Image credits: MTG art by Lius Lasahido

The Preamble

Unearthed Arcana is the system that the Dungeons & Dragons developers use to showcase and source playtesting for upcoming content for D&D. After a designated “playtest period,” players will have a chance to submit feedback via surveys on dndbeyond.com. In this post, I’ll cover the most recent Unearthed Arcana article, published on April 2nd, 2026: Villainous Options. Specifically, I will be looking at the Circle of the Titan Druid.

Note: This post assumes you have read (or at least skimmed) the content covered in the Unearthed Arcana article linked above. If you have not read it, you may find it useful to have it open in a separate tab. Also, as a disclaimer, I am on vacation this week, so I’m writing (and editing) this on my phone.

Content Warning:

The above UA and the material below contains or may contain descriptions of body horror, disease, and insects that some readers might find disturbing.

Circle of the Titan (Druid)

This is a fun idea for a Druid. It’s a villain with sympathetic motivations, but a misguided and/or malevolent solution, and that’s a very strong category of villain. Kind of a mix between Poison Ivy from DC and Godzilla (maybe a super evil Lorax?). It’s also definitely got some Hoppers vibes (I know the trailers were bad, but I would definitely recommend it). If I was going to give a note, I’d like a little bit more explanation of how this motivation gives you Mothra powers, but Druid subclass flavor text tends to gloss over that subject anyways, so its absence here isn’t a big deal.

Level 3: Circle of the Titan Spells

First of all, the clear standout spell here is Destructive Wave, and I believe this is the first time we’ve seen it on a full caster in 5.5? In any case, it’s among the best burst damage spells in the game (in my opinion): Reliable damage type(s), massive radius with no friendly fire (and it’s actually even bigger for you because you’ll probably be Large or larger when you cast it), and a good rider effect to boot. Fear is also a great spell, and super thematic, and I like Thaumaturgy as a free Cantrip. That being said, I don’t think I like anything else here. Stoneskin has a variety of problems that make it hard to use (not to mention it’s already a Druid spell), Cure Wounds doesn’t really make sense to me thematically, and why are there no 2nd level spells on this list?

Now, to be fair to Stoneskin, there aren’t any 4th level spells that I can think of that play well with the concept or the mechanics. However, if/when we see this subclass in an official publication, I would much rather see a new spell here (maybe some sort of Aura spell for Druids and Rangers) or an updated version of Guardian of Nature than have to deal with Stoneskin. Regarding the 1st and 2nd level spells, I think I’d drop Cure Wounds and Longstrider and replace them with Thunderwave, and for a 2nd level spell, I’d consider Arcane Vigor.

Level 3: Titan Form

You get special Wild Shape templates to use in combat! Reminds me of the Circle of Fang and Claw Druid by SoManyRobots (they have some good stuff over there, check ’em out). There are three options here – Behemoth, Leviathan, and Insectoid – and they mostly follow the same rules as your regular Wild Shape. As far as similarities between the statblocks, all three are Large (for now), have Strength and Dexterity scores equal to your Wisdom score, have no effect on your Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma scores (or the languages you know and can speak), and they have 60 feet of Darkvision. You also determine what each form looks like (although there is a table of recommended traits for each creature). All three have a Rend attack with 10 foot reach that deals 1d8 + your Wisdom modifier of Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage (depending on the form), starting at Level 5 they get a Multiattack trait that lets them use Rend twice per action instead of just once, and when you enter any of the three forms, you get Temporary Hit Points equal to twice your Druid Level. Lastly, while you are in one of these forms, you can cast spells from your Circle of the Titan Spells table, ignoring the normal rules on casting spells while in a Wild Shape form.

With its Incandescent Breath, Behemoth feels the most “Godzilla” of the three. With this trait, you can use an action and expend a spell slot to exhale a 60-foot line of destructive energy that deals 2d8 + your Wisdom modifier in Radiant damage per level of the spell slot expended (or half damage on a successful DEX save), which is pretty good damage even for a 1st level slot. The 40 foot Climb Speed that this form gets feels a little bit out of place in my opinion, but I understand why it’s here. You also get the Siege Monster trait, which says that you deal double damage to objects and structures, your Rend attack deals Slashing damage, and you have the best AC of the three forms (although it’s still pretty low; only 11 + your Wisdom modifier).

The Leviathan form has the Amphibious trait (which allows you to breathe air and water), a 40 foot Swim Speed, and a special Ink Cloud reaction, so it feels more along the lines of a Kraken (I don’t know too many famous kaiju, but from what I see online this could also be inspired by Manda). You can take this Reaction by expending a spell slot in response to taking damage. When you do so, you create a Heavily Obscured area in a 15-foot Cube (it says “15-foot-radius cube,” but cubes don’t have radii so I think that’s what they meant) centered on yourself, and you can then immediately move up to your Speed. The cube lasts for 1 minute or until dispersed by a strong current or wind. This form has the second best AC of the three forms (10 + your Wisdom modifier) and its Rend attack deals Bludgeoning damage.

Finally, the Insectoid form is almost certainly inspired by Mothra. This form gives you a 40 foot Fly Speed and the Flyby trait, which says that you don’t provoke Opportunity Attacks when you fly out of an enemy’s reach. You also get the Energizing Pollen action, which kind of functions like the Life Cleric’s Preserve Life or the Glory Paladin’s Inspiring Smite. When you use this feature, you expend a spell slot and gain a pool of Hit Points equal to 2d8 + five times the expended spell slot’s level. You can then divide that pool of hit points among any number of creatures within 15 feet of you. The amount of healing is generally going to be as good as Cure Wounds (at least, once you max out your Wisdom score), and it’s almost always worse when you start using higher level slots, but the ability to spread it out among multiple creatures is really nice since AOE heal spells don’t come online until Level 5 (and actually, Druids don’t get them until Level 9).

These forms are all pretty solid mechanically. One thing I really like is that even though there are clear prompts for what your forms are expected to look like, you can fully determine the appearance; so you could turn into a monstrous bear or wolf with the Behemoth form, for example. There might be some issues, though. First of all, normally, Druids don’t get flying forms until Level 8; so maybe the Insectoid form shouldn’t get a Fly Speed at Level 3. I also think the AC is too low, especially once you reach high levels. I understand that it should probably be lower than the Moon Druid’s AC while in Wild Shape (considering that this subclass has better scaling than the Moon Druid), but a 13 AC (the highest you can get with the Insectoid form) is effectively meaningless past a certain point; and because of how equipment works with Wild Shape, you probably can’t even bump that with magic items (specifically because your equipment doesn’t grow with you when you enter a Wild Shape form).

I have a super important question. If you were able to get your hands on a weapon for a Large-sized creature, could you wield it in this form? You decide the creature’s appearance (and presumably therefore have enough say in its anatomy to decide if it has hands). Does that mean there’s space here for a Kaiju Druid/Fighter multiclass (or Druid/Ranger if you want) that wields a giant sword? If that’s not quite your speed, how about a Kaiju Druid/Monk that grapples enemies as King Kong? And actually, this would be one of the few Barbarian/spellcaster multiclasses that would let you expend your spell slots while Raging. This might be more apt for Sage Advice than feature text, but I think it would be good to get an answer about this.

Level 6: Dire Impact

This feature offers two strict improvements to your Titan Form feature. First of all, you get the Elemental Rend benefit, which says that when you hit with a Rend attack while in a Titan Form, you can change the damage from its normal damage type to Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder. This is nice when you come up against damage resistances.

The other ability here is Shock Wave. When you enter a Titan Form, you can create a shock wave that knocks creatures within 15 feet of you Prone on a failed Constitution saving throw. You can repeat the effect on subsequent turns by expending a spell slot as a Bonus Action. I have mixed feelings about this. I think part of my problem with it is the AOE. Because you’re a Large creature, this affects between 48-60 spaces (if you’re playing on a grid, and depending on whether or not circles are squares at your table). That’s a big AOE, but like we discussed earlier, you don’t have the AC to survive in melee, so this incentivizes a playstyle that just won’t work. The only way for you to survive in melee is if you have a durable ally with a strong taunt (like an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian) to distract your foes, but then you can’t use this feature because you can’t choose your targets and you’ll risk knocking that ally Prone. Then as a DM I also don’t like this feature, because I don’t want all of my guys falling over every turn; and with such a cheap cost (1st level spell slots aren’t that valuable for Druids past a certain point), I can pretty confidently say there’s no reason not to spam this. I would prefer if there was no friendly fire, but the effect only triggered when you entered the form, and couldn’t be used again. Alternatively, maybe it could be used once while in Titan Form as a Bonus Action, and you could choose between a cone or an emanation.

Last thing; I think the Multiattack should be a feature at this level, not something you get at Level 5. Other gish subclasses have to wait until Level 6 for Extra Attack, and I think it’s a really odd design choice to put it early on this one. Yes, Moon Druids can get Multiattack at Level 3 if they want, but they also don’t get to scale their attack stat.

Level 10: Primal Havoc

First, the benefits in the feature text. Improved Titan Form allows you to become Huge instead of Large when you enter a Titan Form. This is cool, but you have to be a little creative to get good use out of it. Meanwhile, Above It All says that you ignore Difficult Terrain caused by most nonmagical environmental effects while you are Huge or larger in your Titan Form. I like that this is here; I don’t think it’s especially powerful. The more important benefits here are the improvements to your forms.

Rampager is an improvement to your Behemoth form. When you enter the space of a creature that is at least one size smaller than you, that creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw or fall prone. If a creature is already prone, it instead takes 2d6 Bludgeoning damage if it fails the save. This is fun; pair it with Conjure Woodland Beings so you can Disengage as a Bonus Action and rampage across the battlefield without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

Toxic Stench is an improvement to your Leviathan form. Whenever a creature of your choice starts its turn within 10 feet of you, that creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 2d4 Poison damage and have the Poisoned condition until the start of its next turn. I talked about my problems with Poison in my last post (check it out HERE), but I think it’s okay in this instance, since this is the most situational of the forms. There’s also some nice synergy with your Ink Cloud reaction, since you can be close to an enemy at the start of its turn and then get outta there for a relatively low resource cost once you start taking damage.

Hive Mind is an improvement to your Insectoid form. This allows you to form a telepathic link with a number of creatures equal to your Druid level (so between 10-20) that allows you and the chosen creatures to communicate telepathically while you are on the same plane of existence. It doesn’t give a duration that I can see; I assume this lasts for either the duration of the form or until you choose new creatures, but they should make that clear, because it has a serious impact on how beneficial this is. Telepathy is generally best for social encounters or stealth missions, neither of which really suit a house-sized housefly, so if this goes away once you exit the form, this is really hard to use. On the flipside, it doesn’t really make sense if you keep the benefits when you leave the form. Either way, this probably isn’t what I’d want to see from this level. Maybe if this was also when you got the Fly Speed for this form, then it would feel more appropriate; which would probably be my suggestion on how to fix it.

Level 14: Monstrous Appetite

There are three new traits here. Gargantuan Size lets you become Gargantuan (or Large or Huge, as before) when you assume a Titan Form. This is the only way I know of to become Gargantuan without combining two or more other features, so that’s cool. Grappling Rend lets you grapple creatures with your Rend attack (only one creature at a time) if you are Huge or larger when you hit with the attack. Once you have a Large or smaller creature grappled, you can use Swallow as a Bonus Action to attempt to, well, swallow it. A creature swallowed in this way has the Blinded and Restrained conditions, Total Cover from attacks and effects outside of your stomach, and takes 2d8 Acid damage at the start of each of its turns. Keeping creatures restrained inside your stomach requires you to maintain Concentration, and if you lose Concentration or your leave your Titan Form, you regurgitate all swallowed creatures, each of which falls in a space within 10 feet of you and has the Prone condition.

This feature is okay, but it just doesn’t feel right to me. There are a couple of problems here. Without going into it too much, becoming Gargantuan really isn’t that much better than being Huge (not to mention, do you really want to make yourself an even bigger target when you’ve only got a 16 AC?). It’s fun, and I like that it’s here, but it’s not much of a benefit mechanically. Grappling Rend is also cool, but I don’t really understand why you can only have one creature at a time grappled with the feature.

Meanwhile, Swallow is really tough to use effectively. For one, I don’t think it’s very good control. It’s kind of a worse version of Banishment. Like Banishment, it can potentially remove a key player from the field for a few rounds, but unlike Banishment, it requires 2/3rds of your action economy, can’t affect a significant number of creatures (creatures immune to being Grappled or Restrained, creatures that are Huge or larger, etc.), and gives creatures a lot of ways to break out (teleport, break your Concentration, etc.), and still requires your Concentration. Yes, it deals damage, and yes, it deals a little bit of damage every round that you maintain it, but it’s not nearly as good as your actual Concentration spells at this level, like Conjure Fey or Reverse Gravity. I recognize that this is a nice backup if you lose your Concentration after you enter your Titan Form, but I’d rather just maintain my Concentration instead.

I know I complained a lot, but I don’t think this feature is actually all that bad; like I said earlier, it just doesn’t feel right. To fix this, I’d let you grapple two creatures with Rend, not just one, but still only allow you to grapple creatures with Rend once per turn. If you’re going to introduce grappling abilities at high levels, make them meaningful so I don’t feel like I need a level or two of Monk to be effective at it. I’d also increase the Acid damage from Swallow to 2d10. I know it’s a very small numerical increase, but d10s are more exciting for a capstone than d8s.

Final Thoughts

I want to see this subclass in an official publication. Becoming a big monster is rad. “Ecoterrorist” is the perfect angle for a villainous Druid. And I really love that we finally get to see Wild Shape templates (still think they should have been the standard in 5.5e, but I understand why there was backlash). And although I didn’t love the capstone, I still think it makes sense and could be fun with just a few tweaks.

Before I go, I have one quick question. Do your Rend attacks count as attacks in Beast Shape for the purposes of the Primal Strike option of the Druid’s Level 7 Elemental Fury feature? Rules as Written (RAW), I don’t think so: The Titan Forms are all Monstrosities, which means they’re not Beast forms. However, I don’t think that’s intentional. Fixing this would be simple; just make the Titan Forms Beasts instead of Monstrosities. Before you get up in arms about this, remember that 2024 Druids retain their original creature type while in a Wild Shape form anyways, so this doesn’t affect anything else mechanically. Alternatively, you could specify that you adopt the form’s creature type (or you become a Monstrosity while in one of these forms), but you otherwise count as being in a Beast form for the purposes of any of your Druid features. This would be the cleanest way to prevent super-strict RAW DMs from unfairly nerfing this subclass.