Tweaking the Circle of Spores Druid

[wayfare]

Hi All:

I have a player who has been playing a circle of spores druid for about a year now, and while he loves the flavor, he has been shying away from using his circle features because of how little synergy they have with the rest of the druid kit. Particular complaints include:

• Symbiotic Entity takes an action
• Symbiotic Entity offers less temporary HP than Moon Wild Shape
• Symbiotic entity damage doesn't scale, and doesn't apply to cantrips where it should (Thorn Whip, Primal Savagery)
• Fungal Infestation is a free, worse casting of Animate Dead at the same level
• The class seems to want to live in melee, but doesn't have the tools to do so

We've been working together to make a version of the subclass that lightly tweaks the abilities, keeping the great flavor and adding some more staying power and better action economy. We've tried to keep the changes relatively light, though we completely rewrote Fungal Infestation to be more like a Tasha's pet ability.

I'm looking for feedback on how to improve balance and make this kit more effective. Any input is appreciated!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[Mehangel]

So a couple of things that I think you need to address:

1st, what is the creature type of the Fungal Servant? Is it a plant or an undead? Having it defined in the stat-block or in the Fungal Infestation feature is kind of necessary.

2nd, what is the Challenge Rating of the Fungal Servant. This is important because there are a number of features, spells, or abilities that interact with creatures based upon their CR. For example, if the Fungal Servant ends up being an undead, knowing its CR is important when interacting with the Cleric's Destroy Undead feature.