Circle of the Shepherd Druid Guide to Fuzzy Fury

[HiveStriker]

About Warcaster / Resilient: sorry, but if there is only one to pick, Resilient is DEFINITELY THE BEST by FAR.

First: "auto-save": Warcaster gives advantage, so give better odds of succeeding, but does nothing for your minimum to roll.
With concentration save being minimum 10, and being otherwise "half damage rounded up", for most of your life until at least level 14/15, except when you get crit or suffer a spell, you will rarely have more than 12 or 13 DC to top.
Now compare two Druids of level 7.
First picked Warcaster, topped off WIS and went with 14 DEX and CON.
For a DC 10, bonus to roll is 2. Minimum to roll is 8. Chance with Warcaster: 87%. Nice indeed.

Second picked Resilient, which he made a starting 15: he now has 16.
For a DC 10, bonus to roll is 3+3 = 6. Minimum to roll is 4. Chance without Warcaster: 85%.
See how it makes no practical difference?

It gets worse at higher level. Let's say you don't care about maxing WIS (which is fair), so in both cases you bumped CON by 2.
Lets fast track to level 18.
Druid 1 now has a +3 to save. Chance with Warcaster: 91%. Still means that suffering lots of small attacks could make you drop concentration early.
Druid 2 now has a +4+6 to save: Chance without Warcaster: 100%. Yeah, that's right: you auto-save any regular concentration save, up to 22 damage.

Except that Resilient Constitution also brought you an extra HP every level.
More importantly, it doesn't work ONLY for concentration saves! It works ALSO against EVERY NASTY CON-targeting effect that can cripple your HP, petrify you, or otherwise incapacitate you! Ghouls or Medusas and the like can be prevalent in some campaigns, and at least not improbably to cross.

Furthermore, back on concentration...
Even when you start getting hit for 30 damage regularly, even saying that both Druid have same 16 CON.
First would need to roll at least a 12, which is 70% chance with Warcaster (45% without).
Second would need to roll at least a 6, which is a 75% chance.

Let's check with a powerful crit? 50 damage, meaning 25 DC.
First one? Out, concentration broken, period.
Second? Needs a 19 or 20, so streak of luck, but at least he has a chance.

Let's check with a more reasonable example of high level: being hit for 35 damage.
DC 17.
First needs a 14, chance? 57%.
Second needs a 8, chance? 65%.

So, as I said, Warcaster is only better at low level, and only in concentration, and only because while stastistically it's overall the same, it does gives you (the illusion of?) a "better chance" through ability of rolling two dices and choosing best, which feels satisfying. CON is much better all around mechanically from start to finish.

About CHA: sorry it benefits mechanically. It's not RP at all, it's about a) bumping slightly the chance to convince beasts and plants of doing your bidding and b) opening up way of a feat that can be especially useful if one plays a Druid *exactly as you hint he should*, meaning building an army of real beasts on top/ instead of using conjurations.

About Stealth: true, but it's easy enough to get with a background. Important for any Druid unless sneaking is really not your thing.

About Healing Spirit: yeah, no. You didn't get my point. There are situations where Conjured Animals will be simply mediocre, because powerful enemy has too much AC / HP / or other feature that means it's a PC (or a few) that need(s) to hold the line (and I really mean hold, as in staying immobile as much as possible). In those situations, there is nothing best than Healing Spirit: it doesn't require you to be close, it doesn't even usually require you to be in the right order or Initiative to do something (unless you need to move the beam), it just guarantees your Paladin/Fighter/Monk/Rogue pal always gets his full turn to act.

About Ring of Spell Storing: I was'nt saying "change owner every day", not at all. I was simply saying that whatever kind of Shepherd you play, whatever party you're in, that item is the one you can maximize every day (i just didn't want to annoy everyone by making a list spell by spell Xd). So it should be in the top three. :)

About STR: We don't care about STR for damage. We care about STR for things that may quickly mean your end as Druid such as effects restraining/proning/pushing you, which are either STR checks (hence why you should be proficient into Acrobatics at least) and saves (against which you can just cry). Having a positive is probably not worth it because other stats have priorities, but you can at least avoid a negative. Let's remind that as a non-Moon Druid you'll never access really beefy forms.

Orange doesn’t mean “Don’t pick it”, it means “Situational”.

Arf, I didn't get that. It explains much about my perceived difference of opinion. Sorry about that. ^^