Circle of the Weald

Druids of the Circle of the Weald dwell in areas where the trees grow so thick that the forest’s undergrowth is starved for life, the sunlight nearly choked out by the gnarled canopy above. Within these copses, you’ll find an order of druids who consider themselves warriors, soothsayers, prophets, and catalysts for keeping the fate of the natural world in balance. They consider their faithful to be the most devoted among those who would worship the very lands themselves. They adorn themselves with raiment of blood and bone, embracing death as a path to enlightenment, and they consider it the ultimate way to enter into true symbiosis with nature. They erect macabre effigies of sacrificial animals around their groves, further ostracizing them from society as well as other druidic circles.

As a member of this circle, your magic is influenced by the ecstatic fervor with which you celebrate nature.

Marrowbark Form

When you choose this circle at 2nd level and are transformed by Wild Shape, the beast form you choose also has the antlers of a stag (sized relative to the creature), and it is covered in tree bark and the bones of its own kind. The beast is granted a gore attack if it does not already have one as well as +1 bonus to its AC. While in this form, you may use your Wisdom bonus plus your proficiency bonus for attack rolls if it is better than that of the beast’s form.

  • Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +X to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

Alternatively, you can choose to expend a use of Wild Shape in order to instead remain in your humanoid form with the following: you gain a +1 bonus to your AC and 1d6 temporary hit points, and you can use your Wisdom bonus for attack rolls in place of Strength or Dexterity. This duration is the same as if you transformed into a beast.

Circle Spells

Your connection to the deepest wood grants you access to certain spells. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level, you gain access to circle spells related to the dying lands, viscera, and the spiritual journey of death. Choose spells from the list below.

Upon selecting a new circle spell, you always have it prepared and this spell doesn’t count against your daily prepared spells.

Circle of the Weald
Druid Level Circle Spells
3rd inflict wounds, misty step
5th fear, major image
7th blight, confusion
9th antilife shell, commune with nature

Dreamland Traversal

Your initiation with the circle has taught you how to leverage the Catharsis, and you employ it to gain insight when needed. At 6th level, you may re-enter this state by spending 8 hours of uninterrupted rest within the carcass of an animal that you’ve hunted or trapped and sacrificed yourself. The animal must be at least the same size or larger than you, and you must have another willing participant to sew or otherwise close the animal up once you are inside of it. Once inside, you focus on asking the Ancestor for guidance regarding a specific course of action you plan to take. Once this process is complete, you awake with a number of bone fragments in your hand equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of one), and you emerge from the carcass having gained an omen per the augury spell.

When events transpire pertaining to the omen delivered by the Ancestor, you can evoke one of the bone fragments as a bonus action to gain advantage on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw related to the omen’s outcome. Once used, the bone fragment dissipates back into dreamstuff. If you have at least one unused bone fragment remaining at the end of a short or long rest, a new bone fragment will materialize (up to a total maximum of your original starting number).

You may perform Dreamland Traversal once every 6 days, when any previously unused bone fragments dissipate. If your rest is interrupted or other circumstances cause this to fail, it does not count as being used, and you may try again in another 8 hours.

Wraithstone Creation

Like the elders within your circle, you’ve gleaned enough knowledge of the natural world to be able to preserve the spirits of beasts. Beginning at 10th level, you can trap the soul of a natural beast inside a piece of petrified wood or a stone carved to resemble it. This is called a wraithstone.

In order to create a wraithstone, you must spend 1 minute focusing on the beast’s spirit and transferring it into the stone. If the target creature has died within the last hour or is at or below 1/4 of its maximum hit points, the process automatically succeeds. Otherwise it must succeed a Will saving throw, in which case you cannot try again for another 1 minute. Successful creation of a wraithstone binds the creature’s soul to the stone.

While anyone can receive the benefits of a wraithstone, as an adept of the weald, you gain the following additional options when using their charges, which others do not:

  • Consult Specter. As an action, you can commune with the animal’s spirit, asking it a question regarding something it would have known or observed in life or something it can currently observe within 30 feet using truesight from beyond the grave. It answers you telepathically.
  • Imbue Senses. As a bonus action, you can call upon the spirit of the creature within to grant advantage to your next ability check, attack roll, or saving throw.
  • Siphon Fortitude. As a reaction, you can borrow from the beast’s spirit, granting yourself or a friendly creature within 5 feet of you 2d6 temporary hit points.

Additionally, as part of the Circle of the Weald, you can call upon the spirit within the stone in a way that extends its charges: in your hands, a wraithstone has twice the number of charges it normally would.

Ancestral Possession

At 14th level, you can expend two uses of Wild Shape to manifest not only the likeness but also some of the powers of the Ancestor. You grow to a height of 8 feet tall, your head becomes that of a stag, your feet become cloven hooves, and a club and shield manifest in your hands, merging whatever was previously held into your new form. You gain the following bonuses for a number of hours equal to your druid level divided by 3, rounding down:

  • Your AC can’t be less than 18 for the duration of your new form, otherwise as the barkskin spell.
  • You can speak and understand Sylvan, even if you did not previously, and can cast spells as normal.
  • Beasts, plants, and undead creatures will not attack you.
  • Your speed increases by +10 feet.
  • Difficult and hazardous terrain made up of natural organic elements such as vines, brambles, or cacti no longer slows you down or hurts you.
  • You wield a club that counts as a +3 club, and when unnatural creatures are struck by this club, they must succeed a Strength saving throw or immediately become restrained to the ground, as the entangle spell.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Warlock Grimoire 2. Authors: Wolfgang Baur, Celeste Conowitch, David “Zeb” Cook, Dan Dillon, Robert Fairbanks, Scott Gable, Richard Green, Victoria Jaczko, TK Johnson, Christopher Lockey, Sarah Madsen, Greg Marks, Ben McFarland, Kelly Pawlik, Lysa Penrose, Richard Pett, Marc Radle, Hannah Rose, Jon Sawatsky, Robert Schwalb, Brian Suskind, Ashley Warren, Mike Welham. © 2020 Open Design LLC.

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