An issue I have with giant monsters in 5th edition is that they're really very vulnerable to swarms of mooks (extreme case: Tarrasque vs level 1 Aaracokra cleric with sacred flame and a lot of patience). If I want my BBEG spellcaster to lay waste to a city he can just cast Earthquake or Tsunami or Storm of Vengeance or Meteor Swarm he can get his point across with minimal personal risk, making it important to hire a group of heroes to go deal with the threat, but a dragon probably gets driven off by the city guard.
One trivial solution to this is a damage threshold. I'd be tempted to make it a per-turn or per-action threshold instead of a per-attack (so characters with multiple attacks can add them together for overcoming the threshold) but what stuff will I be breaking by giving most giant monsters a damage threshold of their CR?
One thing that helps is if you actually try to run NPCs as actual people instead of video game mooks that simply follow a simple script until they die. Even without Frightening Presence, a bunch of low level characters are going to react to seeing an ancient dragon or the Tarrasque by executing Emergency Response Number Two and heading for the next kingdom over.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The monsters you are concerned with are probably those with Liars and/or Legendary Actions.
Rather than incorporating the equivalent of "damage reduction", which could cause some non-combatants struggle, you might opt to give the creature an encounter appropriate ability, mobile lair action, or something of that nature.
If the Aaracokra attacks a Tarrasque in an open field, it might be followed by a swarm of dangerous carrion eaters, who are hungry and expecting to feast on whatever havoc it wrecks. They could do minor damage to prevent drawn out combat, and be continuously replenished as more flock to the sound of conflict.
The Tarrasque also has an intelligence of 3. That's "wolf" level intellect, which is enough to act tactically and possibly understand basic tool use, such as throwing trees and boulders.
An issue I have with giant monsters in 5th edition is that they're really very vulnerable to swarms of mooks (extreme case: Tarrasque vs level 1 Aaracokra cleric with sacred flame and a lot of patience). If I want my BBEG spellcaster to lay waste to a city he can just cast Earthquake or Tsunami or Storm of Vengeance or Meteor Swarm he can get his point across with minimal personal risk, making it important to hire a group of heroes to go deal with the threat, but a dragon probably gets driven off by the city guard.
One trivial solution to this is a damage threshold. I'd be tempted to make it a per-turn or per-action threshold instead of a per-attack (so characters with multiple attacks can add them together for overcoming the threshold) but what stuff will I be breaking by giving most giant monsters a damage threshold of their CR?
One thing that helps is if you actually try to run NPCs as actual people instead of video game mooks that simply follow a simple script until they die. Even without Frightening Presence, a bunch of low level characters are going to react to seeing an ancient dragon or the Tarrasque by executing Emergency Response Number Two and heading for the next kingdom over.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The monsters you are concerned with are probably those with Liars and/or Legendary Actions.
Rather than incorporating the equivalent of "damage reduction", which could cause some non-combatants struggle, you might opt to give the creature an encounter appropriate ability, mobile lair action, or something of that nature.
If the Aaracokra attacks a Tarrasque in an open field, it might be followed by a swarm of dangerous carrion eaters, who are hungry and expecting to feast on whatever havoc it wrecks. They could do minor damage to prevent drawn out combat, and be continuously replenished as more flock to the sound of conflict.
The Tarrasque also has an intelligence of 3. That's "wolf" level intellect, which is enough to act tactically and possibly understand basic tool use, such as throwing trees and boulders.