Cool Kaijus [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTimePost
Edymnion

06-19-04, 09:10 PM
Okay, I'm thinking of working a Kaiju into my game, something for the PCs to start hearing rumors for now, and a potential big nasty something-or-another for later.

Thing is, I need to find a creature that will make a simply jaw dropping Kaiju. Something that will simply have them quaking in their boots just from the description.

So, what makes the best Kaiju?
Not just mechanically, but what just has that ultimate cool factor?
NightScreamer20

06-20-04, 12:30 AM
I'd hate to ask, but what exactly IS a Kaiju?
Arhra

06-20-04, 05:33 AM
Kaiju is a template for creating gigantic Godzilla-style monsters. Apparently its in some issue of Dragon. Btw, does anyone know if there's somewhere you can download the template as I don't get the Dragon magazines.

As for what to make it... giant lizards are traditional. You could always try using the multiheaded template in conjunction with it too.
Mithral Icesilver

06-20-04, 12:31 PM
Or you could always do something really wierd like a hedgehog ... I reverse engineered hedgehog stats from the hedgehog familiar in T&B, but I dropped the poison. I was making an anthropomorphic hedgehog. Imagine your players' surprise when the hill their camping on stands up, shakes itself, and sprouts spikes as tall as trees! Let kaiju grant cleric spells; a hedgehog would probably grant Earth and maybe a few other domains.
headlessfriar

06-20-04, 02:12 PM
How about a phase spider? After it rises out of the terrain where it was sleeping the eons away, after its mere footsteps snap trees like twigs, it just ... Goes away? And then play up the suspense when the next foot phases in and comes crashing down dangerously close to something important to the pc's.
ieattrollsforbreakfast

06-20-04, 02:57 PM
How about a Carcass Crab (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/eb/20040511a)? A collosal crustacean of doom covered in the bodies of giants, dragons etc.
It would be easy to convert into legend - a walking graveyard rarely goes unoticed.
MrAdam

06-20-04, 03:02 PM
Kaiju Are The Absolute COOLEST!!! Kaiju are up there with Ninjas and Zombies... AND LUCHADORES!!! In adition to the kaiju template in dragon magazine, There are nuemerous Kaiju RPGs and battle games (Monster Island is the best of them all) As for cool kaiju, Check Toho's website. Aside from the well known monsters like godzilla, rodan, gamera, gigan (my MAIN monster) and gidrah, there are lots of lesser known monsters what can be easily expoited like The Gargantuas (A pair of giant mutant human beings one green and evil and the other brown and a nice guy) Gezora (a hundred foot tall squid) And O-Kondor (A realy big vulture) Hope it helps!
MrAdam

06-20-04, 03:03 PM
Woooo....Undead Ninja Kaiju Luchadores
Edymnion

06-20-04, 04:21 PM
Originally posted by NightScreamer20
I'd hate to ask, but what exactly IS a Kaiju?
Kaiju is a template from Dragon, as was already said. Essentially, you slap the Kaiju template on a lizard, and you get Godzilla. Put it on a normal moth, and it gives you Mothra. One step template for making Godzilla monsters. Sweet stuff. Was in Dragon #289, the template along took up 2 full pages. Not the flavor text, not the examples, JUST the template (mainly because it gives you lots of options on what to do so you can make a totally custom Kaiju).
Originally posted by Mithral Icesilver
Or you could always do something really wierd like a hedgehog ... I reverse engineered hedgehog stats from the hedgehog familiar in T&B, but I dropped the poison. I was making an anthropomorphic hedgehog. Imagine your players' surprise when the hill their camping on stands up, shakes itself, and sprouts spikes as tall as trees! Let kaiju grant cleric spells; a hedgehog would probably grant Earth and maybe a few other domains. A hedgehog, that doesn't sound too bad, actually. The kaiju's get those ranged attacks anyway, so I could easily make the thing fire off tree sized quills from it's body...

Definately one to consider!
How about if I put it this way. A huge godzilla sized monster who could level the entire campaign world if left unchecked. A primal force who has slumbered for uncounted eons, who's soul purpose is to destroy the world at the end of time. Some idiot goes and wakes it up early, and it goes out to do it's job, not knowing that it isn't Armaggedon yet. What kind of monster do you see? We're talking something that looks like it could bend the Tarrasque over (and depending on what the base creature is, it really COULD stand a chance at pimp slapping Big T around!).

Hmmm... maybe a Kaiju Tressem, the winged cat from Faerun? Eh, that doesn't really stand out as being terrorfying though, that strikes me more as a good-guy type kaiju...
Raymond_Luxury_Yacht

06-20-04, 04:54 PM
How about a kaiju tarrasque?
Edymnion

06-20-04, 05:20 PM
Originally posted by Raymond_Luxury_Yacht
How about a kaiju tarrasque? Sadly enough, the Tarrasque IS one of the proper types to apply the template to.

But if I put that template on Big T himself, hoo boy.
Not only would he get bigger, but all of those hit dice he already has means he essentially gets EVERY kaiju ability in the book. Can you imagine a Tarrasque that flies, has a breath weapon, ranged attacks, and effectively doubles it's hitdice?

Lord son, that thing would be destroying entire multiverses!
Huh, a Paragon Kaiju Tarrasque of Legends....

No, lets stick to things a little more on the normal side than the Tarrasque...
NightScreamer20

06-20-04, 06:04 PM
T-Rex! ^_^ So bland...
Edymnion

06-20-04, 08:23 PM
Hehehe, suppose I could always do... a kaiju rust monster!!! :devil:
aravilar_holistacia

06-20-04, 08:28 PM
Originally posted by Edymnion
Lord son, that thing would be destroying entire multiverses!
Huh, a Paragon Kaiju Tarrasque of Legends....

Bit overkill, don't you think? :P
Teron Gorefiend

06-20-04, 09:05 PM
How about a locust? I'm pretty sure there aren't any official stats, so it would take more work, but a monstrous locust intent on devouring the world seems pretty apocalyptic.

I'm rather curious about this kaiju template. Unfortunately, my chances of tracking down an old issue of Dragon are depressingly non-existant. :(
obrysii

06-20-04, 09:15 PM
Originally posted by Teron Gorefiend
I'm rather curious about this kaiju template. Unfortunately, my chances of tracking down an old issue of Dragon are depressingly non-existant. :(

And a shame it's against the codes to post it here...
Feathercircle

06-20-04, 09:30 PM
Err, it's not against the CoC to email it, is it? I'm never quite sure what's within the rules around here....
SoldierOfFortune187

06-20-04, 09:34 PM
Originally posted by Edymnion
Hehehe, suppose I could always do... a kaiju rust monster!!! :devil:

Actually, I think that's an excellent idea. Whole cities erroded into the ground, mountains high in metal content collapsing in the beast's wake, and the industry of most civilizations put on complete halt.

A terrible legend to behold.
Edymnion

06-20-04, 09:52 PM
Originally posted by SoldierOfFortune187
Actually, I think that's an excellent idea. Yeah, but if we go Epic, how do I explain a working Iron Colossus in the same world as a Kaiju Rust Monster?

I think I'll pass on the rust monster idea.
Mage of Sembia

06-20-04, 10:08 PM
I'm rather curious about this kaiju template. Unfortunately, my chances of tracking down an old issue of Dragon are depressingly non-existant.

Just get it on e-bay.
INeedNoSalt

06-20-04, 10:14 PM
A Shocker Lizard.

Just think about that for a minute.

Yeah, told you.
Korone

06-20-04, 10:46 PM
A snake of a few hundred miles long could be freak..

*constrict earth*
The Morninglord

06-21-04, 11:03 AM
A scorpion
Elzaban the Ethereal

06-21-04, 11:48 AM
Originally posted by Edymnion
Hehehe, suppose I could always do... a kaiju rust monster!!! :devil:

XD When I noticed this topic I was going to suggest that, but it looks like you beat me to it. May I suggest that great minds think alike? ;)

But aside from that, how about a Kaiju Stirge? Just imagine this giant flying bug-like thing that spears a whole row of people and sucks out all their blood. Or perhaps a Kaiju Remorhaz, threatening to completely melt the polar ice caps. It could work... I think. :P
obrysii

06-21-04, 11:55 AM
Originally posted by Feathercircle
Err, it's not against the CoC to email it, is it? I'm never quite sure what's within the rules around here....

It isn't?

I'd sure love to have the template or even the dragon magazine that has it in it, but...in all likelihood I'll never find it.

Even on Ebay.
BelXiror

06-21-04, 12:24 PM
A wolf for that old-fashioned Fenris feeling...


And the PC's need to wake up a kaiju snake to combat it... ;p


A bear would be pretty scary... Hibernating for millenia.


A kaiju chaos beast or gibbering mouther would be scary...


Or a basilisk, a world of stone...
Keenath

06-21-04, 12:50 PM
Originally posted by Edymnion
Yeah, but if we go Epic, how do I explain a working Iron Colossus in the same world as a Kaiju Rust Monster?

I think I'll pass on the rust monster idea.

Oh, but Kaiju are known for going to sleep for centuries or millenia on end. The Great Rust Beast could be an ancient foe of the Iron Colossus, and the awakening of one is a sign that the other will soon stir, bringing their ancient conflict to life once again!

(For this, simply state that the colossus has an ability that protects him from rusting, and basically the rust monster would have to defeat him to eat him, as his destruction would turn him into so much scrap metal.)

Edit: Alternatively, each rusting touch on the Colossus would cause some amount of damage, since I don't think a rust monster could defeat it otherwise.
The Morninglord

06-21-04, 01:09 PM
I think a plant like Assassin Vine could have been a cool kaiju.

Originally posted by BelXiror
gibbering mouther

Didn't Dragon Magazine describe the Hunger Eternal some time ago?
Talanall

06-21-04, 01:14 PM
What about a chuul? It even looks like something that might slumber beneath the waves for untold eons, sediment accreting on its shell until it resembles an oddly-shaped rock formation on the ocean floor . . . until the burgeoning human population along the coast calls for vastly increased fishing industry, upsetting the ecology of the ocean, and the great beast awakens as a billion sushi dinners cry out for revenge . . .
Hammerclaw

06-21-04, 01:34 PM
Originally posted by obrysii
It isn't?

I'd sure love to have the template or even the dragon magazine that has it in it, but...in all likelihood I'll never find it.

Even on Ebay.

Assuming Paizo's Back Issue list is up to date, and the reported issue number is correct, then you can order it from Paizo. Check here: Paizo Publishing Back Issues (http://www.paizopublishing.com/backissues) .

Unfortunately, they don't list the Kaiju article in the list of articles for Issue #289, but if you look at the cover art, you can just make out the teaser title, Supersize your Monsters.
Hand of Vecna

06-21-04, 03:17 PM
Kaiju Beholder are nasty. So are Kaiju Black Puddings (it eats all metals & organic matter, leaving behind a lifeless rockball).

I once fiddled with a homebrew campaign world where, some centuries ago, every psion on the major continent was rounded up and burned at the stake (due to most of the nobles & merchants becoming deathly afraid of telepaths). All their spirits coalesced into a Kaiju Caller in Darkness, which proceeded to kill off many thousands of people.
Edymnion

06-21-04, 04:31 PM
Hmmm... you know, I think I'll take a page from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil here, and go with a Kaiju Half-Black Dragon T-Rex.

18 hitdice for the base creature means this Kaiju is essentially going to be able to have any Kaiju abilitie/quality he wants... :devil:
Arhra

06-21-04, 07:37 PM
Theres always:

Kaiju Darktentacles: Let's see the PC's beat up a mass of thrashing tentacles the size of a castle

Kaiju Frog: So much potential for horrible puns: 'It croaks and so do you'. Seriously though it would have quite an awe inspiring crush attack. Look at the picture of the titanic toad in the MM2 for an idea.

Kaiju Behir: Massive, purple, constricts entire parties at a time and hates dragons. What more can you want?

Kaiju Hydra: A perfect creature for end of the world type stuff.
Edymnion

06-21-04, 07:45 PM
You know, I suppose if I was evil, I could always grab a monster out of the Epic Level Handbook, and then slap the kaiju template on one of those...
Pyromancer

06-21-04, 09:39 PM
Bat Swarm. A 10 foot by 10 foot by 10 foot swarm of collossal bats with breath weapons.
Hand of Vecna

06-21-04, 10:38 PM
Originally posted by Arhra
Kaiju Hydra: A perfect creature for end of the world type stuff.

Slap the Winged template on it and you've got King Gidorah ;)
Edymnion

06-21-04, 10:47 PM
Originally posted by Hand of Vecna
Slap the Winged template on it and you've got King Gidorah ;) Nah, you don't have to do that. One of the available Special Ability choices is Extra Movement Type. If you take that, and take Flight, you cosmetically change the Kaiju to have the appropriate apendages, meaning it would gain wings in this case.

So a Hydra with the Extra Movement special ability would be King Gidorah exactly. Well, toss in breath weapon and some eye rays, which the template also gives you the choice for, maybe the Whirlwind ability, and BOOM! King Gidorah. :D
diablos666

06-22-04, 05:52 AM
King Ghidorah rules! And how about Kaiju fiend, like a Pit Fiend or Balor? Super-size them demons!:schemes:
Hand of Vecna

06-22-04, 10:17 AM
Kaiju Succubus for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman ;)
EvilPettingZoo

06-23-04, 09:01 PM
I think that a kaiju whale with the land movement type would be fun.
MrAdam

06-30-04, 05:30 PM
Kaiju 3rd Lvl Rogue/3rd lvl Human Monk! A Kaiju Luchadore!
Kaiju Octopus with the monstrous and/or Psudonatural template
Kaiju Psion Killer!
Kaiju Cthulhu!
Kaiju Psudonatural Cthulhu!
Kaiju Half-Mechanical Terror-Bird (Gigan)!
Kaiju Golems in various Flavors!!
Kaiju Spiders, Centipedes, and Beetles!
KAIJU BEATLES!
Kaiju Cave Fishers!
Kaiju Jelly Fish!
Kaiju Cave Men (That one was ACTUALY DONE IN A MOVIE!)
Kaiju Oozes!
Kaiju Moose!
Kaiju Insectile Moose!
Kaiju Insectile Everything Else!
Kaiju Insectile Monstrous Every Thing Else!
KAIJU ORCUS!!!
KAIJU PSUDONATURAL VAMPIRE ORCUS!!!
Kaiju Celestials!
Kaiju Lizard = Godzilla? HELL NO!
obrysii

07-01-04, 03:27 PM
as I posted on one of the Lycanthrope threads...except Kaiju-ized:

Kaiju Mindflayer Weremonstrous crab


Who wouldn't want a colossal Zoidberg?
Zarg1

07-03-04, 08:42 AM
A Kaiju swam. Don't change the size of it's parts. Instead just have a sea of hideus tiny creatures. Think of it. All the locusts in the world swarming in the sae place at the call of a powerful artifact.
krichaiushii

07-04-04, 09:01 AM
The following creatures could all make for entertaining Kaiju.

The Flail Snail (http://www.enworld.org/cc/converted/vermin/flail_snail.htm)

From the 3.0 MM:

Ankheg
Behir
Bulette
Carrion Crawler
Darkmantle
Destrachen
Displacer Beast
Ethereal Marauder
Ettercap
Ettin
Frost Worm
Gorgon
Grey Render
Grick
Griffin
Howler
Manticore
Mimic (disguises itself as an inn)
Naga
Otyugh
Purple Worm
Roper
Sea Lion
Shambling Mound
Spider Eater
Tendriculous
Thoqqua
Treant
Xorn
Yrthak

From MMII:
Avolakia
Catoblepas
Chaos Roc
Cloud Ray
Dire Elk
Dire Elephant
Dire Hawk
Ethereal Slayer
Fiendwurm
Forest Sloth
Frost Salamander
Grell
Hook Horror
Ixitxachtal
Kopru
Linnorm (any)
Megapede
Morkoth
Needlefolk
Nightmare Beast
Phase Wasp
Rampager
Red Sundew
Shadow Spider
Spellgaunt
Spirit of the Land (any manifestation)
Tempest
Teratomorph
Windghost
Wyste