How the Second Level Characters Killed the Tarrasque

[Aldarin]

Oh, gods, I'm going to die.

So, I'm playing in a campaign where my cousin is the DM. This was his first time DMing, so he was really anxious to make sure everything went correctly. He was kind of railroading us, but we let it slide.
The party was as follows:

Me, an Arborean Elf (a homebrew the cousin had whipped up) Druid

A Human Wizard (Diviner)

A Halfling Bardbarian

A Human Ranger

So, the cuz had made this hilariously large encounter table that required us to do 1d2 x 1d100 to determine what was thrown at us. He decided to put the Tarrasque as the number 198 result for laughs.

So, we just killed a goblin tribe, feeling pretty good about ourselves, when the DM decides to throw us a random encounter.

And dammit, if it isn't the Tarrasque.
So, we're running around screaming, in the game and out-of-character, and we somehow manage to survive the first round.
It's now the Bardbarian's turn. So, he got a Battleaxe of the Berserker in the last dungeon. Basically, this axe makes it so if you're damaged by any creature while the axe is on your person, you have to make a WIS save or attack that creature until it's dead. So, the Bardbarian attacks the Tarrasque with the axe, and lands a natural 20. He lets go of the axe, so it's lodged in the tarrasque's underbelly. The Bardbarian asks if that counts as the axe being on its person, and the DM says it does.
So, two rounds later, everyone except for the Wizard is making death saves on the ground. And it's the Tarrasque's turn. Unless the Tarrasque rolls a 1, the wizard is dead.
The Tarrasque proceeds to roll a 1.
So, the DM had this houserule. So, if a creature rolls a 1 on an attack roll, they have to roll again. If they roll another 1, they hit themselves with the attack.
So, the Wizard had rolled a 1 earlier in the day for his Portent feature. So, he replaced the Tarrasque's next roll with a 1, so the Tarrasque misses him and attacks himself.
While he had a Battleaxe of the Berserker on his person.
The Tarrasque fails his WIS save, and proceeds to stab himself into unconsciousness, where we then coup de grace him.

And that, kids, is how the party of low-level adventurers killed the Tarrasque.

[MrStabby]

Yeah, some house rules will do that.

[Aldarin]

Yeah, some house rules will do that.

I was kind of mad that the DM let us do that, but it made for a good story. We'll be telling our friends that one for a long time.

[Lombra]

Clearly not how it should have ended, not for the houserules, bur for the ruling of the axe, but it's been a lot of fun for sure xD (legendary saves should have killed all of the characters)

[Aldarin]

Clearly not how it should have ended, not for the houserules, bur for the ruling of the axe, but it's been a lot of fun for sure xD (legendary saves should have killed all of the characters)

Actually, the Tarrasque viewed the characters as so little of a threat that he used his Legendary Resistances on poison sprays and the like.

[MrStabby]

Actually, the Tarrasque viewed the characters as so little of a threat that he used his Legendary Resistances on poison sprays and the like.

Rather than his spell immunity? Nice!

[Osrogue]

Next time I want to steal a magic weapon from its owner I'm going to impale myself on it and misty step away.

[MaxWilson]

And that, kids, is how the party of low-level adventurers killed the Tarrasque.

Bravo! Good story!

P.S. All those people grumbling about house rules and RAW? Ignore them.


Rather than his spell immunity? Nice!

The Tarrasque doesn't have spell immunity. It's got a reflective carapace, but that doesn't work on Poison Spray anyway.

[Quintessence]

Actually, the Tarrasque viewed the characters as so little of a threat that he used his Legendary Resistances on poison sprays and the like.

So it somehow managed to fail the save for poison spray with advantage and a +10 con mod? Man you really must have nerfed it or something...

[Ralanr]

I'm assuming the coup de grace was a houserule also?

[MaxWilson]

I'm assuming the coup de grace was a houserule also?

I assume he was referring to the interaction between Unconscious, crits, and death saves. You can kill any unconscious creature in two hits per RAW: any hit within 5' is a crit, crits cause two failed death saves, and three failed death saves kills you.

[Kane0]

Now that sounds like a good time

[TripleD]

That is an awesome story! I love when systems overlap in chaotic ways.

I got to say though, the mathematician in me finds this:



1d2 x 1d100 to determine what was thrown at us. He decided to put the Tarrasque as the number 198 result for laughs.

very interesting. Did he first flip a coin to decide a table, then roll the d100? Or was it actually 1d2 * 100 on a chart of 200 monsters?

If it's the later than there are 50 encounters that are impossible to hit. You can't roll any odd number above 100, since 2 * [any number above 50] can only make even numbers.

That's leaving aside that any even number below 100 automatically has a doubled chance of being rolled, since there are two ways to make it. (e.g. You can only get 43 by rolling 43, but you can get 44 by rolling 44 or 2 * 22).

Not trying to show off or condescend; just contructive criticism.

[Kornaki]

That is an awesome story! I love when systems overlap in chaotic ways.

I got to say though, the mathematician in me finds this:



very interesting. Did he first flip a coin to decide a table, then roll the d100? Or was it actually 1d2 * 100 on a chart of 200 monsters?

If it's the later than there are 50 encounters that are impossible to hit. You can't roll any odd number above 100, since 2 * [any number above 50] can only make even numbers.

That's leaving aside that any even number below 100 automatically has a doubled chance of being rolled, since there are two ways to make it. (e.g. You can only get 43 by rolling 43, but you can get 44 by rolling 44 or 2 * 22).

Not trying to show off or condescend; just contructive criticism.

I think he meant (1d2)d100

[Malifice]

So it somehow managed to fail the save for poison spray with advantage and a +10 con mod? Man you really must have nerfed it or something...

Vs a DC of no more than 13.

Three times. Three times in a row, it rolled a 1 or a 2 on both saves. And even then it elected to use a legendary resistance for some reason (to stop 1d12 poison damage).

Not that any of this matters, beause its immune to poison damage.

Also. Poison spray has a maximum range of 10'. Meaning Mr Wizard was 10' from the Tarrasque every time he cast it. Big T a speed of 40', a reach of up to 20', 5 attacks, each attack dealing around 30 damage (at +19 to hit), and legendary actions to attack some more as soon as the Wizards turn ends.

Big T has 8 (count them, 8) attacks per round. 5 on its turn, and then 1 more per legendary action. Each at +19 to hit. Dealing @ 30 damage per hit.

A 2nd level Wizard has around 12 HP and dies outright if he takes 24 damage.

A 2nd level Barbarian needs a natural 20 to even hit it.

[Oramac]

Ignore the nitpickers. That's a great story! And isn't that what D&D is all about? A great story?

You have that now. Well done.

[MrFahrenheit]

Hey, DM's decision! Enjoy jumping six levels!

[Armored Walrus]

Sounds like you guys had a blast, which is the entire point of the game. I hope you skinned it and made tarrasque-scale armor. ;)

BTW, this sounds a lot like our first campaigns back in the 90s when we first came across AD&D. There's something magical about these slipshod, read half the rules campaigns that can be a lot of fun. Of course, they can also be incredibly frustrating sometimes, but this session sounds like a pure positive to me.

[Quintessence]

So how many levels did the party gain and also how much sweet loot in all those high level hordes?

[Slipperychicken]

I assume he was referring to the interaction between Unconscious, crits, and death saves. You can kill any unconscious creature in two hits per RAW: any hit within 5' is a crit, crits cause two failed death saves, and three failed death saves kills you.

That's if the creature is at 0hp. If you attack a sleeping person, you still have to get through his hit points first.

[MaxWilson]

That's if the creature is at 0hp. If you attack a sleeping person, you still have to get through his hit points first.

That's true, yes. I failed to be sufficiently pedantic in my explanation.

The Tarrasque in question was at zero HP, of course.

[krugaan]

It's going to be ... uh ... difficult to top that.

I think your DM blew his metaphorical wad a bit early.