Does Elemental Wild Shape work like regular Wild Shape?

Question

A Druid of the Circle of the Moon gets a feature called Elemental Wild Shape which allows them to transform into elementals. I couldn't find anywhere that said one way or the other, do the usual restrictions of Wild Shape apply to Elemental Wild Shape? For example, can a Druid cast spells while shapeshifted into an elemental?

If not, the Beast Spells feature allows a Druid to cast spells while shapeshifted, but specifically mentions beast forms. Can a Druid with the Beast Spells feature cast spells while in elemental form?

Answer 1

Elemental Wild Shape just grants access to different forms for you to Wild Shape into. As such, it's limited by all the restrictions and gains all the benefits of normal Wild Shape.

To answer the second half of this question, we need to know if Beast is a keyword, or if it's simply a general descriptor that could apply to anything we Wild Shape into. The answer to this is that yes, Beast is a keyword monster descriptor.

However, that is thankfully irrelevant. The text under Beast Spells refers primarily to Wild Shape, and has ancillary text that refers to Beast Shape. However, based on the text in Wild Shape, I believe that they are used in the text interchangeably and thus should be applied interchangeably for the rare case where you are not in a Beast form.

So yes, you can cast spells while an elemental using Beast Spell.

Answer 2

No, a Druid cannot cast spells while shapeshifted into an elemental. Yes, a Druid with the Beast Spells feature can cast spells while in elemental form.

This particular question has been addressed in the Sage Advice Compendium. Specifically:

If a druid in elemental form can speak, can the druid cast spells? A druid can cast spells in a Wild Shape form only upon gaining the Beast Spells feature at 18th level.

So when you gain Elemental Wild Shape at 10th level, you cannot cast spells in elemental form. You will have to wait until getting your your Beast Spells ability at 18th level. This was poorly worded in the PHB, but the SA Compendium clears this up.

Answer 3

I couldn't find anywhere that said one way or the other, do the usual restrictions of Wild Shape apply to Elemental Wild Shape?

Yes. Nothing about the Elemental Wild Shape feature says otherwise. However,

If not, the Beast Spells feature allows a Druid to cast spells while shapeshifted, but specifically mentions beast forms. Can a Druid with the Archdruid feature cast spells while in elemental form?

The Archdruid feature has nothing to do with it, but yes, a druid with both the Elemental Wild Shape and Beast Spells features can cast spells in elemental form:

Beginning at 18th level, you can cast many of your druid spells in any shape you assume using Wild Shape.

The next sentence mentions "a beast shape", but like in the Wild Shape feature description itself (which often refers to "beast form"), the Elemental Wild Shape feature is a special case that overrides this.

Answer 4

yes, because it never explicitly says you cant.

it should be important to note that while the wild shape states that in a beast form you cant cast spells or do anything else a beast cant do, elementals can cast spells, which is also why there is no need for the lvl 18 feature to cast spells as a beast to mention elemental form as it already can.