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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Re-skinning the Tarrasque as Apophis



Mith
2016-04-14, 10:52 AM
Hi,

This isn't a stat block, just me ruminating on possibilities for my campaign world. I was thinking in having one end game being taking on a World Destroyer like the Tarrasque, and thought to change things up a bit in reference to Doomsday Serpents like Apophis and Jormandr. AFB at the moment, so this is more off the top of my head. This is not currently a balanced monster, just me getting thoughts onto (digitalized) paper.

My ideas:

-The Doomsday Serpent (DS) is a flying snake of same size category (Gargantuan IIRC). It has the same movement speed as it's walking speed, but this is also it's burrowing and flying speed. Basically it cannot be stopped by any means.

-DS has immunity to fire and non-magic attacks, mental effects, disease, and illusions. Wish and Miracle can be used to emulate a damage spell, but the monster cannot be wished away or affected by removing immunities.

-regenerates X HP/ round (thoughts on a good number?)

-DS can do a ranged attack by either throwing a piece of earth, a tidal wave or a sonic shock wave (depending on what is available), as a ranged attack. Possibly use a giant's rock throw ability as a template. These all act as bludgeoning damage with a knockback and prone effect as well. Dex Save of X for half damage.

-To kill the DS, you must render it unconscious (where it drops to the surface), and deal it's hit points in damage+ the regen amount, then use Wish or Divine Miracle to finally kill it.

While I do not want this to be a complete overkill (which it might be at the moment), I want something that the party can be clever in preparation and execution, using a good set up for advantages, but still has to go through the monster's hit points and slay the beast. If they are lacking a spellcaster that can cast Wish, I would probably grant them a one-shot for that purpose prior to the battle, with the notice of "Save this until you need it", so it's not used for a stat boost or the like.

Thoughts?

Gastronomie
2016-04-15, 05:23 AM
By the point you're using a Tarrasque-ish monster I believe it's already quite overkill (in-universe it wouldn't even make sense for a normal band of adventures to be able to slay it in the first place). Thus I assume the players are all epic-level and are equipped with artifacts of the gods or stuff at least similar in terms of Plot Power. I mean, the party needs to be strong enough to literally "beat a beast that is equal in combat with the friggin' God of War", (and this is the hard part) with a logical explanation available. Because that's what Jormungandr necessarily is.

And on that note: One idea I propose is to make its attack methods be extremely diverse as well as dazzlingly dramatic. Having it bite and swallow every turn is bland, boring, and NOT badass. Make it unleash natural disasters, replicating effects of spells like Firestorm (Meteor Swarm is prolly too much so), Earthquake, Tsunami, and other "dynamic" stuff. Explain in great detail of how each attack destroys whole cities and small countries. Entire mountains being carved into valleys. The sky burning bright crimson, Fireballs raining everywhere. The Doomsday Serpent screeches shrill, fangs glistening, saliva spitting from its writhing forked tongue, and the sonic wave alone pierces through your skulls, deafening some, dazing others. It's truly a battle that will either end the world, or will be remembered and told by all as a new legend, never forgot by anyone till the day in which the world really ends.

That sort of battle. Yeah, go for it.

Mith
2016-04-15, 09:11 AM
Yeah, this would be a "worse case" option for an endgame for the campaign. If the party fails at one task, instead of being "the world ends" they just have to save the world the hard way.

As for why I am reskinning it, it's more that a lot of reviews are stating that the Tarrasque as written in 5e is not a very interesting monster compared to it's CR and reputation. As such, I feel like it would be useful to make things a bit more interesting. Especially since boss monsters usually die a lot faster then average due to them being the sole target.

Thanks for your response!