Thread by @WhatDoIKnowJR

One interesting aspect of looking at the #OneDnD playtest documents is that it makes me realize things that I didn't fully process in all the years of running #DnD5e. For example, I knew the Artificer is a class that is very dependent on its subclasses for its identity.

It never struck me how true this was for druids as well. The core druid is a very thin framework on which to hang subclasses, with the subclasses doing a lot of heavy lifting. This became even more true as subclasses started using Wild Shape as a player currency for abilities.

What's even more interesting about THAT development is that we're seeing a lot of One D&D developments that come from recent design, like from Tasha's forward, but Wild Shape as currency for non-wild shape stuff comes in pretty early.

For example, Xanathar's Guide to Everything came out in 2017, and the Circle of Spores druid is already using Wild Shape for the Symbiotic Entity ability, which is more about merging with fungal traits rather than literally turning into something else.

@BrandesStoddard mentioned how often he's seen the Circle of Stars druid, but I remember when I was running and playing AL games, I saw a whole lot of Circle of Spores druids running around.

I'll touch on this when I FINALLY get my analysis written formally for the blog, but thematically, I would argue that Circle of the Land FEELS more like what the most druidy druid subclass should be.

Communing with nature refuels your magic! You are unimpeded by the land to which you are attuned. YOU ARE THE LAND! (Circle of the Land isn't as exciting as I'm implying here, but the class features are very core druid concept in nature)

However, Circle of the Moon ends up being the most druidy druid in practice, not because the story of the druid is "I'm a shapechanger." The story is "I wield the power of nature by being in tune with natural forces."

But core druid has so many features that fiddle with Wild Shape that MECHANICALLY Circle of the Moon becomes the most druidy druid based on enhancing core mechanics that the druid class actually engages with.

Ideally, if the story of the druid touches on the following elements:

Animals
Natural Terrain
Weather
Elements

. . . the core druid features should be spread across those themes, but they aren't. And One D&D doubles down on filling dead levels with wild shape modifications.

I will also freely admit that when it comes to what druids should be doing in a campaign, I'm still very influenced by the idea that druids and wizards cover some of the same territory of controlling and modifying an area and/or multiple creatures.

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