Druids of the Circle of the Leaf acknowledge that all living things in the natural world are important, however they have chosen to devote themselves to the growth and protection of plants and their habitats. They believe that educating civilizations on sustainable agricultural and timber harvesting practices are for the betterment of everyone. And one of their most sacred duties is to safeguard unique habitats and rare plants from any destructive forces or creatures. Although most prefer to live in the wilderness, those who do live in society will always be found tending to lush, thriving gardens.
Bonus Cantrip
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you learn the Thorn Whip cantrip. If you already have this cantrip, you can choose any other druid cantrip of your choice. This cantrip doesn’t count against the normal number of druid cantrips you know.
Natural Recovery
Starting at 2nd level, you can regain some of your magical energy by sitting in meditation and communing with nature. During a short rest, you choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your druid level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
For example, when you are a 4th-level druid, you can recover up to two levels worth of spell slots. You can recover either a 2nd-level slot or two 1st-level slots.
Trunk Traveler
At 6th level, you gain the ability to transport through trees, by entering one tree and exiting from another tree of the same kind. Both trees must be living, not be separated by more than 60 feet, and be at least the same size as you. As a bonus action, you enter an adjacent tree then immediately exit from the destination tree, into an unoccupied space adjacent to the destination tree. After transporting in this way, you gain advantage on the first melee attack you make before the end of your turn.
Nature’s Embrace
By 10th level, you have become one with the wilderness. While you are in an area of abundant plant life, you can use your action to become invisible. You remain invisible until you make an attack, cast a spell, or leave the area of abundant plant life. While invisible, you leave behind no tracks or other traces of your passage, so you cannot be tracked except by magical means.
Enduring Entanglements
Beginning at 14th level, when you cast the Entangle or Spike Growth spells, they have a duration of 24 hours and no longer require concentration to maintain. Additionally, you can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot, even if they are not prepared, and regain the ability to do so again after a long rest.
I love the idea of a plant-based Druid, but this doesn't really feel like it fits the bill. Natural Recovery is great, but the Land Druid gets the same thing, so there's no real differentiating factor there. This class needs some additional spells like the Land Druid, but it also needs a unique gameplay mechanic—right now, until level 6, this is identical to the Land Druid (once you add a list of extra spells).
At level 6, you essentially get Tree Stride—which is admittedly a more powerful ability than Druids would have at this level (being a 5th-level spell), but it's a niche ability that's again not really a game-defining mechanic.
At 10th level, you get free invisibility, but there's not a ton of need for a Druid to be invisible a lot. It's useful for sneaking around, but Druids can turn into small animals to sneak almost as well.
14th level, you get some synergy with Entangle and Spike Growth. Love the synergy with these spells! That's what I was thinking a plant Druid would have. But there's not too much of a need for these to last 24 hours. Again, nice to have in a pinch, but not so nice that it defines gameplay for the Druid.
Like I said, I love the synergy with plant-related spells, so it would be great to have something like that from the start. Using spells to balance features was a good plan, but it would be useful to have a resource besides spell slots, since every Druid has spell slots. The Dreams Druid has a resource equal to their Druid level, while others use Wild Shape as their resource; you could also easily give a finite resource with uses equal to your proficiency bonus.
I like the idea of using your Wild Shape to summon plants onto a battlefield. Since you have few uses of Wild Shape, you'd want them to be pretty powerful, and have the potential for having them last more than one combat. How about you borrow some mechanics from the Wildfire Druid and have your plant summoned using a use of your Wild Shape feature? It could similarly take its turn right after yours. Give it a limited movement speed (maybe 20 feet), but have it gain features as you gain levels in the class. Like, initially, it can entangle one opponent within 20 feet of it, then later it gains the effect of Spike Growth centered on itself. Having a huge hazard that you can place on the battlefield can make this into an area denial nightmare for opponents. Druids are already one of the go-to classes for battlefield control, so going all-in on that role might make for a really useful character, and a plant-themed Druid seems to be the perfect fit for that.
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If you got a problem, yo, I'll solve it || Cast Fireball, that usually resolves it
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Druid: Circle of the Leaf
Druids of the Circle of the Leaf acknowledge that all living things in the natural world are important, however they have chosen to devote themselves to the growth and protection of plants and their habitats. They believe that educating civilizations on sustainable agricultural and timber harvesting practices are for the betterment of everyone. And one of their most sacred duties is to safeguard unique habitats and rare plants from any destructive forces or creatures. Although most prefer to live in the wilderness, those who do live in society will always be found tending to lush, thriving gardens.
Bonus Cantrip
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you learn the Thorn Whip cantrip. If you already have this cantrip, you can choose any other druid cantrip of your choice. This cantrip doesn’t count against the normal number of druid cantrips you know.
Natural Recovery
Starting at 2nd level, you can regain some of your magical energy by sitting in meditation and communing with nature. During a short rest, you choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your druid level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
For example, when you are a 4th-level druid, you can recover up to two levels worth of spell slots. You can recover either a 2nd-level slot or two 1st-level slots.
Trunk Traveler
At 6th level, you gain the ability to transport through trees, by entering one tree and exiting from another tree of the same kind. Both trees must be living, not be separated by more than 60 feet, and be at least the same size as you. As a bonus action, you enter an adjacent tree then immediately exit from the destination tree, into an unoccupied space adjacent to the destination tree. After transporting in this way, you gain advantage on the first melee attack you make before the end of your turn.
Nature’s Embrace
By 10th level, you have become one with the wilderness. While you are in an area of abundant plant life, you can use your action to become invisible. You remain invisible until you make an attack, cast a spell, or leave the area of abundant plant life. While invisible, you leave behind no tracks or other traces of your passage, so you cannot be tracked except by magical means.
Enduring Entanglements
Beginning at 14th level, when you cast the Entangle or Spike Growth spells, they have a duration of 24 hours and no longer require concentration to maintain. Additionally, you can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot, even if they are not prepared, and regain the ability to do so again after a long rest.
I love the idea of a plant-based Druid, but this doesn't really feel like it fits the bill. Natural Recovery is great, but the Land Druid gets the same thing, so there's no real differentiating factor there. This class needs some additional spells like the Land Druid, but it also needs a unique gameplay mechanic—right now, until level 6, this is identical to the Land Druid (once you add a list of extra spells).
At level 6, you essentially get Tree Stride—which is admittedly a more powerful ability than Druids would have at this level (being a 5th-level spell), but it's a niche ability that's again not really a game-defining mechanic.
At 10th level, you get free invisibility, but there's not a ton of need for a Druid to be invisible a lot. It's useful for sneaking around, but Druids can turn into small animals to sneak almost as well.
14th level, you get some synergy with Entangle and Spike Growth. Love the synergy with these spells! That's what I was thinking a plant Druid would have. But there's not too much of a need for these to last 24 hours. Again, nice to have in a pinch, but not so nice that it defines gameplay for the Druid.
Like I said, I love the synergy with plant-related spells, so it would be great to have something like that from the start. Using spells to balance features was a good plan, but it would be useful to have a resource besides spell slots, since every Druid has spell slots. The Dreams Druid has a resource equal to their Druid level, while others use Wild Shape as their resource; you could also easily give a finite resource with uses equal to your proficiency bonus.
I like the idea of using your Wild Shape to summon plants onto a battlefield. Since you have few uses of Wild Shape, you'd want them to be pretty powerful, and have the potential for having them last more than one combat. How about you borrow some mechanics from the Wildfire Druid and have your plant summoned using a use of your Wild Shape feature? It could similarly take its turn right after yours. Give it a limited movement speed (maybe 20 feet), but have it gain features as you gain levels in the class. Like, initially, it can entangle one opponent within 20 feet of it, then later it gains the effect of Spike Growth centered on itself. Having a huge hazard that you can place on the battlefield can make this into an area denial nightmare for opponents. Druids are already one of the go-to classes for battlefield control, so going all-in on that role might make for a really useful character, and a plant-themed Druid seems to be the perfect fit for that.
If you got a problem, yo, I'll solve it || Cast Fireball, that usually resolves it