Circle of the Bloom
A Druid Circle attuned to the Myrrhiam Bloom that creates damaging spore patches, resists poison, heals or rots by touch, and takes a hivemind form.
Identity
The Circle of the Bloom is the Druid Circle attuned to fungal hiveminds, and most of all to the Myrrhiam Bloom, the distributed cognition that converts worlds the way a forest converts a fallen tree. Some Bloom Druids are full members of an annexed sub-hive. Most are unaffiliated channelers who have learned to read fungal signal at the edges of contested worlds well enough to predict where the Bloom will spread next, and to slow it by feeding it a false signal. Many cultures find them unsettling, including some of their own Druidic peers.
Features
- L3 Spore Patch
You can summon and shape a controlled patch of living spores. As an action, choose a point within Close range that you can see. A 10-foot-radius patch of spore cloud fills that area for 1 minute, and the area is lightly obscured (creatures within or behind the cloud are partially concealed). When a creature enters the area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it takes 2d6 poison damage and is Poisoned until the end of its next turn. You and your allies are immune to this effect. The damage increases by 1d6 at Druid levels 7 (3d6), 11 (4d6), 15 (5d6) and 18 (6d6). You can use Spore Patch a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. You can also expend a spell slot of 2nd level or higher to extend the patch's duration to 10 minutes and its radius to 20 feet.
- L7 Hivemind Link
You can establish a limited, one-way listening link to nearby fungal-aligned creatures and biomes. As a 10-minute ritual during a short or long rest, you attune to your current location. While you are within 1 mile of the attunement point (or within any Myrrhiam-converted area, at any distance), you can sense the rough emotional state and aggregate intent of any fungal-aligned creatures in the area. You also have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks made to predict or track the Bloom's spread. You have disadvantage on Stealth checks made against Myrrhiam-aligned creatures once they have detected you at all, because they read your channeling signature. Hostile Bloom-mind nodes can try to read back: if a node attempts to invade your cognition during this contact, you make a Wisdom saving throw against the node's DC or grant the node access to your surface thoughts for 1 minute.
- L11 Bloom Ward
You become a node of the Bloom. You gain resistance to poison damage and to necrotic damage, and immunity to the Poisoned condition. In addition, when a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to release a reflexive spore-puff: the attacker takes 2d8 poison damage and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or be Poisoned until the end of its next turn. You can use this reaction a number of times per long rest equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). You can also, as an action, summon a small spore-construct ally, a fungus-clad humanoid silhouette of Power Rating 1, with statistics equivalent to a Druid-summoned mid-tier nature ally, for 1 hour or until it is reduced to 0 hit points. You can summon one spore-construct per long rest.
- L15 Rot or Renew
As an action and by expending a spell slot of 1st level or higher, you touch one creature within your reach and choose one of two effects. Rot. The target makes a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it takes 4d8 necrotic damage and its movement speeds are halved until the end of its next turn. On a success, it takes half damage and its speeds are unchanged. The damage increases by 1d8 per slot level above 1st. Renew. The target regains 4d8 hit points, ends one disease or one poison effect on itself, and gains 5 temporary hit points. The healing increases by 1d8 per slot level above 1st. Renew has no effect on an unwilling creature. You can use this feature as often as you have spell slots to spend.
- L18 Become Bloom Capstone
Once per long rest, as an action, you can become a localized expression of the Bloom-mind for 1 minute. During this time: You and the area within 30 feet of you fill with a slow, twilight-colored spore haze. Allies in the area have resistance to necrotic and poison damage. A hostile creature that enters the area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it takes 3d8 necrotic damage and is Poisoned until the end of its next turn. You can move through other creatures' spaces, you ignore difficult terrain, and you have a flying (hover) speed of 30 feet. Once per turn as a bonus action, you can anchor a Bloom-Mark on one creature you can see within Close range. A Bloom-Marked creature has its movement speed reduced by 10 feet, takes 1d8 necrotic damage at the start of each of its turns, and is visible to you through any obscurement while marked. The mark lasts until the form ends or the creature dies. When it dies, a spore-bloom erupts from the corpse and produces a 5-foot spore patch, as if you had cast it. You can speak with the Bloom-aligned dead within 30 feet as if using the speak with dead spell, with no time-since-death restriction. The form ends early if you are reduced to 0 hit points.
