Editing Druid (section)

===Druids in 4e===
4th edition seriously worked to fix the CoDZilla problem. Because of this, druids didn't appear until the second [[Player's Handbook]]. Here, they became a Primal Controller class, with the nebulous "old faith" and vague "[[cleric]] but not" status of earlier editions replaced with a coherent faith and a new set of pseudo-deities to worship; the [[Primal Spirits]].

These druids don't have the animal companion of editions past, and summoning as an option was changed up, with no powers along that lines until the subsequent Primal Power with a distinctive array of summons and conjurations. The biggest change is to their shapechanging; whilst Wild Shape remains their key feature, being an at-will power that lets them turn into any animal, the original use of it is gone - wild shape is mostly cosmetic. Instead, druid powers are split halfway between mystical effects like calling lightning bolts, teleporting and making trees eat your enemies, and special attacks for the druid's beastform with a variety of ways to maul face. This allows you to build your druid with a focus on either nature magic, being a shapeshifted killing machine, or a blend between the two. Nature's Balance, one of the class' features, even indicates such is necessary by letting you get three at-will powers instead of the typical two (four for the PHB human druid), with the caveat that you have at least one at-will for both humanoid and beast forms.

The druid has a pseudo-subclass mechanic in the form of Primal Aspect, similar to those of any other class. Depending on which Aspect your druid chose, you get a certain bonus when not wearing heavy armor and certain affiliated powers are more potent. 
* '''Primal Guardian''' lets use Con to determine AC. This not only consolidates some stats for you, powers keyed to this aspect tend to be the closest to the default controller role with a lot of forced movement.
* '''Primal Predator''' added +1 speed to your wild shape. This was generally regarded as the offensive aspect, which tended to key more off Str and Dex than Con.
* '''Primal Wrath''' added +1 to attack with cold, fire, lightning, and thunder powers. For baffling reasons known only to the [[Seeker]], this Aspect had absolutely no feat support. It's as if WotC promptly forgot about it after publishing Heroes of the Elemental Chaos. 
* '''Primal Swarm''' Aspect added a ridiculously fast-scaling damage reduction when in beast form, which made it arguably the strongest tank aspect for the druid.

The ''Essentials'' books also gave the Druid two variant classes that focused on different aspects of the Druid as a class. The [[Protector]] from ''Heroes of the Feywild'' was a more [[Wizard]]-like Druid, gaining cantrips in the form of Primal Attunement in exchange for losing Ritual Caster and exchanging Wildshape for "Primal Growth", an Encounter power that acted as difficult terrain and had other benefits based on the Druid Circle selected: Renewal  (The Predator-equivalent) gave anyone who spent a Healing Surge near it extra HP while Shelter (The Protector Equivalent) made it not count as difficult terrain for allies. The other key aspect of this class was making all Dailies become Summon Nature's Ally powers, summoning different creatures depending on both level and Circle. ''Heroes of the Forgotten Lands'' gave the [[Sentinel (D&D)|Sentinel]], a more martial pet-centric Druid who followed the later Essentials classes of being almost mono-builds. The only major choice you get is the Acolyte of the Seasons feature, which determines a few bonuses as well as which pet you get: Spring (Wolf), Summer (Bear), and Wastes (Living Zephyr). You get an Encounter power called Combined Attack which lets you hit and then let your pet hit as well as taking the Cleric's Healing Word power.