Circle of the Scorned

 

Most Druids find community, family, and safety within their Circle, but not every Circle provides the kind of power that some Druids seek. While the nature of a Circle is that of an egalitarian society, even the darkest like the Circle of Shadows, there are occasionally those who enter the Circle with individualistic ideals. Most Circles have teachings and doctrines to help bring those individuals into the fold, not every Circle succeeds. When a Druid is removed from their Circle, they are often emotionally vulnerable and lust for power that they could not have access to before. The Circle of the Scorned provides less in the ideals area of a Circle, and more in the acknowledgement that individuals should not be hampered by the rules of others.

Entering a covenant with a member of this Circle causes mutations in the Druid's natural ability to shapeshift. Centuries of Scorned have experimented on themselves to create hybridized versions of the beasts they can Wild Shape into, and honed their spellcraft to support such horrible transformations. Many believe that they can create the ultimate, most powerful versions of themselves and followers they bring in to enact personal vengeance against those who drove them into the Circle in the first place.

Level 2: Bonus Cantrip

Small examples of the Scorned Druid's augmentations comes through in their innate spellcasting. When this Circle is selected at 2nd level, you can add one of the following to your list of known cantrips: acid splash, gust, infestation, light, primal savagery, resistance, or shocking grasp. The chosen cantrip can be changed when the Druid gains a level.

Augmented Wild Shape

When you choose this Circle at 2nd level, the shared knowledge of augmentation becomes seared into your mind. When you use your Wild Shape feature as an action, you can choose one of the following augmentations to add to the creature you are transforming into. These augmentations persist as long as you are in your Wild Shape. An augmentation cannot be added onto the same creature form that it is derived from (for example: if you are Wild Shaping into an Elk, you cannot take the Elk augmentation at the same time). The augmentations create both physical and functional mutations that are obvious to all around and could be off-putting to onlookers.

These transformations, though powerful, come with irreversible drawbacks due to their violation of natural law. Damage taken from an augmentation drawback cannot be reduced by any method or feature. The drawback is gone by the end of the prescribed time, but the mental impacts on NPCs and other characters may persist past that due to the sometimes horrific nature of what they might see the Druid transform into. The drawbacks to an augmentation persist even if another form is taken using Wild Shape and drawbacks from two or more augmentations can stack if another augmentation is used before the end of an already present drawback. 

You are considered proficient in any attacks made with augmented features, unless stated otherwise by the DM. Any attacks made use the stats of the creature you Wild Shaped into, unless otherwise stated in the augmentation description.

See below for information about available augmentations: 

Eel- Insulated Skin

Prerequisite: Druid Level 2

Benefit: Grants resistance to Lightning damage. When hit by a melee attack, the Druid can use a reaction to deal 1d6 Lightning damage back to the attacker.

Drawback: The Druid takes 1d6 Lightning damage for each turn they are touching any amount of water, including rain and snow. This lasts for 1d4 hours.

Panther- Ambush Tactics

Prerequisite: Druid Level 2

Benefit: Advantage on Stealth checks used to conceal oneself in a jungle or forest environment.

Drawback: Paranoia that you are being watched and followed at all times until the end of the next long rest.

Wolf- Improved Senses

Prerequisite: Druid Level 2

Benefit: Advantage on Perception checks that utilize sight and/or smell.

Drawback: Intense desire for raw meat for 1d4 hours. Lack of meat after half the time causes aggression until need is fulfilled. May be mistaken for Lycanthropy by intelligent characters and NPCs.

Bat- Echolocation

Prerequisite: Druid Level 4

Benefit: Can use an action to expel a high pitched screech and listen for it to bounce back. Any hidden creature within a 60ft. area has disadvantage against an immediate Stealth check against being detected. On a failed Stealth check, the Druid immediately knows the creature's location. This shriek can go around corners.

Drawback: For the next 3d10 minutes, any time the Druid tries to cast a spell requiring verbal components , they must succeed on a DC 14 WIS saving throw. On a fail: the verbal component comes out as a loud screech and the spell fails. The spell slot used to cast the failed spell is wasted.

Elk- Horned Charge

Prerequisite: Druid Level 4

Benefit: If the Druid moves 20ft. in a straight line, they can make a special Charge attack against a single target as an action. On a hit, the target takes 2d6+4 piercing damage and must succeed on a DC 14 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.

Drawback: For the next 1d4 hours, the Druid must speak at their highest possible volume. When they talk or use verbal components to cast a spell, any creature within a 120ft. range immediately knows the Druid's location. Creatures within a 240ft. range have advantage on a Perception check to hear the yelling.

Snake- Poison Glands

Prerequisite: Druid Level 4

Benefit: If the Wild Shape form has a Bite attack action, that action deals an additional 1d8 damage per hit.

Drawback: When this augment drops, the Druid takes an immediate 1d12 poison damage. Additionally, there is a 66% chance that the Druid will receive the Poisoned condition for 1d6 rounds of combat.

Crocodile- Scaled Skin

Prerequisite: Druid Level 6

Benefit: While this augment is active, the Druid grows a think, scaly leather hide. Their AC cannot be lower than a 16.

Drawback: The Druid feels vulnerable outside of water. For 1d6 hours, any time they see any body of water large enough to fit their size, they have the obsessive impulse to enter that body of water and remain there. They will only keep their eyes above the water, which may subject the Druid to beginning to drown.

Fire Ant- Temperature Regulation

Prerequisite: Druid Level 6

Benefit: Resistance to Fire damage while this augment is active.

Drawback: The Druid retains belief that this augment is still active. The Druid feels great pride in this benefit, and will openly brag about it. The Druid feels an intense desire to prove that they resist fire for the next 1d6 hours to anyone they interact with.

Spider- Spinnerets

Prerequisite: Druid Level 6

Benefit: Gains a climb speed of 30ft. and can walk on walls and ceilings. Gains the ability to utilize wrist spinnerets to restrain a Large or smaller creature within a 15ft. range in a spiderweb. This ability must recharge and the Druid can roll 1d6 at the start of each turn (recharge: 5 or 6).

Drawback: Ability to walk on walls and ceilings persists after this augment is no longer active until the end of the next long rest. However, every 10ft. of movement used with this augment provides a 10% chance that the benefit immediately ends at the end of the movement. (For example, if the Druid moves 10ft., there is a 10% chance. If the Druid moves 50ft., there is a 50% chance.)

Octopus- Inky Suckers

Prerequisite: Druid Level 8

Benefit: The Druid grows suction cups on its limbs, granting advantage when attempting to Grapple a target. Additionally, once per short rest, the Druid can use a reaction to expel a cloud of ink and move 10ft. without provoking an opportunity attack. The ink cloud is functionally the same as the fog cloud spell.

Drawback: The Druid believes that some of their tentacles were lost in combat, and will make attempts to "regrow" the lost limbs. All weapon and spell attacks for the next 1d10 rounds of combat have disadvantage as the Druid slowly becomes used to having their usual number of limbs.

Owl- Silent Movement

Prerequisite: Druid Level 8

Benefit: Adds a +10 to Stealth checks for the Druid and movement does not leave a trackable trail. Druid does not provoke opportunity attacks while moving in combat.

Drawback: Outside of combat, the Druid believes that they have the ability to fly until the end of the next long rest. For the rest of combat, the Druid must use their full movement each turn if able. Opportunity attacks against the Druid have advantage.

Stirge- Blood-sucking Proboscis

Prerequisite: Druid Level 8

Benefit: Once per turn, the Druid can use an attack action to attach onto a creature and suck its blood, dealing 4d4+4 necrotic damage and regaining half of the damage number to their own HP, rounded down. The Druid cannot take other actions while attached to a creature but can concentrate on spells.

Drawback: Maintain a lust to draw and consume blood for the next 1d6 hours. NPCs and other characters are likely to mistake this bloodlust as Vampirism.

Circle Spells

The shift in your innate magic causes you to obtain magics that alter your shape or form in more ways. Along with a few talents that come with the mind, your abilities enhance as you grow in the Circle of the Scorned.

Once you gain access to one of these spells, 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.

 

Druid Level	Spells
3rd	Alter Self, Dragon's Breath
5th	Fear, Fly
7th	Greater Invisibility, Polymorph
9th	Hold Monster, Seeming

Augmented Strikes

At 6th level, any damage dealt by your attacks in Wild Shape form are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage, but only while you have an augmentation active.

Summon Augmented Companion

At 10th level, you gain the ability to attach one of your own augmentations onto a summoned creature. Using this ability, you can use an action and one Wild Shape charge to summon one beast of CR 3 or lower and attach one augmentation of your choice to it. You can use a bonus action to telepathically command your summoned creature to use its movement and take the attack, dash, or dodge action. If you do not command your summoned creature on your turn, it will act on its own directly after your turn.

The bond between the Druid and this creature has been made unstable, due to the unnatural form and method of summoning. Each time the creature takes damage, the Druid must roll a concentration check to maintain control of the summoned creature. If they fail the check, they immediately lose control of the creature until the Druid uses an action to regain command over it. When the Druid is not in control, the creature will not be able to distinguish those it saw as friends and will attack the closest creature to itself on every turn that it is not under the Druid's command.

The summoned creature persists for up to 1 hour or until reduced to 0HP, at which time it melts into a pile of viscera and goo. Any creature that touches the pile within a minute after the creature dissolves takes 1d10 acid damage. 

Monstrous Wild Shape

At 14th level, the Druid can choose to use their action and two Wild Shape charges to transform into a CR 3 or lower Monstrosity type creature. Augmentations cannot be applied to this form, but regular Wild Shape rules remain in place.