D&D 5E RE: Tarasque vs. 5th lv. Wizard scenario - how does Wizard know to use Acid Splash?!?

[FreeTheSlaves]

Can't it short rest to spend HD on healing?

 

[Slamm-O]

I don't think a wizard would automatically know to use acid splash. That seems meta gamey.
Big T really needs some regeneration, the stats seem wrong without it.
Now I think about it, I'm pretty sure the wizard in our group doesn't have acid splash. So not all wizards could use that tactic.

 

[Eric V]

Or their design goals are different than the things you personally want to see in the game you play.

It's a design goal to have its most powerful attack (assuming the aforementioned damage is accurate) to be missing from its stat block?

Ok.

I wonder why they made sure not to include that, but made sure to include the details for an orc throwing a javelin. I would have preferred the expertise of the designers on the former; the latter is much easier to figure out.

 

[Umbran]

FWIW, the original Godzilla was 150 feet tall. The tarrasque is 50 feet tall. I'm pretty sure Jupiter is not merely three times the size of the Moon. The tarrasque doesn't have Godzilla-scale height, but it's still within the range of kaiju sizes.

Err...

Jupiter is not three times the size of our Moon. But "X times the size" is not a consistent statement. What is the "size" of a creature? Merely its height? Is Godzilla shaped like three tarrasques laid end to end - a long, spindly thing? No. Godzilla is three times the height, as well as perhaps three times the width and three times the length - so maybe nine times the overall volume (and mass if they are made of similar stuff, and magic isn't have effects on this).

As for whether the tarrasque can lift and throw a building - no, but not for the reason of his lift capacity (it seems that the tarrasque can lift a fully laden pickup truck or so - which is comparable to some small wooden buildings. However, in the worlds that typically have tarrasques, buildings aren't made of riveted steel or steel reinforced concrete. They are built to stand up under the compressive force of their own weight, but not the tensile force of their own weight, especially not under dynamic loads like being tossed around. These buildings will crumble in its hands/paws if it tries to pick them up, and it'll throw a loose cloud of stones, kindling, or rubble, at best. And wooden wagons face similar issues of not being made of stuff tough enough to withstand being flung about.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I wonder why they made sure not to include that, but made sure to include the details for an orc throwing a javelin. I would have preferred the expertise of the designers on the former; the latter is much easier to figure out.

Because if they had 'Throw Building' in the statblock, this entire thread would be about what the tarrasque would be doing if it wasn't in an area that included buildings to throw.

 

[sidonunspa]

...

Ok, so just to make sure I understand, do all of you who go with this approach feel that this attack, which does significantly more damage than any of the Tarrasque's other attacks, is meant to be missing from its stat block? And that this is a feature?

If the Tarrasque is meant to do 49 (6d12+10) damage with an attack, it should bloody well be included in the stat block. The designers made sure to point out how much damage an orc does with a javelin, for gosh's sake, but decided to leave this best attack of the Tarrasque missing?

Dead wrong, the Tarrasque can not muti-attack with the thrown house.. thats one attack for 8d12+10

it gets 5 attacks AND fearful presence with it muti-attacks... thats 4d12+10, 4d8+10x2, 4d10+10, 4d6+10

your trading all those attacks and fear for one attack for 8d12+10... seems balanced to me....

here, catch a house.

.Either the Tarrasque is really not meant to be doing that kind of damage at range (if at all) or they messed up royal in the stat block write-up.

Side note: I am not sure the Tarrasque should be as good at throwing things as Giants, who make such activity part of their culture and warfare.

your thinking in 3.X terms here, simplify man simplify

IF giants would be "super throwers" they would have muti-attack with their throw... not some bonus or penalty to attack

5e is all about KISS... so look at what a giant can do with a bolder and modify on the fly... enjoy

here... catch a house

 

[Eric V]

Keeping it simple, stupid would have meant including a ranged attack in its statblock, no?

Sorry, but there's just no way such a significant attack (8d12+10! An average of 62 damage!) should be purposefully not included, for whatever reason.

Umbran makes a good point about the throw-ability of structures in the clawed hands of the Tarrasque.

 

[Sacrosanct]

*sigh*

This is also a prescriptive approach. You're not really asking me if the tarrasque can do that, you're asking me if I think it should be able to do. To which my answer is: I don't know. There's more to throwing than just strength. There's also the biomechanics of the shoulder, hand, etc. The tarrasque is basically a big lizard-turtle-lion thing, none of which are famed for their ability to throw stuff. So if you ask me if the tarrasque can do that... I'm not sure. And that's the sort of thing I'd like the statblock to clarify. If this was a humanoid creature or a really big horse the issue would be clear, but it isn't shaped like either of those.

So now you're shifting the goalposts. In the post I replied to, you were talking about only the size and strength of the Tarrasque in how it relates to it's ability to pick up really big freaking objects to throw them.

 

[Iosue]

Umbran makes a good point about the throw-ability of structures in the clawed hands of the Tarrasque.

Quibbling about the throwability of medieval fantasy structures seems to me to be missing the tarrasque's range attack options for all the miscellaneous heavy things that can be thrown at flying wizards.

 

[Sage Genesis]

So now you're shifting the goalposts. In the post I replied to, you were talking about only the size and strength of the Tarrasque in how it relates to it's ability to pick up really big freaking objects to throw them.

No, it seems you're still not understanding the difference between prescriptive and descriptive.

In a descriptive sense: no, it can't throw around buildings or other "big freaking objects" because the Strength/Weight rules don't support it. It might be able to throw something pretty hard based on those rules but not something that heavy.

In a prescriptive sense: I don't know if it should be able to do that for the reason I specified previously. Simply saying it's a very powerful walking apocalypse doesn't mean that it should be able to throw things. An orb of annihilation is very powerful and can destroy practically anything, but that doesn't mean that it can throw things. A skyscraper-sized Gelatinous Cube might be the end of a nation, but that doesn't mean it can throw things.