How does Wild Shape work for Tiny Druids?

Question

An NPC concept I think could be interesting is an Awakened Weasel Druid, who's taken over from an old humanoid friend as protector of the forest.

However, pretty much all the rules (understandably) assume that medium size is the default, and thus Wild Shape being restricted to Medium/Small size creatures makes sense for a medium sized Druid. This logic falls apart if I were to apply RAW to my tiny druid who can Wild-Shape into a creature two size categories larger than it at level 4, whilst a medium druid could only do so at level 8.

Thus, my immediate thought would be to shift all the references to size down by one category (so that the rules effectively emulate those applied to a Small Druid). Therefore my tiny druid can wild-shape into a tiny or small creature at level 4, or at level 6 a medium/diminutive creature, or a tiny elemental.

Obviously as GM I can just do what I want, but I wanted to check with you. What issues would there be with this ruling?

Answer 1

Wild Shape doesn't care about your size.

Lini, the Iconic Druid, is a small-sized character. There isn't any annotation that pointed out that she deviated from the normal rules of Wild Shape and, as written, she is more than able to polymorph into medium-sized animals without any issue.

If such important limitation was intended, I believe it would be noted on Lini's character sheet. Instead, what you see is just a reference to the default Wild Shape, which reads:

At 4th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the beast shape I spell, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with. (...)

Emphasis mine.

So, all things considered, even your awakened weasel would have no issues growing into a larger animal to fend off predators or misplaced adventurers.

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On a side note:

I had a lot of fun using a pixie with druid levels as a recurrent villain/redeemed friend on a campaign. Her signature move was turning into a Dire Bear from above and dive-bombing the party.

It was rather neat.