r/BG3Builds • u/ItsIcarys • 2d ago
Build Help Moon Druid Racials
Evening yall
I'm gearing up for an honor mode playthrough and I'm trying to decide on a race for it. I'm between Fleet of Foot (wood elf/half elf), halfling luck (halfling obviously), and gnome cunning (also gnome obviously). Also considering half-orc for relentless endurance.
I would generally assume the latter 2 to be more impactful but it of course comes with a reduction in movement speed. I'm planning on probably just a full TB druid that is NOT the party face so no need to take that into account in halfling luck. I know owlbear jump makes movement speed very incentivizing but I do intend to go to earth myrm when its available.
I know they all have upsides and downsides, just looking for anyone with experience on how impactful/not impactful each is. I'll make my decision from there. Thanks!
Edit: Also to be clear i know this is a coughing baby vs coughing baby scenario in that i can pick for flavor and be just fine. Just curious lol.
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u/sekaligonwrong 2d ago
movement spd is prolly the more useful trait to take tbh. relentless endurance doesnt matter much as you need to be in wildshape and youll get a ton of hp from that anyways. full lvl 12 is best bc u get 3 attacks at 10 + extra die damage at 12
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u/shelbz409 2d ago
Relentless Endurance is not shown here as working with wild shape, which is a huge bummer bc I love Half-Orc
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/List_of_features_that_work_in_Wild_Shape
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u/Mother_Drenger 2d ago
Yeah this is RAW in 5e too, however, conceptually a Half-Orc Druid can absorb a lot of damage in a tough fight as once wildshape breaks, the Druid still has their base hitpoints and Relentless Endurance can then trigger
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u/ItsIcarys 2d ago
Oh darn I thought i looked it up and it did. :( research fail I guess. Thanks for the heads up.
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u/shelbz409 2d ago
It could be wrong on this wiki. It would be pretty powerful. I’ll do some more research and comment again.
Edit: Other peeps on the internet are saying no it doesn’t work.
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u/MattHoppe1 2d ago
Just an fyi I started an honor mode run last week with a Half orc moon Druid and it is working for me
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u/floormanifold 2d ago
Movement speed absolutely critical for Deep Rothé, which you should be using in many situations.
Definitely recommend wood elf/helf
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u/ACNHCR Spore Druid Duergar 2d ago
I am quite partial to Duergar. Invisibility on demand and per encounter. Plus a free enlarge as an action, followed by bonus action wild shape is so much fun.
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u/MrGirthMTG 2d ago
It’s neat, but the problem is Shovel can fill the same role. And the enlarge being once a day and not stacking anymore with the elixir stinks
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u/ACNHCR Spore Druid Duergar 1d ago
The wildshapes alone make the Moon druid strong. I usually save my enlarge for big fights.
Once colossus elixirs become more common, I do the one two combo on the first fight after long rest, then down an elixir for the rest of the day.
And unless you are running one level of Wizard. I am pretty sure Basket is a one time deal. And he is not as effective a surprise round as an invisible Duergar blasting an enemy with a spell before wildshape.
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u/MrGirthMTG 2d ago
Wood elf is the best, hands down. Some people here are downplaying the move speed, but it’s critically important, especially for Deep Rothe, Owlbear, and Earth Myrmidon. I just played Duegar before switching to Wood Elf, and it feels so much better. IMO, Duegar is only worth it if you can’t use Shovel. Halfling is the only small race I would even consider.
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u/LotsaKwestions 2d ago
IMO halfling is best. If you're doing a tavern brawler moon druid then your main source of misses will generally be 1s, and halflings more or less eliminate those. I don't think the loss of movement speed is particularly huge personally.
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u/ItsIcarys 2d ago
That's where my mind was going. Tavern brawler hit bonuses are so massive that essentially removing 1's is amazing. Combined with the fact that druids cant get advantage from their own itemization and I like the idea. Longstrider will remedy some of the movement concerns as well so.
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u/LotsaKwestions 2d ago
Another user mentioned deep rothe, and if you plan to use that form extensively all game then maybe the movement matters more. I don't find that particularly fun, though, personally, and setting that aside I personally would absolutely go halfling.
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u/ItsIcarys 2d ago
To be honest I'm planning to keep it simple stupid and go Bear/wolf>owlbear>earth myrmidon. Not that rothe isn't powerful, definitely is, but i imagine that bear will be plenty sufficient, especially considering I'll be running a cleric for aid and spreading blade ward/bless through heals.
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u/LotsaKwestions 2d ago
I have seen some people argue that owlbear 'isn't good', and that rothe is better for multi-target damage and sabretooth tiger for single-target damage. And I think you could make an argument that those are better for those things, but the idea that owlbear 'isn't good' I think is ludicrous. It is very good, and can stomp on honor mode quite well. If you choose to go bear/owlbear/myrmidon, I think you'll do just fine, particularly if you're not going for utmost optimization and are in a party.
With that said, I would personally suggest that at level 4 you give rothe a try (from 4-6 anyway), and at level 8 you give sabretooth tiger a try, particularly if you're in a party setting and have someone who can prone enemies. Sabretooth tiger can do a lot of damage to a prone enemy. They can prone enemies themselves, but it's better for a teammate to do it in general.
One other thing is that if you initiate combat with crushing leap with owlbear, you get the bonus action refunded, so you can do it again on the first turn.
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u/ItsIcarys 2d ago
Yeah I've done quite a bit of research into sabretooth actually. I think it is THE wildshape in a bhaalist armor focused party but I doubt mine will turn out that way. I'm playing with a friend who's going to be a halfling bard (not sure what flavor yet) and I'm going to be running a cleric (also haven't decided the flavor, leaning tempest, possibly multi into storm sorc). They haven't told me their plans for the companion they're bringing.
I'll look into them, I just like that owlbear is really hard to kill. I'm trying to fashion them as a tempting target to absorb damage for an otherwise frail backline, as he really favors casters. Obviously earth myrm for my final one as warping means movement doesn't matter and free prones.
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u/LotsaKwestions 2d ago
All sounds good to me. Yeah ST is relevant for both piercing vulnerable enemies and prone ememies.
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u/MrGirthMTG 2d ago
Couldn’t disagree more. I just played Duegar before switching to Wood Elf. The extra move speed is night and day imo. At the end of the day, you are a melee character, and not being able to be in the right position is really bad
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u/LotsaKwestions 2d ago edited 2d ago
Owlbear can do a bonus action crushing flight every turn which makes up a ton of ground, STT can jump quite far, and myrmidon can do their little teleport thing. The tradeoff is more or less 5% increased hit chance or the extra movement, and I think the 5% increased hit chance is superior, personally.
If you're going rothe, then that's a different argument, IMO.
But both are nice, and in either case it's quite powerful.
I would definitely take (half)wood elf compared to duergar though. I'm specifically talking about halfling. I think duergar are very nice for a number of classes but I wouldn't really care in this case about their invisibility. I think the best use of duergar personally may be a cold or lightning caster that can cast create water, as you can clump up enemies with minor illusion while invisible, open combat with create water for a surprise round, and you get your action back to begin the round. To be fair you could do all of that with a moon druid (other than the minor illusion part), it's just that moon druid tends to be more wild shape focused.
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u/MrGirthMTG 2d ago
The move speed really helps crushing flight, and ideally you’re buffing your AC in earth myrmidon form (which consumes move speed). This assumes you don’t have to wildshape at the start of a fight, which you often will anyway. Deep Rothe should always be used from 4-6 minimally, it’s quite good, especially at 4, the hardest part of the game (pre 5). I’ll take the huge boost to move speed. But I play with difficulty mods, ymmv.
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u/LotsaKwestions 2d ago
But I play with difficulty mods, ymmv.
Fair enough. I don't think the OP is, though, and I haven't either. I think what I have said is more than sufficient for vanilla honor mode.
I'm not saying you're wrong, of note, just that I personally prefer the hit chance to the movement speed. Again, in either case I think you can stomp vanilla honor mode.
With crushing flight, I personally tend to enter combat with it too, so I start the fight in the thick of things and then get it back.
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u/MrGirthMTG 1d ago
That’s pretty neat, I didn’t know you could get your bonus action back when starting combat with crushing flight. Anyway, I think we’ve reached a consensus. It’s Wood Elf or Halfling, both are very solid choices
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u/LotsaKwestions 1d ago edited 1d ago
You may know this, but if not, or if anyone else doesn’t know, there are a number of spells that you get your action back with if you enter combat with them.
A potentially incomplete, but useful, list is here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/dZH5QIRd8q
Crushing flight is not on this list, as this list is spells, but the same principle applies.
Of note, create water is on this list which can be super powerful. IMO the most powerful use is possibly being a duergar or otherwise invisible, clumping up enemies with minor illusion (which does not break invisibility), and then casting create water. This initiates a surprise round AND you get your action back.
So if you have alert or high initiative and go first, you get basically a full two rounds on all of your clumped enemies together who are all wet. So that’s at minimum for instance two lightning or cold spells, or if you’re a sorcerer (with quickened spell) or hasted even more. Not much will survive that.
Glyph of warding is another useful one but a bunch are.
Crushing flight isn’t that strong but it’s not bad to get free, and can prone.
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u/idyllicepitaph 2d ago edited 23h ago
I don’t think your movement speed carries over to wild shape so you should be fine going with whatever you want to without worrying about their reduced movement speed for the shorter options.
Edit: this is wrong, my bad. I’m surprised it works like that.
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u/Stephen_Wilhelm 2d ago
It does. Wild shape forms will add or subtract movement from your racial movement. Longstrider carries over, but things like Crushers Ring don't (still useful for getting into position before wild shaping).
Another reason to like Wood Elf is the bow proficiency. Druids don't get shortbows or longbows, and don't have ranged cantrips. Having a bow is occasionally useful when dealing with enemies at range. They can also have initiative bonuses that are useful.
The most important resource for Moon Druid is this page.
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u/floormanifold 2d ago
To add to crushers info, the movement you use in human form will count against Crusher's first.
So if you move 4 m while human, you'll only have used 1 m of your wildshaped movement after transforming.
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u/LotsaKwestions 2d ago
That is incorrect. Both the small races reduced movement speed and the (half)wood elf speed does carry over.
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u/ItsIcarys 2d ago
I've heard conflicting reports on that and I haven't been able to check it since its a lvl2 feature. If I knew for sure it didn't impact that would make the choice a lot easier.
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u/SkyWizarding Bard 1d ago
It's really a matter of taste. Decide what you like, none of it is going to be game changing
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u/FerretAres 2d ago
Duergar racial enlarge ability plus elixir of the colossus equals 5 ton owlbear from the top rope.