Circle of the Hive

Few druids value the interconnections of the natural world as strongly as the members of the Circle of the Hive. These druids are fascinated by the plurality of life and the complex network of relationships that make such life possible. As such, many of these individuals choose to embrace the beauty of unity over individuality and bind their minds to teeming hiveminds of insects, learning to live in harmony with the discordant voices of its thousands of members.

As a druid of the Circle of the Hive, your connection to swarms and insects has led to you developing unique behavioral quirks and physical traits. Roll on the Hive Quirks table below, or come up with some of your own!

Hive Quirks

D6	QUIRK
1	You often refer to yourself as “We” instead of “I”.
2	If one looks closely, the surface of your eyes appear segmented.
3	You tend to attract insects regardless of your state of hygiene.
4	Every now and then, a bug will fly out of your mouth while you are talking. This is perfectly normal.
5	Your skin is always covered in stings, bite marks and scars.
6	You are industrious at all hours of the day, and have an innate talent for multitasking.

Compound Eyes

When you choose this circle at 2nd level, the swarm that accompanies you keeps a keen eye on your surroundings, alerting you to hidden dangers. You have 30 feet of blindsight. Within that range, you can see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you. In addition, you add your Wisdom modifier to initiative rolls.

Swarming Shroud

Also at 2nd level, you can call upon your hive to surround you and protect you from harm. As a bonus action, you can spend a use of your Wild Shape feature to summon a protective swarm of insects around you for 1 minute, until you are killed, or until you choose to end it as a bonus action. For the duration, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.

When you reach 6th level in this class, you gain a flying speed of 15 feet when you use your Swarming Shroud feature. This flying speed allows you to hover.

Circle Spells

Your mystical connection to your hive grants you the ability to cast certain spells. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain access to circle spells connected to insects and the swarm you carry with yourself.

Once you gain access to a circle spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell that doesn’t appear on the druid spell list, the spell is nonetheless a druid spell for you.

Circle of the Hive Spells

DRUID LEVEL	SPELLS
3rd	spider climb, web
5th	clairvoyance, gaseous form
7th	arcane eye, giant insect
9th	insect plague, scrying

Tracing Stings

At 6th level, the members of your hive aid you in battle and can help track down your foes. Once per turn when you deal damage to a creature with a spell, you can choose one of the spell's targets and deal an additional 1d8 piercing damage to it.

When you do so, you can choose to tag the creature with a member of your hive. For the next 24 hours, you always know the direction of a tagged creature, provided it is within 1 mile of you. If a tagged creature is moving, you know in which direction it is moving. A creature immune to divination magic, such as one under the effect of the nondetection spell, is immune to this feature.

You can tag a creature in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Hivemind

At 10th level, you can channel your druidic powers to induct other creatures into your hivemind. When you finish a long rest, you can choose to plant members of your hive on a number of willing creatures up to your proficiency bonus. You and those creatures can communicate telepathically between each other as long as you are within 120 feet of one another. In addition, you always know the direction of those creatures, provided they are within 1 mile of you. If one of them is moving, you know in which direction it is moving. This feature lasts until you finish another long rest.

Fury of the Many

At 14th level, you can unleash the true might of your hive. As an action, you can choose to magically agitate the insects around you, causing them to swarm in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on a point within 30 feet of you for 1 minute, until you are killed, or until you choose to end it as an action. The sphere spreads around corners, and counts as both heavily obscured and difficult terrain. You and creatures under the effect of your Hivemind feature ignore the effects of the swarm. Whenever a creature of your choice moves into the sphere or begins its turn within it, you can cause it to automatically take 3d8 piercing damage.

You can use this feature once per long rest.