Larian Studios have been working hard to regularly release updates on Baldur's Gate 3, the newest one to come out offering a new playable class, the Druid. The Druid is a spellcaster who focuses on nature and healing most often. Closely related to the ranger, but with heaps more spell slots and options, as well as the ability to transform into animals.
While the full update is not out, these class-building recommendations will go off of the information offered thus far to the community. This will also be based around the rules of fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons to give a scope of what might be available to players once the game fully releases. While the player likely won't be related to the Druids within the grove, they will give a good hint to the power a player might hold with this class.
The Best Races and Origins to Choose for Creating a Druid in Baldur's Gate 3
When creating any of the classes within this game, players will need to look at what stats are the most important to that character archetype. To check this, after selecting the class that is wanted, flip to the Abilities tab or look to the left. Automatically, the game will select the best way to split up points between these stats and highlight which are the most important. For the Druid, Wisdom is the most important stat, which affects the player's spellcasting ability. Secondary to that will be Dexterity and Constitution.
Wisdom not only affects how many spells a Druid can have, and have prepared but also the skill set listed under that stat within the drop-down arrow. These are things like Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival. Dexterity deals with how agile and nimble the character is, affecting skills like Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth. Lastly, Constitution covers how well-focused a spell caster can be when maintaining a concentration-based spell and the character's base hit points.
With that out of the way, there are several good race and origin options for the Druid. As the Druid's main aspect is Wisdom, races that boost this stat are the Wood Elf, Human, Gold Dwarf, and the Half-Elf. These races will all ensure the player can get a 16 in Wisdom with optimization. Players are always welcome to choose outside of these options for role-playing, but these races will give the player the best stats they can have for a Druid at the start of the game. Other decent options are races that boost either Dexterity or Constitution, such as any of the other elven/half-elf subraces and halflings.
The best origins available to players will be ones that follow the Druid archetype or simply gain proficiency in the most important skills for the class. For players wanting to live out that full Druid role-play, origins like the Hermit, Outlander, and Sage will make the most sense. The Hermit will grant players proficiencies in the Medicine and Religion skills, as well as an herbalism kit. The Outlander origin gives the player proficiency in Athletics and Survival. Lastly, the Sage grants proficiency in Arcana and History. Each option is useful in different aspects, but all would fit the Druid well. Players can also choose something that doesn't fit as perfectly such as the Folk Hero, Acolyte, or Guild Artisan, and still gain some fitting skill proficiencies.
The Best of the Old and New Spell Options for a Druid in Baldur's Gate 3
Out of the gate, as a spellcasting class Druids will get the choice of two Cantrips and 4 prepared level one spells from the spell list. This is on top of the class' Wild Shape ability. While the entire spell list isn't out yet, there are plenty of new spells that will be coming in the same patch as the Druid. We'll cover the basics of what has been confirmed and hypothesize about the other possible options.
Wild Shape:
- Polar Bear - Enables the player to have higher strength, deal nice damage, and have 30 base hit points.
- Dire Wolf - Grants the player higher movement speed and damage.
- Spider - Allow players to spin webs to trap enemies in, poisonous bites, and constant spider climb.
- Raven - Offer players the ability to fly to locations they can't normally reach and some new attacks.
- Cat - Enables the player to act as a distraction to enemies while their party sneaks around.
- Badger - Grants the player the ability to tunnel under the ground and get past different obstacles.
- Deep Rothé - Grants the player an Aberrant goat form that can cast dancing lights and charge at enemies.
These are all extremely useful forms with special uses specific to certain situations. Larian is also very likely to branch out and create more forms for players to choose from in the future. Wild Shape is most important to a Druid from the Circle of the Moon which will make fighting in this form way more accessible. Though Wild Shape can still benefit the Druids from the Circle of the Land, though they are more spell-focused.
Druid Cantrips:
- Produce Flame - This spell lasts 10 minutes and creates a small flame able to light a 10-foot space. This flame can also be thrown at enemies to deal 1d8 fire damage.
- Thorn Whip - This is a melee attack spell that creates a vine-like whip dealing 1d6 piercing damage to an enemy within 30 feet of the player. This also will drag the enemy 10 feet closer to the player if they are a size large or smaller.
- Shillelagh - This spell lasts one minute and causes the player's melee weapon to be imbued with nature's power, bringing it up to a d8 damage dealer as well as add the player's Wisdom modifier to the attack and damage rolls. It also makes the weapon count as magical, allowing it to hurt even the harder creatures of the realm.
Out of these options, the Shillelagh spell seems the most worthwhile to invest in. It makes all of the lower damaging weapons that Druids are proficient in worth wielding and make the Druid a more competent fighter. Between the other two, it is more of a question as to whether the player wishes to be a more aggressive and fighting type Druid with the Thorn Whip or more of a distanced spell caster with Produce Flame. Other possible future spells added to the Druid cantrip list are Druidcraft, Guidance, Mending, Poison Spray, and Resistance.
1st Level Druid Spells:
- Animal Friendship - This spell causes a beast to believe that the player means it no harm, causing it to not flee when they draw near. It only works on animals with an Intelligence of 4 or lower, however.
- Charm Person - This charm, if succeeding will cause the target to treat the player as their friend until either the spell wears off or one of the party members attacks the charmed person. Once out of the charm, the target will also know they were charmed.
- Create Water - This spell will cause rain in a 30-foot cube, putting out fires and creating puddles on the ground.
- Cure Wounds - Heals a target 1d8 + the Druid's Wisdom modifier in hit points.
- Detect Magic - Allows the player to see an aura around anything magical within 30 feet of them.
- Entangle - Weeds and vines spread out across a 20-foot square while catching and constraining the target.
- Faerie Fire - Highlights a targeted creature within 60 feet of the player, granting any of the target's enemies an advantage on their attack rolls against it.
- Fog Cloud - Creates a 20-foot cloud that obscures those within it and on the opposite side.
- Goodberry - Creates up to 10 berries in the player's hand, each restoring one hit point.
- Healing Word - Heals a target within a distance from the player for 1d4 + the Druid's Wisdom modifier.
- Jump - The character's or target's jumps triple in distance.
- Longstrider - The target's speed increases 10 feet for one hour or until the player's concentration is broken.
- Speak with Animals - Cast on an animal to speak with them in common.
- Thunderwave - AOE attack that deals 2d8 thunder damage and knocks enemies back 10 feet.
Out of these, Create Water, Cure Wounds, Faerie Fire, Longstrider, Speak with Animals, and Thunderwave seem the most useful. While the player technically knows how to cast all of these, they will need help in deciding which ones to prep for each day. Most of these spells are meant to be helpful or buffing which are great for Druids who want to be healers. However, Thunderwave and Entangle could make decent fighting spells.
Baldur's Gate 3 early access is available now on PC.