Best 5E Feats for Druids

by

Druids are a class that can be a lot of fun to play for the right DnD player. As deeply rooted and in tune with the will of nature as you can get, and many even consider themselves an extension of it. The neutral alignment is for a class that believes the overarching importance of keeping the natural balance in order, and while Druids are an intense and unique class to begin with since they are full casters in addition to having Wild Shape, adding the right feats in can make all the difference in creating a Druid that works for you and the party.

They gain their skills and magic either from Nature itself or a Nature Deity, and weaving in the right feats with the strengths (and limitations) .

Red d20 out of dice bag

Now that you know the names of the Feats, it’s time to get more in-depth information about how they can assist a Druid.

10. Fey Touched (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

A character is changed after being touched by fey wild magic. The abilities received due to this change are:

  • Increased Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by 1 to a maximum of 20
  • Learning the Misty Step spell
  • Learning one 1st level spell of the player’s choice from either the enchantment or divination school of magic
  • Either of these spells can be cast without expending a spell slot (once a spell has been cast, it cannot be used again until after a long rest

What is the Misty Step spell?

  • The Misty Step spell temporarily surrounds its caster in a silvery mist and teleports them up to 30 feet away into a visible and unoccupied space.
  • In order to cast this spell, the caster must have an available spell slot of either level two or higher.
  • Misty Step cannot be used as an action, a character must use a bonus action to cast this spell.
  • Casting Misty Step requires the use of special incantations, so the caster must be able to speak freely in order to cast it.

Misty Step is especially useful for Druids because it is an incantation and does not require the use of hands. This means that even when a Druid is in animal form they can still perform this spell. The ability to basically relocate in a moment is huge, and when combined with a Druid’s ability to Wild Shape, can be used in many creative ways.

Fey Touched is also a great feat that is powerful and can perfectly connect your Druid to any backstory involving the Fey Wild.

9. Telepathic (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

The Telepathic Feat opens up a character’s mind and allows them to communicate with the minds of other creatures.

What does a character gain with Telepathy?

  • A +1 level increase of either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma up to a maximum of 20.
  • Telepathy has a range of 60 feet. The character is able to speak telepathically with any creature within that range as long as they can see them.
  • Druids with this Feat can cast the Detect Thoughts spell without a spell slot.

An exceptionally powerful and useful feat, Telepathy does still have some downsides. For one, when the character is speaking to the mind of another creature it can only be in languages they already know. If the creature they are trying to communicate with doesn’t understand the language the telepath uses then they don’t understand the telepathic communication either.

Another important weakness to be aware of is that once used, Detect Thoughts can’t be used again until after a long rest.

What is Detect Thoughts?

  • With this spell, the caster is able to not only convey telepathic messages; but also to momentarily read the thoughts of any creature they can see within 30 feet. However, this ability is ineffectual if the creature has an intelligence lower than 3 or doesn’t speak any languages.
  • The effects of this spell can last for up to one minute.
  • The caster is initially only able to read the surface thoughts of the chosen creature. This spell is especially useful in interrogations where questions can bring the sought-after information to the forefront of the creature’s mind.

Non-verbal communication with animals is easy for a Druid who has spent a lot of time in the wilderness they know, love, and thrive in, but they may find many adventuring parties less inclined to communicate without breaking stealth.

8. Eldritch Adept (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

The Eldritch Adept Feat allows a character to learn one Eldritch Invocation. Characters are able to change your Eldritch Invocation every time they go up a level, but they don’t have to. There are some invocations that have prerequisites that mean they can only be used by Warlocks with this Feat.

What are some Eldritch Invocations that can Druids use?

  • Armor of Shadows: Characters gain the ability to cast Mage Armor on themselves without expending a spell slot or components.
  • Ascendant Step: Prerequisite = Character must be 9th level. The character gains the ability to Levitate without expending a spell slot or components.
  • Beast Speech: The character gains the ability to cast Speak with Animals without expending a spell slot.
  • Beguiling Influence: The character gains proficiency in Deception and Persuasion.
  • Cloak of Flies: Prerequisite: Character must be 5th Level. The character gains a bonus action that creates an aura of magic extending 5 feet around them that looks like a bunch of flies. This cloak remains until the character is either incapacitated or dismisses the cloak as a bonus action. The Cloak of Flies gives a character advantage on any Intimidation rolls, but disadvantage on any other Charisma rolls. Once it’s been used, it cannot be used again until after a short or long rest.
  • Eyes of the Rune Keeper: A character gains the ability to read all forms of writing.
  • Mask of Many Faces: This invocation grants the ability to cast Disguise Self without expending a spell slot.
  • Misty Vision: The character is able to cast Silent Image. Silent Image is essentially like throwing out a hologram. It can’t make sounds or feel anything, but the caster is able to make it walk around within the spell’s range of 60 feet.
  • Whispers of the Grave: Prerequisite: Must be 9th level. Characters are able to cast Speak to the Dead at any time without expending a spell slot.

While generally Eldritch Adept is a Warlock Feat, this does open up some really interesting story aspects for your character. Maybe they were in an area whose ecosystem was corrupted for so long that the environment changed around it and it’s now part of what is the natural balance of the area.

Or maybe the woods your Druid is in are “Old Woods” the type with Spirits, Fey, or other entities that would strike a Warlock-like pact with the right travelers, which meant finding out about these special Eldritch places rubbed off on the keepers of the area’s natural balance. It’s an interesting and versatile feat that for the Druid in particular can add a very interesting wrinkle into your character’s backstory.

7. Lucky (The Player’s Handbook)

This Feat gives a character incredibly good luck. It grants 3 luck points. Luck points can be used to roll an additional d20 for an ability check, an attack roll, or a saving throw. A luck point can also be used to roll an additional d20 when an attack roll is thrown against the Lucky character. The Lucky character can choose whether the attacker’s roll or their own roll is used against them.

The ability to reroll the DM’s dice when they critically hit you is insanely powerful, as is turning a failure into a success on any given save. There’s a reason this is the only D&D feat is consistently

Luck points are restored after a long rest, returning the 3 re-rolls to a player for their questing.

6. Fighting Initiate (The Player’s Handbook)

This Feat has a character go through martial training, after which they can select one Fighting Style from the fighter class. If they already have a Fighting Style they must select a different one, this feat cannot be used to level up a preexisting Fighting Style.

The Fighting Style can be replaced with another whenever the character reaches a level with the Ability Score Improvement feature. Considering these are usually restricted to fighters, and are part of why they are so versatile as a class, getting a little bit of fighter to go with the already impressive tool box of the Druid can go a long way towards shaping a Druid character capable of being a force to reckon with in all forms during combat.

The fighting initiate feat is one of those that works well for many classes, including the Druid.

5. Observant (The Player’s Handbook)

The observant feat increases a character’s awareness of their surroundings, which obviously is appropriate considering the name of the feat.

  • Increased Intelligence or Wisdom score by 1, up to a maximum of 20.
  • The character now has the ability to read lips as long as the language the observed creature is speaking is one that the observant character knows.
  • The Observant Feat adds 5 bonus points to the character’s passive Wisdom (Perception) and passive Intelligence (Investigation) scores.

A Druid needs the ability to communicate, to be able to gauge whether travelers are friends, foes, or trouble to the local natural world, and this feat gives them great abilities to do both in a way that makes sense. It also is easy to explain in the flavor text, in that you expect a Druid to know “the feel” of an area, and that passive perception bonus mechanically gives that ability in-game.

4. Resilient (The Player’s Handbook)

This is a very diverse and extremely useful Feat. It allows the character to choose any ability score and boost it by one point up to a maximum of 20 points. It also grants advantage for any saving throws using the chosen ability.

This is one of those feats that is just useful, allowing a Druid character to move an odd-numbered ability score to an even number to get to the next level of bonus as well as adding saving throw proficiencies that you are weak at or simply want to strengthen. Arguably, this is one of the bet ways in the game to raise a 13 Constitution to a 14, or 15 to a 16, to give you some hope against those dreaded Constitution-saving throws.

The resilient feat should definitely be on the short list for any Druids.

3. Magic initiate (The Player’s Handbook)

Magic initiate is one of the most powerful feats as it grants characters access to several cantrips and spells that aren’t normally available to every class.

First, select a class such as Bard, Cleric, Paladin, or Warlock. This Feat then allows characters to choose any 2 cantrips from that class’s spell list. Along with the cantrips, the character can also gain the ability to cast any 1st level spell from the same class’s spell list. In order to cast the spell again, a long rest must be completed.

The Magic Initiate Feat is a way to expand a character’s tool kit without having to multi-class and gives you the ability to get some really quality cantrips and a low-level spell that would otherwise be completely unavailable to the Druid.

2. Shadow Touched (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

The Shadow Touched Feat is gained by journeying through the terrifying plane known as the Shadowfell.

A character’s Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score is increased by 1 point up to a maximum of 20 points.

Shadow Touched grants the knowledge of the Invisibility Spell, along with an additional 1st level spell. The 1st level spell has to be from either the Illusion or the Necromancy schools of magic. Casting either of these spells does not require a spell slot, but once it has been cast a long rest is required before it can be cast again.

Adding invisibility and another spell to the Druid’s already impressive list of spells makes them even more powerful, and opens up a huge array of interesting roleplaying possibilities for the Druid. Did the time in the Shadowfell traumatize them, pushing them towards becoming a Druid and protector of a natural order on the Material Plane?

Were they Druids before but now a bit…touched?

This is a powerful feat that adds some powerful options to a Druid’s already outstanding tool box.

1. Mobile (The Player’s Handbook)

The Mobile Feat grants increased speed and agility.

The character’s speed is increased by 10 feet, and difficult terrain doesn’t cost extra movement when using the Dash action. When the character is making a melee attack against the creature, no opportunity attacks are provoked for that creature for the rest of the turn.

While Wild Shape can make some of these boosts less important, the feat does some very important things.

  • The feat can reduce the number of wild shapes you need to use which can be crucial at lower levels
  • Mobile’s feats still apply when using wild shape! Imagine a panther that is even 10 feet faster, doesn’t care about terrain, and can avoid opportunity attacks – and that’s just at lower levels!

Mobile is one of the stronger feats in the game and a great choice for any Druid build.

Best 5E Feats for Druids, In Conclusion

Druids are an interesting class because they’re built in such a way that you can argue they don’t need any feats to be powerful, effective, and fun, and yet the story and the additional abilities or play styles that can be spun off of them are nothing to sleep on. This list should give you plenty of ideas on the best feats to enhance your specific Druid in 5E and maybe even bring some interesting back story ideas to the table.

Other DnD Articles You May Find Interesting