Tarrasque or not Tarrasque?

[DragonLancer]

I have used it in 2nd edition, and the party had a great time fighting it as it really is THE iconic monster for D&D in my group's eyes (closely followed by Tiamat).

I haven't used it in 3rd yet, and have no plans to do so presently.

 

[ashockney]

Used it in both 2nd and 3rd edition.

Where the Tarrasque is strong, it's really strong, in 3rd Ed. But, it definitely has some issues (no range attacks, very poor touch AC, no truesight, etc.).

Combat with the Tarrasque has resulted in some interesting tactical decisions. In one campaign, I had a mage teleport into the Tarrasque's belly, then let loose with a barrage of spells from inside the belly. No reflection, less damage than facing the "claw/claw/bite" routine, and had some defenses against this damage.

 

[thundershot]

I only used it once, and it wasn't really USED... In the Apocalypse Stone, they got to see the Tarrasque, but ran like hell when the saw it. They heard legends about it, and KNEW they couldn't defeat it. Fortunately, they ended up destroying the universe by the end of the adventure anyway..



Chris

 

[der_kluge]

My party is 12th level, and my plan was to take the party to 20th. It's awful tempting to toss a Tarrasque in there somewhere, but so far I have no plans to do so. Still, I might be able to work it in, if for no other reason than for us to all say that we did it. I've never fought one, nor have I ever ran one.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Do you mind if I rant?

I've always considered the creature to be stupid beyond belief, and I'm annoyed that WotC wasted space to include it in the Monster Manual. I don't think it has a single redeeming feature, and will never see use in any game I run.

It is simply pointless and idiotic, with no thought given to ecology or reason for existence. Someone, once upon a time said "Oh, I'll invent the ultimate in unkillable monsters, it will be teh really leet d00d heh".

What rubbish.

It even has a dorky picture (esp compared with the original draft which was available at WotC at one time)

End of rant, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Cheers

 

[Caliban]

I used it in my Forgotten Realms campaign when the PC's were around 10th level. I my game it was known as the "Beast of Malar" and contained a fragment of his essence. It was originally created to fight the avatar of another god that Malar was having problems with, thousands of years in the past. The beast turned out a little too well, and nothing could kill it.

One of the characters in the campaign (a cleric) is a distant descendant of the avatar that the Beast of Malar was created to kill. One of the bad guys in the campaign (another distant descendant of that avatar) knew this, and awakened the Beast from it's millenia of slumber. The Tarrasque rampaged into the city the characters were in, first going after the PC, and then after the bad guy (whoever was closest). The bad guy (who was currently possesing the PC's twin sister), led the Tarrasque through the temple district and destroyed the characters temple.

The PC's quickly realized that they couldn't fight the thing, and ended up making a deal with the bad guy, who said he knew a way to get rid of the beast, and would release the PC's sister in the bargain. They accomplished the quest for the items the bad guy needed, and he did something to the Tarrasque that made it disappear, and released the PC's sister.

Now the PC's are trying to track him down to his lair so that they can stop whatever plans he needed the Tarrasque for.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Do you mind if I rant?

I've always considered the creature to be stupid beyond belief, and I'm annoyed that WotC wasted space to include it in the Monster Manual. I don't think it has a single redeeming feature, and will never see use in any game I run.

It is simply pointless and idiotic, with no thought given to ecology or reason for existence. Someone, once upon a time said "Oh, I'll invent the ultimate in unkillable monsters, it will be teh really leet d00d heh".

What rubbish.

Hey, Godzilla is a pop culture icon, and thus deserving of a rip-off! It has certainly more high-brow origins than the derro (which originated from a really silly hoax).

The Tarrasque, just like Godzilla, stands for the unstoppable forces of nature rising up in revenge against humanity. There is a point to its toughness, which is that there is something non-intelligent that even the mightiest of people fear. Call it "Nature's Revenge", or "The Ravager of Nations" - it doesn't matter. What matters is that humans are reminded that there is always something higher up on the food chain than they are.

 

[Talmun]

Do you mind if I rant?

I've always considered the creature to be stupid beyond belief, and I'm annoyed that WotC wasted space to include it in the Monster Manual. I don't think it has a single redeeming feature, and will never see use in any game I run.

It is simply pointless and idiotic, with no thought given to ecology or reason for existence. Someone, once upon a time said "Oh, I'll invent the ultimate in unkillable monsters, it will be teh really leet d00d heh".

What rubbish.

It even has a dorky picture (esp compared with the original draft which was available at WotC at one time)

End of rant, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Cheers

Hmm, I always understood the T to be something of an anomaly, a force of nature, an abandoned avatar for a forgotten god...like someone else said, very akin to a forest fire or a volcanic eruption; as such, there is no need for him to fit into the ecology or even to have one of his own, the 3.5 MM says that the old boy is unique, so it's not like you have to worry about him breeding (ewww).

Also IMO and experience, the 'ecology' of D&D is pretty much a paper thin veneer anyway, if there were as many enormous, top end predators on our planet as there is on the average campaign world, Earth would be a barren, windswept rock...

That being said, I can see why some people compare him to other high-level creatures and find him wanting, he’s certainly not as romantic or compelling as, say, a great old wyrm

 

[Psion]

The Tarrasque, just like Godzilla, stands for the unstoppable forces of nature rising up in revenge against humanity. There is a point to its toughness, which is that there is something non-intelligent that even the mightiest of people fear. Call it "Nature's Revenge", or "The Ravager of Nations" - it doesn't matter. What matters is that humans are reminded that there is always something higher up on the food chain than they are.

I think if I wanted a godzilla style force of nature, I could come up with something a lot more compelling with the Kaiju template.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I was tempted to use the spelljamming world that is infested with tarasques though as a hazard planet.

I dropped a Spelljammer game in that world, but they wised up REAL quick and went below gorund...then had a Mind-Flayer problem to contend with!!