User:Asofrankcsueb/Druid (Dungeons & Dragons)

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The druid is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Druids wield nature-themed magic, such as communication with plants or animals or elemental magic. Unlike clerics, druids do not have special powers against undead and, in some editions, cannot use metal armor. Druids have abilities which aid them in natural settings, including an ability which allows them to change into various animal forms. (Add citation)

Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition
The druid is included as a character class in the 5th edition Player's Handbook. Included in the Player's Handbook are two Druid subclasses, known as Circles, that players choose for their druid at second level. The first is the Circle of the Land, which grants a druid a number of additional spells according to which type of land where they became a druid. The second is the Circle of the Moon, which augments the druid's Wild Shape ability. Several sourcebooks since the launch of 5th edition have expanded the number of Druid Circle options. Xanathar's Guide to Everything (2017) added the Circle of Dreams and the Circle of the Shepherd. Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica (2018) added the Circle of Spores, which was then reprinted in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (2020) along with two new options: Circle of Stars and Circle of Wildfire. All subclasses offer additional features for the druid. In addition to those features, some druid circles offer an expanded spell list, which may include spells not typically available to druids, and augmented or alternate uses for Wild Shape.

Spellcasting
Like the Cleric, Druids are ritual casters and have access to the entire spell list available to their class and prepare spells to use each day, unlike arcane spellcasters such as the Wizard or the Sorceror classes who have a limited number of spells known.

Reception
In the book The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games (2014), Tresca compared the class to the Celtic druids the class was inspired by: "Druids could be classified as neutral alignment, in that druids were on both sides of morality. Celtic stories are filled with accounts of druids on both sides, undoing each other's spells, and batting in fantastic magical combats that would make any role-player envious. But the alignment of druids as being true neutral was simply not accurate; druids were just as passionate about one ethos as anybody else".

Screen Rant rated the druid class as the 10th most powerful class of the base 12 character classes in the 5th edition.

Gus Wezerek, for FiveThirtyEight, reported that of the 5th edition "class and race combinations per 100,000 characters that players created on D&D Beyond from" August 15 to September 15, 2017, druids were the least created at 6,328 total. Elf (1,779) was the most common racial combination followed by human (996) and then genasi (584).