Circle of the Spirit Shaman

Willing or chosen, spirit shamans are druids who act as mediums between the physical and ethereal. With the powers ranging from the dark and light magics of necromancy to the mysteries of divination and communion with departed souls, they are the connecting factor that binds all together - through life and death, past and future. Whether one likes it or not, one does not choose this path. One is born into it, and can either succumb to the voices calling to them across dimensions, or heed their call and learn to live in unison with them. With one foot in one world and one in the other, many would think this to be a lonely profession. But, as any practiced spirit shaman will tell you, the curse is never the lack of company; rather, it is the abundance of it, and all the trouble it brings.

Bonus Cantrip

When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you learn one additional druid cantrip of your choice.

Ethereal Meditation

Starting at 2nd level, you can gain foresight by siphoning out the sounds of reality and listening to whispers of the dead. 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. Furthermore, you may choose to reroll any saving throw or ability check you make in the next two hours with the foresight provided by the voices you commune with. You must use the second roll. 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.

Circle Spells

Your mystical connection to the spirit world infuses you with the ability to cast certain spells. You gain access to circle spells communing with otherworldly being and harnessing their power.

Once you gain access to a circle spell, 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
3rd	hunter's mark, detect thoughts
5th	speak with dead, spirit guardians, fly
7th	blight, divination
9th   11th	dream    eyebite, true seeing

Spiritvision

Starting at 6th level, you are able to harness your visions of the ethereal to your advantage. When you choose to activate this effect as a Bonus Action, you are able to perceive the emotions of other beings up to 60ft away as colors and gain advantage on insight checks, as well as detecting the spirits of any being in this way through solid objects, (including beings on the aethereal plane). If a being is described to not have a soul, they are immune to this effect. While Spiritvision is active, your eyes emit a slight glowing phantasmal haze.

Each minute after this effect is activated, make a wisdom saving throw. If the effect has been active for less than half your druid level in minutes, make it with advantage. If it has been active for over your druid level in minutes, make it with disadvantage. If you fail, the GM rolls a d10 to determine the effect you suffer. 

At Druid level 14 or above, you can expend a spell slot of level seven or higher to negate the failed roll and instead make a constitution saving throw. You stagger, are stunned for one turn, and on a failure suffer a point of exhaustion.

You may end Spiritvision with a Bonus Action, at which point you must wait until your next short/long rest to use it again. If your Spiritvision ends as the result of a failed wisdom save, you cannot use it again until your next long rest unless otherwise stated.

 Spiritvision Failure Table:

• 1: Trapped in the Aether
  • You and everything on your person are pulled into the Ethereal Plane. You vanish and cannot physically interact with the Material Plane in any way. You are capable of passing through solid objects at will, physically interacting with spirits, and can see as you would with Spiritvision, though you do not need to make any wisdom saving throws. You are also capable of using spells with no direct physical consequences using the materials you brought into the spirit realm. This includes spells that may be used to contact people in the Material Plane. Once per day, you may enter a sleeping being's mind and convey a three-word message to them through a dream, in which they can see and communicate with you for up to ten seconds after that message. If they attempt to reach out or touch you within this time, you may convey a second message through a simple physical action, a vision of an area you have seen before, or a further three words. To return to the Material Plane, you must make physical contact with something or someone with the ability to transport itself or other creatures between realms. This may involve hijacking a summoning spell, holding onto an individual using magic to traverse dimensions, finding a portal, or anything else approved by your GM. Upon returning, you momentarily glow with your spirit's aura, and experience the benefits of Ethereal Tremor.
• 2 - 3: Indescribable Horror
  • You take 6d6 psychic damage that may manifest itself physically or in any other way the GM chooses as an otherworldly horror expels you from Spiritvision. (The damage you take stops at 0 hitpoints.) In addition to this, you are insane until you finish a long rest. While insane, you can't take actions, can't understand what other creatures say, can't read, and speak only in gibberish. A greater restoration spell cast on you ends this effect. Each time you complete a long rest after experiencing this effect, roll three wisdom checks. If any of them are failures, you are too traumatized or are otherwise incapable of entering Spiritvision. If all three are successes, this effect ends.
• 4 - 5: Spiritual Stowaways
  • Unbeknownst to you, d3 Poltergeists are brought into reality with you as your Spiritvision fails. The GM may control how they act based on their personalities, (stalking, outright attacking, tormenting, etc) but they must all remain within 60ft of you and their primary intent must be to cause you some level of harm until they are vanquished.
• 6 - 7: Ectoplasmic Parasite
  • You receive one point of exhaustion, and roll constitution checks and saving throws with disadvantage until you are either receive an effect curing you of a disease/condition or naturally pass/regurgitate the parasite within the next 24 hours.
• 8 - 9: No effect
  
  • You are thrown out of Spiritvision by hostile forces and cannot enter it again before completing a long rest.
• 10 - Ethereal Tremor
  • You feel the ripple effect of some grand magical event course through the Ethereal Plane, and are rejuvenated by the secondhand magic. You regain all of your expended spell slots, and the next spell you cast within ten seconds is counted as one level above that which it is cast at, if it receives level scaling bonuses.

Phantom Ward

When you reach 10th level, you can’t be charmed or frightened by the undead or fey. You may cast spirit guardians as a reaction when in danger without any verbal, somatic, or material elements, as otherworldly phantasms rush to protect you. If you are unconscious or mentally incapable of knowing whether you are in danger, this spell activates at a random (rolled) spell level when a living being approaches you with intent to harm. Any beings without the intent to harm you are made exempt from the spell's effects.

Shepherd of the Dead

When you reach 14th level, beings of the ethereal plane sense your connection to them and become hesitant to attack you. When an ethereal, undead, or elemental being attacks you, that being must make a Wisdom saving throw against your druid spell save DC. On a failed save, the being must choose a different target, or the attack automatically misses. On a successful save, the being is immune to this effect for 24 hours.

The being is aware of this effect before it makes its attack against you.