Fixing Tarrasque [3.5, SoD]

[NineThePuma]

I know there have been a bunch of threads on it, but I've got a cosmological place for the Big T.

Big T is basically Defender of Nature, a manifestation of Gaia's Wrath. Thus, I'm giving him the Weapon of Ragnarok Epic Destiny, and DvR 0.

Other ideas?

[Tetrasodium]

Big T is basically Defender of Nature, a manifestation of Gaia's Wrath.

What makes you say that?

Many legends surround the tarrasque’s origins and purpose. Some hold it to be an abomination unleashed by ancient, forgotten gods to punish all of nature, while others tell of a conspiracy between evil wizards or merciless elemental powers. These tales are mere speculation, however, and the creature’s true nature will probably remain a mystery. The tarrasque isn’t in the habit of explaining itself, and it rarely leaves any living witnesses in its wake.
- Monster Manual page 240

Pretty much the monster manual says that it is the result of whatever the DM says it is, if the DM even decides to say it's the result of something more than an unpleasant MacGuffin over that way.

[Zaydos]

I always saw Big T as the exact opposite of Gaia's defender; the Ender of Days who would if left unstopped destroy life itself.

[Temotei]

I always saw Big T as the exact opposite of Gaia's defender; the Ender of Days who would if left unstopped destroy life itself.

I thought that was the house cat.

[NineThePuma]

He's still the Ender of Days. In fact, the only recorded sighting in modern memory resulted in the deaths of nearly five hundred thousand Forerunners, the destruction of their whole civilization and scattering them to the winds.

The difference is, /now/ he emerges when a mortal race shows too much disrespect for the world.

Big T is a Magical Beast, not an Abomination. Therefore him relating to nature is possible.

[arguskos]

What makes you say that?

Well, ok, thinking about the OP's first sentence: "I think I found a cosmological place for Big T" and then seeing what that place is, it kinda makes sense. This thread is apparently for the redesign of Big T's fluff, so using WotC's doesn't seem useful.

[NineThePuma]

That's it exactly, Arg.

I need to rebuild his feats: basically optimize him. By giving him DvR 0 he grows in power a chunk, but I want an encounter with him to be memorable as more than just a big fight.

He hibernates, on the ocean floor, in a deep underwater trench. The idea of an adventuring party finding him, or questing to wake him up, is very real. I want to make sure that when I drop him in be inspires the same response as Godzilla: Frightened Awe.

[Dante & Vergil]

Awaken him, by giving him a nice sizeable intelegence. That will send them running.

[Arbitrarity]

Slapping Martial Maneuvers and ESPECIALLY SOULMELDS on big T is always effective. He's got a truckload of unused feats, so stuff like... Phase Cloak, Airstep Sandals, Keeneye Lenses, and so forth, really round out his damage dealing with immunities and mobility.
Keeneye Lenses (soul) is good for True Seeing, Phase Cloak (Shoulders) is great for phasing through cover and other obstacles, and Airstep Sandals (feet, duh) are nice for flight. Oh, and Dissolving Spittle (throat) for a ranged option isn't bad at all.

[Lord Vukodlak]

He's still the Ender of Days. In fact, the only recorded sighting in modern memory resulted in the deaths of nearly five hundred thousand Forerunners, the destruction of their whole civilization and scattering them to the winds.

The difference is, /now/ he emerges when a mortal race shows too much disrespect for the world.

Big T is a Magical Beast, not an Abomination. Therefore him relating to nature is possible.

Big T basically is basically an abomination, it has a similar feel to it. I'd suggest slapping on the abomination traits,

[firemagehao]

He's still the Ender of Days.

I prefer the Far Realms as the Ender of Days.


You could always just raise its DR and SR. Doing that just a small bit can make a monster a lot harder to defeat.

[blackjack217]

give it a lot of ranged punch to stop the fliers.

[Temotei]

Big T basically is basically an abomination, it has a similar feel to it. I'd suggest slapping on the abomination traits,

You're thinking of aberration traits.

I disagree. Magical beast fits much better, and simply putting other types' traits on the thing is just a clunky mechanic.

You could also go with a double-action feature, like the choker has.

[Lord Vukodlak]

You're thinking of aberration traits.

NO I'm not I'm thinking of abomination traits.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm

Abominations are born directly (or indirectly) from a god and some lesser creature (or idea), but none are favored, wanted, or loved. Lore wise Big T fits in well with the other Abominations

[hamishspence]

The Tarrasque did become an Abomination in 4E- but so did, for example, Blood Fiends from Fiend Folio.

[Temotei]

NO I'm not I'm thinking of abomination traits.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm

Abominations are born directly (or indirectly) from a god and some lesser creature (or idea), but none are favored, wanted, or loved. Lore wise Big T fits in well with the other Abominations

Oh, right. Epic. I always forget about epic.

[NineThePuma]

I meant Aberration though. I like applying Abomination, but am looking more for "ideas to improve him" and given his Godzilla like nature... Oh, I'm giving him that ranged attack PF gave him and giving him a giant AoE spike thing. And venom.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I meant Aberration though. I like applying Abomination, but am looking more for "ideas to improve him" and given his Godzilla like nature... Oh, I'm giving him that ranged attack PF gave him and giving him a giant AoE spike thing. And venom.

Well I believe 4th edition gives him an anti-fly aura so creatures within a mile of him are incapable of flying.

[Temotei]

Well I believe 4th edition gives him an anti-fly aura so creatures within a mile of him are incapable of flying.

That's kind of cool, but the tarrasque is underwater in this case. Making them incapable of swimming for a small duration would be just about the same, though, unless you tacked on suffocation or something.

[NineThePuma]

Nah. I'll give him the ability to hit someone with his spines to drop their movement methods to 0, and disable ongoing spells (buffs, debuffs) for 1d4 rounds. Magic items are surpressed for the same duration.

Of course, he doesn't do it often because doing so is kinda cruel.

... Actually... *struck by a thought* What if I gave him access to the (Revised on this forum) Stone Dragon as a level 20 Crusader? Combine with DvR 0...

Admittedly, giving him just a massive AMF would be okay, it's horribly cheap.

Edit: Big T is amphibious. He sleeps in the depths. Awakened, he can get up on land and kick some ass.

Note: What's the Awakened spell from?

[Cieyrin]

Note: What's the Awakened spell from?

Awaken is a Core spell, though I don't think there's a version that works on Magical Beasts, as normal Awaken only works on Animals and non-sentient plants (well, previous to being awakened, anyways) and other Awaken versions affect other unintelligent things, like Constructs, Undead and Oozes. I don't think there's a version that works on Magical Beasts.

[Chambers]

The Cloverfield Monster is what the Tarrasque should be.

OT: What does SoD mean?

[NineThePuma]

FINALLY.

SoD is short hand for Saga of Dreams, which is the title for my campaign setting, accompanied by a reworking of core. I'm planning the cosmology (part of dealing with the Classes, since the Magic Users need to have what they're doing worked on) and I always liked the Tarrasque, leading to me giving it a specific role: it is a manifestation of the wrath of god Gaia. Gaia being an anthropomorphic manifestation of the planet itself, a Greater Diety of sorts. (There are pitfalls, and I've solved them by having Gaia be an avatar of the planet, rather than the force of the planet itself.)

The Tarrasque, in this cosmology is a "Last Resort" who defends the planet from threats too great for any of its other servants. Effectively, when the Tarrasque is called in, things have passed the Godzilla Threshold. This is most apparent in the only appearance (in the memory of the humanoids today, and even then only among the dwarves) which resulted in the complete and utter devastation of the Forerunner Civilization, and the sundering of the entire species into several much smaller and less powerful races. Take that as you will.

[Cidolfas]

I think the tarrasque could gain a higher Intelligence if you just used an Intelligence booster on it, since magical beasts already have the capacity to have an Intelligence score of igher than 3. Awaken spells and the like don't exist for magical beasts because it only works for creatures that don't already have a sentient score (i.e. 3 or higher). So if you wanted to, I think you could already give it maneuvers unless the Martial feats have an Intelligence prereq that I forgot.

In my opinion, the best fix of the tarrasque would be to give it some majorly badass abilities that would be more unique and monster-like while building on what it already has. For example, augmenting it's normal Rush ability.

Rush (Ex): The normally slow-moving tarrasque is capable of brief bursts of incredible speed. When it charges, it may move up to ten times its base speed and make a full attack at the end of the charge.

[boomwolf]

Just give him the ability to spit acid as a natural attack (range increment of 100 ft. would be good), fixs the flying dude problem.

It also no that far-fetched. there are creatures in RL capable of similar things. (not to such a distance though...)




If you want to go crazy-here is the most silly modification I've seen, took a look at his sheet after the game: (We actually fought it, TWK-total world kill.)

First thing first, it got 4 size categories larger (Colossal ++++), meaning he is BIG and go badass range with his natural attacks.

HD changed to 20's. Regeneration increased to 100.

Ability scores all got +20 (yes, even Int...so the muther****er is ****ing smart, and has a charming personality)

He got new feats. (don't remember exactly what, but it was lethal. rapidstrike chain to claws among others)

His claws got vorpal.

He had pounce.

He got a special attack like a chameleon's tough. and it had a damn good distance (we could not hit him at all from outside his range with that), basically a ranged touch attack to attempt a swallow whole at a distance.

Need I say more?

[NineThePuma]

XD

That, right there, made my day. I may run with it x3

[blackjack217]

Dyth The Tarrasque should have DR 25/MC

[NineThePuma]

MC?

And the Tarrasque is named Joe. Dyth lives in the Kingdom of Awesome and is the Guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild.

[blackjack217]

Well since you seem to be basing it off of the flood or halo arrays (Forerunner Civilization anyone?) it seemed appropriate to give it Dr 25/Master Chief.

[NineThePuma]

Oh.

I use the term "Forerunner" because at present I don't have a name for them yet, and Precursors sounds weird to me.

... But yes, I have a very big Halo fan-ness, and the Flood and the Zerg are a big inspiration for the (planned) Aberration Threat.