Circle of Stars Druid 5e

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@Crier Kobold

Circle of Stars has never connected to me as particularly druidic, but it does an excellent job selling the constellation-based magic we see in witchcraft and ancient stories. It takes the majestic sky above and presents the user as a vessel for its majesty.

Mechanically, this gives druids an early way to embody the damaging spell-caster that it was seriously lacking prior. If you want to sling spells powered by a demigod scorned and scattered to the sky by an envious deity, Circle of the Stars hits the mix of fantasy and mechanics perfectly.

2nd Level: Star Map and Starry Form

Star Map is a spellbook-like item that powers some abilities that expand out your total resource pool majorly. First, you get Guidance, opening up your other cantrips for more utility for flavor options. Second, you get a pair of Guiding Bolt casts for free each long rest on top of it being an always-prepared druid spell for you. This, on its own, gives you a ton of low-tier power. Two extra first-level spell slots worth of casts with a free cantrip will let you sling out 1st level damaging spells constantly. On top of that, it's attached to a delightful ribbon item to sell your character’s fantasy.

Starry Form lets you use Wild Shapes to become a more potent spellcaster in place of transforming into a beast or summoning a familiar. This is exactly the kind of feature full-caster druids have been craving. It actually lets you use all resources of your character together in harmony, as opposed to them being at odds with one disabling the other. Now, instead of losing your spellcasting capabilities while transformed, you get free bonus action spell attacks, bonus healing when you heal, or a massive boon to maintaining your concentration by automatically succeeding on 20 damage or less hits, as your floor is now 10 + your Constitution modifier.

In the low tiers, Archer’s bonus action attack is superb. In the mid to upper tiers, Dragon’s concentration defense is crazy good, often making it so only the biggest, baddest threats can break your concentration on Conjure Animals or Summon Fey.

6th Level: Cosmic Omen

Cosmic Omen is a hybrid between Bardic Inspiration and Diviner’s Portent. New reactions are typically great; this is no exception, and its scaling with proficiency bonus means you’ll just stack up more and more uses of it. Adding a d6 to allied rolls or subtracting it from enemy rolls both are great. Weal is a lot more usable out of combat than woe, as your allies will always be making rolls to do stuff. In either case, though, a reaction to change the outcome of hits and misses will empower your character meaningfully while encouraging a mid-ranged character sitting around 30 feet out from enemies and allies when possible.

10th Level: Twinkling Constellations

Twinkling Constellations probably shouldn’t be its own feature, but instead a scaling “At Higher Levels” text in Starry Form. Changing constellations is a pretty massive boon, as you can hop to the two defensive modes when you need it and back to archer when you’re safe to sling out some bonus action shots, but again, this really isn’t a new feature. Having any other ribbon or mediocre feature here would go a long way in making the option exciting to stick with.

14th Level: Full of Stars

Full of Stars is almost a non-feature. Resistance as a character dedicated to slinging spells is at its worst, as you’re not leveraging your hit points regularly, and things that do threaten you at this tier tend to be magical, or when at range, elemental damage from abilities and spells. This feature feels like a tacked-on addition that little consideration was actually given to.

All Together

The first six levels of Circle of Stars are bangers. Being a dedicated caster slinging spells at enemies from a safe distance is something druids struggle with; Circle of Stars gives you a solid way to do it. The upper-tier features are definitely leaning heavily on your higher-level spells, which is fair given how powerful high-level spells tend to be when compared against other class’s base features, but I can’t get too excited to play this option for a full twenty levels when its 10th and 14th level features are just mediocre passive improvements with no new stuff to play around with.

Still, Starry Form, Cosmic Omen, and Star Map are fantastic features that give you a clear route to explore. If these appeal to you, you’ll have a great time with Circle of Stars.

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