[RPG] Can a druid shape shift into magical creatures

druiddungeon-worldshapeshifter

I'm DMing a campaign with a druid player who has been studying dragons and snakes her whole life. Does this allow her to shapeshift to them or does their magicalness make them not "animals"?

Best Answer

No, by default. Your average Dungeon World dragon is an intelligent being like (or moreso) any human and doesn't count as an animal. The Druid is very much about nature and natural animals, not magical beasts or intelligent species.

But, that's by default. In Dungeon World, fiction rules all and in your group's Dungeon World you may have established that dragons are animals. Then it's fine and fitting that the Druid would know them as they know hawks and bears.

But if you haven't established that, say "no" to shapeshifting into a dragon—it would just cheapen the whole fictional underpinning of the move, and generating good fiction is the only reason the moves exist.

If, in the end, you do decide dragons are legit animals, I have one piece of advice: when the Druid misses on a shapeshift roll, make your move very hard. That's how the immense power of the move is balanced—riskier the form, the worse the consequences of a miss. If you pull your punches there, you'll end up with the Druid stealing everyone's spotlight and be a sad GM.