"you can use your action to magically assume the shape of a beast that you have seen before..."
What exactly constitutes "seen"? More specifically does having seen a Spider mean you can become a Giant Spider, since one is basically just a larger version of the other, or do you actually need to see an actual Giant Spider?
If the rules don't redefine a word, it means whatever it means in idiomatic, every day English. If someone asked you "Have you ever seen a giant spider before?" what would you answer?
Spiders and giant spiders aren't the same thing. That's why they have different names and different stat blocks.
Like Stormknight said, work with your DM to figure out what beasts you can initially transform into. The beasts in Player's Handbook Appendix D are a reasonable starting point but a DM might remove or add creatures based on the setting and your background.
If your DM is cool with you getting both small and large/giant/huge/what versions of an animal from seeing one or the other, that's between you guys. RAW is "you must have seen the specific monster you're attempting to turn into". Your DM is the ultimate arbiter of this stuff, so I agree with everyone else that you should just work with him about what you both agree makes the most sense.
I've been lucky, none of my GMs as a Druid has cared about (what I think is stupid mechanic) keep a catalog of Beast which you've seen. Which is nice because it allows for more experimentation. We did have a laugh over if you can change gender for species (Steeder) where it matters!
No other class gets as many restrictions on their powers as Druids. I think one good way around this is the idea that Druids teach and share Wildshapes. There is a whole "community" including a secret language, Druids are kinda like fantasy Masons. In play I've never seen this "community" being brought into focus during play. If you assume there is a community and they share among themselves, then it would make sense that if a druid travels far s/he would share all the exotic beast s/he discovered when s/he returns. The same would be true of a travelling Druid would share as courtesy.
That said "Far Traveler" is possibly a great background for a Druid, because then you can pick a regions/climates that you spent time to draw creatures from.
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"you can use your action to magically assume the shape of a beast that you have seen before..."
What exactly constitutes "seen"? More specifically does having seen a Spider mean you can become a Giant Spider, since one is basically just a larger version of the other, or do you actually need to see an actual Giant Spider?
The character must have observed an actual beast (not an illusion of one for example).
In your example, to be able to wild shape into a Giant Spider, the character needs to have seen a Giant Spider.
Most DMs will work with a druid player to determine a reasonable list of creatures they have seen previous to adventuring, based upon background.
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If the rules don't redefine a word, it means whatever it means in idiomatic, every day English. If someone asked you "Have you ever seen a giant spider before?" what would you answer?
Spiders and giant spiders aren't the same thing. That's why they have different names and different stat blocks.
Like Stormknight said, work with your DM to figure out what beasts you can initially transform into. The beasts in Player's Handbook Appendix D are a reasonable starting point but a DM might remove or add creatures based on the setting and your background.
Everyone above is correct, but...
If your DM is cool with you getting both small and large/giant/huge/what versions of an animal from seeing one or the other, that's between you guys. RAW is "you must have seen the specific monster you're attempting to turn into". Your DM is the ultimate arbiter of this stuff, so I agree with everyone else that you should just work with him about what you both agree makes the most sense.
I with the others that a spider != giant spider.
I've been lucky, none of my GMs as a Druid has cared about (what I think is stupid mechanic) keep a catalog of Beast which you've seen.
Which is nice because it allows for more experimentation. We did have a laugh over if you can change gender for species (Steeder) where it matters!
No other class gets as many restrictions on their powers as Druids.
I think one good way around this is the idea that Druids teach and share Wildshapes. There is a whole "community" including a secret language, Druids are kinda like fantasy Masons. In play I've never seen this "community" being brought into focus during play. If you assume there is a community and they share among themselves, then it would make sense that if a druid travels far s/he would share all the exotic beast s/he discovered when s/he returns. The same would be true of a travelling Druid would share as courtesy.
That said "Far Traveler" is possibly a great background for a Druid, because then you can pick a regions/climates that you spent time to draw creatures from.