of Agathys. It scales really well, it doesn’t hold your concentration, it has a good damage kicker and you can get it without multiclassing by being a Mark of Warding Dwarf.

Armor of Agathys grants Temp HP and has an effect while those Temp HP last. Spore Druid grants Temp HP and has an effect while those Temp HP last. But Temp HP doesn't stack. So you'd have to choose between one source of Temp HP and its effects, or the other. Not both at the same time. Therefore, AoA wouldn't help with extending the Spore effect, like the OP is wanting.

Besides, your options for gaining access to Armor of Agathys without multiclassing (and without going with one of the super-unbalanced quasi-official Dragonmark races) would be either taking the Magic Initiate Warlock feat or being a Levistus Tiefling. Either of those would only let you cast AoA once per day. MI:W would only be at 1st level, so a mere 5 Temp HP once per day. Levistus Tiefling could cast it at 2nd level, but that's still only 10 Temp HP once per day.

[RogueJK]

It's not a good option, but another option not already mentioned would be to take the Fighting Initiate feat to learn the Parry Maneuver, which would let you reduce the damage of one melee attack per Short Rest by 1d6+DEXMOD.

(It'd be a terrible use of a feat, though.)


Basically, as has been discussed in a variety of Spores Druid threads, Spores Druid is nigh-impossible to optimize. Their Spore Temp HP just doesn't last long enough, especially since the effects incentivize being on the front lines in melee combat, where you're going to be soaking up even more hits than otherwise.

The best you could achieve would be dipping Barbarian 1/3/5, and going with the Goliath race, combining the two effects of damage resistance + damage reduction to extend your Spore Temp HP as much as possible. But even then, it's not super optimized.

And by removing half of that equation by eliminating multiclassing, it's even less effective.

Spores Druid is great flavor, but poor mechanics.

[Psyren]

The issue I have with bonus action defenses like Shadar-Kai and Patient Defense is that you're giving up the key benefit of Spores Druid that way, i.e. spores damage rider on as many attacks as possible. If you're only getting 1-2 attacks out of a spores druid you're better off being something else.

[strangebloke]

Basically, as has been discussed in a variety of Spores Druid threads, Spores Druid is nigh-impossible to optimize. Their Spore Temp HP just doesn't last long enough, especially since the effects incentivize being on the front lines in melee combat, where you're going to be soaking up even more hits than otherwise.
Again, I'm pretty sure the only way to get this to work is fireshield and stoneskin.

Fire/chill shield is good, and stoneskin is inefficient but will extend your THP. The main problem is just that these aren't really effective things to be doing with your concentration and slots as a high level druid. But an efficient high-level druid is probably overpowered for most tables anyway - if your goal is to be a melee bruiser druid, you could do worse than stoneskin/fireshield.

The issue I have with bonus action defenses like Shadar-Kai and Patient Defense is that you're giving up the key benefit of Spores Druid that way, i.e. spores damage rider on as many attacks as possible. If you're only getting 1-2 attacks out of a spores druid you're better off being something else.
Same for Absorb Elements and Goliath tbh. Spore druid wants to use ALL the action economy.

[Psyren]

I'll point out, as I do in all Spores Druid threads, that the specific wording of the ability can be leveraged to your benefit.

Symbiotic Entity lasts "until you lose all these temporary hit points." If you never got the Temp HP from SE in the first place, e.g. if you have a higher source of temp HP from another source when you activate it, one of three things happen:

1) Symbiotic Form fails to activate. I don't see anything that would cause this reading, because you explicitly get the temp HP after you activate it, so the activation must have first succeeded.

2) Symbiotic Form activates, and will deactivate if you lose all your temp HP from another source. This carries some of the same annoyances as going straight Spores Druid i.e. a frontline build that loses its frontline prowess if it takes too much damage, but is much more multiclass friendly - you can stop druid after three levels and go ham on something that gives you much more temp HP, like a Twilight Cleric. Alternatively, you can get your temp HP from a race (like Beasthide Shifter), feat (like Inspiring Leader) or a spell (like False Life/AoA).

3) Symbiotic Form activates, and lasts the full 10 minutes because you never actually gained temp HP from the SE feature and therefore can never lose it. This is the best outcome if your DM goes with that.

Personally I'd go with #2 but I've spoken with DMs who allow #3. Note too that the original version of the Spores Druid from GGtR includes this reminder on how temp HP works, which suggests this reading may have been intended.


Again, I'm pretty sure the only way to get this to work is fireshield and stoneskin.

Fire/chill shield is good, and stoneskin is inefficient but will extend your THP. The main problem is just that these aren't really effective things to be doing with your concentration and slots as a high level druid. But an efficient high-level druid is probably overpowered for most tables anyway - if your goal is to be a melee bruiser druid, you could do worse than stoneskin/fireshield.

Same for Absorb Elements and Goliath tbh. Spore druid wants to use ALL the action economy.

I concur, particularly with your stoneskin suggestion.

With that said, I don't mind defenses that are reaction-based. The added damage there is minimal and difficult to guarantee, whereas being able to protect your temp HP with something like Shield or Absorb Elements is much more likely to come up.

[Hawk7915]

Having seen a Spore Druid in play to level 9, I'd observe that:

- If you can find a way to BA attack (Polearm Master, TWF) that's excellent for a Spore Druid to take advantage of the bonus damage from their Symbiotic Entity. As a result, BA ways to gain damage reduction (Shadar-kai, Earth Genasi) or avoidance (Monk 2+) are a bit underwhelming for a Spores druid, as they'd really rather use that BA on an attack.

- Reactions sound like they ought to be heavily accounted for, but they're not that bad a thing to sacrifice. 2d4/2d6/2d8/2d10 damage as a reaction is only marginally more than a competent attack of opportunity, but con saves tend to be high and it's all or nothing making it much worse than an attack of opportunity for damage. As a result, reaction-based damage resistance or avoidance (from Absorb Elements, Shield, Silvery Barbs, Battlemaster Maneuvers, Rogue 5, or other subclasses) is a nice investment for a Spores Druid.

- I agree with most that spending your concentration on Stoneskin/Fireshield/Investiture of Stone feels really lame when you could cast Wall of Fire or Summon Elemental or Polymorph for that concentration, but it is the most action-efficient thing especially Stoneskin with its 1 hour duration that you can potentially drag through multiple encounters. You're going to probably want Warcaster and/or Resilient Constitution here though, so you don't lose the resistance on your first hit.

- Passive resistance is clearly best, but exclusively the domain of Magic Items (Rings of Resistance, Armor of Invulnerability) except for the feat "Heavy Armor Master" which will require multiple feats (Heavy Armor Prof and Heavy Armor Master) or starting as a Fighter, as well as DM playing ball (by either ignoring your "no metal armor" requirement or letting you acquire Bone/Dragon Scale/Ironwood armor)

- Finally, by mid-tier 2 28+ THPs is just a lot of THPs. Early on it can be tough for your THPs to last an encounter, but by mid-high levels unless you are the only frontliner in your squad they are surprisingly strong. My party's Spore Druid keeps at least a few of those THPs through the end of the encounter about 50% of the time with Absorb Elements as her only investment for protection and with a fairly middling 18 AC (admittedly this is because she hasn't found a way to BA attack or multi-attack yet as a Druid 9/Fighter 2, and thus her threat profile simply isn't as high typically as the Order Cleric or Dhampir Battlemaster Fighter. If they weren't there soaking so much aggro, it'd be a different story)

[stoutstien]

Eh most of the attack features of the spore druid are nice in a pinch but they are mostly just a super hearty caster. Best to focus on what druids are good at.

[Dork_Forge]

Personally I think MPMM Goliath is best for this, just make sure to invest in Con and always prepare Absorb Elements.

[Kane0]

Spores Druid is great flavor, but poor mechanics.

Yeah it's on my to-do list.

[Sigreid]

Get a high level wizard to wish the resistances on you. Get hold of a ring of wishes to do the same. etc.