J-H
2024-03-24, 04:38 PM
Patron: Nature
Changes from the base Warlock chassis:
-Saves are Cha & Wis
-Spellcasting stat is Wisdom
-Class skills are from the Druid list.
-Add medium armor proficiency (mostly for Hide armor if we keep "no metal armor")
-Switch entirely to the Druid spell list. This means no Eldritch Blast.
-May change out a Mystic Arcanum spell known with 24 hours of meditation outdoors. This gives some flexibility for the level 6-9 spells compared to Warlock, but not the responsiveness of a normal druid/wizard.
Pact boons: Any as appropriate. Book, Talisman, Blade, or Chain pact all fit okay.
Edit: Subclass features
Originally omitted
1st level:
Improved Cantrip Druid cantrips that deal damage with a base range of 10' or more have their ranged doubled. Wisdom modifier is added to the damage dealt by Druid cantrips unless it already applies [this applies to Control Flames, Create Bonfire, Frostbite, Magic Stone(doesn't double-apply), Poison Spray, Produce Flame, Primal Savagery, Thorn Whip, Thunderclap]. This is less powerful than Eldritch Blast due to lower damage dice and lack of force damage + push/pull, but applies to multiple cantrips. I want the druid to use druid cantrips. A 60' thorn whip is a pretty decent pull, and most of the damaging cantrips now have a 120' range. Poison Spray becomes more viable with a 20' range, and Primal Savagery is now xd10+wis in melee.
6th level: Usually a minor defensive feature.
Nature's sanctuary. Plants & beasts must make a wisdom save to attack you; on a successful save, they are immune to the effect for 24 hrs. Available at a low enough level to be useful
10th level:
Nature's Ward. Can't be charmed or frightened by fey or elementals, immune to poison or disease.
14th level: Usually a substantial damage feature.
Earth, Wind, and Fire. Add your wisdom modifier to the damage dealt by levelled spells that deal B/P/S, fire, or lightning damage.
The druid list has a number of earthy spells that deal bludgeoning damage such as their Fireball-equivalent (3rd level, Erupting Earth, 3d12 bludge & difficult terrain). I want to make those a bit better, as they are relatively weak anyway. This also boosts some of the higher level damage options, including the following spells of 5th level and above: Tsunami, Incendiary Cloud, Whirlwind, Fire Storm, Wall of Thorns, Bones of the Earth, Wrath of Nature, Transmute Rock, Maelstrom.
The rest of the druid-ness comes from new invocation choices, with design notes.
Barkskin. AC set to base 15 outdoors if in an area exposed to the sky, 13 indoors or underground. This is better than Mage Armor outdoors, and the same as the Mage Armor invocation indoors, but pairs well with...
Staff of the Woodlands. Your blade pact weapon appears as a naturally grown two-handed quarterstaff, with an enhancement bonus equal to your PB/3 (rounded down). While wielding it, your Barkskin invocation's AC value improves by 1, or 2 at 10th level. If you're a melee druid, you're probably going Blade Pact. It's not as great as a shield, but it's also a free +1/+2/+3 weapon that keys off of your spellcasting stat and is compatible with the Blade invocations.
Enhanced Barkskin. Requires 5th level and the Barkskin invocation. The AC bonus provided by Barkskin improves by 1. You reduce damage from all sources by 2, or 4 when in an area exposed to the sky.
Wildshape. As the Druid feature, PB/day.
Greater Wildshape. Requires 5th level and Wildshape invocation. As the druid feature, but may change into Beasts or CR5 elementals, up to a maximum CR of PB+1. Puts it off a bit, but that's no great loss at lower levels. Requires 2 invocations to get. PB+1 means you start off with CR4 forms and max out at CR 7, slightly higher than a Moon Druid. You get the CR5 elementals at 9th level.
Wild Companion. If you have the Chain Pact, your familiar instead uses the statistic block of the Summon Beast spell cast at a level equal to your proficiency bonus. If your Companion is killed, it takes 1 hour to re-summon. By level 17, you have an AC 17 Beast with 40-50hp and 3 1d8+10 attacks per round. It's squishy but that's a pretty good punch. Better than a familiar in combat, but loses the invisible scout and shapeshift functions. Never gets as strong as another party member, but also never irrelevant.
Land's Stride. As the Land Druid or Ranger feature.
The three invocations with +AC stack up to a total of 17, or 18 above level 10, when out of doors, and 15/16 indoors, + dex. The DR is nice particularly for making Concentration saves easier. With a maxed DEX, you can hit a 23 AC outdoors/21 indoors, but that involves 3 invocations and maxing a secondary stat, and Druids don't have native access to Shield. For comparison, a druid with Hide +2 and Shield +2 gets an AC of 21.
1. Does this look fun?
2. Would you play it?
3. Does this look like a nice mix-and-match substitute for the base Druid?
I would expect most players will take a few basic Warlock invocations as well as the Druid ones. You can make a serviceable Blade Pact druid-lock, but the spell list doesn't support it quite as well.
Wildshaping may be a bit too powerful at PB/day, but it's known to fall off at high levels as-is, so the high end power boost may be needed. Hitting CR 3-4 at lower levels may be an issue, but it's also at or after the 5th level power bump. There's also no Archdruid/Beast Spell class feature.
Chain pact benefits from the wild companion option, which offers a good but squishy battle partner that resummons over a short rest.
Talisman may get a bit better as druids don't have as many Reaction options. Talisman is talisman... not really impacted by what patron you take.
Changes from the base Warlock chassis:
-Saves are Cha & Wis
-Spellcasting stat is Wisdom
-Class skills are from the Druid list.
-Add medium armor proficiency (mostly for Hide armor if we keep "no metal armor")
-Switch entirely to the Druid spell list. This means no Eldritch Blast.
-May change out a Mystic Arcanum spell known with 24 hours of meditation outdoors. This gives some flexibility for the level 6-9 spells compared to Warlock, but not the responsiveness of a normal druid/wizard.
Pact boons: Any as appropriate. Book, Talisman, Blade, or Chain pact all fit okay.
Edit: Subclass features
Originally omitted
1st level:
Improved Cantrip Druid cantrips that deal damage with a base range of 10' or more have their ranged doubled. Wisdom modifier is added to the damage dealt by Druid cantrips unless it already applies [this applies to Control Flames, Create Bonfire, Frostbite, Magic Stone(doesn't double-apply), Poison Spray, Produce Flame, Primal Savagery, Thorn Whip, Thunderclap]. This is less powerful than Eldritch Blast due to lower damage dice and lack of force damage + push/pull, but applies to multiple cantrips. I want the druid to use druid cantrips. A 60' thorn whip is a pretty decent pull, and most of the damaging cantrips now have a 120' range. Poison Spray becomes more viable with a 20' range, and Primal Savagery is now xd10+wis in melee.
6th level: Usually a minor defensive feature.
Nature's sanctuary. Plants & beasts must make a wisdom save to attack you; on a successful save, they are immune to the effect for 24 hrs. Available at a low enough level to be useful
10th level:
Nature's Ward. Can't be charmed or frightened by fey or elementals, immune to poison or disease.
14th level: Usually a substantial damage feature.
Earth, Wind, and Fire. Add your wisdom modifier to the damage dealt by levelled spells that deal B/P/S, fire, or lightning damage.
The druid list has a number of earthy spells that deal bludgeoning damage such as their Fireball-equivalent (3rd level, Erupting Earth, 3d12 bludge & difficult terrain). I want to make those a bit better, as they are relatively weak anyway. This also boosts some of the higher level damage options, including the following spells of 5th level and above: Tsunami, Incendiary Cloud, Whirlwind, Fire Storm, Wall of Thorns, Bones of the Earth, Wrath of Nature, Transmute Rock, Maelstrom.
The rest of the druid-ness comes from new invocation choices, with design notes.
Barkskin. AC set to base 15 outdoors if in an area exposed to the sky, 13 indoors or underground. This is better than Mage Armor outdoors, and the same as the Mage Armor invocation indoors, but pairs well with...
Staff of the Woodlands. Your blade pact weapon appears as a naturally grown two-handed quarterstaff, with an enhancement bonus equal to your PB/3 (rounded down). While wielding it, your Barkskin invocation's AC value improves by 1, or 2 at 10th level. If you're a melee druid, you're probably going Blade Pact. It's not as great as a shield, but it's also a free +1/+2/+3 weapon that keys off of your spellcasting stat and is compatible with the Blade invocations.
Enhanced Barkskin. Requires 5th level and the Barkskin invocation. The AC bonus provided by Barkskin improves by 1. You reduce damage from all sources by 2, or 4 when in an area exposed to the sky.
Wildshape. As the Druid feature, PB/day.
Greater Wildshape. Requires 5th level and Wildshape invocation. As the druid feature, but may change into Beasts or CR5 elementals, up to a maximum CR of PB+1. Puts it off a bit, but that's no great loss at lower levels. Requires 2 invocations to get. PB+1 means you start off with CR4 forms and max out at CR 7, slightly higher than a Moon Druid. You get the CR5 elementals at 9th level.
Wild Companion. If you have the Chain Pact, your familiar instead uses the statistic block of the Summon Beast spell cast at a level equal to your proficiency bonus. If your Companion is killed, it takes 1 hour to re-summon. By level 17, you have an AC 17 Beast with 40-50hp and 3 1d8+10 attacks per round. It's squishy but that's a pretty good punch. Better than a familiar in combat, but loses the invisible scout and shapeshift functions. Never gets as strong as another party member, but also never irrelevant.
Land's Stride. As the Land Druid or Ranger feature.
The three invocations with +AC stack up to a total of 17, or 18 above level 10, when out of doors, and 15/16 indoors, + dex. The DR is nice particularly for making Concentration saves easier. With a maxed DEX, you can hit a 23 AC outdoors/21 indoors, but that involves 3 invocations and maxing a secondary stat, and Druids don't have native access to Shield. For comparison, a druid with Hide +2 and Shield +2 gets an AC of 21.
1. Does this look fun?
2. Would you play it?
3. Does this look like a nice mix-and-match substitute for the base Druid?
I would expect most players will take a few basic Warlock invocations as well as the Druid ones. You can make a serviceable Blade Pact druid-lock, but the spell list doesn't support it quite as well.
Wildshaping may be a bit too powerful at PB/day, but it's known to fall off at high levels as-is, so the high end power boost may be needed. Hitting CR 3-4 at lower levels may be an issue, but it's also at or after the 5th level power bump. There's also no Archdruid/Beast Spell class feature.
Chain pact benefits from the wild companion option, which offers a good but squishy battle partner that resummons over a short rest.
Talisman may get a bit better as druids don't have as many Reaction options. Talisman is talisman... not really impacted by what patron you take.