Druid

Creating a Druid

When making a druid, consider why your character has such a close bond with nature. Perhaps your character lives in a society where the Old Faith still thrives, or was raised by a druid after being abandoned in the depths of a forest. Perhaps your character had a dramatic encounter with the spirits of nature, coming face to face with a giant eagle or dire wolf and surviving the experience. Maybe your character was born during an epic storm or a volcanic eruption, which was interpreted as a sign that becoming a druid was part of your character’s destiny.

Have you always been an adventurer as part of your druidic calling, or did you first spend time as a caretaker of a sacred grove or spring? Perhaps your homeland was befouled by evil, and you took up an adventuring life in hopes of finding a new home or purpose.

Quick Build

You can make a druid quickly by following these suggestions. First, Wisdom should be your highest ability score, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the hermit background.

Class Features

As a Druid, you gain the following class features:

Hit Points

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• Hit Dice: d8
• Hit Points at 1st Level: d8 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 or 6 + your Constitution modifier per Druid level after 1st.

(Unchanged.)

Proficiencies

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• Armor: Light, Medium
• Weapons: Herbalism kit

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• Saving Throws: Wisdom, Intelligence
• Skills: Choose two from Arcana, Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Religion, and Survival.

(No Shield! You're not gonna be mixing it up in the frontlines sword and board most of the time. However, I did give a Whip and a Shortbow, mostly for flavor.)

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) Scimitar or (b) Whip
• (a) Scimitar or (b) Shortbow + 20 arrows and a quiver
• (a) Leather armor or (b) Scale armor
• (a) Sage’s Pack or (b) an explorer's pack
• Simple melee weapon and a Druidic Focus

Spellcasting

At first level, the class can now cast spells.

Cantrips

At first level, you know two cantrips of your choice from the Druid spell list. You learn additional Druid cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Druid table.

Spell Slots

The Druid table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these Druid spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

Preparing and Casting Spells

The Druid table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your druid spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these druid spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

You prepare the list of druid spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the druid spell list. When you do so, choose a number of druid spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + your druid level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

For example, if you are a 3rd-level druid, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Wisdom of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell cure wounds, you can cast it using a 1st-level or 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.

You can also change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of druid spells requires time spent in prayer and meditation: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Spellcasting Ability

Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your Druid spells. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a Druid spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

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Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +
your Wisdom modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus +
your Wisdom modifier

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a Druidic Focus as your Spellcasting Focus.

Druidic

You know Druidic, the secret language of druids. You can speak it and use it to leave hidden messages. You and other who know this language automatically spot such a message. Others spot the presence of such a message with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check but can't decipher it without magic. (Not all that great, and it's the only Level 1 non-spell feature you have.

Nature Points

At second level, you have a pool of four nature points that can be used to use Beast Shape as detailed below, or various abilities based on your Circle. Spent Nature Points refresh on a long rest. (The draw of this version of the Druid.)

Wildshape

At second level, you are able to shapeshift into the form of a beast. To shapeshift into a Beast with no swim or fly speed of 1/4CR or fewer this costs 1 Nature Point, with an additional point being spent to shift into a Beast of 1/2CR, and another to become a creature of 1CR. You also may spend an additional point to gain either a fly or swim speed.

Additionally, when you are transformed by Wild Shape, you can use an action to expend one spell slot to regain 1d8 hit points per level of the spell slot expended. (Extrapolating from the Moon Druid but increased the action economy cost. Either way, this ability allows for spell slots to have a use even if you prefer scouting around as a bird or what have you as your primary role in the party, with "being a magician" as a side-gig.

Timeless Body

At 3rd level, the primal magic you wield slows down your aging. For every 10 years that pass, you only age 1 year. (Unaltered from Player's Handbook. I just see little reason to change this ribbon, outside of moving it waaaaaaaay up. I know you get Beast Spells then too, but a ribbon at Level 18?)

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Alternatively, you can choose a feat (see Chapter 6 for a list of feats).

Beast Spells

At 10th level, you can cast many of your spells while in a shape assumed by using Wild Shape. You can provide somatic and verbal components of a druid spell while in a beast shape, but you cannot provide material components. Additionally, you may use Land's Power, Nurturing Embrace of Darkness, Halo of Spores, Fey Illusions, Enhance Summons when Wildshaped as well. (Again, unchanged from the PHB outside of moving it up to be earlier but I'd be willing to move a circle feature back down here and and Beast Spells back up.)

Archdruid

At 20th level, your mastery over the supernatural powers of nature have become extensive. You may use any ability that requires 3 Nature Points or less without spending the points. (Intent of this ability remains the same but while potentially more limited, still provides you with unlimited uses of class-defining characteristics so I figured it'd still be a good capstone.)

Druidic Circles

Druid Cirlces are areas of focus in which a druid is concerned, typically about protecting some part of nature.

Land Druid

The Circle of the Land is made up of mystics and sages who safeguard ancient knowledge and rites through a vast oral tradition. These druids meet within sacred circles of trees or standing stones to whisper primal secrets in Druidic. The circle’s wisest members preside as the chief Priests of communities that hold to the Old Faith and serve as advisors to the rulers of those folk. As a member of this circle, your magic is influenced by the land where you were initiated into the circle’s mysterious rites.

Level 1 Arcane Recovery

At 2nd level, you are able to refresh one Nature Point by spending two Hit Die per point restored on a Short Rest. Otherwise, same as in PHB. (Gives the option to restore one resource at the cost of another, giving you some entropy, much like the Sorcerer's Sorcery Points/slots, but for your effective HP in this case).

Bonus Cantrip

When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you learn one additional druid cantrip of your choice. (Unchanged and helps to solidify this subclass as the spell-focused one.)

Land's Power

At 2nd level, you are able to spend Nature Points to cause various effects to occur depending on the environment you are currently attuned to. These effects all use your action, though you cannot use them while Wildshaped. The effects can be found on the following page just below the circle spells. (Arctic, I felt that creating difficult terrain kind of capitalized on what Druids are already good at, debuffing and arena control. Coast, I just couldn't think of much and figured creating water would be flavorful and potentially useful. Desert Druids get Scorching Ray rather than Blur, but they can get a mini-Blur at a heavy points cost with their power. Forest is like a mini-Entangle and Grasslands is mini-Gust of Wind, though with a different AoE. Mountain is simple but more temp. HP could be useful on anyone. Swamp, a bit hard to come up with for me but I thought it'd be neat to have something that preyed on the whole "decaying plant life" thing. The Underdark, since it's so dark and its famous races have excellent darkvision, why not give other races a taste of that/improve your Drow Druid's vision a bit more?)

Circle Spells

Your mystical connection to the land infuses you with the ability to cast certain Spells. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain access to Circle Spells connected to the land where you became a druid.

Choose that land—Arctic, coast, Desert, Forest, Grassland, Mountain, Swamp, or Underdark—and consult the associated list of Spells on the following page.

You are able to change which Land's Spells you have access to by spending a Long Rest in a given area and choosing to become attuned to the local land.

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. (The spells were largely unchanged - save from the Desert Druid's Scorching Ray. However, adding the ability to change your land seems like it could be a boost to both the mechanics and "flavor" of the subclass.)

Land's Stride

Starting at 6th level, moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra Movement. You can also pass through nonmagical Plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard.

In addition, you have advantage on Saving Throws against Plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede Movement, such those created by the Entangle spell. (Unchanged.)

Natural Protection

When you reach 14th level, creatures of the natural world sense your connection to Nature and become hesitant to Attack you. When a fey, elemental, beast, or plant creature attacks you, that creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your druid spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature must choose a different target, or the Attack automatically misses. On a successful save, the creature is immune to this effect for 24 hours.

The creature is aware of this effect before it makes its Attack against you. (Added Elementals and Fey to the creature types effected and broke the effect up for the next feature.)

Natural Sanctum

When you reach 18th level, you can’t be Diseased, Charmed, or Frightened and you are immune to being poisoned. You are also immune to poison damage. (Given how late I moved this to, I made it so that you're immune to statuses from all enemies and made it clearer that you're immune to both poison damage and poison status.)

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Circle Spells and Land's Power Effects

Arctic Spells

Level	Spell
3	Hold Person, Spike Growth
5	Sleet Storm, Sleep
7	Fredom of Movement, Ice Storm
9	Commune with Nature, Cone of Cold

You can spend one Nature Point to create slick ice in a 5ft. square, with an extra 5ft. created per point spent. Creatures must treat the ice as Difficult Terrain or else make a DC13 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or else fall prone.

Coast Spells

Level	Spell
3	Mirror Image, Misty Step
5	Water Breathing, Water Walk
7	Control Water, Freedom of Movement
9	Conjure Elemental, Scrying

You can spend one Nature Point to create a gallon of water.

Desert Spells

Level	Spell
3	Scorching Ray, Silence
5	Create Food and Water, Protection from Energy
7	Blight, Hallucinatory Terrain
9	Insect Plague, Wall of Stone

As a reaction, you can spend three Nature Points to create a heat-haze around yourself that imposes disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the start of your next turn. An attacker is immune to this effect if it doesn’t rely on sight, as with blindsight, or can see through illusions, as with truesight.

Forest Spells

Level	Spell
3	Barkskin, Spiderclimb
5	Call Lightning, Plant Growth
7	Divindation, Freedom of Movement
9	Commune with Nature, Treestride

You may use two Nature Points to restrain a creature of your choice in 30ft. The creature must make a Strength saving throw equal to your spell save DC or else is restrained for one minute. The restrained creature may make another saving throw on the start of each of its turns to escape.

Grasslands Spells

Level	Spell
Level	Spell
3	Invisibility, Pass without Trace
5	Daylight, Haste
7	Divination, Freedom of Movement
9	Dream, Insect Plague

Grassland - You may spend two Nature Points to create a gust of strong wind in a 10ft. cube in front of you. They must make a Strength saving throw equal to your spell save DC or else they are knocked back by 15ft.

Mountain Spells

Level	Spell
3	Spider Climb, Spike Growth
5	Lightningbolt, Meld into Stone
7	Stoneshape, Stoneskin
9	Passwall, Wall of Stone

You may spend Nature Points to give yourself Temp. HP equal to the amount of points spent as your skin hardens like a stone.

Swamp Spells

Level	Spell
3	Darkness, Acid Arrow
5	Water Walk, Stinking CLoud
7	Freedom of Movement, Locate Creature
9	Insect Plague, Scrying

You may spend one Nature Point to cause 10ft. of plant matter to decay immediately with your touch. If you use this to attack a Plant creature, you instead cast Inflict Wounds at first level without spending a spell slot.

Underdark Spells

Level	Spell
3	Spiderclimb, Web
5	Gaseous Form, Stinking Cloud
7	Greter Invisibility, Stoneshape
9	Cloudkill, Insect Plague

As an action, you may spend one Nature Point to gain a darkvision of 60ft., or to add 20ft. to your darkvision radius if you already have darkvision, for one minute.

Moon Druid

Druids of the Circle of the Moon are fierce guardians of the wilds. Their order gathers under the full moon to share news and trade warnings. They haunt the deepest parts of the wilderness, where they might go for weeks on end before crossing paths with another humanoid creature, let alone another druid.

Changeable as the moon, a druid of this circle might prowl as a great cat one night, soar over the treetops as an eagle the next day, and crash through the undergrowth in bear form to drive off a trespassing monster. The wild is in the druid's blood.

Combat Wildshape

At 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape on your turn as a bonus action, rather than an action.

Additionally, when you are transformed by Wild Shape, you can use a bonus action to expend spell slots or hit dice to regain 1d8 hit points per number of the hit dice or level of the spell expended. (Unchanged for the first part, second part allows for rolling Hit Dice in addition to spell slots if you so choose.)

Circle Forms

At 2nd level, the cost of using Nature Points to Wildshape are reduced by one to a minimum of one point spent to Wildshape to higher CRs, and there is no longer a cost for gaining a flight or swim speed. At 6th level, you can transform into any beast with a CR equal to or less than your druid level divided by 3 (round down) with CR1 being free, and each additional CR costing only one point. (This was reworked to accomidate Nature Points but the intent - turn into a relatively high CR creature often and destroy stuff - is still present.)

Primal Strikes

At 6th level, your attacks in beast form count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. (Unchanged-amundo).

Thousand Forms

At 14th level, you may alter your form in more subtle ways. You can cast the alter self spell at will. (Unchanged, outside of coming online later. Could it use a buff?)

Element Form

At 18th level, the sheer power of your transformations has unlocked within you the hidden power to shapeshift into dragons. You may now spend four Nature Points to shift into any Beast CR 8 or lower even if the point cost would otherwise exceed four Nature Points, or into an Elemental of CR 5 or lower by spending two Nature Points. (This is code for: Either become an elemental or a super-smart T. Rex.)

Twilight Druid

The Circle of Twilight seeks to exterminate undead creatures and preserve the natural cycle of life and death that rules over the cosmos. Their magic allows them to manipulate the boundary between life and death, sending their foes to their final rest while keeping their allies from that fate. These druids seek out lands that have been tainted by undeath. Such places are grim and foreboding. Once vibrant forests become gloomy, haunted places devoid of animals and filled with plants dying a slow, lingering death. The Circle of Twilight goes to such places to banish undeath and restore life.

Harvest Scythe

Starting at 2nd level, you learn to unravel and harvest the life energy of other creatures. You can augment your spells to drain the life force from creatures. You have a pool of energy represented by a number of d10s equal to your druid level. When you roll damage for a spell, you can increase that damage by spending dice from the pool. You can spend a number of dice equal to half your druid level or less. Roll the spent dice and add them to the damage as necrotic damage. If you kill one or more hostile creatures with a spell augmented in this way, you or an ally of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you regains 2 hit points per die spent to increase the spell’s damage, or 5 hit points per die if at least one of the slain creatures was undead. You regain the expended dice when you finish a long rest.

Nurturing Embrace of Darkness

You may spend one Nature Point to cast False Life as an action without expending a spell slot, or four points to cast Darkness as an action without using Concentration. It can be dispelled before the spell's duration ends by choosing to end it early as an action. This feature may not be used while wildshaped. (Edgy name to go along with the rest of the class, and I figured these abilities might be thematic. Worried False Life, effectively +6 temp. HP, is a bit too good but if you used Darkness or Wildshaped you'd be out or low on NP so it'd be a weighted decision.)

Speech, Beyond the Grave

At 6th level, you gain the ability to reach beyond death’s veil in search of knowledge. Using this feature, you can cast speak with dead without material components, and you understand what the target of this casting says. It can understand your questions, even if you don’t share a language or it is not intelligent enough to speak. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest. (Not changed, seems fitting and useful for the theme of this subclass.)

Watcher at the Threshold

At 14h level, you gain resistance to necrotic and radiant damage. In addition, while you aren’t incapacitated, any ally within 30 feet of you has advantage on death saving throws.

Paths of the Dead

At 18h level, your mastery of death allows you to tread the paths used by ghosts and other spirits. Using this feature, you can cast etherealness. Once the spell ends, you can’t cast it with this feature again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spores Druid

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.

Bonus Proficiencies

You gain proficiency in martial weapons and in shields.

Your symbiotic link to fungus and your ability to tap into the cycle of life and death grants you access to certain spells. At 2nd level, you learn the Chill Touch cantrip. 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 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.

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 2nd level, you learn the Chill Touch cantrip. 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 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	Circle Spells
3	Blindness/Deafness + Gentle Repose
5	Animate Dead + Gaseous Form
7	Blight + Confusion
9	Cloudkill + Contagion

(Unchanged from GMGtR. Thought about changing Blindness/Deafness to Ray of Sickness but decided againt it.)

Bonus Proficiencies

You are proficient in Shields, Simple Weapons, and Martial Weapons (Reinforces the "melee Druid" nature of this subclass that the Halo implies.)

Halo of Spores

Starting at 2nd level, you are surrounded by invisible, necrotic spores that are harmless until you unleash them on a creature nearby. When a creature you can see moves into a space within 10 feet of you or starts its turn there, you can use your reaction to deal 1d4 necrotic damage to that creature unless it succeeds on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. The necrotic damage increases to 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 10th level, and 1d10 at 14th level. You may not use this feature while wildshaped. (I added the bit about not being able to use it in Wildshape to allow it to be used with Beast Spells at Level 10.)

Symbotic Entity

At 2nd level, you gain the ability to channel magic into your spores. As an action, you can expend two Nature Points to gain 5 temp. HP per level you have in Druid. While this class feature is active, you gain the following benefits:

When you deal your Halo of Spores damage, roll the damage die a second time and add it to the total.

Your melee weapon attacks deal an extra 1d6 poison damage to any target they hit.

These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points, or until you use your Nature Points again. (Reworded a bit to reflect Nature Points but otherwise similar.)

Fungal Infestation

At 6th level, your spores gain the ability to infest a humanoid corpse and animate it.

If a beast or humanoid that is Small or Medium dies within 10 feet of you, you can use your reaction to animate it, causing it to stand up immediately with 1 hit point. The creature uses the zombie statistics. It remains animate for 1 hour, after which time it collapses and dies.

In combat, the zombie's turn is immediately after yours. It obeys your mental commands, and the only action it can take is the Attack action, making one melee attack.

Speading Spores

At 14h level, you gain the ability to seed an area with deadly spores. As a bonus action while your Symbiotic Entity feature is active, you can hurl spores up to 30 feet away, where they swirl in a 10-foot cube for 1 minute. The spores disappear early if you use this feature again, if you dismiss them as a bonus action, or if your Symbiotic Entity feature is no longer active.

Whenever a creature moves into the cube or starts its turn there, that creature takes your Halo of Spores damage, unless the creature succeeds on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. A creature can take this damage no more than once per turn.

While the cube of spores persists, you can't use your Halo of Spores reaction.

Fungal Body

At 18h level, the fungal spores in your body alter you: you can’t be blinded, deafened, frightened, or poisoned, and any critical hit against you counts as a normal hit, unless you are incapacitated.

Dreams Druid

Druids who are members of the Circle of Dreams hail from regions that have strong ties to the Feywild and its dreamlike realms. The druids’ guardianship of the natural world makes for a natural alliance between them and good-aligned fey. These druids seek to fill the world with dreamy wonder. Their magic mends wounds and brings joy to downcast hearts, and the realms they protect are gleaming, fruitful places, where dream and reality blur together and where the weary can find rest. They're also unique amongst their peers for their skill in crafting illusions, often playing the part of tricksters in the environments they reside in.

Balm of the Summer Court

At 2nd level, you become imbued with the blessings of the Summer Court. You are a font of energy that offers respite from injuries. You have a pool of fey energy represented by a number of d6s equal to your druid level.

As a bonus action, you can choose an ally you can see within 120 feet of you and spend a number of those dice equal to half your druid level or less. Roll the spent dice and add them together. The target regains a number of hit points equal to the total. The target also gains 1 temporary hit point per die spent. (Having ran a Dreams Druid, this effect was good and a lot of fun, making me a good healer and I see no change being needed to make it work.)

You regain the expended dice when you finish a long rest.

Fey Illusions

At 2nd level, you know the Minor Illusion Cantrip. Additionally, at 2nd level you are able to use Silent Image without spending a spell slot by using one Nature Point. At 3rd level, you are able to use two points to cast Mirror Image without spending a spell slot. At 5th level, you may use three points to cast Major Image without spending a spell slot. At 7th level, you may use four points to cast Hallucinatory Terrain without using a spell slot. (I figured that since Druids don't get many illusions, this subclass could use them as part of its sales pitch.)

Hearth of Moonlight and Shadows

At 6th level, home can be wherever you are. During a short or long rest, you can invoke the shadowy power of the Gloaming Court to help guard your respite. At the start of the rest, you touch a point in space, and an invisible, 30-foot-radius sphere of magic appears, centered on that point. Total cover blocks the sphere.

While within the sphere, you and your allies gain a +5 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) and Wisdom (Perception) checks, and any light from open flames in the sphere (a campfire, torches, or the like) isn't visible outside it.

The sphere vanishes at the end of the rest or when you leave the sphere. (People say that if you have a Wizard this is useless. Personally though I think its both larger AND gains bonuses on checks from your resting place, and no 10minute ritual time for Tiny Hut! Why bother changing it? Making it better would make it too good and making it worse would lead to it being weak versus Tiny Hut.)

Walker in Dreams

At 14th level, the magic of the Feywild grants you the ability to travel mentally or physically through dreamlands.

When you finish a short rest, you can cast one of the following spells, without expending a spell slot or requiring material components: Dream (with you as the messenger), Scrying, or Teleportation Circle.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. (Made this feature a bit more useful by getting rid of the restrictions on teleporting. You're high level enough to get around easily anyhow I figure.)

Hidden Paths

Starting at 18h level, you can use the hidden, magical pathways that some fey use to traverse space in a blink of an eye. As a bonus action on your turn, you can teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Alternatively, you can use your action to teleport one willing creature you can see up to 30ft. in an unoccupied space you can see. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest. (Moved this to capstone but also added the ability to teleport an ally you can see, not just touched, based off a misreading I once had on this power and to make it better as a late-game capstone.)

Shepherd Druid

Druids of the Circle of the Shepherd commune with the spirits of nature, especially the spirits of beasts and the fey, and call to those spirits for aid. These druids recognize that all living things play a role in the natural world, yet they focus on protecting animals and fey creatures that have difficulty defending themselves. Shepherds, as they are known, see such creatures as their charges. They ward off monsters that threaten them, rebuke hunters who kill more prey than necessary, and prevent civilization from encroaching on rare animal habitats and on sites sacred to the fey.

Many of these druids are happiest far from cities and towns, content to spend their days in the company of animals and the fey creatures of the wilds. Members of this circle become adventurers to oppose forces that threaten their charges or to seek knowledge and power that will help them safeguard their charges better. Wherever these druids go, the spirits of the wilderness are with them.

Speech of the Woods

At 2nd level, you gain the ability to converse with beasts and many fey.

You learn to speak, read, and write Sylvan. In addition, beasts can understand your speech, and you gain the ability to decipher their noises and motions. Most beasts lack the intelligence to convey or understand sophisticated concepts, but a friendly beast could relay what it has seen or heard in the recent past. This ability doesn’t grant you any special friendship with beasts, though you can combine this ability with gifts to curry favor with them as you would with any nonplayer character. (Cute ribbon, why not keep it? Might buff it to be a little better but every class does need flavor abilities so that's not set in stone.)

Spirit Totem

Starting at 2nd level, you gain the ability to call forth nature spirits and use them to influence the world around you.

As a bonus action, you can magically summon an incorporeal spirit to a point you can see within 60 feet of you. The spirit creates an aura in a 30-foot radius around that point. It counts as neither a creature nor an object, though it has the spectral appearance of the creature it represents. As a bonus action, you can move the spirit up to 60 feet to a point you can see.

The spirit persists for 1 minute. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

The effect of the spirit’s aura depends on the type of spirit you summon from the options below.

Bear Spirit. The bear spirit grants you and your allies its might and endurance. Each creature of your choice in the aura when the spirit appears gains temporary hit points equal to 5 + your druid level. In addition, you and your allies gain advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws while in the aura.

Hawk Spirit. The hawk spirit is a consummate hunter, aiding you and your allies with its keen sight. When a creature makes an attack roll against a target in the spirit’s aura, you can use your reaction to grant advantage to that attack roll. In addition, you and your allies have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks while in the aura.

Unicorn Spirit. The unicorn spirit lends its protection to those nearby. You and your allies gain advantage on all ability checks made to detect creatures in the spirit’s aura. In addition, if you cast a spell using a spell slot that restores hit points to any creature inside or outside the aura, each creature of your choice in the aura also regains hit points equal to your druid level. (Unchanged but I had thought of adding more, maybe something with direct damage but I feel that'd be antithetical to the subclass.)

Enhance Summons

At 2nd level, you can enhance the range of your summons. By spending two Nature Points, the radius of your summons increases by 15ft. until the start of your next turn. (I admit, this ability was sort of phoned-in, was struggling to think of something cool for this subclass' Nature Point power.)

Mighty Summons

At 6th level, beasts and fey that you conjure are more resilient than normal. Any beast or fey summoned or created by a spell that you cast gains two benefits:

The creature appears with more hit points than normal: 2 extra hit points per Hit Die it has.

The damage from its natural weapons is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming immunity and resistance to nonmagical attacks and damage. (I mean, more HP is good but not earthshattering on any non-facetank, and piercing magical resistance? Sure seems like a level 6 ability. Unchanged.)

Guardian Spirit

Beginning at 14h level, your Spirit Totem safeguards the beasts and fey that you call forth with your magic. When a beast or fey that you summoned or created with a spell ends its turn in your Spirit Totem aura, that creature regains a number of hit points equal to half your druid level rounded down. (Added that to weaken it just a hair, but then again it still seems pretty powerful. If that's too weak I can just remove the rounded down stipulation like in the book.)

Faithful Summons

Starting at 18h level, the nature spirits you commune with protect you when you are the most defenseless. If you are reduced to 0 hit points or are incapacitated against your will, you can immediately gain the benefits of Conjure Animals as if it were cast with a 9th-level spell slot. It summons four beasts of your choice that are challenge rating 2 or lower. The conjured beasts appear within 20 feet of you. If they receive no commands from you, they protect you from harm and attack your foes. The spell lasts for 1 hour, requiring no concentration, or until you dismiss it (no action required).

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. (I feel like this could be buffed for this level as opposed to Level 14 from the book, but dunno how. Maybe SUPER SPIRIT animals, or it summons a T-Rex instead?)

Credits:

WotC for providing the text used in the base Druid class and ergo most of what's seen in Version 1 of this version of the class.

What's left...

• Add Urban Druid circle
• Add Beast-Master
• Await feedback for balancing and possibly changing the way abilities work to make them more distinct from the officially published version -Add in images