Titan (D&D)

Zadara, the Titan investor from Planescape.

Titans used to be a breed of uber-giant in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons. Their precise definition has varied between editions; 5e representing the most drastic departure.

• Original Dungeons & Dragons had them as not-ugly, not-stupid giants in the Greyhawk supplement.
• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons had them in the Monster Manual, 17-22 hit dice and 7d6 points of damage on a normal attack, could cast any magic-user or cleric spells as if level 15, had eight psionic powers but were immune to psionic attack, and invisible at-will. They looked like beautiful 18-foot tall Greek giants. Levitate or ethereal twice a day.
  • Manual of the Planes put most of their leaders in Tarterus (now Carceri), in accordance with their classical roots.
• AD&D2 had them in the Monstrous Compendium #8. This buffing their AD&D appearance: 20 hit dice, 7d6 damage from normal attack that they can do twice per round, can do a 10d6 special attack, can go ethereal twice a day, casts spells as a level 20 wizard or cleric, has a grab-bag of utility powers like Levitate, Invisibility, Alter Self and Advanced Illusion usable at will once per round, and even can have a "thematically appropriate" special-snowflake power (given examples are creating water for sea-themed titan, removing all negative feelings such as hatred or depression for a love-themed titan and instakill for a death-themed titan).
  • Planescape ran with their MotP villainy. In fact Carceri took its very name from the prison-plane aspect of Tarterus, whose main prisoners were exactly the elder Titans. Most adventures which touch upon Carceri will involve making some deal with this-or-that embittered Titan.
• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition had them in the Monster Manual as 25-foot perfect Greek-god humanoids with a dozen at-will arcane & divine spells as if level 20, and had a challenge rating of 21 (the Tarrasque is a 20). Levitate at-will, ethereal or gate twice a day.
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition uses Titans as giants that are more elemental-y and 3 levels higher than normal giants. And somehow "necrotic" became an elemental thing. They're even uglier than giants, and these titans can't levitate. They were created by the Primordials for the sole purpose of wrecking everyone's shit, which is the only reason the Primordials ever created anything.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition changes-up the definition. The classical humanoid Titan is subsumed under Empyrean - alone. Instead some few select creatures (as of the release of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons: only seven) take the "Titan" tag. The only thing these creatures have in common seems to be that they are of ridiculous power and involved, somehow, with the Divine:

• Empyreans, who are the children of gods;
• Astral Dreadnoughts, who were made by Dread Tharizdun;
• Atropals, who are stillborn gods;
• Krakens, who were created as living weapons by the gods, and Tromokratis (Mythic Odysseys of Theros), basically greek Krakens from the god of sea Thassa;
• and the Tarrasque.

Empyrean

The Empyrean is the old Titan (D&D) given a hipper rename for 5th Edition, but leaving almost everything else the same. They are the children of the Gods and are pleasant-looking giant humanoids clad in vaguely Greek-inspired garb. They clock in at CR 23, so they're definitely NOT something an unprepared party would want to mess with.

Essentially these are what Atropals would grow up into, had they not been, y'know...

While you can expect the kids of benevolent gods to be somewhat goody-two-shoes like their parents, there are also a bunch of selfish gits as well; the latter normally have Neutral Evil alignments.

Empyreans are creatures of strong emotion regardless of their providence, and the environments around them often empathically reflect their moods. A sad Empyrean will literally have rainclouds hanging around them, while a happy Empyrean will have rainbows and possibly songbirds singing carefree ditties nearby. Yeah.

Because they're effectively ageless, Empyreans charge into battle often with reckless abandon, not really fearing dying. And why not, when daddy or mommy dearest often resurrects them back on their home planes when junior happens to catch the wrong end of a +5 Vorpal Sword. Unless their parents were dicks of course.

Rounding off their godly physical stats, Empyreans have access to a lot of spell-like abilities to flatten any opposition they would meet.

Named Empyreans Nalkara: The Neutral Evil daughter of Auril and Thrym, she gets summoned by Halaster Blackcloak as a final setpiece boss for the 5th Edition Dungeon of the Mad Mage adventure.

Uldrak: A lawful evil scion of Surtur (parentage is not spelled out but safe to assume he is the father). in 5th Edition Decent into Avernus adventure, he was on a quest into hell to slay Tiamat to impress daddy but instead got transformed into a Spined Devil. He now lives live inside his old helmet and sword, a place ironically named "Uldrak’s Grave", holding onto an Orb of Dragonkind he hopes will be enough leverage to trade for some Tiamat blood and free himself of his current form.

Gallery

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  3e

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  5e's Empyrean is the Titan of older editions in all but name.