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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7094514" data-attributes="member: 996">The original D&D Druid got shapechange (as the 9th level spell), albeit into animal forms and with a mass limitation.  The 2e Druid Handbook had a kit that shapeshifted from first level.  So can't blame it on WotC. What's more, shapechanging is a major theme in Celtic mythology, and, after prophecy, probably the supernatural power most often attributed to Druids.  A Druid of legend could change his own form, or that of another, with a touch of an ogham wand, in some versions, for instance.  The animal companion started in 3e, for Rangers & Druids, in prior eds, the Druid got a spell called Animal Friendship that allowed him to, well, what it said on the tin, you could collect up to 2x you level in HD of animals.  The Ranger also got Druid spells, but the Ranger's exotic followers at high level could also have been an inspiration.  In folklore, Druids were sometimes associated with ravens, but the whole Grizzly Adams thing has no particular foundation there.Apropos of nothing the mistletoe thing that was such a big deal for the 1e Druid was pulled from the 18th century Druid revival in Wales and England, and might have been made up out of whole cloth at the time - a lot of stuff was.</blockquote>