An Underwhelming Terrasque Story

[DungeonmasterCal]

I can't tell you how many climatic battles with the BBEG have ended with me holding my head in my hands and hating my dice while the players whoop and high five each other.

 

[Falkus]

Tell me about it. In my d20 Modern Campaign, my first BBEG, after his initial encounter with the PCs where they were supposed to just meet him, not fight him, ended up with said BBEG being stripped naked and dumped in the Bronx.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

The lich had rolled, second to last – only to have one of his back up devils flee, leaving him dead last in terms of initiative.

When the PCs arrived in the area, the lich was already engaged is a ritual to transfer his soul from his troll form into the terrasque, which is why (A) he had the phylactery on him (B) was leaving battling the players up to the devils rather than wading in himself.

He never actually engaged any PC in melee combat.

Further, in my experience – even leaving aside the oddness of this encounter – a party of 5th and 6th level PC can and do often defeat a high level CR, if it is a single creature. Basically, the PCs gang-bang the single creature – the fighter group around it, flanking it, while others engage it from a distance. The sheer numbers of the PCs overcomes the defenses and attacks of the single creature. The situation is different if there are multiple creatures that add up to a high CR, but otherwise the PCs work together and take the monster down. I know this is not the way the rules are written, but this is still my experience.

Actually, the best fight of the game was when the party ended up being attacked by several minotaurs on one side and several shadow mastiffs from the other.

The lich did cast a lightning bolt before leaving the troll body and returning to the kobald body, only to miss all of the party and hit one of his devil lackeys.

And the wand was simply a weapon, not his only weapon. He also possessed the troll attacks of claw, bite and rend, all of which would also have served to deliver the paralyising touch attack of lichs.

 

[Keith Robinson]

Several combat rounds later, the party casts a 15d6 fireball at the lich,

According to the RAW, doesn't fireball (and lightning bolt, for that matter) have a 10d6 maiximum limit? Of course, an empowered fireball would have much the same effect

A good questions. For one thing, there are six members of the party, five at 6th level, one at 5th level. For another, the barbarian/fighter is a horrible killing machine that tends to leave a cloud of fire red mist where a monster had once been.

I still fail to see how you expected an ECL 6 party to defeat a CR 17 opponent (the dmg doesn't even include xp on its chart for such an encounter!). Sure, things went pear-shaped, but ordinarily it would be a one sided combat. I put an ECL 10 party up against a CR 14 lich (Wizard12) and it was a seriously close run thing (as you'd expect). The lich started the combat by setting a cloud kill rolling, warmed the place up with a maximized fireball and, later, chain lightning (one character failed both saves ), plus weakened the frontline with an empowered ray of enfeeblement. And all the while he had greater invisibility cast on himself. Just to add to the woes, when he did become visible, he cast fire shield on himself and ran after all those wearing metal armor while armed with 3 quickened shocking grasps (he was buffed to the nines). And I should say, this was just some of his output.

Several characters hit the deck, but they had a formidable healer amongst them who kept picking them up, plus a druid (who was the one who failed both saves and was up and down like a yoyo) who summoned several nasty foes (including a croc, IIRC ). They eventually defeated the lich without loss, though it zapped all their resources to do so.

Bad rolls not withstanding, it just would have wiped the floor against an ECL 6 party.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I think some folks are missing the point. It's not a thread for rules debate, it's a cry in your beer cuz the big finale' was a big flop.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I think some folks are missing the point. It's not a thread for rules debate, it's a cry in your beer cuz the big finale' was a big flop.

Thank you DungeonmasterCal.

 

[Keith Robinson]

I think some folks are missing the point. It's not a thread for rules debate, it's a cry in your beer cuz the big finale' was a big flop.

That seems a bit self-fulfilling IMO, since allowing 15d6 fireballs is likely to lead to more finale' big flops. Who knows, with a 10d6 fireball, maybe the phylactery would have survived and the lich escaped to fight another day? Maybe the dice would have turned and it would have become one of the all time great comebacks

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

Grumpy Celt, you have my sympathy, mostly cause this reminds me of the Tarrasque fight I ran last year....

Arcane Archer casts magic jar. Wizard uses a wish from a ring to lower Tarrasque's saving throw. Arcane Archer attempts to possess Tarrasque. Tarrasque rolls a 1 on its will save. Wizard then casts a prismatic wall, which the Arcane Archer, in the Tarrasque's body runs straight through, voluntarily failing all saves. Tarrasque dies. BBEG wizard who has been watching the hijinks from his scrying pool teleports in to kill the now-helpless Arcane Archer's body. BBEG wizard winds up getting telekinesised (I think) through the same prismatic wall by the bladesinger. BBEG wizard also dies. I should mention here that sending things through prismatic walls was a popular tactic in that campaign after a glabrezu threw a PC through one in an adventure I ran.

I suspect I made about a million rules mistakes to allow all that to happen, but it was extremely entertaining- which at the end of the day is the whole point

Ellie.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I suspect I made about a million rules mistakes to allow all that to happen, but it was extremely entertaining- which at the end of the day is the whole point

Ellie.

Amen. Woooo! Can I get a witness?!!? Wooooooo!

The rules are there for a reason; one cannot play a game w/out them. But I won't let the rules stand in the way of an exciting, dramatic moment. If I need to bend, break, or even ignore a rule in my mission to make an adventuring session memorable and fun, I won't hesitate to do so. That's not to say I completely ignore the rules every game. But a DM has to be able to be flexible for the sake of the story, I think. It's about fun. I've seen games bogged down to a complete standstill while players and DM's argued about rules minutiae, the other players losing interest as the debates drag on. A player says, "I want to do this or that", and I say "There'll be a modifier or condition to your action, but go ahead and give it a shot!"

We have fun.

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by DungeonmasterCal
The rules are there for a reason; one cannot play a game w/out them. But I won't let the rules stand in the way of an exciting, dramatic moment. If I need to bend, break, or even ignore a rule in my mission to make an adventuring session memorable and fun, I won't hesitate to do so. That's not to say I completely ignore the rules every game. But a DM has to be able to be flexible for the sake of the story, I think. It's about fun. I've seen games bogged down to a complete standstill while players and DM's argued about rules minutiae, the other players losing interest as the debates drag on. A player says, "I want to do this or that", and I say "There'll be a modifier or condition to your action, but go ahead and give it a shot!"

We have fun.

Exactly. Too many people get hung up on the rules. Our groups spends like an hour at least every other week debating some stupid thing which generally never solves anything anyway. Although the fact that the main debater in the group doesn't really listen to reason doesn't help.

As for the Lich incident, hey, crap happens. It might be more annoying to the DM, but it is more memorable to the players. 'Hey remember the time we killed the Lich with that low-level spell and one hit?' 'Ha ha, that was great.'


Only one thing annoys me about the first post: I was expecting the Tarrasque to be more important to the story due to the name of the thread.

If you need a witness, I'll be a witness. I like, uh, witnessing stuff.