Gargantuan

[Camelot]

I took a closer look at the Tarrasque and had an epiphany.

Have only one mini, 5 x 5 squares, but it does not represent the Tarrasque. It is the Tarrasque's enormous foot. Other than that flavor description, it functions the same as the Tarrasque entry. The Tarrasque can lean down and bite at the heroes at its feet, swipe them with its tail, and swing its foot to trample them.

You can run a whole adventure against the Tarrasque this way. Battle it 4 times, 1 for each leg, and each time have different environmental factors or mini skill challenges that the players have to face while they battle. Each time they beat a leg, the Tarrasque crumples closer to the ground. In between each battle, they can hide and rest. Finally, after the 4 battles, they can climb up the Tarrasque (since they can't fly; this can be a skill challenge) and destroy it, or at least make it sink back into the earth (which allows for another skill challenge while the players rush to avoid getting swallowed by the earth).

=) I have a new campaign idea. I'm sure similar things could be done for other collosal creatures.

 

[DracoSuave]

A terrasque's size is supposed to intimidate PCs who are at the level where they are generally fighting (and prevailing) against things that destroy worlds?

Seriously.

That's like saying Devastator isn't scary enough to Rodimus Prime, while forgetting HE JUST DESTROYED UNICRON.

 

[Markn]

That's like saying Devastator isn't scary enough to Rodimus Prime, while forgetting HE JUST DESTROYED UNICRON.

DS,

You are getting far too Sci Fi for this thread. Let me fix your quote for you:

That's like saying Devastator isn't scary enough to Rodimus Prime, while forgetting HE JUST DESTROYED UNICORN.

 

[DracoSuave]

DS,

You are getting far too Sci Fi for this thread. Let me fix your quote for you:

That's like saying Devastator isn't scary enough to Rodimus Prime, while forgetting HE JUST DESTROYED UNICORN.

And here's Ramjet with my rebuttal.

 

[Markn]

That's awesome! I never pegged you as a Transformers fan!

Edit: IIRC, that episode had something to do with a knight and planar/time travel didn't it?

 

[DracoSuave]

That's awesome! I never pegged you as a Transformers fan!

Edit: IIRC, that episode had something to do with a knight and planar/time travel didn't it?

Yes.

And it had a glorious scene of Spike jousting on the back of Warpath.


And yes, I so am.

 

[Markn]

Actually, I own the entire original Transformers series on DVD. They so rocked. It's been a few years since I watched them.

PS - Sorry for going off topic guys. This was just too cool to ignore!

 

[doctorhook]

Size categories are problematic, even at Medium; they become much more problematic as you look at larger categories.

Human adults are said to take up a 5'x5'x5' cube in D&D. Most humans are always "sticking out" the top of that cube, but are never affected by what happens in the cube their head is in; however, probably no humans are actually five feet across -- the extra space is implied to be the area around a person in which they move. Reach (melee 1) makes this even more complicated, because now our too-tall-too-skinny human can punch someone five feet away, anywhere within another 5'x5'x5' cube adjacent to the first one. Our humans are too tall, too skinny, and can reach too far.

A Gargantuan creature has the same problems, only much worse. If it's a "tall" creature (taller than it is wide), it's probably as much as twice as tall as it is wide, which means that a "20'x20'x20'" creature might actually supposed to be 40' (or more) tall... despite the fact that it doesn't technically occupy any of space above 20'.

Size categories are an abstraction. I recommend not thinking about it so much.

(PS: There comes a point when a sufficiently large monster should be treated as terrain. Think of the Tarrasque as a moving cliff that your players need to climb and hang on to during combat. Except that they'll be trying to kill this cliff.)

 

[DracoSuave]

Size categories are an abstraction. I recommend not thinking about it so much.

I find it easier to not think about when I consider the squares the creatures reside in to be abstractions themselves.

Hell, I had to look -hard- for a 'one square is five feet' rule. Honestly, I just run it like I did 'turn length' in World of Darkness. How long is a turn? Anywhere between 3 seconds and 1 minute. It's 'as long as it needs to be.'

(PS: There comes a point when a sufficiently large monster should be treated as terrain. Think of the Tarrasque as a moving cliff that your players need to climb and hang on to during combat. Except that they'll be trying to kill this cliff.)

 

[Zaran]

Actually, I own the entire original Transformers series on DVD. They so rocked. It's been a few years since I watched them.

PS - Sorry for going off topic guys. This was just too cool to ignore!

Not off topic! You can use a Sharkticon toy for the Tarresque mini!