Let's Build a Symbiosis Druid From Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt (with MonkeyDM)

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Druids are traditionally envisioned as serene protectors of the wild, calling upon the forces of nature and blending harmoniously into quiet groves. But what if your connection to the wild was more violent? What if it was physically carved into your very flesh?

With Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt Player Pack released on D&D Beyond, we thought we'd give you some tips on how to build and play this monster of nature.

I'm calling them monsters for two reasons. First, look at the art. Second, the Circle of Symbiosis Druids wield Osteomancy — the blasphemous art of controlling skull and spine, turning your enemies' skeletons into your playthings — to sever their own limbs and replace them with pieces of the natural world, transforming into walking, raging fusions of bone, bark, antler, and raw fury.

If that sounds like your kind of Druid, you're in the right place.

Let's break down its mechanics and explore a ready-to-play frontline build you can bring to your table tonight!

Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt cover art

Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt Player Pack

Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt Player Pack is a Soulsborne-inspired 5e supplement of eldritch horror and brutal survival. This accursed book includes:

  • 7 Gothic subclasses spanning bone-craft, heretical hunts, and eldritch symbiosis
  • 9 trick weapons & firearms that transform mid-combat to adapt to the hunt
  • 2 unique species: the porcelain Manikin and the eldritch-maddened Scourgeborne
  • 16 blasphemous spells fueled by Osteomancy
  • Luyarnha, a dying gothic city torn between the Radiant Church, the godless Scions, and factions rotting in the shadows

Circle of Symbiosis Features

Marcelo Orsi Blanco Circle of Symbiosis Druid art

Circle of Symbiosis Druids completely flip the script on the standard playstyle of the class, trading backline spellcasting for aggressive, self-regenerating melee combat. Every level of this subclass deepens your fusion with nature — and more importantly, your capacity to unleash it violently.

Nothing says "nature" like the array of corpses left in your wake to be used as fertilizer.

Level 3: Circle of Symbiosis Spells

From the moment you enter this circle, your spell list expands with a very important cantrip, and a full suite of Osteomancy spells.

Shillelagh. You always have the Shillelagh spell prepared. This allows you to rush in melee and smack your enemies across the face. But more on that in the Wickerbone Behemoth section.

Extra Prepared Spell. The base Druid spell list has phenomenal crowd control and Concentration spells, but lacks meaningful ways to do burst damage. A necessary tool to thrive in melee, just ask the Paladin of your team. Your expanded list adds those in. Some of my favorites include Osseous Impalement, which deploys bone spikes to impale up to four creatures at once, and Displacing Maw, which conjures an eldritch maw to devour your enemies and relocate them on the battlefield. And finally, as a metal fan, Iron Maiden of Bones, allowing you to encase an enemy of your choice in a torture device made of bones, removing them from the battlefield and inflicting serious damage.

Roman Kuzmin Maiden of Bones. A lovely spell, guaranteed fun for the whole family.

Level 3: Grafted Powers

You choose one of three passive boons that represent the nature fragments grafted onto your body. They meaningfully shape your playstyle so be careful which one you grab, because you can't change it later, and they improve at later levels.

Bear Back. You count as one size larger when Grappling and get a bonus Strength checks. This is the grappler's pick.

Deer Head. You get a bonus to Perception checks. Simple, reliable, and useful across every adventure.

Goat Hooves. It's now harder to knock you Prone, and you get a Climb Speed. If you enjoy running around the battlefield, this is for you.

Level 3: Wickerbone Behemoth

This is the feature that defines the subclass.

As a Bonus action, you expend one use of Wild Shape to awaken nature's wrath for 10 minutes and turn into an undying melee monster.

Your arms become Clubs under the effect of Shillelagh, using your Wisdom modifier for attack and damage rolls. You can still cast spells in this form, but did you really pick this subclass because you wanted to tickle your enemies with magic? No, we're here to make them return to the earth the old fashioned way.

That being said, Druids are notorious for having bad AC, so in order to survive longer than 1 round in combat, you are also under the effect of the Barkskin spell with a couple of added benefits.

Firstly, you get regeneration equal to half the damage taken since your previous turn, so a well-positioned Symbiosis Druid becomes a nightmare to kill. One caveat: the regeneration requires you to have taken damage to trigger. So you can't cheese it by waiting in the backlines.

Secondly, when a creature hits you with an attack, bone shards spray out, and each creature of your choice within 5 feet takes damage.

Combine all of these elements, and even though you're a Druid, standing in the middle of a pack of enemies is suddenly exactly where you want to be.

Level 6: Extra Attack

In line with other Gish subclasses, you can now attack twice whenever you take the Attack action and can choose to replace one of those attacks with a cantrip. This opens up combos with cantrips like Thorn Whip to drag those pesky ranged enemies to you and greet them with a right hook square across the jaw.

Level 10: Nature's Wrath

Your natural fury becomes more permanent. You're now always under the effect of Barkskin, even outside Behemoth form. While this feature is not ideal for your romantic life, it is phenomenal for adventuring.

But you know what is ideal for dating? The fact that when you transform into your Behemoth form, your size becomes Large…

and you gain Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage if you attack.

Combine this transformation with Bear Back, and you're "grappling" Huge creatures with ease. And without it, you are a bigger target, taking aggro away from your squishier allies, so it's a win-win.

This damage resistance is as powerful as it looks: taking the Attack action is what you're doing almost every turn anyway, so you're passively halving physical damage for the majority of combat, unless you're taking Fire damage, which will burn the Resistance away. But your GM would never use that, right?

Level 14: Briarheart

The name is a nod to an older game that starts with "sky" and ends with "rim".

Your heart is gone, replaced by the rage of the natural world itself. While in Behemoth form, you gain the Nick mastery property in addition to the base Slow property of your Club-sized arms. Because Clubs have the Light property, what this really means is that you get an extra attack every turn for free, and can free up your Bonus action.

And that's great timing, because the second part of this feature is the following: if you take the Attack action on your turn, you can take a Bonus action to cast an Osteomancy spell. This means you can swing thrice and fire an Arm Cannon, drop an Osseous Impalement, or hurl someone across the room with Displacing Maw — all in a single turn.

Whoever designed this subclass deserves a raise. Wait… I did the design...

Hey D&D Beyond, can we talk?

Now let's put this entire build into practice.

Tisiphone, the Grafted

Maximiliano Moretto Tisiphone, the Grafted

Born into the Circle of Symbiosis rather than converted to it, Tisiphone never had a choice. From a tender age she was subjected to the agonizing rites that transformed her into a living instrument of the Circle's will: grafts sewn into her flesh before she was old enough to refuse them. As she grew, the line between her humanity and the beast within blurred, until the child she once was became unrecognizable even to herself. Now she walks the city of Luyarnha as an undercover agent, her monstrous nature concealed beneath a veil of human skin, hunting her next targets on behalf of a Circle she was never given the chance to leave. Whether she reclaims what was taken from her, or becomes the tool she was always meant to be, remains to be seen.

Built for the Thick of It

Thornweald is built to be in the center of a fight — soaking damage, regenerating it, punishing attackers with her splinter aura, and controlling the field with Osteomancy spells. She is not a backline caster.

Her build prioritizes Wisdom for spell attacks and save DCs, with strong Constitution to maximize Hit Points. Both matter here: she plans to get hit, and her regeneration scales better when she has a large HP pool to buffer against burst damage.

Playstyles

The Symbiosis Druid's strength is the tension between its two modes: the battlefield-controlling Druid and the feral melee subclass. You can play this Druid in many ways, relying on an entirely different set of spells for each, but here are some suggestions:

The Bone Tide. Stay in Behemoth form and wade into the enemy's back line. The splinter aura punishes every hit, regeneration keeps you upright, and your Shillelagh arms tear through multiple attacks per round. Use Thorn Whip as your cantrip substitution to damage and drag opponents closer before landing a finishing blow. Best paired the Bear Back graft and the Grappler feat.

The Impaler. Open with Osseous Impalement to pin up to four creatures Restrained and aloft. Shift into Behemoth form and use your Extra Attack to demolish those who can't escape. And if an enemy is giving you trouble in melee, you can always use Displacing Maw to chew him and spit him out in front of your Paladin, who happens to have a Divine Smite with the bad guy's name written on it. I recommend the War Caster feat to pull this off consistently.

The Nightmare. Lead with Dread Scarecrow to Frighten and Prone every enemy within 30 feet. Walk into the now-helpless cluster in Behemoth form, swinging with Advantage. If you want to make sure they never escape you can also drop a Plant Growth or Forest of Dread. And suddenly you're not trapped in here with them, they're trapped in here with YOU. The Tough origin feat is useful on all these builds, but especially on this one, alongside Crusher.

Tell Your Story

Will you be a true believer who embraces the grafts, or a survivor of the Circle's insanity? Either way, nature has claimed you now. What you do with that is up to you.

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