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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with 3 New Druid Cantrips
5E D&D druid magic cantrip

Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with 3 New Druid Cantrips

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I’ve always been an avid fan of the druid class in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Whether playing a tabletop roleplaying game or MMO with friends there’s always been something I love about the notion of calling to the wilderness and having it answer in kind. In our campaign for Those Bastards! over on the Nerdarchy Live channel my character at present, Prudence, is a druid with some monk splashed in for good measure. No matter how you spin it, druids are my jam, hardcore. However, sometimes I get tired of the same old druid cantrips and I feel like there are things druids in 5E D&D should be able to do that isn’t really represented yet. As such, I’ve devised some cantrips for your favorite druid characters I think help to fill in some gaps the class currently possesses.

New druid cantrips to call on nature’s power

Blood Revenge

Necromancy cantrip

Casting Time: 1 reaction

Range: Touch

Components: S, M (a drop of blood that has been spilled within the last minute)

Duration: Instantaneous

You draw power from freshly spilled blood as a reaction either from a wound you incurred or a one incurred by a creature within 5 feet. The blood seeps into your skin, blackening the area for a moment as necrotic energy swells. You then choose a creature within 5 feet. The creature must make a Constitution saving throw as its veins blacken briefly across its body. On a failed saving throw, the creature takes 1d10 necrotic damage and it cannot recover hit points until the beginning of your next turn.

This spell’s necrotic damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).

Lightning Arc

Evocation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Instantaneous

You extend your hand and unleash a streak of lightning from your palm at a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack. This spell ignores the armor benefit of metal armor. On a hit, a creature takes 1d6 lightning damage and it cannot take a reaction until the beginning of your next turn.

This spell’s necrotic damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

Weave Plants

Transmutation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: S

Duration: Instantaneous

You choose an area of nonmagical plants you can see that can fit within a 5-foot cube. You affect the plants in the area in one of the following ways:

You instantaneously cause the plants in the area to flourish, growing rapidly 5 feet outward in all directions.

  • You instantaneously cause the plants in the area to wither, up to crumbling into ashy dust.
  • You cause the plants in the area to instantaneously bear fruit, bloom flowers or change according to their natural cycles. These changes last for up to one hour.
  • You cause the plants in the area to move, shape or otherwise shift in form for up to 1 hour. You cannot cause the plants to uproot themselves in this way.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at one time, and you can dismiss any number of these effects as an action.

What do you think?

Do you like these new cantrips for 5E D&D druids? What other classes might have these on their spell list? Do you plan to use these in your own game? We want you to sound off in the comments!

We recently started a Community Spotlight on our weekly Nerdarchy the Newsletter and we want to know what you’re up to around your gaming tables. Are you playing a druid? Did you find inspiration from one of our videos, website posts or products? Let us know! Comment on this post, tag us on social media or send us a message and share your stories and images. We love making all sorts of content for you and we want to hear about your adventures too. You get a special coupon for $9.99 when you sign up for the newsletter too. If you want to grab your own copy of this great mini you can grab a copy here.

Make sure to return to Nerdarchy for more daily content. Later, nerds!

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Steven Partridge

The quill is mightier than the sword, and the partridge quill never falls far from the pear tree. Wait, this was going somewhere. Either way, Steven Partridge is a staff writer for Nerdarchy. He also shows up Tuesdays at 8:00pm (EST) to play with the crew, over on the Nerdarchy Live YouTube channel. Steven enjoys all things fantasy, and storytelling is his passion. Whether through novels, TTRPGs, or otherwise, he loves talking about storytelling on his own YouTube channel. When he's not writing or working on videos for his YouTube channel, Steven can be found swimming at his local gym, or appeasing his eldritch cat, Yasha. He works in the mental health field and enjoys sharing conversations about diversity, especially as it relates to his own place within the Queer+ community.