https://twitter.com/Morrus/status/498963410420498434
It was oddly quiet about this CR30 classic kaiju of D&D, so I posted the original tweet link.
While it lost regeneration and the quasi-immortality, maybe it compensated by getting the first d20 HD in the history of D&D core rulebooks. Or maybe not. Please discuss!
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p.s. When is the updated Basic Rules coming out? This week's Monday should be well over by now Pacific time-wise, isnt it?
Now we need giant Warforged.
1eejit wrote:
About all it's lacking is regen (unless con grants such), and stats for a ranged attack, possibly some sort of improvised 'rip up a building/chunk of ground and huck it' kind of thing. Easy enough to add, but without them I have a hard time seeing any monster hard-countered by a pegasus mount (or any other means of permanent flight) and a magic bow of unlimited arrows as a CR30.
An area attack (sweeping the claws or tail, or biting a 20 foot area at once, or hell even a breath weapon) would also help convey the 'path of destruction' feel.
And I've been a fan of the 'big monster that spawns little monsters that can get you in your hidey holes' thing since Cloverfield / FFX.
So yeah, the Terrasque seems like a pretty decent chassis, but I think it would warrant some bells and whistles to bring it up to the 'beast of legend responsible for the destruction of entire civilizations' that its fluff describes.
Here's my take on the Tarrasque:
In the Prehistoric Age where Dragons and great behemoths reigned supreme and of the mortal races only elves had attained a level of civilisation, a great rock hurtled towards the planet and crashed into the face of the planet. From it emerged a creature far greater than any that had walked it's face before. It became known as the Tarrasque.
They laid waste to all that stood before them. The Elves were quick to flee to another plane with the Dragons remaining the only real opposition against them. The two forces fought fiercely, however the Dragons were unable to deal any appreciable damage to it. Instead they placed a powerful enchantment on it causing it to enter a deep slumber. However by this time the damage had already been done.
The planet was plunged into an Ice Age as a result of the dust cloud that the tarrasque's arrival had caused. The creatures it hadn't personally killed with the earthquakes and tsunamis starved to death over the next few years. The Dragons themselves entered a deep slumber until such time as the world repaired itself and life flourished once more.
Those scholars who know of the Tarrasque are fearful of the ancient magics that were placed upon it failing and the Tarrasque awakening once more. It's place of rest is either unknown or the greatest kept secret of the Ages.
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I'm ignoring the whole "walks across many worlds" angle, although it's current location is unknown. It's possible it awakened millennia ago and just hasn't returned to this world yet. I also have the "wiped out civilizations" part without relying on this creature individually killing every single person.
I've taken a few liberties, but I'd like to think I've retained the flavour.
I always felt that the Tarrasque was wierd and a poor fit for D&D.
That being said it does look to be a spooky and powerful creature.
The fact that the Tarrasque only has 25AC is a clear indication that most monsters will have reasonable AC as indicated by bounded accuracy. I remember reading somewhere (I believe in the PHB) that monsters also have proficiency bonuses which are calculated in their stat blocks....
With its +10 Strength modifier, and +19 attack bonus - we can reverse engineer the Tarrasques CR30 proficiency bonus to be +9 with one caveat. The fact that the Tarrasque does not list any proficient skills means we cannot rule out a bonuses to atack other than Strength and proficiency bonus.
I've never actually used the Tarrasque in a game, but I'm thinking I would like to. When I start up my 5e campaign, I think I'm going to try to incorporate as many iconic beasties as possible: beholders, dragons, owlbears, mind flayers, tarrasque, etc...
I like how swallow works now, but it could be really difficult to deal 60 points of damage in one turn. If you're a fighter, you'll probably have to action surge. A rogue will be boned unless the DM is nice enough to rule that sneak attack is allowed due to all the gooey bits you can reach on the inside (remember, restrained incurs disadvantage), in which case a high-level rogue won't have a problem getting out. All in all, being swallowed looks rather unpleasant.
Kalani wrote:
Anybody else remember that old Dragonlance adventure where Lord Soth had the Tarrasque in his closet? That was a hoot.
Brutal. Simple.
Its carapace can basically force parties into melee range.
It almost always hits at that range.
Almost always grapples.
Almost always swallows.
Almost can't be forced to regurgitate.
It can bite in round #1 and swallow before round #2 begins.
Rinse and repeat.
The only thing it doesn't seem to do is regen.
Ever since FF7, I've always imagined the Tarrasque as sort of like one o' those WEAPONs. It's something that the planet itself brings forth into the world whenever it senses there's a need for it -- usually triggered when sentient beings are mucking about doing things that have large, noticable effects.
Question: Does the 60 damage have to come from one single creature, or if multiple creatures are swallowed and they do a combined total of 60 or more damage does that trigger the regurgitation as well?
So, Tarrasque is obviously Godzilla, only living in the bowels of the Earth rather than the abysses off the Pacific Rim.
You can use it for events warranting the "Godzilla Threshhold" – where its wonton destruction, but potentially stopping some other threat due to said destruction, is desirable. You can use it like Pacific Rim used the Kaiju, as an weapon set off to annihilate the human species and make way for something else (or perhaps some extremist Druid induces the Tarrasque to awaken to wipe clean humanoidity, because we're just too damaging to the planet). It's a very versatile monster, which there aren't quite enough of for end-game threats. The Tarrasque is one of the best D&D creatures in the DM's Toolbox. 
Chimerasame wrote:
Marandahir wrote:
Phobos wrote:
Kalani wrote:
How I've used it:
Recently, the Tarrasque was a werewolf, capable of shifting between immortal humanoid form to gargantuan wolf-destroyer.
Legends hold that there is always a Tarrasque, (but really it is a kind of anima, that inhabits a corporeal form). Should a person slay the Tarrasque (or it's corporeal form, anyway), the anima transfers to the slayer - desiring always to become stronger. So the legends say if you kill it, you gain it's powers.
Consequently several cults, wizards, warlocks and the like try from time to time to summon and slay the beast. And it's unknown how, when, or why it manifests different forms (nobody has learned about the anima and lived, unless they themselves became the Tarrasque).
In our 4E game, the werewolf-tarrasque was slain by one of the PCs, a Goliath fighter. That campaign has ended, so now I need to ask that player what form
he wants to take, should the Tarrasque re-appear.
So we'll see. Now that player knows about the anima (bc I had to tell him). So we'll also see what, if anything, he does with that info.
bawylie wrote:
bawylie wrote:
autolycus wrote:
autolycus wrote:
JohnLynch wrote:
I actually used the Tarrasque recently in a 4e game, though the players didn't fight it. It was set up more like the original Godzilla; the Tarrasque was attacking the large port city they were in, and they were trying to do things that needed to be done in that city as the walls came down around them.
In that game, there was an ancient cult in the city who worshipped at an underground shrine where a large stone egg was. They figured out the rituals to activate the 'relic', which ended up hatching essentially a baby tarrasque (which devoured the cult). This baby tarrasque's call was psionic, shattering the minds of psions near it. It was calling it's mother. And that is how the Tarrasque awoke in the game world.
It was a lot of fun. A lot of disaster movie tropes.