Circle of the Völva

In lands more than a little distrustful of magic, there are practitioners of shamanism, witchcraft, and prophecy.

The völvur are vital to the health and wellbeing of the community, yet they stand apart from it. The name “völva” means “carrier of the magic staff ” and, indeed, a völva is never seen without her seiðstafr, as much a badge of office as a druidic focus. Typically, a völva wanders the land, often in the company of an entourage of young disciples, dispensing wisdom and aid as it is needed, and always for a price from those who can afford to pay. But there have been examples of völva who forwent a nomadic lifestyle. At times, a powerful völva aligns with an ambitious jarl, casting her magics in aid of the harvest and the raid alike. While it is true that the ranks of the völvur are drawn predominantly from only one sex, it is not entirely unheard of for young men to be drawn to the secret knowledge of the circle. To be a völva is to stand at a nexus on the Tree of Life between the mortal world and the powers and planes beyond.

Seiðstafr

You’ve created a magic staff called a seiðstafr as part of your study of shamanic magic and prophecy. This staff can serve as a spellcasting focus for your druid spells.

If you lose your seiðstafr, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to magically create a replacement.

This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous seiðstafr.

You can cast the augury and detect thoughts spells without expending a spell slot and without preparing the spells, provided you use the seiðstafr as the spellcasting focus. You can cast a spell from the seiðstafr in this way a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Galdr

Starting at 2nd level when you choose this circle, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. When you finish a long rest, roll two d20s and record the numbers rolled. You can replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls. You must choose to do so before the roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only once per turn.

Each foretelling roll can be used only once.

When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused foretelling rolls.

Spá

At 6th level, rather than assuming a beast form, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape to temporarily become a minor Norn able to weave a single thread on the tapestry of fate. You may use this feature to declare an action or movement you just performed did not happen, allowing you to take a different action or make a different movement. You can do this after the result of your activity is known, so long as it didn’t result in your unconsciousness or death. Only a single action or movement can be nullified. The mixing of future and present is disorienting, so you gain one level of exhaustion after using this ability.

Stormr

At 10th level, you gain the ability to manifest a small storm in an area nearby. As an action, provided you use the seiðstafr as the spellcasting focus, you can cause a storm to form in a 10-footradius sphere centered on a point you can see within 60 feet of you. The storm lasts for one minute and disappears early if you use this feature again or if you dismiss it as a bonus action.

Whenever a creature moves into the sphere or starts its turn there, that creature takes 1d8 thunder or lightning damage (your choice), unless the creature succeeds on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. A creature can take this damage no more than once per turn.

While the storm sphere persists, you cannot use your Seiðstafr feature to cast augury or detect thoughts.

Seiðr

At 14th level, your command of seiðr grants you the ability to mentally project your consciousness across the branches of the World Tree, glimpsing other places and other realms.

When you finish a short rest, you can cast one of the following spells, without expending a spell slot or requiring material components: dream (with you as the messenger), scrying, or contact other plane.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.