In a devastated post-apocalyptic world, having Druids who can restore some vitality to the planet is a real asset. The Preservation druid seems to focus on healing and protecting the party while conjuring forth life from the devastated ground.
Before I get into the mechanics, I think this is a clearly desirable hero for a setting like Dark Sun, though in a way I wonder if that might clash with the setting's themes. We'll have to see how they present them.
Circle Spells:
1st: Bless, Sanctuary
2nd: Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison
3rd: Beacon of Hope, Plant Growth
4th: Aura of Life, Death Ward
5th: Greater Restoration, Hallow
This has some bangers in it - Bless is a solid workhorse, and Death Ward can be a nice insurance policy. Plant Growth is one of those spells I've heard is very useful, but I don't think I've ever seen it in play (which is likely because I haven't been in a lot of campaigns with druids. I had one in my Ravnica game before the player stepped away, but she was very conservative with spell slots, sticking largely to cantrips).
Level 3:
Preserved Land:
As a bonus action, you can expend a Wild Shape charge to create a 15-foot cube (haha, been reading so much Draw Steel that I almost wanted to say a 3-cube) originating on a point within 120 feet. It lasts a minute, and ends if you're incapacitated or die, or if you move more than 120 feet away from it. You can move the cube as a bonus action up to 30 feet.
Within the cube, nonmagical vegetation sprouts from the ground. If a creature its turn in the cube, you can give them one of the following benefits: They gain 1d4 plus your Druid Level's worth of Temp HP, or you can end a Frightened or Poisoned effect on them. (This is your choice and doesn't require any action - if a foe is there, you don't have to give them anything in it.)
Naturally, you'll want to maintain this in most fights, and probably use it primarily to bolster allies with the Temp HP. The amount of Temp HP isn't enormous, but it's a nice little buffer to keep them safe.
Student of Preservation:
You gain multiple benefits:
Frugal Casting lets you ignore material components to spells, except those that cost money or are consumed. However, if a material component is consumed, there's a 10% chance that the component isn't consumed.
This is cool, but I also wonder how often it's likely to come up: how often to people cast spells with consumed components? I doubt it happens often enough to make a 10% chance at a refund feel that impactful.
Tool Proficiency gives you, you guessed it, proficiency in a type of Artisan's Tools.
Great. Nothing huge, but nice.
Level 6:
Improved Preservation:
You gain two benefits:
Fortify Protectors gives you and allies in the Preserved Land cube a bonus to Con saves equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum +1).
This is really nice: Con saves are very common (and include concentration saves). Couple this with a Paladin's aura of protection and you could have some massive bonuses to Con saves.
Reject Desecrators gives your Preserved Land an offensive option. When the cube enters an enemy's space, and when an enemy enters the cube or ends their turn there, the enemy makes a Wisdom saving throw, taking 2d10 radiant damage on a failure and getting their speed halved until the end of their next turn, or half damage only on a success. An enemy only has to make this save once per turn.
Naturally, moving the cube to encompass your melee characters as well as the monsters they're fighting is a pretty strong move here. Also, because this can deal damage multiple times per round (just not on the same turn,) you could move this into an enemy, and then if they move out of it, have an ally with a Push weapon knock them back into it. It's decent damage at this level, though it might start to feel a bit underwhelming at higher levels.
Level 10:
Facilitated Restoration lets you cast Lesser Restoration or Greater Restoration without expending a spell slot or any spell components. You can do this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) per long rest.
This. Is. Freaking. Good. Greater Restoration is one of those spells that always feels like it prevents classes who don't have it from truly being a party's healer (even if it doesn't actually restore HP). Getting 5 of these for free every day, with no gold cost, is amazing. Will it come up all the time? Maybe not. But boy is this going to be fantastic for dealing with foes who might, say, inflict Exhaustion (which I'd bet a lot of Dark Sun monsters could do).
Level 14:
Sacrosanct Land expands your Preserved Land cube to 30 feet. Also, when a creature you can see in the area of it is hit with an attack roll, you can take a reaction to halve the attack's damage.
So, a conditional but targeted Uncanny Dodge. This is actually the kind of thing that starts to be really useful at high levels. Did the Fighter just get crit by that Colossus? This will help a whole lot.
Overall Thoughts:
I think this is probably a pretty solid healing subclass. I'm actually really happy that they're making Druids more capable healers to give an alternative to Clerics, and these features are solid. Is this the most exciting subclass? Perhaps not. But it's going to be a real solid utility player.
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