Dungeons and Dragons' new playtest Druid fulfills a very specific fantasy. Step one: turn into a giant, legally distinct Kaiju. Step two: blast enemies with hyper beams, swallow foes whole, and knock down buildings. Step three: Profit. This is the next step up from Wild Shaping into a T-Rex and wreaking havoc. As a concept, I love it, but is it actually any good?
I've gone through the playtest with a fine-toothed comb, and I've found several play reports from D&D fans who've already done real-world tests. I've also closely compared the Circle of the Titan Druid with its closest existing option from the DnD classes roster - the ultra-powerful Moon Druid.
First, our spell list. It's…fine. Longstrider's low cost speed boost is nice, but you're not getting much more value than you would from a clever choice of DnD races. Thaumaturgy and Cure Wounds are handy to have, as is Fear. Stoneskin is incredibly useful for this subclass (you'll see why shortly), but it's costly. Ditto our big capstone spell, Destructive Wave.
The theme Wizards seems to be going for is 'big and scary', but the flavor of each spell seems inconsistent. Also, given that this subclass' whole deal is changing size, where's Enlarge/Reduce?
That's our first level-three feature. More excitingly, we also pick up Titan Form at this level. When you Wild Shape, you can choose a Titan Form rather than a Beast Form. You choose what it looks like, but it'll use one of three stat blocks.
Before we get into the specifics of each Titan Form, let's cover the things they have in common. Each starts life as a Large creature, but you can become Huge from level 10 or Gargantuan from level 14. That's going to feel great for area control, especially if you cast a spell like Conjure Woodland Beings before transforming.
All Titan Forms allow you to replace your Strength and Dexterity scores with your Wisdom, which keeps your build nice and simple. Each also has a speed of 40 feet, plus an additional movement type. Climb and Swim are relatively useful, but the Insectoid form's Fly speed is the clear winner here.
Each Titan Form has a different Armor Class, but they're united by one common feature - the AC is surprisingly low. The Behemoth form gets the highest AC at 11 plus your Wisdom modifier. That's two points less than any Beast Form the Moon Druid takes. Plus, a Titan Form's temporary HP is only two times your Druid level, compared with the three times given to the Moon Druid.
The Moon Druid beats our Titan for durability, but it's also more consistent at dealing damage. That's partly because the base Druid 5e features don't seem to synergize well with our Titan Forms. Primal Strike, which adds extra dice to your attack rolls, only applies to Beast Forms - and our Titan Forms are Monstrosities. The same goes for Beast Spells, so our Titan will never gain the power of spellcasting mid-Wild-Shape.
The Titan Forms mostly make up for this with their unique abilities. My favorite by far is the Behemoth, who deals double damage to objects and structures and gains the Rampager trait from level 10. This means, when you enter the space of an enemy at least one size smaller than you, it must pass a Strength save or be knocked prone. If it's already prone, it takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
Also bequeathed to the Behemoth is Incandescent Breath. You expel a five-foot wide, 60-foot long line of radiant damage. Said damage equals 2d8 per level of spell slot you expend (minimum of level one), plus your Wisdom modifier. Considering you still deal half damage on successful saves, an upcast version of this can rival the damage of Fireball - though its area of effect is slightly more fiddly.
The Insectoid, meanwhile, gets Flyby, a frankly ridiculous means of avoiding opportunity attacks while you're massive. They also have a natural telepathic link with creatures equal to your Druid level after level 10.
Finally, they get Energizing Pollen, an action that costs at least a level one spell slot. You create a cloud of pollen that heals for 2d8 plus five times your expended spell slot's level. These can be divided between any creatures within 15 feet. The Moon Druid may get Mass Cure Wounds, but this replacement is pretty great.
Lastly, the Titan Form I've talked about the least so far, the swimming Leviathan. In this form, you're naturally amphibious, and you can create an ink cloud as a reaction to taking damage. Said cloud is a 15-foot-radius cube that's heavily obscured for one minute - it's basically a slightly nerfed Fog Cloud, which can be fantastic.
Leviathans also get Toxic Stench at level 10, a seemingly free opportunity to force a Con save on enemies within 10 feet. If they fail, they take 2d4 poison damage and are poisoned until the start of their next turn. This puts zero stress on your action economy, which is incredible value.
The unique features all seem strong! Why aren't we expecting to deal damage as consistently as a Moon Druid? The problem, reader, is Rend.
Each Titan Form can perform a Rend attack, or two with Multiattack. The damage is slashing, and it equals 1d8 plus your Wisdom modifier. For context, that's around the same damage as the standard attack of a Brown Bear - a common go-to Wild Shape for combat-focused Druids.
So, with multiattack and a Wisdom modifier of +5, we're dealing slightly more damage than your bog-standard Moon Druid. The difference is that Moon Druids get to add their Wisdom modifier to Con saves, meaning their damage-dealing spells will last longer. Plus, from level 14, they get to deal 2d10 extra radiant damage once per turn.
The Titan Druid's Rend damage doesn't improve outside of Wisdom boosts. Level six lets us swap its damage type, but that's all it gets.
This can feel a little suck-y if you're planning to spam Rend (which you will when spell slots grow scarce). That being said, I'd forgive Wizards for not changing this in the subclass' final version. Each Titan Form gets so many toys to play with, and they're a blast in battle. That's before we even consider your higher-level abilities.
At level six, we pick up Shock Wave, which triggers when you transform or spend a spell slot and bonus action. Creatures within 15 feet must pass a Con save or immediately fall prone.
Level 10 upgrades our base stat blocks, and it allows us to become Huge rather than Large. That comes with the added bonus of ignoring certain types of difficult terrain.
Level 14 sizes us up to Gargantuan, and it gives us the option to grapple with our Rend attacks. Doing that sets us up to use the Swallow bonus action. If your target fails a Strength save, you literally eat them. You can swallow creatures up to your Wisdom modifier, and if you maintain concentration on keeping them in your belly, they're blinded, restrained, and taking 2d8 acid damage at the start of each of your turns.
I don't think the Titan Druid is going to be the new go-to for power builders. I do think it seems like a hugely entertaining new way to play D&D. It gets a thumbs up from me. If you've got your own thoughts, I'd love to hear them in the Wargamer Discord.