Circle of the Twili

Glistening purple and fiery orange erupt overhead in the dim light shining from two points in a very different sky. What were you doing before this? Can you remember? Why are you here- Where are you? The questions fill your brain and empty it at the same time. The etherial air making thoughts both easy and hard to grasp. The whole experience is making you queazy and a bit grey as you stumble forwards, away from the green patch of grass you were unceremoniously dropped onto. Grey trees tipped with a rainbow flurry of leaves spin as your mind surges, and pale grey-purple grasses tickle your limbs, before your mind finally falls blank and the black, oozing darkness takes hold.

"Hello, child. Welcome to Ṧero."

---

 

Druids whisked away to the realm of Ṧero, the Twilight Forest, are rarely ever seen again. The realm is dangerous without a guide, and often fatal to those brave, or stupid, enough to embark from their drop point alone.

Individuals get chosen for this realm by means of assisting a spirit of twilight, or displaying characteristics that peak the interests of it's natural inhabitants. Those that prove not worthy of the realm are purged from it, lost in an unknown void of black, thick nothing, while those who work to entertain the realm's proctors get enlightenment, and mysterious powers that both keep them connected to this forgotten realm, and aid them in battle.

Few druids have abandoned their circles to take on the powers of Twilight willingly, as these powers twist the form of the bearer, causing growths and oddities to appear when a spell or ability is failed. As such, and due to the lesser known nature of Ṧero, those who make it here usually do their best to escape unharmed and unchanged. But a special few seek to harness these powers and make them their own, usually guided by one of the Twilight's residents. These residents become lifelong companions to the Twilight druids, and aid them in shaping their powers.

Eyes of Twilight

As a druid of Ṧero, the Twilight, you can automatically tell spirits, fae, and the dead apart from others. This does not give you any indication on their allignment or nature, nor does it give you any insight on their potential masters or destination.

Twili Druids can also only discern these creatures as long as line of sight is established. As soon as the target creature steps behind something or into a building, this sense fades away.

Guidance of Ṧero

As a resident of both the corporeal plane and Ṧero, the Twilight Forest, you have a permanant guide between the two realms. The being of Twilight that served as your guide when you landed in Ṧero now serves as a life-bond with you, and will remain with you until it is permanantly forgotten or you perish.

Take on a being of Twilight with a challenge rating of 1 or less to be your life-bond. This creature will retain its stat block in the beginning and grow with you. Refer to the Creature Growth table each level for how it grows. If the creature dies in battle, it simply vanishes back to the Twilight realm to rest, and will return to your side after a long rest.

Tempestas Blessing

When selecting this circle at 2nd level, you automatically learn the cantrips Thunderclap and Shape Water. These do not count against your other druid cantrips, and can be replaced with another druid cantrip if already learned.

Shape of the Twili

Starting at level 3, a Twili Druid may use their bonus action to wild shape into creatures of the Twilight with a challenge rating of 1 or less. While in these forms, you gain the hit points and attacks of the creature, and may not cast any of your druid spells while Twili Shaped. The transformation lasts the same duration as wild shape, but the ability is a bit different, as Twili Druids are constantly connected to the Twilight Forest and it's residents, and therefore do not require seeing a creature of Twilight to shape into it.

When coming out of a twili shape, you must make a con save equal to 10 plus your modifier to see if you gain any tiny oddities to your normal form. Upon failure, a part of your form twists into the weirdness of the Twilight, and you must roll on the Tiny Oddities table to see what changes. Upon a success, nothing happens, and you retain your normal form. Oddities may not be cut away or removed, as they will always grow back. Additionally, you gain 1 level of exhaustion and for 10 minutes you may not use your Twilight Eyes ability. The exhaustion goes away after a long rest.

Additionally, while you are transformed by Twili Shape, you can use a bonus action to expend one spell slot to regain 2d6 hit points per level of the spell slot expended.

Fate of the Twilight

Starting also at level 3, you must decide between powerful, wild Twilight magic, Summoning Expertise or Enhanced Twili Shifting abilities. Each choice gives you access to powerful magic in it's own right, and every Druid of the Twilight must decide their path.

Choosing a Master

At level 3 you get to decide the path you wish to take, and must decide on a master for that path. Your DM will give you a few options for your master, who will accompany you as a fellow Druid of the Twilight until level 5, when your powers begin to manifest fully into the path you have chosen. The mentor will stay relatively out of the way, but may assist if necessary. These mentors grant smaller powers to you as their fledgling apprentice, shown on the table below.

Path	Abilities
Shifting	Because of the guidance of a mentor, your attacks in beast form count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Summoning	Because of your mentor's guidence, you start out your summoning journey with one slot to summon a twilight beast of challenge rating 1 or below per long rest.
Wild Magic	Your mentor gives you access to the ability to use a few level 1 spells on top of your normal spell slots. Each spell may be used once per long rest, and the spells you have access to are Poison Spray, Faerie Fire, and Ice Knife.

Shifter of Twilight

You may choose this path starting at level 5. Shifters of Twilight take pride in their brothers and sisters of the forest, and take the time to perfect the art of shapeshifting into the many colorful beasts you see in the sister realm. While Twilight Shifters have a favored form, they are able to use any form they take nearly equally as well. Please Note: The creatures allowed by this path are homebrew creatures of this specific realm. A full wiki with a list of these creatures can be found here. Regular WOTC creatures are not involved here.

Beast of Twilight

Shifters of Twilight are allowed to take different shapes and forms as their skills grow, but they will always have one shape they have perfected and can use nearly flawlessly. These beasts leave lasting traits on the shifter in the form of a permanantly transformed limb or added appendages, and allow the shifter expanded range of use. The shifter's "beast of twilight", or favored form, allows them to cast any magic that does not require verbal commands or physical objects while in the form straight off the bat, whereas any other form does not allow this.

Twilight Shifters are instructed to choose a beast with a challenge rating of 1 or less that does not have flight to make into their favored form, and once this form is chosen, it can never be changed except for one time after reaching level 20.

Beast Mark

You, as a shifter of the Twilight, have a silver mark that appears in a silvery hue on your forehead, between your brows. This mark signifies a fledgling shifter, and grows with your power until reaching it's final form at level 20 and with an awakening.

Twilight Forms

Starting at level 5, shifters begin being able to mold themselves into more varying shapes. The table below displays the challenge level that the shifter may use and change into the Twilight beasts from. Shifters may not use magic in these beast forms, and must abide by certain limitations, depending on their level.

Druid Level	CR	Limitations	Example
5th	1	No Fly Speed, Max Swim Speed 10ft	Twilight Wulf
8th	3	Max Fly Speed 10ft, Max Swim Speed 20ft	Shadowmare
11th	5	Max Fly Speed 20ft, Max Swim Speed 40ft	Giant Dusk Dog
14th	7	Max Fly Speed 40ft, Max Swim Speed 60ft	Night Prowler
17th	9	Max Fly Speed 60ft	Twilight Treant
20th	9	None	Guardian Twilight Hydra

Upgraded Beast of Twilight

At Level 20, your character may decide to perfect a new animal, up to CR 4 that does not have flight. This means that your perfected form changes to this new form, and, different from before, the shifter's new "beast of twilight", or favored form, allows you to cast any druid magic they have at your disposal, rather than the limited pool of spells your favored form had access to previously.

Shifter's Awakening

At level 20 a Shifter may go on an awakening quest, either alone or with their party. The DM may give you a task to complete for the Goddess of the Twilight Forest, and upon completion, your shifter gains new knowledge over themselves and the forms they change into. Once completed, the quest gives you the Ṧero's Mastered feature.

Ṧero's Mastered

You have truly become one with the Twilight Forst and it's inhabitants. The limitations on how often you may shift into any form has lifted, and you may now cast cantrips and first level spells in any Twilight form. Additionally, you may shift into creatures with a CR of 10 now, instead of just 9. The mark on your forehead has now curled over your eyebrows to form a semi-crown of silver and symbolize that you have truly joined with the wilds of the Twilight forest. You also run no risk of losing your humanoid form like fledgling shifters do, and can shift between forms without that risk.

Shifter's Penance

As a shifter, you run the risk of getting stuck in a form if you change them too often. Every time you change forms to one above a CR of 1, you must roll a 1D100 (or 5 d20s). If you land on the number 65, you will be stuck in the form you've assumed, without magic, for 3 hours in-game. If you roll this 10 times, your character will get stuck in the beast form permanantly until knocked to 0hp, and if you manage to get stuck permanantly 2 times, your character is stuck in that form until death. You can stop doing this after your awakening at level 20.

---

 

Twilight Summoning Expertise

You may choose this path starting at level 5. Summoning residents of the Twilight Forest is a tricky thing to master, and few manage it. The durration for how long you can keep their forms solid expands as your level and knowledge does, as does the level of creature you may call forth. As a result of choosing this path, you sacrifice the ability to be able to shift into anything higher than a challenge rating of 1, and may not cast spells while shifted at all. Please Note: The creatures that this subclass applies to are homebrew as well, and these abilities do not apply to regular WOTC creatures. The full wiki with a list of these creatures can be found here. Thank you.

Keeper of Twili

The keepers of the Twilight Creatures often share an extremely close bond with their life-bond partners. The life-bond partner gains a strange symbol encrested on its forehead, and you gain one on the back of your hand to match. This symbol signifies to the creatures you summon that you are a Keeper, and the brighter this bond mark glows, the more trust the summons have in your decisions. The glow is affected by how well you treat your life-bond and other summons, hastily throwing them into danger, for example, will dim the mark, while carefully summoning them for help will make it glow stronger. If the mark dims out of view, it will not return for 3 long rests, and you lose the ability to summon during that time.

Starting at level 10, you may request that your life-bond take on a different shape of any creature of twilight up to a challenge rating of 2. Your bond may only change shape once every long rest, since they must return to the twilight realm to shift their physical form. At level 15, the allowed challenge level raises to 4, and at level 20, the challenge rating of what your life-bond partner may morph into raises to 6. Following a rite of passage quest your DM gives you at level 20, you gain the ability to request creatures up to challenge level 10.

Twilight Summons

You are allowed to start summoning creatures as soon as you choose this path at level 5. Summons require focus for at least 1 turn after they've been pulled out, which means each summon takes 2 turns to fully summon. Your summons last for a number of hours equal to half your druid level (rounded down). You then lose control of the summon and it returns to the Twilight Forest unless you expend another use of this feature. You can dismiss summons earlier by using a bonus action on your turn. You automatically lose control and dismiss the summon if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die.

Summoners may summon a number of times per long rest depending on level milestones they have hit. Twilight summoners also have a range of what they are allowed to summon based on level. Starting when you choose this path at level 5, all the way up to level 20, and a bit past with an enlightenment quest. Below is a table chart of the challenge ratings of the twilight beasts you are allowed to summon, as well as the number of summons allowed.

Druid Level	Number of Twilight Summons
5th	Summoner can summon twilight beasts with a challenge rating of 1 or below 2 times per long rest, and may summon creatures of challenge rating 2 or 3 once per long rest.
8th	Summoner can summon twilight beasts with a challenge rating of 2 and below 3 times per long rest, may summon creatures of challenge rating 3 or 4 2 times per long rest, and may summon creatures with a challenge rating of 5 one time per long rest.
11th	Summoner can summon twilight beasts with a challenge rating of 3 and below 4 times per long rest, may summon creatures of challenge rating 4 or 5 2 times per long rest, and may summon creatures with a challenge rating of 6 one time per long rest.
14th	Summoner can summon twilight beasts with a challenge rating of 4 and below 4 times per long rest, may summon creatures of challenge rating 5 or 6 2 times per long rest, and may summon creatures with a challenge rating of 7 one time per long rest.
17th	Summoner can summon twilight beasts with a challenge rating of 5 and below 4 times per long rest, may summon creatures of challenge rating 6 or 7 2 times per long rest, and may summon creatures with a challenge rating of 8 one time per long rest.
20th	Summoner can summon twilight beasts with a challenge rating of 6 and below 5 times per long rest, may summon creatures of challenge rating 7 or 8 2 times per long rest, and may summon creatures with a challenge rating of 9 one time per long rest.

Summoner's Awakening

A level 20 summoner may go on a quest for their awakening. It is up to the DM and you to figure out if you'd like to drag your party on this quest or go on it alone, and how that plays out. Once you complete the quest, you gain the Ṧero's Awakened feature.

Ṧero's Awakened

Those who have become the awoken gain a special guardian creature and higher powers. Once you've become an awakened, you may select a Twilight creature up to rating 15 to watch over you. This creature will come to your aid once per 5 long rests and save you from certain death. You also gain the ability to summon a twilight creature of up to challenge rating 10 instead of 9 one time per long rest. The awakened also have the silver marks on their hand curl up their arm to symbolize that they are of the top ranks among Ṧero's summoners. Awakened summoners also do not have to spend two turns of focus on summoning their creatures, and instead may fully summon a beast with the first turn.

Summoner's Backlash

If a Twilight summoner loses their mark too often, or makes a creature of nobility or high rating go completely against it's nature, they may experience what is called Summoner's Backlash. This can do anything from strip their powers permanantly by severing their connection to make the summoner go insane, so Twilight summoners, especially those of high level, are extremely careful with what they are summoning and what they are asking that summon to do for them. Summoner's backlash is administered by the DM, if the DM determines what you have asked your summoned creature to do is too far, they will ask you to roll 2d20. If you roll a 22 or higher, than you suffer the backlash penalty, if you roll lower than a 22, you are safe for the penalty this time and simply lose your mark for the next 3 long rests.

If you do end up suffering summoner's backlash, the actual effect is also up to the DM. This is to keep the story cohesive, if it makes more sense for you to lose your powers than for you to lose your mind, then the DM can make the call.

---

 

Wild Twilight Magic

You may choose this path at level 5. Harnessing the powerful elemental magic of the Twilight Forest is a task in of itself, and oftentimes goes out of control in inexperienced hands. If choosing this path, you must be prepared for the backlash that can come with the power. As a result of choosing this path, you lose the ability to shift into anything higher than a challenge rating of 1, and may not cast spells while in your beast form.

Mark of the Twilight

Those that dabble in the wild magics of the Twilight garner marks of the twilight somewhere on their bodies. Roll a 1d8 to see what mark your character gains upon accepting this path of magic.

1d6	Mark of the Twilight
1	A single leaf shaped burn appears above your left eye.
2	Your eyes swirl with an iridescent blue, mixing with whatever color they were before like an ever-moving cloud of magic.
3	Your scars start to shine a brilliant silver, particularly on your face and neck.
4	Your hair turns bluish-purple, the mark of a Ṧero resident.
5	A silver, metallic mark appears between your brows on your forehead, and cannot be rubbed off.
6	Faint silver tattoos of vines and leaves spread across your arms and chest.

 Backlash Table

Using the Twilight's magic abilities recklessly can lead to big consequences. Every 3rd spell used off the table for twilight users ha a chance of invoking a backlash penalty. After the third use of Twilight magic, your character must make a WIS save that matches or exceeds 10 plus your WIS modifier. On a failed save, roll a 1d20 to see what backlash penalty your recklessness has incurred. If you pass, you've escaped the backlash penalty and expertly used your Twilight magic.

1d20	Backlash
1	You regain 2d10 (15) hit points.
2	You grow a long beard made of feathers that remains until you sneeze, at which point the feathers explode out from your face.
3	For the next minute, you can see any invisible creature if you have line of sight to it.
4	For the next minute, you regain 5 hit points at the start of each of your turns.
5	You turn into a potted plant until the start of your next turn. While a plant, you are incapacitated and have vulnerability to all damage. If you drop to 0 hitpoints, your pot breaks, and your form reverts.
6	You regain your lowest level expended spell slot.
7	For the next minute, all your spells with a casting time of 1 action have a casting time of 1 bonus action.
8	You glow with bright light in a 30 foot radius for the next minute. Any creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of you is blinded until the end of its next turn.
9	You are transported to the Ṧero Plane until the end of your next turn, after which time you return to the space you previously occupied or the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied.
10	A spectral shield hovers near you for the next minute, granting you a +2 bonus to AC and immunity to Magic Missile.
11	1d6 (2) flumphs controlled by the DM appear in unoccupied spaces within 60 feet of you and are frightened of you. They vanish after 1 minute.
12	For the next minute, any flammable object you touch that isn't being worn or carried by another creature bursts into flame.
13	A random creature within 60 feet of you becomes poisoned for 1d4 hours.
14	You can't speak for the next minute. Whenever you try, purple flames come out of your mouth and have a chance (1d10 with a roll of 5 or below) of catching a flammable object or creature on fire.
15	You cast Fog Cloud centered on yourself.
16	Up to three random creatures within 30 feet of you take 4d10 lightning damage.
17	You can take one additional action immediately.
18	You cast Grease centered on yourself.
19	For the next minute, roll a 1d10. If you roll a 5 or higher, you can teleport up to 20 feet as a bonus action on each of your turns, if you roll a 4 or lower you teleport 2 random creatures up to 20ft in any random direction.
20	You are frightened by the nearest creature until the end of your next turn.

While Twilight magic can be dangerous, it can be equally as advantageous. See below the list of elemental spells that these abilities give you access to. You have 4 Twilight Spellslots for each level milestone up to your 15th level, and 2 for your 19th (This means you may use 4 spells off each list between 5-15 and 2 spells off the 19 list once per long rest), and some of the spells you are given access to as a Druid of the Twilight are not normal druid spells. Again, be mindful that every 3 spells used off this table incurs a possible backlash.

Druid Level	Spells
5th	Burning Hands, Earthbind, Rime's Binding Ice, Thunderwave
11th	Call Lightning, Wall of Sand, Elemental Bane, Stoneskin
15th	Chain Lightning, Dawn, Etherealness, Whirlwind
19th	Reality Break, Meteor Swarm, Mass Heal, Ravenous Void

Magic's Awakening

At level 20, you have mildly tamed the beast that is wild magic. Your prowess and abilities allow you to somewhat control the raging magical winds flowing from Ṧero's domain. You have been recognized, and once you complete an awakening quest (either alone or with your party) assigned by the DM, you gain the Ṧero's Ensorcelled feature.

Ṧero's Ensorcelled

You have been regarded highly by Ṧero and her druid counsel and have gained the ability to better wield the magic of her realms. Those who have tamed the magic winds and proven themselves may now roll twice on the backlash table and take the preferred roll. They also now only roll once every 4 uses of the magic instead of 3.

The Wilds of the Twilight

Upon reaching level 6, the wild forests of Ṧero pull forward and reach out to you in aid, granding you 2 uses of the Goodberry and Wild Cunning spells per long rest. These spells do not affect your druid spell slots or take up any prepared slots, they are simply the support of the sister realm reaching you while you remain in the physical world.

Twilight Dreaming

Upon reaching level 8, if you decide to enter the Twilight realm in your dreams, you may gain an additional use of each spell for the next time spell between rests. additionally, you may pray to Ṧero in a short rest to gain one use of each back.

Emissary of Twilight

Starting at level 10, you shed the need to cast a spell to talk with animals. As an emissary of the twilight realm where beasts of intelligence reign, you have been granted this ability to spread the word about your sister realm, so that eventually there might be peaceful trade between the two.

If you have the spell Speak with Animals prepared, you may choose another spell for that slot, as it is no longer necessary for you to be able to speak with animals. Animals that are disqualified from speaking due to the limitations of Speak with Animals are also disqualified from being able to hold conversations with Emissaries as well, and as such, the animals must still have the intelligence to be able to understand and comprehend conversation.

Steed of Twilight

Starting at level 14, you have distinguished yourself enough in the Twilight Realm that you are now allowed to whistle a Steed of Twilight to your side. The steed will stay with you for a number of hours equalling half your level rounded down before vanishing back to the Twilight Realm, and you may call one once per long rest. The steed called is always random.

The steed is also not a combat summon. It may not fight with you or for you, and vanishes when you get into combat.

Representative of the Twilight

You have mastered your respective abilities and now have a strong connection to Ṧero and the Twilight Forest at level 14. This is when you may start to feel the tug towards the Twilight realm more often than you gave before. You may phase in and out of the Twilight realm with your phyical body 2 times per long rest, in or out of battle.

Master of Twilight

Upon reaching level 20, you become a master of the forest itself and may phase in and out of the twilight realm 3 times in battle per long rest using an action, and unlimited times outside of battle. Both the physical realm and the Twilight realm are yours to walk and explore.

Summoner of Ṧero

If you took summoning as an expertise, you are allowed to summon your party members into the Twilight realm twice per long rest. Other members simply have a hazy silver-purple light surrounding them. You may also call upon the Goddess of the Twilights, Ṧero, once every 10 long rests, to get advise or to save your party, though Ṧero will do little more than teleport you to safety, as she cannot affect the physical realm all that much.