Circle of the Lost

Death is a part of life. Sometimes even entire species become extinct as part of the unforgiving cycle by which new life evolves. However, when such great and tragic losses occur in the natural world—especially when they are caused by the short-sightedness of so-called “civilized” folk—it is often harder for the spirits of the lost to find their final rest. You are one of a select few druids called to speak for these spirits and, when necessary, balance the scales by avenging their deaths. While druids in general consider Undead to be abominations, and the typical member of your circle feels the same about corporeal Undead, you do not see incorporeal Undead in the same way. You believe that such souls, persisting beyond the demise of the flesh, are merely lost on their way to the next stage of their existence. Sometimes, what keeps them on the mortal plane is unquenched rage—and in your experience, their wrath is often justified.

Shade Familiar

At 2nd level when you choose this circle, you learn the find familiar spell as a druid spell and can cast it as a ritual. When you cast find familiar, you can choose for your familiar to take the form of the undead monster called a shadow instead of one of the normal forms (your GM has statistics on shadows). A shadow summoned as your familiar is Tiny instead of Medium, and its alignment is Neutral instead of Chaotic Evil.

Like most other incorporeal Undead that druids of this circle summon with their primal magic, a shadow conjured with this feature is usually the spirit of a fallen animal rather than that of a Humanoid.

Skull Talisman

Starting at 2nd level, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to transform the intact skull of any creature that lived in the wilderness into a special druidic focus called a skull talisman. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest.

In addition, while your skull talisman is on your person, you can use your Wild Shape feature as a bonus action, and you can use Wild Shape to transform into certain kinds of Undead instead of Beasts. At 2nd level, the only Undead you can change into with this feature is a shadow, but your options expand as you gain levels, changing to include specter at 6th level, will-o’-wisp at 9th level, Ghost at 12th level, and wraith at 15th level. If you use a wraith’s Create Specter action while in wraith form, any specters you create vanish into nothingness when you stop being a wraith.

Your skull talisman crumbles to dust if you die, or if you perform the ritual again to obtain a new skull talisman.

Miasmic Aura

At 6th level, while your skull talisman is on your person, you and any Undead of your choice within 10 feet of you each gain certain special benefits:

• Each Undead has advantage on saving throws against becoming charmed, frightened, or turned.
• It gains a bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
• Whenever it hits with a melee attack, it deals additional necrotic damage equal to your proficiency bonus.

Gifts of the Departed

Beginning at 10th level, you gain resistance to necrotic damage, and while you are conscious, you have a flying speed of 20 feet and can hover.

In addition, whenever you reduce a living creature (not a Construct or Undead) to 0 hit points with a melee attack, one creature of your choice within the range of your Miasmic Aura can spend up to three Hit Dice to gain hit points, as if at the end of a short rest.

Spiritual Influence

At 14th level, you learn etherealness and create haunting as druid spells. You can also cast each of these spells once without using a spell slot, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a short or long rest.