D&D rule change will let your druid turn into an owlbear after all

The original trailer was not available. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves arrived in July 2022 fans were pleasantly surprised at how joyful it seemed — especially the sequence where one of the characters shape-shifted into a white, feathered monstrosity called an owlbear to kick some ass. Rules lawyers cried foul, however, since 5th edition D&D as written would never have allowed that particular transformation. Now a new set of official playtest materials aims to retcon that continuity issue, and it’s doing it in the most player-focused way possible.

One D&D is the working name for the next iteration of Dungeons & Dragons, which is expected to launch in 2024 for the game’s 50th anniversary. Wizards of the Coast developers have been testing out new rules publicly over the course of the last few months. This playtest material is called Unearthed Arcana and a new set was released Wednesday. Inside are the proposed early playtest changes for the druid class, and it’s a massive rework of existing systems.

Wizards proposes this change to the Druid Class. Lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford says the answer is straightforward. The druid is currently the least-played class in D&D, and Wizards is obligated to do something about that. Recent research by designers has revealed that the 2014 text was not as it appeared in the Player’s Handbook and determined the druid’s mechanical flaw. Since druids can use their iconic Wild Shape power to change into any beast with a challenge rating of one or lower, that means their options are spread across many, many different books — including obscure titles like Acquisitions Incorporated.

Instead of sending would-be druids to the library every time they want to cast Wild Shape, which Crawford calls an “iconic” part of the modern druid class, they’ve simplified things. New playtest materials offer the druid three statblocks to choose from — Animal of the Land, Animal of the Sea, and Animal of the Sky. Instead of taking on the attributes of the animal they wish to become, druids can simply choose one of three statblocks, and then use the offensive and defensive abilities listed. But, in this paradigm, it’s up to druids to choose what they look like.

So can you look like an owlbear, just like Sophia Lillis’ character? “Absolutely!” said Crawford in a YouTube video published alongside the release. Or at the very least, into an owl/bear…

Because we even put into this new version that your form can be a hybrid form that has characteristics of different animals — like an owl and a bear. We have also seen it over the years. […]Druid players want to shapeshift. But they only have one goal. They want to be a bear, or they want to be a squirrel, and maybe once in a while something else, and don’t want to feel like they have to choose a form because it happens to have an enticing statblock. You now have statblocks made just for you by druids, so you get to choose what kind of creature you’d like.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Does your small creature — say, an opossum or a squirrel — have the same stat block as a large one? It does at this time. But this is a playtest, gang, and if that drives you up the wall then you’re encouraged to leave some feedback beginning March 20, when the playtest opens for fan feedback.

Of course, longtime fans of D&D can reminisce about just how absurd this all is. Strange, unusual creatures like the rustmonster or the owlbear have strange, distinctive looks. This is because either Gary Gygax or Dave Arneson bought them a bunch of plastic dinosaurs that looked funny in 1970s drugstores.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesOn March 31, the movie will be in theaters