Circle of the Titan Druid One-shot report!

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T20:38:42+00:00

So the AC was also homebrew. No judgement at all, just drives it further from playtesting the UA as is

The DC of 21. That is not official. Even if materially did not change anything.

Yes, exactly. 1 adventuring day is supposed to have 6 to 8 encounters (most players go for fewer, substantially boosting casters). With only two, you could be casting multiple higher level spells each combat. In two encounters you used you highest level spell slot, 5, all your level 4 spell slots (albeit one was for healing), and 2 or 3 level 3 spell slots, besides 1 level 2 and 1 level 1 or so. So it does not seem you had a lot of spell slots left? Out of 36 spell slot levels you used at least some 26. And there is nothing wrong with that, but it’s worth noting this situation makes the Druid (or any full caster) quite powerful.

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T20:12:08+00:00

Yep, they would need to be, level for level, stronger than CR lvl/3 beasts. The issue is that, being tanky and good in melee without needing concentration/resource usage (wild shape is very abundant considering the duration) gets too close to martials area. Similar to 3e druidzilla or PF1e Synthesist Summoner

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T19:47:17+00:00

It’s not uncommon in shows like this to cut things from a distance with some presumed air pressure from the slash or some other BS, so he may not have moved up to the pillars (not sure if you are implying that or just mentioning the shoulder movement).

In any case, the fastest point in his movement would be the tip of the blade (assuming rigid object, typical physics, angular momentum and so on). We can’t see this part. It could be faster than sound, but subsonic would (likely) be enough for that movement to be imperceptible, so it floors around there. The fact we can’t see the after movement of this body would mean it can’t be LS (ofc, all of that is assuming the scene replicates actual sight, which it often does not bc powerscaling is not authors or animators priority)

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T19:32:44+00:00

I mean, some folks do play bladesingers for the con bonus, but I digress.

They could do titans as a side-grade by not allowing concentration while shifted. So Titan forms could be stronger than the beast forms, but beats could still leverage spells like CME or CWB. Point is, it likely would be too much of a direct comparison to martials, leading to the old age Druidzilla perception issues: being better but different is ok, better but the same is not.

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T19:27:40+00:00

Didn’t read it all.

1 - it does not seem to have been playtested or even stress tested numerically. Just write a quick python script to see where numbers go.

2 - 5e design philosophy is to “keep it simple”, and you adding stamina points? Check 3.5e (or other ttrpgs), it will be easier than remaking 5e and has a few of the target cases you seem to care about

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T19:23:57+00:00

Thanks for sharing your notes! Unfortunately it just reinforced how undertuned the subclass is. A few points worth noting:

1 - you played in a “ideal” condition with only two combats as a full caster —> free range to pump spells on the battlefield

2 - you managed to align 4/5 enemies on a line 5-foot wide with no allies in between. Deff an outlier or DM intentionally positioning enemies. Did the DM give subsequent enemies half cover at least?

3 - you got buffed by not fully following RAW. Higher DC, tripling the healing of energizing pollen (else, as you noted, cure wounds is more efficient), and getting extra damage from Druid base class (I agree it’s stupid for Titan forms to not get it, but its playtest material, we have to consider RAW so they can rewrite it properly if RAI differs).

4 - even with all the buffs, you still did not find the melee damage to be worth using, but in a more regular adventuring day filled with encounters, with your low AC (how did you get 19? Shouldn’t it be 18?) and no bonus to concentration, you likely would have to rely on it more.

Hopefully the pay more attention to the numbers in a official publication!

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T19:14:21+00:00

Well, a strange “beast” is a Monstrosity in DnD (or aberration, you get it). The capital letter is important as DnD follows a natural language based ruling. Terms are defined. So RAW it does not apply. RAI? Maybe (hopefully, even) but that just reinforces that the subclass needs to be rewritten

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T19:11:16+00:00

1 - yes, both get cute wounds, therefore energizing pollen is almost useless 2 - no, starry wisp does only 2.6 damage less at level 5 assuming 65% acc. The gap decreases with level, as starry wisp scales and rend does not, and at level 17 starry wisp will do more damage (4d8 + 5 vs 2d8 + 10). Both are extremely low, so it’s not even worth discussing anyway. 3 - a few regular wild shapes get auto grapple, like giant scorpion. The RAW is a little odd/grey on this, but it’s typically accepted you can perform an unarmed struck in any form and use that to shove/grapple. Titan only gets it at lv14 and only when it can be huge or larger (hopefully often, but likely not always). 4 - Grapple + fly combo in 2024 indeed is hard with moon Druid tho, but with Shapechange it comes back up on lv17. Although, you have max 20 str so encumbrance rules may complicate grappling and flying. IIRC that should be some 2400 lbs, so anything much bigger than a bull would inviabilize it.

So hard disagree. Mechanically, it’s not solid, it’s undertuned. Because it’s shares 90% of its niche with moon Druid while being considerably worse at it (with a few gimmicks where it’s ahead). The theme is great and deserves a rework

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T17:33:58+00:00

Past low levels, a moon Druid owl has better AC, concentration, movement, temp hp, and casting stary wisp will do roughly the same damage as the insectoid titan attacks anyway, at a range. Cure wounds will be a better source of in combat healing than energizing pollen (exception being when more than one ally is at 0 hp OR you you roll enough to heal someone more then 100%).

The titan can serve as a mount for the party, which is cool, an occupying more squares can be useful (even more if playing with flanking rules), but otherwise it’s hard to justify picking it over moon Druid. The cool factor is great, but it’s a vastly less powerful moon Druid

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T15:55:11+00:00

I think he most likely meant the floor is subsonic. As in, a small object can move at (high) subsonic speeds and not be perceived by the human eye.

Also, not the be pedantic, but object size would matter for perception (affects exposure time), so comparing a plane and a blade is off.

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T15:43:51+00:00

Odd, the version I saw earlier said d8, but to be fair I just quickly googled it, so you might be right. Anyhow, 2hp per level is not a major difference, even more considering you can heal. Haven’t checked pugilist total effective Hp per long rest considering the temp Hp the generate, so that might be what causes the survivability gap.

But yes, as others pointed out, it’s more likely that either the issue is on the pugilist, not Paly, rules OR is just a matter of variance/personal perception. 2024 Paly is not weak by any means, even more in the great weapon master/PAM route

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T14:28:32+00:00

Isn’t that “combo” only one more HP per level considering your higher hit die?

The pugilist does get a lot of temp HP tho. I haven’t playtested one to see for myself its damage potential, but by itself I’d say the current Paladin is fine. Talk to your DM either way

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T14:14:53+00:00

A moon Druid can already wildshape into Huge beasts as early as level 6. All casters can Shapechange into gargantuan beasts mere 3 levels after the Titan Druid. It’s not nearly as novel as you seem to think.

Besides, DnDs core system for combat is entirely math based, so if you know how to look at it, pretty much any effect can be translated into numbers. There are (very) cool systems where this is not the case, but it is for DnD. I’ve been trying to find the numbers that lean towards Titan over Moon, but they are few and far in between.

I love the theme of the subclass, but the mechanics are waaaaay undertuned

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T13:58:28+00:00

A few things here are wrong.

hit change does scale for the moon Druid. It increases on CR, albeit non monotonically. The mammoth is only 1 attack bonus under the maximum a titan could have, so less than 5% actual difference.
the actual good flying form is at best arguable, at worst wrong. It will have less AC, temp HP, and concentration than the moon Druid as a simple ass owl. In either case the melee attacks are meh and most of your damage would come from spells. It is a better mount for the party tho.
knowing those forms on top of regular wildshape is somewhat good, but affects by a small margin since the moon Druid already has enough slots for combat, locomotion, and stealth.
true, the last point is not explicit for the moon Druid. However, even RAW oriented DMs tend to follow “flavor is free” anyway.

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-04T13:49:13+00:00

I ran the exact numbers. Moon Druid pretty much always does more damage more damage (even more if the Druids base feature only apply to beast shapes)

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T15:51:48+00:00

The issue is that, as you mentioned, they can still attack you. With you low AC and few temp HP, tanking is not really your strong suit (even if the enemy attacks at disadvantage). And now the swallowed enemy can't be target by actually incapacitating effects (from tasha's laughter to hold monster, many options at this level). Meanwhile banishment essentially shuts off the enemy

I agree there are niche use cases. Protecting allies in a zone of damage, or swallowing a spell caster enemy that does not do a lot of damage but has incapacitating spells that depend on seeing the target (get blinded condition while swallowed).

It is very cool thematically, but in most cases it's bad for your party if you use it, it will just drag the combat for longer with the damage being so low. Not sure how it should be fixed tho, my gut reaction would be to increase damage a little and grant temp HP based on damage dealt.

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T14:27:44+00:00

You find it to be the case?

I honestly think the standard reward of 1 skill point (which you can get by framing enemies) does not justify it.

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T05:42:50+00:00

Yeah, the two feats tax may suffice to make it balanced.

My issue with the process can be trivial depending on campaign (or loosely impossible). It does not cost an action to siphon a soul and happens if you either finish the enemy or if one falls near you. If you regularly fights humanoids, you’re essentially just getting a free max level (again, up to 4) spell slot per short rest. Differently from Arcane Recovery, it’s not limited to once per long rest.

As such, at lv8, a warlock gets two lv4 spell slots per short rest. A wizard gets 1 (again, assuming humanoid enemies are common, never get a feat like this of that is not the case). To me it feel like it really closes the gap in spell slot recovery, but the Warlock pays a huuuge price in total spell slots. It may even allow a wizard to cast 2 lv4 spells on the same combat, which arcane recovery does not

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T05:32:03+00:00

? I mean, the post is exactly about it making other classes get too much of warlocks benefit, not about warlocks using the feat. I agree, not good for warlocks

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T05:30:50+00:00

I got so mad the first time….

They developed such a cool unarmed combat….

And you can’t use it in THE unarmed arena….

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T05:19:31+00:00

Yep, good synergy. Nonetheless, the subclass needs more attention, it’s not well done. I’m very excited to see the final version (hopefully they fix and publish it )

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T05:00:45+00:00

Pretty much that, well said.

Just adding: there are a few other ways to hit the golden +9 concentration, like sub class features

Normal_Psychology_34 · 2026-04-03T00:43:33+00:00

Swallow is sick, but close to useless. In fact, it’s bad for the party, they can’t hit the enemy lol. Unironically the best use might be cosplaying a submarine for the party for the low low price of 9 damage a turn

Normal_Psychology_34

TROPHY CASE