Review: Circle of Wildfire

Things were looking bad for Borric. He stood rigid, paralyzed by ghoul venom, as the monsters surrounded him and prepared to finish him off.

Fortunately, Borric had a friend – a druid who followed the Circle of Wildfire. In a burst of searing flame, Karsh summoned a primordial spirit behind the ghouls, who cried out in pain and surprise. The spirit then flew to Borric and teleported him away, leaving more burned ghoul flesh in its wake.

This was a (slightly dramatized) scene from a recent session in our campaign. I’m playing the role of Karsh, a by-the-books firenewt detective. Having hit level 5, I can report that the Circle of Wildfire, released last year in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for Dungeons & Dragons, is a fantastic option for the druid.

You get 10 additional prepared spells, focused on fire damage and healing. (I recommend taking the Elemental Adept feat to get the most out of these.) The MVP for me so far has been Scorching Ray, normally exclusive to wizards and sorcerers, which does more damage than the typical druid options Moonbeam and Flaming Sphere.

The Wildfire Spirit is the star of the show, though. The damage it does with its fire attacks isn’t huge, unless you can catch multiple enemies in its teleportation ability, but it does provide an efficient way to use your bonus action. You won’t use it in every combat – it takes an action to activate, so you may need to prioritize important spells like Conjure Animals or Spike Growth – but it also helps with exploration and Nightcrawler-ing your way though obstacles and enemies.

I haven’t had a chance to play around with the higher level abilities, which increase your fire damage and healing options. However, they seem useful and I can’t wait to try them out. And besides, the lower level abilities are more important for any subclass, since they’re the ones people will be using the most.

In conclusion – the Circle of Wildfire is a fun way to unleash your inner Trogdor while enjoying the healing, summoning and battlefield control options the core druid brings to the table. Highly recommended.