I’ve been mulling over a general dissatisfaction with Druids for some time now and I think it boils down not actually feeling like I’m in touch with nature. I landed at the idea of potentially writing a new subclass that’s really in touch with the terrain and the world around them, and got so far as to pull up the Circle of the Land class to look at as a template, when I realized it’s pretty close to what I want, even if it’s not there. My gripe? You have to pick. The natural world is interlocked, and when you pick Circle of the Land, you’ve got to pick your terrain type. You’re actually a druid with the Circle of the Artic, or the Circle of the Ocean or whatever. So then you have to deal with common problems like “hey druid can we adventure in the desert?” and the response of “No, I’m a forest druid devoted to forests, I don’t want to leave the forest”. It’s not insurmountable, but it’s annoying. Let’s fix it.
My Fix:
When a Druid who has chosen Circle of the Land takes a long rest in a natural environment, the druid’s circle spells change to that of the natural environment they have rested in as their body draws energy from the land around them. These spells are added to your list of spells known, and your other lands spells are removed.
*Urban and extraplanar environments either don’t trigger this ability, or trigger to the closest terrain as appropriate and determined by the DM.
More Comments:
I’d like something else each time it rotates, or that carries through to higher levels, more than just increasing your spells known, but there’s also value in simplicity when it comes to house rules. I could write something that’s 98% this, but at that point just use the official content.
The TTRPG Factory 