I’m DMing a Planescape-y campaign, and one of my PCs is a Circle of Stars Druid. We are nearing Session Zero.
I want to make new Starry Forms available to her as we hop from plane to plane, and give her Star Map a max form cap to keep a check on it. Do you guys have any ideas for new forms or a better method? We are mostly hopping the Outer Planes, so for example, if we go to Mechanus, maybe she can identify the Metronome constellation. If we go to Mount Celestial perhaps she could find the Solar. Either of which would grant her the ability to do...something?? I struggle with homebrew, as I don’t want to seem preferential by having cool ideas for one PC over others and I don’t want to make something unintentionally game breaking.
I think this is a cool idea. Offering new options is always gonna be a bit of a power boost. Keeping a max form count is a good idea - I would force her to prepare her map, much like her spells, so that she can only bring three constellations each day. That stops her from going overboard with power and prevents her from being able to do everything. With balanced options, that doesn't really give her a ton of power - just flexibility.
For gauging power - the Archer is essentially a Spiritual Weapon, so we want to aim for continuous effects that are approximately the power level of a 2nd level spell without concentration, or maybe a 1st level concentration spell (since this form does not require concentration). I'll offer some options here, but my biggest advice is this: Don't give her options that let her invade the niche of another member of the party. For example, If you have a cleric that enjoys divination spells and likes asking for guidance from their god, maybe ignore the diviner option below. Look for areas that your party is lacking in and let the druid step up there with fun new options.
Some examples below with extremely generic names:
Speedy Form: Something that enhances mobility. An expeditious retreat without concentration is pretty nice. "When you activate this form, and as a bonus action on your subsequent turns while it lasts, you can take the Dash action." At level 10, you can say that your speed also increases by 10 while in the form.
Survival Form: Something that helps you survive personally, as opposed to general healing. I like heroism as a template: Something like 1d4+ Wis temp HP when you use this and at the start of each of your turns. Then add some other flavorful boon depending on your constellation, like advantage against fear, charm, or something.
Divining Form: An out of combat use could be cool. Augury is a fun and highly thematic spell that druids don't normally get access to. Simply allow her to expend a use to cast Augury. At 10th level, also offer the option to cast Divination.
Keep in mind that each form has an upgraded version at level 10 that you also have to account for. Usually just a numbers boost, but that may not always work.
I can come up with more if you'd like, especially if you are struggling with a particular constellation.
I’m DMing a Planescape-y campaign, and one of my PCs is a Circle of Stars Druid. We are nearing Session Zero.
I want to make new Starry Forms available to her as we hop from plane to plane, and give her Star Map a max form cap to keep a check on it. Do you guys have any ideas for new forms or a better method? We are mostly hopping the Outer Planes, so for example, if we go to Mechanus, maybe she can identify the Metronome constellation. If we go to Mount Celestial perhaps she could find the Solar. Either of which would grant her the ability to do...something?? I struggle with homebrew, as I don’t want to seem preferential by having cool ideas for one PC over others and I don’t want to make something unintentionally game breaking.
What do you guys think?
I think this is a cool idea. Offering new options is always gonna be a bit of a power boost. Keeping a max form count is a good idea - I would force her to prepare her map, much like her spells, so that she can only bring three constellations each day. That stops her from going overboard with power and prevents her from being able to do everything. With balanced options, that doesn't really give her a ton of power - just flexibility.
For gauging power - the Archer is essentially a Spiritual Weapon, so we want to aim for continuous effects that are approximately the power level of a 2nd level spell without concentration, or maybe a 1st level concentration spell (since this form does not require concentration). I'll offer some options here, but my biggest advice is this: Don't give her options that let her invade the niche of another member of the party. For example, If you have a cleric that enjoys divination spells and likes asking for guidance from their god, maybe ignore the diviner option below. Look for areas that your party is lacking in and let the druid step up there with fun new options.
Some examples below with extremely generic names:
Speedy Form: Something that enhances mobility. An expeditious retreat without concentration is pretty nice. "When you activate this form, and as a bonus action on your subsequent turns while it lasts, you can take the Dash action." At level 10, you can say that your speed also increases by 10 while in the form.
Survival Form: Something that helps you survive personally, as opposed to general healing. I like heroism as a template: Something like 1d4+ Wis temp HP when you use this and at the start of each of your turns. Then add some other flavorful boon depending on your constellation, like advantage against fear, charm, or something.
Divining Form: An out of combat use could be cool. Augury is a fun and highly thematic spell that druids don't normally get access to. Simply allow her to expend a use to cast Augury. At 10th level, also offer the option to cast Divination.
Keep in mind that each form has an upgraded version at level 10 that you also have to account for. Usually just a numbers boost, but that may not always work.
I can come up with more if you'd like, especially if you are struggling with a particular constellation.
Hope that helps!