D&D4 Wiki
Register
Advertisement
389 ca druid

Druid is a primal class in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons. There are three druid subclasses: original druid (a controller[PH2:82]), sentinel (a leader[HotFK:83]), and protector (a controller[HotF:69]).

Class traits[]

The following traits are common to original druids, sentinels, and protectors.

  • Power source: Primal. You have gained your powers through a careful study of and communion with the natural world.
  • Weapon proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged
  • Implement proficiencies: Staffs, totems
  • Hit points at 1st level: 12 + Constitution score
  • Hit points per level gained: 5
  • Healing surges per Day: 7 + Constitution modifier

Class skills[]

Original druids, sentinels, and protectors are trained in Nature (Wis), plus any three skills from the druid class skill list:

Original druid[]

The original druid is the subclass of druid introduced in the Player's Handbook 2.[PH2:82]

Compared to sentinels and protectors, original druids have access to both leveled encounter attack powers and leveled daily attack powers, Ritual Caster as a bonus feat, the ability to switch between humanoid and beast form through wild shape, and an extra 1st-level at-will attack power through Balance of Nature.

  • Role: Controller. Your beast form gives you access to powers that provide control at close range, while your humanoid form allows you to hinder your opponents from a distance. Depending on your choice of class features and powers, you might lean toward either leader or striker as a secondary role.
  • Key Abilities: Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution
  • Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, hide
  • Bonus to Defense: +1 Reflex, +1 Will

Balance of Nature[]

Some druid powers can only be used in beast form, and others can only be used out of beast form. To compensate, the Balance of Nature class feature grants original druids three 1st-level at-will attack powers instead of the normal two. Of the three, at least one, but no more than two, must have the beast form keyword.

Primal Aspect[]

Original druids with the Primal Aspect class feature choose one of the following options, and gain the corresponding benefits.

Primal aspect Benefits
Primal Guardian May use Con modifier instead of Int/Dex modifier for determining AC while not wearing heavy armor[PH2:83]

Additional effects, mostly Con-based, on certain encounter attack powers such as frost flash

Primal Predator +1 bonus to speed while not wearing heavy armor[PH2:83]

Additional effects, mostly Dex-based, on certain encounter attack powers such as darting bite

Primal Swarm Damage taken from melee or ranged attacks is reduced by Con modifier while in beast form and not wearing heavy armor[PrP:36]

Additional effects, mostly Con-based, on certain encounter attack powers such as scattered form

Primal Wrath +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls on cold, fire, lightning, and thunder druid and druid paragon path attack powers while not wearing heavy armor[HotEC:62]

Ritual Casting[]

Original druids gain Ritual Caster as a bonus feat. They have mastered the Animal Messenger ritual plus one other 1st-level ritual of their choice, and possess a ritual book containing those mastered rituals.

In addition, once per day, original druids can perform Animal Messenger without expending components.

Wild Shape[]

Original druids can use the wild shape at-will power to change into and out of beast form as a minor action once per round. Powers with the beast form keyword can only be used while in beast form. Weapon and implement attack powers without the beast form keyword can't be used while in beast form.

Sentinel[]

Sentinel is the subclass of druid introduced in Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms.[HotFK:83]

Compared to original druids, sentinels take on more of a leader role, with an animal companion and combined attack in place of leveled encounter attack powers, the utility powers healing word and restore life, bonuses with certain melee weapons, and Wilderness Knacks instead of Ritual Casting.

Acolyte of the Natural Cycle[]

At 1st level, each sentinel chooses a season that demonstrates his or her affinity for that aspect of nature's power. Your choice of season determines some of your class features, including the animal companion you gain. When you choose to become a druid of one of the four seasons, you gain the benefit associated with that season. Two of the seasons -the most common paths followed by sentinels- are offered here.

Druid of Spring []

You draw your strength from the spring, a time when life emerges once more from the bleakness of winter and reaches for the sun. You believe that all things can be renewed, and you show your allies how to shrug off pain and injury, just as the spring sun melts away the last remnants of winter's snow. Your chosen weapons are the scimitar, the spear, the dagger, and the sickle. The bright steel of these weapons gleams like the spring sun. In battle, you rely on accuracy and precision rather than brute force to defeat your foes.

Benefit: You gain the following benefits.

  • Your animal companion is a wolf.
  • You gain proficiency with the scimitars, short, long and great bows.
  • You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with scimitars, spears, daggers, and sickles.
  • You gain a +2 bonus to Heal checks.

Druid of Summer[]

You feel the strongest association with the high heat of summer, a time when the life of the natural world stands in full bloom. You are symbol of the power and vibrancy of life, embodying the full resilience of nature. You draw strength from the light of the sun, the green of the forest, and the blue of the sky, demonstrating to your allies that the present is always the season of their greatest strength. Your chosen weapons are the staff and the club. They represent summer's enduring strength, the trees that flourish in that season and persist through the darkest winter. Your fighting style reflects that strength, as you rely on overpowering force to batter your foes into submission.

Benefit: You gain the following benefits.

  • Your animal companion is a bear.
  • When wielding a one-handed mace, you use a d10 for its weapon damage. When wielding a staff or a two - handed mace, you use a d12 for its weapon damage.
  • You gain a +2 bonus to Athletics checks.

Druid of the Wastes[]

Benefit: You gain the following benefits.

  • Your animal companion is a living zephyr.
  • When wielding a spear or a staff, you gain a +1 shield bonus to AC and Reflex.
  • You gain a +2 bonus to Endurance checks.[HotEC]

Animal Companion[]

You gain an animal companion associated with the season you chose for your Acolyte of the Natural Cycle class feature.

  • Your animal companion is considered an ally of you and your allies. It can be affected by powers in the same way as any other creature can be.
  • You can communicate telepathically with your animal companion as long as it is within 20 squares of you. You do not need line of sight or line of effect to do so. Your animal companion has only animal intelligence, so it cannot communicate or understand complex topics.
  • Your animal companion’s level is equal to yours, and its hit points, defenses, and attacks are determined by your level, as noted in its stat block.
  • Your animal companion shares your healing surge total. Whenever an effect requires your animal companion to spend a healing surge, the surge is deducted from your total. Whenever you use your second wind, your animal companion also regains hit points equal to your healing surge value. At the end of a short rest, your animal companion regains all its hit points.
  • If you die or your animal companion drops to 0 hit points, it disappears as the primal magic that sustains it dissipates. You have two ways of calling your companion back:
    • Minor Action: You take a minor action and lose a healing surge. Doing so causes your animal companion to appear in the nearest unoccupied space, with hit points equal to your healing surge value.
    • Short or Extended Rest: You lose a healing surge at the end of a rest. Doing so causes your animal companion to appear in the nearest unoccupied space, with full hit points.
  • As a creature under your control, your animal companion relies on you for strict guidance while you are within 20 squares of it. You take actions so that it can act, and its initiative is the same as yours during an encounter.
    • Standard Actions: To take a standard action, your animal companion needs you to take a standard action to command it to do so.
    • Move Actions: Whenever you take a move action, your animal companion can also take a move action. Alternatively, you can stay put but take a move action to command your animal companion to take a move action.
    • Minor Actions: To take a minor action, your animal companion needs you to take a minor action to command it to do so.
    • Free Actions: Your animal companion can take free actions without you taking an action to command it.
    • Triggered Actions: If one of your animal companion’s triggered actions is triggered, the companion can take that action only if you take the same kind of action to command it to do so. For example, if an enemy adjacent to your companion provokes an opportunity attack from it, you must take an opportunity action to command your companion to make the attack.
    • In situations where you can’t give commands to your animal companion, it can act independently. For example, if you are unconscious or if you are more than 20 squares away from your companion, it doesn’t sit around waiting for you to show up (unless that’s what you have previously commanded it to do).
    • An animal companion acting independently can take either a standard, a move, or a minor action on its turn. It can also take opportunity actions and free actions, but it cannot take immediate actions.

Combined Attack[]

You gain the combined attack power

Healing Word[]

One of the earliest powers mastered by many druids, healing word allows your primal magic to heal even the most grievous wounds.

Primal Guardian[]

Sentinels with the Primal Guardian class feature may use their Constitution modifier instead of their Intelligence or Dexterity modifier for the purpose of determining AC while not wearing heavy armor.[HotFK:83]

Wilderness Knacks[]

You gain two of the following abilities of your choice.

  • Beast Empathy (Druid): You gain a +2 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks against beasts. You can communicate simple concepts and commands to such creatures, though they are under no compulsion to obey you. With a successful Insight check (DC determined by the DM), you can read a creature’s body language and vocalizations enough to understand basic messages from it.
  • Herb Lore (Druid): You and each ally can add 2 to his or her healing surge value when spending heading surges during a short rest. To gain this benefit, you must take the short rest in an area that offers easy access to plants. The additional hit points increase to 4 at 11th level and 6 at 21st level.
  • Mountain Guide (Druid): Whenever you succeed on an Athletics check to climb, you reduce the DC of that climb by 2 for your allies until the end of the encounter. Only allies who see you make the climb gain this benefit.
  • Watchful Rest (Druid): When you take an extended rest, you and any allies also taking the rest do not take the –5 penalty to Perception checks for sleeping.
  • Wilderness Tracker (Druid): During a short rest, you can make a Perception check (DC determined by the DM) to inspect the area around you. This area can be as large as 10 squares on a side. If your check succeeds, you determine the number and nature of the creatures that have moved through the area in the past 24 hours. You ascertain when and where they entered the area, as well as when and where they left.

Past level 1, sentinels unlock new class features:

Level 3 Improved Combined Attack[]

You gain one more use of combined attack per encounter, but you can still use it only once per turn.

Hear the Voice of Nature[]

This class feature is accessed at level 7. Once per day during a short rest, you can ask up to three questions of nonhostile natural beasts and mundane plants (but not plant creatures) in your vicinity. The beasts and plants answer fully, but they are limited in their knowledge by their experiences and mobility. For example, a plant knows only about its immediate surroundings, and a fish can describe only what it has perceived in its watery environment.

Level 7 Improved Combined Attack[]

You gain one more use of combined attack per encounter, but you can still use it only once per turn.

Restore Life[]

You access this at level 8. You gain the restore life power.

Paragon of the Natural Cycle[]

You access this at level 13. Gain a benefit related to your druid's chosen season.

  • Paragon of the Natural Cycle (Spring): When you or your animal companion reduces a nonminion enemy to 0 hit points, you and your animal companion each regain 10 hit points.
  • Paragon of the Natural Cycle (Summer): Your reach increases by 1 for melee weapon attacks.
  • Paragon of the Wastes: The first time each encounter that you or your living zephyr companion becomes bloodied, you can use an immediate reaction to become insubstantial and shift up to 5 squares. You are insubstantial until the start of your next turn.

Animal Companion Power[]

You access this at level 17. You gain a power associated with your animal companion.

  • Druid of Spring: Dire Wolf Knockdown: You gain the dire wolf knockdown power.
  • Druid of Summer: Dire Bear Stamina: You gain the dire bear stamina power.
  • Druid of the Wastes: Zephyr Carry: You gain the zephyr carry power.

Timeless body[]

You access this at level 23. You no longer age, and you gain immunity to all diseases of your level or lower.

Nature's bounty[]

You access this at level 27. Whenever you use your second wind, choose one ally within 10 squares of you. That ally gains a benefit determined by the season you chose for your Acolyte of the Natural Cycle class feature.

  • Blessing of the Wastes: Whenever you use your second wind, choose one ally within 10 squares of you. That ally ends one ongoing damage effect that he or she is currently suffering, and the ally gains partial concealment until the end of your next turn.
  • Nature's Bounty: Spring: Whenever you use your second wind, choose one ally within 10 squares of you. The chosen ally gains resist 10 to all damage until the end of your next turn.
  • Nature's Bounty: Summer: Whenever you use your second wind, choose one ally within 10 squares of you. The chosen ally gains a +5 power bonus to damage rolls until the end of your next turn.

Protector[]

Protector is the subclass of druid introduced in Heroes of the Feywild.[HotF:69]

Compared to original druids, protectors have summon natural ally instead of leveled daily attack powers, the ability to create a zone of difficult terrain via nature's growth, and cantrip-like utility powers from Primal Attunement instead of Ritual Caster.

Druid Circle[]

Nature's Growth[]

Protectors can use the nature's growth utility power to create a zone of difficult terrain as a minor action once per encounter. Allies within or adjacent to this zone get an additional benefit determined by the protector's choice of Druid Circle.

Primal Attunement[]

The Protector gains three of the following Primal Attunement powers at first level. Each power is a utility power that provides minor, but useful, effects at a generally low action cost.

Air Spirit

Call the Spirits

Senses of the Wild

Verdant Touch

Vine Rope

Summon Natural Ally[]

Druid powers[]

Druid powers, having primal power sources, are also called evocations.

At-will attack powers

1st level

Encounter attack powers
(Original druids and protectors only)
Daily attack powers
(Original druids and sentinels only)
Utility powers

1st level

1st level

2nd level

3rd level

5th level

6th level

7th level

9th level

10th level

13th level

15th level

16th level

17th level

19th level

22nd level

23rd level

25th level

27th level

29th level

Unleveled powers
Key
B
Beast form keyword
G
Primal Guardian/Circle of Renewal rider
P
Primal Predator/Circle of Shelter rider
S
Primal Swarm rider
W
Cold, fire, lightning or thunder keyword, and attack roll (Primal Wrath bonus)
C
Constitution based effect
D
Dexterity based effect

Multiclass druids[]

Characters who did not start as druids and who do not already have a multiclass feat of a type other than multiclass druid may multiclass as druids by taking one of the following entry feats.

Druid entry feat Prerequisites Benefits
Harbinger of Nature's Wrath[HotF:129] Wis 13 The character gains nature's growth, but can use it only once per day.
Initiate of the Old Faith[PH2:196] Wis 13 The character gains wild shape. The character also gains a 1st-level druid at-will attack power that has the beast form keyword—grasping claws, pounce, savage rend, or swarming locusts—but can use it only once per encounter.
Sentinel Initiate[Dr400] Wis 13 The character gains healing word, but can use it only once per day.

In addition, each druid entry feat grants all of the following benefits:

  • The character counts as a druid, in addition to his or her original class, for the purpose of meeting prerequisites for feats, paragon paths, etc.
  • The character gains implement proficiency with druid implements, such as staffs and totems.
  • The character gains training in Nature.
  • The character may take Novice Power, Acolyte Power, and Adept Power feats to exchange powers for druid powers.
  • If the character takes a multiclass encounter, a multiclass utility, and a multiclass daily feat (such as Novice, Acolyte, and Adept Power), the character can paragon multiclass in druid instead of taking a paragon path. Paragon multiclassed druids select additional druid powers instead of paragon path powers.

Hybrid original druids[]

A character may be created as a hybrid of original druid and another class other than druid. The hybrid druid bonus to defense is either +1 Reflex or +1 Will. The hybrid's druid class feature is Wild Shape.

When a hybrid druid gains the Hybrid Talent feat, he or she chooses one hybrid talent option from either of his or her hybrid classes. The druid hybrid talent options are:

Druid Armor Proficiency
The hybrid druid gains armor proficiency with leather and hide armor.
Primal Aspect
The hybrid druid gains the Primal Aspect druid class feature.[PH3:143]

Hybrid sentinels[]

A character may be created as a hybrid of sentinel and another class other than druid. The hybrid sentinel bonus to defense is +1 Fortitude. The hybrid's sentinel class features are Acolyte of the Natural Cycle, Animal Companion, Combined Attack (hybrid), which is the same as Combined Attack except that one use of combined attack is gained for each leveled class encounter attack power the hybrid druid chooses to give up (if any), and Healing Word (hybrid), which is the same as Healing Word except that healing word can only be used once per encounter.

When a hybrid sentinel gains the Hybrid Talent feat, he or she chooses one hybrid talent option from either of his or her hybrid classes. The sentinel hybrid talent options are:

Animal Companion Power
The hybrid sentinel gains the Animal Companion Power sentinel class feature. This option requires the Acolyte of the Natural Cycle class feature and 17th level or above.
Druid Armor Proficiency
The hybrid sentinel gains armor proficiency with leather armor, hide armor, and light shields.
Nature's Bounty
The hybrid sentinel gains the Nature's Bounty sentinel class feature. This option requires the Acolyte of the Natural Cycle class feature and 27th level or above.
Paragon of the Natural Cycle
The hybrid sentinel gains the Paragon of the Natural Cycle sentinel class feature. This option requires the Acolyte of the Natural Cycle class feature and 13th level or above.
Wilderness Knack (hybrid)
The hybrid sentinel gains one sentinel wilderness knack utility power.
Advertisement