The Circle of Symbiosis Druid out of Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt invites you to become a thing of ancient nightmare.
Of the many subclasses in Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt Player Pack, newly available on D&D Beyond, the Circle of Symbiosis Druid is quite possibly the most folk-horror coded one. It very much plays on the tropes of Druids who explore the side of nature with piercing thorns and rending fangs and worse besides. And in the Circle of Symbiosis, as the name suggests, it’s about becoming the horror yourself.
These Druids do not just revere nature. They become it. A Circle of Symbiosis Druid embodies their principles by grafting on elements of nature to their own bodies. But in order to make room for nature, they cut away their humanity, severing an arm to graft on a vine-covered tree limb, or replacing their legs with cloven hoofs. Sometimes they sever their own heads, replacing them with animal heads. Yeah. I know.
Circle of Symbiosis Druid – Sever Your Leg Please
Before we get into the various features and abilities that this subclass grants to those Druids bold enough to sever their own leg to graft on animal or tree parts, a word about balance. The subclasses in Steinhardt’s Guide are tuned differently than the subclasses in the PHB. It’s not inherently bad, but there are some things that might overshadow vanilla characters of a similar Class.
For example, this is very much the “gish Druid” subclass, if you will. It’s all about hitting your enemies with your powerful natural weapons and becoming a behemoth with your Wild Shape. And it does it extremely well, complete with its own line of special body-horror spells. So definitely talk with your DM (or if you’re the DM, read through the subclass) before settling on the Symbiosis Druid.
Okay. Let’s get to the good stuff. First up, the aforementioned selection of body horror spells which you get as a part of the Circle of Symbiosis spells. There are nine on the list of Bonus Spells, but I believe you get access to even more on your list if you pick them. More on why you’ll want to later.
Then we have the marquee featre, so to speak, Wickerbone Behemoth. This is the creature from the subclass cover art. You spend a Bonus Action and a Wild Shape (while not wearing armor or holding a shield) to become a horrifying, wrathful embodiment of nature, complete with deer skull, wooden skin, goat hooves, and more. While transformed, you gain a number of powerful benefits.
A Powerful Option
And when I say powerful, I mean it. The first is that both of your arms count as a Club under the effects of the Shillelagh spell. Clubs come with Light and Slow and you can use both properties, meaning you can make an extra attack as a bonus action whenever you take the attack action (and all the other usual dual-wielding shenanigans). And because it’s the cantrip, the damage scales up as you level. Due to this you get two Shillelagh spells for a single Bonus Action, and the spells last until your Wild Shape ends (10 minutes).
On top of that, you are under the effects of a Concentrationless Barkskin spell. This sets your AC to 17, and whenever a creature damages you with an attack, you get to deal 1d4 piercing damage to each creature of your choice within 5 feet of you. But we’re not done yet! You also regain hit points equal to half the damage you’ve taken since your previous turn, with a “limit” of five times your proficiency bonus.
Believe It Or Not There’s More
One thing I actually really like about Steinhardt’s Guide is that it’s not afraid to hand out the big cool powerful toys. Case in point, that’s probably the most front-loaded battle transformation in 5.5E, at least that I’ve seen. But it doesn’t necessarily break the game. You still only get one Attack per Attack Action. At least until level 6 when you gain Extra Attack and can attack twice instead of once. Also one of those attacks can be a cantrip (like Shillelagh or True Strike), depending on what you need. You can tell this class was designed by someone who really wanted Shillelagh to be better than it is, because their Druid kept having to waste a Bonus Action casting it.
At level 10, you gain Nature’s Wrath, which upgrades your body with even more natural gifts. Now you’re permanently under the effects of a Barkskin spell. While you’re transformed into the Wickerbone Behemoth, you become Large and gain resistance to normal damage whenever you take the Attack Action.
Circle of Symbiosis Druid At High Levels
Finally, at level 14, Briarheart makes you into a body horror creature. You sacrifice your mortal human heart, and gain powerful ailities. Now while transformed into a Wickerbone Behemoth, you gain the Nick mastery property (for another attack with your shillelagh hands). And then aside from that, when you take the Attack action on your turn (and you don’t have to be transformed for this), you can use a Bonus Action to cast any of the special ‘osteomancy spells’ on your list.
Which means you can, on a single turn, Attack three times for a single Attack action, and one of those attacks can be a True Strike. Then as a Bonus Action, you can cast a full on attack spell that would normally take an Action. Is it broken? Yeah, probably a little. But still not as powerful as some of the other combos people have found. High level play is a delicate balancing act. If you play with Steinhardt’s Guide stuff, I’d just set my expectations to ‘this is a high-powered campaign’, and put in the work of running even harder fights and worrying less about pulling my punches.
What do you think of this horrifying symbiosis? Too broken or just broken enough?
Don’t Miss:
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
