Introduction
The Circle of Dreams Druid’s features focus on party support and a very flexible pool of healing. This gives us the option to either double down on healing magic or be a more flexible offensive caster with readily available healing, almost like Druidic Lay on Hands. The name of the game for the Circle of Dreams is long term sustain during adventures. If your party can benefit from squeezing in another short rest now and then, this is a solid and reliable way to do it.
The Dreams Druid’s features do push towards a Healer role in the party, but each Dreamer gets to tailor their spell list to adjust just how much additional healing they want to bring beyond the Balm of the Summer Court. One could go all in, leveraging the rest of their spellcasting to bring far more healing. Or one could use their spells for more damage and control while simply tossing out Balms for spot healing unconscious allies.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Circle of Dreams Features
- Circle of Dreams Ability Scores
- Circle of Dreams Races
- Circle of Dreams Feats
- Circle of Dreams Weapons
- Circle of Dreams Armor
- Circle of Dreams Multiclassing
- Example Circle of Dreams Druid Build – Lucidity
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Circle of Dreams Features
- : A pool of healing which you can use as a bonus action. It’s largely redundant with Healing Word, but it does have a few notable advantages. The pool of dice will quickly outpace your number of low-level spell slots, allowing you to quickly and inexpensively rescue dying allies. The ability to use more than one die is helpful if you want your ally past single-digit hit points, and the temporary hit points can help keep them conscious, though with so few temporary hit points you shouldn’t expect a miracle. Finally, since Balm of the Summer Court isn’t a spell, you can use it in the same turn as casting a leveled spell.
- : Situational, and there are tons of other options available that cost resources to solve the same issues better, though this feature automatically happens during every Short and Long Rest with no limitations. For example, Rope Trick will allow the party to climb into an extradimensional space with an invisible entrance for the price of a 2nd-level spell slot and only for the length of a single Short Rest. Still, if you don’t have a wizard in the party this is nice to have while camping in dangerous places like dungeons.
- : Excellent range, it works as a Bonus Action, and you get a decent number of uses per day. It’s especially nice because Misty Step isn’t available to druids and this can target a willing ally. This is a great way to get out of dangerous areas, to escape grapples, or to rescue allies from the same.
- : Dream and Teleportation Circle aren’t on the Druid spell list, but Scry is. The unique version of Teleportation Circle is a nice way to get yourself and your party back to a known safe point. Generally you can do that by other means like walking or turning into a bird and flying long distances, but don’t underestimate the utility of what is essentially a Town Portal. This feature could be invaluable for situations where you need to retrieve something or someone and half of the challenge is escaping after securing the target: Turn into a mouse, chill in the target’s cell for an hour, activate escape portal, mission over. If your party includes a character who can cast Teleport, this is an inexpensive way to get home after teleporting.
Circle of Dreams Ability Scores
Nothing in the Circle of Dreams features differs enough for us to deviate from the Druid Handbook’s ability spread.
: We don’t need it; we can turn into animals with Strength.
: Pump up that AC.
: Get more HP and don’t die.
: Someone else can do Knowledge skills.
: Spell DCs and an important saving throw.
: Someone else can talk to people.
| Point Buy | Standard Array | |
|---|---|---|
| Str | 8 | 8 |
| Dex | 15 | 14 |
| Con | 15 | 13 |
| Int | 8 | 12 |
| Wis | 15 | 15 |
| Cha | 8 | 10 |
Circle of Dreams Races
Because the Circle of Dreams doesn’t change too much of what a Druid already does, the ratings spelled out in the Druid Race Breakdown are still accurate.
Circle of Dreams Feats
For the most part, we can rely on the Druid Handbook.
- : Since we can be extra safe during Short Rests, we can stretch out the day’s Hit Dice healing by cooking up food.
- : If we have the Charisma for it, we can take advantage of our nice safe Short Rests to do it more often. It’s unusual to have enough Charisma for the prerequisite but I suppose if you rolled for your stats it could happen. At high levels, the temporary hp is meaningful even without good Charisma.
Circle of Dreams Weapons
Just use Cantrips. Or turn into a bear or something.
Circle of Dreams Armor
Get the best medium armor and a shield you can wear. Read up on our thoughts about Druids and Metal armor here.
Circle of Dreams Multiclassing
- : If you just want even more healing on top of healing on top of healing, then you can put heals in your heals so you can heal when you heal.
Example Circle of Dreams Druid Build – Lucidity
Our build for the Circle of Dreams does what little it can to emphasize the subclass features. There really isn’t much in the way of specifically optimizing for these features that isn’t the same thing that every Druid should be doing. That’s not really a good or bad thing, it just means the features work as they are and don’t need anything extra to function better.
Abilities
We’re going with a typical spread for Druids, putting 15s in Constitution and Wisdom with a 14 in Dexterity. Medium armor caps out at 14 Dex so we don’t need more than that. The other 2 points can go wherever you want a 10 instead of an 8. We take a +1/+2 ability bump from our race to hit 16 Con and 17 Wis.
| Base | Increased | Level 20 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Str | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Dex | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Con | 15 | 16 | 20 |
| Int | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Wis | 15 | 17 | 20 |
| Cha | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Race
For our race we’re picking Githzerai because Limbo is kinda dreamlike. But also because it gives us the Shield spell.
Background
We’re taking Far Traveler for the Insight and Perception. And because it makes sense we’ve traveled far from Limbo.
Skills and Tools
From Druid we’re taking Nature and Survival. From Far Traveler we gain Insight and Perception.
Feats
At 4th level we take Chef and put the +1 into Wisdom.
At 8th level we take an ASI for +2 Wisdom.
At 12th level we take Resilient in order to boost our Constitution saves.
At 16th level we take Skill Expert in order to round out our odd Constitution score.
At 19th level we take another ASI for +2 Constitution.
Level
| Levels | Feats and Features | Notes and Tactics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spellcasting Cantrips: – Produce Flame – Thorn Whip 1st-level: – Absorb Elements – Healing Word – Faerie Fire – Thunderwave | Stick to the backline and fight with Produce Flame while using spells to support your party. |
| 2 | Wild Shape Circle of Dreams Balm of the Summer Court | Wild Shape is nice to have and good utility. Balm of the Summer Court should be treated as being able to cast Healing Word a number of times per day equal to your druid level. Use it in the same situations: an ally is unconscious in combat and you need to make them conscious so they can take a real turn. |
| 3 | 2nd-level Spells: – Enhance Ability – Pass Without Trace – Spike Growth | Enhance Ability is useful for performing skill checks during exploration. Pass Without Trace is basically cheating at Stealth checks. Spike Growth is a great area control option. |
| 4 | Feat: Chef (Wisdom 16 -> 18) Wild Shape Improvement | The temp HP snacks are nice to help us boost our support role, but we’re really here to add a little more healing to every short rest. In a few levels, it becomes very easy for us to sit down and rest even in somewhat dangerous locations. |
| 5 | 3rd-level Spells: – Aura of Vitality – Dispel Magic – Revivify | With Aura of Vitality and Balm, all we have to do is ensure everyone is alive at the end of a fight to get everyone healed back up. Revivify is our insurance to make sure we can do that. |
| 6 | Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow | This feature gives the whole party a bonus to stealth while resting, making it easier to get a rest in when it might otherwise be tough to do so. It doesn’t make you invisible, however, so still be careful. |
| 7 | 4th-level Spells: – Polymorph – Wall of Fire | Because of the way Polymorph works, turning someone into a T-rex or a Giant Ape is like a Heal spell. Wall of Fire is just good damage and control all in one. |
| 8 | ASI: Wisdom 18 -> 20 Wild Shape Improvement | More Wisdom for more save DCs. |
| 9 | 5th-level Spells: – Greater Restoration – Reincarnate | Greater Restoration is another useful spell if you’re serving as the team’s medical specialist. Reincarnate is like raise dead except you get to gamble on what race you come out as on the other end. You don’t need it every day, but it’s cool that it’s an option now. |
| 10 | Hidden Paths | Five bonus action teleports every day is good. The fact that you can teleport a willing ally with this is great. Among other uses, it’s a great way to get allies out of grapples. |
| 11 | 6th-level Spells: – Heal – Investiture of Wind | Heal. For healing. Investiture of Flying Around and Not Getting Hit. Good defenses for the healer. |
| 12 | Feat: Resilient (Constitution 16 -> 17) | We want to shore up our Concentration saves so we’re taking Resilient to gain Proficiency. |
| 13 | 7th-level Spells: – Plane Shift – Regenerate | Plane Shift is an important travel tool for high level adventurers. Don’t prepare Regenerate every day, just keep it in mind for those times when you need to put someone’s leg back on the next day. |
| 14 | Walker in Dreams | Once per day get a free cast of some spells after a short rest. They all have some utility, but the special version of teleportation circle is really nice. With this, after resting for an hour we can open a portal back to wherever we last made a long rest. This will usually be a minor convenience at best, but every so often we’ll have to retrieve something and the biggest hurdle is leaving with the thing. |
| 15 | 8th-level Spells: – Feeblemind – Incendiary Cloud | Feeblemind turns off enemy casters which are probably not uncommon at these levels. Incendiary Cloud just kinda incinerates everyone, provided that you can keep the AOE on top of them. It’s a rolling fireball with duration. |
| 16 | Feat: Skill Expert – Constitution 17 -> 18 – Skill: Stealth – Expertise: Perception | We have an odd Constitution score so we take Skill Expert to round it off. We become proficient in Stealth and gain Expertise in Perception. |
| 17 | 9th-level Spells: – Foresight | Slap this spell on every morning to have permanent Dodge. Also advantage on everything. |
| 18 | Beast Spells Timeless Body | Cast spells in Wild Shape. Neat. |
| 19 | ASI: Constitution 18 -> 20) | Stronger HP. Better Constitution Saves. |
| 20 | Archdruid | Infinity Wild Shapes for Infinity Hit Points. |
