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Do you have dreams of being among the stars? Well, you won’t get that far inBaldur’s Gate 3, but you can get close by playing as the Circle of the Stars Druid.
ThisDruid subclassgrants you a new form of Wild Shape that lets you encircle yourself in different constellations, granting you different abilities depending on which constellation is used.
Whether you shoot arrows, heal your allies, or cast out a breath weapon made of stars depends on what star path you choose.
Let’s break down the different forms and thebest way to build the Circle of Stars Druid in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Best Circle of Stars Druid Character Creation Settings
If you want to play as a Druid, you will be taking on two roles: the healer and the damage dealer. The Druids in Baldur’s Gate 3 make amazing healers, thanks to spells such as Cure Wounds and Healing Word, while Wild Shape enhances their attacks, making them a menace on the battlefield.
The Circle of Stars Druid in Baldur’s Gate 3 can play both of these roles well, using their special form of Wild Shape to deliver additional healing or heavily damage their foes.
Best Circle of Stars Druid Race Selection
Multiple races make good Druids in Baldur’s Gate 3. When creating a new character, I recommend the following:
Elves get advantage against being put to sleep and charmed. Wood Elves also get increased movement speed, allowing them to traverse the battlefield with ease. You also get Darkvision.
Drow get the same advantage against being charmed and put to sleep, but they also get Superior Darkvision and more weapon training that aligns with a class that uses finesse weapons.
Forest Gnome
Gnomes get advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. On top of this, Forest Gnomes get Darkvision and always have the Speak With Animals spell prepared.
I recommendplaying as a Forest Gnomeas they get advantage on many saving throws, and they also always have the Speak With Animals spell prepared, allowing you to free up a spell slot for a different spell.
As a secondary choice,Wood Elvesare great because of their extra movement speed.Drowwould be my final choice if you are planning on using more Dex-based weapons and need the extra Darkvision distance.
Best Circle of Stars Druid Starting Spells
Druids have access to a myriad of spells that make them competent warriors on the battlefield. When starting your journey, you will be able to choose two starting cantrips and four starting spells. I recommend the following spells:
Description
Thorn Whip
Hit a creature with a whip made of thorns and possibly pull them toward you.
Shillelagh
Enhance your staff or club, making it magical and increasing your attack.
Cure Wounds
1st-level spell
Heal an ally within reach.
Healing Word
Heal an ally at a distance using a bonus action.
Thunderwave
Unleash a wave of force that damages all creatures in its wake.
Create a surface made of vines, acting as difficult terrain, and possibly entangling creatures within it.
Thorn Whip and Shillelagh are both great cantrips to have at the start of the game, allowing you to attack from a distance, pulling enemies closer to you, and then using your melee weapon to finish them off. There is no need to take theGuidancecantrip, as this will be given to you at level 2.
As for your starting spells,Cure Wounds and Healing Wordare both quintessential healing spells that any healer will want. Even if you have a healer in your party, taking at least one of these spells will help in the long run.
Thunderwavehelps when dealing with a crowd of enemies, allowing you to push them back, giving you breathing room.Entangleis another great spell that allows you to hold enemies in place to attack them from afar - something the Circle of Stars Druid is very good at doing thanks to their unique form of Wild Shape.
Best Circle of Stars Background and Skill Choices
Druids are known for being Wisdom casters, meaning you will have a higher Wisdom score.Skills that require Wisdom are good for the Druid. Because of this,the Folk Herobackground is a good choice, as it grants you the Animal Handling and Survival skills.
Another good choice for your background is theSage,as this will grant you the Arcana and History skills. While these aren’t Wisdom skills, you will be using a bit of Intelligence, and these will come in handy throughout the campaign.
When it comes to skill choices,Animal Handlingis great to have, especially since you will have the Speak With Animals spell.Natureis another good skill for the Druid to have, as it will help with identifying plants and animals.
If you have the Animal Handling skill from choosing the Folk Hero background, taking theMedicine skillis also a good choice.
Best Circle of Stars Druid Ability Score Choices
The two main scores you will want to focus on as a Druid areWisdom and Constitution,as these will directly affect your spellcasting ability and your health. The next main focus will be your Dexterity and Intelligence.
Constitution
Intelligence
Strength doesn’t matter much for Druids since they primarily use Dexterity weapons.This is why it is set to 8. Next up isDexterity, which gets a 14.You will have access to light and medium armor, so your Dexterity bonus will matter for your armor class.
Constitution is also 14because you will want additional health.Intelligence is then set to 12. This will be used for skills.Wisdom is, of course, 17,because you need it for your spellcasting modifier. Finally,Charisma is also 10,so you don’t fumble your words as often.
you may swap yourCharisma and Strength scoresif you feel you will require Strength more often. Since I am often the talker, I prefer not to have a negative in Charisma.
Circle of Stars Druid Abilities and Feat Choices
As a Circle of Stars Druid, you will get access to your Starry Form Wild Shape, which allows you to perform unique actions such as additional healing, using a breath weapon, and shooting magic arrows.
Starry Form
You can transform into three Starry Forms, each with a different ability.
Starry Form: Archer -Allows you to use the Luminous Arrow ability as a bonus action.
Starry Form: Chalice -Allows you to cast Chalice Healing any time you use a healing spell.
Starry Form: Dragon -Gives you access to the Dazzling Breath ability as a bonus action. Also increases your ability to maintain concentration on spells.
Cosmic Omen
you may consult the stars whenever you take a long rest. During this time, you can decide to increase or decrease attack rolls and saving throws via the Weal or Woe options.
Twinkling Constellations
Enhances your Starry Forms with the following abilities:
Starry Form: Archer -Attack damage increases.
Starry Form: Chalice -Increase healing.
Starry Form: Dragon -Gains a flying speed of 6m.
You also gain the ability to switch between forms once per turn as a free action.
Subclass Spells
Guiding Bolt, Star Map: Guiding Bolt, Guidance
As you level up, you will gain additionalStar Maps,required to take on your Starry Forms. You will also gain additionalCosmic Omensto increase and decrease attack rolls and saving throws.
Your Starry Forms consume a Wild Shape charge each time you transform, limiting the number of times you can transform. I recommendtransforming into the Archer form before combat.This will allow you to have a strong ranged attack that you can use as a bonus action, and will prevent you from wasting time transforming during battle.
While you level up, you will alsoget various Feats.I recommend the following Feats:
War Caster
Gain advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration.
Ability Score Improvement
Increase your Dexterity score by 1 and your Wisdom Score by 1 to make them 16 and 18, increasing your bonuses.
Spell Sniper
Gain a cantrip. It also reduces the number you need to roll to critically hit with spells by 1.
Gives you luck points that you can use to reroll attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws.
Druids are pretty squishy targets, meaning they will get hit often. Taking theWar Caster Featwill help you maintain concentration when you get hit.
Later on, taking the Spell Sniper Feat will allow you to more easily score critical hits with spells. It will also grant you another cantrip if you run out of spell slots.
Finally, taking theAbility Score Improvementis great for increasing your Wisdom score and therefore increase your spell save, but you’re able to also take theLucky featto help with your rolls if you need.
Circle of Stars Druid Spell Choices
Druids are prepared spellcasters, meaning they canfreely change their spellsat any time outside of combat. Your spells must be prepared before combat.
As you level up, I recommend taking the following spells to enhance your Druid’s capabilities.
Subclass Cantrip
Applies a bonus to ability checks.
Resistance
Give a target greater resistance to spell effects.
Throw an ice knife at a target, dealing piercing damage and ice damage in the area. It also creates frozen ground.
2nd-level spell
Create a beam of light that damages any creature that enters it. you’re able to use your action to move the beam as long as you maintain concentration.
Spike Growth
Create an area of spiky ground that counts as difficult terrain and damages any creature that walks through it.
Call Lightning
3rd-level spell
Call down lightning on an area. Allows you to continuously call lightning down for 10 more turns as long as you maintain concentration.
Plant Growth
Create an area of difficult terrain using plant life.
Conjure Woodland Being
4th-level spell
Summon a Dryad to fight alongside you.
Conjure Minor Elemental
Summon a minor elemental to fight alongside you.
Freedom of Movement
Snap a creature out of stun. Allow the target to avoid the effects of difficult terrain and prevent them from being paralyzed or restrained.
Conjure Elemental
5th-level spell
Summon an elemental to fight alongside you.
Mass Cure Wounds
Heal multiple allies around you.
6th-level spell
Fire a beam of sunlight that damages and blinds creatures in a line.
The Druid class gets access to some amazing spells that can help on the battlefield.
For instance,Conjure Elemental, Conjure Minor Elemental, and Conjure Woodland Beingshould all be used before combat, as these will allow you to summon forth three additional allies to help.
On top of this, the Dryad you summon can summon her own Wood Woad.
Summoning all of these creatures will allow you to bring a small army into combat with you, allowing you to avoid taking the front line and sticking to more of a healer/ranged attack role.
Spells likeMoonbeam, Call Lightning, and Sunbeamare great for damaging enemies in an area, with Moonbeam and Call Lightning being especially useful for their ability to be moved without expending a spell slot.
Along with this, spells likeEntangle, Plant Growth, and Spike Growthare great for controlling the battlefield, allowing you to slow down enemies and keep them in place.
Best Equipment for Circle of Stars Druid
As a Druid, you will get access tosome strong equipment.Unfortunately, some of the items are better for different Druid subclasses.
Markoheshkir
+1 bonus to spell save and spell attack rolls. Grants the Arcane Battery ability. Grants the Kereska’s Favor spell.
+1 bonus to spell save and spell attack rolls. When a creature affected by your spells fails a saving throw, you regain health. Grants the Blight spell.
Staff of Spell Power
+1 bonus to spell save and spell attack rolls. Grants the Arcane Battery ability.
Armor of Moonbasking
Gain 22 temporary health whenever you Wild Shape. +2 bonus to armor class that persists in your Wild Shape form.
Armor of Landfall
When you start your turn on a plant or vine surface, you regain health. +1 bonus to spell save. Grants the Plant Growth spell.
Robe of the Weave
+1 bonus to spell save and spell attack rolls. When you succeed on a saving throw against a spell, you regain health. +2 bonus to your armor class.
Hood of the Weave
+2 bonus to spell save and spell attack rolls.
Shapeshifter Hat
Gain 1 additional Wild Shape charge.
Cloak of Protection
+1 to armor class. +1 to saving throws.
Cloak of the Weave
+1 to spell save and spell attack rolls. Grants the Absorb Elements ability.
Cloak of Displacement
Applies disadvantage on enemy attack rolls each turn until they hit you.
Gemini Gloves
Allows you to target an additional creature with cantrips.
Daredevil Gloves
You can cast your ranged spell attacks as melee spell attacks. +1 bonus to spell attack rolls.
Boots of Persistence
Grants Freedom of Movement and Longstrider.
Disintegrating Night Walkers
Can’t be enwebbed, entangled, or ensnared. Grants the Misty Step spell.
Spell Savant Amulet
Grants an additional level 2 spell slot.
Amulet of Restoration
Grants the Healing Word and Mass Healing Word spells.
Spellcrux Amulet
Grants the Spell Slot Restoration ability.
Orphic Ring
Grants the Confusion spell.
Ring of Regeration
Heals you each turn.
Ring of Protection
When it comes to your weapon, you will want to stick with a quarterstaff. There are three in mind that are very helpful:Markoheshkir, Woe, and the Staff of Spell Power.I recommend gettingMarkoheshkir, as it is the only legendary staff in the game, and it grants the biggest bonuses.
The Staff of Spell Poweris basically the same as the legendary staff, but with slightly fewer bonuses. You can also useWoe, as this staff allows you to regain health each time a creature fails a saving throw against one of your spells, leading to greater survivability.
Sadly, the Circle of Stars Druid doesn’t get a specific chest armor like the other Druid subclasses. However,the Armor of Moonbaskingis decent for its bonus to armor class and the temporary health when you Wild Shape.
I prefer to use theRobe of the Weave,as this will also give you a bonus to your armor class and further increase your spell saves and spell attack rolls. TheArmor of Landfallis also a solid choice since you can summon Plant Growth to help keep yourself protected and healed while in battle.
The preferred headpiece is theHood of the Weave,as this will increase your spell save and spell attack rolls even more. You can also use theShapeshifter Hat,as this will give you an additional Wild Shape charge, which is useful for any Druid.
The Cloak of Protectionis great for those who want a higher armor class. Since you will mostly be staying away from enemies and casting spells, I prefer to use theCloak of the Weave.This will further increase your spell save and spell attack rolls, making it almost impossible for you to miss your spell attacks.The Cloak of Displacementis also great for helping you avoid attack should enemies get too close.
The Daredevil Glovesare useful for the increase to spell attack rolls, and they also allow you to cast spells at melee range without the typical penalty. you may also use theGemini Glovesto attack additional creatures with cantrips.
The Boots of Persistence or the Disintegrating Night Walkersare great for not getting slowed down by difficult terrain. These will allow you to cast your spells like Planty Growth and be able to move through them with ease while enemies are slowed.
When choosing a necklace, I recommend theSpellcrux Amulet, as it will allow you to restore a lost spell slot, giving you access to more spells in combat.The Spell SavantAmuletis also good because it gives you another level 2 spell slot. Additionally,you can use the Amulet of Restorationfor more healing spells.
I recommend the Orphic Ringto gain the Confusion spell. I also recommend using theRing of Regenerationto get additional health each turn, increasing your survivability.
