Circle of the Pack
A Druid Circle that speaks with beasts, summons them with spell slots, commands them as a bonus action, and can call one large beast instead of a pack.
Identity
The Circle of the Pack is the Druid Circle that keeps its own shape and asks the animal. The practice is a long apprenticeship in a language that is never written down: what a herd does before it bolts, which of two predators gives way, how to make a request of an animal that is free to refuse. Frontier settlements call a Pack Druid when a migration is coming through and they want no fight. A Pack Druid has little to do in a sealed room.
Features
- L3 Speak the Pack
You can communicate simple ideas to beasts, and understand what they communicate back, at will. You gain proficiency in Animal Handling if you do not have it, and your proficiency bonus is doubled for any check you make with it.
- L7 Call the Pack
As an action and by expending a spell slot of 1st level or higher, you call beasts to you. Choose a number of beasts of Power Rating 1/4 or lower whose combined Power Rating does not exceed the slot level. They appear in unoccupied spaces within 30 feet, are friendly to you and your allies, act on your initiative, and obey your spoken commands. They remain for 1 hour, until you dismiss them, or until they are reduced to 0 hit points.
- L11 Pack Tactics
Beasts you have summoned or that are friendly to you have advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one other creature friendly to you is within 5 feet of it. In addition, once on each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to command every beast under your control to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage or Help action.
- L15 Large Beast Call
Call the Pack can now summon a single beast of Power Rating equal to half your Druid level, rounded down, instead of a group. Whichever you choose, summoned beasts gain temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier and add your proficiency bonus to their damage rolls.
- L18 Unbidden Pack Capstone
Once per long rest, when you are reduced to 0 hit points or when combat begins, beasts come to your side. You summon beasts as though you had cast Call the Pack with a 6th-level slot, without spending a slot or an action. They remain for 1 hour and are not under your command. They fight on your side, and the GM plays them as animals acting on their own.