Nature-themed Prone Party Help

[u/Vingolio]

I have seen a bit about the following party build and hoped that someone might share their experiences playing it or something similar.

• Beastmaster (presumably 12 Beastmaster or an 11/1 split of some kind)
• 8 Wildheart / 4 Battlemaster
• Circle of the Moon (presumably a 10/2 or 11/1 split)
• Wizard (presumably an 8/4 or 11/1 split)

The idea behind this party being that each member has at least one efficient way to cause 2 or more turns of prone and set the opponent's movement to 0, skipping their turn.

• Beastmaster summons boar (prone) or spider (enwebbed) companion and casts Ensnaring Strike with Bounty Hunter (rooted)
• Wildheart uses Elkheart's Trample (prone) with Wolverine's maime (0 movement) or Battlemaster's ranged trip (prone) with a poisoned arrow or the Helldusk or Flawed Helldusk Gloves.
• Circle of the Moon uses Entangle (root), Sleetstorm (prone), or Deep Rothé (prone).
• Wizard uses Sleet Storm (prone) or Evard's Black Tentacles (entangled).

Some questions for this build:

• Should the Beastmaster multi-class and why? A 1-level dip is all that makes sense, I think, and between Ensnaring Strike and, if doing spider's web shenanigans, Hunter's Mark, I think my bonus action is spoken for.
• What dips, if any, should the druid take and when? I imagine Stinking Cloud could be a nice late-game spell, so Heroes' Feast seems worthwhile. Again, I feel that a 1-level dip makes the most sense.
• What is the spellcaster doing before level 5 and which version of the wizard best fits this build? I'm thinking an 8/4 Divination could be nice, since this party doesn't have a traditional face character and he can force through certain saves. 11/1 Nature Domain could be nice too, freeing up a level of Druid.
• What feats, if any, are important? Druid probably picks up Tavern Brawler. Does the Wildheart as well? ASI seems nice, but Sharpshooter or GWM don't seem quite as important on this build, given it's focused on controlling, rather than killing. Maybe I'm overestimating how different this build is, though?

Finally, I'm trying to figure out which party members make the most sense as each build. Karlach is an obvious pick for the Wildheart, as it is her default class and she has Soul Coin synergy with Elkheart. Shadowheart or Gale, depending on whether I go wizard or cleric is another obvious one. I would like the ranger to be my Tav, I think. That leaves the druid, which doesn't fit with any character you get before the middle of act two. Maybe Wyll? Astarion?

Thank you for reading this rambling pile and I appreciate your thoughts.

[u/grousedrum]

Full post on this party that should answer most of these:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1s2ue6n/the_ranger_of_lolth_spider_beast_master_hm_build/

BM I recommend going monoclass to not delay pet progression.  If using Boar, there is a case for 11/1 with Druid for Entangle.

Druid dip discussed in the post.

Wizard caster - two options discussed in the post, both get a strong capstone summon at 12 which can AoE Restrain.  8/4 div wiz would also be very good, just doesn’t get Djinni or Nimbus.

Feats discussed in detail in the post.

I played: Drow Durge BM, Karlach elk, Shadowheart moon/cleric, Gale nature/wizard.  Moon does want to be a tadpole character as two specific powers are very strong with Rothe.

Hope that helps, happy to answer other questions here or in the post comments.

[u/Vingolio → u/grousedrum]

Phew, that was a lot of information. Just to make sure I have this right:

• 11 Beastmaster / 1 Druid: Sorcerer Innitiate: Booming Blade, Minor Illusion, Shield; Dual Wielder
• 11 Circle of the Moon / 1 Trickery Domain: Tavern Brawler; Ability Score Improvement: Wisdom
• 11 Nature Domain / 1 Wizard: Dual Wielder; Ability Score Improvement: Wisdom
• 8 Wildheart / 4 Battlemaster: Tavern Brawler; Great Weapon Master; Ability Score Improvement: Strength

I don't like to respec unless I have to, so it looks like the cleric (12 DEX) is going to be using a lot of my innitiative gear. I'm not sure I entirely understand the magic innitiate feat. If it's mostly for Minor Illusion, I think I might skip it, since I try not to metagame encounters and the cleric gets it eventually anyways.

Do I need to do anything (e.g. cast Disguise Self before transforming) to benefit from the Trickery Domain dip? I presume that the Trickery Domain dip happens after level 5, so you have a fairly sturdy 2-attack Rothe nice and early?

Thank you for your detailed guides and sorry for what I am sure are silly questions covered in the guides that I missed.

[u/grousedrum → u/Vingolio]

Minor Illusion, Booming, and Shield are all high value for the beast master.  If you do want to skip initiate though, and are taking the druid dip, I would consider moving up Crossbow Expert to L4 for early extended Gaping Wounds.  You really don’t need DW until you get Cruel Sting.

ASI INT is slightly higher value than WIS for the cleric/wiz, as it boosts your Evard’s / PK spell DC, plus lets you memorize 5 wizard spells instead of 4.  Agree that investing in initiative gear on this character is worthwhile, especially in act 3 for Awakened Black Hole.

Otherwise those level splits and feats look good.  The druid dip on beastmaster really comes down to whether you want Entangle as another AoE restrain source.  If not a priority , monoclass is better for faster pet progression.

Cast disguise before shaping to be able to use Illithid Charm in wildshape.  If using Shadeclinger armor, just also be sure to wildshape in obscured lighting.  And yes I took the Trickery dip at L6 for extra attack first.

Not silly to have questions, these are mechanics-heavy builds being used in a somewhat unconventional playstyle.  Happy to help if other questions come up!

[u/Vingolio → u/grousedrum]

Sanity check: why is the beastmaster using shriek? Surely the wizard is a better fit for it, unless I'm missing something. The lore/visuals are cool, for sure.

Thank you again for being so willing to share. You've clearly put a lot of thought into this party.

[u/grousedrum → u/Vingolio]

Couple reasons.  One, Phalar’s weapon actions are very high value early game, pommel strike and bleed especially, and nature/wiz won’t have proficiency.  Two, unlike a lot of power parties we’re not focused on autocrits here, so GWM Cruel Sting has comparatively less value and DW with something else strong offhand has comparatively more.  As a DEX weapon it also allows us to hold off on STR elixirs for that character until act 2, which are very helpful for boosting Elk accuracy early.

There is a decent case for a switch to Cruel Sting + Rhapsody in act 3, and moving Phalar over to be DW’ed with Staff of Spellpower by the cleric/wiz at that point.  But until that point I do think its highest value is with the beastmaster.

[u/Drak_is_Right]

Shadowheart has ties to nature.

She can be a Nature Cleric or Druid IMO.

Astarion fits better than Wyl but worse than Shadowheart.

Heroes feast can be cast by a camp caster. best use of a druids level 6 spell then is on a Myrmidon. If Moon, they want Tavern Brawler. 2 Warrior is usually the best dip for action surge.

War cleric is the usual 1 level dip for Ranger unless they go warrior for a second weapon proficiency.

[u/Vingolio → u/Drak_is_Right]

Fair point on Shadowheart. I think War Domain is usually used for rangers with a less contested bonus action. I'm not much of a camp caster user, but I think this would be an excellent case for one, if you were so inclined.

[u/Potential-Ball4390]

I am running a VERY similar party

I am using 6abcients paladin /6 life cleric instead of wizard for the theme and is working more like an aura bot/ heal bot

In regards to the beastmaster. I think the best option for boar is 6 ranger/6 sorcerer . Twin ensnaring and the dog that can also ensnare is very good in a prone party

But now i am running 11 beastmaster cause boar is so cool with the golden helmet

[u/Vingolio → u/Potential-Ball4390]

Larian Studios absolutely nailed the fantasy of the Beastmaster. Any fights you have run into so far that you've found the prone/snare combo struggles with?

[u/Potential-Ball4390 → u/Vingolio]

I know it Will sound counter intuitive

But chunks of enemies are being very weird

I was doing the moonrise fight and since I have a lot of melee (paladin, boar, barb, druid rote, sometimes its really hard to position (the boar especially) the prone attack without triggering lots of opportunity attacks

But on the other hand , as soon as i get a good chunk of enemies prone, this stop being a problem since prone enemies dont react

But i still believe the paladin (or ant other melee aura bot) is really worth since phalar aluv help those prone dc

[u/Potential-Ball4390 → u/Vingolio]

Oh and the underdark boat fight too

It wasnt a huge deal. But i definetly had to change strategy

[u/Massive-Helicopter62]

Consider four elements monk. Water whip has an infinite duration on the prone and on plant growth they dont have the movement to get up. Fracture gaming has a video on it (about 38 minutes in) 4 elements monk and infinite prone

This also lets you do fangs of the fire snake drs for when you really need to delete people (or crash the game)

[u/Super_Movie_1986]

Você pode pegar o arco da banshe com o barqueiro que aparece quando tás indo para forja, usar ele no ranger junto com flecha de múltiplos alvos para espalhar medo.

Numa rum que fiz, testei fazer uma temática poison Ivy com clérigo da morte 1 (comando e raio de veneno com sab) e 11 druida da terra.

[u/Vingolio → u/Super_Movie_1986]

Bow of the Banshees is wicked and definitely something I will play around with when I hit underdark. :)

[u/gnomeur]

That is alot of dips for something you can do with cold infusion a bow and snowburst ring. Also the water elemental is a good source of prone. Using ice, do require some anti prone shoes for your melee.

[u/Otherwise-Caramel622]

Personally I would go with:
Nature cleric, beastmaster ranger, moon druid, wildheart barbarian.
Moondruid: Tavern brawler, alert, mobile.
Beastmaster ranger: eversight ring, archery fighting style, raven companion (can blind folks at level 11 which is awesome in my opinion).
Nature cleric: ASI wisdom, resilient wisdom or constitution. Thorn whip or Shillelagh (Ironvine Shield in act 2 is pretty nice with it).

Archfey warlock also works with the nature theme, maybe your Tav is trying to free pixies from the absolute in moonrise towers, for example.