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D&D 4E 4E Sample Combat: The Terrasque

Surgoshan

First Post
Okay, I'm almost embarrassed by this combat, but I went through the effort to gather the info, so I'm going to post it. If nothing else, it shows exactly what happens when everything goes exactly right. Frankly, it got boring by around the fourth round because, contrary to expectations, the damn tarrasque kept missing its saving throw. Well, the first three rounds, it made them. You'll see.

I got the characters for this combat from this thread. They were:
Ironboot, Dwarven Fighter Kensai Demigod
Darjin, Dragonborn Rogue Daggermaster Deadly Trickster
Ea*, Tiefling Wizard Bloodmage Demigod
Elic Moongrove, Elven Cleric Radiant Servant Demigod
HP Lovecraft, Half-Elven Warlock Doomsayer Demigod

I figured that by the time a group of adventurers get to level 30, they've so altered the realm that they don't have to go looking for trouble; it comes looking for them. Our mighty band, having saved the world from godly peril and the plane itself from ungodly peril, are being fêted in a tall tower in a palace. At the first rumble from the earth, they come to attention and look around. When the tower sways and dust rises from the city, they all stand and draw their weapons.

Then the tower falls to the ground and a tarrasque comes to the surface.

The tower falling creates an avenue of difficult terrain (marked 't' below). The tarrasque was also going to create difficult terrain wherever he moved... but he never got to move. Seriously.

Okay, so the first thing that happens is the heroes fall 100 feet along with the tower. Most of them (the demigods, in fact) have some sort of magical equipment that means they float gently to the ground and land on their feet. Rogue Darjin wasn't so lucky, so she had to make an athletics check to grab hold of Ironboot. She failed her first roll (2+24, DC 38), so she used her sly trickster ability to reroll (41) and succeeded (failure would have meant accidentally stabbing boots and then falling to the ground for 25 or 50 damage). That breaks the ice for ability expenditure; Darjin can reroll dice twice more. And will.

So now our heroes are on the ground, facing the abomination.

Code:
           TTTT
t          TTTT
tt         TTTT
ttt        TTTT
tttt
ttttt
tttttt
tttttttDIAHE
D = Darjin
I = Ironboot
A = Ea
H = HP Lovecraft
E = Elic
T = tarrasque
t = The fallen tower, difficult terrain

Roll initiative! Darjin's Helm of Battle comes in handy here; +3 to everyone's initiative.
Darjin: 46
Ea: 41
HP: 42
Elic: 34
Iroonboot: 33 (uses daily utility power Battle Readiness, +10 to initiative as a free action) 43
Tarrasque: 36

Battle order: Darjin, Ironboot, HP, Ea, Tarrasque, Elic

Round 1, FIGHT!
Darjin uses her Paragon Path power Meditation of the Blade as a minor action to increase her daggers' weapon size so they'll do d6 for the rest of the encounter. She uses her Belt of Titan Strength as a free action to get +10 damage to melee actions until the start of her next turn. She then moves 3NE adjacent to the Tarrasque and uses the Deep Dagger Wound Paragon Daily Power. Going before the Tarrasque in the first round gives her CA, so +2 for that and +1 for Nimble Blade, 3+33 vs Reflex, miss (Ref 38). Uses another reroll, 12+33=45=hit! 43+24 (sneak attacks are d8s) + 25 from her duelist's dagger +6 - 10 damage reduction = 82 damage. She then uses her action point to use her Steel Entrapment power +32 vs Fortitude. The Tarrasque has Fort 48 and she misses.

Ironboot Moves 1NE, 2E, 2NE, misses with Supremacy of Steel (37 vs AC 43) then uses his Daily Minor Stance Force the Battle. Following the use of an AP, he uses his Masterstroke encounter power... miss.

HP curses the tarrasque, moves 6S (gaining conceal), then uses his Thirteen Baleful Stars power. 33 vs Will 32. Damage is 40 + 10 - 10 = 40.

Following the use of an action point (Doomsayer power gives curse damage that doesn't beat reduction), he uses Strand of Fate, hits with a 43, does 30-10=20 damage and gives the tarrasque vulnerability 11 to all damage (this will help a lot, as it has 10 resistance to all damage) and stun it until the end of HP's next turn.

Ea then casts Disintegrate along with his Bolstering Blood ability to take 12 damage and do 53+11+12-10=66 damage. He then uses Blur as a minor action. His AP lets him cast Meteor Storm and miss... no ongoing damage from that, but it does 20 26+11+8-10=35 damage.

The tarrasque, stunned, just sits there. Ironboot's Force the Battle lets him attack it with Reaping Strike, which hits and does 53-10=43 damage. The tarrasque then succesfully saves against the ongoing damage (why bother?) and it drops from 10 ongoing to 5. The tarrasque is now at 1112 HP.

Elic gets to go. He casts Divine Armor, then marks the tarrasque as a minor action (multiclass ranger). An Action point gives the tarrasque ongoing radiant damage 30, and Elic casts astral storm (centered 2NE of T), hits, and does 38+11+9-10=48 damage and creates a stormy zone.

Thus ends round 1.

Code:
                 SC

           TTTT
t          TTTT
tt         TTTT
ttt        TTTT
tttt      D  I
ttttt
tttttt
ttttttt    E





          H
                  A
SC=storm center

More coming.


* This character originally unnamed. Also, the guy what made him neglected half his daily and utility powers. I guess he forgot that you pick two at every level and then choose which to memorize during each extended rest. Whatever, I just assumed the ones he had had been memorized and didn't even try to optimize him for the upcoming fight.
 

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Surgoshan

First Post
ROUND 2, FIGHT
Darjin leads off with a Feinting Flurry, hits. 35+11+31-10=67 damage. The tarrasque gets -7 to defenses against Darjin's until the end of D's next turn... unless Darjin spends a minor to sustain it. On her move, she uses the Close Quarters ability to move into the Tarrasque's space. Wherever the Tarrasque goes, Darjin goes with it and maintains CA all the while.

Ironboot uses his Reaving Strike and hts, doing 47+11-10=48 damage and pushing the Tarrasque 2E. He then moves 4E and, as a minor, uses the Unstoppable Utility power to give himself 18 temporary HP, bringing him to 231.

HP moves 6W, uses Long Fall Into Darkness, hits, does 33+11+9-10=43 damage, stuns the tarrasque until the end of its turn, and knocks it prone.

Ea casts Destructive Salutation, takes 12 damage (down to 121 HP), hits, does 44+12-10=46 damage, giving 10 ongoing damage, and stunning it until it saves (save ends ongoing and stun simultaneously). He then moves 8E.

The tarrasque is stunned, takes 45-10=35 ongoing damage. He saves to end the 5 ongoing (8+5-2[spell focus feat]=11), he saves to end the 30 ongoing damage (13+5-2=16), he saves to end the stunned and 10 ongoing (9+5-2=12). Darjin's Trickster's Disposition turns the 12 into a 1. The tarrasque is still stunned. The tarrasque is at 825 HP.

Elic casts Astral Blades of death and misses. He then moves 4SE, 5S and uses a minor to sustain the Astral storm. A hit does 33+13-10=36 damage.

Code:
                 SC

           TTTT
t          TTTT
tt         TTTT
ttt        DTTT
tttt            I
ttttt
tttttt
ttttttt   





    H
                         A
               E
 
Last edited:

Surgoshan

First Post
Round 3
Darjin kicks things off with a Dance of Death. A hit does 25+36-10=71. She then sustains the flurry.

Ironboot uses Hack'n'slash, but misses, barely.

HP casts Doom of Delban (+32 vs Fortitude... needs a 16 to hit). Misses, but does 57/2+12-10=30 damage on a miss. He then backs away some more to gain concealment.

Let's face it, concealment and invisibility don't matter. The tarrasque has blindsight 20. So it can see you perfectly, Lovecraft! It can't do anything, but it can see you!

Ea then casts Elemental Maw, centered NE of the Tarrasque so it won't hurt Darjin. He takes 7 damage (114 HP), a 52 hits and does 41+7-10=38 damage. The maw pulls the Tarrasque in and teleports it... back to where it was, knocking it prone and dazing it until the start of Ea's next turn.

The tarrasque takes a Reaping Strike in the face, which misses. It then takes a saving throw against the stunning effect and 5+5-2=8 is just not good enough. Thank goodness for spell focus, eh? The tarrasque is at 670 HP and is bloodied. If it were to unstun, it would start kicking some ass.

Elic sustains the astral storm, but misses, and does 27/2+15-10=18 damage. He then advances, casts Radiant Brilliance, hits, and does 42+13-10=45 dmage.

Code:
                 SC

           TTTT
t          TTTT
tt         TTTT
ttt        DTTT
tttt            I
ttttt
tttttt
ttttttt   
               E




    H
                         A
 

Fieari

Explorer
I know you're not done posting the full combat, but do you think it would have helped if the Tarrasque was given regeneration back? And maybe a slightly bigger bonus to saving throws? It pains me to see the Big T go down so easily.
 


MindWanderer

First Post
This actually doesn't surprise me at all. He's a level 30 solo, which means that as one encounter (out of several in a day), the PCs would be the distinct favorites. When they can blow all their dailies and action points on one fight of their level, yeah, it's going to be a slaughter.
 

AllisterH

First Post
MindWanderer said:
This actually doesn't surprise me at all. He's a level 30 solo, which means that as one encounter (out of several in a day), the PCs would be the distinct favorites. When they can blow all their dailies and action points on one fight of their level, yeah, it's going to be a slaughter.

That's a really good point.

The DMG itself considers any encounter that is equal to the party (+1) a standard encounter.

A challenging encounter is actually ABOVE the party level. Orcus should be a good challenge whereas the Tarrasque should be something the PCs can handle even without breaking out the big guns (Dailies).

At a minimum, the PCs should be able to handle 2-3 Tarrasque combats per time between extended rests.
 

ZetaStriker

First Post
To be fair, Solos usually aren't meant to be fought right off the bat. If the PCs have all their dailies, utilities, action points and healing surges, a solo of equal level isn't much of a threat. It's an average encounter, at best.

EDIT: Ninjas! Ninjas everywhere! *ducks*
 

jelmore

First Post
Surgoshan said:
Following the use of an action point (Doomsayer power gives curse damage that doesn't beat reduction), he uses Strand of Fate, hits with a 43, does 30-10=20 damage and gives the tarrasque vulnerability 11 to all damage (this will help a lot, as it has 10 resistance to all damage) and stun it until the end of HP's next turn.

From what I can see of Strand of Fate, it doesn't stun the target. Why is it that the tarrasque is stunned, again?
 

Makaze

First Post
From what I can see of Strand of Fate, it doesn't stun the target. Why is it that the tarrasque is stunned, again?
No, but Thirteen Baleful Stars does which the warlock casts earlier in the same turn.
 

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