Summary
Choosing your race when buildinga powerful DruidinBaldur’s Gate 3can be a challenging experience. The three available subclasses each function completely differently, amounting to a melee brawler, a summoner, and a caster. This provides exceptional variety but also makes finding an optimal race a harder task.
Additionally, the ability to use Wildshape means you’ll be spending a great deal of time in a different form entirely. As a result, for Druids that want to use Wildshape often, some innate racial abilities won’t come into play as often as usual. Fortunately, this list is here to cut through the confusion and help you decide which of the races is best for one of the game’s most interesting classes, as you intend to play it.
This list does not takethe complex issue of multiclassinginto account, in order to emphasize its usability. As your knowledge of the various classes and their options develops, though, you’re free to experiment beyond these parameters.
Advantage Against Being Poisoned And Resistance To Poison Damage
Dwarven Toughness
Maximum Hit Points Increased By One Each Level
Druids aren’t the class with the lowest hit points in Baldur’s Gate 3, but unlike other low-health classes such as Wizards and Sorcerers, they often end up fighting closer to the front lines. As a result, they will take any defensive tools they can get to help them stay alive. Gold Dwarfs provide exactly that.
The ability all Dwarfs get, Dwarven Resilience, protects you against poisons, while the subrace’s unique ability, Dwarven Toughness, gives you the extra hit points you need to avoid getting killed by dangerous enemy attacks. Dwarfs are renowned throughout the fantasy universe as hardy and resilient warriors, and Dwarf Druids embody that perfectly.
The bonuses the Dwarf offers will be rather less useful if you plan to play as more of a long-distance caster, however.
Gain The Enlarge And Invisibility Spells
Duergar Resilience
Advantage On Saving Throws Against Illusions, Being Charmed, Or Paralyzed
These denizens of the Underdark have a number of tricks up their sleeves, the most important of them being their Duergar magic. Enlarge probably isn’t going to help you much, but being able to turn Invisible will help you keep a low profile, and only Land Druids usually get access to it.
Add Duergar and Dwarven Resilience to that, and you get a race that is both versatile and hard to kill. As such, it shouldn’t really be all that surprising that they make good Druids, since that description often applies to the class as well. It’s a perfect blend of sneakiness and direct aggression, allowing the player to adapt to the dynamic state of the battlefield.
Description
Halfling Luck
Single Reroll Of Ones On Ability Checks, Saving Throws, And Attack Rolls
Strongheart Resilience
In a game that revolves around rolling dice, it pays to be lucky, and Halfling Luck grants you wonderful fortune even if you are the kind of person who always seems to roll snake eyes in real life. Whether you’re in combat or exploring the world, your rolls will always be weighted in your favor.
In addition to that excellent ability, Halflings get a few other features that make them a good choice. Brave and Strongheart Resilience (which, as the name would suggest, is unique to this subrace) give you some protection against fear and poisons, an unusual but useful combination. Misfortune won’t hold a Strongheart Halfling Druid back.
Githyanki Psionics
Gain Limited Access To Mage Hand, Enhanced Leap, And Misty Step
Astral Knowledge
Gain Proficiency In All Skills Associated With A Given Stat Until Long Rest
Druids already have an intimate understanding of the earth and moon, so why not give them access to knowledge from beyond the stars? Astral Knowledge lets you still be useful even in scenarios where Wisdom, your main ability score, isn’t of much help.
Additionally, Githyanki Psionics provides you with several useful spells. Land Druids can getMisty Stepnormally, but the other two subclasses can’t use this excellent positioning tool, andMage Handand Enhance Leap aren’t available to Druids under normal circumstances. This combination of class and race results in quite a varied toolbox, and one that is a lot of fun to experiment with.
Advantage On Intelligence, Wisdom, And Charisma Saving Throws
Superior Darkvision
See Even Further In Darkness
The Gnomes are a solid choice for any class, in large part thanks to the varied types of protection offered by Gnome Cunning. Druids already have proficiency in Wisdom and Intelligence saving throws, but they tend not to be particularly charismatic. Even better, the effect will continue to workwhile Wildshaped.
The differences between the Gnome subraces aren’t especially relevant for a Druid, but getting advantage on Stealth checks could come in handy every once in a while. That’s more than can be said for the bonuses provided by the other two Gnomish subraces; Expertise in History — an Intelligence skill — is nice but not optimal for a Druid, and the class can already speak to animals.
Deal Extra Damage On Melee Weapon Crits
Relentless Endurance
Drop To One HP Instead Of Being Downed Once Per Long Rest
Half-Orcs can make for excellent Druids, though you have to be careful how you build them. The usefulness of Relentless Endurance is fairly obvious since effectively getting an extra life is great for basically any character.
The Half-Orc’s other primary ability, Savage Attacks, won’t be of much use to a Land Druid, but Spore Druids will engage in melee combat with some regularity.The trickier case is that of the Moon Druids, and Wildshape generally; the animalistic forms don’t use weapons, but some of the late-game Myrmidon forms do, making Half-Orcs a great option for endgame Moon Druid builds.
Advantage Against Being Charmed And Immunity To Magical Sleep
Fleet Of Foot
Increased Movement Speed
Wood Elves get a lot of advantages that benefit Druids, the most significant of which is the fact that they move faster than any race (other than Wood Half-Elves). Notably, this bonus applies even if you are Wildshaped, making Wood Elves even better candidates for a Moon Druid.
The other unique effects provided by Wood Elves are helpful as well. Perception and Stealth proficiency are nice to have, even if they don’t apply in every scenario, while Fey Ancestry helps keep you from being taken out of the fight by an enemy spell. These, again, would be evasive rather than damage-tanking Druids, but that’s certainly a solid direction to take.
Baldur’s Gate 3
WHERE TO PLAY
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
