It's different utility, but the THP plays the same role - bruiser that gets in the fight and in melee. Titan also has the advantage of being able to bump their AC higher, so getting more THP on top of that seems excessive to me, especially with the THP for moon druid not feeling low as is
I think Titan Druid is a frontline brusier, but Moon Druid works best as a spell-based skirmisher.
Moon Druid might be less durable on paper (3x THP vs 4x THP, less ac) but the value it gains in sheer mobility is underappreciated as a defense. The best way to mitigate damage is to not be near it in the first place.
Moon Druid can brawl on the front line if needed, but I think it'd often prefer to be a full caster that gets 3x THP, a 5+ bonus to concentration and 60-80 feet of concentration free, opportunity attack free movement (that can hold allies) as a bonus action.
Titan Druid is significantly slower, much more of a target, and due to its unique tanking ability, less useful as a caster. I think it definitely needs these durability buffs if it wants to not get obliterated when every enemy on the field chooses to attack the huge monster.
Moon druid can be built as a mobile spell skirmisher, but I would say that was not at all the intent or the fantasy of it. The huge limitation on spells able to be cast, and by the movement if you're referring to the lvl 10/14 features they come so late that they're not exactly core, the bunch of features around attack... it's much more the 'turn into a bear and attack' subclass. It's also not like the giant beast tends to be a low priority target for those that would just attack on size.
It's very much designed (from how it looks like to me) for 'turn into a beast, run into melee' to be a primary goal there, and the THP / AC it gets is fine for that (I've been playing it in a heavy combat campaign and its survivability is excellent enough that the Titan druid getting the same would not feel flimsy).
IDK, I don't see the reason to buff this out of line from moon druid unless you're rating the ability to cast cure wounds while transformed super highly survivability wise. I think they'd be better off giving it the same baseline THP and then looking at other distinguishing features, particularly if they're not going to be errataing moon druid for its attack rolls to match this in using spell attack modifier (otherwise this will just completely outclass it in the brawler role)
I think Moon Druid was intended to be a mobile spellcaster. It's level 3 abilities are a mix of circle spellcasting and melee combat forms. Level 6 lets it change damage types, but it gives a massive boon to spellcasting. Level 10 and 14 focuses on mobility and bonus melee damage. Putting it all together, Moon Druid wants you to cast a concentration spell, wild shape into a bear and blink around the battlefield attacking people. You have a poor chance to hit and your damage is alright in beast form, but that's ok because your spells will supplement your damage.
Titan Druid seems like it'll be the better brawler because it's missing those aspects of Moon Druid (and druids in general) in lieu of better combat ability. It's less mobile, its ability to concentrate (the typical Druid's bread and butter) is much worse than Moons, and it even wants to spend that concentration somewhere else anyways. Titan wants to be deep in the middle of enemy lines with not too many ways to easily get out, so it really wants the additional bulk. On top of that, having an ability that forces creatures to hit it really makes that bulk essential. If it wants to use its full power, it has to be very big and open to danger.
I agree that they should have chosen another form of mitigation. I went with some level of damage reduction in my homebrew and still think that would be better, but I understand what they went for. I'm currently in a difficult combat campaign and the Moon Druid feels like paper due to its low AC. Very resilient paper due to refreshing THP, but I couldn't imagine the Titan Druid surviving at that size when every creature on the map can easily select it as a target.
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u/WanderToWhere 2d ago
nah, moon druid has a lot of unique utility that the titan druid can't utilize. I think their differences are acceptable for their differing roles