What Are The Best Druid Spells In D&D?
Harnessing the power of nature itself, Druids have become one of the most popular classes in Dungeons and Dragons. From feeding an army with a handful of berries to leveling entire cities with earthquakes and storms, Druids are a literal force to be reckoned with. These acolytes of natural magic are proficient in combat, stealth, and restoration, making them essential to an adventuring party.
While Druids have many abilities (notably, the power to Wildshape into any animal they have seen), the choices can be a bit overwhelming. To help players along, here is a list of the best spells that a Druid can use. Some of these spells are geared toward combat, and some focus more on the roleplaying aspect of the game. No matter what you use these spells for, they are sure to help you out of a jam (or get into one, we don’t judge).
Best Level 1 Druid Spells:
Best: Speak With Animals (Level 1 Spell)
As the name implies, this spell allows you to verbally communicate with animals around you. The knowledge and awareness will vary among creatures, having limited intelligence and little experience with actual language. However, you should be able to get basic information from the animals, such as general directions to buildings or well known people. There are many applications for this particular spell, including the following:
- Obtain information: Talking with animals can allow you to get directions to towns, or places landmarks within a certain area. You can also ask about recent monster attacks in the area, and how the animals are affected (are they afraid, or do they welcome the monster?).
- Speak With Animals will let you ask about an animal’s day. This information could lead to details that regular, sentient people could easily overlook. For example, maybe the local priest has been replaced by a doppelganger. Most people wouldn’t notice, but perhaps the animals in the area have noticed that he doesn’t smell like he usually does.
- If your DM is willing, you can use Speak With Animals to get a creature to perform a small favor. This is extremely useful when you need to draw attention away from something else, like a locked door, for instance. Simply convince a dog to raise a ruckus at a fruit stand, and your rogue can pick that lock to his heart’s content.
Second Best: Goodberry (Level 1 Spell)
Goodberry is an all around classic spell for Druids. This spell creates 10 small berries, each able to heal 1 hit point when eaten. As an added benefit, eating just one of these enchanted berries will nourish a character or creature for a full day. This is a crucial tool to have when supplies are running low and you’re far away from an inn or unable to hunt. These berries remain enchanted for 24 hours, so they don’t need to be consumed right away.
- Allows a Druid to feed their entire party without the need to hunt or purchase supplies, making the spell invaluable on long trips.
- Offers a small healing benefit that increases with the number of berries consumed.
- Goodberry can be prepared in advance. The effect on the berries lasts for 24 hours, so you can create them and distribute them among your party before a big dungeon crawl, guaranteeing sustenance if you get separated.
Third Best: Purify Food and Drink (Level 1 Spell)
This spell is pretty self-explanatory. Purify Food and Drink allows a Druid to remove any diseases or poisons from any nonmagical food and drink in a 5-foot radius of where you aim. This is perfect for when you find a honey cake in an old dungeon, or a hunted animal that had a terrible sickness. Perhaps you’ve attended a state dinner, and you’re sure the wine is poisoned. This spell will render any toxins completely harmless.
- Removes all poisons from food and drinks, useful for thwarting assassination attempts or trickery from your enemies.
- Strip away all forms of disease from edible substances, allowing your party to hunt with confidence.
- Essential for making sure your party has access to safe, clean, healthy food and water throughout your journey.
Best Level 2 Druid Spells:
Best: Darkvision (Level 2 Spell)
Caves, dungeons, and caverns tend to hold the best treasure, right? Well, unlike in certain video games, the undead soldiers within usually don’t take the time to go around making sure all the torches are lit. So, if you’re going into one of these pitch black areas, you have a couple of options. You could bring torches with you, but that would take up precious space in your pack, and you give up the use of one hand while holding it. On top of that, you make yourself a very visible target. While the torch provides light and a bit of heat, it also becomes a beacon for the untold number of enemies waiting to devour an adventuring party. Your other option is the classic spell, Darkvision.
With Darkvision, you can touch a willing creature and enable them to see in the dark, perfectly clearly, without the use of a light source. This will let you move through radiance-challenged catacombs.
- Darkvision allows you and creatures you touch to see well in perfect darkness, enabling you to move through the night, or a cave, safely.
- The spell is great for nighttime stealth missions. It doesn’t generate a light source, so enemies or guards will have a harder time detecting you.
- The spell is cheap to use, costing only a piece of dried carrot or a small agate stone.
Second Best: Locate Object (Level 2 Spell)
Everybody has an absent-minded moment when they lose something. You may have misplaced a ring, or maybe your Paladin threw his sword at an enemy, and it fell into a ravine. Perhaps you have been sent to find one specific scroll in a library the size of an entire nation, and time is a factor. If you are in possession of a forked twig, there’s an easy solution: by using Locate Object, you can hone in on an item as long as you are within 1000 feet of it. If the object is moving (maybe carried in a pocket or wagon), you will be able to sense the direction it’s traveling in. The only drawback is that the spell cannot detect an item that is behind any thickness of lead.
- The spell is used for locating general items in a large area (jewelry, furniture, tools, weapons, etc).
- Locate Object can be used to find incriminating evidence against spies or other criminals. By searching for the specific evidence you need (a letter or a weapon), you can find your enemy, no matter where they hide.
- Finding hidden doors and passageways is no longer a chore with Locate Object (you can set the spell to locate door hinges or secret locking mechanisms).
- This spell is perfect to make quick work of any fetch quests your DM happens to throw your way.
Third Best: Pass Without Trace (Level 2 Spell)
On occasion, you’ll find yourself in a situation where you don’t want to be followed. It’s possible that your party’s Rogue decided to acquire some new jewelry and conveniently forgot to pay for it. Or, maybe you’re sneaking through a museum or manor, and don’t want to be caught. By using Pass Without Trace, you can sacrifice a pinch of ashes from burned mistletoe and spruce, and allow your party to move through an area without anyone being able to follow you with nonmagical means. With this spell, you won’t leave any footprints, tracks, or other mundane methods of following you. Anyone affected by this spell will also receive +10 to their Dexterity checks.
- Allows you to move through an area without any creature being able to track you with nonmagical means.
- This spell is great for stealth, allowing you to slip away from a crime scene, or slip into one.
- The spell also mutes noise you create, such as a lock breaking or a door creaking open. Cast Pass Without Trace just before your thief breaks into a house, and no one will hear the lock click or the door or window open.
Best Level 3 Druid Spells:
Best: Plant Growth (Level 3 Spell)
One of the most iconic skills a Druid has is the ability to stimulate Plant Growth.This is usually done by infusing the earth itself with magic, feeding nutrients directly into the roots. This can be useful in many ways, including slowing down your enemies in a thicket of brambles or enlarging a tree to help you reach a higher point. Plant Growth can also be used as an 8-hour ritual to stimulate the ground, enriching the soil to allow for better growth of crops.
- Plant Growth allows all nonmagical plants in a 100-foot radius to become thick and overgrown. This forces your enemies to spend 4 feet of movement for every foot they wish to travel, greatly hindering their movement.
- This spell can also be used over an 8 hour period to enrich the earth, restoring infertile or war torn lands and enabling crops to grow. Any crops grown on this enchanted soil will yield twice as much food.
- Plant Growth can also serve as a great roleplaying tool, as a display of power to a primitive tribe, or to use plants to reach an otherwise out of bounds area.
Second Best: Speak With Plants (Level 3 Spell)
If knowledge were a tree, then information would be the soil. When trying to research a person, a city, or a dungeon, you need to use all the resources you can get. Imagine if you could just ask the trees themselves what they know. Thanks to Speak With Plants, that’s not a problem anymore. This spell affects an area of 30 feet in front of you, and imbues nonmagical plants with the ability to speak with you and follow simple commands.
- Allows you to speak with local flora and get intel on the area. You can also issue simple commands to the plant, however note that while these enchanted plants can use their limbs like arms, they cannot uproot themselves and walk around.
- Speak With Plants can also be used to change a terrain affected by Plant Growth or Entangle, letting specific creatures pass or releasing someone who has been captured.
- This spell will also allow you to talk with plant-based creatures (such as a Twig Blight or a Vegepygmy). Though you should note that while you can speak with these creatures, you have no magical influence over them.
Third Best: Tidal Wave (Level 3 Spell)
With just a single drop of water, you can sweep your enemies off their feet with Tidal Wave. This handy spell will create a tidal wave that is 30 feet long, 10 feet wide, and up to ten feet tall. Enemies that are hit by this wave must roll a Dexterity saving throw. If it fails, they are knocked prone and take full damage. However, if it passes, they only take half the damage, and remain standing.
- Using a drop of water as an ingredient (a bead of sweat will work in a pinch), you can create a tidal wave and send it crashing down on your foes.
- This spell could knock your enemies off their feet into a prone position, taking up an action on their turn to be able to stand up again.
- When this spell is used, the water spreads out and extinguishes any campfires, torches, or other sources of flame in the area. It’s a great way to quickly make an area dark.
Best Level 4 Druid Spells:
Best: Guardian of Nature (Level 4 Spell)
Sometimes, Druids need to get their hands dirty, and this time we’re not talking about gardening. Fortunately, many enemies underestimate the raw power of nature that a Druid brings to the table. They can even use their magic to augment their own abilities. That’s what Guardian of Nature is for: giving you a boost when you need it most. By calling out to a nature spirit, you can transform into one of two types of nature guardian, Primal Beast or Great Tree.
- Use this spell to increase your basic stats and abilities, as well as change your appearance into a terrifying force of nature.
- With Primal Beast, your walking speed increases by a rate of 10 feet. You also get darkvision for up to 120 feet, and have increased strength-based and melee attacks. Your appearance will change to be more animal-like, including fur covering your body, and more feral facial features such as fangs.
- With the Great Tree guardian spirit, your body will be covered in durable bark, and leaves will sprout from your hair. You will gain 10 additional, temporary hit points, and your Constitution, Dexterity, and Wisdom-based rolls are done with advantage. If you are on the ground, the earth surrounding you by a range of 15 feet becomes difficult terrain.
Second Best: Polymorph (Level 4 Spell)
Polymorph is often overlooked in Druids, as they have the innate ability to Wildshape into any animal they have seen for a time. Many people incorrectly assume that these abilities are the same. It’s true that they are similar, however Polymorph is a target spell, meaning that you can cast it on other creatures, transforming them into something else. The target’s abilities, intelligence, and skills are all changed to that of the new creature form. The effect lasts until for the duration of the spell (about an hour) or until the creature’s hit points reach zero.
- Allows a Druid to change a targeted creature into another creature, giving said creature all new stats and abilities.
- If the creature is unwilling, they must roll a Constitution save to prevent the transformation. Creatures that can shapeshift will always win this throw.
- This can be used in ways other than combat. Are the guards searching the town for a criminal? No thief here. Just you and your cat, who is not at all suspiciously eyeing the guard’s coin purse.
Third Best: Stone Shape (Level 4 Spell)
Sometimes, you just can’t find the tool you need. So, why not just make it? You may not be able to get blood from a stone, but you can certainly mold it into a sword, a cup, or a key. Stone Shape uses a small amount of clay to change a mound of stone into whatever shape you need it to be, within 5 feet in any dimension. This spell can even be used to create doors in stone walls (or seal another door, preventing anyone from following you).
- Can be used to create weapons or tools, such as a stone sword or a hammer. You could even make a lockpick, provided you’re familiar with them.
- Stone Shape can allow you to create a door in a wall, as long as the wall is less than 5 feet thick. The spell can create basic hinges and latches, but it won’t replicate advanced mechanical details.
- This spell can also create small statues or dolls that could be used by other party members for certain spells or rituals.
Best Level 5 Druid Spells
Best: Commune With Nature (Level 5 Spell)
They say it’s important to go outside and touch grass. Druids tend to take this advice literally, and use the opportunity to become one with nature. When Druids use Commune With Nature, they connect with local flora and fauna on a spiritual level. This will give the Druid information about the surrounding area, useful for scouting or searching for a specific body of water, forest, or creature in an area. The only drawback is that Commune With Nature is completely ineffective in areas plagued by construction, like towns or dungeons.
- Gives you local information about the surrounding area, perfect for getting your bearings in unfamiliar territory.
- You can glean specific information on subjects such as local streams or lakes, animals or people in the area, celestials or fey beings, buildings, or knowledge from other planes of existence.
- Does not work in areas that are overly developed, such as large cities or towns. When used in open space, you can get information from up to 3 miles. If you are underground or in a cave, the range is limited to 300 feet.
Second Best: Tree Stride (Level 5 Spell)
The world is full of dangerous, uneven terrain. Perhaps you’ve come across a ravine with no bridge to cross over. That’s not an issue for an advanced Druid. With the classic spell Tree Stride, a Druid can actually walk inside a tree, and walk out of a different tree up to 500 feet away. There are a few limits, of course: The trees you travel between must both be the same type/species, and the tree has to be large enough to accommodate your body. This spell makes it a little easier to reach certain obstacles and get around the world.
- You can use Tree Stride once per round to move into a tree and reappear outside a different tree up to 500 feet away.
- This spell comes in handy when a bridge is washed out or destroyed, or is otherwise unavailable. If a city has a lot of trees throughout it, you can use them to move quickly through the streets.
- Once inside a tree, you can sense every tree within range that you can exit from. You must end your turn outside of a tree.
Third Best: Scrying (Level 5 Spell)
In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, technology is usually very underdeveloped. That makes spying on people a little harder to do. Sure, a Druid could simply Wildshape into a cat or a bird and follow a person, but what if you aren’t nearby? With Scrying, you can observe a creature or location from anywhere on the same plane of existence. It’s a costly spell, requiring a focus object worth at least 1000 GP, such as a crystal ball or a silver mirror. The target will roll a Wisdom save, and its effectiveness will vary depending on how familiar you are with the subject, and what object you have connecting the spell to them (a lock of hair or a favorite ring). Scrying will create a small magical sensor within 10 feet of the target, following said target as they move around. You will be able to see and hear everything they do.
- While most are unaware that they are being observed, those that can see the invisible will view the scrying sensor near them as an orb of light.
- If the target is openly willing to be observed, then no saving roll is needed, as the spell will always succeed. If, however, they resist and roll a successful Wisdom save, the spell fails and cannot be used again for a full 24 hours.
- When Scrying a location rather than a person or creature, the magical sensor appears in one spot at the location and stays there. This is useful for spying on a secret council meeting, or subtle eavesdropping in the local pub.
Best Level 6 Druid Spells
Best: Druid Grove (Level 6 Spell)
An important part of any healthy adventuring lifestyle is getting enough rest. That can be hard to do out in the wilderness, with any number of monsters, fey, and bandits hiding in the bushes. Fortunately, Druids have a way to lay protection on their campsites, or any other areas they need to protect. With Druid Grove, you create an area of protection up to 90 feet in any dimension. This spell has a variety of effects, including creating 5-foot cubes of fog to obscure vision, growing thick, thorny brush to make it harder to travel, and summoning actual guardians to protect the area.
- The Druid can choose what creatures in the protected area are immune to the effects. They can also create a password that one can say to become immune and pass safely.
- In addition to creating dense fog and underbrush, the spell can cause up to four trees to uproot themselves and serve as guardians of the area. While they are unable to speak, they can hear, and a Druid can give them simple commands. The guardians cannot leave the warded area, and take root again when the spell ends.
- The spell generates a third effect, either a constant gust of wind in one direction, Spike Growth in a location of your choice, or a Wind Wall in the location of your choice.
Second Best: Transport Via Plants (Level 6 Spell)
They say that everything in nature is connected. Why not use that connection to your advantage? With Transport Via Plants, a Druid can allow instantaneous travel between two Large or larger plants within the same plane of existence. There are no physical components to this spell, and the only limits are that you must have physically touched the plant that will serve as the destination. You can also take your party members with you, or allow any creature you touch to use plants as a method of travel.
- Transport Via Plants allows a Druid to travel instantly between any two plants they have touched before, regardless of distance, as long as the two plants are in the same plane of existence. However, the Druid casting the spell must have physically touched the destination plant at least once.
- The spell also allows any creature the Druid touches to travel between plants by using 5 feet of movement.
- This is a great way to implement fast travel for any party that doesn’t have a form of teleportation or portal spell. It costs nothing, and can make traveling between entire nations a breeze.
Third Best: Heroes’ Feast (Level 6 Spell)
What better way is there to celebrate a victory or holiday than with a wonderful, elaborate meal? Heroes’ Feast is an expensive spell to cast, requiring a gem-encrusted bowl worth at least 1000 GP, which is destroyed upon casting. In exchange for this bowl, a hearty, massive feast will appear. The feast takes about one hour to consume, after which any remaining food and drink will disappear into the ether. In addition to feeding up to 12 creatures, the Heroes’ Feast has a number of added benefits as well, detailed below.
- The Heroes’ Feast doesn’t just satisfy the food and water requirement for the day, it also removes any diseases or poison affecting a creature, and will be immune to becoming poisoned or frightened.
- Any creature that partakes of the feast will receive additional hit points equal to 2d10, and will also receive the same amount of hit points.
- Eating this feast will let you make Wisdom-saving rolls with advantage. All mentioned effects last for 24 hours.
Best Level 7 Druid Spells
Best: Plane Shift (Level 7 Spell)
Are you tired of traipsing around the same forest, swamps, mountains, and caves of the world? Have you and your party been kicked out of every bar in the known world? There’s an easy fix: Simply take your friends by the hand and move everyone to a whole new plane of existence! With the spell Plane Shift, you can journey to many different worlds, including Hell itself, or the realm of the Fey. All you need is a forked metal rod worth about 250 GP, attuned to a specific plane. You aren’t guaranteed to appear exactly where you mean to, but chances are, you’ll get pretty close!
- You can use Plane Shift to travel to other planes of existence. Simply speak your destination in general terms (like the City of Brass or the Gates of Hell), you will appear in that general area.
- You can use this spell to transport you and your party to a teleportation circle on another plane, provided you know the circle’s sigil sequence.
- Plane Shift can be used in combat to send a creature to a random location on another plane. They must roll a Charisma save, and are transported upon failing. This is a great way to get rid of enemies that are a little too tough, or immortal. You can even do it for a laugh, no one will judge you (at your table).
Second Best: Draconic Transformation (Level 7 Spell)
Sometimes, a weapon just doesn’t have enough oomph to take on an enemy. Usually when that happens, you can simply equip a different weapon. But what do you do when it’s your own body that isn’t getting the job done? Change it, of course! And what better way to modify your body than to augment it with the best parts of a terrifying dragon? By using a dragon statue worth 500 GP or more, you can cast Draconic Transformation. This spell will alter your physical body with traits of a dragon. This includes enhanced vision, a breath weapon, and even wings!
- Draconic Transformation allows you to take on the physical traits of a dragon for a time.
- The spell grants you Blindsight, which allows you to see any creature that isn’t completely hidden, even if you are blinded or in total darkness. You are also able to see invisible creatures, unless it can successfully hide from you.
- The spell also gives you a breath attack, generating an energy attack that expands into a cone of 60 feet.
- You can literally sprout wings, which give you a flying speed of 60 feet, not to mention that will look awesome.
Third Best: Reverse Gravity (Level 7 Spell)
They say what goes up must come down. With Reverse Gravity, you can do the opposite, and send your enemies soaring into the atmosphere! This spell affects an area with a 50 foot radius, up to 100 feet tall. Any target that isn’t somehow anchored to the ground will fall upwards. If there is a ceiling, they will hit it as they would if they were falling down. Without a ceiling, the targets will simply float at the top of the affected area, falling to the earth when the spell dissipates.
- Force your opponents to lose footing by sending them skyrocketing upwards. The targets can roll a Dexterity save to try to grab onto something to stop the fall.
- This spell is effective at throwing enemies off balance or causing a distraction.
- Reverse Gravity can also be used to lift loose, otherwise immovable objects that are blocking your path or otherwise impeding your progress (a large, heavy wagon or a cannon).
Best Level 8 Druid Spells
Best: Control Weather (Level 8 Spell)
Nothing ruins a good, long quest more than terrible weather. You could be traveling between towns or to a dungeon and be soaked with rain or thunderstorms. That’s not a problem anymore! With Control Weather, you can make a gloomy day a bright one. This spell takes a bit of work, and requires two things: burning incense with earth and wood mixed with water, and you must be fully outdoors with a clear path between you and the sky. Upon casting Control Weather, you can alter local conditions to a degree, whether it’s slowing down gusts of wind, getting rid of rain or snow, or (depending on your needs) creating storms.
- The spell takes 1d4 X 10 minutes for conditions to change. The degree of immediate change will depend on your DM.
- You can refer to the chart in the 5e Player’s Handbook for specific details on degrees of change in the weather regarding precipitation, temperature, and wind.
- Control Weather can be used to improve conditions or create terrible storms, depending on the party’s needs.
Second Best: Earthquake (Level 8 Spell)
If things are getting a little boring in your campaign, you can always shake things up. With Earthquake, you can do so literally. This spell creates a seismic event at a point on the ground that you can see within range. Tremors will occur in a 100-foot radius, causing havoc all around you. This spell can also destroy buildings, and will rattle your enemies. It’s hard for people to stand and fight when they can’t actually stand!
- Earthquake requires the use of a pinch of dirt, a piece of rock, and a lump of clay. This creates seismic activity which affects an area of 100 feet.
- Enemies caught in the Earthquake must roll for a Dexterity save. If they fail this save, they are knocked prone.
- This spell can create large fissures in the ground, as well as causing 50 bludgeoning damage to any buildings in the area.
Third Best: Feeblemind (Level 8 Spell)
Sometimes, you are forced to make a decision that is morally questionable. That may involve stealing, kidnapping, or even ending a life, if the situation calls for it. Another dilemma you may face is a politician with access to state secrets, an opponent who learns a dangerous secret, or a creature that won’t let you pass without first answering a difficult riddle. But how do you deal with someone who may be smarter than you? The answer is Feeblemind. Using a handful of clay, crystal, glass, or mineral spheres, you can deliver 4d6 psychic damage to a target, stripping them of their intellect and personality.
- The target must make an Intelligence saving throw. If they fail, their Intelligence and Charisma are set to 1 for the duration.
- The affected target cannot cast spells, use magic items, understand language, or communicate in any way that’s understandable.
- This is useful for disabling a powerful spellcaster, interrogating opponents, eliminating rivals, or protecting certain secrets (such as the location of a hidden passage in a castle).
Best Level 9 Druid Spells
Best: True Resurrection (Level 9 Spell)
It is said that death is a part of life. But death doesn’t have to be the end of life. With True Resurrection, you can bring someone back from the dead, as long as they have been gone 200 years or less, and they didn’t die of old age. It’s an expensive ritual, requiring a dash of holy water and a pile of diamonds worth at least 25,000 GP. True Resurrection could easily be used to bring back a hero of legend (or a terrifying villain, depending on your philosophical bent).
- This spell heals all wounds, restores all hit points, cures all diseases and poisons, and removes any curses from the target.
- The spell can restore all missing organs and limbs, even creating a brand new body if it’s necessary.
- If the creature was undead, such as a vampire or lich, it is restored to its non-undead form, and loses any advantages related to the undead status.
Second Best: Storm of Vengeance (Level 9 Spell)
There comes a point in every battle when you need to turn the tides in your favor. In any outdoor battle, Storm of Vengeance will do the trick! As the name suggests, this spell will instantly summon a powerful storm that will deafen your enemies and cause chaos on the field. The longer you concentrate on this spell, the more potential damage it can do. It also doesn’t need any physical components, so you can cast it pretty much anywhere as long as you are outdoors.
- In the first round of Storm of Vengeance, targets must roll a Constitution save. Upon failing, the target takes 2d6 thunder damage, and becomes deafened for 5 minutes.
- If you continue to concentrate on this spell in subsequent rounds, you can call acid rain, send down targeted lightning strikes, conjure hail, even create devastating winds that chill your enemies to the bone.
- At the highest levels of concentration, Storm of Vengeance can disperse fog or poison gas, extinguish flames, and render any ranged weapon attacks impossible.
Third Best: Foresight (Level 9 Spell)
You can never really know how a plan is going to turn out. Unless, of course, you can cast 9th level magic and have the use of a hummingbird’s feather. Foresight allows you to touch a creature and gain knowledge about its immediate future. While it won’t go into great detail about specific events, you will be able to glean enough information to avoid being surprised. This is especially useful when planning a complex battle or a heist.
- The target of the spell that will gain Foresight cannot be surprised, and has an advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
- Other creatures will gain a disadvantage on attack rolls for the duration of the spell.
- The spell doesn’t reveal the far future, just the immediate. For example, you can sense that a credible threat is coming soon, but you most likely won’t see exactly what that threat is.
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