Druid

## Section Header

### Armour

Light armour, Medium armour, Shields (Druids will not wear armour or use shields made of metal)

### Weapons

Clubs, Daggers, Darts, Javelins, Maces, Quarterstaffs, Scimitars, Sickles, Slings, Spears

### Skills

Choose two from Arcana, Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Religion, and Survival

**Druids** are primal priests of considerable power and versatility, who gain their power from the teachings of their Druid circle and their connection to nature. Tasked with the mission to be the guardians of the wilds, Druids see themselves less as masters of the natural order and more as an extension of its will.

## Abilities

Druids have dedicated their entire life to take care of the natural world, picking up various skills that may aid them in their endeavour such as an eye for changes in the environment or calming wild beasts. In addition to this, most druids are innate experts in the fields of botany and zoology, identifying various species with perfect accuracy by instinct.

When it comes to martial ability, all druids are capable of defending themselves with any tool at hand such as a knife, a sickles, or a shield and wear whatever they can make for themselves. However, no matter how dire the situation, druids will never use anything forged from a metal, believing these tools to distance people from nature.

In addition to their more mundane abilities, druids are also adept in the casting of spells created with true mana, sometimes known as "evocations." Most druid evocations are cast by speaking the magical words in a language called Druidic. Only the druids themselves are allowed to know how to speak Druidic and anyone outside Druid society that learns the language and anyone caught teaching them said language becomes marked for death, promising any Druid that slays them great honours and prestige. Druids cast their spells through a number of magical foci, such as sacred plants like eucalyptus, mistletoe, or yucca, as well as through conventional ways like staffs or totems. Like clerics or wizards, druids also know how to cast and perform rituals to aid themselves in the times of need.

Among the more formidable abilities known to druids is a form of shapeshifting known as Wild Shape. This ability allowed druids to shapeshift into any beast, including some plants, as well as several elementals. The ability to Wild Shape comes with certain limitations however. Neophytes are, for example, not experienced enough to assuming a beast capable of extensive swimming, and only with a great deal of training can druids master the form of flying creatures. The most experienced druids, known as Archdruids, can even capable of shapeshifting at will. Other druids had less common abilities. Some druids had, in addition to their wild shape, animal companions that filled some of the functions provided by wild shaping. Additionally, with sufficient experience, a druid learns how to cleans himself from necrotic mana and slow his ageing, down to a rate of approximately one tenth that of regular members of their species.

## Druid circles

Druids are divided into localised organisations known as Circles, many of which shared certain common beliefs and abilities.The leader of every Circle answers back to the Krikos order, who serves as the central body of governance and protects the society of the Druids and its primeval secrets.

### **Circle of the Shepherd**

Druids of the Circle of the Shepherd commune with the spirits of nature, especially the spirits of beasts and elementals, and call to those spirits for aid. These druids recognise that all living things play a role in the natural world, yet they focus on protecting animals and elemental creatures that have difficulty defending themselves. Shepherds, as they are known, see such creatures as their charges. They ward off monsters that threaten them, rebuke hunters who kill more prey than necessary, and prevent civilisation from encroaching on rare animal habitats. Many of these druids are happiest far from cities and towns, content to spend their days in the company of animals and the fey creatures of the wilds. Shepherd druids often go on quests to oppose forces that threaten the circles charges or to seek knowledge and power that will help them safeguard the wilds better. Wherever these druids go, the spirits of the wild are with them.

#### Speech of the Woods

At 2nd level, you learn to speak, read, and write Primordial. In addition, beasts can understand your speech, and you gain the ability to decipher their noises and motions. 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. This ability doesn't grant you any special friendship with beasts, though you can combine this ability with gifts to gain favour.

#### Spirit Totem

Starting at 2nd level, as a bonus action, you can magically summon an incorporeal spirit to a point you can see within 60 feet of you. 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 the creature it represents. As a bonus action, you can move the spirit up to 60 feet to a point you can see. The spirit persists for 1 minute or until you're incapacitated. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest. The effect of the spirit's aura depends on the type of spirit you summon from the options below.

* **Emu:** Each creature of your choice in the aura when the spirit appears each gain temporary hit points equal to 5 + your druid level. In addition, you and your allies gain advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws while in the aura.
* **Eagle:** When a creature makes an attack roll against a target in the spirit's aura, you can use your reaction to grant advantage to that attack roll. In addition, you and your allies have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks while in the aura.
* **Rapids Drake:** You and your allies gain advantage on all ability checks made to detect creatures in the spirit's aura. In addition, if you cast a spell with a spell slot that restores hit points to anyone inside or outside the aura, each creature of your choice in the aura also regains hit points equal to your druid level.

#### Mighty Summoner

At 6th level, any beast or elemental summoned or created by your spells gains the following benefits: Its hit point maximum increases by 2 per Hit Die.
The damage from its natural weapons is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming immunity and resistance to non-magical attacks and damage.

#### Guardian Spirit

Beginning at 10th level, when a beast or elemental that you summoned or created with a spell ends its turn in your Spirit Totem aura, that creature regains a number of hit points equal to half your druid level.

#### Faithful Summons

Starting at 14th level, if you are reduced to 0 hit points or are incapacitated against your will, you can immediately gain the benefits of Conjure Animals as if it were cast with a 9th-level spell slot. It summons four beasts of your choice that are challenge rating 2 or lower. The conjured beasts appear within 20 feet of you. If they receive no commands from you, they protect you from harm and attack your foes. The spell lasts for 1 hour, requiring no concentration, or until you dismiss it (no action required). Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

### **Circle of the Elements**

The Circle of the Elements works together with the wild elementals to protect the wilds from the forces of evil. These primal creatures are just as much part of the natural order of things as the animals and plants are. More so than any of the other druidic circles, the circle of the Elements embraces the chaotic nature of primal magic. They believe that this constant flux of energy is a natural thing, ready to turn itself into its components and to supply nature with anything it needs. Some of the more powerful Elemental Druids get surrounded by an aura of unrefined mana, which protects the druid during his greatest hour of need.

The Circle of elements often meet in places where elementals coalesce and where the power of a singular element can be felt in all its glory, such as on the top of a volcano, in the middle of a sandy desert, or near a cliffed coast.

### **Circle of the Land**

The Circle of the Land is made up of mystics and sages who meet frequently in sacred meetings to discuss and pass on ancient lore through their vast oral tradition. They meet within ancient circles of trees or standing stones to whisper primal secrets in Druidic tongues. The circle’s wisest members preside over their subjects as Chief Priests.

Land Druids often serve as spokespersons between the rest of druidic society and the civilised world. Druids from the Circle of the Land are often deeply entwined with the land the inhabit and the people they served, and their primal magic frequently resembles the features of the local landscape. For example, a Druid of the Land living in an swamp can summons *stinking clouds* of gas, while one living in on the coasts can *control water* around them.

### **Circle of the Moon**

Druids of the Circle of the Moon are fierce guardians of the wilds and their circle is an ancient association of druids devoted to the mastery of the Wild Shape. Gathering only occasionally under the cloak of the darkness of night in the light of a full moon to discuss news or pass on warnings, Druids of the Moon often live for weeks without seeing another druid or even simply another humanoid. Enjoying the flexibility their Wild Shape ability offer them, druids from the Circle of the Moon employ a wide variety of shapes, depending on what the situation requires, or the druid's own desire; the same druid might go one day as a thylacoleo and the following as an eagle.

The effort and dedication that Moon Druids put into into the mastery of their Wild Shape puts some monks to shame. Neophytes of the Circle usually start their training by learning how to hasten their shapeshifting abilities, and with additional training they can transform into even more ferocious beast than most druids. With experience, more advanced aspects of Wild Shape became available, such as the ability to overwhelm creatures their magical resistance or to transform into elementals. The most experienced Moon Druids have learned how to take the form of a humanoid, or improve their bodily abilities by turning their arms into claws or their legs into a fish tail.

### **Circle of Spores**

The druids of the Circle of Spores find beauty in decay. They see within mold and other fungi the ability to transform lifeless material into abundant, albeit somewhat strange, life. These druids believe that life and death are portions of a endless cycle, with one leading to the other and then back again. Death is not the end of life, but instead a change of state that sees life shift into a new form.

The Circle of Spores has an complex relationship with the undead. While they see nothing inherently wrong with undeath, which they consider to be a companion to life and death, they do believe that the natural cycle is healthiest when each segment of it is vibrant and changing. Undeath can be seen as a form of stagnation in that sense and those that seek to replace all life with undeath, or avoid passing to a final rest, violate the cycle's creed and must be put into their natural place. Because of this dogma, members of the Circle of Spores have been permanently banned from the orc citadel of Hilal.