At a glance, Druids are the only class whose most popular build is not the one released as open content (and generally meant to be the "iconic" version of the classes).
Which is interesting, because when the SRD came out I remember thinking that Wizards was going against the grain by defining druids primarily as spellcasters and not murderbears.
I agreed with the decision but thought it would be an uphill struggle.
I agreed with the decision but thought it would be an uphill struggle.
Can't really agree. None of the other spellcasting classes has as their iconic subtype something that particularly emphasizes any of their unique features.
To me it's *weird* that the player base treats Druids as werebears with bonus spellcasting.
To me it's *weird* that the player base treats Druids as werebears with bonus spellcasting.
Like, the way the Druid has been skewed to be more and more about turning into a vicious beast and rending enemies with tooth and claw shows that there is a hunger for a class that has that as its whole hat.
I think it should be disambiguated from Druid...
I think it should be disambiguated from Druid...
...but the unwillingness to accept a Druid that is not primarily a shapeshifter and the paired unwillingness to accept another class that does wild shaping as "stepping on the druid's toes" means that this is just always and forever going to be One Of Those D&D Things.
...ah, and I looked at the original tweet before caffeine and missed that they specified "Circle of Land (Forest)" as the number 2 ranked subclass. If they're counting land types as *individual* subclasses... I mean, A, that is weird. Other classes have sub-subclass choices, too.
And B, that both explains more why the non-iconic subclass won out and why the spread on Druid is so different.
Seems likely, then, that if the land druid sub-types were aggregated as a single class then it might beat out Circle of the Moon, in which case "the most popular subclass is the iconic SRD one" holds true across all classes.
Hello to everybody replying to this thread to tell me that Moon Druids are considered more powerful. Just because you are new here doesn't mean I'm new. Do you think I just found out about D&D subclasses and am commenting on them at random?
I have serious doubts that the average player picks their character build on the basis of what charops boards say is most powerful/optimal.
"Average player using D&D Beyond" might skew that somewhat, granted.
"Average player using D&D Beyond" might skew that somewhat, granted.
It's easier to support a supposition that most players pick their stuff on the basis of combat math than basically any other basis because you can find organized groups of people discussing the combat math and coming to a consensus, as opposed to based on other appeals.
But honestly, if we're talking about why most players would wind up using (for all classes except for one, or all classes, depending on how you're counting) the iconic/SRD subclass, I think "It's the most basic and accessible class, in the PHB and also the SRD" fits better.
Because "This class is the most mathematically optimal, everybody on the subreddits and the IRCs and the forums agree!" assumes that all players come to the game with specialized knowledge, and at a time when D&D playing is on the upswing? That seems unlikely.
