Dragon Encounters

How to Use: NPC Druid Spellcasting Tactics

The most obvious use of a druid NPC is to give help or advice, or to ask them to go on a quest. I am going to wait to discuss nature themed quests in the next article, Dryad. For this article, I will concentrate on giving two druid scenarios: a 2014 druid pursuit using Thunderwave to slow players, and a 2024 druid encounter build around Moonbeam.

Druid 2014 Combat Encounter: Pursuit and Thunderwave (difficulty 3)

The druid in the 2014 is extremely weak (how is this a CR 2?). With only 27 HP, he can’t afford to get into a melee fight. Even against level 1 PCs he won’t last more than a round and a half, less against a level 2 party.

With his melee attack out as an option, he has two offensive spells. Entangle is concentration, which means it’s incompatible with 2014 version Barkskin. As he only has AC 11 without Barkskin, that makes it useless unless he casts it and then immediately runs for cover.

Barkskin 2024 does not take concentration, but Entangle still leaves the druid with nothing to do but stand there and look menacing. (Conjure Flame does so little damage, it’s questionable if it’s worth the ridicule.) I’m going to concentrate this encounter on uses of Thunderwave.

Encounter Setup

You have to set up the encounter with the assumption that the druid will not be easily accessible. If not, the encounter ends immediately, even with Barkskin. We could put the druid on a hill he’s defending, but he’ll still be killed too easily, so instead we’ll go with pursuit.

For a druid that’s in the role of enemy, I suggest a half-crazed old man that’s been living outside of civilization for too long. He’s half druid, and half-crazy hermit.

The druid is intending to use a ritual to do something evil, (maybe summon a powerful monster?) He has Longstrider to help him stay ahead of the PCs, and animal friends to help him escape if the players catch up. Also, he’ll occasionally turn around to blast them with creative uses of Thunderwave.

(Variation: If you prefer, you can just use the druid as a support NPC of a bigger villain. If so, you don’t want him to be the main villain of the battle. Have a villain with decent HP/AC, and use the druid as a one-round sudden power boost to knock the players off balance.)

Thunderwave Tactics

1. Thunderwave knocks everyone around back. Use it to send the PCs tumbling downhill, to get caught in sharp thorns from which they’ll need help to cut themselves loose. Alternatively, into mud or quicksand. Have animal friends ready to hassle anyone who made their save, giving the druid time to escape.
2. Thunderwave is generally used as an attack spell, but it should also work on boulders and rubble. Send a cliffside tumbling onto the PCs. In addition to damage, the dust will leave them temporarily blinded, letting pursuing animals (who use scent) pounce. In addition, the way up after the druid is now gone.
3. As they reach the druids target, they’ll have trouble climbing up and getting enough of a foothold that the druid can’t send them right back down. It takes an action to climb a sheer cliff, so don’t make it easy to send ropes down. If there’s boulders, the druid has a hiding spot, and a weapon when Thunderwave sends them rolling.

Longstrider Tactics

• Even without Thunderwave, Longstrider would make catching up with the druid into a pain (for any class except monks). Harassment by animals would make it much worse. If you want to have them catch up, I would suggest having the druid take a zig-zag path up a hill/mountain, so that one PC can pull ahead and send down a rope for the others.
• If the druid isn’t the main villain of the fight, Longstrider could give enough extra movement to let him pop out, use Thunderwave, and use Thunderwave’s push to duck back under cover. Chasing him down when he’s faster will be a hassle. For a stronger result, use Entangle, although that will leave him without Barkskin. (Unless you use the 2024 version of Barkskin, where it doesn’t take concentration.)

2024 Druid Combat Encounter: The Might of Moonbeam (difficulty 4)

This version of the druid is extremely strong (how is this only CR 2?)

Here’s how to optimize it.

Place the druid on a high bluff where he can oversee the battle. Thick bushes will help give him at least half-cover (even this version needs some protection when being used as a boss, as being a boss automatically makes him a priority target.)

As the PCs approach, he reveals himself with a casting of Moonbeam, hopefully catching all of them in its area.

(You can’t always provide descriptions when casting spells, as your players won’t have patience, but this spell is big enough to make it worth doing. I’d try to set the battle at night, just so you can describe the moonlight drawing together into a solid circle that burns them.)

If/when they charge forward at the druid, climbing the bluff will waste their action, and he’ll immediately use Thunderwave to send them back down and into Moonbeam’s circle. After the second try, they’ll most likely give up on that strategy.

(Coincidently, that marks the limit of the druid’s ability to cast Thunderwave. They shouldn’t know that unless the druid starts talking about how he can cast it many more times. I don’t recommend trying such a bluff, as it will end up tipping the players off.)

If the players try to move sideways, it will be a simple matter to move the Moonbeam with them, hitting them again. Their last option is to split up, moving out of the Moonbeam in different directions. If they do that, it will be time to call in animal reinforcements. If you want to be mean, have most of the animals target one PC. They can’t easily reinforce each other with Moonbeam in the middle.