Druid Circle

At 2nd level, a druid gains the Druid Circle feature. Here is an option for that feature, and an alternative to the official Unearthed Arcana Circle of Spores playtest option:

Circle of Spores

Druids of the Circle of Spores find beauty in decay. They see within mold and other fungi the ability to transform lifeless material into abundant, albeit somewhat strange, life.

These druids believe that life and death are portions of a grand cycle, with one leading to the other, and then back again. Death is not the end of life, but instead a change of state that sees life shift into a new form.

Druids of this circle have a complex relationship with the undead. Unlike most other druids, they see nothing inherently wrong with undeath, which they consider to be a companion to life and death. However, these druids believe that the natural cycle is healthiest when each segment of it is vibrant and changing. Undead that seek to replace all life with undeath, or avoid passing to a final rest, violate the cycle and must be thwarted.

Circle of Spores Features

Druid Level Feature 2nd Circle Spells, Spreading Spores, Fungal Infection 6th Fungal Regrowth 10th Symbiotic Casting 14th Sporogenesis

Circle Spells

Your symbiotic link to fungus and your ability to tap into the cycle of life and death grants you access to certain spells. At 1st level, you learn the chill touch cantrip, as well as the plant growth spell, which you can cast once per long rest. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain access to the spells listed for that level in the Circle of Spores Spells table.

Once you gain access to one of those 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.

Circle of Spores Spells

Druid Level Spells 3rd gentle repose, ray of enfeeblement 5th animate dead, gaseous form 7th blight, confusion 9th cloudkill, contagion

Spreading Spores

Starting at 2nd level, you can launch spores at other creatures. As an action, you blow a cloud of spores in a 15-foot cone. The spores hang in the air, attaching to each creature within that cone, and last for three turns or until they take damage from a source other than you. On your next turn, you can use your bonus action to trigger the spores, causing one of three effects that you choose: Reducing a creature’s movement speed by 5 feet until the end of that creatures next turn; Dealing 3 poison damage to that creature; Or Blinding them until the end of their next turn. All creatures infected by the spores are affected in the same way, and you cannot choose to affect some creatures in a different way. Once you trigger the spores, they die and turn to dust.

You can use Spreading Spores on the same creature multiple times, increasing the strength of the spores’ effects when you trigger them. For each use of Spreading Spores beyond the first that a creature has been affected by, you can increase the effects as such: Reduce a creature’s movement speed by an additional 5 feet; Deal an additional 3 poison damage; or Blind them for an additional turn.

Fungal Infection

At 2nd level, the spores you produce become an extension of yourself. Creatures affected by your Spreading Spores feature share the same diseases and conditions as you at half the damage or effect.

For example, if you are poisoned, those creatures take half as much poison damage as you do; If your senses are impaired via Blindness or Deafness, the sense of affected creatures are impaired for half as long. If you are put to sleep, affected creatures must succeed on the same saving throw that you made, at advantage, or gain 1 level of Exhaustion.

When you become incapacitated, instead of creatures affected by your spores also becoming incapacitated, all other conditions that you would share are removed, and the spores are destroyed.

Fungal Regrowth

When you reach 6th level, you can activate the spores within you to regrow damaged cells. As a bonus action, you can heal yourself for an amount equal to your Spellcasting modifier.

Alternatively, you can use that bonus action to try to recover from a condition, making a Constitution saving throw and adding your Spellcasting modifier to the roll.

Symbiotic Casting

At 10th level, the spores growing inside of you become infused with your magic, allowing you to extend the ranges of your spells.