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D&D 5E Homebrew Psionic Druid Subclass-Thoughts?

RustyDemiGod

Villager
Circle of the Earth Dream

Druids of this secret esoteric circle maintain a reverence for the collective soul of the world known to some as the Earth Dream. Initiates of this circle understand that each individual mind is but a branch of a greater mind. Through mental discipline, and a great deal of personal growth, these druids have learned to not only commune with the consciousness of the world, but have also learned to pass through the barriers between individual minds.


-Circle Spells: your mind opens to the collective consciousness of the world. This awakening grants you access to a selection of spells as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the table below.
Once you gain access to one of these spells, you always have it prepared, and it does not count against the number of spells that you can prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell that does not appear on the Druid spell list, the spell is nonetheless a Druid spell for you.



Druid LevelSpells
3rdDetect Thoughts, Mind Spike
5thClairvoyance, Pulse Wave
7thDivination, Raulothim’s Psychic Lance
9thScrying, Dream


-Thought-Shaping: Starting at 2nd level, you learn to access the world’s collective consciousness to summon a thought-form, known as an Egregore, into reality. As an action, you can expand one use of your Wild Shape feature to summon your thought-form, rather than assuming the form of a beast. Your Egregore appears within 30ft of you, and takes on the form of any creature that you could normally Wild Shape into. The Egregore uses the stat block of the beast it is mimicking, with the following changes:

-Your thought-form Egregore is treated as a Construct instead of a Beast.

-Your thought-form appears to be made of semi solid energy of varying colors. Some may appear as though they are made of colored crystal.

-Your Egregore‘s attacks deal psychic damage, instead of their listed damage type.

-Your Egregore gains a bonus to its armor class equal to your Proficiency Bonus.

-Your Egregore’s hit point maximum is equal to 5+5 times your Druid level rather than its normal HP. The construct has a number of D8 hit dice equal to your Druid level.

You are psychically linked to the Egregore. You share its senses, including any special senses that it has, and can telepathically communicate with it. In combat, the Egregore shares your turn. The Egregore can move and take reactions on its own, but will only take the Dodge action unless you use a Bonus Action to command it otherwise. You may command it to take any action in it’s stat block, or another type of action. If you do not give the Egregore any commands, it takes the Dodge action automatically.

Your Egregore lasts for 1 hour, until it is reduced to 0 hit points, you are knocked unconscious, you die, you summon a new Egregore, or it moves more than 120 feet away from you. you can Wild Shape into the form of a Beast and maintain control of an Egregore.



-Minor Thought-Form: At 2nd level, you gain the Find Familiar ritual spell. Your Familiar may appear ghostly translucent, composed of colored crystal, or display a myriad of other cosmetic appearances. The summoned familiar is considered a Construct. This spell counts as a Druid spell for you, and does not count against the number of Druid spells that you can prepare each day.



-Wild Telepathy: At 6th level, your growing mental strength begins to blur the boundaries between individual minds. You gain the ability to communicate telepathically with any creature within 60 feet of you. You do not need to share a language with the creature for it to understand you. This form of telepathy allows you to communicate mentally with beasts as if you were under the effect of the Speak With Animals spell.

-Shared Consciousness: At 10th level, you learn to link the minds of your allies into a telepathic network. As a Bonus Action, you can link a number of willing allies within 60 feet of you equal to your Wisdom modifier plus your Proficiency Bonus. While connected you gain the following benefits:

-Allies linked to your network gain access to your Wild Telepathy feature, but do not gain the ability to communicate with Beasts.

-You may cast your spells through a linked ally as if they were the source of the casting.

-If you fail a Constitution save to maintain concentration on a spell, you may draw upon the strength of a linked ally. Choose one ally in your network to make a Constitution saving throw for you as a reaction. If they succeed, you maintain concentration on your spell.

This telepathic network connection is severed if you fall unconscious, die, sleep, or will it to end as a Bonus Action.



-Life Sense: At 14th level, you feel the flow of consciousness around you. You are now able to detect any creature with an intelligence score, of 1 or higher, within 120ft. This sense is not blocked by mundane material obstruction. You know the Intelligence score and location of any creature that you can sense, unless they are magically warded against divination. This sense does not grant you any additional information such as race, gender, class, etc.
 
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bedir than

Full Moon Storyteller
My initial, quick thought is that the thought form shouldn't be a construct. It's not an assemblage of physical materials operating in the physical realm, but a combination of spiritual energy and something akin to illusion.

I might go Fey or Elemental (Spirit element).
 

Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
My initial, quick thought is that the thought form shouldn't be a construct. It's not an assemblage of physical materials operating in the physical realm, but a combination of spiritual energy and something akin to illusion.

I might go Fey or Elemental (Spirit element).
I think of illusions (objectively real phenomena) as different from "phantasms" (subjective hallucinations in the targets mind only).

Illusions can be solid. It reminds me of a Star Trek "holodeck". An illusion is something like an art of visual light supported by the apparent solidity of a field of Ethereal Force, along with sound, heat, scent, etcetera.

In this sense, it is a Force construct, but its realistic appearance is part of illusion magic.

If thematically mind magic, these illusions utilize telekinetic force to feel solid.
 

bedir than

Full Moon Storyteller
I think of illusions (objectively real phenomena) as different from "phantasms" (subjective hallucinations in the targets mind only).

Illusions can be solid. It reminds me of a Star Trek "holodeck". An illusion is something like an art of visual light supported by the apparent solidity of a field of Ethereal Force, along with sound, heat, scent, etcetera.

In this sense, it is a Force construct, but its realistic appearance is part of illusion magic.

If thematically mind magic, these illusions utilize telekinetic force to feel solid.
So you're saying you think Construct is the proper creature type?
 

RustyDemiGod

Villager
Absolutely thrilled someone actually took an interest in this.
I went with Construct because it’s an artificial form with no real sentience, a machine comprised of mental force.

This is a rough 2nd draft of my original psionic Druid concept, and though I shaped it up a bit I imagine it’s not quite perfectly balanced yet.

Opinions? Criticisms?
 

Laurefindel

Legend
Concept is sound. Implementation is well done. Appears to be balanced at first glance, but I’d have to weigh the higher level abilities of this homebrew to the higher abilities of published Druid subclasses.

My only concern is that familiar plus egregor plus wild shape plus summons equals lots of different stat blocks to keep track of, especially since they could all be use simultaneously.

The « cast spell through someone else » can also lead to all sorts of hijinks in the hands of some players. Not sure if that a problem or a feature.

Altogether, it’s pretty good. Ready to face some play test I’d say.
 

bedir than

Full Moon Storyteller
That 10th level ability is the next one that needs analysis.

Having the allies access the Wild Telepathy rather than just be able to communicate with each other telepathically gains a powerful awareness of everything happening around them.

The Fighter can now ask the Tree what's going on for example, and do so while networked up to PB times per day.
 

RustyDemiGod

Villager
That 10th level ability is the next one that needs analysis.

Having the allies access the Wild Telepathy rather than just be able to communicate with each other telepathically gains a powerful awareness of everything happening around them.

The Fighter can now ask the Tree what's going on for example, and do so while networked up to PB times per day.
This one may indeed need retooling or dialing back a bit, but would it be a hindrance or opportunity? I imagine having a character with this feature would change the way an entire party sees and interacts with everything. But is it too much? That’s a thinker.
 

Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
So you're saying you think Construct is the proper creature type?
I think the best way to handle it is, it is an illusion, but illusions are a kind of construct.

Illusions arent made out of matter. They are made of force, radiant light, etcetera.

Indeed, illusions are made out of Ethereal Forces. This is why both Feywild and Shadowfell comprise illusions.

Ultimately, illusions are blur the line between subjective visualization and objective reality − but in the same way that ultimately matter is made out of forces.
 

RustyDemiGod

Villager
I think the best way to handle it is, it is an illusion, but illusions are a kind of construct.

Illusions arent made out of matter. They are made of force, radiant light, etcetera.

Indeed, illusions are made out of Ethereal Forces. This is why both Feywild and Shadowfell comprise illusions.

Ultimately, illusions are blur the line between subjective visualization and objective reality − but in the same way that ultimately matter is made out of forces.
Honestly the original concept was going to be that it was an ectoplasmic construct. Ectoplasm in this situation being a semi solid psychoactive material manifested from the ethereal. So…not so much an illusion as a thought given mass.

I’ve trimmed a lot of fat off the subclass and it does what I want and envisioned but is it still too much?
 

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