Circle of Elders

Druids who are members of the Circle of Elders dwell deep in old forests, guarding sacred groves of elder trees. The druids’ guardianship of these ancient trees that have seen the birth and demise of entire civilizations lends them wisdom and rare magic. These druids seek nothing more than the eternal preservation of the natural world. Their magic protects their allies and grants them the might and wisdom of the world's forests all in service of nature's preservation.

Guardian Shape

Starting at 2nd level, your protection of your sacred trees has granted you a measure of their power, allowing you to adopt a form more suited to your devotion to the trees like other druids adopt animal forms. As an action you can expend one use of your wild shape to adopt a Guardian form. Your skin hardens and becomes like bark, you grow roots from your feet and you grow larger as your fortitude is bolstered by the ancient magic running through you.

When you adopt your guardian form you gain the following benefits:

• You gain 4 temporary hitpoints for each level you have in this class.
• Your size increases by one size category. i.e. medium becomes large, large becomes huge etc.
• Any speed you have becomes 5 feet unless the speed was lower.
• Your reach increases by 10 feet.
• If your armor class is less than 16, it becomes 16.

Your guardian shape lasts for a number of hours equal to your wisdom modifier, or until you lose all these temporary hit points, or until you use your Wild Shape again.

Circle Spells

Your mystical connection to the Elder Trees infuses you with the ability to cast certain spells. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain access to the spells listed for that level in the Circle of Elders Spells table.

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 Elders Spells

Druid Level	Spells
3rd	enlarge/reduce, spike growth
5th	slow, plant growth
7th	conjure woodland beings, compulsion
9th	tree stride, awaken

Ancient Adaptation

Starting at sixth level, you have learned to alter your Guardian form somewhat.

Whenever you assume your Guardian form, choose which of the following tree forms your body takes; your choice gives you certain benefits while in the form:

Thorny. Your natural armor while in your guardian form is further enhanced. Thorns grow from your bark and branches, striking enemies who dare to strike you. Whenever an enemy hits you with a melee attack, you can deal piercing damage to that enemy equal to 1d6 + your wisdom modifier, as they're impaled by thorns. 

One with the Forest. Your innumerable hours spent among the trees have given you a greater understanding of the infinite details of nature, and your guardian form reflects this deeper knowledge. When you are in a forest, you may take the hide action as a bonus action on your turn as you hide among the trees.
In addition, while you remain motionless in your guardian form, you're indistinguishable from an ordinary tree.

Nourishing Roots. The roots growing from your feet grow stronger. You can now use your roots to foster a tenuous connection to the land around you. As an action while your guardian form is active you can cast entangle or plant growth at their lowest level without expending a spell slot an amount of times equal to your wisdom modifier. After you use this form you must finish a long rest before using it again.

Bark of the Elder Tree

When you reach 10th level, your Guardian form's bark skin becomes tougher and thicker, similar to how a tree's bark gets thicker with age. This thick bark is more resistant to the crude implements that might be used to tear down trees. While in your Guardian Form, your bark skin becomes thicker and more resistant, giving you resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

Nature’s Wrath

Also at 14th level, you can use your action to cause a seed to emerge from your palm and toss it to an unoccupied space within 60 feet. The seed immediately grows into a great tree creature with the statistics of a treant (Monster Manual, page 289), except that it has a Charisma and Intelligence score of 1, and lacks the Animate Trees action. It turns into a nonmagical tree and roots itself into the earth or rock after 1 hour, when it drops to 0 hit points, or when you dismiss it as a bonus action. While the Treant is summoned, you are concentrating as if concentrating on a spell. If you lose concentration for any reason, the Treant returns to being an inanimate tree. 

In combat, it acts on its own initiative. When you summon it and on each of your turns, you can issue a verbal command for its next turn (no action required). If you issue no command, it defends itself and any plants or beasts near it.

Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

We go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door;For bole and bough are burning now, the furnace roars - we go to war!To land of gloom with tramp of doom, with roll of drum, we come, we come! - Treebeard, the Two Towers