What happens when a level 14 bard uses Nimbus of Pathos on a wild shape Druid currently in wild shape?

Question

Nimbus of Pathos states:

When this effect ends, the creature immediately drops to 0 hit points and is dying. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

By creature, RAW, obviously means Druid but is it intended to effect the druids original form HP pool?

Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the beast… when you transform you assume the beasts hit points and hit dice, When you revert to your normal form, you return to the number of hit points you had before you transformed. However, if you revert as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to your normal form.

From what I can find dropping to 0 HP and HP becoming 0 are treated the same, so the bard ability should affect the beast form and only the beast form considering it’s HP is not temporary but a replacement stat.

Answer 1

The druid reverts to their normal form and stops dying

When Nimbus of Pathos ends, you fall to 0 hit points in your creature form, and are dying. That means you would have to make a death saving throw on the start of your next turn. However, Wild Shape says:

You automatically revert if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die.

You just dropped to 0 hit points, so this triggers, and you revert to your original form, and to its hit points.

Dying is not an acutal condition in 5e. It is used as a shorthand here meaning you are at 0 hit points, but not stabilized, and must make death saving throws¹. The rules for making death saving throws say that

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw

Because you are not at 0 hits after you revert, you do not start your turn with 0 hit points, and you do not have to make death saving throws, so you are not dying any longer.

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¹The rules for death saving throws only talk about being at 0 hit points, unconsious and making death saving throws to stabilize, they never use the term dying directly.

However, there is the Periapt of Wound Closure that says

While you wear this pendant, you stabilize whenever you are dying at the start of your turn.

As you only need to stabilize when you are unconscious at 0 hit points and making death saving throws, this is a pretty clear indicator that dying is the same as being unconsious at 0 hit points and needing to make death saving throws.

Answer 2

You are not dying and you have your original form’s hit points.

Nimbus of Pathos has a phrase that I have seen called “unhelpful helper text”:

When this effect ends, the creature immediately drops to 0 hit points and is dying.

This emphasized phrase “and is dying” is referring to a specific rule, and is unnecessary for the function of the feature. The rules for dying state:

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life.

So “dying” in Nimbus of Pathos just means you’ve dropped to zero hit points and will begin death saves next turn.

However, if you somehow stop having 0 hit points before the start of your next turn, you are not dying and do not need to make death saves. And this is exactly what happens with Wild Shape: dropping to 0 hit points while in Wild Shape reverts you to your original form, and you have your original form’s hit points.