Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SOPI 04-21-06, 05:03 PM	I just saw Ask Wizards today, and came across an interesting question. 04/21/2006 Q: I was reading about the tarrasque and a question came up. What would happen if a tarrasque meets another tarrasque? --Luis A: To quote a wise man (we presume), in a battle no one can win… who wins? Essentially, this is what’s being asked. The 1st edition Monster Manual II listed the tarrasque’s Frequency as Unique, meaning there can be only one. Although Frequency is no longer part of the current monster stat blocks, the 3.5 edition tarrasque explicitly states, “The legendary Tarrasque -- fortunately, only one exists -- is possibly the most dreaded monster of all (except for the largest dragons). So what would happen if a tarrasque meets a tarrasque coming through the rye? Fortunately we need not contemplate such a world… The answer, though by the book, was boring to me. I think it would have been a bit cooler for WotC to give examples of how another tarrasque might exist, or something like that. However, since they didn't, I decided to take the matter into my own hands. First of all, we have the tarrasque. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/askwizards_tarrasque.jpg Isn't he cute? :P Anyways, the first thing to think on is this article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/eo/20051109a) on other tarrasques. The three tarrasques presented here were kickass. Great beasts. I've not found an oppurtunity in my game to use them, but I'm sure something will come up...eventually. The article presents the idea of an evil mage cloning and mutating the tarrasque. This is an awesome idea that just screams adventure, but I want to look at an idea with no magic involved. Or more simply put: What would the D&D world be like if there was more than one tarrasque? Difficult. With tarrasques roaming about in numbers greater than goblins, the damned beasties would probably slaughter anything they could while not in hibernation. I'd assume that the entirity of life would have to adapt to living underground and away from the tarrasques...a cool idea for a campaign world, I add. I picture the tarrasque as a t-rex. It is a vicious predator (not a scavenger, which I'm pretty sure science has proved the t-rex was) that stalks about and incites fear. It's just waaaaaaaaaaay bigger and at least fifty times harder to kill. Anyways, with this idea in mind, I think: 1. If two tarrasques met, they would attack each other or fight over food/territory/a mate. Now here's the twist, I think everyone should post their ideas on this subject. What would the tarrasques do? Please, by all means, let's get a list started. Once again: 1. They would attack each other or fight over food/territory/a mate.
MojoMonkeyMan 04-21-06, 06:01 PM	Nice idea for a post. I also thought the Ask Wizards reply was very weak. I a magical setting where just about anything can happen, there could be two, at least for a short period of time. I also love the idea of a campaign world where there are several, which have led to the intelligent population being forced to live underground or appease the beasts with sacrifices, a la King Kong. So anyway, I think that they would spend a good amount of time preparing their, for lack of a better word, "nest." If I were about to hibernate for a century plus, i would want a comfortable place to rest. Other Tarrasques may stumble upon the nest and attempt to destroy it, which ultimately provokes conflict.
Mirtek 04-21-06, 06:01 PM	Actually there is a whole planet full of Tarrasques somewhere. Forgot it's name, but it appeared in some Spelljammer supplement. And yes, almost all other live has fled to the Underdark
malykoth 04-21-06, 06:06 PM	I agree...Wizards' answer to the question was totally weak. Though, what would one expect to happen? They would fight, one would win, LOTS of collateral damage!
SOPI 04-21-06, 11:42 PM	Actually there is a whole planet full of Tarrasques somewhere. Forgot it's name, but it appeared in some Spelljammer supplement. And yes, almost all other live has fled to the Underdark This is reason number 10 on my "Why Spelljammer Does NOT Suck List".
runestar 04-22-06, 12:24 AM	Or give the tarrasque the phrenic template - there will now be 2 due to its fission power. :D
Chainsaw 04-22-06, 04:49 AM	A friend of mine said that in his campaign he used to play in High School they had to fight 2 of them. Something about a time rupture or dimension rift or something like that brought another one in.
meatrace 04-22-06, 05:50 AM	I wouldn't want to be flanked by two tarrasque rogues ;) "what's that hiding behind that mountain" "I don't see anything" *pounce* *splat* don't ask me to explain how they evade my fireballs...
Izodor_Shadowcaster 04-22-06, 06:58 AM	WOuld you be able to worship Tarrasque as a god? Giving it some divine ranks would be cool!
Mirtek 04-22-06, 07:44 AM	Well, you can worship anything you want, in most cases you just won't receive anything for your worship ;) Of course, if you add divine ranks to the Tarrasque in your campaign she becomes able to grant divine spells. You also want to check Dragon Magazine Issue 296, it has the Waker of the Beast PrC, a cult of madmen that whorship the Tarrasque and some unknown powers grants them abilities to locate and wake the Tarrasque and makes them mutate to adopt more and more physical traits of the Tarrasque
Karn Dragonsbane 04-22-06, 10:06 AM	I´d say, there´s not much a Tarrasque can do about other Tarrasque. Even reptiles can learn that they can´t destroy things that keep coming back... But Tarrasques would have the chance to hit themselves on the head often. So I´d say, the younger ones would fight, the older ones only if provoked or bored.
SOPI 04-22-06, 12:26 PM	According to Old Sage over on the Spelljammer boards, the planet of tarrasques is Falx.
speeblefreak 04-22-06, 01:33 PM	I agree...Wizards' answer to the question was totally weak. Though, what would one expect to happen? They would fight, one would win, LOTS of collateral damage! Since neither can use wish or miracle, neither would ever win. One would knock out the other, look for something else to do, and get smacked from behind when the other woke up. Then the fight would resume ad infinitum. Tarrasque 1: So what now? Are we to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgement Day and trumpets sound, hmm? Tarrasque 2: Or you could surrender.
supernerd8916 04-22-06, 01:41 PM	Tarrasque 1: So what now? Are we to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgement Day and trumpets sound, hmm? Tarrasque 2: Or you could surrender. you stole that from pirates of the caribean, didnt you :) anyway, i dont think thats how they would sound
hottchixplaydndtoo 04-22-06, 01:56 PM	In the setting that my group plays in, there is more than one tarrasque. The one from the monster manual is common and we call those "baby" tarrasque's even though they are technically fully grown. The thing is are characters are so strong and get to such a high level that we had to remake "the legendary" tarrasque. So we gave it the paragon template and 200 hit dice, made it insanely strong with many other abilities and it stays dormant for centuries until something catastrophic awakes it. Either way nothing would come of 2 tarrasques fighting anyway, they can't cast wish so therefore they can not die.
Dracomortis 04-22-06, 03:18 PM	In the article at the top they said there's one in each campaign setting; 1 for FR, 1 for Eberron, 1 for Greyhawk, and 1 for your campaign setting; they also provide one for Modern. That's 5 right there. And, because we know the multiverse is infinite, we know that somehow, somwhere, ONE of these planes is actually another campaign setting. Therefore, there's more than one :P And then, of course, there's one for each of the other settings: 1 for OA, 1 for Ravenloft, 1 for V:tM, 1 for Future, 1 for Apocalypse...etc. etc. Thus, the number of tarrasques is directly proportionate to the number of alternate setting planes which, because their is an infinite number of planes, prove that there are in fact an infinite number of tarrasques. So, basically, they're like ninjas: no matter how many you kill, there's always more. Hope you've prepared your share of wish spells.
Talisman 04-22-06, 03:28 PM	I picture the tarrasque as a t-rex. It is a vicious predator (not a scavenger, which I'm pretty sure science has proved the t-rex was) that stalks about and incites fear. As a dino-phile for about 20 years now, I have to take issue with this. There is NO WAY that the t-rex could have been anything but a predator. A rudimentary comparison of t-rex's jaws and body structure with modern scavengers will prove this beyond a doubt. If you're interested, I will provide data. Oops. Someone pushed my nerd button. As for the tarrasque, I imagine them sort of like dumbed-down dragons without the hoarding instinct. They sleep...they eat ravenously...they try to kill anything they encounter...they sleep. Question: in a world of multiple tarrasques, if a strong one "kills" and eats a weaker one, does the weaker one stay dead?
SOPI 04-22-06, 03:49 PM	I picture the tarrasque as a t-rex. It is a vicious predator (not a scavenger, which I'm pretty sure science has proved the t-rex was) that stalks about and incites fear. As a dino-phile for about 20 years now, I have to take issue with this. There is NO WAY that the t-rex could have been anything but a predator. A rudimentary comparison of t-rex's jaws and body structure with modern scavengers will prove this beyond a doubt. If you're interested, I will provide data. Oops. Someone pushed my nerd button. As for the tarrasque, I imagine them sort of like dumbed-down dragons without the hoarding instinct. They sleep...they eat ravenously...they try to kill anything they encounter...they sleep. Question: in a world of multiple tarrasques, if a strong one "kills" and eats a weaker one, does the weaker one stay dead? I guess it's like Calvin said: "I think that t-rexes were predators because it would be so lame if they just ate stuff that was already dead." I could have sworn that scientists said that t-rexes were scavengers, but then again, I don't pay much attention to paleontoligistic science.
savant_warlord13 04-22-06, 04:56 PM	I agree...Wizards' answer to the question was totally weak. Though, what would one expect to happen? They would fight, one would win, LOTS of collateral damage! How would one win? They can't kill each other!
Rohano 04-22-06, 05:32 PM	Hmm multiple tarrasques..... ORIGON OF SPECIES: TARRASQUE!!!! There are many scientists who say that dinosaurs related to the tyrannosaurus were scavengers. For instance, take the raptors. Raptors evolved to become hunting birds and scavenger birds (hunting birds like the hawk are often referred to as 'raptors' because that's the name of their genus or something like that). It is logical to say that one of the many species of raptors could have been scavengers, especially if they were a smaller variety. Raptors can't contend with a t-rex or anything bigger than that (not because they can't defeat him, but because they know that defeating a t-rex would mean having most of their herd killed; the same reason that antelope herds don't go into combat with hunting cats), so they'd probably... A) Avoid the hunters, hunting smaller prey or scavenging B) Follow the hunters, scavenging leftovers or killing and eating whatever survives the wrath of the t-rex. Dinosaurs aside. There have been several discussions about tarrasques in the past. Did you know that the name for the tarrasque came from a legendary dragon in French myth? http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm_gallery/Tarrasque.jpg The Tarrasque is featured in the World's Largest Dungeon. There was an issue of Dragon (and this may have been 2E, I don't remember) that had rules for the cult of the tarrasque; maniacs who took class levels in order to gain a supernatural tarrasque-finding ability and they also had the ability to dance and worship near where it slumbered so that they could try to wake it up (and either let it kill them or hide so that after it left and went back to sleep somewhere else, they could continue to worship). The tarrasque didn't gain any divine rank from this, IIRC, but the cult was totally badass. Cult of the Beast or something like that. Makes a great adventure. Links on modifying the tarrasque, multiple tarrasques, and tarrasque speculation: Incarnum Tarrasque (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=616148) Fiendish Tarrasques and other speculation (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=61674) A much bigger Tarrasque (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=618275) A long time ago, there was a thread about tarrasque speculation where it was suggested that every plane has its own tarrasque. As a result, you have the fire tarrasque (fire immunity, fire powers), the earth tarrasque (burrowing), the outlands tarrasque (immune to pain? :P ), the hell tarrasque (Asmodeus' pet?), etc. There's supposed to be only 1 tarrasque. The answer that Wizards gave that guy on Ask Wizards is perfect. If there's more than one tarrasque on the Prime, who's going to speculate on it? Would you rather talk about it or run for your lives? It's entirely up to the DM as to whether or not there's more than one Tarrasque. If you're the DM, you're going to have to think long and hard about it. And yes, you can summon the tarrasque with an epic spell -- but your DM might require you to have interacted with the tarrasque previously in order to research a spell to summon it. There's any number of ways to get more tarrasques, and there's probably any number of evil wizards out there casting spells to do so.
Arnkel 04-22-06, 05:50 PM	In previous campaigns I have run, whenever the players got to be high and mighty epic level characters on the verge of godhood, they always seem to attack my poor little tarrasque and kill it. So I finally got even with them and took inspiration from the Neogi. When the Tarrasque dies, thousands of little baby Tarrasque swarm out and start devouring each other. The one left standing(there can be only one, with all the highlander antics that entails) becomes the new tarrasque. One of the PCs ended up er, liberating one of the other baby tarrasques, and now that world has two fully grown tarrasques, although the player dragged that Tarrasque with him and tied him to the front gate of the underworld when the character took over management of that cheery little abode(now the tarrrasque is named Spot and has his own little "tarrasque-house"). If the two were to ever meet, I'd imagine that they would rip each other apart in an attempt to devour the other, thereby allowing for only 1 tarrasque. Izodor: a whole bunch of cultures in the campaign setting I'm currently working on worship the Tarrasque(and they recieve spells too). It now has Divine ranks, and is trapped til the end days inside a volcano.
Rohano 04-22-06, 05:59 PM	It is my opinion that if more than one tarrasque meets in combat, it all comes down to luck and tactics. They won't simply be standing there hitting each other. They'll be tripping, wrestling, making called shots on each other's limbs attempting to disable that limb for a short time, and they'll probably be running full speed while they do this. Add in some terrain of wherever they're fighting, and you have yourself a cool fight to watch. One tarrasque might knock the other off a cliff, stunning it long enough for the first tarrasque to do a crapload of damage. Anyway, there is a problem with tarrasques fighting. If it were to happen, every single person from all of the planes who wanted to watch would invariably show up to watch. Gods would appear. The innumerable populations from all around the cosmos would cheer from the sidelines while one of the gods pops some bleachers and concession stands into existence. No doubt, a lot of powerful beings would get themselves involved with the fight. Crazed mages might throw spells at them (or even Wish to kill both), evil gods might decide to enhance a tarrasque to be fiendish or something. And if evil takes part, good will take part. You might end up with a celestial augmented tarrasque versus a fiendish augmented tarrasque. Eventually, the forces of neutrality would stop vomiting in disgust and seperate the combatants, possibly sending the tarrasques to other planes. Asmodeus might get a new pet evil fiendish tarrasque with all kinds of enhancements, and the same of a tarrasque for one of the good-aligned gods. Sure enough, soon you've got two new supersoldiers to help the wielders of the Regalia to fight for the fate of the universe.
ClementWillowbreaker 04-22-06, 08:38 PM	I'm definitely a fan of the multiple-offspring-devouring-Highlander Tarrasque angle. In fact, it lends itself to the Tarrasque's continued existence- somethign that hard to kill is bound to attract things to kill it, thus should be dead already. So how does it make do with a marked life? 1. Give birth 2. Bury offspring in out-of-the-way place while they devour each other. 3. Go on a killing rampage to attract attention. 4a. Get planeshifted to somewhere else because no one that tries to stop you can cast Wish, leaving your one remaining young to continue mucking around in the plane you were just banished from. 4b. Run into someone with Wish first, and die, knowing that your offspring will get his chance to seed another plane in a few centuries.
KhalaKyRelai 04-23-06, 12:28 AM	This makes me want a half-Tarrasque template. Edit: And also a level progression table for the Tarrasque. For the sake of baby Tarrasques that don't have all their HD yet.
meatrace 04-23-06, 05:24 AM	I just want the Tarrasque to be the next colossal D&D Icons figure :)
Arnkel 04-23-06, 10:03 AM	I just want the Tarrasque to be the next colossal D&D Icons figure :) I've got a godzilla doll they could model it on. :P
MojoMonkeyMan 04-23-06, 07:03 PM	Let me start by saying, "I love the Tarrasque!" That said, i am thinking back to the wizard polls, which was ultimately won by Taibo, the ethereal filcher monk. What a load of cr*p that was! Isn't it clear now that the tarrasque is mightiest and most beloved of all the monstrous denizens? There are at least four running threads about the Tarrasque, and where is Taibo? Nowhere to be seen. Obviously, he fled back to the ethereal plane to hide in shame.
CowMasterTrojan 04-23-06, 10:13 PM	What happens when two Tarrasques fight? They fight like mad, until one defeats the other by shear luck. The surviving tarrasque eats that other tarrasque because thats what tarrasques do in their free time and it just earned a good meal. So the defeated tarrasque stays in the winning tararsque while the digestive takes what it can. Then nature takes its course and the winning tarrasque deficates and leaves the area. From the "remains" the losing tarrasque regenerates back to life. So a tarrasque grows from sh!t.
Nerf_Samurai 04-23-06, 11:41 PM	I remember one campaign I played in where the DM combined the Tarrasque with an avatar of Tiamat to make one hell of a monster. The point of the campaign was to keep it from breeding by killing all the chromatic great wyrms(the only things "big" enough to do the job *wink*) in ther world. Of course, momma didn't like, resulting in the PCs dying. That led to divine status, but thats not the point of the thread...
forrestfire15 04-24-06, 03:35 PM	if 2 tarrasques got into a fight the winner would eat the loser, the looser would regenarate and claw its way out and start all over. they would do this untill the end of the world and past that.
savant_warlord13 04-24-06, 04:00 PM	What happens when two Tarrasques fight? They fight like mad, until one defeats the other by shear luck. The surviving tarrasque eats that other tarrasque because thats what tarrasques do in their free time and it just earned a good meal. So the defeated tarrasque stays in the winning tararsque while the digestive takes what it can. Then nature takes its course and the winning tarrasque deficates and leaves the area. From the "remains" the losing tarrasque regenerates back to life. So a tarrasque grows from sh!t. No matter how lucky either tarrasque got, neither would ever win
Atirakis 04-24-06, 04:17 PM	I run a world that is very large. There are several Tarrasque variants running around. 1. Half-Dragon Tarrasques, Red, Shadow, Fang, more to come probably 2. Half-Fiend Tarrasque 3. Two Headed Pyro Tarrasque 4. A clutch of Tarrasque hatchlings, Huge baby Tarrasques, lol 5. Paragon Advanced Tarrasque of Legend, this is my God Killer the first ever made by the primal forces as the ultimate balance to the universe.
Vaalingrade Ashland 04-24-06, 07:20 PM	The answer is simple: They would both draw out thier collossal greatswords enchanted with Wish and go at it. When one finally had its head cut off, the other would cooly sheathe his sword and whisper 'there can only be one'. Then he'd rock out on his guitar.
Raven Dark 04-24-06, 09:57 PM	You can create two or more Tarrasques in any campaign that already has one quite easily. All you need is... ...a mirror of opposition. ...a simulacrum spell and enough gonads to get the material component. :P :P :P :P :P :P
Morka 04-25-06, 10:09 AM	[COLOR=DarkGreen] Question: in a world of multiple tarrasques, if a strong one "kills" and eats a weaker one, does the weaker one stay dead? "The tarrasque bites your character. Next round: the tarrasque swallow your character whole. Inside, you find... another tarrasque!" :confused: :weep:
Arnkel 04-25-06, 10:56 AM	"The tarrasque bites your character. Next round: the tarrasque swallow your character whole. Inside, you find... another tarrasque!" :confused: :weep: guess that explains why the one that swallows you the first time is always hungry.