Circle of Blood

Druids of the Circle of Blood have power over a darker force than most druids wield, the magic of blood. Also known as Hemomancy, it is an older tradition than most circles would have you believe, hiding this tradition in the darker days of humanity. Despite this, crimson magic is, in a way, the simplest of druidic powers, it is dominion over the body’s very essence.  For them, a spell that conjures vines to trap their foes may summon instead tentacles of blood, bone and flesh, for example.

Whether you’re a vampire proper, you’ve gained power over blood through service to darker entities like vampires or demon lords or you are simply a member of a traditional druidic circle, as dark as this magic is, it is not inherently evil. The natural world is old and violent, what’s nourishment through the consumption of another’s vitality if not simply eating and consuming flesh and meat. Druids of this circle withhold the secrets of blood magic to those unworthy of the true nature of the wilds, taking all the crimson they can for themselves.

Circle Spells

When you join this circle at 2nd level, your bond with the magic of vitality and blood grants you access to some spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Circle of Blood Spells table.

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	command, inflict wounds
3rd	darkness, misty step
5th	fear, fly
7th	blight, confusion
9th	dominate person, greater restoration

Scarlet Constitution

Beginning when you first join this circle at 2nd level, your bond to blood and Hemocraft has made your body stronger. You gain resistance to necrotic damage.

In addition, you can drink blood. Drinking a pint of blood provides enough nourishment and substance to sustain yourself for one day.

Mantle of Blood

Also at 2nd level, as a bonus action, you may expend a use of your Wildshape and cover yourself in a cloak of blood to destroy the vitality of your foes and take it for yourself. You immediately gain temporary hit points equal to half your druid level and, for the next minute, you gain the following benefits:

• Whenever a creature you can see within 30 feet of you takes damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to have the attack deal additional necrotic damage equal to a number of d4s equal to your proficiency bonus. 
• Whenever you deal necrotic damage, you may gain temporary hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt.

Claret Master

Starting at 6th level, your dominion over blood grants you the following features:

Claret Gaze. As a bonus action, you can choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. They have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to notice creatures other than you for up to 10 minutes. You can use this feature once, regaining the ability to use it again when you finish a short or long rest or by expending a use of your Wildshape.

Claret Return. When you would be reduced to 0 hit points, you drop to 1 hit point instead. You also gain temporary hit points equal to your druid level + your Constitution modifier. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a next long rest.

Crimson Aura

At 10th level, you can emit an aura of empowering and weakening blood magic alike. While your Mantle of Blood is active, you emit an aura of Hemocraft on a 10-foot radius around you, that causes the following effects:

• As long as you have damaged a creature since the beginning of your last turn or you have temporary hit points granted by a subclass feature, you have a flying speed equal to half your walking speed.
• Whenever a hostile creature would regain hit points in the aura, they instead regain half that many hit points and you regain a number of hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. 
• Whenever an allied creature would regain hit points in the aura, they instead regain that many hit points + your Wisdom modifier, and you regain a number of hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.

Blood Puppet

By the time you’ve reached 14th level, you’ve gained the ability to control the bodies of others with your dominion over blood. As an action, choose a Huge or smaller creature or a corpse you can see within 60 feet of you that has blood. They must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC, a corpse or unconscious creature automatically fails this saving throw. On a failed save, on their turn, you can command it (no action required): you control their movement, and you can command it to use  its action to do one of the following:

• Interact with an object.
• Make a single attack.
• Do nothing.

An animated corpse or an unconscious creature takes its turn immediately after yours, but can’t move or take actions unless you command it to do so. If the creature is a corpse, they gain a semblance of life controlled by you and use the zombie statblock, except they use your spell attack to hit and your spellcasting ability modifier for the damage roll of their Slam Action. 

Your control lasts for 1 minute. An affected living creature can attempt to make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, and you can attempt to regain control over them as a bonus action on your turn against a creature that’s been affected by this feature in the past minute. You can use this feature once, regaining the ability to use it again when you finish a short or long rest.