"We brainstormed all sorts of things and any time we brainstorm, it's funny, either class options or monsters, I will always look for an opportunity to insert something that has to do with the Feywild because in my home campaign I always have things from the Feywild or otherwise known as fairy, whether it's hags or beautiful fey creatures who will help you, or perilous beautiful ones who harm you. I love this kind of fey connection." said Crawford to D&D Beyond.
And so when we were brainstorming for the Unearthed Arcana series and and then the eventual Xanathar's Guide, as usual I took my opportunity that we need some fey thing for the druid and part of that is because the druid is often associated with animals, plants, elementals, but also fey creatures. And then association with fey creatures goes all the way back to first edition where druids among their spell options had things like called woodland beings where you could suddenly call forth the various fey creatures to assist you. And it's also appropriate that this association exists because even in Irish mythology you know druids are often in the same stories with creatures from what would be called the Otherworld. Often they're actually opposed to each other in in the Irish myths but again D&D so often transforms things from other sources and so in D&D it's often the now the Druids who are befriending these fake creatures or controlling them.
So the Circle of Dreams is meant to be a subclass that leans heavily into the fey side of the druid; its identity is to be the druid who channels the power of the Feywild to help his or her friends to be a little tricksy in terms of having teleportation, which is something we include often with fey beings but to largely be one who is emphasizing sort of the group support angle of the druid, because we often have multiple goals whenever we're creating a subclass. We want a good story, we want fun abilities in and out of combat but we also want to fill role gaps that exist among the subclasses that are already in the game.
So we felt like we already have in a way in the Players Handbook, the nature wizard in the form of the Circle of the Land, we already have the druid who focuses on shape-changing largely to engage in battle with the Circle of the Moon, so we wanted this fey druid that was focusing more on helping allies through healing and whatnot. So the Circle of Dreams has enhanced healing abilities, also the themes in the subclass draw both on what we'd refer to as the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court in the Feywild so there are there are things that basically have to do with both sunlight and moonlight, and the whole thing is sort of wrapped up in this package of the Circle of Dreams because we're we're we're leaning into kind of the dreamy side of the Feywild and also this sort of a poetic nod to the fact that this is the druid who who brings you comfort and not only heals you but also has abilities to protect your group while you're taking a rest.
And then over the course of the playtest process one of the things I added into this subclass that is now in the final version is that the druid can basically have you travel through dreams once the the druid gets up to high enough level by casting a special form of teleportation circle where you teleport to the last location where you had a long rest on the same plane of existence, and this is a really flavorful ability that I'm looking forward to seeing it being used in campaigns because I think some groups are gonna figure out that this could be a really clever way to deal with certain obstacles in games; and also in a way escape hatch.
But it's also going to be fun to have the Circle of Dreams druid always need to remember "Okay where is the last place we took a long rest on this particular plane of existence?" Now what that means is when you visit a plane of existence for the first time you have no place to teleport back to so basically you've got to have at least you got to get that night of rest on each plane of existence so essentially you have "Alright I now have an anchor, a place that that I can then transport us through the dream realm back to", and as long as you have that place you can you have that that safe - hopefully safe - place you can go back to.
I can see some DMs messing with the group if their foes start figuring out they're doing this and basically camping out on the previous long rest locations of "All right we traveled back to that inn where we had our last long rest - oh look the orcs are waiting for us in our room!"
So again it's a fun flavorful and can potentially be a campaign defining kind of ability, so I think I think people are gonna have a lot of fun with this subclass. We know with other fey and sort of ancients type themed things that players really love this stuff like people love the Oath of the Ancients paladin in The Player's Handbook. Circle of Dreams very much is sort of meant to stand side by side with something like the Oath of the Ancients and feel like the kind of thing that like the ancient cultures associated with the ancient druids and with elves that this would be a very natural role for them to fill.
The Feywild is often perilous but the Circle of Dreams druid is able to take that magic and use it to their friends' benefit not unlike actually a fey being. Because the Feywild is perilous often for non fey beings, people who are not native to that strange realm, and so in a way the Circle of Dreams druid is like a fey creature in that they're able to make that fey magic be helpful. And it often is, even in a lot of folklore, to the friends of the fey, the realm of fairy is one of the most wondrous places you could visit, with wine that is more delicious than wine anywhere else in the cosmos, with the deepest sleep under a tree that you've had anywhere, even better than the sleep you had under the softest bed, and so it's really the druid is functioning almost like a fey being in being able to use that magic in that wonderful nurturing way rather than again being kind of perilous and suspect as so often the Feywild is to people who visit."
[video=youtube;bIuFHTgZIGw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIuFHTgZIGw[/video]
"There's so much great folklore having to do with the fey in the real world - to draw on for D&D adventures. It's also an aesthetic that I know that not only I enjoy but many D&D players enjoy; that it has an otherworldly quality, it's resonant because it's something that is in so much folklore but feels alien at the same time.
And so when we were brainstorming for the Unearthed Arcana series and and then the eventual Xanathar's Guide, as usual I took my opportunity that we need some fey thing for the druid and part of that is because the druid is often associated with animals, plants, elementals, but also fey creatures. And then association with fey creatures goes all the way back to first edition where druids among their spell options had things like called woodland beings where you could suddenly call forth the various fey creatures to assist you. And it's also appropriate that this association exists because even in Irish mythology you know druids are often in the same stories with creatures from what would be called the Otherworld. Often they're actually opposed to each other in in the Irish myths but again D&D so often transforms things from other sources and so in D&D it's often the now the Druids who are befriending these fake creatures or controlling them.
So the Circle of Dreams is meant to be a subclass that leans heavily into the fey side of the druid; its identity is to be the druid who channels the power of the Feywild to help his or her friends to be a little tricksy in terms of having teleportation, which is something we include often with fey beings but to largely be one who is emphasizing sort of the group support angle of the druid, because we often have multiple goals whenever we're creating a subclass. We want a good story, we want fun abilities in and out of combat but we also want to fill role gaps that exist among the subclasses that are already in the game.
So we felt like we already have in a way in the Players Handbook, the nature wizard in the form of the Circle of the Land, we already have the druid who focuses on shape-changing largely to engage in battle with the Circle of the Moon, so we wanted this fey druid that was focusing more on helping allies through healing and whatnot. So the Circle of Dreams has enhanced healing abilities, also the themes in the subclass draw both on what we'd refer to as the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court in the Feywild so there are there are things that basically have to do with both sunlight and moonlight, and the whole thing is sort of wrapped up in this package of the Circle of Dreams because we're we're we're leaning into kind of the dreamy side of the Feywild and also this sort of a poetic nod to the fact that this is the druid who who brings you comfort and not only heals you but also has abilities to protect your group while you're taking a rest.
And then over the course of the playtest process one of the things I added into this subclass that is now in the final version is that the druid can basically have you travel through dreams once the the druid gets up to high enough level by casting a special form of teleportation circle where you teleport to the last location where you had a long rest on the same plane of existence, and this is a really flavorful ability that I'm looking forward to seeing it being used in campaigns because I think some groups are gonna figure out that this could be a really clever way to deal with certain obstacles in games; and also in a way escape hatch.
But it's also going to be fun to have the Circle of Dreams druid always need to remember "Okay where is the last place we took a long rest on this particular plane of existence?" Now what that means is when you visit a plane of existence for the first time you have no place to teleport back to so basically you've got to have at least you got to get that night of rest on each plane of existence so essentially you have "Alright I now have an anchor, a place that that I can then transport us through the dream realm back to", and as long as you have that place you can you have that that safe - hopefully safe - place you can go back to.
I can see some DMs messing with the group if their foes start figuring out they're doing this and basically camping out on the previous long rest locations of "All right we traveled back to that inn where we had our last long rest - oh look the orcs are waiting for us in our room!"
So again it's a fun flavorful and can potentially be a campaign defining kind of ability, so I think I think people are gonna have a lot of fun with this subclass. We know with other fey and sort of ancients type themed things that players really love this stuff like people love the Oath of the Ancients paladin in The Player's Handbook. Circle of Dreams very much is sort of meant to stand side by side with something like the Oath of the Ancients and feel like the kind of thing that like the ancient cultures associated with the ancient druids and with elves that this would be a very natural role for them to fill.
The Feywild is often perilous but the Circle of Dreams druid is able to take that magic and use it to their friends' benefit not unlike actually a fey being. Because the Feywild is perilous often for non fey beings, people who are not native to that strange realm, and so in a way the Circle of Dreams druid is like a fey creature in that they're able to make that fey magic be helpful. And it often is, even in a lot of folklore, to the friends of the fey, the realm of fairy is one of the most wondrous places you could visit, with wine that is more delicious than wine anywhere else in the cosmos, with the deepest sleep under a tree that you've had anywhere, even better than the sleep you had under the softest bed, and so it's really the druid is functioning almost like a fey being in being able to use that magic in that wonderful nurturing way rather than again being kind of perilous and suspect as so often the Feywild is to people who visit."
