Dark Druids

The Circle of Apostasy

because druids can be evil too

by
FEDERICO PILLERI
arts by
Arthur Rackham, Ian MacLean, and Theodore Gericault
(used with permission)

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers
League, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and
their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or
unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast.
©2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4
The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK.

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only . 1
CIRCLE OF APOSTASY
The Circle of Apostasy is the dark and
corrupted face of the Circle of the Land, a
congregation of druids whose heretical views
made them the very scourge they once swore to
fight. Inspecting and contemplating the most
controversial aspect of nature, they ended up
enmeshed with what an orthodox druid would
consider pure blasphemy, hence their
reputation of apostates.
This circle offers a path to power, one
that could easily seduce a young druid into
accepting its ways. Apostates, of course,
maintain no formal organization, nor they have
common (un)holy places to revere. But they are
anyway divided into four main sects, as if four
dark voices were clearly speaking among the
whispers only them can heard. Those sects are
the Circle of Beyond, the Circle of Death, the
Circle of Decay and the Circle of the
Netherworld.
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only .
For the Circle of Death the real meaning
of life is its end, for there will be no life without
death. And so these druids encourage, revere
and spread the work of the Grim Reaper, for
this, they believe, is the cruel but necessary way
of nature. Great is their power over death, and
they are perhaps the only druids that view
undeads as tools rather than abominations.
The Circle of Decay reveres the
inevitable decay and putrescence as the only
means towards a new, promising life, for new
blossoms always sprouts from decay, and
nothing is capable of arousing renewal as a
corrupted drop of pus, the putrescence that
strengthens the worthy and thins the herd of
the weak.
The Circle of the Netherworld was born
from an excessive and insane interest on the
fate of the souls and spirits, an interest that
drove many druids to linger with the most vile
of the outsiders in order to extort their utmost
secrets. A member of this circle gains great
power over the weak-minded, and knows how
to bind powerful outsiders to his or her will, but
the very soul of this druid is condemned to an
eternity of suffering in the Lower Planes.
However, the most vile of all the
apostates are perhaps those of the Circle of
Beyond, for their madness transcended the
nature of this world to embrace the not-so-
natural order of the Far Realm, the very bane of
mortal worlds. And yet, if it is the natural order
that imposes the survival of the fittest and the
strongest, the denizens of the Great Beyond will
be the true inheritors of the earth.
As a member of this circle, your magic is
influenced by the dark power whose influences
on the natural world you choose to revere.
2
BONUS CANTRIP CIRCLE SPELLS
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you Your specific circle grants you vile powers
learn one additional cantrip based on your linked to the apostasy that made you a heretical
specific circle, as noted below. druid. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain
access to circle spells connected to your own
BONUS CANTRIP apostasy.
Circle Bonus Cantrip Once you gain access to a circle spell,
Circle of Beyond dancing lights you always have it prepared, and it doesn't
Circle of Death chill touch count against the number of spells you can
prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell
Circle of Decay poison spray that doesn't appear on the druid spell list, the
Circle of the Netherworld thaumaturgy spell is nonetheless a druid spell for you.

CIRCLE OF BEYOND
FORBIDDEN SHAPES
Druid Level Circle Spells
The blasphemous rites of your circle grant you
3rd crown of madness, misty step
the ability to transform into forbidden forms,
that no druid would ordinarily assume. You can 5th hunger of Hadar, lightning bolt
convert your flesh into living wood, or divide 7th confusion, Evard's black tentacles
your consciousness between innumerable
lesser animal forms. 9th contact other plane, scrying
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your
Wild Shape to transform into a single plant CIRCLE OF DEATH
creature, or into a swarm of beasts. The shapes Druid Level Circle Spells
you can assume are still subject to the 3rd Blindness/deafness, hold person
limitations of challenge rating and special
movement based on your level. 5th animate dead, speak with dead
7th blight, death ward
9th antilife shell, cloudkill

CIRCLE OF DECAY
Druid Level Circle Spells
3rd Melf's acid arrow, ray of enfeeblement
5th Stinking cloud, vampire's touch
7th blight, vitriolic sphere
9th cloudkill, contagion

CIRCLE OF THE NETHERWORLD

Druid Level Circle Spells
3rd darkness, suggestion
5th fear, magic circle
7th banishment, phantasmal killer
9th contact other plane, planar binding

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only . 3
SHAPE OF CORRUPTION
As your power grows, so does your
ability to integrate druidic rites with
forbidden formulas and blasphemous
powers, in order to assume unnatural
and corrupted forms with your Wild
Shape feature. Starting at 6th level,
when you use your Wild Shape, you
can choose to alter the type of the
creature you transform into to better
reflect the vile nature of your own
circle. If you do so, you gain resistance
to a damage type determined by your
circle.
Furthermore, your corrupted
shape is such an abomination against
the natural order than the plants
themselves try to avoid you. When you
are in Wild Shape, moving through
nonmagical difficult terrain costs you
no extra movement; you can also pass
through nonmagical plants without
being slowed by them and without
taking damage from them if they have
thorns, spines, or a similar hazard.
NATURE'S BANE
CIRCLE OF BEYOND When you reach 10th level, you are immune to
New Type aberration poison and disease. Furthermore, you can't be
charmed or frightened by elementals or fey, nor
Resistance to psychic damage by the creatures associated with your specific
Possible Features distorted facial features, tentacles circle.

CREATURES
CIRCLE OF DEATH Circle Creature Type
New Type undead Circle of Beyond aberrations
Resistance to necrotic damage Circle of Death undeads
Possible Features rotting flesh, exposed bones Circle of Decay oozes
Circle of the Netherworld fiends
CIRCLE OF DECAY
New Type ooze
LIVING APOSTASY
Resistance to acid damage
When you reach 14th level, the border between
Possible Features purulent swellings, fluid flesh your own shape and the ones you assume with
your powers becomes labile. You continuously
CIRCLE OF BEYOND gain resistance to the damage associated with
New Type fiend your circle and, while you assume your Shape of
Corruption, you gain immunity to that damage.
Resistance to poison damage Furthermore, you can cast the alter self
Possible Features distorted, humanoid features spell at will, but the forms you assume are
always influenced by your Shape of Corruption
feature.

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only . 4