Homebrew: Circle of Monsters

 The first game I played with a Druid class was World of Warcraft. Druids in WoW are all about shapeshifting. They're the one class with four different specializations (the WoW equivalent of subclasses, though something you can much more easily swap out) and three of those involve shapeshifting - Guardian Druids take on Bear forms to tank, Feral Druids take on Cat forms to act as melee DPS, and Balance Druids take on a Moonkin form to cast space-themed spells (sun, moon, and stars). Moonking, incidentally are kind of WoW's take on Owlbears, though they walk upright and have antlers and are generally thought of as humanoids.

I don't know when - it was probably when they were introduced to D&D - but Druids have been associated with shapeshifting in fantasy RPGs for a long time.

And that makes it kind of funny that for D&D 5th Edition, only one of the subclasses really makes use of Wild Shape as a central gameplay mechanic. Circle of the Moon gets to take higher-CR beast forms, can transform as a bonus action, and gets various necessary bonuses to make sure that they can function in high-level play, like the ability to deal "magical" weapon damage.

The other earlier subclasses kind of relegated Wild Shape to a supplementary utility tool - you weren't really meant to use animal forms to fight, but might become a rat to sneak through a grate or under a door. More recent ones have given alternative uses for the feature - Circle of Spores lets you use Symbiotic Entity to buff your melee damage with poison (there's a whole other post to be made about how it'd be nice if fewer creatures were immune to poison damage) and give yourself a ton of temp HP. Circle of Wildfire lets you use it to summon your Wildfire Spirit rather than transforming yourself. And Circle of Stars gives you forms that, like Symbiotic Entity, don't change the things you can do, but gives you various bonuses.

But I think that the image of the Druid as a class fantasy really involves transforming into animal forms, and really only Circle of the Moon can do that (and, ironically, at higher levels really tends to instead take on elemental forms).

There has also been a lot of discourse (in my experience very tongue-in-cheek) about the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer in which their druid takes on an Owlbear form - which the rules of 5th Edition would not allow given that an Owlbear is a Monstrosity rather than a Beast.

Naturally, DMs are free to house rule that it's still a perfectly reasonable option (though only Circle of the Moon would be able to do it as an Owlbear is CR 3 and for most Druids the limit on CR caps out at 1) but I started thinking about how you could design a subclass built around turning into Monstrosities.

Monstrosities are, of course, the big catch-all creature type, but I started thinking about how Druids could play in a way that revolves around the idea of a Monster - there are the Greek-style monsters like Griffons and Hippogrifs that are mash-ups of real animals (and I'd put Owlbears in that category) but also things like Shadowsworn, which are more like the boogeyman a kid imagines in their closet.

This subclass is intended to let you customize what you mean by "monster," but plays up the idea of being a scary creature. It's also slightly inspired by the aesthetics of the Emerald Nightmare from World of Warcraft, which got a distinctive and cool aesthetic in the Legion expansion - images like a shadowy bear with thorny vines growing out of it, as an example of the kind of look we're talking about.

Also, similar to the new conjuration spells, rather than giving the player full access to any stat blocks in 5th Edition, this gives the player two options - the Hulking Monster, which is tankier, and the Creeping Monster, which is more of a stealth infiltrator and damage-dealer.

As a caveat, this subclass has received minimal revisions and no playtesting, so if you want to test it, work with your DM to make sure that it's not too overpowered (or underpowered, though I'm not really worried about that). The areas I suspect could be problematic are the relatively high HP of your monster forms and the Divine Smite-like ability within Monstrous Strike.

Also, some of the language requires cleaning up - Monstrous Shape is technically a separate ability from Wild Shape, but works almost identically (along with the Circle of the Moon's ability to activate it as a bonus action). There might be some redundancies in its description.

So, without further ado, I present the Circle of Monsters:

Circle of Monsters

Druids who commune with the natural world sometimes encounter unnatural creatures - the result of arcane experimentation fusing the aspects of different beasts, or creatures from nearby planes composed of thought and emotion rather than base matter. Though they are strange and often dangerous presences within the natural world, some Druids embrace their power, learning to take on the forms of these monstrosities and better understand their place in the world.

Monstrous Speech: When you join this druid circle at 2nd level, you learn to communicate simple ideas to any Monstrosity. It can understand your words though you can communicate only simple ideas if it does not understand any languages. If it can speak any languages, you can discern the basic meaning of what it says even if you do not understand the language it is speaking.

Monstrous Shape: At 2nd level, you can take on the form of a monstrosity. As a bonus action, you can expend one of your uses of Wild Shape and choose between the Hulking Monster or Creeping Monster forms, detailed below. Your forms might appear like amalgamations of different kinds of beasts such as a griffon or owlbear, or you might appear as something more terrifying, like the nightmarish Sorrowsworn.

You can stay in your Monstrous Shape for a number of hours equal to your Druid level (rounded down.) You then revert to your normal form unless you expend another use of Wild Shape. You can revert to your normal form earlier by using a bonus action on your turn, and you automatically revert if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die.

While in your Monstrous Shape, you use the form's statistics, which scale with your level, your proficiency bonus, and your spell attack modifier. You retain your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, but your game statistics are otherwise replaced by those of your Monstrous Form.

When you transform, you assume the monstrosity's hit points and Hit Dice. When you revert to your normal form, you return to the number of hit points you had before you transformed. However, if you revert as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to your normal form.

The Monstrous Form acts similarly to your Wild Shape feature, except that you must choose from among the given options below and you can change forms as a bonus action. When you reach 18th level in this class, the benefits of your Beast Spells feature also apply to your Monstrous Shape, and when you reach level 20, the benefits of your Archdruid feature also apply to your Monstrous Shape.

HULKING MONSTER

Large monstrosity

Armor Class: 12 + your proficiency bonus

Hit Points: 4 + 9 times your Druid Level (you have a number of d10 Hit Dice equal to your Druid level in this form)

Speed: 30 ft.

STR 16 (+3) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT (as in normal form) WIS (as in normal form) CHA (as in normal form)

Saving Throws: Str: +3+PB, Con +3+PB

Skills: Athletics +3+PB

Senses: passive Perception: as with your normal form

Proficiency Bonus (PB): Your proficiency bonus

Actions:

Swipe. Melee Weapon Attack. + Your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d8+3 bludgeoning damage.

CREEPING MONSTER

Medium monstrosity

Armor Class: 11 + your proficiency bonus

Hit Points: 3 + 7 times your Druid level (you have a number of d8 Hit Dice equal to your Druid level in this form)

Speed 40 ft.

STR 12 (+1) DEX 18 (+4) CON 14 (+2) INT (as in normal form) WIS (as in normal form) CHA (as in normal form)

Saving Throws: Dex +4+PB

Skills: Stealth +4+2xPB

Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception: as with your normal form

Proficiency Bonus (PB): Your proficiency bonus

Actions:

Slash. Melee Weapon Attack. + Your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d6+4 slashing damage.

Bonus Actions:

Rend. Melee Weapon Attack. +Your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4+4 slashing damage.

Extra Attack: After you reach 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, when you take the attack action, including while you are in your Monstrous Shape.

Monstrous Strike: Starting at 6th level, your attacks in your Monstrous Shape count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Additionally, when you hit with an attack while in your Monstrous Shape, you can expend a spell slot to deal additional necrotic damage to the target in addition to the attack’s normal damage. The damage is equal to a number of d8s equal to the spell slot expended, to a maximum of 5d8.

Unnatural Mutation: At 6th level, when you shift into your Monstrous Form, you can choose to undergo an Aquatic or Arboreal mutation.

Aquatic Mutation: Your monstrous form can now breathe both air and water, and it gains a swimming speed equal to its walking speed. In addition, your Monstrous Form is adapted to survive in the high-pressure environments of the deep ocean.

Arboreal Mutation: Your monstrous form develops the ability climb vertical surfaces like tree trunks and cavern walls. Your form has a climbing speed equal to its walking speed and you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings. Additionally, you have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide.

Nightmarish Adaptation: At 10th level, your Monstrous forms gain new features.

Hulking Monster: As a bonus action, you can now expend a spell slot to manifest shadowy spines across your body, which could take the form of briar thorns or lashing shadows. You gain a number of temporary hit points equal to five times the level of the spell slot that is expended. If a creature deals damage to you with a melee attack while you have these temporary hit points, the creature takes force damage equal to 1d4 times the level of the spell slot expended.

Creeping Monster: While in this form, you can now Dash as a bonus action. Additionally, if you are in dim light or darkness, you can Hide as a bonus action.

Terror Shape: At 14th level, your Monstrous Shape gains a flying speed equal to its walking speed.

Additionally, when you transform into your Monstrous Shape, the transformation can strike terror into your foes. Choose any number of creatures that can see you when you transform within 60 feet. Those creatures must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, a creature is frightened of you for 1 minute. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the condition on a success. While frightened of you in this way, you have advantage on attacks against the creature.

Horror Strike: By 14th level, the monstrous nature of your form instills a chilling dread into those who fall beneath your claws, tentacles, or whatever it is you use to attack. Your form has become even more menacing than before, and when you hit with your attacks in your Monstrous Shape, the target takes additional psychic damage equal to your proficiency bonus.