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Neithan
2009-02-07, 01:05 PM
So, I was once again brain storming for things that would be cool for my D&D 3.5e setting.

And I think I'm really seeing a reuccuring theme there: Giant Monsters!

Many of the Elder Evils, the creatures from Shadow of the Colossus, the giant world destroyer beast Sin from FFX, the elephant-thingies from Lord of the Rings; the Hydra, Scylla and the Titans from God of War; the crazy walking fortresses from Appleseed, ...

What D&D really is missing is Kaiju!

They may not fit too well into traditional western european fantasy, but I think we've all learned from the last couple of years that crossovers and mixing things up can result in pretty awsome stuff at times. In D&D, you have Great Wyrms and the Tarrasque, but I think they are really not that much different from huge or gargantuan creatures with more hp.
I guess you could simply make CR 25 creatures with colossal size, but it soon becomes rediculous how you want to seriously harm a monster with 100cm thick armor plates with a short sword or rapier, magical or not. Also the beasts could simply step on you and it's over. I think the fun part is finding a weakness and having almost a full fledged adventure on it's own to get in position to exploit it.

So, does anybody know if anyone ever tried to make such creatures for a d20 based rpg? I think this could really be great fun.

The Glyphstone
2009-02-07, 01:13 PM
I couldn't quote it, but I think I remember reading once about someone who ran an adventure featuring a gigantic clockwork golem/mecha that was marching towards the capital city.

The mecha wasn't the climatic encounter - it was the dungeon. The party had to get inside it and fight stuff as they tried to disable its systems in time.

Waspinator
2009-02-07, 02:45 PM
Dragonmech has some stuff like this, such as seriously huge "city-mechs".

Tsotha-lanti
2009-02-07, 03:24 PM
There was a Dragon issue with plenty of 3.X Kaiju stuff. I have no clue which one, though.

Ravens_cry
2009-02-07, 03:33 PM
I couldn't quote it, but I think I remember reading once about someone who ran an adventure featuring a gigantic clockwork golem/mecha that was marching towards the capital city.

The mecha wasn't the climatic encounter - it was the dungeon. The party had to get inside it and fight stuff as they tried to disable its systems in time.
That, is PURE, unadulterated, 100%, platonic ideal, satisfaction guaranteed , uber, ultra, mega, ultimate, WIN! ! !
Me likey.:smallbiggrin:

Llama231
2009-02-07, 04:13 PM
I couldn't quote it, but I think I remember reading once about someone who ran an adventure featuring a gigantic clockwork golem/mecha that was marching towards the capital city.

The mecha wasn't the climatic encounter - it was the dungeon. The party had to get inside it and fight stuff as they tried to disable its systems in time.

Sounds similar to the Hellstar.

You should check that out here as well as other various superhuge monsters that have been made on these boards.

lesser_minion
2009-02-07, 04:21 PM
That, is PURE, unadulterated, 100%, platonic ideal, satisfaction guaranteed , uber, ultra, mega, ultimate, WIN! ! !
Me likey.:smallbiggrin:

Erm... yeah, it sounds pretty awesome. I don't think it's quite Platonic ideal though.

I vaguely remember the mech thing being mentioned in one of the printed Dragon magazines - I'm pretty sure it's an Iron Kingdoms product, and I think the module was called something like Earthshaker. Is that right?

Olo Demonsbane
2009-02-07, 05:42 PM
I couldn't quote it, but I think I remember reading once about someone who ran an adventure featuring a gigantic clockwork golem/mecha that was marching towards the capital city.

The mecha wasn't the climatic encounter - it was the dungeon. The party had to get inside it and fight stuff as they tried to disable its systems in time.

This is the one adventure I own, but its from 2E :smallannoyed:. I love it though, and just reboot the stats. Its called Doomgrinder.

lesser_minion
2009-02-07, 05:53 PM
OK, evidently I was thinking of something completely different. Do you know who published the adventure? Maybe there's a chance of firing off an e-mail or a couple of letters and actually preparing a full update for 3.x. (free PDF download?) It sounds like pure, unadulterated awesome.

RTGoodman
2009-02-07, 07:46 PM
I'm pretty sure Vorpal Tribble did a Kaiju template a while back (after Cloverfield came out, I think?), but I can't for the life of me seem to find it. I'll shoot him a PM about it, though, and he can provide a link for it hopefully.

Unless I'm actually wrong about him being the one that made it...


EDIT: There's also the Titanic Creature template in MM2, I do believe, which might help out.

Zeta Kai
2009-02-07, 08:04 PM
Well, I haven't done any actual kaiju, but I have done Sin in some detail.

And with the Walking Colossus prestige class, almost anyone can take on a kaiju. :smallwink:

JeminiZero
2009-02-07, 10:16 PM
If you want to make giant monsters, one easy trick is to take any giant (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Giant), infect it with lycantropy (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Lycanthrope) for an animal one size larger, and then somehow give it augmented expansion (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Expansion) (either give it levels in Psy-War (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Psychic_warrior) and Practiced Manifester, or make a custom psionics item).

Lycanthropy lets the Giant shift into a hybrid form one size larges (and which looks suitably kaiju monstrous). Expansion pushes its size another 2 categories up. The net monster is 3 sizes larger than the original Giant. If you start with a large giant (like say an Unkillable Frankenstein Troll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101587)) it pushes the size to Colossal. Starting with a Huge Giant like a Storm Giants (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Storm_Giant) pushes it size to Colossal+.

Asbestos
2009-02-07, 10:46 PM
Dragonmech has some stuff like this, such as seriously huge "city-mechs".

Seriously, seriously huge. I mean, there's a whole ecosystem in the engine 'rooms' of those things. Heck, there's a whole subrace of halfling in there.

jcsw
2009-02-07, 11:33 PM
This would be such an awesome one-shot if the players wouldn't all go counter constructs...

bosssmiley
2009-02-08, 07:05 AM
I couldn't quote it, but I think I remember reading once about someone who ran an adventure featuring a gigantic clockwork golem/mecha that was marching towards the capital city.

The mecha wasn't the climatic encounter - it was the dungeon. The party had to get inside it and fight stuff as they tried to disable its systems in time.

That's "Earthshaker", module CM4 for BECMI D&D (predating IK and Dragonmech by about 15 years). It rocks. :smallbiggrin:

As for making kaiju in D&D, isn't there a kaiju template in MM2? I remember it being used on a Ythrak in Dragon's "Ecology of the Ythrak".

Failing that there's Upper Krust's stacking dire template in his "Immortals Handbook" Bestiary (dire > behemoth > brodingnadian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brobdingnagian) > etc.). I think it's reproduced on his website.

lesser_minion
2009-02-08, 07:12 AM
OK, this is insane. I seem to have got absolutely Nothing right on this thread.

Waspinator
2009-02-08, 04:59 PM
This look familiar?
http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/classicDAndD/adventures/v5748btpy7mux&source=search


And yeah, Dragonmech's bigger robots basically do have ecosystems in them. What do you expect when you've essentially moved the population of a small country in-doors in order to avoid a horrible death?