D&D 5E Mike Mearls Twitter Poll: "The druid gets one of the following: Spellcasting | Shapeshifting | Animal companions. Choose."

[The Human Target]

I don't care what they call them, but I definitely think shapeshifter and nature magic guy are both worthy of full classes.

Animal companions should have nothing to do with a specific class.

 

[Prakriti]

I also believe the popularity it being a druid concept "archetype" (and I use the term loosely) has something to do with the "druid" class in the World of Warcraft MMO having some kind of shapeshifting ability.

Ah, right. I was going to point to Diablo 2 as the moment when the druid archetype started to pivot toward shapeshifting. But you're right, Warcraft was an even bigger cultural phenomenon. And the three druid subclasses in World of Warcraft were basically cat, bear, and tree. Druids spent almost zero time in their humanoid form. Shapeshifting was their whole shtick.

It's amazing how quickly archetypes can change. I'm sure this poll would have had completely different results 20 years ago.

 

[Leatherhead]

Currently it's 64% shapeshifting, 24% spellcasting, and 12% animal companion ... which I find frustrating. I've never thought of shapeshifting as intrinsic to the class. What I see when I think of a druid is a celtic pagan priest out in nature, communing in groves and casting spells in stone circles under the moon and stars.

The whole shapeshifting thing, to look to mythology, is more of a shaman thing, innit?

Let me first say: I really hate Twitter, due to it's truncated nature, it's not really useful for soliciting feedback. In fact, I don't really find it useful for anything other than hurling knee-jerk reactions and barbs at others, which is why I don't have a Twitter Account.

That out of the way, how the the poll is worded implies "All other things in D&D being the same, what one thing would you like the druid to keep if we butcher it?"

You can use a Nature Priest for your "nature themed" religious full spellcaster.
You can use a Beastmaster Ranger for your nature themed animal master.
But there is no easy analog for a Shapeshifter.

And that's only if you are going for a strict analog, Fey Pact Warlocks, Oath of the Ancient Paladins, and all kinds of Rangers can also fill the Mystical Nature Worshiper who works with creatures niche to various degrees.

If you are going butcher a class, you might as well keep the part that is relatively unique.

 

[Dausuul]

Ah, right. I was going to point to Diablo 2 as the moment when the druid archetype started to pivot toward shapeshifting. But you're right, Warcraft was an even bigger cultural phenomenon. And the three druid subclasses in World of Warcraft were basically cat, bear, and tree. Druids spent almost zero time in their humanoid form. Shapeshifting was their whole shtick.

It's amazing how quickly archetypes can change. I'm sure this poll would have had completely different results 20 years ago.

I've never played WoW and D2 did not particularly affect my ideas of what a druid should be. I voted because shapeshifting and animal companions are what distinguish druids from nature clerics, and of those two, shapeshifting is the one that would otherwise be unrepresented as a major class feature.

I would not object at all to focusing druids on animal companions instead--in fact, I consider animal companions more "druidy" than shapeshifting. But in that case, we need another class or subclass that specializes in shapeshifting.

I think focusing druids on spellcasting is silly. We have too many classes already whose shtick is "I cast spells."

 

[mellored]

I tend to agree. I don't remember druids even being able to shapeshift in 1E/2E, so shapeshifting was never an important part of the druid concept to me.

I don't remember druids being a class in 1e/2e. They where just nature clerics. Though they got shapeshifting at level 7.

I do agree that shape-shifting gives them something unique.

 

[TwoSix]

Ah, right. I was going to point to Diablo 2 as the moment when the druid archetype started to pivot toward shapeshifting. But you're right, Warcraft was an even bigger cultural phenomenon. And the three druid subclasses in World of Warcraft were basically cat, bear, and tree. Druids spent almost zero time in their humanoid form. Shapeshifting was their whole shtick.

It's amazing how quickly archetypes can change. I'm sure this poll would have had completely different results 20 years ago.

Warcraft has been out almost 13 years, and Diablo II has been out for 17. (Although I think Druid was an expansion class in D2, so maybe only 16 years.) It may seem quick, but it's really a generational shift. 13 years is a long time in our culture. There are people graduating college whose first exposure to video games was World of Warcraft.

Basically, this poll is a good reminder if you think of druids as a Celtic priest primarily, you're probably old.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Let me first say: I really hate Twitter, due to it's truncated nature, it's not really useful for soliciting feedback. In fact, I don't really find it useful for anything other than hurling knee-jerk reactions and barbs at others, which is why I don't have a Twitter Account.

That out of the way, how the the poll is worded implies "All other things in D&D being the same, what one thing would you like the druid to keep if we butcher it?"

You can use a Nature Priest for your "nature themed" religious full spellcaster.
You can use a Beastmaster Ranger for your nature themed animal master.
But there is no easy analog for a Shapeshifter.

And that's only if you are going for a strict analog, Fey Pact Warlocks, Oath of the Ancient Paladins, and all kinds of Rangers can also fill the Mystical Nature Worshiper who works with creatures niche to various degrees.

If you are going butcher a class, you might as well keep the part that is relatively unique.

I think you're 100% wrong about Twitter, and kinda right about the rest. I don't think the purpose here is to figure out what to keep as they butcher the class. I think the intent is to get at what most people feel is the most central and iconic part of the class.
Perhaps for a variant, perhaps for building a new class that has thematic overlap, who knows, but certainly not to replace the Druid with a new Druid that is 1/3 of a Druid, or anything of the sort.
At most, they are considering a variant Druid that trades either spells or wild shape for something else.

 

[jaelis]

I like the shapeshifting bit because (a) it is unique for the druid and (b) it reminds me of Merlin in The Sword and the Stone

 

[steeldragons]

Warcraft has been out almost 13 years, and Diablo II has been out for 17. (Although I think Druid was an expansion class in D2, so maybe only 16 years.) It may seem quick, but it's really a generational shift. 13 years is a long time in our culture. There are people graduating college whose first exposure to video games was World of Warcraft.

Absolutely. No one is talking about the cause of the shift. But it definitely has shifted. That is, somewhat obviously, generational and dependent on the cultural influences to which one is exposed.

Basically, this poll is a good reminder if you think of druids as a Celtic priest primarily, you're probably old.

...and correct. "...if [we] think of druids as a celtic [nature] priest primarily, you're probably old AND RIGHT." You forgot. No big. It starts to happen at a certain age.

 

[TwoSix]

...and correct. "...if [we] think of druids as a celtic [nature] priest primarily, you're probably old AND RIGHT." You forgot. No big. It starts to happen at a certain age.

I'll leave you, the druid, and the githyanki fighter-mage to it, then.