Circle of the Beast

Outnumbered by enemy ships, a wild-looking gnome dives over the side of her ship and into the sea with her octopus companion. With a resounding thump of bass, the druid and companion merge into one terrible form. Its tentacles rise from the water to wrap an enemy ship in its crushing grasp as their own ship brings the cannons around to the other.

With her spear raised to strike, a young half-elf woman with crimson hair rides a giant wolf into battle with cultists that have been defiling her woods and slaughtering its inhabitants. Corned, the druid’s wolf lets out a howl and a pack of eight wolves leap from the trees at the cultists’ exposed backs.

Caught and imprisoned by the city watch, an adventuring party tensely watches as a large orc and his grizzly bear shrink and shift into mice. Easily slipping between the bars, the pair sneaks towards the sleeping guard and the ring of keys he wears on his belt.

The Circle of the Beast are a diverse group dedicated to protecting the beasts of the natural world, who so often fall prey to the cruelties of the humanoid races. These Druids share news and send warnings with each other through the beasts of the land, seas, and skies. Though they are stewards of all beasts, a druid from this circle will form a powerful bond with a single animal and the pair act as an effective team in all things. This circle is as flexible as it is diverse, one pair facing danger side by side, another druid calls down magical strikes while their companion engages in melee, or another pair slipping past danger unseen to reach their goal. These druids are as adaptable as the beasts they protect.

Animal Companion

At 2nd level, you learn to use your magic to create a powerful bond with a creature of the natural world. You call forth an animal from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion. When your animal companion appears, it gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond ability. Select a trait and a flaw from the table below or create your own with the permission of your DM. You can have only one animal companion at a time.

You normally select you companion from among the following animals: Octopus, Black Bear, Wolf, Eagle, Panther, Crocodile, Reef Shark, Ape, or Boar.

However, your DM might pick one of these animals for you, based on the surrounding terrain and on what types of creatures would logically be present in the area. You or your DM may determine your animal companion’s general coloration and appearance, but it uses the stat block of the base animal from the above list.

If your animal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share allows you to return it to life if you possess its remains. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 25 gp worth of rare herbs or fine meat, according to your companion’s nature, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to rebuild its body. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you only possess a small piece of its body (claw, tooth, fur, skin, or similar).

If you are unable to recover any part of your companion’s remains, then you may summon a new companion after at least one week has passed. You must spend 8 hours in seclusion in a natural setting to complete the ritual. This costs 25 gp worth of rare herbs or fine meat. At the end of the 8 hours, your new companion is summoned to you. You must then select this creature’s traits and flaws and level it according to your Druid level.

Companion Bond

Your animal companion undergoes a variety of changes while linked to you:

The animal companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one.

Your companion acts independently of you, but always obeys your commands as best it can. If you are knocked unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, your companion continues to act independently but will prioritize protecting you until you are restored.

While your companion is within 1 mile of you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your companion’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the companion has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own in all things.

Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice in addition to those granted by its base form. It also becomes proficient with Wisdom, Constitution, and either Strength or Dexterity saving throws (whichever ability is higher for the base creature).

For each level you gain after 2nd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly. Any adjustments to its constitution are retroactively applied to its hit point maximum.

Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your companion cannot increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise.

You may use your action to expend one use of the Wild Shape ability on your animal companion. The ability works for your animal companion in the exact way that it works for you. You may use this feature even if you are currently in Wild Shape.

Coordinated Attack

Starting at level 6, if both you and your animal companion are targeting the same opponent with an attack, offensive spell, or spell attack action then the animal companion may use its reaction to make an additional attack against that target.