So I'm having trouble trying to utilize these monsters into a campaign I'm planning out. Basically these giant monsters, which were the planet's first gods, begin to reawaken across the world. Each of them want to terraform the planet into their own image, and will destroy anything or any other monsters in their way of doing such. (these are all Tarrasque sized creatures btw). And I'm not certain how I can use them in an impactful way for the players. Like there's no way I can throw my players into a fight against these things until later levels but I want them to be able to 1. Experience the sheer power and destruction of these beasts and 2. Be able to take them down, even if they have to use a militia to take them down. But I also feel like that would get really repetitive with how many of them there are and I would need to find other was for them to turn the tide in their favor and be able to stop them. Anyone have any suggestions?
What you want, assuming you want a long campaign, is a quest or series of quests to gain means to banish/defeat the monsters, with a few encounters along the way so that they can personally experiance how devastating the monsters are. You don't want them to fight each one, as not only would that become repetitive, it will end up making the monsters look far too weak.
(In general, a big threat should still have 90%+ of its power at the climax. See Lord of the Rings for the ideal. Stories where the hero's defeat the villain by chipping away at his strength tend to end with the villain looking ridicoulsly weak.)
I have two articles in my blog that should give you some of what you're looking for. They're written for a red dragon, but you should be able to adapt them.
Finally, I suggest not having them defeat more than one, maybe two, and perhaps spinning it that the monsters haven't yet regained their full strength from their imprisonment.
DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
I would treat them like the Reapers in Mass Effect. Mostly a looming threat they're trying to rally forces against, and then a massive charge by said allies the players get to lead in the end.
So I'm having trouble trying to utilize these monsters into a campaign I'm planning out. Basically these giant monsters, which were the planet's first gods, begin to reawaken across the world. Each of them want to terraform the planet into their own image, and will destroy anything or any other monsters in their way of doing such. (these are all Tarrasque sized creatures btw). And I'm not certain how I can use them in an impactful way for the players. Like there's no way I can throw my players into a fight against these things until later levels but I want them to be able to 1. Experience the sheer power and destruction of these beasts and 2. Be able to take them down, even if they have to use a militia to take them down. But I also feel like that would get really repetitive with how many of them there are and I would need to find other was for them to turn the tide in their favor and be able to stop them. Anyone have any suggestions?
1. Why? It's incredibly difficult to have PCs directly experience destruction by a uber-powerful enemy without those PCs getting themselves killed, or the uber-powerful enemies seeming to be not actually that powerful because the PCs either roll poorly or one of them makes a silly decision and they don't get killed. As a DM you're basically saying you want to create a guaranteed TPK fight but guarantee that the player characters will escape but have the players still think the monster is scary and not easy to just escape from. Also how are you going to ensure the player characters actually try to run away? You don't control the PCs, the players will do as they please and are very likely to choose heroic death rather than run away.
Alternative Suggestion: Things are actually more scary if they remain mysterious and the players / player characters never experience them directly themselves so do not get to see exactly what the uber-powerful enemy can do, because people always imagine enemies as badder and scarier than you will ever make them. Just look at horror movies - once the main characters/audience know the rules of the monster it's not that scary anymore. Instead have the player characters learn about the destructiveness indirectly. Have them meet NPC refugees from cities destroyed by the monsters with PTSD, or you can have them go to one of the destroyed cities after the BBEG is gone to look for survivors and see the aftermath, or have them "witness" the destructiveness from afar - e.g. see spires of a distant city falling, feel shockwaves or earthquakes caused by them, have them seen volcanoes erupting on the horizon caused by these creatures.
2. Why? If a random militia can take down one of these monsters then why should the party be scared of them? Why are the party even necessary? You world probably has professional armies, and mages with towers, and archpriests of religious orders, and druid circles, and orders of monks. The PCs are not going to be the most powerful people in the world until they reach levels 14+, so if they can take out these monsters at level 7-8 with some help from a local militia then why aren't all the other leaders & powerful people doing the same?
Suggestion: as soon as your PCs kill one of these creatures none of them will be scary anymore, they are instantly just another monster that they know how to hunt down and kill. So do not allow them to kill one until the end of the campaign. This is why there is only 1 Tarasque in the game normally, because that's all you need, because once the party can defeat 1 Tarasque then defeating other Tarasques is routine and would become boring.
Overall suggestion: If you really want to stick to this general concept then IMO you have 2 choices: (1) have the players just be involved in one local conflict - the other powers in the world are busy dealing with the other giant monsters but one or two of them have escaped notice or are in poor areas and the PCs are the only ones available to fight those ones. (2) have the titans fight each other and the winner absorbs the power of the others, this gives you and in-game reason for the titans to grow in power over the course of the campaign so if the PCs kill one early on it doesn't make the rest seem trivial, and it gives the titans something to do other than destroy the world so the PCs have time to do other stuff.
So I'm having trouble trying to utilize these monsters into a campaign I'm planning out. Basically these giant monsters, which were the planet's first gods, begin to reawaken across the world. Each of them want to terraform the planet into their own image, and will destroy anything or any other monsters in their way of doing such. (these are all Tarrasque sized creatures btw). And I'm not certain how I can use them in an impactful way for the players. Like there's no way I can throw my players into a fight against these things until later levels but I want them to be able to 1. Experience the sheer power and destruction of these beasts and 2. Be able to take them down, even if they have to use a militia to take them down. But I also feel like that would get really repetitive with how many of them there are and I would need to find other was for them to turn the tide in their favor and be able to stop them. Anyone have any suggestions?
It sounds as if time is a factor, but not as you state it.
The # of monsters/deities/etc. is how many? In total a dozen or less?
Not sure what you time line is of awakenings, but it can be several years or decades between awakenings? How much time (years?) between being awake and starting to "terraform"?
Have the 1st awaken god occur near the party off in the distance. Let them see and realize the size. Have a much later encounter were they come across recently terraformed land and see that god like creature doing the terraforming. If the party watches let know it is like glacial paced speed. Then again later as the party progresses, they come across a 2nd creature awakening. They again cross paths with the 1st creature is terraforming and/or moving "twice" as fast as the earlier encounter.
Overall you are introducing these vast creatures and showing the party they are not ready, but the time delay allows them to get powerful enough to actually fight them.
You may want show a militia, attempt to fight and get slaughtered. Show them what appears an advanced version of themselves fight and die as well. That can instill the fear for now.....
I recently had my players fight an enormous monster, and here's a few things that worked for me. One was giving the party some "lesser" goals like "lead the monster away from the city" while they got a taste of its abilities (which were overwhelming). I basically gave the monster some big damaging effects in a radius around it, so the first challenge was even getting close enough to attack- for example, if the monster is stomping around in wooded hills, anyone trying to get near it may end up buried under a rockslide or fallen trees before they can even get an attack in. (Players may be willing to go for a "heroic death," but the idea of dying before they can even make a dent will sometimes get a player to reconsider their strategy.) Finally, I gave it a weakness buried in forgotten lore that neutralized the worst of its damage output, so once the players had a few skirmishes with it, and learned what they needed to know, then they could actually have their big fight.
Then again, I have a group of story-focused players who don't really murder-hobo too much, so your mileage may vary.
I want them to be able to 1. Experience the sheer power and destruction of these beasts
For this one, at lower levels the best solution might be to give the players a flashback/dream/stolen memory that shows what happened to a different world when the monsters were left unchecked to wreak destruction
Make the stakes very clear to the PCs
As far as actually fighting them goes (2), I co-sign the idea that they have weaknesses the party can research and discover -- maybe even different weaknesses for each one -- and then send the party on quests for things that can exploit those weaknesses
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
The easiest way to give low level PCs an encounter that doesn't kill them but also doesn't make the monster seem weak is to have indirect encounters. For example, these appear to be elemental disasters of some sort, so give them a vast aura that terraforms the land around them and in their wake, and also spawns creatures, which the PCs can encounter.
For example, let's say there's an Ancient of Desert. At the edge of its aura it makes things hot and dry, and as you get closer it gets hotter, drier, and sandier. In addition, it spawns desert themed monsters that get increasingly dangerous as you get further into the aura. If you put the PCs in a town that is near the edge, and they have to deal with sudden outbreaks of dust mephits, desert snakes, and swarms of scorpions, that's a perfectly viable challenge for first level PCs to deal with, realize that there's this big hazard in the distance, and figure out that they probably want to be stronger before they get closer.
When I want a monster to feel big, I have them interact with the environment in ways that affect the PCs. For example, a giant swinging a club makes an attack roll as normal but then also throws debris in a cone as the club smashes through a pillar or rips through the ceiling. All the PCs in the cone have to make a Dexterity save or take some amount of damage. This obviously affects the monster's CR, but that's easy to account for. https://vlc****/
So I'm having trouble trying to utilize these monsters into a campaign I'm planning out. Basically these giant monsters, which were the planet's first gods, begin to reawaken across the world. Each of them want to terraform the planet into their own image, and will destroy anything or any other monsters in their way of doing such. (these are all Tarrasque sized creatures btw). And I'm not certain how I can use them in an impactful way for the players. Like there's no way I can throw my players into a fight against these things until later levels but I want them to be able to 1. Experience the sheer power and destruction of these beasts and 2. Be able to take them down, even if they have to use a militia to take them down. But I also feel like that would get really repetitive with how many of them there are and I would need to find other was for them to turn the tide in their favor and be able to stop them. Anyone have any suggestions?
What you want, assuming you want a long campaign, is a quest or series of quests to gain means to banish/defeat the monsters, with a few encounters along the way so that they can personally experiance how devastating the monsters are. You don't want them to fight each one, as not only would that become repetitive, it will end up making the monsters look far too weak.
(In general, a big threat should still have 90%+ of its power at the climax. See Lord of the Rings for the ideal. Stories where the hero's defeat the villain by chipping away at his strength tend to end with the villain looking ridicoulsly weak.)
I have two articles in my blog that should give you some of what you're looking for. They're written for a red dragon, but you should be able to adapt them.
Finally, I suggest not having them defeat more than one, maybe two, and perhaps spinning it that the monsters haven't yet regained their full strength from their imprisonment.
Dragon encounter 1: Survival
Dragon encounter 2: Battle
DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
I would treat them like the Reapers in Mass Effect. Mostly a looming threat they're trying to rally forces against, and then a massive charge by said allies the players get to lead in the end.
1. Why? It's incredibly difficult to have PCs directly experience destruction by a uber-powerful enemy without those PCs getting themselves killed, or the uber-powerful enemies seeming to be not actually that powerful because the PCs either roll poorly or one of them makes a silly decision and they don't get killed. As a DM you're basically saying you want to create a guaranteed TPK fight but guarantee that the player characters will escape but have the players still think the monster is scary and not easy to just escape from. Also how are you going to ensure the player characters actually try to run away? You don't control the PCs, the players will do as they please and are very likely to choose heroic death rather than run away.
Alternative Suggestion: Things are actually more scary if they remain mysterious and the players / player characters never experience them directly themselves so do not get to see exactly what the uber-powerful enemy can do, because people always imagine enemies as badder and scarier than you will ever make them. Just look at horror movies - once the main characters/audience know the rules of the monster it's not that scary anymore. Instead have the player characters learn about the destructiveness indirectly. Have them meet NPC refugees from cities destroyed by the monsters with PTSD, or you can have them go to one of the destroyed cities after the BBEG is gone to look for survivors and see the aftermath, or have them "witness" the destructiveness from afar - e.g. see spires of a distant city falling, feel shockwaves or earthquakes caused by them, have them seen volcanoes erupting on the horizon caused by these creatures.
2. Why? If a random militia can take down one of these monsters then why should the party be scared of them? Why are the party even necessary? You world probably has professional armies, and mages with towers, and archpriests of religious orders, and druid circles, and orders of monks. The PCs are not going to be the most powerful people in the world until they reach levels 14+, so if they can take out these monsters at level 7-8 with some help from a local militia then why aren't all the other leaders & powerful people doing the same?
Suggestion: as soon as your PCs kill one of these creatures none of them will be scary anymore, they are instantly just another monster that they know how to hunt down and kill. So do not allow them to kill one until the end of the campaign. This is why there is only 1 Tarasque in the game normally, because that's all you need, because once the party can defeat 1 Tarasque then defeating other Tarasques is routine and would become boring.
Overall suggestion: If you really want to stick to this general concept then IMO you have 2 choices: (1) have the players just be involved in one local conflict - the other powers in the world are busy dealing with the other giant monsters but one or two of them have escaped notice or are in poor areas and the PCs are the only ones available to fight those ones. (2) have the titans fight each other and the winner absorbs the power of the others, this gives you and in-game reason for the titans to grow in power over the course of the campaign so if the PCs kill one early on it doesn't make the rest seem trivial, and it gives the titans something to do other than destroy the world so the PCs have time to do other stuff.
It sounds as if time is a factor, but not as you state it.
The # of monsters/deities/etc. is how many? In total a dozen or less?
Not sure what you time line is of awakenings, but it can be several years or decades between awakenings? How much time (years?) between being awake and starting to "terraform"?
Have the 1st awaken god occur near the party off in the distance. Let them see and realize the size. Have a much later encounter were they come across recently terraformed land and see that god like creature doing the terraforming. If the party watches let know it is like glacial paced speed. Then again later as the party progresses, they come across a 2nd creature awakening. They again cross paths with the 1st creature is terraforming and/or moving "twice" as fast as the earlier encounter.
Overall you are introducing these vast creatures and showing the party they are not ready, but the time delay allows them to get powerful enough to actually fight them.
You may want show a militia, attempt to fight and get slaughtered. Show them what appears an advanced version of themselves fight and die as well. That can instill the fear for now.....
I recently had my players fight an enormous monster, and here's a few things that worked for me. One was giving the party some "lesser" goals like "lead the monster away from the city" while they got a taste of its abilities (which were overwhelming). I basically gave the monster some big damaging effects in a radius around it, so the first challenge was even getting close enough to attack- for example, if the monster is stomping around in wooded hills, anyone trying to get near it may end up buried under a rockslide or fallen trees before they can even get an attack in. (Players may be willing to go for a "heroic death," but the idea of dying before they can even make a dent will sometimes get a player to reconsider their strategy.) Finally, I gave it a weakness buried in forgotten lore that neutralized the worst of its damage output, so once the players had a few skirmishes with it, and learned what they needed to know, then they could actually have their big fight.
Then again, I have a group of story-focused players who don't really murder-hobo too much, so your mileage may vary.
For this one, at lower levels the best solution might be to give the players a flashback/dream/stolen memory that shows what happened to a different world when the monsters were left unchecked to wreak destruction
Make the stakes very clear to the PCs
As far as actually fighting them goes (2), I co-sign the idea that they have weaknesses the party can research and discover -- maybe even different weaknesses for each one -- and then send the party on quests for things that can exploit those weaknesses
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
The easiest way to give low level PCs an encounter that doesn't kill them but also doesn't make the monster seem weak is to have indirect encounters. For example, these appear to be elemental disasters of some sort, so give them a vast aura that terraforms the land around them and in their wake, and also spawns creatures, which the PCs can encounter.
For example, let's say there's an Ancient of Desert. At the edge of its aura it makes things hot and dry, and as you get closer it gets hotter, drier, and sandier. In addition, it spawns desert themed monsters that get increasingly dangerous as you get further into the aura. If you put the PCs in a town that is near the edge, and they have to deal with sudden outbreaks of dust mephits, desert snakes, and swarms of scorpions, that's a perfectly viable challenge for first level PCs to deal with, realize that there's this big hazard in the distance, and figure out that they probably want to be stronger before they get closer.
When I want a monster to feel big, I have them interact with the environment in ways that affect the PCs. For example, a giant swinging a club makes an attack roll as normal but then also throws debris in a cone as the club smashes through a pillar or rips through the ceiling. All the PCs in the cone have to make a Dexterity save or take some amount of damage. This obviously affects the monster's CR, but that's easy to account for. https://vlc****/