How to Play Circle of the Shepherd Druid in 5e D&D

The Circle of the Shepherd made its debut in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and it really takes us back to the roots of the Druid and their peaceful lifestyle. Their connection to animals and plants is what gives this Circle the nickname the Radagast Subclass, and it’s easy to see why as you delve in deeper. 

As a member of the Circle of the Shepherd, you are the defender of nature, the Fey, and the creatures that otherwise don’t have a voice of their own. In return for their protection, these Druids will never find themselves alone—no matter where they decide to travel. Overall, this is a really refreshing Circle to play. 

How to Use This Guide

Throughout this guide, you will see a series of emojis—we use these to rank how useful a feature or ability is for your chosen class. 

✅ — A critical feature that you absolutely need in order to play your class to the best of its ability. May also provide exclusive bonuses. 

🆗 — A good feature that should definitely be considered. 

⚠️ — A weaker feature that might only work with specific builds. Definitely largely circumstantial. 

⛔ — A terrible feature that could be detrimental to your class that often weighs you down. It can also be a dump stat that is completely useless.

Why Choose the Circle of the Shepherd Druid 5e?

The Circle of the Shepherd encompasses everything that makes the Druid such an appealing class. You’re closely tied with the beasts, and Fey found in nature, becoming one with their worlds and building strong bonds that ensure you’re protected in exchange for defending them. 

You’ll be able to summon the spirits of nature that you swore to protect, strengthening them and using them to aid you in battle and taking care of allies. When you venture out into the world, your charges will always be with you, and there’s an alluring air of mystery surrounding the Shepherds. 

Surrounded by powerful spells and abilities, there’s a lot to love about this Circle. Plus, it makes for a very interesting RP perspective. However, the Shepherds see the defense of nature as their solemn duty, and this means you will need to think of a convincing reason as to why they would leave their home and the charges. 

🌿 Not sure where to start? Check out our ultimate guide to playing a Druid in 5e D&D

Using Your Spirit Totem 

Your Spirit Totem is, perhaps, the defining trait that comes with this Circle. Once you hit 2nd level and choose Circle of the Shepherd, you’ll have access to this ability. There are also three totems that you can summon.

The totems each have a radius of 30 feet, and any allies standing in their radius will receive the buffs they provide. The buff is determined by the type of totem that you summon and manifests within 60 feet of you. It’s also a Bonus Action. 

The Spirit Totem resembles the creature that you summon but is not classed as a creature. Instead, it is an incorporeal spirit. The 30-foot radius represents the aura it sheds when active, and lasts for one minute or until you are incapacitated. You get one totem for every long rest. 

The Bear Spirit is the first type of totem that you can summon. It gives your allies the strength and endurance of a bear. They also get temporary Hit Points equal to 5+ your Druid level and advantage on all Saving Throws that use their Strength bonus. This tends to be the most commonly used totem. 

Next, you have the Hawk Spirit. This gives your allies the predatory instincts of the hawk. If your ally is targeting a creature within the aura of the totem, you can use your Reaction to give them advantage on the attack roll.  Allies in the auro also get advantage on Perception checks. It’s very powerful, but it can be situational. 

Finally, there is the Unicorn Spirit. This is a defensive option that gives your allies advantage on ability checks to detect any creatures within the aura of the totem. However, the real bonus is the healing abilities it provides. It lets you heal all allies in the totem’s aura for an amount equal to your Druid level. 

As you can see, the Spirit Totems are definitely the most powerful and shining feature that comes with the Circle of the Shepherd. But it doesn’t stop there, and there are plenty of other abilities that you are going to want to take advantage of. In the next section, we take you through all of them. 

How to Play a Circle of the Shepherd Druid

Knowing how to play your class and the subclass you chose is a vital part of the game. So, how do you go about playing a Circle of the Shepherd Druid? 

There are four crucial aspects to your Circle of the Shepherd build:

• High Wisdom and Constitution modifiers 
• Knowing the basics of your build 
• Selecting a race that works well with your Circle 
• Choosing the right spells 

Choosing a Race

The Circle of the Shepherd is best in a support role, which is certainly one of the most important roles in the party. With so much time spent focused on buffing their allies, this isn’t like most Circles where we suggest Dexterity as a good bonus—it’s the opposite. With this Circle, you’re going to want to focus on Wisdom and Constitution. 

This is why we have three core races that we recommend to maximize the capability of your Circle of the Shepherd build. These are:

• Human
• Water Gensei 
• Hill Dwarf 

Now, we get to look at these races in more detail. You might be shocked to see that the classic Aarakocra isn’t recommended for this Circle because a Dexterity bonus isn’t what we’re going for here.. We’re all about Constitution as a Shepherd. 

As a half-elemental, the Water Gensei gives you a +2 Constitution and +1 Wisdom bonus to help keep you durable and enhance your casting capabilities. You can breathe underwater and are resistant to acid damage, and there are some nice water-based utility options. Shepherd of the Creatures of the Deep, anyone? 

Hill Dwarves can feel like a simple choice, but the +1 Wisdom and +2 Constitution bonus is no joke when improving your durability. They have immunity to poison, and there is also Darkvision, which always comes in handy. Dwarven Toughness also gives you +1 HP per level for a maximum of 20, which is a massive bonus for Druids.

Sticking with simplicity, a Human is also a fantastic choice. You have two floating stats that you can put straight into Wisdom and Constitution, and War Caster is a brilliant feat because it gives you advantage on Concentration saving throws when maintaining a spell. You also get the option to hold a shield while you cast, and that’s just a nice bonus to have.

🌿 Looking for another subclass: Check out our guide to the Circle of Land Druid

Knowing Your Class and Build 

Druids are the very definition of versatility, and the Circle of the Shepherd only proves that. There’s something to be said for going back to basics, and Wizards of the Coast did that well with this Druid subclass. Introduced at the same time as the Circle of Dreams, it’s interesting to see how these Circles differ from each other. 

As a Shepherd, your role is that of a summoner, which makes you party support. However, being at the back doesn’t mean you’re useless. You’re there to maintain Concentration on your summons, buff your party members, and provide vital healing that keeps the party going through even the toughest battles. You shine here. 

Ideally, you should pick your Proficiencies to be Insight, Survival, and Perception. These allow you to take advantage of your high Wisdom score and boost your support role. You also get access to the Druidic language which has some juicy RP capabilities. 

At 2nd level, you gain access to Wild Shape, providing a useful form for travel, combat, and scouting. Plus, you’re still able to summon your Spirit Totem while in Wild Shape, which makes it a much more versatile option than originally imagined. 

Spells and Cantrips

While we have an entire guide dedicated to the spells and cantrips that you get as a Druid, let’s take a look at some of the best ones for a Circle of the Shepherd Druid. 

For cantrips, we would suggest going with Druidcraft, Guidance, Resistance, and Mending. These are a great way to further back yourself up as the party support and ensure that you are always there for buffs, heals, and any repairs that the party might need during or after an encounter.   

For 1st level spells, Healing Word, Cure Wounds, and Goodberry are spells you should consider as party support and don’t take away from your Concentration. At 2nd level, Summon Beast and Lesser Restoration will allow you to help out more on the battlefield.

🌿 Discover our guide to the Druid magic items

Circle of The Shepherd Features 

The Circle of the Shepherd is the perfect party support. You’re able to summon incredibly powerful creatures and Fey that buff your party and help them reach their full potential in battle. In fact, summoning creatures is the very core of this Circle, so you’ll need to master it. 

It is the kind of Circle that presents a friendly option for those new to the Druid class, and it’s important to remember how deep your connection with animals and Fey is. You’re their natural defender, and as you will discover, this connection has the ability to save your life. 

✅Speech of the Woods (2): Allows you to constantly speak with animals—a massive help when you’re summoning beasts. It transforms the beasts into more than just buffers and attackers, they also become scouts.

However, there is an important aspect of this that is often skimmed over.  You learn Sylvan. This is the language of the Fey and probably one of the most useful languages you’ll come across. This is especially true since you can often talk Fey out of combat since they don’t usually want a fight.  

✅Spirit Totem (2): This is a bonus action that won’t cut into your spellcasting, making it both powerful and versatile and adding some fun multiclass possibilities. I went into greater detail about this earlier in the guide (make sure you check it out). There are three options for you to choose from:

• ✅Bear Spirit: Ideal for defensive moments, it boosts your party hit points to keep you safe temporarily. It is also useful when summoning multiple low-CR creatures because the hit points apply to all allies in the area. 
• ✅Hawk Spirit: This will tend to be your number one totem, providing a very nice buff for your whole party once per round. It’s especially good when you are summoning a small number of creatures and not planning to flood the battleground. 
• 🆗Unicorn Spirit: Using this before rest will give you additional healing when you cast a healing spell. You can heal allies, but you can also heal a small army of summoned creatures, which is pretty exciting. 

✅Mighty Summoner (6): This makes your summoned creatures more durable. The rules on increased Hit Points are vague, but general consensus is that it’s +2 HP per Hit Die that they have. It also turns the damage from its natural weapons into magical damage.

✅Guardian Spirit (10): between this and Mighty Summoner, you can make conjured creatures last for ages, even if you aren’t using the Unicorn Spirit to get your free heals. You can also summon twice as many creatures as the spell Conjure Animals. Hello, strength in numbers. 

There is also the added bonus that any beast or Fey that ends its turn in the aura of your summoned totem will regain Hit Points equal to half your Druid level. If you combine this with the Unicorn Spirit Totem, it becomes pretty unstoppable. 

🆗Faithful Summons (14): You cannot trigger this willingly, but if you fall unconscious, this swarm of CR 2 creatures is likely able to keep enemies at bay long enough for your allies to find and rescue you. It lasts for one hour and doesn’t require Concentration to maintain, which is part of what makes this such a unique ability. 

The Perfect Circle of the Shepherd Build

So, how do you get the perfect Circle of the Shepherd build? Well, below, we have our ideal build, so you have a good place to start.

Stats

• ⛔ Strength: Dump stat. 
• ⚠️ Dexterity: While good for AC, it can take away from Concentration. 
• 🆗 Constitution: A good way to boost your durability and Concentration. 
• ⚠️ Intelligence: Only good for knowledge skills. 
• ✅ Wisdom: The most important stat. 
• ⛔ Charisma: Dump stat. 

Races

• ✅ Human: Versatile floating stats as well as War Caster feat. 
• ✅ Water Gensei: Wisdom increase, Constitution bonus, water-based skills. 
• ✅ Hill Dwarf: Wisdom increase, a good Con boost, and natural abilities. 

Feats

• War Caster: Gives you a great advantage in order to maintain Concentration, which is especially useful for a Shepherd as they are deeply reliant on it. 
• Fey Touched: Gives you access to what is basically the Druid equivalent of Misty Step for quick teleportation when you need it.
• Resilient: Gives you a nice Constitution Proficiency that helps increase durability.

🌿 Learn more: Discover our guide to the best Druid feats

Skills

• Nature
• Perception
• Survival

Spells

Cantrips:

• Druidcraft: Manipulate small plant life, make natural effects, and read the weather.
• Guidance: Boost your party to ensure increased skill checks. 
• Resistance: You can throw this on an ally before going into combat to give them a good boost. 
• Mending: You can essentially repair broken items. 

1st Level:

• Goodberry: Create delicious healing berries that restore health. A great one to use outside of battle and have on hand for a quick top-up. 
• Healing Word: Heal a target you can see for 1d4. Increases your ability to heal at a range.  
• Cure Wounds: Nice healing effect with a Wisdom modifier.
• Animal Friendship: You can connect with creatures and form strong alliances. 

2nd Level:

• Summon Beast: You can summon an ethereal creature, choosing one of 3 forms: flying, swimming, or terrestrial. Each of them provides different advantages and traits. 
• Lesser Restoration: Offers a good range of healing effects. 
• Enlarge/Reduce: Boost your size and gain advantage on Strength saves and checks and gain an extra 1d4 damage to attacks. Or, reduce the size of your enemy, causing a disadvantage on Strength saving throws and checks.

Weapons

As for weapons, it’s the same old same old for Druids in pretty much any Circle. You will need a weapon as a Circle of Shepherd Druid because even though you are a support at the back of the party, there may come a time when an enemy corners you. Here’s a classic selection for you to look at:

• Sling 
• Staff
• Javelin
• Scimitar 

FAQs

What Is the Circle of the Shepherd?

The Circle of the Shepherd is centered around defending and protecting the natural world. Stand up as a voice for those who do not have one. They are a warden of the wilds for Fey and beasts alike, preventing hunters and monsters from killing them. 

What Book Is Circle of the Shepherd In?

The Circle of the Shepherd was first introduced in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It is a Circle that brings you back to the core of what makes a Druid—a protector that defends nature and all the creatures that live within it. Often nicknamed the Radagast Subclass, it’s certainly one of the most fun to play. 

Can Circle of the Shepherd Druids Wild Shape?

Circle of the Shepherd Druids can definitely use Wild Shape, and it fits in nicely with their theme as protectors of the wilderness. While they cannot use it to the same effect as a Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Shape remains immensely useful in scouting as well as travel and combat. 

Can You Cast Spirit Totem In Wild Shape?

Yes, you can cast Spirit Totem in Wild Shape. One of the great things about the Druid class is that there is a lot of flexibility regarding spellcasting, and this extends to the Circles as well. Spirit Totem also requires Concentration, so make sure you have enough focus and space to do so. 

To Sum It Up

We hope you enjoyed this guide to The Circle of the Shepherd and the way in which you can explore the roots of the Druid class to create something truly incredible. It allows you to reconnect with nature and all the creatures within it, acting as the protector of beasts and Fey as well as establishing strong bonds with them. Why not show us how this guide has helped enhance your D&D adventures? Make sure you drop your experiences in the comment section below so we can share in your journey.