How To Fix The Almighty Tarrasque...
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SteelySam is one of the featured game masters at the Fest, who you might know from his DM Hotline advice videos and monster-related shorts on Youtube.
Today’s topic is something we both love, the mother-of-all-dungeons-and-dragons-monsters, the Tarrasque. If you’ve ever looked at the statblock of this monstrosity, you’d notice some immediate problems with it…
How To Fix The Almighty Tarrasque
WHAT IS THE TARRASQUE?
First, if you’re not familiar with the Tarrasque, here’s how SteelySam sums it up:
“The Tarrasque is the most terrifying thing on the material plane. It is a being of pure destruction, and its hunger has no limits. The Tarrasque spends most of its time asleep, but when it wakes up, nations will crumble. There is no stopping the Tarrasque; you can only wait until it gets tired and goes back to sleep.
This creature was created by some powerful and chaotic force with the sole purpose of destroying the material plane. Only magical weapons can hope to damage this thing, and the few spells that can get through that magic resistance have a chance of being reflected back at the caster due to its reflective carapace.”
WHY IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH IT?
Lore-wise, the Tarrasque is the unstoppable weapon of mass destruction. Unfortunately, especially in 5e, this isn’t reflected in it’s statblock. It’s apparent the WotC designers felt they needed to create an impervious statblock just so dungeon masters had a rules-written immortal.
With siege damage, the implied point wasn’t to have a killable beast, as it was to create a monster that would just destroy everything. Thus, the players just needed to figure out a way to stop it, not necessarily kill it.
As SteelySam comments, “its mental saves also aren't that great, and it's not immune to having its form changed, which means it can be polymorphed. You can combo this with a power word kill and end the Tarrasque pretty easily once those legendary resistances go away.”
This leads to players dreaming up contrived solutions to deal with the monster like some sort of puzzle box waiting to be solved, or an anticlimactic battle of burning hit points.
HOW DO WE FIX IT?
Some of the best solutions Reddit nerds come up with get around the fact that a Tarrasque has hit points. So, our first solution is to lean into that. By taking a page from the video game Shadows of the Colossus, or perhaps even Breath of the Wild, the monster becomes a dungeon.
Scaling its legs is a series of strength and dexterity checks. Finding the weak point in its carapace might require Legend Lore. Prying part of the carapace off of the creature becomes yet another part of the puzzle. Meanwhile, the beast is moving around, swatting at the PCs on it’s back, or otherwise wreaking havoc to the world around it.
Furthermore, the encounter could use it's environment as part of the puzzle. The Tarrasque could spend some time wading through a river or trudge through a lava flow, which makes falling off the creature extremely lethal. If the players are constantly trying to find solutions to the new environmental problems the Tarrasque drags them through, it will feel extra epic when they finally have the chance to expose its weak point, and slay the beast.
Alternatively, use the lore from prior editions to inspire changes to your Tarrasque, especially on its offensive capabilities. Add back the poison or fire breath effect and the ability to throw objects like in the original mythology.
So, instead of running the Tarrasque like a dumb clod of hit points, you can make your encounter more devastating by turning the monster into the battlefield itself, or by opening up its offensive abilities and turn the combat encounter into one that is far more interesting and rewarding.
Want the chance to play in person with Steely Sam? Come to Green Dragon Fest!
Find out more about SteelySam on his channel here.
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Creator Spotlight
Looking for another gargantuan monster to add to your campaign? Try Asar, The Time Frozen Snake by MonkeyDM:
The 3 M’s Of Adventure Context Using The Time Frozen Snake
What Might Have Happened A Millennia Ago:
Asar was once a guardian spirit of time and winter, bound to the earth by ancient celestial beings.
Imprisoned in ice after a cosmic battle, Asar's essence seeped into the glaciers, granting it dominion over frost.
A time paradox created Asar, locking it in a cycle of eternal rebirth and freezing its form in ice.
What Might Have Happened A Month Ago:
A prophecy foretold the thawing of Asar, and signs of its awakening chilled the hearts of oracles.
Asar’s influence caused the longest winter in memory, freezing lands that had never known frost.
Time mages sensed disturbances in temporal flows emanating from Asar's resting place.
What Might Have Happened Minutes Ago:
A fissure in the glacier above Asar cracked open, heralding its imminent awakening.
Adventurers seeking the source of the unnatural winter accidentally accelerated the thawing of Asar's icy tomb.
As Asar's eyes opened for the first time in ages, a cold wind swept the land, freezing time itself for a fleeting moment.
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