The Arcane Athenæum

The Druid is one of the most variable classes in 5e dungeons and dragons.  The class is capable of acting as a dedicated tank, melee or magical dps, controller, healer, or focused on utility.  While the core class is powerful on its own, your chosen subclass truly defines just what kind of role you play within a party. Within this document are 5 new druid subclasses, each with a new focus and flavor.

The Circle of the Primordial Elements combines focuses on the magic of the elemental planes.  Like the elemental shamans of a certain famous MMORPG, these druids help protect the world from the chaotic dangers of the planes of water, earth, fire, and air (and simultaneously protect those planes from the world).  They learn a variable number of spells designed to both deal damage and deal with extraplaner creatures, and gain the ability to transform into elementals themselves.

The Circle of the Formless is a circle most commonly aligned with chaos and evil; members worship the Faceless Lord Juiblex, a demon lord of ooze and slime.  Their devotion to this most disgusting entity has blessed them with the ability to alter their bodies into oozing slimes and alter their shape in unnatural ways, all to help their god consume the world.

The Circle of the Grove looks to the less-mobile aspects of nature, the plants and trees that so often fall into the background.   They learn how to assume not just the shapes of beasts, but plants as well.  They learn how to rouse the very trees themselves, allowing the forest to defend itself from harm.

The Circle of Swarms has learned how so-called “hive minds” in the animal kingdom can be composed of multiple individuals and yet act as one super-organism.  These druids can not only transform themselves into swarms, but control a personal swarm organism that lives within and around the druid themself.  Inspired by the UA Ranger subclass.

The Circle of the Veil practices the dual natures of life and death. Partially inspired by celtic druids and their ability to communicate with spirits, these druids can learn cleric spells and work almost as psychopomps, ensuring that lost souls can be put to rest and gaining supernatural abilities as a result.

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Changelog:

Version 1.2 20Jul2021

Circle of the Veil

• Added the ability to create holy water as a cleric or paladin can to the Spiritual Magic feature.  Technically, the circle has access to the spell *ceremony* which can already do this, but since the PHB specifically lays out a method for doing so which does not require that spell, and some play groups certainly still allow that method, I believe a death/anti-undead druid should be able to do the same.  Not much of a power boost, just a logical change.

Version 1.1 01Jul2021

Circle of the Primordial Elements

• Altered the Primordial Wild Shape feature to improve based on only your druid level, rather than your overall proficiency bonus.  The mechanics are otherwise identical.

Circle of Swarms

• Slight alteration in the phrasing of the Storm of Minions feature.

Circle of the Veil

• Added the ability to use the Deny Death feature additional times beyond the one “free” use each long rest, if you expend a 7th level spell slot in order to use it.

Version 1.0 04Apr2021

General

• Uploaded to DMsGuild