Ultimate Land Druid: High Concentration Build

Druid: Circle of Land (Coast)

High Concentration Caster Build

The Character:

Home was where the ocean hungered for the land, reaching forth with foamy hands and dragging earth back beneath its roiling waves, drowning it, claiming it. Home was where the dusky brine burned the air, bleeding eyes and skin and staining tongues. Home was where that seed of chaos buried deep within her soul felt most at home.

Pa'ab stood on black pitted rock bombarded by stormy seas. When one dreamt of the coast, thoughts of warm summer days and white sand beaches were often the first to come to mind. Not for her. 

The coast was a wild, savage place and hers were a wild, savage people.  She was born of this violence, friend to no sailor, claimer of ships. She was the flood, the tide and the tempest. She was the leviathan lurking beneath the waves.

The Concept: Build, Story, Backgrounds

There are, to be fair, a lot of people who play Circle of the Land Druids. There are also a lot of people who play the PHB Beast Master archetype for the Ranger. Just because people play the subclass doesn't make it popular. What it does means is its one of the few options available in the most common source material. In most conversations regarding Druids, one of my favorite classes, most will say that the Circle of the Moon Druid far outclasses those of the Circle of the Land. Put simply, I disagree. I feel that as someone who's first ever D&D character was a Circle of the Moon Druid, I can say quite confidently that the Moon Druid isn't a godsend among subclasses. Also, the Circle of the Land comes with built in story flavor that the Circle of the Moon simply lacks. I'm certainly not disparaging Moon Druids. I love all subclasses equally; I just wish others saw it the same way. 

So, the purpose of this build is to demonstrate just how powerful the Land Druid can be when played to their strengths. This build is a concentration-focused caster who uses several support spells to assist in the process of maintaining concentration on high damage output spells. 

The character is one of the lizardfolk, born and raised among her people on an isolated island surrounded by the sea, and wielder of its great power. It is said that the Circle of the Land is made up of mystics and sages who safeguard ancient knowledge and rites through vast oral tradition. Pa'ab is . . . less peaceful. She guards the oceans' secrets through tempestuous violence, chasing away those who might seek to raid its depths in search of occult artifacts or intelligence. Who knows what lies beneath those waves? Only she may say.

The lizardfolk tend toward more neutral alignments and the ocean tends to be a source of elemental chaos, so I felt a Chaotic Neutral alignment was appropriate for this character. Backgrounds that might be appropriate include Acolyte (should the player wish to devote her to an ocean deity), Hermit, and Sailor/Pirate. These options were chosen for their prioritization of Wisdom based skills, the Druid's main stat, but otherwise skills will not be the focus of this build, so this option is based solely off player preference rather than optimization, as with most builds.

The Race: Lizardfolk

The most important part of this Druid is not Wisdom, surprisingly, but Constitution. Succeeding on those concentration checks is going to be top priority. So, I had the choice down between three races: hill dwarf, water genasi and lizardfolk. All three grant a +2 to Constitution and +1 to Wisdom. The additional HP per level up is certainly a case to be made for choosing the dwarf. The water genasi's acid resistance is nice but all of their other abilities can be replicated with Coast Circle Spells. The Lizardfolk, though, with additional Wisdom based skills via Hunter's Lore, a Natural Armor much better than the druid's starting armor and an HP regen ability that's based off of their primary stat was too much to pass up. Not to mention that the free crafting via Cunning Artisan bypasses any restrictions for the druid not being able to use metal tools. Their waterbreathing is less than the genasi's true, but 15 minutes of holding breath is fairly useful, and they still have the swimming speed as well. Many might argue these features are situational, but that's exactly the job of the DM: to give the players situations where their niche skills come in handy.

The Stat Spread (Standard Array):

16 CON (+3), 16 WIS (+3), DEX 13 (+1), CHA 12 (+1), INT 10 (+0), STR 8 (-1)

Constitution is crucial for the Land Druid's concentration spells/checks, and Wisdom is important for their damage, spell save DC, spell attack bonus and the number of spells they can prepare per day. After taking the two feats that are absolutely needed for the effectiveness of this build, the Land Druid should focus on boosting Constitution to max and then Wisdom. Constitution will take priority as it does not matter how potent spells are if the Land Druid cannot maintain them.

The Class: Notable Features & Spells

Natural Recovery: This feature right here is exactly why the Land Druid holds its own against the Moon Druid. The ability to regenerate spell slots on a short rest equal to half the Druid's level is invaluable. This puts the Land Druid caster on par with the Wizard in terms of casting capability, and more than makes up for the weaker Wild Shape forms which, as a caster, are not all that useful anyway. 

Circle Spells - Coast: We chose this circle for two very important reasons that are not on the regular Druid spell list: Misty Step and Mirror Image. The Land Druid gains access to these critical spells as early as level three! I will admit, it was definitely a debate for me between the Grassland Circle and the Coastal Circle for the "Ultimate Land Druid," but ultimately the Grassland excels at support casting, which is great; however, I wanted to show off a more offensive, powerful side of the subclass to demonstrate how it can be just as dangerous as the Moon Druid.

-Mirror Image is a spell that should be cast right before every battle. This spell is what makes the build tick, truly. For one thing, it's not concentration, and for another, it helps with maintaining other concentration spells by making it extremely unlikely the Land Druid is ever hit. No concentration check need be made if no damage is ever taken. 

-Misty Step is a fantastic bonus action option that keeps the Land Druid out of the reach of melee enemies, making it even less likely they are ever hit, which in turn makes it almost impossible for their concentration spells to drop before their time runs out. 

-Freedom of Movement falls into the same camp, and is a fantastic non-concentration spell to have on hand in case all other fail safes, well, fail, and the Land Druid somehow finds themselves in the arms of the enemy. 

-Control Water & Conjure Elemental are some amazing concentration spells to always have prepared. The ability to knock a Huge creature prone is fantastic (free advantage!), and for the Land Druid to be able to part the seas like a fantasy Moses, or form a whirlpool like Charybdis, are equally impressive. Summons are going to be the Land Druids' main source of damage, so having Conjure Elemental always prepared is a big plus.

Land's Stride: More mobility! Half of the Freedom of Movement spell as a permanent class feature will receive zero complaints from me, as mobility is half of the key to keeping up those concentration spells. 

Nature's Sanctuary: If Mirror Image and the multitude of other mobility based features the Land Druid receives weren't enough to keep enemies off of them, all beast and plant creatures having to make a saving throw to even try to attack the Land Druid certainly must be. People like to make the argument of "What beasts and plants will a player realistically encounter at level 14?" Uhh, it would appear somebody's never heard of dinosaurs, mammoths, any of the giant varieties of regular animals (giant scorpions, giant crocodiles, etc.), treants, blights, shambling mounds . . . the list goes on.

Spells: suffice it to say, non-concentration buffs to mobility/AC and damage spells that require concentrations are going to be this caster's bread and butter. Some useful non-concentration buff spells include Longstrider, Pass without Trace and Protection from Poison. Some concentration-based damaging spells include Moonbeam, Call Lightning, any Conjuring spells (Conjure Animals, Minor Elementals, Woodland Beings, Fey), Ice Storm, Earthquake, Tsunami and Storm of Vengeance. Non-damage based, but useful, concentration-based spells include Faerie Fire, Sleet Storm, any of the Walls (Fire, Water, Sand, Stone, Wind), Reverse Gravity, Control Weather, and Shapechange (the 9th level spell that effectively grants the Land Druid all of the benefits of being a Circle of the Moon Druid).

The Feats: Concentrate!

These two feats, taken in the order listed here, paired with all of the other Land Druid abilities and spells that make maintaining concentration easier, are really going to make it hard for our character to focus on anything but wreaking elemental havoc on her enemies.

War Caster: Advantage on concentration saving throws. What more need be said? How about being able to take advantage of the druids' shield to boost AC, thereby making concentration saving throws less likely to occur, while still being able to cast somatic spells? Well, if you insist WOTC. Oh, and the ability to use a spell as an opportunity attack? Guys, you shouldn't have! You spoil us. This feature is exactly what this build is looking for and makes it that much more amazing.

Resilient (Constitution Variant): A +1 to Constitution? Yes please. Proficiency in Constitution saving throws? You mean, the saving throw that concentration checks are made with? Ridiculous! Now, the Land Druid has advantage on and proficiency in concentration checks. They'll never lose focus.

Boosting Constitution and Wisdom from this point forward is ultimately going to be more rewarding, but some Feats that do provide a minor benefit include Lucky (three opportunities to reroll those concentration checks in case literally everything that could go wrong does go wrong) and Heavily Armored (boosts the Land Druid's dump stat but provides the ability to boost AC even higher by wearing, well, heavy armor).

Play Style: High Concentration Support & Damage

Pre-Battle: Two words: Mirror Image. This should be the Land Druid's go-to pre-battle spell always and forever. When this spell times out, cast it again. It should always be up. Other good pre-battle options include Longstrider for increased mobility and Protection from Poison (situational, I know, but it doesn't require concentration, so it may come in handy in certain niche situations). 

Early Battle: Time to set up damage. This is the long haul. Choose a spell that will do well for an extended period of time, as the Land Druid's boosts to concentration checks almost  ensure once it's up it'll stay up unless they cast another concentration spell. This is the time to set up summons, call in storms or, if none of those will be sufficient, play support. If the monster just so happens to resist many of the Land Druid's damage types, now's the time to rely on the party and cast concentration-based support spells. Lock enemies behind elemental wall spells, give advantage with Faerie Fire, set up difficult terrain with a Sleet Storm, knock enemies over with a Tidal Wave, etc.

Mid-Late Battle: Stay alive! Most of the Land Druid's prep is going to be done at the start of battle. Once the concentration spell is up, it's staying up, and the enemies will not be happy. They'll be out for Druid blood. They will do anything to try and make the spell drop, and likely many attacks will be aimed at our Druid. Now's the time to take advantage of all the mobility based spells and abilities. Place a Sleet Storm between the Land Druid and the foe and then use Land's Stride to hop across it no problem leaving them to slip and slide on the ice. Misty Step away from encroaching melee attackers. Do whatever needs to be done to stay out of the hands of the enemy, and don't forget to keep rolling those damage dice every round for that Call Lightning spell.

Roleplay: Chaotic Leviathan

Pa'ab is the guardian of her people's island. She keeps colonizers from landing amongst their reefs. Her people's life is different from that of the smooth skins, and the secrets her island hold are only for her, her people, and the druids to know. As a sage of the Circle of the Land, ruminate with the DM on what secrets she keeps for the druids of the ocean and its threshold. Is there a prison for an ancient underwater monster at the bottom of a dark abyss beneath the island, an evil artifact lost with a pirate ship that crashed among their shoals long ago, now buried at the bottom of the sea, or is it a secret of the land lying at the heart of the island that she keeps hidden from the denizens of the ocean?

Regardless of what knowledge she keeps, she is vehement in protecting it, and will sink a battalion of ocean vessels before divulging her charge. Perhaps that's why she parted from her home in the first place, to prevent a dark secret from getting out. The coast always calls to her, though she may favor one terrain or the other for a time before eventually being called back home. One of these expeditions she just so happens to run into adventuring companions . . . and the game begins.

Pa'ab may favor water and storm based spells due to her origin, or she may flavor her others spells with hints of oceanic influence. Some spells she may favor include Create/Destroy Water, Thunderwave, Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind, Call Lightning, Tidal Wave, Wind Wall, Wall of Water, Watery Sphere, Control Water, Maelstrom, Tsunami and Storm of Vengeance. If she conjures elementals they'll likely be from the Plane of Water or Air. Her conjured animals may be ones more likely to be found along the coast like bears, snakes, tortoises, crocodiles, or even purely aquatic animals like sharks and whales. When she casts Scrying, perhaps she forms a pool of water to observe the reflection of her subject in. Whatever the case, water pervades her being, and is the very source of her magic. It only makes sense for it to influence the spells she casts.

Conclusion:

Land Druids may have the numbers to support their popularity, but certainly not the verbal (and text-based) support they deserve. I hope this build highlights the unique features of this subclass and puts them to good use. Yes, the land druid doesn't gain as much unlimited HP as the Moon Druid at level twenty, sure; however, for what they lack in extra temporary health, they make up for in spell recovery, mobility and long-range damage. I hope those future Land Druids have as much fun with Pa'ab as I had making her, or whatever character they choose to make with the race, stats and abilities of the build. Good luck in adventuring, and may the waves grant the party's ship safe passage, lest they be pulled beneath its briny hold and left to drown forever in an endless expanse of inky wet darkness . . . or something like that, anyway.

Character Sheets:

LVL 1 Character Sheet

LVL 20 Character Sheet

Ultimate Battlerager Barbarian: Unarmed Grappler Build

Barbarian: Path of the Battlerager

Unarmed Grappler Build

The Character: 

Thuth Ironthew stared across the vacuous void and for once it stared back. Finally, a challenge. The red eyes of a drow army blinked through that inky dark, and Thuth's armor thirsted for their dirty elven blood. 

A battle cry split the silent, eternal night of the Underdark and Thuth charged with his duergar comrades. The cowards armed themselves with spiked shields and serrated axes. Thuth charged forward with only empty hands and hungry armor. His embrace was one of death, and his punch one that ripped out throats. He was the barbed devil in the dark, the harnessed rage that kept those dark denizens at bay. He was a battlerager.

The Concept: Build, Story, Backgrounds

After several conversations with my and others' players, as well as glancing at polls and statistics, I was surprised to find that the Battlerager is not held in high esteem. Perhaps it's just the dwarf-lover in me coming through, but the Battlerager is one of my absolute favorite Barbarian subclasses and its unique abilities allow for a type of gameplay many other classes can't pull off: the unarmed grappler. This is a Strength based build, with two necessary feats (Grappler and Tavern Brawler), that focuses on immobilizing enemies and gaining/granting advantage on strikes.  

The character is a duergar, grey dwarf, from the Underdark, and a member of a distorted facsimile of the gold and shield dwarves' Order of Battleragers. The Battleragers specialize in wearing bulky, spiked armor and throwing themselves into combat, striking with their body itself and giving themselves over to the fury of battle. Most "surface" dwarves are sane, but years exposed to the dangers of the Underdark have corrupted the duergar, and their battle rage is less of a tactic and more of a symptom. 

Duergar capturing an adventuring party

The duergar are typically a Lawful Evil society, but evil characters in the hands of inexperienced players/groups can create unnecessary conflict/drama that takes away from the fun of the game. It is for this reason that I would suggest the Lawful Neutral alignment for this character. The backgrounds I would suggest for this character are City Watch, Mercenary Veteran, Pirate (there are underground lakes) and Solider. These options were chosen because they all grant proficiency in the Athletics skills, a must for this build, and they fit in with the Lawful Neutral/Lawful Evil warrior theme. As always though, backgrounds do not really affect build quality, so this choice will be up to player preference as opposed to optimization.

The Race: Grey Dwarf (Duergar)

The Battlerager subclass does have a dwarf-only restriction. So, for the sake of players' whose DM will not lift said restriction, I made my choice from the three dwarf subraces. Why not mountain dwarf, the astute player might ask. They grant +2 to Strength, rather than the duergar's +1. Yes, this is true; however, there is something absolutely invaluable that the grey dwarf offers for this build: Duergar Magic. Specifically, the ability to cast the Enlarge/Reduce spell on themselves once per day is absolutely crucial to this grappler build.

As the rules state that a grapple can be attempted on creatures one size larger than the player, casting Enlarge on oneself as a Medium creature, making them effectively Large, allows for the grappling of Huge sized creatures (and smaller). This includes all adult dragons, several dinosaurs, most demons and devils (including pit fiends and balors), all giants, treants, etc. Something about being able to immobilize a dragon by putting it in a spiky headlock is just so appealing, and that +1d4 damage to the Battlerager Armor feature is nothing to sneeze at.

Some might site the Sunlight Sensitivity trait as a detriment, but this can be counteracted by the Reckless Attack Barbarian feature, which turns those disadvantaged strikes into just straight rolls, though it does grant enemies advantage to attack the Battlerager. Hopefully, though, the player has a DM like me, so the Battlerager might have some magical sun-blocking goggles as loot from an early dungeon to counteract this negative. Alternatively, if the DM is opposed to removing this detriment early on, this character can be saved for an Underdark campaign.

And let's not forget the advantage on saves against illusions, charm and paralysis the grey dwarf receives. This is ultimately a better version of the Path of the Berserker Barbarian's Mindless Rage feature with the additional advantage of not having to Rage to use it.

The Stat Spread (Standard Array):

STR 16 (+3), CON 16 (+3), DEX 13 (+1), INT 12 (+1), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 8 (-1)

The Strength score is integral to our build here, as it controls both our damage and our Athletics skill checks for grappling opponents. Once the Battlerager gets their two feats that form the crux of the build, discussed later under the Feats section, they will want to focus their Ability Score Improvements exclusively on boosting Strength.

Thibbledorf Pwent, Battlerager, mid-charge

The Class: Notable Features

 Battlerager Armor: This is why the player has chosen the Battlerager subclass, this feature right
here: Spike Armor. It may have the same functional stats as scale mail, but oh is it so much more. The ability to bonus action strike with with a gauntleted, spiky fist is nice, but really what we're eyeing is the feature's final ability: "when [the Battlerager] use[s] the Attack action to grapple a creature, the target takes 3 piercing damage if [their] grapple check succeeds" (SCAG, pg.121). So, if immobilizing the Battlerager's opponent and attacking them isn't enough, just being in their grasp deals damage. Not to mention, attempting a grapple will always be done at advantage thanks to the Barbarian's Rage feature.

Reckless Abandon: This feature is useful for this build, but also useful for counteracting the Sunlight Sensitivity trait of the duergar. The player is incentivized to make use of the Barbarian's Reckless Attack feature as with each use they gain their CON mod in temporary HP. This counteracts the advantage enemies gain on strikes against the Battlerager for using this feature, as it provides an extra cushion to soften, if not nullify, their blow. Also, each attempt to grapple an opponent will now grant temporary HP for the attempt. The Battlerager has life-giving, bloody hugs of death -- excellent.

Spiked Retribution: Suffice it to say, the subject of the Battlerager's grapple will try to either break free with a contested check (though with the Battlerager's bonuses to these that's highly unlikely) or attack the Battlerager so that they'll drop to 0 HP and free them. This feature is a counter to the latter. Should they choose to attack the Battlerager to free themselves, now they take an additional 3 piercing damage with each attack. Should others try to attack the Battlerager to assist their grappled ally, they will suffer the same. Nothing penetrates the spiky fortress that is the Battlerager.

Feats: The Crux of the Build

As stated earlier in the Stat Spread section, these feats are absolutely crucial to the effectiveness of the build. The Battlerager's strength stat beginning at 16 is good enough to last until level 12, as the level 4 and 8 Ability Score Improvements should be used to acquire these feats in the order presented here.

Tavern Brawler: It could be argued that using a one-handed weapon with this build would be far more effective for damage output, and yes, this is true, but we're not focused on damage output. We're focused on rushing down foes and immobilizing them, either to take them out of the fight or to make it easier for allies to take them out. So, the +1 to strength is nice. The unarmed strike damage now equaling 1d4+strength mod is nice. The proficiency with improvised weapons is nice. But, what we're really taking this feat for, and the reason the Battlerager will prefer unarmed attacks, is this feat's final ability: "when [the Battlerager] hit[s] a creature with an unarmed strike or an improvised weapon on [their] turn, [they] can use a bonus action to attempt to grapple the target." (PHB, pg.170).

Yes, that's correct. So, the Battlerager can now begin battle with a Reckless Attack, gain temporary HP from the Reckless Abandon feature, make their two unarmed strikes with their spiky fists, and then grapple the target, all at advantage. Pair this with the Grappler feature, and the build gets even more insane.

Grappler: So, the Battlerager has successfully grappled their opponent . . . now what? Well, without this feature, now the opponent's speed is zero, and that's it. With this feature, well, the fun is just beginning. Now, while the Battlerager has a foe trapped in their grapple, every attack they make against them is at advantage. This removes the necessity for the Battlerager to use the Reckless Attack feature which stops others from gaining advantage on attacks against them in turn. Very useful. What might be even more useful though is the secondary ability of this feat: pinning.

With this feat, the Battlerager can use their action to make another contested grapple check (at advantage thanks to Rage) and restrain their opponent as well as themselves. Here's what that means: attack rolls made at the immobilized creatures (the Battlerager and their grappled opponent) are now at advantage, the restrained creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls, and they make dexterity saving throws at disadvantage. This is fantastic. If the pin succeeds, the Battlerager grants every party member advantage against the pinned foe until they win a contested Athletics check, and with this build's advantages for said check, the foe may be stuck for quite a while.

Other feats that can be useful, though I would say less useful then just pumping points into the strength stat, are Charger (paired with the Battlerager Charge feature, this allows for a double dash during one turn and an attack with +5 to hit, not bad), Lucky (three additional rerolls for those athletics checks that even with advantage roll less than the Battlerager would like), Sentinel (if all else fails and the opponent escapes a grapple, an opportunity attack can prevent them from getting out of range of another grapple attempt) and Tough (the Battlerager will be taking a lot of punishment being entwined so frequently with the enemy, so extra HP never hurt anybody).

Play Style: Rushing Down & Creating Advantage

Pre-Battle: Rage! Get this bonus action out of the way immediately. The Battlerager will want to rage the entire battle, as advantage on grappling checks, bonus melee damage and halved incoming damage are the whole bread and butter of the Barbarian. There is a second option, though. Despite the disadvantage on stealth checks while wearing Spike Armor, using the Duergar Magic feature's Invisibility spell will cancel this out and allow stealth checks to be made with a straight roll. This is particularly useful if the opponent that needs to be subdued has hidden themselves behind waves of minions, as an ambush might subvert said meatshield army and allow the Battlerager to get in close for an early grappling, turning the tide of the fight early on.

Early Battle: This is where the rushdown tactics start. Battleragers should pinpoint the most dangerous opponent and attempt to immobilize them with a grapple. If they are sized Huge, the Battlerager should use their Duergar Magic's Enlarge/Reduce spell and grow to an appropriate size. Once the opponent is apprehended, the Battlerager should use their advantage on strikes against grappled foes from the Grappler feat to take them down while keeping them away from the other party members. Rinse and repeat in descending order of enemy threat level.

Mid-Late Battle: If the battle somehow lasts longer than a few rounds with this award-winning strategy, it's time to pin. This is definitely a last resort, as it makes the Battlerager more vulnerable along with their foe, but hopefully the full round of advantage against the pinned foe will be enough to allow the Battlerager's allies to finish the fight.

Roleplay: Dark Denizen

Thuth Ironthew has lived his life, regardless of specific background, in the dangerous realm of the Underdark. His origin lies with the grey dwarves' ill reflection of their surface cousins' Order of the Battlerager. Those honorable dwarves harness full control of their emotions, unleashing it only in the screaming fury of battle. The duergar have no such control over their emotions, rather, they relish in eviscerating their foes with the pent up fear and anger of being banished to the land beneath mountains.

The duergar hate elves, specifically the drow. The two races consistently wage war with one another in the voidish chasms of their dark sunken homes. Thuth, whether it was as a member of the city guard of a duergar city, a pirate that sailed the subterranean lakes, a mercenary hired by shady surface dwellers merchants that wished to traverse the Underdark and gain access to its black markets, or a soldier in the wars waged against the dark elves, has killed his fair share of drow, and shares in his people's hatred of them.

Whether he is Lawful Neutral, self-centered but not out for the world's end, or Lawful Evil, as selfish and cruel as the society that raised him, Thuth is a strong, viscous, capable fighter that lives a structured life save for when he enters the frenzy of battle. His motivation is dependent on alignment and campaign, but the one thing that binds the possibilities are his connection to his people's ancient  tradition of Battleraging. Does he hate the grey dwarves' twisted copy of the ancient art, embrace it, or even seek to use it to destroy it? This much is up to the player.

Conclusion: 

Just because the Battlerager doesn't prefer the standard two-handed weapon, heavy-hitting archetype of the Barbarian class doesn't make them useless - far from it. If a player wants to play that style of warrior, the Berserker and Totem Warrior Barbarians are probably better. But, if a player is willing to play to the subclass's strengths, they will end up with a powerful, unique and memorable character. As always I wish the future Battleragers luck in their adventuring, and that they have as much fun playing Thuth as I had building him, or whatever character they choose to make with the race, stats and abilities of the build!

Character Sheets:

LVL 1 Character Sheet

LVL 20 Character Sheet

Ultimate Nature Cleric: Pure Wisdom Build

Cleric: Nature Domain

Pure Wisdom Elementalist Melee & Tanking Build

The Character:

Dobâk Longwalker trudged through snow and ice, iron armor glowing with frost, chilling him through to his stone, dwarven bones. This particular mountain had proven a challenge, even for one of the hillborn. The bluff resisted his charge, though he knew one of the Volamtar strongholds resided at its peak, and with it a warm bed, ale, and tales of the road. 

It had been a long expedition of marking wilderness trails for the humans to the south, but Marthammor save him, those lot couldn't find their beards nestled against their own chins to keep warm in the winter.

The Concept: Build, Story, Backgrounds

Nature clerics get the short end of the stick when it comes to the consensus on cleric power rankings, and it is for that express reason that I've sought to demonstrate its strengths and create a fun, powerful build that is not just a druid wannabe: a tank healer, with a specialization in melee attacks. This character will be purely Wisdom based, with a priority given to maximizing the Wisdom stat, which will serve as the sole source of damage, both melee and ranged, and healing.

The character is a dwarven trailblazer. He is a priest of the Volamtar, Blazers of Fresh Trails, followers of Marthammor Duin, the Watcher-over-Wanderers, a minor god of the dwarven pantheon. I find that min-maxing is only fun when it can be justified with interesting story-telling, which is after all half of the Dungeons & Dragons package.

All that said, we can justify a Neutral Good alignment (the same alignment as the deity) and the Anthropoligst, Far Traveler, Hermit and Outlander backgrounds. These options prioritize Wisdom based skills and fit into our trailblazing theme, but other than that, backgrounds don't affect build quality all that much, so this will be a choice based on preference rather than optimization.

The Race: Hill Dwarf

There is one main reason for this choice, and one reason alone: Shillelagh. Nature clerics' access to this particular cantrip from the Druid spell list makes the Hill Dwarf very happy and allows the player to focus exclusively on the Wisdom stat, which will control both spell and, now, melee damage. Not having to divvy up attention between two main stats leads to a stronger character more quickly. The Hill Dwarf's stat boost to Constitution also plays into this build's strengths, and with the Dwarven Toughness trait's extra HP, the Nature Cleric's proficiency in heavy armor and shield use, we can  create a very effective tank healer from LVL 1.

The Stat Spread (Standard Array): 

WIS 16 (+3), CON 16 (+3), STR 13 (+1), DEX 12 (+1), INT 10 (+0), CHA 8 (-1)

Maximizing Wisdom takes top priority, here. The better the Nature Cleric can heal, attack (with both spells and melee), and defend (saving throws, spell save DC and skills) the more effective they will be, and (potentially) the more fun the player will have. Our Strength is sitting at 13 exclusively so that we can take advantage of the Nature Cleric's heavy armor proficiency, as chain mail requires a minimum of 13 Strength to wear efficiently.

The Class: Notable Features

Domain Spells: half of the domain spells of the Nature Cleric serve the same function as the Charm Animals Channel Divinity option they receive (unfortunately weak until LVL 17), but the other half grant access to great battlefield control that other clerics simply don't have:

-Spike Growth and Plant Growth create difficult terrain which is extremely useful for keeping hordes of enemies at bay and for damage prevention. Wind Wall can isolate enemies, or better yet, lock them into a tornado fight cage with you, 1v1 style. Grasping Vine can pull allies away from danger or closer to the Nature Cleric for healing, or can yank foes away from allies. It's also useful outside of combat for terrain traversal or mountain climbing. Tree Stride is very situational, but in the right environment is one of the best means of battlefield maneuverability, allowing the Nature Cleric to move back and forth between spread out allies for more effective healing. It also serves as a fantastic means of escape should the battle swerve irreparably in the enemies' favor, allowing the party to get 500 feet away in an instant (at the DM's discretion, since the spell is technically meant to only affect the caster).

Acolyte of Nature: this is the whole crux of the build. If the player doesn't take Shillelagh here, the build just doesn't work. Druidcraft is fun for aesthetics, Poison Spray is nullified by a majority of monsters' resistance or immunity to poison, and Thornwhip is a mediocre ranged attack at best, outclassed easily by many ranged damage cleric spells, so Shillelagh is objectively the Nature Cleric's best option.

Bonus Proficiency: the additional proficiency in heavy armor really allows for good tanking potential, here. High AC combined w/ the high HP as a result of Dwarven Toughness and better than average Constitution make for a sound tank.

Dampen Elements: a free multi-element resistance that only uses a reaction is absolutely fantastic and makes the Nature Cleric a strong support for a plethora of foes (dragons, demons, devils and other nasty things that start with "d") and adds further to that tanking potential we're building toward.

Divine Strike: what is a good tank without the stopping power to take down the foes they're tanking against? Tanks aren't just meant to take less damage, but to prevent less damage across the entire party, and a great way of doing that is reducing the number of enemies. Like all the cleric domains, this one gains a bonus to damage, but unlike the others, the nature cleric gets to choose the damage type with each swing, allowing for a targeting of any known weaknesses.

Feats: Wielder of the Elements

It is important to remember that we want to maximize Wisdom before we even consider grabbing some feats, but once that stat boosting is out of the way, the Nature Clerics should consider these extremely useful options:

Elemental Adept: Power-up those Divine Strikes! As a DM, I believe the elemental damage of Divine Strikes falls under this feat, which will allow the Nature Cleric to ignore resistances to the chosen damage type and boost potential damage. What's more is this feat can be taken several times, once for each of the three elemental types at the Nature Cleric's disposal (fire, cold, lightning), though I personally suggest starting with fire as few things resist it and many are weak to it.

Sentinel: as a melee build, and tank, this is the Nature Cleric's go-to feat. This makes those Shillelagh strikes stop enemies in their tracks and keeps them within striking range for the future as well as away from allies.

Other feats that are not as excellent but still useful include War Caster (while this doesn't pair 100% with Sentinel, it is excellent for ensuring that buffs and debuffs stay up, though the Nature Cleric's high AC can usually prevent having to make a concentration check in the first place), Great Weapon Master (if the Nature Cleric is forgoing the shield, this will help maximize damage for those two-handed dwarven warhammer, Shillelagh-using, elemental Divine Strikes) and Resilient (the Constitution variant for concentration checks, which is great for a Wisdom prioritized build such as this).

Play Style: Battlefield Control & Melee Attacks

Pre-Battle: the Nature Cleric will want to preemptively cast Shillelagh on their primary weapon (in this case the warhammer the hill dwarf grants proficiency in) when battles are anticipated. If this cannot be accomplished, no need to fret, as Shillelagh is only a bonus action to cast, though that prevents getting up a useful Spiritual Weapons during the first round of battle.

Early Battle: The Nature Cleric as a caster tank should begin the fight by prioritizing battlefield control. Should a group of enemies be charging at the party, a well timed Spike Growth or Plant Growth spell can allow the players extra time to prepare before the enemies arrive or allow ranged damage dealers to pick off foes from a distance. Alternatively, if the party is surrounded, a preemptive Tree Stride spell allows for the Nature Cleric to be anywhere they are immediately needed so long as a tree is nearby. This is of course highly dependent on terrain, though. Stronger foes should be locked behind a Wind Wall to be dealt with at a later time, or if the Cleric is feeling confident, they can lock themselves in with the foe and 1v1 them. Their High AC and healing capability, as well as their free Divine Strike every round, allow for some nasty damage output while receiving little punishment in return. This is also a good time to get off buffs, debuffs and damage assistants: things like Bless, Spiritual Weapon, etc.

Mid-Late Battle: Once the battlefield is under the Nature Cleric's control, they can focus on either healing or damage output depending on what's needed. It's my general rule of thumb that the healer should keep party members at around 1/2 HP at all times during a fight. If they're not at 1/2 HP, don't bother healing them, and if they're below it, heal them up to it, but not above it. This allows for the healer, during the first half of the fight, to focus on damage output, and helps to manage spell use. With a free Divine Strike every round, the Nature Cleric should be taking advantage of this as often as possible, and it is for that reason that they will want to be front-and-center. Managing healing and damage output should take up the rest of the fight, and if the Nature Cleric's spells and attacks were used effectively, they were more than likely a huge help.

Roleplay: Spark of Curiosity

Holy symbol of Marthammor Duin

As a follower of the Watcher-Over-Wanderers, a god said to approach life with a gnome-like demeanor, curious to see what lies beyond the horizon and always willing to trade stories of travels, Dobâk Longwalker is a creature of wanderlust, though that dwarvish blood holds it tight to a purpose. He's a pathfinder. Whereas most of his kinsman seek to keep their feet planted firmly on the stone, Dobâk seeks to march across it and discover new cliffs, buttes and crags for his people to call home, the perfect excuse to leave on an adventure.

It is said that Marthammor Duin is the rare spirit of dwarven exploration, and his followers associated his spark of curiosity with bursts of lightning. It is for this reason that Dobâk might favor lightning-based attacks, spells and flavor. For example, if an enemy has no apparent weaknesses, he may favor lightning damage for his Divine Strikes. Should he cast Guiding Bolt, perhaps its a heavenly bolt of lightning, as opposed to a ray of radiant light. When he casts Raise Dead to return a party member to life, maybe he calls down a storm to reanimate them Frankenstein-style. His Wind Wall spell could be more akin to a stormwall, dark like stormclouds echoing with the occasional crackle of thunder. Should he pray to his god for guidance with a Find the Path spell, perhaps a lightning strike illuminates the way. There are endless possibilities for flavor with this theme.

Conclusion:

Nature Clerics are criminally underused, and I hope this guide has demonstrated an effective strategy that not only makes them fun to play mechanically, but fun to roleplay as well! I wish those future Nature Clerics much luck in their adventuring  that they have as much fun playing Dobâk as I had making him, or whatever character they choose to make with the race, stats and abilities of the build! 

Character Sheets:

LVL 1 Character Sheet

LVL 20 Character Sheet