D&D 5E Druid Wild Shape Beast Size

[DMJon]

I encountered a situation tonight and I wasn't sure how to rule. I read through the relevant sections of the PH, consulted the Sage Advice Compendium and searched online for answers but found nothing. Here's the situation:

Our druid rushed into a small room and Wild Shaped into a Brown Bear (a large beast). He was adjacent to a number of creatures and his back was against a wall when he did this. My question is what happens? Is the druid forced to squeeze into a single square, does he push the adjacent creatures backwards as he enlarges to occupy 4 squares, or something else?

What would happen if the druid was in a 10' x 10' room with 3 other creatures (all 4 squares are occupied) and he Wild Shaped into a Brown Bear?

If there's something "official" I'm missing in the rule books please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

 

[FarBeyondC]

In both cases, the druid in Brown Bear shape is forced to squeeze into a single square. The rules for squeezing into a smaller space (page 192 of the Player's Handbook) appear to be the most appropriate for dealing with both situations.

 

[Blue]

The rules don't cover this exact situation, but they do give you tools to make up your own mind what is appropriate. So it will vary by table.

If there isn't enough room, squeezing seems appropriate. On the other hand maybe the DM wants it to be a push against all adjacent but it will trigger an attack of opportunity - not at all detailed in the rules because the rules can't cover every situation, but something a DM could decide is appropriate and thanks to the idea that the DM _should_ adjudicate situations, well within their power to declare. (Though for everyone's sake, please be consistent.)

Note: I'd probably apply the squeezing. But I wanted to bring up strong feeling that the DM should adjudicate and there are things there aren't clean rules on.

 

[Prism]

The reason that there is no single answer to your question is that the default game doesn't assume you are playing on a grid or squares. There is a small sidebar in the PHB and a single page in the DMG but neither cover a situation like yours. Saying that, I can't find anything that says that two creatures can't occupy the same squares as each other. So there is nothing from preventing the druid from changing.

In a larger room I would say that the bear pushes the opponents back slightly by changing. If using a grid I would just move the figures back a square each for simplicity. In a small 10' room then all opponents including the bear are crammed in together. I don't think the squeezing rules are designed to cover this situation - they are more for narrow corridors and the like. You could argue that in fact the bear isn't squeezing but takes up the full room, and that the medium sized opponents are crushed against the walls. Or you could say they are all impeded equally. I certainly wouldn't say that the medium opponents are able to stop a full sized bear from filling their space. So a fair outcome would be to say that they are all squeezing or hampered to some degree which gives them all advantage and disadvantage to attack (therefore no real change). They all get disadvantage to dex saves since they all find it more difficult to maneuver.

 

[kalil]

I would roll contested strength checks for druid and all adajecent creatures. If druid wins he pushes them, if he fails he has to squeeze. Not based on any statements in the rule book, just my top-of-my-head ruling.