Whether it's the real world or the fantasy realm of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons, there's no greater power than the sea. Wielding the powers🎃 of the briney depths offers adventurers near god-like power, and there's no better clas♕s to harness the energy of the ocean than a Circle of the Sea druid.

Related
Dunge꧅ons🦹 & Dragons: How To Build A Cleric

Looking ꦑto build a Cleric with Dungeons & Dragons' 2024 Player's Handbo🌳ok? Hold on to your Holy Symbol and consult this guide.

But creating and playing a Circle of the Sea druid is a lot like trying to sail around the world; you need a lot of skill and luck or a pretty good map. Let this guide be your map to one of t🅰he most potent druid subclasses in D&D 2024.

Features Of A Circle Of The Sea Druid

Image of Sea Hag (Commander Legends Battle for Baldur's Gate) art by Andrea Piparo
Sea Hag art by Andrea Piparo

New for D&D 2024, a Circle of the Sea druid is a lot like a Circle of the Land druid, but wetter. You get a selection of water and lightning/thunder spells starting at level three (lightning being the angriest form the ocean takes), and you receive the Sea Druid's signature ability, Wrath of the Sea.

Wrath of the Sea gives the Circle of the Sea druid an interesting flavor. You're still mostly a magic-casting class, which means you have access to a bunch of spells that can keep you safely outside of melee combat. However, Wrath of the Sea can deal a ton of damage to any creature foolish enough to get close to you.

As you gain more Wisdom, Wrath of the Sea deals more damage, and at level six it extends to ten feet away, but the overall theme is to keep your enemies close so they can get bombarded by your oceanic emanation.

Eventually, you'll be able to throw your Wrath of the Sea onto your party's tank (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a barbarian, paladin, or fighter is recommended here) to give yourself some breathing room while maintaining your incredible damage 💃potential. That said, your best bet is to ride the dangerous wave of melee combat for most of your Sea Dru𒁏id's career.

Class Feature

Description

Circle of the Sea Spells

Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind, Ray of Frost, Shatter, Thunderwave, Lightning Bolt, 🔜Water Breathing, Contro𒈔l Water, Ice Storm, Conjure Elemental, Hold Monster

Wrath of the Sea

Deal cold damage to nearby enemies based on your wisdom mod🍒ifier. Can also push enemies up to 15 feet away.

Aquatic Affinity

Wr🦄ath oཧf the Sea extends to 10 feet, gain swim speed.

Stormborn

Resistance to cold, lightning, and thunder damage, gai🐷n fly speed.

Oceanic Gift

Give your Wrath of the S🍨ea to a friendly creature.

Related
Dungeons & Dragons: Ways The Wizard Class Is Changing In The 2024 Player's Handbook

Wizards got a lot of cool changes in Dungeons & Dragons' 20💧24 Player's Handbook.

Best Origin Choices For A Circle Of The Sea Druid

Image of Lozhan, Dragons' Legacy (Commander Legends Battle for Baldur's Gate) art by Rudy Siswanto
Lozhan, Dragons' Legacy art by Rudy Siswanto

The recommended background choices here are going to focus on your game plan of being typically good at Druid things (skills like Nature and Animal Handling, as well as spellcasting) while being equally proficient in your aquatic brand of melee combat.

Background

By far the best choice here is Guide. This background provides you with the choice of increasing your three most important ability scores (Dexterity, Constitutꦫion, and Wisdom), two good skill🍰s in Stealth and Survival, and best of all, the Magic Initiate Origin Feat.

With Magic Initiate, you can grab two cantrips and one first-level spell from outside the typical Druid spell list, but you can still use your Wisdom modifier to cast them. Dependinꦆg on the spells you choose (more on 🦩that later), this can really help you with wading into melee combat.

Your second best choice of background is Farmer, but it's not quite as useful. You get Animal Handling and Nature, as well as the Tough feat, but you don't r🌺eally need to increase your Strength ability score. It's not badಞ, but Guide is the better option here.

Ability Scores

You're a druid, so your most important ability score is Wisdom. The more Wisdom you have, the better your spellcasting, and the more damage your Wrath of the 🏅Sea ability can dea⛄l.

Dexterity and Constitution are your next most important scores as both will keep you alive while you're swimming in baddies. De🅰xterity provides armor class, while Constitution provides hit points and lets y𒀰ou keep concentration on your spells.

Here are the recommended ability scores.

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

Wisdom

Charisma

Standard Array

8

13

14

12

15

10

Points Buy

8

13

15

12

15

8

With the Guide background, choose to increase your Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom scores by +1.

Species

Image of Chaos Channeler (Dungeons & Dragons Adventures in the Forgotten Realms) art by David Palumbo
Chaos Channeler art by David Palumbo

With the Guide background, you'll already have the Magic Initiate Origin Feat. But you know what's better than one Origin Feat? Two Origin Feats, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:which you can get by being a human.

Human is the top pick for a Sea Druid, ಞbut here's a table with all your options from the D&D 2024 Handbook.

Species

Reason

Human

An extra Origin Feat is just ☂too good to pass up. Take Magic Initiate if you didn't pick Guide as your background, or pick Tough if you did.

Elf

High elf gives you access to anotꦦher wizard cantrip as well as two great spells. It's not quite as good as being Human, but it's close. Plus🔥 you get three skill proficiencies, Darkvision, and resistance to being charmed.

Dwarf

Tremorsense isn't the most useful ability, but it can be handy at times.🎉 What really give sdwarf the edg🥀e is the extra hit points as resistance to poison.

Tiefling

Combining Hellish Rebuke with Wrath of the Sea makes you hilariously deadly to melee opponents, and Darkvᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚision is al༺ways nice to have.

Goliath

Slightly faster than the average sp𒆙ecies, and Giant Ancestry can provide you with some very useful abilities.

Orc

Temporary hit🤪 points and Relentless Endurance will haveꦛ you running around the battlefield like a waterspout.

Halfling

The sneakiest species do⛎esn't offer a lot to a Sea Druid, but Luck is always nice to have🐈.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragonborn

Flight is unnecessary, and the dragonborn's breath weapon is൲ largely overshadowed by your Wrath of the Sea. A flavorful choice, but not a mechanically ideal one.

Gnome

You can already Speak with Animals as a druid, so forest gnome doesn't provide much. The tinkering abilities of a rock gnoౠme would be interesting toജ combine with the nature-based magic of a Sea Druid, but hardly ideal.

Aasimar

You already get a flight speed at later levels, so two transformations are already less useful. Inner Radiance can combine with Wrath of♐ the Sea for a fun damage boost, though.

Skills

Pick two skills that complement your party but didn't receive from your background. If you picked Guide as your background, Nature and Perception are probably your best bets.

Perception is the most-rolled skill in any D&D campaign, plus you have the Wisdom score to really boost it through the roof. Be prepared to become your party’s alarm system.

Equipment

Image of Simple Ranged Weapons in D&D by John Grello
Simple Ranged Weapons by John Grello

The standard equipment you receive from the druid class and the Guide background will give you a pretty good start. Leather armor provides adequate earlyꦫ protection, a shortbow is good ranged damage (when combined with the True Strike cantrip), and a ꧋Quarterstaff will be both your melee damage and Druidic Focus.

However, if you want to take the 100 gold pieces to create your own starting kit, here's a setup that will give you a slight boost to your damage and defenses.

  • Hide Armor
  • Shield
  • Light Crossbow
  • 20 Bolts
  • Quarterstaff (Druidic Focus)
  • Explorer's Pack
  • Herbalism Kit
  • Tent
  • Traveler's Clothes
  • 34.6 Gold Pieces

You'll need to take the Warden option for your Primal Order a♊t level one to be proficient in𓃲 medium armor. More on that later.

Related
Dungeons & Dragons: Ways The Sorcerer Class Is Changing In The 2024 Player's Handbook

Sorcerers have some new powers in Dungeons & Dragons' 🌄2024 Player's Handbook.

How To Level Your Circle Of The Sea Druid

Image of Gretchen Titchwillow (Dungeons & Dragons Adventures in the Forgotten Realms) art by Mila Pesic
Gretchen Titchwillow art by Mila Pesic

With your origins, background, species, and starting equipment settled, it's time to run through each choice at each level, along with your spells.

We've stuck to the 2024 Player's Handbook, but if you have access to the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Booming Blade is an incredibly good cantrip to pair with Wrath of the Sea. Pushing melee opponents a💫way forces them to move, dealing extra🦩 damage every round.

Level

Class Feature

Spells Prepared

Reason

1

Primal Order - Warden

Cantrips:

  • True Strike
  • Shillelagh
  • Guidance
  • Elementalism

Level One Spells:

  • Entangle
  • Faerie Fire
  • Healing Word
  • Shield

Warden gives you access to medium armor, which gives yo𒊎u the best armor class with 14 Dexterity. True Strike with a Light Crossbow is the best ranged damage option until later levels, and Shillelagh is your best melee damage option. Guidance and Elementalism are🎶 both great cantrips that no druid should be without.

Entangle and F🦹airie Fire make melee ♔combat easier, Shield gives you a great reaction for extra armor class, and Healing Word a good bonus action to keep yourself and your friends from dying.

2

Wild Shape, Wild Companion

Level One Spells:

  • Absorb Elements

Your Wild Shape charges are mostly to spend on Wrath of the Sea, but do have a flying form available until you gain your fli🌠ght speed at level 10. A flying companion is also a good thing to have. Absorb Elements gives you something to cast when Shield won't protect you.

3

Druid Subclass - Circle of the Sea

Level Two Spell:

  • Barkskin

Now you're a Circle of the Sea druid! You also get second-level spells, which can be Barkskin until you find medium armor that gives♏ you better than 17 AC.

Once🐲 you get half-plate armor, feel free 🍸to replace this with something like Aid or Dispel Magic.

4

Ability Score Improvement - Wisdom

Cantrip:

  • Druidcraft

Level Two Spell:

  • Lesser Restoration

Give yourself +2 Wisdom to improve your spellcasting modifier and do more Wrath of the Sea damage. Lesser Restoration is a useful spell 🦹to have on-hand if you ever get debuffed.

5

Level Three Spells:

  • Aura of Vitality
  • Summon Fey

Aura of Vitality provides y𒐪ou with even more effective hit points to wade into melee combat with,ꦺ while Summon Fey gives you a friend to help bash heads.

6

Level Three Spell:

  • Revivify

Revivify is always good to have when a party member🅰 bites the big one.

7

Elemental Fury - Potent Spellcasting

Level Four Spell:

  • Conjure Woodland Beings

Potent Spellcasting improves your True Strike and Shillelagh damage even further. Combine Conjure Woodland Beings with Wrath of the Sea for some truly awesome damage t🎀o everything within a shor🐓t perimeter of you.

8

Ability Score Improvement - Wisdom

Level Four Spell:

  • Summon Elemental

Gain two more Wisdom to bring yourselfꦍ up to the soft cap of 20, gaining yet more spell and Wrath of the Sea damage for your effort. A tough, powerful, reliable summon to fight alongside.

9

Level Five Spell:

  • Mass Cure Wounds

Druids are usually the healers, and Mass Cure Wounds is the best healing spell in the game so long as you can keep𒁃 the party bunched up for a single turn.

10

Level Five Spell:

  • Greater Restoration

Congratulations! You can fly! And Greater Restoration heals an𓆏ything that Lesser Restoration doesn't.

11

Level Six Spell:

  • Heal

The best single-ta🍒rget healing spel♌l, and one that will keep you in the fight even longer than a fighter.

12

Feat - Speedy

Speedy gives your flying, swimming, and wa🔯lking speed a 10-foot boost, while also making it easier to disengage from combat when necessary. Choose to increase your Constitution by one here.

13

Level Seven Spell:

  • Reverse Gravity

Reverse Gravity can, on occasion, totally trivialize a comb𓆉at encounter. A fun spell to have in your pocket, but feel free to replace with Regenerate if you really feel like you need more healing.

14

15

Level Eight Spell:

  • Befuddlement

A great save-or-suck spell that tu𓄧rns mages off for a good long while🐲.

16

Feat - Resilient

Gain🔯 proficiency is Constitution saving throws to make it easier to maintain concentration on spells, and increase your Constitution by one again for more hit points too.

17

Cantrip:

  • Message

Level Nine Spell:

  • Shapechange

Shapechange is mostly to gain a bunch of temporary hit points, but being able to turn into a giant beast that has a whirling water tornado around it is pretty awesome. Mes🎃sage is a fun cantrip for going undercover or talking underwater.

18

Level Nine Spell:

  • True Resurrection

Where Revivify fails, True Resurr𒆙ection succeeds. Your friꦕends never need to worry about dying again. Plus, you can resurrect your favorite NPCs if they get murdered.

19

Epic Boon - Boon of Fate

Level Nine Spell:

  • Foresight

For your first Epic Boon, take Boon of Fate to ensure maximum damage on your Wrath of the Sea or to ensure Befuddlement lands. Give yourself🦄 +1 to Wisdom in case you manage to find something else that can push your Wisdom score higher than 20.

Foresi🅺ght provides advantage on attacks you make and disadvantage on attacks made against you. Great all-around spell if you don't have room to cast Shapechange.

20

Level Eight Spell:

  • Tsunami

You're an Archdruid now. Tsunami is on-brand, but t🔯his can rea꧃lly be anything that you want.

Related
𝕴 Dungeons & Dragons: How To Build A Bard

Want to know what it takes🔯 to play a bard? This guide covers what you need to know about building and playing🌱 a bard with the 2024 Player's Handbook.

Best Multiclass Options For A Circle Of The Sea Druid

Image of several adventurers arguing over how best to cross a river by Viko Menezes
You Come to a River art by Viko Menezes

The above build is pretty well self-contained and doesn't really need any help from other character classes. The only multiclass option worth considering for this build is a level in monk. This would provide you with access to Unarmor🐠ed Defense, which would encourage you to push your Dexterity to maximize your armor class.

Monk isn't a bad multiclass option, but it does leave you short a spell slot, and Unarmored Defense isn't so compelling that the trade feels worth it. St♋ick with being a pure druid. After all, 🗹the sea provides everything you could ever want.

Next
168澳洲幸运5🌳开奖网: Dunge𒆙ons & Dragons: Guide To Foraging

Did your party forget to pack enough food? Don't worry, the foraging system exists for that reason. Let's go over its rules anﷺd how to use it as a DM.