Circle of the Hive
Here at Gelatinous Cubicles, we are big believers in the power of community; we all have to help each other to succeed, after all. That said, there are some among us that take things... a bit too far. Regardless, our latest archetype is a druid with a talent for battlefield control and espionage, and we hope it makes an interesting addition to your next adventure. Just be sure their friends don't crawl into anywhere important.
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Circle of the Hive
While most druids venerate the interconnections of the natural world, few take it so far as the Circle of the Hive. Druids of this tradition are fascinated by the plurality of life, and by the complex network of relationships that make life possible. From studying these connections, they are drawn in by the communal nature of insects, as many such druids live more as parts of a teeming whole than as individual creatures.
As a result, druids of the hive have a unique perspective on the world around them, even compared to other druids, as the difference between the plural and the singular becomes blurred. This perspective can manifest in many different ways. If you wish, you can choose from or roll on the Circle of the Hive Quirks table to determine how your character’s connection to their many followers has affected them.
Circle of the Hive Quirks
d6 Quirk
1 You see no distinction between yourself and the members of your hive, referring to both as ‘we’ whenever you refer to either.
2 You make no attempt to disguise your insects’ awareness, rarely turning your head or searching for anything your insects can find for you.
3 You think of towns or cities in the same way you think of a beehive or an ant hill.
4 You are industrious at all waking hours, and have a talent for multitasking.
5 Your hive and your allies are one, and to threaten one of you is to threaten all of you.
6 You find it difficult to care about a single creature, when they are only one out of the glorious multitude.
Circle of the Hive Features
Druid Level Features
2nd Circle Spells, Watcher of a Thousand Eyes, Swarmcaller
6th Exoskeletal Espionage
10th Hivebender's Vanguard
14th Hivemaster's Tomb
Circle Spells
At 2nd level, your connection to insects and your influence over them grants you access to certain spells. At 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain access to the spells listed for that level in the Circle of the Hive Spells table.
Once you gain access to one of these spells, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell that doesn't appear on the druid spell list, the spell is nonetheless a druid spell for you.
Circle of the Hive Spells
Druid Level Spells
2nd infestation
3rd web
5th conjure animals
7th arcane eye
9th insect plague
Watcher of a Thousand Eyes
At 2nd level, your connection to insects and other creeping things lets you easily maintain a constant awareness of your surroundings and allows you to interfere with your enemies in combat. You are subtly connected to any insects within 60 feet of you, and your druidic magic calls insect spirits to populate this area as well, even in regions normally devoid of such creatures. You can make a Wisdom (Perception) check as a bonus action by gathering sensory data from the insects you are connected to. Perceiving in this way doesn’t change or rely on your senses, and so can be used even while your normal senses are otherwise blocked, such as in darkness, dense fog, or an area of magical silence.
Additionally, on your turn, you can use a bonus action to mark a hostile creature within 60 ft of you that you can see. A marked creature is covered in insects for 1 minute or until it is more than 60 ft away from you, or until you’re incapacitated. The first time a marked creature makes an attack roll or ability check on its turn, you can use your reaction to command your insects to interfere, forcing the marked creature to roll 1d4 and subtract it from each attack roll or ability check it makes until the start of your next turn.
This reduction increases to 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 10th level, and to 1d10 at 14th level. You can mark a number of creatures up to your proficiency bonus at one time.
Swarmcaller
At 2nd level, you gain the ability to agitate the insects under your sway, calling them into sudden, wild action. As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to cause the insects under your control to swarm into the air, filling the area within 60 ft of you. The area covered by your swarm cloud is lightly obscured for all creatures except you, and any Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide from you within the swarm cloud are made with disadvantage.
In addition, any marked creatures in your swarm cloud are also harried. Harried creatures treat the swarm cloud as difficult terrain, and have disadvantage on ranged attack rolls targeting any point within the swarm cloud. At the end of each of your turns, you can force each harried creature to make a Constitution saving throw against your druid spell save DC. On a failed save, a harried creature takes piercing damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 0).
Your swarm cloud lasts for 10 minutes, until you dismiss it as an action, until you use your Wild Shape again, or until you’re incapacitated.
Exoskeletal Espionage
At 6th level, your connection to each of your swarm’s members has grown stronger, letting you stay connected to them from much further away. As a bonus action, you can command a handful of insects to hide among the clothes or on the fur, scales, or hide of a creature you can see within 60 feet, stealthily tagging that creature for 1 hour. While a creature is tagged, you know the direction to that creature so long as they are still within 1 mile of you. In addition, as an action, you can get an impression through your insects of whether the tagged creature is at rest or not.
You can have a number of tagged creatures equal to your proficiency bonus at one time. This effect ends early if the target is ever more than 1 mile from you, or if all of the planted insects are removed. A creature that succeeds on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check notices that it has insects planted on it, and then must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC to find them all. Any insects found flee immediately, as survival instincts override your commands.
Hivebinder's Vanguard
At 10th level, your ability to muster insects in combat becomes far more dangerous. Whenever you cast the conjure animals spell, you can summon swarms of insects instead of other CR 1/2 beasts. In addition, when you conjure swarms of insects in this way, you gain temporary hit points equal to your druid level + your Wisdom modifier for the duration, as you are hidden by a thick swarm of insects climbing on and flying around you. While you have these temporary hit points, to any creature more than 5 feet away from you, you are heavily obscured.
Hivemaster's Edict
At 14th level, your ability to overwhelm creatures with your swarms attacks has become even more thoroughly destructive. When you mark a creature while your insects are swarming, you can choose to make your insects try to smother that creature in addition to biting and stinging. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature’s airways are blocked, and they begin choking, and the weight of the insects reduces their speed to 0. On a success, the creature successfully blocks the insects in time to hold their breath, and their speed is not reduced.
While their speed is reduced, on each of the target’s turns, they can use their action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC to overcome the weight of your swarm. On a success, their speed is no longer reduced. However, the insects remain on the target, who must continue to hold their breath, and at the start of each of your turns, the target must repeat the saving throw. While the target is being smothered, you can continue to mark other creatures as normal. The insects will continue to try and suffocate the target until your insects stop swarming, until the target is more than 60 feet from you, or until you command them to stop as a bonus action.
After you smother a creature in this way, you cannot do so again until you have completed a long rest.
Suffocation
A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds).
When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round). At the start of its next turn, it drops to 0 hit points and is dying, and it can't regain hit points or be stabilized until it can breathe again.