What is Guardian of nature in 5e Dnd and how to use it best

Hello, adventurers of faraway realms and magical kingdoms. Today we are taking a deep dive into magic. Not many people talk about Guardian of Nature 5e. This 4th level of transmutation is not the strongest, but using it is always a ton of fun.

Let’s look at how to use guardians of nature and answer any questions you might have about DnD magic. 

Guardian of Nature in 5e

  • Level: 4th-level transmutation
  • Casting time: 1 bonus action
  • Range: Self
  • Components: Verbal
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

Spell description

A spirit of nature will answer your call and change you into a guardian. You can choose to become either a primal beast or a great tree. 

What is Guardian of Nature 5e, and how does it work

Let’s start with discussing the two forms you can transform yourself in when you cast this transmutation spell. 

Great tree

Your appearance starts to change, and your skin resembles bark while leaves sprout from every spot where you have hair. You gain: 

1. 10 hitpoints for the duration 

2. You get an advantage for constitution throws

3. Your Dexterity and Wisdom attacks also have an advantage

4. The ground around you for 15 feet is difficult terrain for enemies (similar to Earth tremor).

5e guardian of nature

Primal beast

Your skin is covered in beast-like fur, you start to appear feral, and you have the following advantages:

  1. You get 10 feet of extra walking speed
  2. You obtain 120 feet darkvision
  3. You can now make an STR roll with an advantage
  4. When you attack with a melee weapon, you can throw an extra 1d6 to calculate damage.

How it works

As you see, Guardian of Nature is a verbal only spell; there is no need for a material component or a somatic one. So as long as you can speak audible noises and your vocal cords and mouth are not obstructed, you can use it. 

A drawback to Guardian of Nature is that it is a concentration spell with a short duration. If the one minute is over or your concentration is broken, you will transform back to your former shape. 

Best uses for Guardian of Nature 5e

Melee combat against groups of minions

Are you being attacked by helmed horrors or a bunch of annoying quasits? The great tree gives you an extra 10 HP and makes everything around you difficult terrain for 15 feet. These two advantages can give your party an edge when fighting a group of weaker opponents. 

Multi-class druids and moon druids

Changing into a beast has a very powerful niche when you have a multi-classing hybrid druid that draws its power from STR attacks. Alternatively, moon druids can also get a nice boost from using Guardian of Nature. If they have the Giant Scorpion that has three melee attacks, each of these attacks gets an additional 1d6 dice to roll damage with. 

Guardian of nature 5e

Boost Circle of the moon

The circle of the moon has a couple of wild solid shapes that your druid might enjoy using. These are already strong, but with Guardian of Nature, you can use your bonus action to make it even more powerful. This bonus action is probably the optimal way of using the level fourth mutation for druids, as they do not have a lot STR based attacks.

Strength-based Rangers

As a strength-based ranger, you can use all the help you can get for your STR-based rolls. The Feral form of Guardians of Nature can be quite useful as a bonus action whenever you need to make a Strength-based roll for your attack and use a melee attack. 

Advice and final thoughts

The Guardian of Nature spell is a fun little ace up the sleeve for strength-based rangers and druids who want to increase the power of their wild shapes. However, this is not a powerhouse attack like moonbeam or as useful as Levitate from a creative perspective. There are much better spells to choose from than Guardian of Nature if you go for an optimal build. 

PropertyDescription
Level4th-level transmutation
Casting time1 bonus action
RangeSelf
ComponentsVerbal
DurationConcentration, up to 1 minute
SourceXanathar’s Guide to Everything
Great Tree– Appearance changes to bark-like skin and sprouting leaves.
– Gain 10 hit points for the duration.
– Advantage on Constitution saves.
– Advantage on Dexterity and Wisdom attacks.
– Creates difficult terrain (15-foot radius).
Primal Beast– Appearance changes to beast-like fur and feral features.
– Extra 10 feet of walking speed.
– Gain 120 feet of darkvision.
– Advantage on Strength rolls.
– Extra 1d6 damage with melee attacks.
ConcentrationThe spell requires concentration, and if broken, the caster transforms back to their former shape.
Best Uses– Melee combat against groups of minions.
– Multi-class druids and moon druids.
– Boosting Circle of the Moon abilities.
– Strength-based Rangers.
AdviceGuardian of Nature is a useful spell for niche builds but may not be optimal for a general character build.
Guardian of nature summary

Guardian of Nature FAQ

Is Guardian of Nature worth it?

No, unless you are making a niche build like a moon druid or a strength bases ranger, there are better spells to choose from for your 4th slots. The spell does come in handy every so often, but most of the time, there are more powerful alternatives. 

Should my ranger get Guardian of Nature? 

The only reason why your ranger should ever pick Guardian of Nature is when you have built an STR-based ranger. The primal beast form gives you an advantage on STR rolls and an extra 1d6 damage, which can come in handy sometimes. The giant tree form is fun, too, due to the difficult terrain effect, but not as useful. 

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