If you know your Baldur’s Gate, when you recruit Jaheira into your party in Baldur’s Gate 3 there’s a good chance you’ll want to immediately turn her into a Fighter/Druid hybrid. After all, that was her class in all the previous games in the series. But because of Jaheira’s ability scores, the game’s level cap of 12, and the way multiclassing works in the 5th edition of D&D, it can be quite a challenge to realize this idea.
And while it’s definitely possible to turn Baldur’s Gate 3’s Jaheira into a somewhat effective melee warrior with access to some solid druidic magic, without respeccing she won’t be able to excel in either of those tasks. As such, this guide takes into consideration the fact that Jaheira is much older now, and as a result not as keen on exchanging blows with ogres on the front line. The resulting Jaheira build focuses on a Druid’s versatile list of powerful spells with just a splash of Fighter levels to respect her roots and make our Jaheira significantly better at ranged combat.
Companion Build Goals
To start things off, here are our general guidelines for companion builds:
Build Summary
Here’s what our Jaheira will be all about:
- Subclass
- Feats
- Multiclass
- Two levels of Fighter at character levels 2 and 3.
- Key Spells
- Important Gear
- Gloves of Dexterity
- Armour of Landfall
- The Dead Shot
- Khalid’s Gift
When you recruit Jaheira, she comes with a pair of magic swords. One of them is the Sylvan Scimitar that lets her use Wisdom for Attack and Damage rolls instead of Dexterity. You would think this suggests a playstyle where Jaheira can focus on maximizing her Wisdom score to become a better warrior. But considering Sylvan Scimitar’s measly +1 Enchantment bonus, how tricky it is to get other weapons to treat Wisdom similarly, and all the feats and class features you’ll need to make a dual-wielding spellblade work, it’s hard to see that play style as anything but a trap.
A 
Shillelagh-infused staff is the next obvious choice for a Fighter/Druid. But that puts you on the front line where you have to constantly worry about Concentration. And since you can’t infuse two weapons with Shillelagh at once, you’ll be left with a single attack per turn unless you go for something like 5 levels of Fighter. And that will leave you with only 7 levels of Druid, limiting your spell choices a lot.
Instead of all that, we’ll be making our Jaheira into an archer. She’ll be able to actually use all the ranged weapons and special arrows the game throws at you. She’ll also be able to stay in relative safety while casting her many spells, leading to much fewer Concentration checks. Her occasional bow attacks will be pretty devastating. And Fighter’s Action Surge will let her really unload on important turns.
The game suggests Circle of the Land for Jaheira; we’ll be heeding this suggestion. This is the best Druid subclass for a spellcaster. Not only does it grant us Natural Recovery that lets us cast more spells per rest, it also gives us access to some nice spells like Haste that other Druids don’t get.
And while it’s the Circle of the Moon Druids who can get the most usage out of Wild Shape, our Jaheira will still get access to this ability. While it won’t be a great way to deal damage for her, the extra Hit Points it provides will allow Jaheira to withstand some hits when things go wrong. Out of combat, the nimble cat form will help you explore various hard to reach places.
Jaheira Overview
While you meet Jaheira soon after entering Act 2, you’ll only be able to recruit her right when you’re about to enter Act 3. As such, when she joins you she’ll have enough experience banked to advance all the way to level 9 or 10.
And this is what she’ll look like before any leveling takes place:
- Race/Subrace –
High Half-Elf - Starting Class – Druid
- Abilities
- 10 Strength
- 14 Dexterity
- 14 Constitution
- 8 Intelligence
- 17 Wisdom
- 12 Charisma
- Background – Soldier
- Skill Proficiencies
- Starting Cantrips
- Starting Spells
Spells and Abilities
This section will highlight all the things we’ll be picking when raising Jaheira’s level.
Multiclass
Since we’ll be recruiting Jaheira in the later stages of the game, it doesn’t really matter when we you get her Fighter levels. But we might as well take them right away at character levels 2 and 3. Here’s what two levels of Fighter will get us:
- Second Wind
- Archery Fighting Style
- Martial Weapons Proficiency (including Shortbows and Longbows)
- Action Surge
The first level is great at making Jaheira a decent part-time archer. While the second one will also help with her Druid side too, allowing her to cast two spells per turn when necessary.
While getting two levels of Fighter is our preferred way of building Jaheira, you can also just go for a single level. This will basically exchange Action Surge for a single cast of a 6th level Druid spell per long rest. Alternatively, you can go for three levels of Fighter to unlock a subclass (our suggestion is Champion). You’ll have to pay for it with some Druid spell slots, prepared spells, and class features, but it’s not too drastic.
Subclass
Upon hitting Druid level 2, we’ll be choosing our subclass. The game suggests Circle of the Land for Jaheira and we tend to agree with it. It works really well with a spellcaster Druid: the extra spells we get from choosing our Lands will turn Jaheira into a very versatile spellcaster who can buff and heal the team, deal respectable AoE spell damage, and control the battlefield. And Natural Recovery will let her cast more spells between rests.
Feats
Because we’ll be giving our Jaheira some Fighter levels, she’ll only get two feats. But thanks to a special amulet custom-made for her, we can still work with that and even play around with some options.
Ability Improvement- At Druid level 4, we’ll be putting two extra points into Jaheira’s Wisdom. This will put her at 19, but later on we’ll use an amulet to get it all the way up to 20.
Sharpshooter/
Alert- At Druid level 8, our default choice is Sharpshooter. Not only will it allow us to deal some solid damage against easy to hit targets, it will remove low ground penalties for us. And that synergizes well with The Dead Shot – our longbow of choice for Jaheira. If you plan on using something else on her, you might want to grab Alert instead – it’s a great feat for any character.
Cantrips
Jaheira’s starting cantrips are Shillelagh and 
Thorn Whip. As an archer and a spellcaster she won’t get much use out of them. With that in mind, we’ll be grabbing some utility cantrips for her as we level her up.
Guidance will help you pass skill checks by adding a 1d4 to your rolls. 
Resistance will do the same for your Saving Throws. And finally, we’ll be getting 
Poison Spray for those rare occasions when Jaheira finds herself close to an enemy who’s hard to hit but has a relatively low Constitution score.
Land Spells
As a Circle of the Land Druid, Jaheira will get access to a number of Land spells she can choose when leveling up. These choices are completely independent from one another, so just treat them as “two extra spells.” Since some of the Lands provide spells that are otherwise unavailable to Druids, we’ll be focusing on those. Here are our choices:
- Druid level 3
- Druid level 5
- Druid level 7
- Druid level 9
Spells
On top of her Land spells that she’ll always have prepared, Jaheira will get access to the full list of Druid spells between spell levels 1 and 5. If you decide to only get a single level of Fighter, you’ll also get access to 6th level spells.
And while you should always keep your full spell list in mind, here are some choices outside Jaheira’s Land spells that will always be useful:
- 1st Level
- 2nd Level
- 3rd Level
- 4th Level
- 5th Level
It’s always worth noting that 
Enhance Leap, 
Longstrider, and 
Speak with Animals are ritual spells. This means you can cast them for free outside of combat.
Equipment
Our gear choices for Jaheira are aimed at making a decent archer out of her without neglecting her spellcasting abilities. And while she won’t have as many attacks per round as a dedicated Fighter, she’ll still be able to deal with some distant foes for you.
The main sticking point of this build is a pair of gloves you have to get way before you even meet Jaheira as an NPC. And this means that by the time you recruit her, there’s a chance you won’t have a way of getting them. If that happens, we list an alternative that’s almost as good for Jaheira. And while those replacement gloves can work better on an actual martial character, if you want to run with Jaheira and don’t have the best gloves for her, the second option can work too.
- Ranged Weapon – The Dead Shot
- This +2 longbow lowers your crit range by one and doubles your Proficiency bonus for attacks rolled without Disadvantage. It’s perfect for Jaheira, who won’t be stacking too much To Hit gear. Get it from Fytz the Firecracker in Act 3.
- Melee Weapon – Knife of the Undermountain King
- Since we’re already lowering Jaheira’s crit range, just holding this shortsword will lower it by another 1 point. Get it from A’jak’nir Jeera in Crèche Y’llek.
- Shield – Ketheric’s Shield
- Any old shield works here, but this particular one will make Jaheira better at casting spells. You loot it from Ketheric Thorm in Act 2. And with the way shields work in the game, just having it equipped while you have a bow out will still provide the AC bonus.
- Handwear – Gloves of Dexterity/Legacy of the Masters
- You really want Gloves of Dexterity for Jaheira. This pair of gloves solves all her ability score-related problems, and throws in a free +1 Attack Bonus on top of that. You get them from A’jak’nir Jeera at Crèche Y’llek.
- If you miss your chance to buy/steal the Gloves of Dexterity, you should consider using Legacy of the Masters instead. These are sold by Dammon in Act 3.
- Armour – Armour of Landfall
- A great suit of armour for spellcasting Druids – more
Plant Growth, special bonuses when traversing your plants, and even Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws. You can purchase it at Sorcerous Sundries in Act 3. Until you get it, you can use the best suit of medium armour you can find.
- Headwear – Dark Justiciar Helmet
- Found in a gilded chest inside the Gauntlet of Shar, this helmet lowers your crit range by 1 when you’re “obscured.” So basically, stick to the shadows and, when wearing the other gear suggested above, enjoy your 17-20 crits.
- Footwear – Boots of Elemental Momentum
- Sold by Lady Esther around the Rosymorn Monastery Trail, these boots make you run faster after you deal elemental damage with a spell.
- Amulet – Khalid’s Gift
- Can’t have Jaheira without Khalid. This amulet found inside Jaheira’s Basement in Act 3 will grant some nice bonuses and most importantly raise Jaheira’s Wisdom by 1, putting it at a nice round 20.
- Ring – Ring of Elemental Infusion
- This ring will add some elemental damage to your weapon attacks after you deal damage with a spell. You can loot it from Gish Umr’a’ac in Crèche Y’llek.
- Ring – Strange Conduit Ring
- Another ring found in Crèche Y’llek, this one infuses your weapon with extra psychic damage when you’re concentrating on a spell. Since our Jaheira will be doing a lot of that, it’s a good choice for her.
The Gameplan
With the way we’re building Jaheira, she’ll mostly stay back. This will let her do the whole Druid thing of covering the battlefield in Plant Growth and summoning her dryad friend through 
Conjure Woodland Being. Then, thanks to her Land spells, she’ll get some nice extra options for her Concentration spell of choice. Haste, of course, is always a great option and getting it on your Druid will free up your wizard to do something else. Alternatively, you can use 
Cloudkill, Insect Plague, or one of the many other great Druid Concentration spells.
Once that’s all taken care of, Jaheira will be able to shoot away with her bow, dealing respectable ranged damage. She’ll also be able to use all the special arrows you find during your journey. And since it always feels good to get a critical hit, Jaheira’s lower than usual crit range will lead to plenty of satisfying moments.
In those rare situations when Jaheira finds herself surrounded by enemies, don’t forget about her Wild Shape ability. It may not be as good as a Circle of the Moon Druid’s, but it’s still an extra HP pool you can use in a pinch.
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