By now, you’ve probably heard that you can romance—and sleep with—your companions in Baldur’s Gate 3, and you’ve likely heard a Druid among them can transform into a bear during the act. If that has you interested in whether or not you can do so as your own shapeshifter, as of right now there is no word; however, if you’re keen on playing the class regardless, it’s one of the more flexible options you can choose—and not just in the bedroom. Read on to find out which races and ability scores are the best to maximize the flexibility of Druids in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Druids primarily rely on the Wisdom ability, and not only can they heal, attack with melee and ranged weapons, and cast spells, they can also shapeshift into animal forms using Wild Shape. Each of these forms have different properties. The bear, for instance, has a massive health pool and can draw the attention of enemies, whereas the Dire Raven can blind foes. As a result, the Druid is an incredibly difficult class to devise an optimal build. Nevertheless, let’s start by looking at the best races for the Druid class:
Best Races for Druids in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3)
As Baldur’s Gate 3 does away with race ability bonuses, you can freely make a Druid of any race. That said, two races stand out: an Elf, with the Wood Elf subrace, or a Wood Half-Elf.
The reason the Wood Elf and Wood Half-Elf work as Druids is pretty straightforward: they naturally gain a 1.5 meter bonus to movement speed, which is valuable no matter your class. Truthfully, Druids are more straightforward than the other classes in this regard: they do not outwardly benefit from one race’s features over the other, mostly because they’ll spend a lot of time in Wild Shape or using the Shillelagh Cantrip to turn their staff or club into a Wisdom-based weapon, thus negating the proficiencies gained from other races. Go with whatever fits your ideal character best.
All Druid Subclasses in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3)
Druids have three subclasses to choose from at level 2 that all focus on different things:
- The Circle of the Moon: This subclass primarily focuses on the Wild Shape ability, turning it into a bonus action during combat rather than a regular action, meaning you can sling a spell before turning into a fearsome wolf. It also gains the powerful Lunar Mend spell, allowing you to heal while shapeshifted.
- The Circle of the Land: This subclass leans into spellcasting. While it can still shapeshift, it has more access to nature-based spells to keep your party alive and slow down goblins and ghouls alike. It also has Natural Recovery, which restores spell slots.
- The Circle of the Spore: Taking a hard turn to the darker side of the class, Circle of the Spore channels undead energies; it also allows you to use spores that surround you to deal necrotic damage, and while you can still use Wild Shape, you can also use it to power up your spores instead.
Best Ability Scores for Druids in BG3
Ability scores give a modifier bonus to your dice rolls, and you have a total of 27 to allocate into six skills. Furthermore, you have the option to grant a +2 and a +1 bonus to two different abilities. For a Druid, the following spread is recommended for any build that wants to focus on shapeshifting and spell slinging:
Wood Half-Elf
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 13
Constitution: 14 (+1 bonus)
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 17 (+2 bonus)
Charisma: 12
The key here is to get Wisdom as high as possible. With the Shillelagh Cantrip, you don’t need Strength if you stick to using clubs and quarterstaffs over other types of weapons. This will also benefit much of your spellcasting, as your chance to hit usually depends on your Wisdom modifier; at level 4, when you can choose Ability Score Improvement, raising your Dexterity and Wisdom by 1 will increase the modifier of each to a higher tier. All told, with this ability score spread you will be able to get the most out of almost any Druid.
On the contrary, a Druid that wants to smash things a bit more might look like this:
Githyanki
Strength: 16 (+1 bonus)
Dexterity: 13
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 17 (+2 bonus)
Charisma: 8
This Druid build would greatly benefit from multiclassing into a melee-focused class such as the Barbarian or Fighter. However, if you stick with Druid, the class has more than enough proficiencies with the Githyanki race to make use of all manner of powerful weapons—when you’re not turning into a grotesque spider, that is. Remember: you can only use Wild Shape a limited number of times per rest, so if you run out of spells to cast and bears to turn into, falling back on a big ol’ greatsword isn’t a terrible idea.
As for backgrounds, go for whichever makes the most sense for the character you wish to play rather than the skills you’ll receive. Thematically, the Outlander background makes a lot of sense for a Druid, ensuring you’ll be able to handle whatever Faerun throws at you as you explore with Athletics and Survival proficiencies. However, making a Druid a Noble or a Folk Hero can be just as if not more fun, depending on how you want to role-play. Remember, backgrounds also help you gain Inspiration Points, which are used to reroll ability checks, by giving you specific conditions to fulfill, such as respecting nature as an Outlander or discovering a religious text as an Acolyte. You can find out more about backgrounds and Inspiration Points in this guide.
With all that said, you’re ready to shapeshift to your heart’s content as you explore The Sword Coast and beyond. Don’t forget you can respec your character build at any time, so use these races and ability scores as a guide rather than a hard rule to playing as Druids; experimentation and playing the way you want to is by far the best way to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3. We also have guides to the other races in the game and plenty other tips as well, so take a look through our archives for more information on the game.
