One of the players in a club we do says that you can just slash Tiamat's head off. Here is the problem. Half of the damage that you try to do to Tiamat is immune to. If he did slash one of the dragon head's necks with a magical sword, I feel like it wouldn't really slash the head off. And also I feel like you can't stop the fight from happening. Can you help me explain this.
The real problem fighting Tiamat is that when you kill it it does not die. The worse one is the Aspect of Tiamat that comes back stronger.
If you slash off Tiamats head with a magic sword it DOES slash off. But it has to be magic.
Fighting Tiamat with magic swords is how you have to do it, because it is immune to spells of 6th level or lower and has advantage on spells of 7, 8, or 9, plus has 5 legendary resistances AND can use up a legendary action to be immune from stun.
There’s no such thing as “called shots” in 5e as a general option, although there’s one magic item and a few monster features. Players cannot simply announce “I attempt to cut their head off” and insta-kill an enemy on a high enough attack roll. There are a few monsters that have specific features/abilities that might cause such conditions to occur, hydra being the foremost example, but you can’t attempt to bypass any given fight by saying “I aimed for the head”. That is just not a part of 5e’s combat system.
Plus, the physics of a Medium creature attempting to decapitate a Gargantuan one are not in the Medium one’s favor.
I think it's worth pointing out that Tiamat has more than one head.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
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A new party game, 5 players with 1 Vorpal Sword between them, see if they can kill Tiamat by chopping off all her heads before Tiamat kills them.
EDIT...forget it, just read the small print on vorpal sword that creatures with legendary actions are immune to the deapitation effect of teh sword....dagnabit!
Even if legendary immunity didn't exist, it takes 100 attacks on average to cut off five heads. Even if the PCs are busily juggling the weapon between each other, they probably don't have more than 10-15 attacks between them.
One of the players in a club we do says that you can just slash Tiamat's head off. Here is the problem. Half of the damage that you try to do to Tiamat is immune to. If he did slash one of the dragon head's necks with a magical sword, I feel like it wouldn't really slash the head off. And also I feel like you can't stop the fight from happening. Can you help me explain this.
Damage in D&D doesn't work like that. When a player hits, they can't just say "I cut the head off." The player can describe the attack how they like, but the extent of the injury is determined by the creature's HP and the DM.
If you could do this, every attack would be "I stab their eyes out. Now they can't see," or "I slash their throat and now they're dead." Players do not get to determine the outcome of their actions, the DM does that.
You are right, but in some specific situations the DM might determine that with a particular score a limb or other part of the body might be cut of or gravely injured. In Tiamat case the heads might be restrained for a short period of time, as she isn't immune to that
One of the players in a club we do says that you can just slash Tiamat's head off. Here is the problem. Half of the damage that you try to do to Tiamat is immune to. If he did slash one of the dragon head's necks with a magical sword, I feel like it wouldn't really slash the head off. And also I feel like you can't stop the fight from happening. Can you help me explain this.
Well first of all, Tiamat has multiple heads not one. Second, by slashing the head off are you referring to a Vorporal or Sword of Sharpness? Those are the only magical weapons I know that cut off extremities. Finally, where does it say Tiamat is immune to magical slashing weapons?
One of the players in a club we do says that you can just slash Tiamat's head off. Here is the problem. Half of the damage that you try to do to Tiamat is immune to. If he did slash one of the dragon head's necks with a magical sword, I feel like it wouldn't really slash the head off. And also I feel like you can't stop the fight from happening. Can you help me explain this.
Well there are many issues with this, 5e no called shots to start with, but even in versions of D&D that had called shorts, removing a head of a multi head creature does not kill them. In the mechanical lore their mind is either at the base of all necks, or the minds are interconnected in such a way that they are one being with multiple heads, and don't loose power with the loss of a head.
But wait theirs more, Tiamat has Divine ranks, so it's not even her you are fighting but a remote controlled Avatar, which is what the Stat Block in 5e represents. The only way to kill a deity is to have divine power to start with ie be a demi-god at minimum. Which in AD&D was very possible to do. Which is why there were stats for both the Avatars and deities back then. Not possible in the 5e enviroment, as you need to be at least level 21 to count as a Deity or Demi-god.
One of the players in a club we do says that you can just slash Tiamat's head off. Here is the problem. Half of the damage that you try to do to Tiamat is immune to. If he did slash one of the dragon head's necks with a magical sword, I feel like it wouldn't really slash the head off. And also I feel like you can't stop the fight from happening. Can you help me explain this.
The real problem fighting Tiamat is that when you kill it it does not die. The worse one is the Aspect of Tiamat that comes back stronger.
If you slash off Tiamats head with a magic sword it DOES slash off. But it has to be magic.
Fighting Tiamat with magic swords is how you have to do it, because it is immune to spells of 6th level or lower and has advantage on spells of 7, 8, or 9, plus has 5 legendary resistances AND can use up a legendary action to be immune from stun.
There’s no such thing as “called shots” in 5e as a general option, although there’s one magic item and a few monster features. Players cannot simply announce “I attempt to cut their head off” and insta-kill an enemy on a high enough attack roll. There are a few monsters that have specific features/abilities that might cause such conditions to occur, hydra being the foremost example, but you can’t attempt to bypass any given fight by saying “I aimed for the head”. That is just not a part of 5e’s combat system.
Plus, the physics of a Medium creature attempting to decapitate a Gargantuan one are not in the Medium one’s favor.
Should you be able to just not have the fight end with a spell or killing the cultists?
Gonna need some context here. Are we talking about direct options available in combat, or setting a “win condition” of some kind?
I think it's worth pointing out that Tiamat has more than one head.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
There’s that too, yes.
A new party game, 5 players with 1 Vorpal Sword between them, see if they can kill Tiamat by chopping off all her heads before Tiamat kills them.
EDIT...forget it, just read the small print on vorpal sword that creatures with legendary actions are immune to the deapitation effect of teh sword....dagnabit!
Even if legendary immunity didn't exist, it takes 100 attacks on average to cut off five heads. Even if the PCs are busily juggling the weapon between each other, they probably don't have more than 10-15 attacks between them.
Damage in D&D doesn't work like that. When a player hits, they can't just say "I cut the head off." The player can describe the attack how they like, but the extent of the injury is determined by the creature's HP and the DM.
If you could do this, every attack would be "I stab their eyes out. Now they can't see," or "I slash their throat and now they're dead." Players do not get to determine the outcome of their actions, the DM does that.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
You are right, but in some specific situations the DM might determine that with a particular score a limb or other part of the body might be cut of or gravely injured. In Tiamat case the heads might be restrained for a short period of time, as she isn't immune to that
Well first of all, Tiamat has multiple heads not one. Second, by slashing the head off are you referring to a Vorporal or Sword of Sharpness? Those are the only magical weapons I know that cut off extremities. Finally, where does it say Tiamat is immune to magical slashing weapons?
Well there are many issues with this, 5e no called shots to start with, but even in versions of D&D that had called shorts, removing a head of a multi head creature does not kill them. In the mechanical lore their mind is either at the base of all necks, or the minds are interconnected in such a way that they are one being with multiple heads, and don't loose power with the loss of a head.
But wait theirs more, Tiamat has Divine ranks, so it's not even her you are fighting but a remote controlled Avatar, which is what the Stat Block in 5e represents. The only way to kill a deity is to have divine power to start with ie be a demi-god at minimum. Which in AD&D was very possible to do. Which is why there were stats for both the Avatars and deities back then. Not possible in the 5e enviroment, as you need to be at least level 21 to count as a Deity or Demi-god.