Fighting a colossus -- from 'cool' to 'holy f***ing s*** that was AWESOME!" - how to?

[awayfarer]

You might actually want to treat attacks as AOE. Something, say, 100 feet (or more) tall is gonna have a pretty meaty (or stony, or...irony?) fist or club and it's likely that it can hit more than one square at a time. Perhaps instead of just a slam attack, it can have a "X" ft radius bludgeoning attack with a reflex save to dodge.

I'd agree with removing AOO's. To give it a real collossus-y feel, have it only take partial actions like a zombie would. To make things a little more dramatic, have it try to shake off climbers every so often.

It would probably help immensely to have multiple maps. By this I mean, a map of the front of the beast, one of the back, and a map of the area it's standing in. The PC's that are climbing are presented on one of the body maps and those on the ground are on the area map.

 

[Random Axe]

I also agree that the colossus wouldn't have the capacity to make AoO's. But I would rule that it has MASSIVE reach, and that its attacks might be a sweeping blow that affects everyone in a given Area of Effect. Given the assumption (above) that its Attack Bonus and damage would be hideous, I also agree that it only gets an attack every three rounds or so -- it's just an area-attack.

 

[GravyFingerz]

Building off Aeric's post, mechanically, make it so the Colossus can only make one movement or standard action per round (like a zombie), so the colossus has to choose between attacking or moving. To balance, make his fists an AoE effect (maybe 10-15 feet radius or more, depending on your sensibilities). Definetly define different areas as movement zones and use stunts, as per IH (as mhacdebhandia said).

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

How about adding this special attack based on Size:

Crushing Blow: As a standard action you can smash smaller opponents into little blotches of blood.
Select an intersection to strike, those creatures small within the radius of your attack may make a REF save against your natural attack to avoid damage. The DC of this check is your BAB plus your Dex mod. Success results in half damage taken, if the target is not at least three sizes small, this damage is non-lethal. Failure results in lethal damage, failure by 10 or more is treated as a critical hit.
The damage is equivilent to a Bite attack dealing bludgening, slashing, and piercing damage... and if you have multiple natural attacks it is treated as if weilded two handed.

The radius of the attack is based on your size:
Medium = 5'
Huge = 10'
Collosal = 15'
Collasal++ = 20'
etc...


Example:
Great Silver Wyrm, BAB +40, Str 43, Dex 10. Crushing Blow deals 4D6 + 16 damage to all targets within a 15' radius. Save for Half DC of +40

Commoner Human smashing Pixies: BAB +1, Str 10, Dex 12, Crushing blow deals 1D6 damage to all Pixies within a 5' radius, save for Half DC of 2


I really like the idea of treating it as terrain and havint critical locations, not that I want to spend that much more prep time

 

[I'm A Banana]

Treat it more like a gigantic encounter trap than a creature. There are safe zones (if you can find them) where the colossus can't reach, but if a PC ends up outside of a safe zone when the round ends he might be the target of a very powerful hit. These hits are more like area effects than attacks. AC does no good, but a good reflex save can get you out of the way, and it affects all PCs in a given area. Have the colossus be immortal (no hit points) unless he is struck in a certain hard-to-reach area.

This gets at how I'd do it.

A classic fantasy strategy for fighting giant creatures is "finding the weak spot." Have the battle take place where the PC's can make Climb or Jump checks to get to high ground so that they can hit it's eyes or neck. Or around caverns where the PC's can duck into side-caverns where the creature can't reach them. Or, even if it's "open field" stuff, have the PC's make Climb checks against the creature's body itself. Flying is a common tactic for this, too...

Basically, you can choose one of the 5-ft. squares that the creature occupies as it's "weak spot," where you can hit it to damage it. Anyplace else, its skin is too thick.

 

[Schmoe]

Similar to other posters, I think you should encourage PCs to climb aboard the colossus to do damage. Say the lowest 20' or so of the creature has +10 AC over the higher portions, or DR 15/-, or some other defense. Some areas (say, top of skull, or base of neck) could be squishier than others but harder to reach or hold on to.

Make it so that, when the colossus moves, climbing characters need to make Climb or Balance checks to remain aboard, and failure indicates a fall (and accompanying damage).

Make it so that the colossus only gets partial actions each round.

Then give the colossus a trample attack, so that he keeps moving.

Then give the colossus a free action swipe or grab each round. This allows the colossus to trample and attack a flying enemy in the same round.

There you go! You have a battle where the colossus is constantly moving, trying to swipe at flying enemies and trampling foes underfoot. Meanwhile, the PC's are constantly trying to climb aboard and hold on in order to do more damage, or keep at range to stay out of harm's way.

 

[Nepenthe]

I've been thinking about a similar encounter, so this thread is really helpful to me. Thanks for all the ideas for my part and keep 'em coming!

/N

 

[Eldragon]

*YOINK*

This is an awesome idea. I'm going to elaborate on it and have My colossus shoot a giant lightning bolt in a wide swath on the ground or in the air to discourage flying PCs.

Imagine the Monkeylord from Supreme Commander....

 

[JRR_Talking]

fighter: If I move i do get full ropund action, so i wont
scout: hmm, no skirmish if i move so i wont
rogue: no sneak from me, so ill stay where i am nice n snug out the way

its the mechanic.

Let everyone have 2 attacks a round...no less, no more.
Introduce something whereby you do more damage relative to how much u hit buy.

In few rpg's are there many reasons to move around in combat alot

 

[Nepenthe]

scout: hmm, no skirmish if i move so i wont

Huh?

/N