Adopted Trash Panda

Adventurers League Build Guide

A 1st-20th level build guide suitable for Adventurers League play

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 Adopted Trash Panda
Adventurers League Build Guide

A 1st-20th level build guide suitable for Adventurers League play

Writing: David Friant and Doug Vehovec

Editing: Doug Vehovec
Layout and Design: Doug Vehovec

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers
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By Request
One of our most favorite kinds of characters to cre-
ate are the ones our Patreon supporters ask for our
take on. This one had to be a forest gnome, and it
has to have levels as a Circle of the Shepherd druid.
That's pretty specific, so we leaned into the role-
playing and character theme.
— Nerdarchy
Druid is our starting character class. This character
was raised by raccoons! They learned to live, sur-
vive and even thrive by learning and adopting the
behavior of their trash panda parents. And as a for-
est gnome they could learn the ways of the raccoon
even more adroitly through the ability to communi-
cate simple ideas with them. With their druidic vo-
cation, this gnome will be a vetrenarian of sorts for
their "parents" and extended family of small beasts.

PHB +1 Proficiencies
Xanathar's Guide to Everything Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields (druids
will not wear armor or use shields made of metal)
The forest gnome is in the Player’s Handbook
making Xanathar's Guide to Everything the best Weapons: Clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces,
choice for our Adventurers League character's +1 quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings, spears
resource. Our forest gnome druid is going to lean Tools: Herbalism kit
all the way into their sylvan nature and go follow
the Circle of the Shepherd. Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
Skills: Animal Handling, Medicine
Languages: Druidic
Step-by-step character build guide
Each step of the way, this guide will show you the
Step 3 — Ability Scores
choices made that are significant to this character
build. Options that are of particular importance to STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
this character’s effectiveness are in bold.
12 (+1) 13 (+1) 14 (+2) 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 12 (+2)

Step 1 — Race Step 4 — Background

Forest Gnome
Race option from the Player's Handbook. Forest
gnomes are sly and secretive inhabitants of deep
sylvan forests. Within their woodland homes they
befriend fey and small beasts, and keep wary eyes
from hidden places on the comings and goings
around their homes.
A forest gnome's Intelligence doesn't have a direct
benefit for a druid, but this race and class fit so
well together we're sure playing this character will
be a lot of fun. And their Dexterity will be useful
because, well, it's Dexterity.
Urchin
Skills: Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Tools: Thieves' tools, disguise kit
Languages: None
This character grew up in a large city park. Whether
a misfortune of the Feywild or something more
traumatic, this adolescent forest gnome lived among
the small furred beasts of the city. Adopted by a
kindly raccoon couple, our gnome learned to scav-
enge and steal, quickly vanishing in the narrow al-
leys and secret paths only the trash pandas know of
stretching like a spider web across the city.

Proficiencies
Step 5 — Class and Level Progression
Armor: None
Weapons: None Level Class Gains

Tools: None 1 Druid Druidic, Proficiences —

Herbalism Kit, Animal Handling,
Skills: None Medicine, Spellcasting
Languages: Common, Gnomish 2 Druid Wild Shape, Druid Circle —
Circle of the Shepherd, Speech
of the Woods, Spirit Totem
Step 2 — Class
3 Druid
1st level
4 Druid Feat — Ritual Caster (Wizard):
Start with Druid

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(Find Familiar, Tenser's
Floating Disc), Wild Shape
Improvement
5 Druid Spell — Conjure Animals
6 Druid Mighty Summoner
7 Druid Spell — Conjure Woodland
Beings
8 Druid Ability Score Improvement —
Wisdom +2, Wild Shape
Improvement
9 Druid
10 Druid Guardian Spirit
11 Druid Spell — Conjure Fey
12 Druid Feat —Healer
13 Druid • Kobold Cavalry Encounter
14 Druid Faithful Summons
15 Druid • Druid Circle from the Beyond
16 Druid Ability Score Improvement —
Wisdom +2
17 Druid
18 Druid Timeless Body, Beast Spells
19 Druid Ability Score Improvement —
Wisdom +2
20 Druid Archdruid
Conclusion
This totally on-brand forest gnome Circle of the
Shepherd druid come loaded with utility, with
powerful abilities, skills and spells to heal and pro-
tect allies, summon forest guardians, and syner-
gize with animals to scout, keep watch, harass foes
and more. Plus they've got their own super special
forest friend — a wizard's familiar they can talk to
and cast spells through.
Final Ability Scores
STR DEX CON INT WIS
12 (+1) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 20 (+5)
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields (druids
will not wear armor or use shields made of metal)
Weapons: Clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces,
quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings, spears
Tools: Disguise kit, herbalism kit, thieves' tools
Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
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Skills: Animal Handling, Medicine, Sleight of Hand,
Stealth
Languages: Common, Druidic, Gnomish
Further Resources
Character creation, build, roleplaying tips and
backstory elements are discussed in a video on
the Nerdarchy YouTube channel here. In the video
description, you can find a link to this character
build on D&D Beyond.
D&D Encounters
• The Roper Wrangler Monster BFF Series
• The Hag's Apprentice Encounter
— Contains encounter ideas, new monsters and
a new druid Circle option for players
Other Character Guides
• Mind Breaker Paladin Character Build Guide
• Zen Archery Master Character Build Guide
• Sewer Ninja Tortle Character Build Guide
• Nature Possessed Warforged Character Build Guide
• Scaled Skald Character Build Guide
• Quick Strike Character Build Guide
• Night Parade Character Build Guid
• Combat Medic Character Build Guide
• Ultimate Duelist Character Build Guide
• Justicar: Path of Justice Barbarian Character
Build Guide
• Ultimate Spell Duelist Character Build Guide
• Extreme Adventurer Character Build Guide
• Whirling Devish
CHA
• Library Agent Character Build Guide
12 (+1)
• Shadow-Haunted Rogue
• Flesh Render Character Build Guide
• Stealer of Souls (Hexadin) Character Build Guide
• Spell Savant Character Build Guide
• Master of Undeath Character Build Guide
• Champion of the Wild Characters Build Guide
For Dungeon Masters
An NPC inspired by this Patreon-requested char-
acter build offers a whole bunch of interesting
avenues for an encounter. This urban druid vetre-
narian would more than likely be good-natured,
or simply selfish at worst. But a mischievious sort
who takes things too far could certainly be a dan-
gerous threat with hordes of furry beasts under
their command, ready to rob the city blind and
disappear into the streets and parks.
Trash Heist. Reports of stolen food and pilfered
trash could lead adventurers on quite an investiga-
tion. When they discover small furry animals as the
culprits, there's certainly something strange go-
ing on. The city's wildlife is starving and an urban
druid is coordinating efforts to gather food for the
beast community.
Alternatively, a series of medicinal herb robberies
turns out to be a gaze of raccoons under the guid-
ance of a mastermind urban druid who definitely
wears a domino mask. But it turns out an altruis-
tic druid is tending the health of the city's wildlife
at a beast clinic and supplies are low. Desperate
times call for desperate measures.
Meet the Parents. The adventurers rescue a cap-
tive who tends the animal community in the city's
alleys and parks. Escorting them back home brings
a big surprise when the parents turn out to be a
kindly raccoon couple.
Sly Shepherd
Medium humanoid, neutral
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 45 (7d8 + 14)
Speed 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS
12 (+1) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 18 (+4)
Saving Throws Intelligence +2, Wisdom +6
Skills Animal Handling +6, Medicine +6, Sleight of
Hand +4, Stealth +4
Senses passive Perception 14
Languages Common, Druidic
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Speech of the Woods. Beasts can understand the
sly shepherd's speech, and the sly shepherd can
decipher the noises and motions of beasts. Most
beasts lack the intelligence to convey or understand
sophisticated concepts, but a friendly beast could
relay what it has seen or heard in the recent past.
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This ability doesn’t grant the sly shepherd friendship
with beasts, though they can combine this ability with
gifts to curry favor with them.
Raccoon Spirit. As a bonus action, the sly shepherd
can magically summon an incorporeal spirit to a point
they can see within 60 feet. The spirit creates an
aura in a 30-foot radius around that point. It counts
as neither a creature nor an object, though it has the
spectral appearance of a raccoon.
The raccoon spirit is sly and smart. Each creature
of the sly shepherd's choice in the aura when the
spirit appears has a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth)
and Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks and can't be
tracked except by magical means. A creature that
receives this bonus leaves behind no tracks or other
traces of it's passage. In addition, the sly shepherd
and its allies have advantage on Wisdom (Perception)
checks while in the aura.
As a bonus action, the sly shepherd can move the
spirit up to 60 feet to a point they can see. The spirit
persists for 1 minute or until the sly shepherd is inca-
pacitated. Once this feature is used, the sly shepherd
can't use it again until they finish a short or long rest.
Mighty Summoner. Beasts conjured by the sly shep-
herd are more resilient than normal. Any beast
summoned by the sly shepherd gains the following
benefits:
The creature appears with more hit points than nor-
mal: 2 extra hit points per Hit Die it has. The damage
from its natural weapons is considered magical for
the purpose of overcoming immunity and resistance
to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Actions
Multiattack. The primeval guardian makes two attacks
CHA with its hooked cane.
12 (+1) Hooked Cane. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 +2) bludgeoning damage.
Summon Raccoons (Recharge 5-6). The sly shepherd
summons 1d4 raccoons (badgers). Summons raccoons
appear in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of the
sly shepherd and act as its ally. Summoned raccoons
remain for 1 minute, until they or the sly shepherd dies,
or until the sly shepherd dismisses them as an action.
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