Circle of Dreams Druid 5e

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@Crier Kobold

The fey are a huge pillar of D&D, so much so that a ton of classes have direct ties to them and their magic. Bards have College of Glamour, Warlocks with their Archfey patron, and Rangers offer you the Fey Wanderer conclave.

Druids, the most tied to nature and fey magic, come with Circle of Dreams as their fairy subclass. Their 2nd level feature is fine, but with them entirely lacking in a reasonable 6th level option you’ll feel pretty terrible up until you get Hidden Path to at least feel like a fey spellcaster, and seeing as the capstone feature is challenging to get effective practical use out of, you’re left with a subclass lacking substance.

2nd Level: Balm of the Summer Court

Their 2nd level feature is just a giant pool of Healing Words; that’ll keep people alive, but otherwise doesn’t play in any particularly meaningful way wit the rest of what Druids tend to be doing. It says “Summer Court” in the name, but beyond that, doesn’t interface at all with iconic fairy or fey elements. No charms, no teleportation, no pranks or tricks or fey to be seen.

Once you have this, you’ll never again have to prepare a healing spell, so that’s nice. If you want to be considered a dedicated healer, this will do that.

Tactically, I’d recommend using as few of these as possible at a given time. At their best, the balm dice will bring a creature from 0 to above 0, and that is the difference between having actions and not having actions. Being able to assign more in the upper tiers to attempt to get the creature enough hit points to also take one more hit is compelling, though, and can be a good choice if the enemy acts before they will next.

6th Level: Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow

Song of Rest isn’t a feature I rave about. Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow is in the same design area being a passive boon to short and long rests, and that’s just not relevant, nor exciting enough. +5 to Stealth and Perception checks while muting light from your rest will matter a few times in a campaign, and let you flavorfully rest in peace.

Features gained through subclasses should be delivering regularly on the fantasy they offer. I don’t want to play an Eldritch Knight that can only do magic when they rest, and Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow only gives you a shrouded bubble when resting, with no utility beyond that.

10th Level: Hidden Paths

Misty Step is a spell I deeply adore, especially in the upper tiers. Hidden Paths is a 10th-level feature that doubles the range on yourself or lets you teleport a willing creature instead, and comes with three to five free uses per long rest. All around, I adore it. It coming it at 10th level is a bit to little to late, as Balm of the Summer Court and Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow aren’t nearly compelling enough for me to justify this upgraded Misty Step.

14th Level: Walker in Dreams

Walker in Dreams finally evokes the dream element of the circle, only 14 levels in! Dream, Scrying, and Teleportation Circle every rest is somewhat interesting, especially given that Teleportation Circle links to past rest locations. Like Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow, though, this is a feature that only does something when you’re taking a short rest, and only once per long rest.

All Togehter

Balm of the Summer Court defines almost the entirety of this subclasses play pattern, and when that’s just a large pool of Healing Word dice, I’m bummed out. Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow and Walker in Dreams are rest-based boons, with the prior making it harder for your rests to be detected, and the latter giving you free utility spells when you finish a short rest. Hidden Paths is somewhat interesting, especially given that druids don’t innately learn Misty Step, but Wild Shape covers your mobility desires well enough typically. This isn’t a major improvement and more of a play pattern fulfillment that just comes far to late for me to want to build around or towards it.

If you want to play a fey-based druid, I think reflavoring Shepherd, Spores, Stars, or even Wildfire will deliver that fantasy better. Even Circle of the Land (Coast) gives you Misty Step access at 3rd level, which will satisfy your fey teleportation needs far sooner. If you’re down to just play the role of “Drud with a bunch of Healing Words”, then you’ll get what you want out of Circle of Dreams.

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