So I decided to run a level 20 multi-shot game for a few people. They're fighting the Tarrasque, because it sounded fun.
It's probably going to be 4 or 5 sessions, with a table of 3, at the moment a druid, barbarian, and a pali. It's gonna be a few fetch quests, for each of them to acquire a legendary item, and then the final encounter with the big boy (who I have heavily modified). I've asked them to be creative, rather than just power-gaming it.
But I've only ever run low-level encounters before. So I'd love some advice for running epic-level encounters. Advice can be specifically about what kinds of things to include in a fetch quest, or advice about Tarrasque, or just about running and balancing super high level encounters. I don't know much about them, how to balance, how to set up, anything.
So please, reign your tips upon me, specific or general.
Are your players familiar with 5e and know their way around combat?
If yes, they will devastate the Tarrasque without taking a single hit, because the Tarrasque has nothing in it's repertoire against flying ranged attacks.
I've done some work to prevent that; I've actually done a lot of buffing it up. It's currently a mix of Tarrasque and elder earth elemental. So I've given it some range, and better spell reflection. So I've given it more options because I thought the Tarrasque's original stat block was kind of terrible. But I might need to tinker with it more, and also they're going to have to do some other fighting before they get to it.
Also planning to use a warlock/deathlock character with it, to force them to divide their attention a little.
I've done some work to prevent that; I've actually done a lot of buffing it up. It's currently a mix of Tarrasque and elder earth elemental. So I've given it some range, and better spell reflection. So I've given it more options because I thought the Tarrasque's original stat block was kind of terrible. But I might need to tinker with it more, and also they're going to have to do some other fighting before they get to it.
Also planning to use a warlock/deathlock character with it, to force them to divide their attention a little.
im curious to see this? if at all possible? i am only a few sessions away from our final session, ive been thinking about adding a undead tarrasque into the folly as they seem to be gunning straight for the BBEG instead of trying to find out about his allies and resources that is available to be aquired. i have a player that loves air combat.
Have an environmental challenge like lava or difficult terrain and have some other minions in your back pocket...like baby terrarasques...or the deathlock might have minions to challenge them along the way and the most powerful of his lieutenants or henchmen fall back to further complicate the fight. Also, what is the deathlock doing? Is he completing a ritual or summoning? Having some other objective that feels like it should be dealt with just as much as the terrarasque can add some dynamics and urgency to the fight. Hope this helps!
If anyone wants to see the current Tarrasque, here it be. I'm still tinkering to balance it out. They are level 20 with hella magic items, so I have to be pretty nasty.
Tarrasque
Gargantuan monstrosity (titan), unaligned
Armor Class 27 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 850 (33d20 + 330)
Speed 40 ft.
STR
30 (+10)
DEX
11 (+0)
CON
30 (+10)
INT
3 (-4)
WIS
14 (+2)
CHA
11 (+0)
Saving Throws INT +5, WIS +9, CHA +9
Damage Immunities Fire, Poison; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the tarrasque fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. The tarrasque has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Spell Reflection.
If the Tarrasque makes a successful saving throw against a spell, or a spell attack misses it, the Tarrasque can choose another creature (including the spellcaster) it can see within 120 feet of it. The spell targets the chosen creature instead of the Tarrasque. If the spell forced a saving throw, the chosen creature makes its own save. If the spell was an attack, the spell is rerolled against the chosen creature.
Siege Monster. The tarrasque deals double damage to objects and structures.
Regeneration. The Tarrasque takes 50 points of regeneration at the start of each of its turns. When it hits 0 hitpoints, it is put to sleep for 1 D100 years, during which time a fertile oasis will grow up around where it slumbers.
Actions
Multiattack. The tarrasque can use its Frightful Presence. It then makes five attacks: one with its bite, two with its claws, one with its horns, and one with its tail. It can use its Swallow instead of its bite.
Bite.Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (4d12 + 10) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 20). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the tarrasque can't bite another target.
Claw.Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 15ft., one target. Hit: 28 (4d8 + 10) slashing damage.
Horns.Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 32 (4d10 + 10) piercing damage. Magical damage.
Tail.Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 20ft., one target. Hit: 24 (4d6 + 10) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the tarrasque's choice within 120 feet of it and aware of it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the tarrasque is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the tarrasque's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Swallow. The tarrasque makes one bite attack against a Large or smaller creature it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target takes the bite's damage, the target is swallowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the tarrasque, and it takes 56 (16d6) acid damage at the start of each of the tarrasque's turns.
If the tarrasque takes 60 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the tarrasque must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the tarrasque. If the tarrasque dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone.
Breath attack: roars, 120 feet, con save 27, 26 D6 thunder damage, or half as much on a save.
Layer Actions (the Tarrasque is its own layer)
Earth-Shaking Movement. The Tarrasque can send a shock wave through the ground in a 120-foot-radius circle centered on itself. That area becomes difficult terrain for 1 minute. Each creature on the ground that is concentrating must succeed on a DC 25 Constitution saving throw or the creature’s concentration is broken. The shock wave deals 100 thunder damage to all structures in contact with the ground in the area. If a creature is near a structure that collapses, the creature might be buried; a creature within half the distance of the structure’s height must make a DC 25 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 17 (5d6) bludgeoning damage, is knocked prone, and is trapped in the rubble. A trapped creature is restrained, requiring a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check as an action to escape. Another creature within 5 feet of the buried creature can use its action to clear rubble and grant advantage on the check. If three creatures use their actions in this way, the check is an automatic success. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and doesn’t fall prone or become trapped.
Legendary Actions
The tarrasque can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below.
Attack. The tarrasque makes one claw attack or tail attack.
Spit Rock. (2 actions) Ranged Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, range 120 ft./240 ft., one target. Hit: 31 (6d8 + 10) bludgeoning damage.
Spew Debris (Recharge 5–6). The zaratan exhales rocky debris in a 90-foot cube. Each creature in that area must make a DC 25 Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 33 (6d10) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that fails by more than 10 is knocked prone.
That seems fairly heavily modded - Max HP (990) and spitting rocks would be about all you’d need. Or even better, just make them fight it underground and negate flying. Once you negate flying the job is easy - swallow the weakest player, and use all legendary action to run away while they dissolve in acid. Return an hour later to dissolve the next one... Nothing makes people more upset than when they can’t do anything at all...
I think the swallow-and-run plan would do exactly that, upset my players, and not be fun.
I take your point with dropping the hp a little. But I like having some options, and some ways to keep them on their toes. They're gonna have a pretty good stash of magical items to work with.
Also any space big enough underground to hold that thing is gonna have some room for maneuvering, otherwise it's going to stop the Tarrasque as well. My goal isn't to stop them from using their abilities and items, it's to have the ability to respond to them in some way.
There was a collabiration on Patreon not too long ago. An entire adventure including maps, paper minis and background music that had the players swallowed by a Tarrasque and adventure through its belly.
This could be a nice idea and at the same time make the defeat of a monster that is bigger than a house a bit more plausible.
So I decided to run a level 20 multi-shot game for a few people. They're fighting the Tarrasque, because it sounded fun.
It's probably going to be 4 or 5 sessions, with a table of 3, at the moment a druid, barbarian, and a pali. It's gonna be a few fetch quests, for each of them to acquire a legendary item, and then the final encounter with the big boy (who I have heavily modified). I've asked them to be creative, rather than just power-gaming it.
But I've only ever run low-level encounters before. So I'd love some advice for running epic-level encounters. Advice can be specifically about what kinds of things to include in a fetch quest, or advice about Tarrasque, or just about running and balancing super high level encounters. I don't know much about them, how to balance, how to set up, anything.
So please, reign your tips upon me, specific or general.
Thanks!
Are your players familiar with 5e and know their way around combat?
If yes, they will devastate the Tarrasque without taking a single hit, because the Tarrasque has nothing in it's repertoire against flying ranged attacks.
I've done some work to prevent that; I've actually done a lot of buffing it up. It's currently a mix of Tarrasque and elder earth elemental. So I've given it some range, and better spell reflection. So I've given it more options because I thought the Tarrasque's original stat block was kind of terrible. But I might need to tinker with it more, and also they're going to have to do some other fighting before they get to it.
Also planning to use a warlock/deathlock character with it, to force them to divide their attention a little.
im curious to see this? if at all possible? i am only a few sessions away from our final session, ive been thinking about adding a undead tarrasque into the folly as they seem to be gunning straight for the BBEG instead of trying to find out about his allies and resources that is available to be aquired. i have a player that loves air combat.
Have an environmental challenge like lava or difficult terrain and have some other minions in your back pocket...like baby terrarasques...or the deathlock might have minions to challenge them along the way and the most powerful of his lieutenants or henchmen fall back to further complicate the fight. Also, what is the deathlock doing? Is he completing a ritual or summoning? Having some other objective that feels like it should be dealt with just as much as the terrarasque can add some dynamics and urgency to the fight. Hope this helps!
If anyone wants to see the current Tarrasque, here it be. I'm still tinkering to balance it out. They are level 20 with hella magic items, so I have to be pretty nasty.
Tarrasque
Gargantuan monstrosity (titan), unaligned
Armor Class 27 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 850 (33d20 + 330)
Speed 40 ft.
STR
30 (+10)
DEX
11 (+0)
CON
30 (+10)
INT
3 (-4)
WIS
14 (+2)
CHA
11 (+0)
Saving Throws INT +5, WIS +9, CHA +9
Damage Immunities Fire, Poison; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage resistances. Cold.
Condition Immunities charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned
Senses Blindsight 120 ft., Passive Perception 10.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the tarrasque fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. The tarrasque has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Spell Reflection.
If the Tarrasque makes a successful saving throw against a spell, or a spell attack misses it, the Tarrasque can choose another creature (including the spellcaster) it can see within 120 feet of it. The spell targets the chosen creature instead of the Tarrasque. If the spell forced a saving throw, the chosen creature makes its own save. If the spell was an attack, the spell is rerolled against the chosen creature.
Siege Monster. The tarrasque deals double damage to objects and structures.
Regeneration. The Tarrasque takes 50 points of regeneration at the start of each of its turns. When it hits 0 hitpoints, it is put to sleep for 1 D100 years, during which time a fertile oasis will grow up around where it slumbers.
Actions
Multiattack. The tarrasque can use its Frightful Presence. It then makes five attacks: one with its bite, two with its claws, one with its horns, and one with its tail. It can use its Swallow instead of its bite.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (4d12 + 10) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 20). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the tarrasque can't bite another target.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 15ft., one target. Hit: 28 (4d8 + 10) slashing damage.
Horns. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 32 (4d10 + 10) piercing damage. Magical damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 20ft., one target. Hit: 24 (4d6 + 10) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the tarrasque's choice within 120 feet of it and aware of it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the tarrasque is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the tarrasque's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Swallow. The tarrasque makes one bite attack against a Large or smaller creature it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target takes the bite's damage, the target is swallowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the tarrasque, and it takes 56 (16d6) acid damage at the start of each of the tarrasque's turns.
If the tarrasque takes 60 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the tarrasque must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the tarrasque. If the tarrasque dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone.
Breath attack: roars, 120 feet, con save 27, 26 D6 thunder damage, or half as much on a save.
Layer Actions (the Tarrasque is its own layer)
Earth-Shaking Movement. The Tarrasque can send a shock wave through the ground in a 120-foot-radius circle centered on itself. That area becomes difficult terrain for 1 minute. Each creature on the ground that is concentrating must succeed on a DC 25 Constitution saving throw or the creature’s concentration is broken. The shock wave deals 100 thunder damage to all structures in contact with the ground in the area. If a creature is near a structure that collapses, the creature might be buried; a creature within half the distance of the structure’s height must make a DC 25 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 17 (5d6) bludgeoning damage, is knocked prone, and is trapped in the rubble. A trapped creature is restrained, requiring a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check as an action to escape. Another creature within 5 feet of the buried creature can use its action to clear rubble and grant advantage on the check. If three creatures use their actions in this way, the check is an automatic success. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and doesn’t fall prone or become trapped.
Legendary Actions
The tarrasque can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below.
Attack. The tarrasque makes one claw attack or tail attack.
Spit Rock. (2 actions) Ranged Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, range 120 ft./240 ft., one target. Hit: 31 (6d8 + 10) bludgeoning damage.
Spew Debris (Recharge 5–6). The zaratan exhales rocky debris in a 90-foot cube. Each creature in that area must make a DC 25 Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 33 (6d10) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that fails by more than 10 is knocked prone.
That seems fairly heavily modded - Max HP (990) and spitting rocks would be about all you’d need. Or even better, just make them fight it underground and negate flying. Once you negate flying the job is easy - swallow the weakest player, and use all legendary action to run away while they dissolve in acid. Return an hour later to dissolve the next one... Nothing makes people more upset than when they can’t do anything at all...
I think the swallow-and-run plan would do exactly that, upset my players, and not be fun.
I take your point with dropping the hp a little. But I like having some options, and some ways to keep them on their toes. They're gonna have a pretty good stash of magical items to work with.
Also any space big enough underground to hold that thing is gonna have some room for maneuvering, otherwise it's going to stop the Tarrasque as well. My goal isn't to stop them from using their abilities and items, it's to have the ability to respond to them in some way.
There was a collabiration on Patreon not too long ago. An entire adventure including maps, paper minis and background music that had the players swallowed by a Tarrasque and adventure through its belly.
This could be a nice idea and at the same time make the defeat of a monster that is bigger than a house a bit more plausible.
Link: (It's completely free of charge)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/32632910