CIRCLEOFTHESHEPHERD
Druids of the Circle of the Shepherd commune with the spirits of nature, especially the spirits of beasts and the fey, and call to those spirits for aid. These druids recognize that all living things play a role in the natural world, yet they focus on protecting animals and fey creatures that have difficulty defending themselves. Shepherds, as they are known, see such creatures as their charges. They ward off monsters that threaten them, rebuke hunters who kill more prey than necessary, and prevent civilization from encroaching on rare animal habitats and on sites sacred to the fey.
Many of these druids are happiest far from cities and towns, content to spend their days in the company of animals and the fey creatures of the wilds. Members of this circle become adventurers to oppose forces that threaten their charges or to seek knowledge and power that will help them safeguard their charges better. Wherever these druids go, the spirits of the wilderness are with them.Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything
This mod is the closest adaptation I was able to achieve in the game with my modding knowledge and game limitations. While some features may vary, if you are already familiar with the tabletop version, I think you'll find this to satisfy your craves of roaming the land with your animal companions! This mod currently adds the entire subclass, two extra summoning spells(Summon Beast and Conjure Animals), two new summons for Conjure Woodland Beings(Blink Dogs and Meenlock), and six new items. PRE-INSTALL WARNING: This mod has two versions: the currently supported, new "balanced" version, which makes all summon spells Concentration spells, and the original version, which keeps all summon spells as non-concentration, one time use. While with the old version you can stack all your summons, with the new version you can only have one summon active at the time, with exceptions. Download whichever is your preference, but from now on I will be updating the new version only.
SUBCLASS FEATURES
LEVEL 2: SPIRIT TOTEM
You gain the ability to call forth nature spirits and use them to influence the world around you. As a bonus action, you can magically summon an incorporeal spirit to a point you can see within 18m of you. The spirit creates an aura in a 9m radius around that point.Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
In the tabletop version, this feature can cast 1 of 3 variations: Bear, Hawk, and Unicorn. There's a severe lack of hawks and unicorns in-game, so I've replaced them with a raven and a boar, respectively. Why does a boar replace a unicorn? You're telling me a hairy pig with tusks is not as fantastic as a horse with a horn?
SPIRIT TOTEM: BEAR
The bear spirit grants you and your allies its might and endurance. Each friendly creature in the aura when the spirit appears gains temporary hit points equal to 5 + your Druid level. In addition, you and your allies gain Advantage on Strength Ability Checks and Strength Saving Throws while in the aura.
This feature works exactly like in the book, no changes. The raven spirit is a nimble scavenger, aiding you and your allies with its keen sight. When a creature makes an Attack Roll against a target in the spirit’s aura, you can use your reaction to grant Advantage to that attack roll. In addition, you and your allies have Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) Ability Checks while in the aura. Aside from the pretty noticeable replacement from hawk to raven, this also works like in the book.
SPIRIT TOTEM: RAVEN
SPIRIT TOTEM: BOAR
The boar spirit lends its resilience and fine nose. You and your allies in the spirit's aura gain See Invisibility and regain 2 health points when you end a turn in its aura.
This is one of the most noticeable changes in the mod, since neither the animal or its ability is the same. The ability of healing extra HP when using a healing spell proved impossible to implement, so I replaced it for a flat 2 HP heal on end of turn. It does keep the See Invisibility boost.
LEVEL 2: WILD COMPANION
You gain the ability to summon a spirit that assumes an animal form: as an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to cast the Find Familiar spell.
This optional feature for Druids in the tabletop has been merged into this subclass to expand its potential.
LEVEL 2: SPEECH OF THE WOODS
Beasts can understand your speech.
A simple passive: Speak with Animals will now always be active!
EXTRA2ND SLOT SPELL: SUMMON BEAST
Call forth an allied bestial spirit from an environment of Air or Land.
An extra spell included in this mod you gain access to as a learnable spell at level 3, the Summon Beast beast spell has been implemented to increase your summoning potential. Both bestial spirits have a stronger version of their base attack, Maul. Upscaling this spell increases your Beast companion's health by 5 each level.
SUMMON BEAST: AIR
Call forth an allied bestial spirit from the environment of Air. It takes the form of a raven.
The Bestial Spirit of Air is a raven with 20 HP and a Flyby passive: it doesn't trigger opportunity attacks.SUMMON BEAST: LAND
Call forth an allied bestial spirit from the environment of Land. It takes the form of a wolf.
The Bestial Spirit of Land is a wolf with 30 HP and Pack Tactics.EXTRA 3RD SLOT SPELL: CONJURE ANIMALS
Conjure a fey spirit in the form of a beast to fight alongside you.
Again, this is a spell that like Summon Beast, is learned to increase your summoning potential. You gain access to learn it at Level 5 with the rest of 3rd slot spells. Starting with Level 5 Spell Slots, this spell will also summon twice as many creatures!
CONJURE ANIMALS: CAVE BEAR
Conjure a Cave Bear to fight alongside you. It deals Slashing damage and can Goad nearby enemies into attacking it.
Your tanky animal companion. Unlike the Ranger's Companion Bear, this one does not scale.
CONJURE ANIMALS: GIANT EAGLE
Conjure a Giant Eagle to fight alongside you. It deals Slashing damage and can knock enemies back and prone with its Gales of wind.
Quite self-explanatory.CONJURE ANIMALS: WOLVES
Conjure two Wolves to fight alongside you. They deal Piercing damage and have Pack Tactics.
Also self-explanatory, but you summon two of them to compensate for their low health.
LEVEL 6: MIGHTY SUMMONER
Beasts and fey that you conjure are more resilient than normal. They gain 20% more health points and the damage from their natural attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming enemies' Resistance and Immunity to non-magical damage.
Unlike in the tabletop, I had to make this a spell, because a permanent health boost passive for your summons doesn't seem possible to make. The spell gives you a permanent aura of 100m (lets hope your animals don't drift far from that in combat), which doesn't leave until you are downed or die. A small note: this spell currently does not work with the upscaling health that Summon Beast gets, but you won't notice the difference much since it will always be a flat 4 HP increase for them.
EXPANDED4TH SLOT SPELL: CONJURE WOODLAND BEINGS
Conjure a fey creature to fight alongside you.
There was a severe lack of variety in one of the best spells in the tabletop. I've added the two fey creatures you can summon with this spell that are actually in game.
CONJURE WOODLAND BEINGS: BLINK DOG
Conjure three blink dogs to fight alongside you. They can Blink to close distance.
You might recognize their model from a certain enemy if you've beaten the game. These fellows can teleport around the area as a bonus action: weak but adept for in and out attacking.
CONJURE WOODLAND BEINGS: MEENLOCK
Conjure a meenlock to fight alongside you. It can teleport in shadows, paralyze enemies with its claws, and assault its enemies' minds.
Quite self-explanatory, this strange being has a bit more expanded abilities from its base form in the game.
LEVEL 10: GUARDIAN SPIRIT
Your Spirit Totem safeguards the beasts and fey that you call forth with your magic. When a creature that you summoned or created with a spell ends its turn in your Spirit Totem aura, that creature regains 6 health points.
A small change from the book to here is that I wasn't able to implement having Guardian Spirit heal half your level, so I compromised and made it heal 6 health points. It doesn't matter much anyways, because the level cap is 12.
NEW ITEMS TAILORED FOR SHEPHERDS
This mod now also includes six new items tailored for the Circle of the Shepherd, homebrewed and official, but usable by any subclass. All of these items can be acquired through either vendors or by spawning in the Tutorial Chest. These include: Circlet of Unbreakable Mind: Your Constitution Saving Throws have a +4 bonus while you are Concentrating. Can be bought from Quartermaster Talli during Act 2. Feywild Catnip Pendant: Summon up to 8 cats, but each cat has a 66% chance of appearing. Can be bought from Mattis during Act 2. Hat of Vermin: Summon a rat, frog or crab. Can be bought from Arron during Act 1. Moon Sickle: While equipped to a Druid or Ranger, gain a +3 bonus to Spell Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. When using a heal spell, heal an additional 1d4. Can be bought from Dammon during Act 3. Shepherd's Crook: Your summons within 18m gain 2 AC, +2 to Initiative Rolls and 6m of movement. Can be bought fromEntharl Danthelon during Act 3.
Gloves of the Titan Master: Your summoned entities are Enlarged. Can be bought from Dammon during Act 2.
INSTALLATION COMPATIBILITY WARNING:While this mod is compatible with 5e Spells, I noticed both mods use the same ID for Summon Beast. The only difference is that 5e Spells version is 100 turns compared to permanent, which is unnoticeable during gameplay. I recommend loading this mod after 5e Spells but do as you please.
Make sure you have downloaded theCompatibility FrameworkandImprovedUI, use theBG3 Mod Managerfor loading this mod.
CREDITS
A shout-out to Lykon and his AI BG3 icon generator, which helped me create this:https://civitai.com/models/114265?modelVersionId=123503.
