Reviewing the Optional Class Features for Bards, Clerics, & Druids in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything

[@vision_312]

One thing to remember about Harness Divine Power: you can use it before a short rest to regain spell slots, then take a short rest and regain your Channel Divinity

[@lugnutninetytwo]

I use it this way on my Paladin probably 90% of adventuring days.

[@fenixmeaney6170]

Pallock just got more smite slots

[@LS994]

There is a small caveat to that, though, as the description outright tells you that you can use this specific feature a limited number of times. Quote: "The number of times you can use this feature is based on the level you've reached in this class: 2nd level, once; 6th level, twice; and 18th level, thrice. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest." Your idea is still absolutely amazing, and I'll totally start using it with my clerics from now on!

[@fenixmeaney6170]

@@LS994 good catch I just thought they were saying "you can only use it this number because then you run out of channel divinities" This makes more sense

[@LS994]

@@fenixmeaney6170 I'll admit, I had the exact same thought at first, and I found it quite curious that they had to even include the paragraph in the description to begin with. Like, "why even specify it?" but I guess the limitation was for balancing purposes as it could be exploited tremendously. Hope that helped ;)

[@MithranderGray]

I disagree that cantrip versatility isn't good for a druid. Shillelagh is good at level one, but unlike some other cantrips it doesn't scale as you gain levels. Now you can take it at level one, and then at level four or eight you can change it out for a cantrip that does scale.

[@DoomDutch]

The Harness Divine Power is actually better than they think: after some fighting, when you haven't used your CD yet, you can use it just before a short rest to get a spellslot for free, as you recharge CD on a short rest. So this is great when you haven't had a reason to use your CD for anything else.

[@DavarGrey]

This is how I was thinking to use it too.

[@siamath9954]

Really the same goes for Magical Inspiration. If you're rolling well or the battle is about to be over, add it to damage or healing before it goes to waste.

[@maybevoldemort8995]

Also some channel divinities just aren’t great, but they have other good features (such as spell lists). It also makes more situational ones better because CD isn’t completely wasted unless you are in the specific scenario you need to use it. I really like it as a feature to improve clerics

[@leonardocamilio1206]

One thing that i love to do is using Harness Divine Power right after casting either Aid or Prayer of Healing, and before a short rest, it's just a little extra healing for free!

[@Feltyr]

Literally saved a party member when I didn't have revivify or spell slots. I used Harness Divine Power to get a lvl 2 slot back and cast Gentle Repose.

[@thomasjdurfee]

Monty: "You know another cool way to use that?" Kelly: "TINY HORSE!" Never change

[@oldmanandrew]

“Ooh, that’s a big bear.” Love it.

[@JnJake]

And now "Bye Bye 'lil Sebastian" will be running through my head all day!

[@osmium6832]

"Is that reduced druid sick?" "Nah, he's just a little horse."

[@JnJake]

@@osmium6832 🤣

[@Lerker2000]

"A twilight domain cleric is never going to use this" -- As a 6th+ twilight cleric who used one CD in combat and then the warlock insisted we take a short rest right after the combat and I have a CD available and I have a spell slot missing.... why not harness divine power?

[@Dice_and_Beans]

This is exactly my thinking lol i have sessions where there’s only one encounter before a short rest, or a session without combat but use of spells and using harness to get back the spells

[@ascapedgoat8462]

Harness Divine Power is SUPER GOOD when you remember that channel divinities restore after a short rest, so you can cast aura of vitality, use Harness Divine Power, then wrap up the short rest to get that channel divinity back.

[@thearcanacleric]

That’s what my Twilight Cleric has been doing in Curse of Strahd

[@deathtoexistance]

Also that you get multiple uses of it as you level up. For twilight cleric just as someone mentioned it below, they might use their bubble in a fight then short rest after, so the second use is just a bonus slot.

[@pekkaaho4334]

Yeah, that is true, I use it like that. Just note that Harness Divine power itself resets only on long rest. You get the CD use back after short rest, buy you can do the spell slot recovery only once per day until 6th level.

[@rcschmidt668]

Having that feature can be useful after battle and needing to cast a healing spell to stabilize a party member before resting.

[@GandalfMonkeyAnimations]

It's also fantastic for the Paladin bc they get it too, which is far more useful for them, even more for Hexadins

[@Melorific]

Harness divine power is amazing simply because you can use it before a short rest when you have channel divinity uses left. It doesn't matter which type of cleric you are, It's an amazing tool to just waste no resources if you happen to have a few left. There's actually quite a few subclasses that have very situational (or simply bad) channel divinities, nature. Forge, trickery,, arcana and knowledge for example. And similarly, you're not facing undead twice every short rest for your entire career (unless you're running a very thematic campaign). So a cleric can actually get quite a lot 1st/2nd level spell slots left with this feature.

[@sovest555]

I actually feel like HDP is actually better on Paladins since that is essentially extra smites or allows more slot flexibility in terms of utility.

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

This. I use it constantly for my Knowledge cleric since its introduction. Thats an extra Bless or Bane I can cast in a fight!

[@Melorific]

@@sovest555 For paladin it depends completely on the paladin subclass. For some it's great, for others borderline useless. Paladins only get one CD per short rest for their entire career. And it's very easy to use a good CD once every short rest. A vengeance or conquest paladin will probably never use HDR because they have amazing channel divinity options. On the other hand, ancients paladin gets one situational and one terrible CD. So they'll likely use HDR almost every short rest.

[@sovest555]

@@Melorific I frankly find myself using spell slots and smiting as a paladin more than use my other channel divinity options a great deal of the time. Plus short rests are pretty common to get anyways, whereas spell slots are long-rest reliant.

[@nickschile4807]

Came here to say this. I was less worried about firing off a couple of Guiding Bolts on my Forge Cleric knowing I could get those slots back, then rest and get CD back. The main thing to note is using CD to get spell slots is limited to a number of times per Long Rest, so it isn't something you can do all day.

[@sassort]

Bard casting prismatic wall: "anyway, here's Wonderwall..."

[@blackshard641]

*slow clap* Well done, sir. Well done.

[@crimfan]

That would be a good joke theme for a bard: "White guy at open mic", with all spells flavored as dad jokes. It'd get old real fast so it might not be a good one for a long campaign.

[@drziegler]

"undead is a common enemy type" - My first D&D character was a cleric I went from level 1-9 and our party encountered undead once, and it happened to be the session I had to miss. I never got to use my Channel Divinity for my Life Cleric. We were going through the princes of the apocalypse module fyi so maybe that was the problem.

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

In my 2 years of playing a cleric in my Friday game, we've faced undead once. I've used my Knowledge Domain CD a few times, it synergizes absurdly well with the conjuration wizard in the party... But never needed it more than once per day. I'd much rather have an extra low-level spell slot I can get for a Bane or Bless, for sure.

[@djcothra4201]

Your DM should design encounters with more undead then, to compliment your PCs abilities

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

@@djcothra4201 I'm fine with not having more undead. My cleric has a ton of abilities beyond just turning or destroying undead. Shoehorning them into a campaign where they really don't fit, like the one I'm in, doesn't make sense.

[@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet]

Some of that can be miscommunication between player and DM, or just DM not realizing that their choice of enemy is negating a player ability. It’s likely not malicious omission. But if a player wants to be able to use those pc aspects, it’s worth knowing what kind of game the DM runs ahead of time. For my part, my wife plays a life cleric in my game, and I have another player who gets triggered by demons and devils in any form, which limits my enemy types. As a result, I use undead much more heavily, and it makes her character bad ass as hell itself.

[@robinthrush9672]

@@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet I think my one DM is doing that on purpose. The zombies we fought were fungi-controlled corpses, not undead. We've had to fight an intellect-devoured silver dragon with a protection from Protection from Good and Evil crown THEN a mutated form of its corpse later. My cleric's racial deity takes the form of a silver dragon. My cleric is now on a Jihad to find whoever is doing this to silver dragons.

[@TheClericCorner]

I really hope they continue with themes of optional level abilities in the 'evolution of DnD'! 🐉

[@Skrighk]

can't lie, I'd love it if there were class level trees.

[@justahattrynachill8748]

It'd be really cool to be able to make two characters of the same subclass but with totally different abilities.

[@jf_kein_k8590]

@@justahattrynachill8748 So kinda like the Totem Warrior Barbarian or what?

[@justahattrynachill8748]

@@jf_kein_k8590 Yeah like the totem barbarian or the Battlemaster fighter but for every class. Most rogue subclasses for example don't really give you alot of choice.

[@hanbeihood3202]

I just wish the Druid class got Find Familiar, full stop. I don't really like this half-way given spell even if there's a new way to use Wildshape.

[@crimfan]

Absolutely, and Flock of Familiars would also make sense.

[@deffdefying4803]

Find Familiar has a distinctly arcane feel to it though, and druids are more nature-focused, so it makes sense for them to manifest their own “unfamiliar” through their attunement to nature, rather than study of the Weave.

[@hanbeihood3202]

@@deffdefying4803 While that might make total sense in a Forbidden Realms setting & settings of similar magic structure, I disagree for the instances of other settings that don't adhere to the Weave. More so than that, one of the bigger issues I noticed people taking with the 5e Druid, especially in the earlier days, was the lack of a Familiar. If WotC is going to finally answer those people, I don't think gaining FF with the time restriction was the best move. Utilizing the Druid's Wildshape is totally fine, but rather than the time-limit, why not put more thematic amendments on it instead? I realize I'm starting to ramble about something that will have little impact on my play-style, but I think if they wanted to limit what the Druid could do with their Familiar in 5e, there were more appealing ways of going about it.

[@deffdefying4803]

@@hanbeihood3202 That’s fair.

[@sunstar8782]

But if they got a permanent find familiar, they would need to take 10 minutes to cast/change form. Having a time limit makes it so that you can call the right form for the job.

[@Aistigalis]

Giving a bardic inspiration to the Grave domain cleric means that if they don't use for their own attacks of saves, someone potentially gets 8 additional hp (at the lvl our party is at). Because otherwise, my party is pretty likelly to forget to use their inspirations, so I know at the very least the cleric will use it.

[@beebarkhouse9632]

This is an awesome and clever use of that new Bard feature

[@mikegould6590]

I can literally remember a conversation way back why Sunbeam WASNT a Cleric spell. As far as Druid Cantrips, now that Primal Savagery exists, I'll likely never consider Shillelagh.

[@wigiboo2228]

Idk 🤔 casting shillelagh on a 10 ft wooden pole seems pretty useful

[@shaneconnolly4747]

@@wigiboo2228 per how Shillelagh works, it's only usable on a club or quarterstaff which only have 5' range.

[@shaneconnolly4747]

one good combo I saw for the Wildfire Druid was to take a level of Arcana Cleric and grab Firebolt and GFB and use GFB with Shillelagh. At level 6 WF Druid is doing 3d8+wis and 1d8+wis in damage.

[@richardproper8682]

Also a fun combo for tome warlocks if you want to take something that isn't Hexblade

[@blankpyrosis]

It's also worth noting Primal Savagery will outdamage shillelagh past level 5, unless you combo it with another spell like booming blade or green-flame blade (Magic Initiate). In which case, you will be doing on average (at Wis 16), 12 bludgeoning/thunder damage instead of 11 acid damage. This also will do even more damage if the additional effect of either these booming blade or GFB happen. You can also empower your weapon with elemental weapon or some other buffing spell to make shillelagh even more powerful.

[@AphrodiArchangel]

i love how in the when they were talking about the enlarge reduce in a druid, monty took a second to realize how OUTRAGEOSLY FUNNY a tiny horse would be

[@CharlesUrban]

"Would be"? Miniature horses exist, and they're pretty amusing (as well as adorable).

[@anthonybooyay]

At our table we reflavored “wild companion” by saying that the familiar is always there, but if the druid wants to use any of the benefits of find familiar then they have to expend the wild shape.

[@Mary_Studios]

Hmm I might consider using this I mean I already am letting them do that with the unearthed arcana version of Drakewarden and when the book that gives that will probably still let them keep it summoned the too. (I just say they have to unsummon the drake and resummon to change the form) but I never thought of that for wild companion.

[@seanmcgcostumes]

As a Lore bard, I looooove the fact that some of the lower spells I planned to take with Additional Magical Secrets but ended up having to not pick are now just available to me and I don't have to wait until level 10! And the new way to use Bardic Inspiration is super helpful. If a healer chooses to use the Bardic Inspiration the bard gave them to help heal a low-HP barbarian late in a fight and then the barbarian gets hit before its turn, that extra cushion of HP via Bardic Inspiration can really come in clutch.

[@rcschmidt668]

I am playing a Fey Hobgoblin bard for a random campaign. They also get these per rest features that add temporary hit points to self and 1 other and to buff attack rolls by how many friends are with me (up to 5). It makes the character even more useful.

[@Bidniss.]

I'm in a campaign with a Berzerker Barbarian, an Open Hand Monk, and a Lycanthrope Bloodhunter... I'm a Glamour Bard. Let's just say my job as the only caster (let alone the only support/healer) was made WAY easier with Tasha's. Absolutely love these changes.

[@DDCRExposed]

Yeah, that aura of vitality is super borked outside of combat. I also used that Healing Spirit dance with my Ranger before it was fixed, lol.

[@NRMRKL]

22:20 about the Shepherd Druid feature wonkiness... in most monster stat blocks the hit die type correlates to the monster's size ( tiny=d4, small=d6, medium=d8, large=d10, huge=d12, gargantuan=d20 ), so from that and the con modifier you can deduce how many hit dice a monster should have based on their size and number of hit points.

[@comradjohn117]

I’d be interested in a video about the Grim Hollow players guide when it releases

[@TheeGrumpy]

Will it be packed with jam?

[@douglasjager3554]

Know I’m late but key point I didn’t hear mentioned about blessed strikes compared to the divine strike standard is that blessed strikes seems better because you get the same 1d8 on your weapon strikes but also on your cantrips, but don’t forget: it doesn’t scale up to 2d8 at 14th lv like divine strikes does. Better if you plan on mixing weapon strikes and cantrips, but not if focusing on weapons.

[@theovernight1915]

I think it's neat that my homebrew Druid subclass, the Hedge Witch and her specialized version of summon familiar (she gets spooky things like cats, bats, snakes, rats, swarms of insects, etc instead of the standard familiars list) ended up being a thing that made its way into the books. I also released a barbarian subclass that was cursed with a variety of lycanthropy that ended up looking similar up the one they released as well!

[@40gaetanot]

Would love to know more about your guys process for making the 6 grim hallow subclasses you made. The thought process and mechanic ideas would help people trying to tackle their own homebrew stuff. Cheers dudes!

[@AndroidMaxine]

the key to using harness divine power with clerics is using it right before you short rest if you had uses of channel divinity left over.

[@biorph8597]

The ability to get back a spell slot can be very clutch at low levels I've found. Not so much once you get to mid tier, but definitely helpful at low.

[@lordvectra7821]

Aura of Vitality allows Arcana Cleric an on-demand dispel magic through their Spell Breaker feature. Spell Breaker states "Starting at 6th level, when you restore hit points to an ally with a spell of 1st level or higher, you can also end one spell of your choice on that creature. The level of the spell you end must be equal to or lower than the level of the spell slot you use to cast the healing spell."

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

Druid cantrip: magic stone is imperative to any druid. It's sheleigh with pebbles that other characters can use with a range.

[@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet]

I consider it perfect because it provides an incentive for characters to use a sling, which is a horribly underutilized weapon to me. It was my go to weapon for my ranger, and then after the first round of gloom stalker ranged attacking, he pulled his spear and got stuck in.

[@kqwer19]

Sharpshooter+Sling+Magic Stone Stack y'all.

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

@@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet it has a further range thrown and the sling adds no damage, so it actually disincentives players to use a sling.

[@robinthrush9672]

I don't see the appeal after level 5, since it doesn't seem to scale.

[@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet]

@@jacobyspurnger8488 Well, it enhances the sling by providing magical ammo for the purposes of bypassing resistances. And I have aesthetic reasons for liking a sling. A bow is big, and impossible to explain away. A longbow is literally taller than the person wielding it. A shortbow is still a cumbersome weapon. Arrows require fletchers, they can break, the bowstrings get wet and cease to work properly, and hiding a bow and arrows on your person when trying to get somewhere unnoticed is darn near impossible. A sling can literally wrap around your head (short range) or waist (long range) as a headband or belt. What weapon? No, these are clothes. And this bag? I like to collect river rocks. The smoothness feels lovely. Encumberance rules in effect? Almost no weight. And as a ranger, magic stone + sharpshooter + hunter's mark is a very decent chunk of repeatable damage.

[@jessy5241]

I got so excited when I saw they added Aid for the bards. That is my favorite buff spell and it should’ve been an option from the beginning.

[@Mary_Studios]

Love Harness Divine Power and I love the additional spells for each class to give more options. And I think the familer thing is cool expecually since you do get the wild shape back on short rest and this is another way to deal with exploration as well and you don't have to worry about spell compments like the wizard. Unless your a Dm like me who ignores all spell components.

[@MauDib]

Nice! Didn't realize you guys were gonna do a video on the optional class features!

[@evilsquirrel0573]

You might wanna make sure you didn’t miss the first one then, it was a good one

[@MauDib]

@@evilsquirrel0573 apparently I did miss it. Thanks!

[@zacheastberg6931]

We had a bard pick up aura of vitality with his magical secrets before Tasha's ever came out. That spell has been a great quick heal spell when we don't have time and are not in a position to take a short rest. Paired with a raging barbarian being polymorphed (Due to the inability to concentrate on a spell while raging, our DM treats rage as basically a concentration spell, allowing the base affect of rage to take place; e.g. resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage and the bonus +2/3 damage.) we basically have alot of hitpoints for a small party of three.

[@Gegi1992]

I really love that Druids get Summon Beast. On Sunday my friends is gonna start a new campaign that will go from Lvl 3 to probably 6 or 7, and I'm gonna play a Wildfire Druid whos'e Spirit has the shape of a blazing hawk (like a phoenix) and now I'll also be able to Summon another Flying Beast AND I can also have a birdy Familiar so I got my little warband of flying creatures. And yes I will have messy hair to allow my birds to nest in them. The Familiar also removes the "need" to have Healing Word because now you can just have your Familiar deliver Cure Wounds without the need of putting yourself into an awkward position on the battlefield.

[@OrcBro]

The only thing that i don like in druid features is the time restrictions on wild companion... Like COME ON, MAN! Just let me have my cat...

[@5-Volt]

Ikr? Having a familiar for such a short time is pointless.. I guess the logic is since you expend a wild shape, you can only have the familiar for the same amount of time you would if you used wild shape.

[@OrcBro]

@@5-Volt Not entirely pointless.. familiar can deliver touch spells - for example, cure wounds... and it doesn't cost you 10 gold as with "Find Familiar" spell and it's instant instead of 1 hour ritual.. and on lvl 8 it's basically 4 hour duration and you can resummon 2 times and refresh wild shapes on short rest... But restriction is still sooo annoying :-(

[@rcschmidt668]

For more permanence, the druid can awaken a plant. Not quite the same, but you can create ents.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

Take find familiar through multiclassing or the magic initiate feat. Cast it as a ritual and then use your wild shape charges to change your cat into a bird or octopus or whatever you need for a few hours. Hell, three levels of warlock for chain pact, gift of the ever living ones invocation, and the other stuff you get from 3 levels of warlock adds a phenomenal amount of tools to druid and it lets you use your wild shapes to swap between Quasits, Imps, Sprites, and Pseudodragons on a whim.

[@pcdeltalink036]

As soon as they mentioned the time limit I just immediately added in my head “well that’s what homebrew is for.”

[@Whiskyandrock]

A few things about the druid, one druid of the shepherd is all about having animal companions and if you use the wild companion feat before your short or long rest is does count against the remaining time it has so you'll have to keep track of that.

[@xSilentStrangerx]

22:15 : Yeah, I've actually run into this. Since the summon spells scale on spell level we just made the shepherd feature scale on spell level too. (2hp per spell level) Awesome content as always Dudes! This was amazing and I love the Druid stuff. =)

[@peigeot9906]

Stars Druid >Party just had a tough encounter, you still have a wildshape and a third level spellslot with Aura of Vitality prepped >Use Starry Form: Chalice >You can now heal 10 x 2d6 + 1d8 +WIS if below lvl.10, if above lvl.10 it's 10 x 2d6 + 2d8 + WIS

[@apainintheaas]

Rules as written, actually no. Chalice triggers on casting a spell, since you only cast the spell once it only triggers once.

[@peigeot9906]

@@apainintheaas Oh bugger, you're right. I remembered that the wording was 'whenever you heal' but I guess that would have been a bit too good

[@kaiyamazaki1684]

Aura of Vitality being on several classes now is something that actually came up in our game. Turns out my Vengeance Paladin, our Battlesmith Artificer, Lore Bard and Forge Domain Cleric all decided to have Aura of Vitality on our prepared spell list. Well, apparently the DM decided to block our path by making an acid mist that did 1D6 damage per turn so we all just threw up our Aura of Vitality, used the dash action a few times along with multiple heals and pretty much got out of the whole situation unscathed. DM facepalmed himself and went on to explain later how we bypassed the most dangerous encounter he set up by making a move he thought we wouldn't be dumb enough to try. Ridiculous heals for the win BB XD

[@robinthrush9672]

I take it the handful of wind spells that dissipate mists and fogs weren't on the table? Warding wind would have screwed your DM big time with that.

[@kaiyamazaki1684]

@@robinthrush9672 Nope, unfortunately not. Our Bladesing Wizard has one or two but the DM tried play us by having a fortune teller scrye in the boss of the area we were heading to, which was an Ancient Black Dragon and on top of that, we were in an insane time-hack to beat it meaning we didn't have time to long rest to change spells. So, knowing what we were fighting, we over options for combat and the DM tried to throw a curveball by making the area trap heavy, which we dodged by taking what would've been the shortcut out of the area by tanking the acid cloud lol

[@StarRightStarTight]

It’s worth mentioning for clerics that divine strike gets an additional d8 of damage at level 14 while blessed strike does not. So if you choose blessed strike you are making a trade off for your martial cleric. That is a consideration to keep in mind if your campaign is going to go that far.

[@liamkearney2017]

Grave domain clerics also get an extra benefit from getting Aura of Vitality, anytime an ally goes down you can pop them back up with the full 12 HP

[@alexanderfeoktistov6826]

I like the bardic inspiration feature because I'm often handing out inspiration to anyone and everyone, usually someone who is next in the turn order. This way, the cleric actually gets to use that inspiration die. I certainly prefer to give it to the rogue, but it's nice the cleric gets something too. Also, I think the fact that Channel Divinity recharges on short rest makes it much more potent when used to restore a spell slot. Clerics are sorta sorlocs now.

[@tylerwhite7833]

Another winner here is the Divine Soul Sorcerer... Though now that I think about it, if you thought choosing spells were hard before...

[@GaryBoyles342]

What comes to mind, in a role-playing way, on the alternate druid level 2 option: A character wildshapes, but instead of shifting themselves, the form kind of 'melts' off the druid into its companion.

[@DominoPivot]

Having Mirror Image can be a life changer for a bard that uses melee weapons. I know you guys prefer to think of bards as healers and buffers, but they are a very versatile class and I think the addition of this spell increased the odds of survival of a bunch of bards people were already playing. My friend did use the optional Cleric feature to regain a spell slot once, but that was because he really wanted to cast a spell for roleplay reasons. It didn't make much sense for his character to sacrifice his Channel Divinity for that, but it was excellent for the rule of cool. But I see your point, it's rarely ever going to come up. Wild Companion for druids is awesome, but I think you missed out on how great it is that it has no material cost. This makes it much less of a bummer if your familiar dies, so you can afford to take more risks with them. I've been summoning an owl (which has the flyby feature) to distract enemies in combat so I have advantage on my attacks. Combine that with the Elvish Accuracy feat and now I almost never miss. Finally, you didn't mention this, but druids getting Cantrip Versatility is really cool because it lets you start with Shillelagh but eventually replace it with Primal Savagery. As a druid who lived in a city at the start of the campaign, it made a lot more sense for me to keep appearances and fight with a staff, but now that we're traveling I can't wait to start biting people even outside of Wild Shape.

[@agilemind6241]

Or alternatively start with Magic Stone and swap it out for Produce Flame.

[@shaynecarter-murray3127]

I've been running a Shepherd druid for a few levels now and can say Summon Beast is really handy. Getting a decent minion from a 2nd lv spell is great. Summon Fey feels kinda sad when cast at 3rd level...but is really strong when cast at 4th lv because it gets extra attack, more AC, more HP...its like summoning a 5th level warrior.

[@johnhall3570]

A Druid casting •enlarge• and then wild shaping = The Big Bear Theory 😏

[@rcschmidt668]

Ursa Major ... for the circle of the stars.

[@davidhandy5225]

Cleric’s new channel divinity is nice for multiclass. It scales with proficiency bonus, not cleric level, so cleric 2/ wizard x basically gets a free mini-arcane recovery.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

The time limit on Wild Companion can be bypassed in a number of ways that add a lot of useful tools to Druid. One level dip in wizard. Magic initiate wizard feat. Ritual caster wizard feat. Three levels of warlock and the pact of the chain. You can't have more than one familiar, so when you recast the spell you just change the type of familiar you have. Get the actual spell any way you like, cast it as a ritual for a permanent familiar, and use your wild shapes to change your cat into a bird or octopus or imp or pseudodragon without wasting an hour to cast the spell regularly. Whether the new form lasts indefinitely or the familiar reverts to its original form at the end of the wild companion time limit is up to your DM.

[@devinsarter9713]

Campaigns where you are one time limit, it has alot of use too. If you only have a couple days to get somewhere. Using it to regain a spell slot or two per shirt rest can be highly valuable

[@nacho979797]

0 hesitation on that tiny horse, he had thought about it before

[@jaredlocke4300]

I used the Wild Companion feature last time I played. It helped us track a thief across a rooftop and intercept a message tied to a flying snake. It was dope

[@mandellei7534]

I think that divine soul sorcerers also would be good for that aid, feast, leader combo, although they get so many fewer spells it would hit them more heavily (although they can also extend aid so that they have the benefits coming out of a long rest and only have to worry about inspiring leader in the morning)

[@ad982347]

There has been some kickback about not having cleric in parties, giving bard and druids healing makes it much easier to get away from forcing a cleric

[@blacksmith1066]

Having Harness Divine Power is great! Any channel divinity uses left before a short rest are converted into spell slots!

[@Zoddlander]

recently played a "stand in" character when a player got sick and I got to play a level 10 half-orc valor bard and I had the expanded spell list! I love that mass healing word is there, but I was always a bit confused that they didn't have already! the magical insperation never came up! (however I was the only survivor after this character encountered the "big bad" lich) the harness divine power is the best feature that the cleric got, but I'm not completly sold on the divine strike feature! The expanded spell list needed Sunburst (don't understand why it wasn't there already)! The druid features is realy cool and I think getting the Find familiar on a Druid can Amp them up! getting a flying beast for lower level druids seem great!

[@kqwer19]

Summon Beast is my go to combat/exploration spell as a druid. At high levels the summon gets multi attack and the base form gives you one hour of a beast that can handle strange terrains.

[@omega311888]

GREAT content, as always, gents! PS, love the t-shirt, Kelly!

[@lich1019]

As someone who is playing a Knowledge Cleric currently, I have used harness divine power a few times to get back a spell slot for inflict wounds or shield of Faith. I feel like this might be an ability for Clerics who's channel divinity isn't combat based.

[@0zvm1]

I chose summon celestial on my firbolg life cleric, and absolutely loved it. Reincar is a devout follower of Eldath, and summoned his vision of her to fight by his side. Changed the entire encounter in our favor.

[@paulc1527]

Wanted to point out that one negative of taking Blessed Strikes is that it doesn't upgrade at 14th level like Divine Strike does. So, it can technically be a weaker pick for a higher level cleric who is mixing it up in the front lines.

[@alvinleonardo1263]

In my opinion the Winner is the Druid… all 3 classes got Cantrip Versatility and extra spells, but the Druid can now get a familiar (wile the bard can give inspiration to damage and healing which isn’t a lot and the channel divinity being used for a spell thing is kinda weak on a cleric). Also Druids can now deal higher damager without having to be a Moon druid.

[@KnicKnac]

Digging all these videos talking about the new features that opened the game up for players.

[@sirbagelsworth9463]

I think another druid archetype that might not use the familiar option very often is Stars Druid since they've already got 3 interesting ways to use it. That said, if a player who made a Stars Druid is finding they're not really using that ability very often, it does given them an option

[@miguelangelus959]

You forgot to mention something about Divine Strike vs. Blessed Strikes. Divine Strike scales up to a 2d8 at level 14, while Blessed strikes stay as 1d8 throughout

[@bladedge3573]

Is that character 14 or cleric 14?

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

I think Druid definitely got the most here--previously their best revival was reincarnate (7th level spell). To get Revivify is a big reversal for them. Takes them from being terrible at revival to one of the best. Bard, yeah, there's some nice stuff on here, but it's also worth noting what they DON'T get. They don't get revivify (and didn't already have it). They don't get any of the new summon spells from Tasha's. Spells like slow and enlarge/reduce are good, but they're still buffs and debuffs which is kind-of what bard was already good at.

[@genevaconventionsviolator3994]

The fact that you can burn your channel divinity before a short rest to get an extra spell slot, so its literally just icing on the cake for what clerics can do despite it being weak for so many levels. Its incredible for lower levels, since those low level spell slots can be so impactful.

[@genevaconventionsviolator3994]

Remember, you get channel divinty back at short rests.

[@grizzlednerd4521]

re: Slow vs Hypnotic Pattern. Creatures affected by Slow get to roll another save at the end of each of their subsequent turns. That's not the case with Hypnotic Pattern.

[@guitarguy883]

But you can still deal damage to a slowed creature without ending the debuff. It's really about your party's playstyle and what works best for the situation

[@jf_kein_k8590]

Might not be optimal, but Black Dragonborn (with rearranged ASI) Nature Cleric with Blessed Strike and Primal Savagery as the given Druid Cantrip and one of the main melee ways to attack.

[@seymourfields3613]

I play a Circle of Dreams Druid and I absolutely love the wild companion.

[@foreversevenfold1666]

Been playing a Forge Domain cleric whose channel divinity is a little more niche, so when you're not fighting undead the regained spell slot has been very nice especially at lower levels

[@Adeptsoren]

For the Dungeon Dudes or the community, as a new player, what are the good spells? I feel like all spells are good but it seems like with experience there are some clear standouts over others.

[@Exterminator5k]

Do you have a specific class and/or role (i.e. support, blaster, control, pokemon master, etc.) you are looking to play? Might be a better starting off point that we could give pointers on as there are so many spells out there. Also, the Dungeon Dudes have videos for each class (maybe even subclass) and what spells are useful in their opinion. They have a class guide playlist for easy access. Hopefully this helps, and welcome to DnD!

[@ryansalmon6507]

I highly suggest rpgbot as a starting point- by level and class. Just realize that a “bad” spell can be incredibly useful

[@djcothra4201]

Honestly, true strike is the only real bad spell

[@octagon8769]

@@djcothra4201 Find Traps would like to know if you exist in an area (but not where exactly, what you do, or how to disable you).

[@jordanklotz1866]

Channel Divinity comes back on a short rest. So the new use for channel divinity is like lesser arcane recovery for a cleric that you use right before a short rest. Clerics don't have any short rest recovery other than this.

[@techknight3753]

Personally, I rule that the druid wildshape option instead allows them to permanently expend one of their wildshapes (once) to summon a permanent familiar. At will, it can be de-summoned or re-summoned. If defeated, it disappears in a puff of smoke, but reapears on a short rest.

[@obsolete18]

The clerics spell for channel divinity is great. Don’t think of it as the price for a low level spell slot think of it as “oh I didn’t happen to use my channel divinity and we are taking a short rest.” It’s essentially a spell back for a short rest.

[@michaelcasteel9307]

Will you guys be making videos breaking down the Grim Hallow races and classes? Perhaps the blood spell system? I’m interested in learning more about your take as authors. Mindset of the races, ideas behind the classes and rp value.

[@iododendron3416]

Of course the bard wears a rainbow DnD shirt, metallic, chromatic, any dragon will do.

[@2nd_1strant36]

I play a couple clerics, and that first level slot would be great for a clutch Inflict Wounds

[@RevPirateDan]

I suspect the point of the "Meh, when am I going to add 1d8 to healing instead of to a d20 attack roll" type abilities is to *officially* give PCs these options that they'll rarely use, but when they need them, they'll make for game-defining moments. That's my guess. Also, "...back, in Pog form!" was a great reference.

[@katarhall3047]

Druids can now be a mainline healer basically with Aura of Vitality and just one level dip into Cleric/Life Domain. Not to mention ye ol' Goodberry.

[@brningpyre]

Do Divine Soul Sorcerers also get access to the Cleric's expanded spell list? EDIT: Their interpretation of Enlarge pre-Wild Shape is... different? You don't keep your size when wild shaping into small/large creatures, so I don't know why they'd interpret it that way.

[@rawr3060]

Since half proficiency is rounded up, at level 13+ a life cleric can heal more by casting aura of vitality and harness divine power to recover the spell slot than they can by using their preserve life CD. At level 17 with supreme healing, using aura of vitality and recovering the slot heals twice as much as preserve life and spred it out over the entire party with no limit of half max hp. Take metamagic adept feat for Extended Spell and you can heal 340hp across the party in 2 minutes.

[@bluedragonguild]

I’m a big fan of the Peace Cleric and the Wildfire Druid. The bard’s subclasses are cool, I just haven’t look at them enough.

[@AJTheMightyGamer]

Channel divinity is so amazing. On a paladin its a little awkward since you only get 1but it still is great for getting more spell slots for smites. Clerics get more and it is even better

[@leeway3739]

I wouldn't think enlarge/reduce would effect your wild shape size since you take on that creatures size when you change shape. I only think it would work at high levels when you can cast spells in your wild shape forms.

[@NINJAfries07]

Blessed Strikes has some real potential with any domain that lets you grab a cantrip with an attack roll because the D8 can double on a crit while your WIS mod is a static bonus.

[@BobHerzog1962]

Divine strike increases to 2d8 at level 11 though. A Tempest domain with booming blade (feat) fit thematically quite well

[@leonardohenriquecarvalhoes4746]

Hey, dudes! Just coming here to say that i'm currently playing a shepherd druid and i can confirm: Wild companion is awesome! I only use my wild shape for utility or for roleplaying reasons (my charachter prefer to spend time with animals, rahter than people, so occasionally he wild shape to spend more time with animals). Wild companion gave me a way to use my wild shape in combat, and in some ways it's better than find familiar. For example, i'm playing the rime of the frostmaiden campaign, and we're always short on money, so spending 10 gold to bring back my familiar would make a lot of difference. Plus, there is the versatility. I've fought invisible enemies, and summoned a bat to help me find them. When there is a blizzard no one can fly, so i summon a weasel instead of the regular owl.

[@TheBlackWaltz]

So. A sorcerer can technically RAW extend an enlarge/reduce spell repeatedly. So you could become an airliner for longer if someone else is able spend a bunch of sp on it. Certainly not the RAI version though. But it would be hilarious.

[@hamsmcham3238]

Lil' Sweet on a tiny horse... LIL' SWEET!

[@robinthrush9672]

Oath of Pestilence? How does that work? Pestilence isn't an ideal, it's an event. Pretty hard to make a good or even neutral character if you're trying to spread diseases.

[@theforgottenranger]

As an aarakrocra light cleric player, the range of the light cleric channel divinity can be too low in certain situations, and getting an extra healing word or bless is always valuable

[@Chaosmancer7]

I personally never found the idea of the Wildshape -> Find Familiar very good. The issue I find is that Wildshape for a non-Moon/Spore/Stars druid is an scouting ability. They turn into a small creature, and scout ahead. And using it for the Find Familiar allows you... to create a small scout. So it feels like, to me, it doesn't add much of anything because the character is doing the exact same thing on a macro scale. I suppose using it to cast touch spells through? But then you also have to consider that you aren't limited to 100 ft as a wildshaped druid. So, I think they are on balance, the same thing. And then for those druids that have combat uses for Wildshape, this is not worth it in general.

[@jorrdanpodbilski1210]

Harness divine power could be very useful for a forge cleric in a combat heavy area.

[@cristiancojocaru9821]

My grave domain cleric would literally dump all their spell slots to turn into channel divinity uses, or at least a big portion of them (if the option was there), unless you're really desperate to heal that one guy who failed 2 death saves already.

[@TheGenericavatar]

The power to turn Spell Slots into a Channel Divinities would have been much more useful.

[@Mary_Studios]

At that point I would probably only use path to the grave.

[@PangoUnchained]

- Be an Elf Druid - Be the first one to rest as part of a long rest - It only takes four hours for Elves - Use that extra morning time as a short rest (or several) - Have an owl or a raven as your familiar - Wild shape yourself into a rabbit or a mouse - Regain uses of wildshape - Now start flying around at the second level!

[@thundercheese9440]

I love all these optional features that just add more options for character builds

[@sunstar8782]

I think the time limit for Druids Wild Companion really fits the Druid, flavor wise. You’re not gaining a familiar, rather calling on one of the many animals in the vicinity for a favor. Secondly, there’s actually good trade-of here. I’m exchange for a shorter-time limit you can pick the right animal for the job. Rather then spending ten minutes changing the shape, you can do it near instantaneously. Need to spot on invisible enemy getting away? Grab a bat. Need to cross a river while chasing after an someone? Grab a octopus. You’ve always praised the versatility of find familiar, yet it needs time to adapt. Wild Companion fixes that

[@kazuhirosamadesu5650]

Cool combo for druid could be, reduce then wildshape into spider for getting in it out of tight places

[@isaacgraff8288]

Here is a spicy thought, Clerics can now get Aura of Vitality, which means that Divine Soul Sorcerers also have access to it. If they metamagic Extended spell, and are able to hold it for the now 2 minutes? My goodness... 40d6 Healing? If they took a dip into Life domain cleric just to break it even more... 240 HP healing. There are 20th level characters that do not have that much health

[@robinthrush9672]

"Undead are a very common enemy type." Let me introduce you to every DM I've ever had. "You're fighting fungal zombies, so they're not undead, just manipulated corpses. (-_-)"