This might sound obvious to some of you but I feel like I discovered something amazing I completely missed before.
I just played a one-shot with my group and I decided to try making a healer druid (circle of dreams) because both of those are things I have never tried before. I went for a fairy because they get some innate spellcasting that seemed to complement my class pretty well, also the flying is pretty cool too.
The characters I have played before are mainly damage focused and as a result each turn in combat is mainly just positioning and using whatever attack roll is available. The only casters I have played before have been a Warlock and a sorcerer. Both suffer from relying on a single cantrip for most damage (Fireblast and eldritch blast), especially warlocks because of the very few spell slots, so I rarely have too many good options for maximizing damage in combat. I always felt like my best option was always to use the same attack each round. It made it feel like I had no real options at all.
Druids on the other hand have so many options it's insane. At least the fairy/druid combo I made. I had access to fairy fire and enlarge/reduce once without using spell slots from the racial feat. Balm of the summer court from the circle of dreams gave healing without using spell slots. The spells were varied and fun since I focused on a lot more than just dealing damage in combat and I had loads of spell slots to use them all. Wild shape was a nice option to have even thought I barely used it since all my casting was more useful most of the time. It was just great. Can't wait to try something similar out in a real campaign instead of just a one-shot.
Have anyone else had a similar experience with a specific class or archetype? Would love to hear about other hidden gems like this
I used to run a monk/cleric devoted to a goddess of mercy and healing.
Maximized mobility, carried no weapons, and would only fight to protect the wounded and weak. The entire sect would only fight defensively anyway, no lethal damage, no going after enemies if they fled, total pacifist otherwise.
It was fun. She would dash across a battlefield, bouncing off of combatants, heal her party and never get touched.
I ended up rejiggering the idea into a home brew class and expanding on it in my own world. The Fists of Kwannon. No spells that weren't healing or protective in some way, gestalted monk and cleric, only with anything that wasn't healing, protective, or could be used for those goals removed. Added in an extra vow to the sect that they could never refuse to heal on request, but anyone requesting their services must cease fighting and quit the field after being healed.
I ran one in a multi year campaign (it ended up going most of a decade from start to finish, though there were gaps in it) all the way to 20 as a DMPC. Despite DMPCs not usually being fun, she was a blast.