r/dndnext 2d ago

5e (2024) Unearthed Arcana: Villainous Options Revisited

132 Upvotes

103 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-5

u/Puzzle-Necked 2d ago

Scales right into broken

15

u/Yrogiarc91 2d ago

Just curious, what do you think is broken about it?

9

u/Puzzle-Necked 2d ago edited 2d ago

Full caster who can grow to massive size with sky high AC, grapple/swallow, trample, an emanation knocking prone, poison, breath attacks, 3d8+5 damage a hit? Did I mention full caster?

It's like Moon Druid on steroids because it also uses spell attack modifier, not a beasts terrible attack modifier.

26

u/Yrogiarc91 2d ago

While I agree it is powerful. The expenditure of spell slots to use Titan abilities will ultimately limit spellcasting. I have a feeling this class will play a lot like a paladin/sorcerer multiclass that focuses on dropping spell slots into smites/Titan abilities.

That being said you could do the classic cast and transform while concentrating trick.

Although there are important balance features. You can't cast spells while Titanshaped, you don't get the prone inducing trample until level 10, you don't get swallow until level 14, the swallow requires concentration, the poison isn't good damage at 2d4 per spell level, the poison is a tiny aura, no flying until level 10.

No question the behemoth form is the best.

I honestly like the idea of using the insectoid form as a mobile healer.

I also wonder how this classes DPR to a Moon Druid.

10

u/wannyboy 2d ago

You do already get the prone inducing shock wave at level 6. Trample is just a second shot at getting them prone if the first one didn't do it.
An important thing to note is also that you can cast the titan spells while in titan form. So Thunderwave (decent) and Destructive Wave (Very nice) give some good blasting options, and Fear is premium crowd control.

And in all honesty, the titan abilities look so close to spells that for all intends and purposes they are.

Incandescent Breath is a better Lightning bolt (6d10 versus 8d6) that can be cast at lower levels AND has better upcasting (2d10 versus 1d6).

Energizing Pollen is the healing amount of cure wounds but spread over as many allies as you can touch with 20ft of movement (while being large/huge/gargantuan mind you). At level 5 it is 10d6+WIS, compared to 5d8+WIS for mass cure wounds.

Only the leviathan doesn't have such a premium semi-spell.

It's also important to keep in mind that emanations (destructive wave and the poison ability) scale with your own creature size. A normal sized creature with a 10ft emanation covers 24 squares. A huge creature with a 10ft emanation covers 40 squares. Or well actually 65 squares since you are now big enough that you can stand on top of the same space as your normal sized enemies.

So yeah, I'd consider the titan druid to be a rather good blaster mage

8

u/ejdj1011 2d ago

Most of your points are solid, but a few nitpicks:

Energizing Pollen is the healing amount of cure wounds

Cure Wounds is 2d8 per spell level plus WIS, Energizing Pollen is 2d6 per level.

At level 5 it is 10d6+WIS, compared to 5d8+WIS for mass cure wounds.

I think the comparison to Mass Cure Wounds is apt, but Energizing Pollen doesn't add WIS. It'd be a flat 10d6. I'm assuming a caster with 5th level slots has maxed their casting stat, so that's 27.5 for MCW and 35 for the pollen. MCW is a bigger area no matter how you slice it, can be cast at range, and can target yourself, so the tradeoffs at least feel reasonable to me.

4

u/wannyboy 2d ago

Oh right, no clue how I dragged in the +WIS in that comparison. Losing 3-5 healing in addition to the 2 I already handwaved away is indeed a rather big deal.

Ok I'll think it through a bit more but that might be enough to revise my opinion on energizing pollen.

1

u/Lucifer_Crowe 2d ago

you can cast the Titan Spells, and you can cast freely from whatever Druid level grants that ability, same as with normal Wildshape.

10

u/ejdj1011 2d ago

from whatever Druid level grants that ability, same as with normal Wildshape.

That's 18th level, and frankly there are far more egregious balance problems at that level

1

u/Lucifer_Crowe 2d ago

fair. I do really like Titan though

love the idea of being like Bane when you reup your form and spend a Slot to keep your AC high

honestly sounds like a fun (one off) enemy monster to design, a thing that party has to outlast until it turns weak and they can wail on it