D&D 5E Has anyone fought and killed a Tarrasque?

[Tormyr]

Sure, my group of four players (wizard, paladin, barbarian, warlock) took on the Tarrasque when they hit level 20. It was their seventh encounter of the day, too.

It went about as you might expect. They tried to stay at range, but found themselves ineffective at doing so. In melee, the barbarian and paladin were swallowed within a few rounds, while the wizard did the heavy lifting with his Titan power armor (although the Tarrasque did manage to destroy that before the end of fight, and the wizard was rather put out considering that he burned his ability to Wish in order to acquire that). The warlock played it safe by hiding in a Force Cage and spamming lesser cantrips (Chill Touch, maybe?), since Eldritch Blast didn't work; although the Tarrasque wandered out of range near the end of the fight, when there were no other targets visible and it realized it couldn't crack the cage. It would have been a TPK, if the Tarrasque's stomach wasn't such a friendly environment from which to attack, and the fighter-types eventually finished it off from the inside.

Isn't that weird? It seems like that has always been the case for getting swallowed for almost all monsters, at least since 3e. I would much prefer it if it was a lot harder to attack (muscle action constricting the victims) or a lot deadlier. Being swallowed is usually no more than an inconvenience, in my experience. The only explanation I can think of is that it was intentional to have characters popping out of the gullets of creatures everywhere, a la Red Riding Hood.

Two things seem odd about this encounter and make it sound like it was easier than it should have been.
1. No magic can pass through forcecage. So the warlock could not hide in there while spamming cantrips.
2. 56 acid damage per round and being restrained does not seem like a friendly environment. Were the PCs immune to acid damage. Your basic level 20 character might have +11 to hit. Having to roll a 14 on dice at disadvantage is not simple.

Am I missing something here?

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Two things seem odd about this encounter and make it sound like it was easier than it should have been.
1. No magic can pass through forcecage. So the warlock could not hide in there while spamming cantrips.
2. 56 acid damage per round and being restrained does not seem like a friendly environment. Were the PCs immune to acid damage. Your basic level 20 character might have +11 to hit. Having to roll a 14 on dice at disadvantage is not simple.

Am I missing something here?

1) No magic can pass through a forcecage. By creating the effect with bars, rather than as a windowless cage, he could fire spells out of the cage without going through it. This functionality was clearly stated in the 3E version of the spell, but it might be hidden in the natural language of the 5E version, so I understand how you might reasonably rule otherwise.

2) Your basic level 20 barbarian will have +13 to hit, and we should probably assume that they won't engage the Tarrasque if they don't have a magic weapon, so we might as well bump that up to +14. In any case, the "restrained" condition is kind of a joke, in that it only imposes Disadvantage to the attack roll (which doesn't stack with the Disadvantage from being blinded); and both of those instances of Disadvantage are negated by the barbarian's Reckless Attack, which they can use with impunity since nobody is there to make attack rolls against them. And there's nothing about being inside of a Tarrasque that make bless stop working, unless the Paladin fails their concentration check.

At 28 damage per round to a raging barbarian, they could have stayed in there for over a minute before they'd need to start making rolls in order to stay alive with 1hp instead of dying. It did get pretty close, after the paladin joined the barbarian in there, but by that point the fight was nearly over.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

1. No magic can pass through forcecage. So the warlock could not hide in there while spamming cantrips.

The bit of text in the spell description that mentions blocking spells is in the paragraph about the solid box form of the spell, not the overall description, so the cage configuration doesn't actually prevent spells being cast into or out of the cage.

 

[Tormyr]

1) No magic can pass through a forcecage. By creating the effect with bars, rather than as a windowless cage, he could fire spells out of the cage without going through it. This functionality was clearly stated in the 3E version of the spell, but it might be hidden in the natural language of the 5E version, so I understand how you might reasonably rule otherwise.

2) Your basic level 20 barbarian will have +13 to hit, and we should probably assume that they won't engage the Tarrasque if they don't have a magic weapon, so we might as well bump that up to +14. In any case, the "restrained" condition is kind of a joke, in that it only imposes Disadvantage to the attack roll (which doesn't stack with the Disadvantage from being blinded); and both of those instances of Disadvantage are negated by the barbarian's Reckless Attack, which they can use with impunity since nobody is there to make attack rolls against them. And there's nothing about being inside of a Tarrasque that make bless stop working, unless the Paladin fails their concentration check.

At 28 damage per round to a raging barbarian, they could have stayed in there for over a minute before they'd need to start making rolls in order to stay alive with 1hp instead of dying. It did get pretty close, after the paladin joined the barbarian in there, but by that point the fight was nearly over.

1. I had completely missed that the cage variant existed. My players had only ever used the box version that blocks spellcasting.
2. The bear totem barbarian is definitely one of the better options for being inside the tarrasque, although I am surprised it didn't get indigestion and regurgitate the barbarian after a while.

 

[Ashrym]

I pronounce it "tAH-rraske" with rolling the "r" and an "e" so short at the end it's almost imperceptible. I'm from western Canada and my the accent on my French could be way off, full disclosure. I only recall ever facing the Tarraque once ever, and that was in 2e. The vast majority of my Tarrasque adventures involved preventing it's awaking or summoning instead.

The warlock played it safe by hiding in a Force Cage and spamming lesser cantrips (Chill Touch, maybe?), since Eldritch Blast didn't work; although the Tarrasque wandered out of range near the end of the fight, when there were no other targets visible and it realized it couldn't crack the cage. It would have been a TPK, if the Tarrasque's stomach wasn't such a friendly environment from which to attack, and the fighter-types eventually finished it off from the inside.

Chill touch shouldn't affect the Tarrasque because it has a ranged attack roll, which is countered by reflective carapace. On top of magic resistance and legendary resistance (3/day), reflective carapace means magic missile, any spell with a ranged attack roll, or any spell with line as the area of affect has a 5/6 chance of doing nothing and a 1/6 chance of doing nothing to the Tarrasque while being reflected back at the spell caster. Adding in fire and poison immunity limits the cantrip options further. Cantrips should be save based and target DEX for the low save (it's the only save without a big bonus which is even more important with magic resistance).

Chill touch would not work for the same reason eldritch blast doesn't work.

Booming blade possibly, sword burst more likely. Frostbite or thunderclap are CON saves that the Terrasque has +10 bonus with advantage so there's a chance for them.

Non-warlock cantrips that can affect the Tarrasque would be: acid splash (DEX save and 60 ft range makes this a good ranged cantrip option), sacred flame (DEX save and 60 ft range makes this the best ranged cantrip option because d8>d6 acid splash), shocking grasp (melee attack), thorn whip (melee attack with 30 ft range), or vicious mockery (60 ft range but the same problem as frostbite given the +9 save bonus against CHA).


I'm not sure the inside hospitable. 59 acid damage is still quite a bit. Not everyone is taking half damage from that acid. I would also enforce drowning / suffocation rules based on the environment if it were my game unless there's some reason to believe the character can hold his or her breath indefinitely or breath stomach acid.

 

[pemerton]

Didn't the Tarrasque in 4E have a gravity field that forced everyone into melee range? I thought I remembered that from somewhere, but it's not in the Monster Manual, so I can't check.

It imposes an altitude limit. But it doesn't pull people closer.

It says "Aura 40" so I was under the impression that it worked out to 200 feet, which is also the maximum range on the long bow. Even if there are ways to attack from further away than that, I don't see how letting it fling rubble to half that range would help it much (beyond just giving it an extra attack every round).

Most magical attacks in 4e are limited to range 20 (indeed, range 10 is probably the most common).

The ranger in my game has a longbow, but was not going to try and solo the tarrasque with range 40 attacks. For practical purposes, therefore, a range 20 attack was enough.

There was also another quasi-ranged attack for ground-based PCs:

Tail slap (melee 3 vs 1 target not attacked with any bite this turn): +32 vs Fort for 6d12+21, push 4 sq & knock prone

Miss: creates a collapsing fissure extending 10 sq from a sq adj to the target, in a direction of the tarrasque’s choosing, that lasts until E of a T in which the fissure makes an attack; if this inc a sq occupied by a Medium creature or if a Medium creature enters a sq, attacks as free action: +32 vs Ref for 2d12+9, restrained & OG 10 (escape DC 32 ends both)​

The paladin did get caught in a fissure.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It imposes an altitude limit. But it doesn't pull people closer.

It pulled people down toward the ground, so that they couldn't fly out of reach, even if it still needed to walk over there before attacking them. Or was the point of your rubble fling ability that it would eat up movement, as people stood up? I thought you'd done it specifically to address the issue of enemies flying out of reach, which is why I was confused why you would find that necessary.

 

[pemerton]

It pulled people down toward the ground, so that they couldn't fly out of reach, even if it still needed to walk over there before attacking them. Or was the point of your rubble fling ability that it would eat up movement, as people stood up? I thought you'd done it specifically to address the issue of enemies flying out of reach, which is why I was confused why you would find that necessary.

It provides a degree of protection against "kiting" in general. Stopping people flying doesn't necessarily stop them maintaining distance via ground-based movement.

 

[surfarcher]

Right. It's classified as an Abomination, which is why it's not listed in the Table of Contents. I knew I was forgetting something.

It says "Aura 40" so I was under the impression that it worked out to 200 feet, which is also the maximum range on the long bow. Even if there are ways to attack from further away than that, I don't see how letting it fling rubble to half that range would help it much (beyond just giving it an extra attack every round).

Right, yeah. Been a while since I 4e'd I actually wasn't really a fan of adding to the Tarraqsue, though I did write up a possible addition. My preference was simply to play it to its' strengths and stick with my "creatures have an instinctive knowledge of how their abilities work" approach. I never did use the 4e Tarrasque but I couldn't see it falling to cheese if played properly.

That's a very good idea and both fits perfectly with the creature so no-one can (or at least should) call foul, but at the same time could catch some smug PCs off-guard beautfully.

I think if they tried that in my game, then after a few rounds of being pelted from above Big T would throw back his head, make a Godzilla-like screech and a few rounds after that, his winged-buddy would show up. Hey, if Tarasque is a Godzilla knock-off, I can add his Mothra-knockoff friend.

Teh lulz!

It provides a degree of protection against "kiting" in general. Stopping people flying doesn't necessarily stop them maintaining distance via ground-based movement.

I thought the point with flying boots (it was flying boots, right?) was the very high movement speed with hover and the ability to not be impacted by terrain.

 

[pemerton]

I never did use the 4e Tarrasque but I couldn't see it falling to cheese if played properly.

<snip>

I thought the point with flying boots (it was flying boots, right?) was the very high movement speed with hover and the ability to not be impacted by terrain.

I'm not sure about flying boots - are you referring to an optimised anti-Tarrasque strategy? - but I like the 4e tarrasque's earthbinding aura as a way of keeping flight in check.

The 4e tarrasque, as written, is one of the weaker solos in the original MM. In particular, its action economy is terrible. That's why I gave my version some better action economy (a move action trample, the minor action tail slap and hurled rubble as well as a minor action bite, and an immediate action reflective carapace vs ranged and area attacks to recapture some of that original MM2 flavour).

Here are the stats I used:[sblock]The tarrasque Level 30 solo brute
Gargantuan elemental magical beast XP 95,000

Hp 1420 Bloodied 710 Initiative +23
AC 43 Fort 49 Ref 38 Will 32 Perception +19, blindsight 20
Speed 8, burrow 8, climb 8 (earth walk, forest walk)
Immune charm, fear Resist 10 all
Saves +5 Action Points 2

Traits
Earthbinding: any flying creature within aura 40 has its fly speed reduced to 1 and its maximum altitude reduced to 20 feet (any creature above this altitude at EitsT falls to an altitude of 20 feet)
Terrifying embodiment of wanton destruction: any square it enters become DT
Elder of annihilation: its melee attacks ignore all resistances, if slowed its speed is only halved, and at the end of its turn any one condition on it ends
Eternal slumber: if reduced to zero hp, the tarrasque sinks back into the world’s core and slumbers once again

Standard Actions – at will
* Piercing bite (melee 3 vs 1 target): +34 vs AC for 2d12+21 and OG 30
* Rending bite (melee 3 vs 1 target): +34 vs AC for 6d12+21 and -5 penalty to AC til ETarrasque’sNT
Frenzy (only if bloodied; creatures in cl burst 3): as either piercing or rending bite against each target

Move Action – at will
Trample: it moves up to its speed (provoking OAs as normal) and may enter enemy’s spaces (but may not end its move in an occupied space); if it enters an enemy’s space it makes a melee attack: +33 vs Ref for 2d12+25 & knocked prone

Minor Actions – at will
Tail slap (melee 3 vs 1 target not attacked with any bite this turn): +32 vs Fort for 6d12+21, push 4 sq & knock prone Miss: creates a collapsing fissure extending 10 sq from a sq adj to the target, in a direction of the tarrasque’s choosing, that lasts until E of a T in which the fissure makes an attack; if this inc a sq occupied by a Medium creature or if a Medium creature enters a sq, attacks as free action: +32 vs Ref for 2d12+9, restrained & OG 10 (escape DC 32 ends both)

Bite (R5,6 only if not bloodied): make a piercing bite or rending bite attack

Hurl rubble (ranged 20 vs 1 creature): +32 vs Ref for 4d12+19, push 3 sq and knock prone

Triggered Action – at will
Reflective carapace (immediate reaction if a ranged or area attack misses the tarrasque): repeat the attack against another target within 20 sq of the tarrasque

While bloodied, on an initiative of 10+its initiative check, it may use a free action to trample (if it is immobilised, restrained or unable to take free actions, that effects ends instead)


STR 42 (+31) DEX 26 (+23) WIS 18 (+19)
CON 36 (+28) INT 3 (+11) CHA 7 (+13)
Alignment Unaligned Languages –[/sblock]

I think those stats are pretty consistent with MV standards for 4e solo design. My 30th level PCs certainly didn't have much trouble taking it down, especially once more than one of them turned their full attention to the task.