AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Should work fine.
Gargantuan
- Thread starter Camelot
- Start date
Should work fine.
Dungeoneer
First Post
I also have found the gargantuan monsters described in the MMs a bit unsatisfactory.
I think that past a certain point it doesn't make a lot of sense to just represent it tactically on the battlefield. The PCs may be level 30, but they still have to hit things. How are they going to hit a creature whose head is half a mile up in the air?
I've been pretty disappointed with the official advice, which appears explicitly in the Allabar entry: shrink it down. Really, WotC? The players get to fight a planet (awesome) but your solution to the logistical problems is to miniaturize it? Not awesome. A planet that fits comfortably on a 4x4 square of the battlefield isn't any more special than any other XXL monster.
I think that ever since the Tarrasque players have been coming up with more interesting ways to handle supersized monsters. A lot are mentioned in this thread.
Personally I really think Shadow of the Colossus represents the way I want players to have to fight a gargantuan monster: represent the monster as terrain. Combine it with a skill challenge or a group of skill challenges. Give it weak points that the players actually have to reach and do battle with individually (like the spider legs). In other words, it's a multi-stage monster-as-terrain encounter combined with a skill challenge.
That seems much cooler and much more satisfying, but you're on your own to figure out how it's all going to work. MM3 presents the first multi-stage monster that I'm aware of, and I don't believe WotC has even discussed monster-as-terrain or monster-as-skill-challenge, unless it was in Dragon somewhere.
That is what I'd really like to see in a future Monster Manual or some other book: representing epic battles with gargantuan monsters in some way OTHER than a block of squares on the battle grid.
I think that past a certain point it doesn't make a lot of sense to just represent it tactically on the battlefield. The PCs may be level 30, but they still have to hit things. How are they going to hit a creature whose head is half a mile up in the air?
I've been pretty disappointed with the official advice, which appears explicitly in the Allabar entry: shrink it down. Really, WotC? The players get to fight a planet (awesome) but your solution to the logistical problems is to miniaturize it? Not awesome. A planet that fits comfortably on a 4x4 square of the battlefield isn't any more special than any other XXL monster.
I think that ever since the Tarrasque players have been coming up with more interesting ways to handle supersized monsters. A lot are mentioned in this thread.
Personally I really think Shadow of the Colossus represents the way I want players to have to fight a gargantuan monster: represent the monster as terrain. Combine it with a skill challenge or a group of skill challenges. Give it weak points that the players actually have to reach and do battle with individually (like the spider legs). In other words, it's a multi-stage monster-as-terrain encounter combined with a skill challenge.
That seems much cooler and much more satisfying, but you're on your own to figure out how it's all going to work. MM3 presents the first multi-stage monster that I'm aware of, and I don't believe WotC has even discussed monster-as-terrain or monster-as-skill-challenge, unless it was in Dragon somewhere.
That is what I'd really like to see in a future Monster Manual or some other book: representing epic battles with gargantuan monsters in some way OTHER than a block of squares on the battle grid.
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