Circle of the Aurora

Circle of the Aurora

Atop the snow-capped peaks of the tallest mountains, the druids within the Circle of the Aurora watch over the the inhabitants of the polar settlements in the valleys below. From high above, these reclusive druids can summon and manipulate the light of the Aurora to illuminate towns, warn of distant threats, and help travelers navigate the arctic tundra. Although they are mostly nonconfrontational, the Circle, when threatened, will use the incandescent light of the Aurora to vaporize assailants using bursts of spectacular, multicolored plasma rarely seen outside of the planet's stratosphere.

To help dispel the rumors of being aloof and mysterious, the Circle of the Aurora descends the mountain once a year to celebrate Midwinter with the societies they watch over. During this time, they put the Aurora on full display and exchange gifts of clothing, toys, and pastries before returning to their vigil on the mountain the following morning.

Circle of the Aurora Spells

When you join this circle at 2nd level, you form a bond with the Aurora. Your link with this awe-inspiring phenomenon grants you access to additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Circle of the Aurora Spells table. Additionally, the multicolored plasma of the Aurora manifests in the magic you cast, allowing you to change the fire damage you deal with your Druid spells and cantrips into lightning damage. 

Once you gain access to one of these spells, 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.

Druid Level	Spells
2nd	burning hands, color spray
3rd	calm emotions, scorching ray
5th	fireball, hypnotic pattern
7th	locate creature, wall of fire
9th	commune with nature, flame strike

Summon Aurora

At 3rd level, your connection to the polar landscapes and the dazzling lights that watch over them has gifted you with Cold Resistance and the ability to manifest your own localized Aurora.

As a bonus action, you may expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to summon an Aurora for 10 minutes centered on a point you can see within 60 feet. The Aurora's multicolored lights shine down in a 50-foot-radius, 100-foot high cylinder. While Summon Aurora is active, it imposes the following effects:

• Upon entering, or at the start of each of their turns, all creatures in the Aurora must attempt a Wisdom saving throw, causing them to become highlighted by the Aurora until the start of their next turn if they fail. Highlighted creatures can’t benefit from being invisible. Creatures of your choice are immune to this effect.
• Creatures of your choice see the area within the Aurora as one step brighter, perceiving darkness as dim light and dim light as bright light.
• You gain the ability to cast the fire bolt cantrip. If a target of this cantrip is highlighted, the attack roll against it is made at advantage. This counts as a Druid cantrip for you and doesn't count against the number of cantrips you can prepare each day.

Summon Aurora ends prematurely if you dismiss it (no action required), are incapacitated, die, or use this feature again.

Boon of Boreal

Starting at 6th level, your strengthened connection to the Aurora distracts your enemies and comforts your allies. Your Summon Aurora feature gains the following effects:

• All creatures and objects within the Aurora are considered highlighted. Creatures who enter, or start their turn in, the Aurora's light must roll a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, they must roll all Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration at disadvantage until the start of their next turn. Creatures of your choice are immune from these effects.
• Creatures of your choice receive a bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1) on all Wisdom, Charisma, and Intelligence saving throws.

Polar Passage

Starting at 10th level, your connection to the arctic tundra gifts you and your allies enhanced survivability. You gain immunity to cold damage, as well as immunity to difficult terrain and visual obscuration caused by ice and snow.

As an action, the Aurora can protect you and your allies from the harsh effects of the surrounding environment, causing a sphere of cool serenity to emanate from you. The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and is filled with dim, multicolored light. The sphere moves with you and it lasts until you enter initiative, fall unconscious, or die. All creatures within the sphere are immune to the effects of Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold, as well as environmental effects (ex. snow, fog, rain, etc). Creatures attempting to perceive something past the confines of the sphere are still affected by visual obscuration caused by environmental effects.

This feature does not protect against magical environmental effects (ex. control weather), but can illuminate areas of magical darkness created by a spell of 3rd level or lower.

Australis Amplification

The Wildshape use cost for your Summon Aurora is now optional. At the time of casting, you can choose to sacrifice a Wildshape charge to increase its radius up to 5 miles in total (26,400 feet) for 10 minutes. 

In additional, you may cast skywrite once per long rest while your Summon Aurora is Amplified. The letters are formed out of different colors in the Aurora, however a strong gust of wind is still able distort the Aurora enough to end skywrite prematurely.