When "One D&D" was in testing before it became 2024 D&D and then 5.5, there was a controversial initial redesign for the Circle of the Moon Druid. Instead of picking existing creatures from the Monster Manual, the Moon Druids would take one of three template stat blocks that scaled with their level.
There were two problems: the stat blocks were limited to just a Land, Sea, and Air version, lacking the nuance of special creature abilities that would make a Wolf and a Bear, for example, distinct from the other, and, more crucially, the stat blocks sucked - their AC was lower than a Druid was likely to have just in their humanoid form, among other ideas.
However, when the next playtest reverted it to picking stat blocks, even if there was some relief from those who liked to keep things as they were, I was among several people who lamented this backpeddling - template stat blocks (like the various Summon spells) are actually great, and solve a lot of problems with level scaling and keeping things relevant.
When Honor Among Thieves came out and nerds pointed out that the party's druid ought not to be able to turn into an Owlbear (being a Monstrosity rather than a Beast) I actually did some homebrewing to create a Circle of Monsters subclass that used templates to transform the Druid into monstrosities that could be anything from Sorrowsworn to Owlbears to Mimics, borrowing that earlier design but making stat blocks that I felt, at least, were far better.
It looks like WotC is doing something similar.
While the other three stat blocks here are pretty firmly evil-coded, there's something a little less moral about the Druid subclass. This is basically the "wild shape into the Tarrasque" subclass, and like the Tarrasque, its outlook is more neutral - perhaps opposed to the excesses of civilization encroaching on the natural world, but aligned more with chaotic destruction than evil brutality.
This is the only subclass I'm aware of that allows you to eventually become Gargantuan without some spell shenanigans. Let's get into it:
Circle Spells:
Cantrip: Thaumaturgy
1st: Cure Wounds, Longstrider
2nd: (Actually none)
3rd: Fear
4th: Stoneskin
5th: Destructive Wave
Interestingly, you get two first level spells and no second level. Is this just that there wasn't a good 2nd level option, or an error? Unlike Moon druids, I don't think we get any special exception that allows us to cast our Circle spells while in our Titan forms. Still, Fear is a solid crowd control spell, Cure Wounds is very good in 5.5, and I've seen Destructive Wave used a lot in my Ravnica campaign because it's a friendly-fire-free AoE spell. Stoneskin would be a great spell to have running if you can afford the costly component each time.
Level 3:
Titan Form:
When you Wild Shape, you can adopt the Behemoth, Leviathan, or Insectoid stat blocks instead of the usual beasts. You determine its appearance (there's a table with some suggestions). The stat blocks scale with your Druid level, and gain new features at levels 5, 10, and 14. Each grants twice your Druid level in Temporary Hit Points, 60 feet of darkvision, and is Large size, but you can choose to make them Huge at level 10 or higher, and Gargantuan at level 14 or higher. They are also all monstrosities. Each gets Multiattack at level 5 (basically Extra Attack). Their Rend attacks all use your spell attack bonus and deal 1d8+Wis in, depending on the form, bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, and have a 10 foot reach.
Behemoth:
This stat block has an AC of 11+ your Wisdom. You also have Strength and Dexterity equal to your Wisdom score (your Con and mental stats remain as they normally are). You gain a speed and climb speed of 40 feet.
In addition to the Rend attack, you have Incandescent Breath, which allows you to expend a spell slot of 1st or higher level. Creatures in a 5x60 foot line make a dex save against your spell save DC, taking 2d8 radiant damage per level of the spell slot expended plus your Wisdom modifier on a failure or half as much on a success.
So, if you do this with a 3rd level spell slot, assuming a +4 to Wisdom, you're doing 6d8+4, or 31 damage, which is better than a Lightning Bolt (though the line is shorter). Honestly, not bad.
The Behemoth also has Siege Monster, doubling its damage dealt to objects and structures.
At 10th level, the Behemoth gets Rampager: When you enter the space of an enemy that is at least one size smaller than you for the first time on a turn, the creature must make a Strength save, falling prone on a failure. If the creature is already prone, they take 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
Remember that enemies' space is now just difficult terrain, and if you're two sizes larger or smaller than the target, you can end your turn in the same space. We'll be Huge (or at least we can be) by the time we get this, so we can potentially just sit on a target.
My sense is that this is probably going to be your default titan transformation, but let's see how the others work.
Leviathan:
This stat block has an AC of 10+ your wisdom, and has a speed of 40 and a swim speed of 40. Once again, your Strength and Dex are equal to your Wisdom, and the other stats don't change.
You are Amphibious, so you can breathe both air and water.
In addition to your Rend, you have a Reaction called Ink Cloud: When you take damage, you can use a reaction to expend a 1st or higher level spell slot and release an inky cloud in a 15-foot radius cube centered on yourself, and then you can move up to your speed. The cube is heavily obscured, and lasts 1 minute or until a strong current or wind disperses it.
This is a decent escape maneuver, though it doesn't scale like the Behemoth's breath attack. We don't have blindsight, so it won't help us to attack our attacker.
At level 10, we get Toxic Stench: each creature that starts its turn within a 10 foot emanation of you that you choose must make a Con save, taking 2d4 poison damage and becoming poisoned until the start of its next turn on a failure.
Against targets that can be poisoned, this can be pretty good, but it's very campaign-dependent.
Naturally, in any underwater adventure, this has got to be your choice, but I think it's not as good as the Behemoth (not sure it needs to have a lower AC).
Insectoid:
This stat block has an AC of 8 + your wisdom modifier. It's much like the other stat blocks except that you get a 40 foot speed and 40 foot fly speed.
You have the flyby feature, and thus don't provoke Opportunity Attacks if you fly out of an enemy's reach.
In addition to your Rend, you have Energizing Pollen: you can expend a 1st level spell slot as an action and emit a cloud of healing pollen. Choose any number of creatures within 15 feet of yourself. You heal a total of 2d8 plus 5 times the spell slot's level, and divide the HP between the creatures chosen.
So, this is an AoE heal, but not multiplicative. With a 1st level spell slot, this would be an average of 14 healing (Cure Wounds would be around 9+Wis, so from 12 to 14). The scaling is probably not as good (at 3rd level, we're looking at 24 healing compared to a Cure Wounds that does like 31) but the ability to divide it up is really good - fantastic if you need to get multiple allies up from being unconscious.
At level 10, you gain Hive Mind, which allows you to forge a telepathic link with a number of creatures up to your Druid level that you can see and can speak any language. You can telepathically communicate with each other regardless of whether you share a language as long as you're on the same plane of existence.
I assume this ends when your Wild Shape ends, but this is a pretty strong telepathy ability. Perhaps not obvious in terms of combat utility, but it could be very helpful.
The downside here, I think, is that the Insectoid has a pitiful AC - at 20 Wisdom, it's a measly 13, which is awful. And while Flyby is good, you don't have the speed necessarily to get very far away from a foe after striking them. Better hope your foes cannot fly.
Level 6:
Dire Impact:
You gain two benefits:
Elemental Rend: When you hit with your Titan form's Rend attack, you can cause it to deal Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage instead of its normal type.
Less important with the removal of so much resistance and immunity to those types, but this does give you lots of opportunities to deal specific damage types, like fire to shut down a Troll's health regeneration.
Shockwave: Immediately after you assume your Titan form or as a bonus action on subsequent turns, you can expend a 1st or higher level spell slot to create a shockwave in a 15-foot emanation. Each creature in the emanation must make a Con save against your spell save DC or be knocked prone.
Couple notes: first, this does not prevent friendly fire, though it's not damage, at least. Also, as you get larger, the area of a 15-foot emanation gets bigger. Really, the true 6th level feature is our Multiattack, except that it comes a level earlier.
Level 10:
Primal Havoc:
You gain two features:
Improve Titan Form: You can choose to become Huge when you take on your Titan Form, and you get the aforementioned level 10 features.
Above it All: While huge or larger in your titan form, Difficult Terrain caused by heavy snow, ice, rubble, or undergrowth doesn't cost you extra movement.
I think there's a chance that players will quibble with DMs over this: are stalagmites in a cave the same as rubble? Does magical plant growth like from the... Plant Growth spell count as undergrowth?
Level 14:
Monstrous Appetite:
You gain the following benefits:
Gargantuan Size: Your titan form can now be Gargantuan.
Grappling Rend: Once per turn when you are huge or larger and hit a creature with your Rend attack in Titan form, you can make them grappled (escape DC equal to your spell save). You can only have one target grappled this way at a time.
A saving-throw-free grapple as part of an attack is pretty good, and note that the target's size doesn't come into play here, so you could actually grapple a fellow gargantuan creature.
Swallow: As a bonus action while you are Gargantuan, choose one large or smaller creature you are grappling. The target makes a strength save against your spell save DC. On a failure, the target is no longer grappled but is now restrained within your stomach and is swallowed. A swallwoed creatuer is blinded and restrained, has total cover against attacks and other effects outside your stomach, and takes 2d8 acid damage at the start of each of your turns. You can have a number of creature swallowed equal to your Wisdom modifier, and you must maintain concentration on keeping the creatures swallowed. If you lose concentration or leave your Titan form, you regurgitate the creatures, who fall prone in a space within 10 feet of you.
This is awesome. It's not quite the 16d6 acid damage that the Tarrasque does to a swallowed creature, but it's actually kind of just solid crowd control. You both need to hit the target and they need to fail a save, so it's not super-reliable, but if you can protect your concentration with things like War Caster and maybe Resilient: Con, this could be a great way to keep foes out of the fight for a bit.
Overall Thoughts:
I love this subclass conceptually, and I really like it mechanically. I'm a little concerned that the AC is too low (a Moon Druid by the time they cap their Wisdom has an 18 AC in Wild Shape) and the Temp HP is also lower than a Moon Druid's, so while these scale better for attacks (rather than having flat attack bonuses, this goes up with your spell attack) I worry that these Titans will be surprisingly squishy.
Still, I'm sort of jumping for joy that WotC has presented a Wild Shape-centric alternative to the Moon Druid that uses templates, and the flavor here is top-notch. I'd be really tempted to play this, which is a pretty solid endorsement.
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