The Druids of Dungeons & Dragons are powerful forces with the ability to hold sway over not just the elements that compose the world around them but also the land, animals, moon, stars, and even the very nature of death itself. Regardless of the Circle a Druid chooses to follow, they have the ability to commune with nature in ways no one else would dare, making them worthy as both allies and adversaries.
Not only can they summon animal allies and control plant-life to aid them in the fight, but many of them can also shape their bodies into dangerous, beastly or celestial forms. They share an affinity with the natural world and the elements. Many of them spend the days of their incredibly long lives attempting to maintain the precarious balance of nature itself. There are seven Druidic Circles to choose from when creating a player character, and while every single one of them is an amazing opportunity to explore nature, some rank slightly better than others.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
Circle of the Land
Druids who follow this path gain a deep knowledge and understanding of the land they hailed from. With eight regions to choose from, these powerful Druids gain the ability to cast specialized spells at levels three, five, seven and nine connected to the land where they became a Druid. These lands include arctic regions, grasslands, deserts, coastal regions, forests, mountains, swamps and even the Underdark.
One of the neat things about Druids of the Land is that their affinity with their surroundings grants them abilities like Land Stride, which allows them to pass through non-magical, difficult terrain, including plant life, without expending extra movement. They also gain immunity to poison and disease at level 10. At level 14, Nature’s Sanctuary makes it more difficult for creatures of the natural world to attack them.
These Druids, as cool as they are to play, rank at the bottom of the list because as D&D 5e has expanded over the years, they’ve created several other subclasses that can do even more amazing things.
Circle of the Shepherd
Druids in the Circle of the Shepherd share a deep bond with the spirits of nature and the fey, and they spend the days of their lives communing with and protecting those spirits and fey that can’t protect themselves. Because of their affinity with these creatures, they prefer to maintain their distance from cities and towns, keeping to the woods and forests where they can better serve those that need them.
Through their spirit totems, they gain unique abilities to communicate with animals and a wide variety of fey creatures through their knowledge and understanding of Sylvan. As they level up, their spirit totem provides them with a summoned, incorporeal spirit in the form of their choice and based on which of the three forms the player chooses. Each spirit grants them their power. As they level up, these creatures become protected by the totem’s power, keeping them safe and active longer.
There are many interesting abilities for the Circle of the Shepherd, but there are definitely more exciting features for several of the other subclasses, ranking this on the lower end of the list.
Circle of the Moon
The Circle of the Moon gathers in moonlit circles, where they trade news and warnings meant to keep each other and their wilderness safe. They are rarely seen, even by other Druids, as they prefer the solitary life of the animal forms they can readily shift into.
Circle of the Moon Druids connect to the primal world around them and can cast Wild Shape as a bonus action rather than an action. They also gain access to more powerful animals than Druids of the other circles. At level 10, they can expend two uses of Wild Shape to transform themselves into elemental beings. At level 14, they can cast the Alter Self spell at will, meaning they can change their appearance whenever they want to remain hidden or disguised.
With such a strong connection to the moon, one would almost expect these Druids to have a lycanthropic pull, and their ability to Wild Shape more easily definitely lends to this idea. It falls midway in the list because there is potential for this Circle to be even cooler with a few modifications to their power that would actually set them apart from the other Circles a little more.
Circle of Wildfire
The Circle of Wildfire believes that destruction is often at the forefront of creation, a necessary force required to encourage new growth and life. Their bond with a Primal Spirit grants them access to both destructive and creative powers, allowing them to foster life and growth in the wake of intense destruction. Their spell access is balanced so that Burning Hands is coupled with the Cure Wounds spell to burn and heal with ease.
Instead of using Wild Shape to transform into beastly shapes, Wildfire Druids can summon their Primal Spirit, which they can determine the appearance of. It comes with its own stat block and lasts for up to an hour. As the Druid gains levels, their bond with the Spirit becomes more powerful and enhances their magic’s damage and restorative nature. Upon reaching level 14, the Wildfire Spirit can even save their Druids from death if they drop to 0 hit points.
There is a lot of potential for Wildfire Druids, earning them prestige among their allies, but there are other Druids who can do even more intriguing things than wring life from destruction.
Circle of Stars
Those who follow the Circle of Stars track the constellations and movements of the stars, finding hidden secrets and meaning in the patterns that decorate the night sky. Many of these Druids maintain voluminous collections of secrets and lore gathered from the stars over the ages, passing it from one Druid to the next.
They carry small star maps on their person that can focus their Druidic magic, which tends to have a bit of a celestial flare. Guidance and Guiding Bolt are both accessible as Druid spells. Their Wild Shapes allow them to transform into starry beings rather than beasts, and empowered constellations decorate their form to grant them unique abilities. These starry shapes continue to improve as the Druid levels up, and at level 14, they become partially incorporeal and gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.
Their unique connection to the cosmos definitely puts them in the top three, as there is so much potential to really take advantage of the stars wherever these Druids might go.
Circle of Dreams
Druids from the Circle of Dreams have a powerful bond to the Feywild and the dreamlike qualities it presents. Because of their strong affinity for the natural world, they find themselves easily allied with good-natured Fey beings that grant them abilities to fill the world around them with a dreamy wonder powerful enough to heal and bring joy to even the saddest and most downtrodden of hearts. They take rest and refuge in peaceful places that blur the nature of fantasy and reality.
Their powers offer healing and respite to allies, and as their power grows, they gain access to the hidden pathways traversed by the Fey, allowing them to teleport themselves and their allies. At level 14, they gain the ability to walk through dreams, using spells like Dream, Scry and Teleportation Circle. The Teleportation Circle for these Druids is different in that it allows them to teleport to the last place they completed a long rest on their current plane.
The magic these Druids possess makes them alluring characters to play, earning them a well-deserved slot in second place, as their ties to the Feywild make them both powerful and dangerous as they spread joy and wonder.
Circle of Spores
Druids who follow the Circle of Spores path find themselves imbued with a rare ability to see potential life and beauty in decay. They can alter and shape mold and fungi into interesting and strange new life, and they wholeheartedly believe that life and death are part of the same necessary cycle, one always leading back to the other.
They develop a halo of necrotic spores that circles their head. Those spores are harmless to those around them until the Druid unleashes them on an enemy. They also gain Symbiotic Entity, which allows them to bolster their hit points by awakening the spores around them, rather than Wild Shaping into beast form. At level 6, the Druid’s spores can infiltrate a corpse and reanimate it, creating a zombie with one hit point that lasts for an hour.
By the time this Druid reaches level 14, the spores they share a relationship with actually affect their physical body, granting them immunity to poison, fear, blindness and deafness. One of the things that puts the Circle of Spores in the number one slot is that most beings in Dungeons & Dragons share a deep loathing for undeath, and yet these Druids embrace and celebrate it as a natural part of life.
About The Author
