Circle of Bones Druid Subclass

A take on what a Druid would be like if they revolved around helping those who have
already died, while hoping to protect those still alive
A.K.A. I want to wear skulls and scare people, how can I achieve this with a purpose?

Image Credit: Kyounghwan Kim

Druid Circle Homebrew by Mark
Turton
Circle of Bones
Like all druids you care for living things, but due to some
unforunate curse or ill-fated birth your soul is tethered to
the plane of Shadowfell. You are sought after for your
unique insights into life, but often feared or persecuted
because of your strange ways and appearances.
Unlike most Circles, those that join this path are often
solitary. They learn from someone willing to teach or like a
sorceror to magic, and often find their actions revolving
around the dead even while they help the living.
You have access to all the default features of the Druid
class and gain the following at the levels indicated.
Join the Court of Bones
You gain the following bonuses upon taking the Circle at
2nd level.
As long as you are not wearing armour and are wearing
the bones of animals and creatures on your person in
some way, your armour out of Wild Shape is 10 + Your
Wisdom + Your Dexterity modifier as the reach of the
Shadowfell protects you. In addition, your Wild Shape
forms armour is increased by your Wisdom and
Dexterity modifiers as well.
Your Wild Shape requires you to have access to the
skull of the creature you wish to become. The skull is
not destroyed upon use, but must be kept within reach
should you wish to use it again. Smaller creatures such
as spiders can be kept within an airtight jar to allow
their use.
Your shapes are twisted, however, and take on a form
more familiar to an undead creature. While their stats
are not affected (excluding the bonus to Armour Class),
they take on a deathly look. They could be missing their
skin, or be normal except for a skeletal head. Maybe
you're someones bad omen as you cross their path?
You are considered proficient on Medicine checks to
discover the source of death on a natural or undead
creatures corpse. As a general rule if something is
considered highly unlikely to become undead it is
considered un-natural, such as Demons or Fey (DM's
discretion).
You gain access to the Inflict Wounds spell and always
have it prepared. This does not count towards the
number of spells you can learn.
See Through Dead Eyes
Once per long rest you can stare into the eyes of a dead
creature, or the eye sockets of their skulls, and have one of
the following occur:
You can witness the cause of their death through the Wh
creatures eyes but only during the last minute of their only l
life. What you see occur has no sound with it, and is a it retu
spectral vision made of only one colour. You are what
considered blind and deafened while this takes place,
and is viewed in real time for the purposes of combat.
Bear in mind, as an example, that someone who slowly
bled to death would only reveal themselves lying down
as they died.
You can take the appearance of the creature as they
were in life for 1 hour as an illusion spell. If it is just a
skull, then you have no idea what they looked like
beforehand, and learn nothing about them or how they
died. If this option is chosen, the skull or body will
disintegrate into dust that swirls around you to power
the illusion.
Phantom Strike
Upon reaching 6th level, you gain access to the Speak with
the Dead spell which does not count towards the number
of spells you can learn. Now the spirits don't have to find
you themselves.
Also, twice per long rest you can shift into the
Shadowfell and move up to 40ft in any direction, likely
restricted by walls and doors as the Shadowfell is a mirror
of the material plane (DM's choice). Anyone in the material
plane will see you dissappear and replaced by a phantom
form of yourself, swinging your melee weapon wildly at
anything in its path.
Any creatures you pass through, friend or foe, must make
a Dexterity saving throw versus your spell save DC or take
Necrotic damage equal to double your weapon dice rolls,
then add modifiers, for example if wielding a dagger that
normally deals 1d4+1 damage, you would deal 2d4+1
damage, a magical dagger that dealt 2d4+2 damage would
become 4d4+2 damage and so on.
Once you have finished your movement you re-appear in
the Material plane and must roll 1d10. On a 1, something is
pulled through with you. Roll 1d8 and use the below table
to find out what:
Dice Roll Creature Summoned
1 Wight (pg 300 MM)
2 Ogre Zombie (pg 346 MM)
3 Will-O'-Wisp (pg 301 MM)
4 2 Skeletons (pg 272 MM)
5 2 Zombies (pg 316 MM)
6 Shadow (pg 269 MM)
7 Ghost (pg 147 MM)
8 Re-roll, appears as an ally
As indicated, on a roll of 8 you can re-roll and the undead
that comes through on your return will instead take their
own initative and fight for you, as one of the Shadowfells
many forces takes an intrigue into what you are doing.
The Dance of Death
Upon reaching 10th level you learn to twist the life force of
others to your allies gain. As part of your attack action you
can give temporary health to yourself or an ally within 20ft
of you, equal to the damage you deal. If the attack strikes an
undead, the temporary health gained is doubled. This
feature can be used in a Wild Shape form, but only for one
instance of damage.
You can use this feature twice per short rest.
Save those who canot help themselves
Upon reaching 14th level you gain advantage on death
saving throws as you become determined to help those
who cannot pass through to the afterlife without aid.
At a DM's discretion, should you help a spirit or other
undead pass on and no longer suffer a fate worse than
death, you gain a buff for 1 week. Should you gain another
buff, it overrides the first. Roll on the table below for what
you gain:
Roll Buff Gained
1 You gain an additional use of The Dance of Death
per short rest
2 Your melee attacks with weapons or while in Wild
Shape deal +2 Necrotic Damage
3 All heals you cast, including The Dance of Death,
are increased by 2.
4 If your Phantom Strike brings something back with
you, and it is friendly, you can choose the undead
from the list rather than roll again. It will then last
an hour instead.
5 You gain advantage against being frightened, you've
seen far worse!
6 Once within the next week, should you be knocked
unconscious, at the start of your next turn before
rolling a death saving throw you can instantly stand
up with 1 hp
Why on Earth does this exist?
One of my players wanted to play a Druid, and had an idea
for someone who helps those who have died and can't
move on, so I decided to try and help. Maybe someone died
unjustly or maybe their fury stops them from accepting
their death, but their character is there to try and help.
We quickly realised that while there is some
contradiction in a Druid of Undeath, they can still be
interested in saving lives. They help those who have already
died, they are not that interested in just killing. The use of
bones is seen more out of reverance for the departed than a
disdain, they can use them to help others. In that way, the
actual undead that roam the world are seen as anathema to
them and they essentially use their deathly powers to save
others from the same fate.
Also, their powers being fueled by another Plane of
Existence (or something within) means they could simply
be a mockery of what Druids believe. It's not the easiest
thing to just slide in to a standard world, but weirdly in
mine it works out quite well and maybe someone else can
use it. We just wanted a character who had an excuse to
carry lots of skulls around on a rope.

As a note for players and DM's, I typically see this as

actually helping a spirit rather than just killing a zombie.
The idea is to help a lost soul, just killing one simply 'shuts
it down' for awhile or return to Shadowfell. Use your
discretion!
Deathless Body
Your Timeless body perk at 18th level instead stops you
from aging at all, as well as needing access to food, drink or
air. While you are still classified as alive for the purposes of
spells and effects, the pull of the Shadowfell changes your
body in a way other Druids would abhor.

Created by Mark Turton (Surathis on most websites) as a Homebrew Class for Druids using Homebrewery.