VeryBasicGuide - Circle Of Spores (Dungeons and Dragons 5e Druid Subclass)

[@bskec2177]

Spore Druids were written with fungus in mind, but mosses and ferns are plants the reproduce with spores as well. Mosses and ferns also still fit the flavour of a decomposition druid.

[@andersdaugberg8442]

And bacteria!

[@Ubylosthispants]

@@andersdaugberg8442 only specific bacteria form spores

[@thecommunistowl811]

2:43 they updated it in Tasha's cauldron, it now does 1D6 necrotic damage rather than poison

[@Greyscales]

Oh, I actually haven't read much of the new sourcebook, thanks for the heads up!

[@thecommunistowl811]

@@Greyscales 👍

[@isaacfoley6728]

my party druid was captured by a cult and was locked deep into their sewer dungeon and he used a poisonous flower that infected the cultists with basically cordyceps (look it up) and he had to contact zuggtmoy and made a deal with them that the parry wouldnt be affected by the spores but he was sworn to serve her and had his subclass changed to cirlce of spores. coolest moment of the campaign

[@arbitrary_thoughts]

First video of yours I've watched, and I gotta say, great work! I hope more people see your videos as what you have made is both helpful and of quality.

[@Greyscales]

Hey man, thanks for the kind words, even though I kinda just do these in my spare time, I'm really happy that you think my video has quality and that it was helpful!

[@Oniphire]

Absolutely agree. I really like the aesthetic as well as all the solid info. The info is all delivered concisely without feeling rushed. The only fault I can find is minor but I'll mention it anyway is that the recording setup could use some work. There's noticeable echo.

[@Greyscales]

@@Oniphire Yea I understand my audio is kinda not great, it's cause I use my phone as my recording device and I'm also in a smallish room, but thanks for the feedback and support, I'll try to see if I can do something about the audio quality in the future! Also, I think that the audio sounds better on desktop speakers rather than headphones or mobile devices.

[@smilemore7431]

Holy crap this channel is so underrated.

[@Greyscales]

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words.

[@CesarRamirez-eb3fh]

I’ve been dwelling on getting into d&d and this channel might give me the final push I need to get into it

[@Greyscales]

Hey, I'm glad that you found my channel to be interesting enough to get you into D&D, despite the pandemic, I hope you have many great adventures!

[@owls9185]

Yo tha m you so much for the overview! Ik new to dnd and all the classes are pretty intimidating so videos like these are just fantastic

[@Greyscales]

Hey Owls, I'm really happy that these videos are to your liking and I hope that you will enjoy D&D 5e in spite of the pandemic! Just remember that the mechanics are there to simulate a fun adventure with you and your friends, so you don't need to stick to them strictly, just follow what the Dungeon Master has to say!

[@Luna19912]

I'm currently playing a circle of spores druid in my friend's homebrew campaign and she's carrying the entire party. She's both the main healer and main control with Hold Person and Blindness/Deafness, and she can do plenty of her own damage. Circle of Spores is my new favorite druid subclass, falling just behind Circle of the Shepherd

[@cosimo72]

Found your channel not even two minutes ago. Already subscribed.

[@Greyscales]

Thank you for your support, even though school is back, I will still try to find time to upload every so often!

[@a99barnsey]

I've played spore druid up to level 11, and this guide is spot on. I'm playing a slightly modified version of spore druid actually. If I did it again, I would take a 1 level dip into Death Cleric. First off, it fits perfectly in terms of theme and it also gives very nice perks. You can load up on necromancy cantrips from Cleric or Wizard list. Reaper is super strong. It lets your necromancy cantrips hit two adjacent targets. The extra first level cleric spells lets you prepare more high level druid spells. I think the class plays much better as a medium range caster than a GISH (caster/fighter hybrid). But if you want to focus on melee, you can go 1 level of Arcana cleric. This gives you similar benefits but you get any wizard cantrips. And they count as cleric spells, so green flame blade adds your wisdom to the damage instead of int.

[@Gingerjuli]

thanks! I will inform myself about this. I am looking for a way to play my spore druid more efficient

[@finnmchugh99]

I just discovered this channel and I'm now a fan, create more of these guides/rundowns of classes. Maybe after classes, Races could be a potential continuation and monsters, that's just my opinion and these ideas could be good or bad idk it's up to you really XD I'll just binge watch your vids on the meantime

[@Greyscales]

Hey Finn, thank you so much for liking what I do! I'm really happy that people enjoy these types of videos. And thank you for the suggestions! I'm currently swamped with college work so I probably won't be able to upload any time soon, but I will definitely continue what I've been doing on this channel!

[@finnmchugh99]

@@Greyscales I totally understand the situation, I'm in college too and the workload is like being a Beholder's optician

[@uncannybroderz1248]

I like being a tank and my favourite classes are druid n necro and this class sounds like it ticks all them boxes, if I put the work in they could be an amazing tank, with some awesome role playing flair too, I mean a hippy death Knight sounds amazing visually haha

[@Greyscales]

Yea a psychedelic necro druid is definitely very flavourful!

[@uncannybroderz1248]

@@Greyscales I didn't even think about psychedelic property of it ohhhhhh I'm so excited.

[@GameMaster-xf7rg]

Fun drawings, thanks :) One note: Circle of Stars can definitely use their wildshape for something other than wildshaping. Also, I wouldn't say they are gimped mechanically. They are a relatively balanced subclass, compared to Circle of Stars or Moon which are either very powerful or potentially unbalanced.

[@onkelchrispy]

Great channel. Love the art. Keep posting!!

[@Greyscales]

Thank you so much Onkel, it's just that school has been keeping me really busy, but thank you for the compliments!

[@onkelchrispy]

@@Greyscales I totally get it! Been there myself. Best of luck!! Will keep an eye out!!

[@nightzebra]

Digging this video. Gonna sub. Ran a spores Druid awhile ago, I leaned hard into thematically making varies spore creatures that did each spell,

[@gaelofariandel6747]

Running point buy with a Hill Dwarf I end up at 8/14/20/10/20/10 with 263 Hit Points (+4 Con, +2 Wis, Tough feat & average HP) or a Tortle with 16/8/20/8/18/10 & 243 Hit Points (+4 Con, +2 Wis, Durable & Tough feats & once again average HP). In either case I play the character as a perpetually high AF hippie with a strong Canadian accent (including accesive use of the word "Hozer") who's very kind, supportive & encouraging but makes Grog from Critical Role look like Einstein (even though Grog has, like, 6 Int). The figurine I use is a druid with mushrooms growing all over him (Tortle & Dwarf each) with the entire thing painted black (no special color detail) as he channels a black, magical "fungus" or "mold" through his entire body. Whenever I turn a humanoid into a zombie I use a solid black Myconid figurine, as I'm flooding the entire body with mold & animating their remains. Once the zombies die, they "melt" into a puddle of black goo that immediately grows various plants & fungus. I even have names for all 3 of them: Dave, Davin, Dylan & Dayle. Party leader gives a speech on what to do next, why it's so important & then asks for team input--but I just slowly look at him and go "Uh... huh?"

[@Archie_Motion]

Always reminds me of the ‘truffle’ npc from terraria!

[@Greyscales]

Fungi stick together

[@commanderroddi7742]

Its fun to rename spells for flavor: Faerie Fire to Fungal Fire, Guardian of nature forms become Primal Fungus & Great Mushroom,make grasping vin ro entanglement or spike grouth fungus/mushroom themed obstacles, same for Plant Grouth, and so on, etc. I do think Cloudkill is pretty good in ocassions. Blight is not a bad spell to get at 4th level, but I rather Guardian of Nature. I do use Guardian of nature a lot because you can ad an extra d6 to your mele damage, and with mele weapon and the halo of spores reaction, you can do as much as 6 different dies weapon damage, maybe more if you can dual wield? for thid druied stick to Strength weapon with a shield. I don't think this is the best class mechanically, and you can pick Circle of Stars or Wildfire druid that mechanically are great, along with Moon or Dream druids, even Shepherd druids. What this class is (along with the Wildfire) a very fun class to play thematically and to deep dive into the roleplaying of it.

[@theCreamyCrusher]

Im thinking of creating one and heres my pitch. Stone skin halves most common damage types. Magic intiat for green flame blade and booming blade and mage armor from the wizard. War caster to use a spell reaction. Then giving yourself control spells to support most of the time and tag in as a tank when things get hairy

[@Greyscales]

Hey Justin, I think that's a pretty cool idea! Although I think things like Magic Initiate for Mage Armour might not be that great since Druids have proficiency with Medium Armour and Shields so you generally have pretty decent AC. Stoneskin also costs 100 gp of diamond dust, which might not be readily available and it also costs concentration which might limit your supportive spells that you can use. But I think War Caster is pretty good and I'm glad that you shared this with me, thank you Justin!

[@theCreamyCrusher]

@@Greyscales thanks for taking the time to respond you are right with mage armour i meant to say sheild but i had a brain fart. This character is also meant to be mid level somewhere in the 12-14 range so they will hopefully have more money for spell componets. And green flame blade and booming blade are the stars of the show as you can use them the same turn you cast shillelagh. (If your dm allows two cantrips instead of one leveled spell and a cantrip) and its plenty of extra damage for the melee tankiness kinda build. One last thing i forgot to add is just to add protection from energy as it just gives you that extra tankiness

[@Greyscales]

@@theCreamyCrusher Yea that sounds pretty good then! Glad you're having fun with the build!

[@adamc2693]

These are so helpful, please keep up the good work! Instant Subscribe

[@Greyscales]

I'm happy you found it to be helpful!

[@ozoneislucky]

Someone get this man some subscribers jeez

[@Greyscales]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@MrDeni23n]

Great artwork and info!

[@Greyscales]

I really appreciate the compliment, and am glad that you liked it!

[@drewmcelyea8872]

From my experience, they can make decent tanks, and battlefield control especially after they have a few levels for the temporary hit points. It does depend on the spells you choose though. As far as the abilities, the con save does make a lot of the damage output ineffective, I feel like if they are going to use the con save it should not just do damage but maybe a status effect, or the damage needs to be halved on a save. The 1hp zombies can really help with tanking and battlefield control, even though they won’t last long, it is one potential hit you don’t have to take. At level 20 they can be alittle broken as tanks, the fact they can’t get crit and being an arch Druid they have unlimited wild shapes to blow, 80 temp hit points every round if you want, can make you hard to put down.

[@Greyscales]

Yea the 1 HP zombies are not the worst, its just that it's limited to a small range and limited in creature typing and also competes for your Reaction that I think makes it not very good for a sixth level subclass feature. And I agree that being able continually renew Symbiotic Entity at Level 20 is really strong, but a lot of characters get ridiculous if you reach end game. Thanks for the comment!

[@wateryposedion5235]

This is amazing thank you so much!

[@Greyscales]

I’m really glad you enjoyed it!

[@henryjones8636]

What would be a good starting stat spread on the subclass for level 1 using Standard Array? I was thinking about having high strength since I won't be using Wild Shape for combat but I've never played a Druid and this video is leading me to believe that it's more of a caster. I want to be able to hit my attacks to get that bonus d6 damage but I don't see strength being a useful stat later on. What should I do? I am incredibly new to D&D 😅

[@Greyscales]

Hey Henry! For a Standard Array Druid character, I would suggest using your highest Ability score (which is 15) on Wisdom. And then you can choose if you want to build a more Strength-based character with the rest of your scores. I would suggest Dexterity since it is used in things like Stealth and Initiative. Also, Druids usually only have proficiency in light and medium armour, which synergizes with Dex rather than Str. You are correct that Druids in general are more focused on their Spellcasting than their martial abilities. But there are ways to augment their melee capacity with cantrips such as Shillelagh, which allows you to use Wisdom for your melee attack and damage bonus instead of Strength, and you get your 1d6 bonus damage. However, the way Spore Druids are, you probably don't want to overemphasize your melee abilities since that 1d6 damage does not increase and you as a Druid do not get Extra attacks, which will make you feel like your lagging behind your friends later on. But at the end of the day having fun with your friends is more important, if you feel like your gonna have a good time with a Strength Druid, then nothing can stop you! Also, this video was made before Tasha's book and is based on Spore druids in Ravnica which do poison 1d6, but Tasha's do necrotic which is generally much better. I hope this helps shed a little light since D&D is pretty big and there's a lot to consider for spellcasters, especially for new players! Thank you for your comment!

[@henryjones8636]

@@Greyscales This was a very helpful reply! Thank you!

[@commanderroddi7742]

Guardian of Nature was my most used spell on this class, BTW. Either combined with Longstrider for +20 ft. speed increase OR as the Great "mushroom" form to move into an area, and cause dificult terrain 15 ft. aroun dme with my halo of spores was great!. Plus it increases savin throws, etc. THink MOSTT druids should use this, and with this druid, use the theme and become the Great Mushrum or a Primal Fungi! :) again, Mechanically, class is weak. At the table, though, Its still a druid ad vid. says, and its one of the most ffun druid classes I've played (so far).

[@-Morgan_Hailingsun-]

Very true yes yes (Im playing a circle of spores in my campaign atm, i love her, her clan died 😍)

[@-Morgan_Hailingsun-]

And i might have killed her best friend

[@rossrahn6591]

Hey very very very good and informative video:). I love everything about it and gave it a thumbs up, but a little piece of constructive criticism u seem like ur talking a bit too fast (not sure if its just me)

[@Greyscales]

Thank you so much for the compliments Ross, and yeah I'm still not entirely comfortable with talking to KZbin so my speech might be a little wooden and fast. I will try and slow down my talking, thank you for the feedback!

[@rossrahn6591]

@@Greyscales yeah anytime:). wanna check out my newest video and let me know what you think? after watching it a few times i think im too dull. anyways heres the link kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6HEon9rYtSEn7M (im currently on my alt account that i use for music and stuff jsuk). hope u enjoy it!

[@Greyscales]

Hey Ross I saw your video and I have to say that I don't know much about Dungeons and Dragons Online. But I think you know what you are talking about and I think the voice is fine, but the timing for each of your sentences is a little bit slow, but that might just be me and our styles might be different. I thought it was a very enjoyable video!

[@Bobiguy]

Great video!

[@toadofficer1740]

Sad that this is The closest I can get to being a Toad. Can't even summon mushrooms to fight only spores.

[@Greyscales]

Hey Toad Officer, you can always just reflavour spells like Conjure animals or Conjure Woodland beings to have mushroom summons. Just ask your DM how might your reflavour play out and see if you guys can modify abilities aesthetically. Thank you for the comment, hope you have fun being a Toad!

[@toadofficer1740]

@@Greyscales thanks I just started playing at a library zoom thing. I hope I can

[@toadofficer1740]

I talked with them and now i have a myconid sprout familiar with a comically large grass sombrero that rides on my shoulders

[@SuperEagle112]

I am a devotee of Moonshine. I love this subclass. When you want to play a necromancer without playing a necromancer. The zombie is whack at 1hp but it does activate right after creation allowing you to dash it into bad guys face and force an action against it instead of you. And it still has a chance to keep getting back up.

[@Greyscales]

It's a pretty cool subclass and I agree that the 1 HP zombie can provide a bit of utility, but according to the Fungal Infestation ability it actually can only take the Attack action, so it can't Dash. Thanks for the comment!

[@SuperEagle112]

Oh well boo. :p

[@Siegsoul]

use contagion to give disadvantage on those con checks

[@OPSDK]

Not to nitpick you but druids can't use metal armor so dipping into war cleric won't give you heavy armor since you cant wear it as a druid. Monk's unarmored defense on the other hand...

[@Greyscales]

Hey User, I agree that Monk's probably have better natural synergy built-in, but the PHB for 5E actually says that Druids WON'T wear metal armour not that they CAN'T, so it is done for personal/spiritual reasons but there is actually nothing stopping you from being an edgy metal wearing druid. Also, you can easily talk to your DM about creating Heavy Armour that is not made from metals such as Ironwood or some Druidic bark skin armour. Thank you for watching the video!

[@2g33ksgamingttv3]

@@Greyscales something I had an idea about trying is Umber Hulk chitin plate armor.

[@adammoore3703]

Say is it possible to reflavor a Spore druid into a warforged with nanobots? Like instead of a colony of Fungus its a cluster of Nanobots that can repair/heal, then use the Nanobots to make tech zombies ala MassEffect Husks.

[@Greyscales]

Yea absolutely, the mechanical side of the game doesn't have to be tied to the in-universe aesthetic that you want to portray.

[@NoZignature]

Cool video

[@Greyscales]

Thanks!

[@choikzcomputers]

Wow, you talk fast :P Great guide, thanks for the info. Jankyness is great here so I guess I'll give it a go!

[@Greyscales]

Yea sorry! I kinda talk quickly when i read from a script but i’ll try to be more natural in the future.

[@akurvaanyadat]

I don't get all the hate spore druids get. Most ppl say its the worst subclass yet since the moment I picked it up I've only lost 1 hp in total lol (We also made it so the Symbiotic Entity is a bonus action since most subclasses have their unique spells as bonus actions too)

[@Greyscales]

Yea buffing the Symbiotic Entity to a bonus action does a lot to make the subclass feel smoother. The most important thing is that you feel like you are having fun with your character and I'm personally glad you enjoy the spore druid.

[@HemGlassBilen73]

Cheers

[@Greyscales]

Hope you enjoy the video

[@marcusblacknell-andrews1783]

What would you get if you multiclass this with a necromancer?

[@Greyscales]

It would be a very awkward multiclass since your Druid stuff would scale with WIS and your Wizard spells would scale with INT. However, for the sake of flavour, it could be an interesting way to build an undead army, with some being classic undead while other creatures you revive being mushroom lads. It wouldn't being very strong since you delay a lot of your class progression for abilities that don't synergize very well and you need both your WIS and INT to be high in order to reliably use your spells against enemies. But I do think it's a really cool thematic idea and you shouldn't shy away from it! Thank you for the question Marcus.

[@marcusblacknell-andrews1783]

Thanks, this is just one of the experiments I plan to work on.

[@pinkliongaming8769]

Temporary hit points do stop you from rolling concentration

[@Greyscales]

I don't think so since you roll for Concentration checks whenever you take damage, Temp HP does not prevent or negate damage in any way. Temp HP is just extra HP. But your DM might rule differently and as long as you have fun then that's what matters, thank you for the comment!

[@pinkliongaming8769]

@@Greyscales let me quote the PHB P198 "Some spells and special abilities confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren't actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury. When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to your normal hit points. For example, if you have 5 temporary hit points and take 7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then take 2 damage. Because temporary hit points are separate from your actual hit points, they can exceed your hit point maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full hit points and receive temporary hit points." Now on twitter Jeremy Crawford replied to this "If my Temporary Hit Points are 10 and I take 30 damage from an attack, what is the DC of my Concentration Check?" With this "The DC is 15. When temporary hit points absorb damage for you, you're still taking damage, just not to your real hit points." Now this seems to imply you'd still make the concentration save but the situation is slightly different as the damage is higher than the temporary hit points so you're still taking some damage just not all of it, but also you are talking all of it actually which doesn't really make sense and definitely conflicts with what I quoted from the rulebook

[@Greyscales]

@@pinkliongaming8769 I think that's a fair interpretation but I do believe that the descriptors are flavour text meant to explain the order in which you take the damage and what happens to your character in universe. But based on Jeremy Crawford's ruling you can see that the DC is 15 which means that the 30 damage is still counted in the Concentration check, the Temp HP does not mitigate the Concentration DC. If only the leftover damage counted for Concentration than it would go to DC 10 as the highest DC since only 20 damage would count. Concentration happens when you take damage not when you specifically lose HP, "a buffer against damage" is your character's physical body not getting injured but you can imagine how getting hit would cause someone to lose Concentration regardless of protective warding.

[@dewizard1879]

You could be a spore druid but instead of mushrooms flavor them to be chest buster aliens and make your race a war forge and your the Android from the alien series and you just want to create the perfect life form

[@Greyscales]

That sounds like a neat character idea!

[@VitaminXism]

They sound aweful