I am still playing be the 2014 rules, so if something has changed ...
I want a druidic spell that is comparable to Find Familiar, except this allows the Druid to link to a plant, which will most often be a tree as will become plain in a moment.
The link allows the Druid to see down from the branches of the plant to the ground underneath, so a large oak with a wide spread would give a large area to view. If something comes into the area, the druid can see and hear the being, and even understand them if the druid speaks the language being spoken.
The druid will be able to influence the tree to sway and bend a bit, possibly creating a method of communicating back to the folks under the tree.
I also want the tree to have a strengthening benefit to the druid, although I don't know what that looks like right now. Maybe the tree provides a few HP, or the tree is able to store druidic spell energy, or some sort of tangible benefit to the character.
The big picture is this tree is a druids familiar, so how does that work for the druid? The spell would be first level, ritual, and requires the ceremony at the tree. So the druid couldn't link to a tree in advance of arriving to the tree. And if the spell is used to create a link to a new tree, the link to the previous tree is lost.
Let me know what you think, particularly how the tree's energy can be used to give a benefit to the druid.
I think this reads more like a need for a homebrew Druid Circle than one or more spells. If you had a Circle dedicated to plant-life then you could give it a selection of bonus spells with Find Familiar summoning a Plant based creature such as a Twig Blight, Needle Blight or Vine Blight. You've got spells within the published Druid selection such as Guardian of Nature, Awaken, Commune with Nature and Druid Grove which could give some of the bits you might be after but you could also look to tweak existing spells such as changing Meld with Stone to Meld with Plant. You could also tweak Wildshape to allow you to adopt Plant Forms as well as animal forms and maybe even use the CR buff that Circle of the Moon druids get to allow you to shift into some slightly more powerful and useful plants.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
I like thinking about summoning a nature familiar.
I think I might want to find some "good" varieties too.
I also like your thought about this becoming a Circle, but to tell the truth, I don't have the bandwidth to create a subclass that has good balance. I'd start loading everything I want into it and then it would like like a Mary Sue. But, Thanks for the ideas. I'm sure there is a way to leverage the rules to make something work.
Well I am far too much of a technophobe to try doing this through the homebrew creator but how about this as a subclass (I've put in a spoiler to save space):
The Dryadic Circle:
Deep in the wild woods, where the veil between the material realm and the Feywild is particularly thin, a Dryad may cultivate a circle of Druids that share its love of the woodlands. Doing so empowers the Druids but in turn empowers the Dryad and enables it to protect a greater area of woodland than it would normally be able to do. Druids in service to a Dryad typically number no more than three at a time and occasionally one of them may venture forth after experiencing something akin to "wanderlust". It is said that a Dryad may perceive the world through the eyes of the Druids in it's service and it uses the Druids travels to experience the world vicariously but all Druids return to the Dryads grove periodically to regal the Dryadic Circle with tales of far flung places. These Circles are often mistaken for Hag covens or other more nefarious cabals or cults and the Dryadic Circles rather reclusive nature doesn't do much to alter this opinion.
At level 2:
You are infused with the ability to cast certain spells, once you gain access to a 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.
You gain access to the following spells: Level 1 spells: Ensnaring Strike and Find Familiar. Level 2 spells: Barkskin and Spike Growth. Level 3 spells: Plant Growth and Speak With Plants. Level 4 spells: Grasping Vine, Guardian of Nature. Level 5 spells: Anti-life Shell and Commune with Nature.
When casting Find Familiar you can expend a use of Wild Shape during the casting to summon a plant based creature of up to CR1 to act as your familiar. (at time of writing eligible plant creatures would be: Awakened Shrub, Myconid Sprout, Shrieker, Twig Blight, Needle Blight, Vegepygmy, Violet Fungus, Gas Spore, Myconid Adult, Vine Blight and Thorny Vegepygmy).
Also at level 2 you gain the ability to raise protective wards that often resemble branches, leaves and roots sprouting form you. When you are hit by an attack or you fail a saving throw, you can use your reaction to gain a +2 bonus to your AC against that attack or a +4 bonus to that saving throw. When you use this feature, you can't cast spells other than cantrips until the end of your next turn. (this is the same ability/reaction that War Wizards get).
At level 6:
You gain the ability to Meld with Plants. This functions as per the Meld With Stone spell (including damage for it being destroyed etc) but requires a plant large enough to hold you instead of stone. You can Meld with Plants once per Long rest or by expending a Wild Shape whilst casting the Meld with Stone spell.
Additionally for the purposes of other abilities and spells, such as Ensnaring Strike, the "vine like whip" created by the Thorn Whip Cantrip now counts as a Simple Weapon.
At level 10:
By expending two uses of Wild Shape you can Wild Shape into form of the Great tree (from the Guardian of Nature spell) and you may cast spells as normal while in this form.
At level 14:
You can Tree Stride as a Dryad. Once on per turn, you can use 10 feet of her movement to step magically into one living tree within reach and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be large sized or bigger.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
I am still playing be the 2014 rules, so if something has changed ...
I want a druidic spell that is comparable to Find Familiar, except this allows the Druid to link to a plant, which will most often be a tree as will become plain in a moment.
The link allows the Druid to see down from the branches of the plant to the ground underneath, so a large oak with a wide spread would give a large area to view. If something comes into the area, the druid can see and hear the being, and even understand them if the druid speaks the language being spoken.
The druid will be able to influence the tree to sway and bend a bit, possibly creating a method of communicating back to the folks under the tree.
I also want the tree to have a strengthening benefit to the druid, although I don't know what that looks like right now. Maybe the tree provides a few HP, or the tree is able to store druidic spell energy, or some sort of tangible benefit to the character.
The big picture is this tree is a druids familiar, so how does that work for the druid? The spell would be first level, ritual, and requires the ceremony at the tree. So the druid couldn't link to a tree in advance of arriving to the tree. And if the spell is used to create a link to a new tree, the link to the previous tree is lost.
Let me know what you think, particularly how the tree's energy can be used to give a benefit to the druid.
I think this reads more like a need for a homebrew Druid Circle than one or more spells. If you had a Circle dedicated to plant-life then you could give it a selection of bonus spells with Find Familiar summoning a Plant based creature such as a Twig Blight, Needle Blight or Vine Blight. You've got spells within the published Druid selection such as Guardian of Nature, Awaken, Commune with Nature and Druid Grove which could give some of the bits you might be after but you could also look to tweak existing spells such as changing Meld with Stone to Meld with Plant. You could also tweak Wildshape to allow you to adopt Plant Forms as well as animal forms and maybe even use the CR buff that Circle of the Moon druids get to allow you to shift into some slightly more powerful and useful plants.
I like thinking about summoning a nature familiar.
I think I might want to find some "good" varieties too.
I also like your thought about this becoming a Circle, but to tell the truth, I don't have the bandwidth to create a subclass that has good balance. I'd start loading everything I want into it and then it would like like a Mary Sue. But, Thanks for the ideas. I'm sure there is a way to leverage the rules to make something work.
Well I am far too much of a technophobe to try doing this through the homebrew creator but how about this as a subclass (I've put in a spoiler to save space):
The Dryadic Circle:
Deep in the wild woods, where the veil between the material realm and the Feywild is particularly thin, a Dryad may cultivate a circle of Druids that share its love of the woodlands. Doing so empowers the Druids but in turn empowers the Dryad and enables it to protect a greater area of woodland than it would normally be able to do. Druids in service to a Dryad typically number no more than three at a time and occasionally one of them may venture forth after experiencing something akin to "wanderlust". It is said that a Dryad may perceive the world through the eyes of the Druids in it's service and it uses the Druids travels to experience the world vicariously but all Druids return to the Dryads grove periodically to regal the Dryadic Circle with tales of far flung places. These Circles are often mistaken for Hag covens or other more nefarious cabals or cults and the Dryadic Circles rather reclusive nature doesn't do much to alter this opinion.
At level 2:
You are infused with the ability to cast certain spells, once you gain access to a 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.
You gain access to the following spells: Level 1 spells: Ensnaring Strike and Find Familiar. Level 2 spells: Barkskin and Spike Growth. Level 3 spells: Plant Growth and Speak With Plants. Level 4 spells: Grasping Vine, Guardian of Nature. Level 5 spells: Anti-life Shell and Commune with Nature.
When casting Find Familiar you can expend a use of Wild Shape during the casting to summon a plant based creature of up to CR1 to act as your familiar. (at time of writing eligible plant creatures would be: Awakened Shrub, Myconid Sprout, Shrieker, Twig Blight, Needle Blight, Vegepygmy, Violet Fungus, Gas Spore, Myconid Adult, Vine Blight and Thorny Vegepygmy).
Also at level 2 you gain the ability to raise protective wards that often resemble branches, leaves and roots sprouting form you. When you are hit by an attack or you fail a saving throw, you can use your reaction to gain a +2 bonus to your AC against that attack or a +4 bonus to that saving throw. When you use this feature, you can't cast spells other than cantrips until the end of your next turn. (this is the same ability/reaction that War Wizards get).
At level 6:
You gain the ability to Meld with Plants. This functions as per the Meld With Stone spell (including damage for it being destroyed etc) but requires a plant large enough to hold you instead of stone. You can Meld with Plants once per Long rest or by expending a Wild Shape whilst casting the Meld with Stone spell.
Additionally for the purposes of other abilities and spells, such as Ensnaring Strike, the "vine like whip" created by the Thorn Whip Cantrip now counts as a Simple Weapon.
At level 10:
By expending two uses of Wild Shape you can Wild Shape into form of the Great tree (from the Guardian of Nature spell) and you may cast spells as normal while in this form.
At level 14:
You can Tree Stride as a Dryad. Once on per turn, you can use 10 feet of her movement to step magically into one living tree within reach and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be large sized or bigger.
Wow! Thanks Rob. I'm going to digest this and see how well it works "as-is"