I need to know *EVERYTHING* about the Tarrasque

[Jarmen4u]

I am in a relatively home-brewed game, playing with a group that has operated for a long time. We started a new-ish campaign in their established game world, which started with every player getting a fresh baby dragon of varying colors. At one point recently, our dragons became strong enough to gain their shape-shifting powers. The DM ruled that we could decide what two forms they get, but it had to be a creature the dragon has encountered (which limits choices due to how new they are). However, shortly into an early session, I was the only person to spot a sleeping Tarrasque in the distance, and had the party detour. Due to this encounter, the DM approved my choice to allow my dragon to shift into a Tarrasque at will. The other form I chose was a water snake (as it is an aquatic dragon).

At first, I thought this was insane, and I had no idea why the DM was okay with it. Later, I asked them about it, and they told me it wasn't as much a blessing as a curse. Apparently, there can only ever be a single Tarrasque in existence. According to the DM, if my dragon shifts into one, it will instantly throw the plane out of whack, and the existing Tarrasque will notice the presence of a new Tarrasque and find and attack it immediately. And if we ever manage to kill the Tarrasque, a new one will appear within a few moments somewhere on the plane, which will cause the problem to repeat itself.

My dilemma is this: I'm a relatively new player in that I've only been playing D&D on and off for some years, but the DMs and many other people in the group have been running games before D&D even was invented. They have read lots of books, lots of background information, and have lots of things that I don't have simply due to my age and lack of experience.

So, I'm seeking as much knowledge about the Tarrasque as I can. It doesn't matter what edition it's from, though we mostly play within the AD&D-3.5e realm, they often pull inspiration from other/older sources. This isn't some polymorph trick; when the dragon transforms, it gets every single ability that a Tarrasque would have. But I have no idea what that would be. So please, help me.

PS: When I say everything, I mean everything. Due to how old-fashioned the DMs are, they will often interpret fluff/lore as mechanical, I.E. allowing the basic Consecrate spell to stop demons in their tracks despite only really having a mechanical effect on undead.

[MisterKaws]

Dragon #359 has a 6-page article on it. Includes a lot of stuff, even some that would be better left unknown.

Like the fact that it has no rear entry.

[Bronk]

Spelljammer had an entire planet filled with tarrasques...

[Helluin]

In 3.5, Tarrasque can only be killed by dealing damage that exceeds its normal HP, followed by a Wish/Miracle. 3.5 Tarrasque is a giant meat bag with good defenses against many spells, no real range attack, no way to damage incorporeal, no immunity to ability drain (and therefore can be cheesed with incorporeal undead that drain ability damage even if you don’t have access to Wish). It can also be dominated by magic.

Pathfinder Tarrasque is the spawn of the most dangerous god of destruction, and is, like its sire, unkillable by mortal means. It is immune to ability drain (if you use the latest stats) and mind-affecting effect, has some form of range attacks, can jump REALLY high to get flying enemies.

Neither is immune to Imprisonment/Temporal Stasis, as far as I know. So that might be better than killing the Tarrasque, assuming you can even do that, since the world might not spawn another one if the previous one is not dead, but merely inactive.

[Helluin]

Spelljammer had an entire planet filled with tarrasques...

Wait, is this the “There are Tarrasque growing on Tarrasque growing on Tarrasque growing on... fractal Tarrasque!” world that I once heard of? I thought that was a joke from my DM.:smallsigh:

[Thurbane]

Wait, is this the “There are Tarrasque growing on Tarrasque growing on Tarrasque growing on... fractal Tarrasque!” world that I once heard of? I thought that was a joke from my DM.:smallsigh:

Practical Planetology (AD&D 2E) [page 7]: the planet Falx, theorised by some to be the home planet of all Tarrasque. Several hundred can be found on Falx.

[Godskook]

Ask your DM how "by the book" he runs his monsters. If he doesn't run the Tarrasque by the book, not only can't we help you, but asking our help will only hurt you, as you'll actively prepare for things that aren't true, and it'll piss you off when something that was never true to begin with ends up revealing itself as not true to -you-.

[Jarmen4u]

Ask your DM how "by the book" he runs his monsters. If he doesn't run the Tarrasque by the book, not only can't we help you, but asking our help will only hurt you, as you'll actively prepare for things that aren't true, and it'll piss you off when something that was never true to begin with ends up revealing itself as not true to -you-.

I more or less answered this in the OP, but everything "by the book" is confirmed, however they also add things on a case by case basis depending on other editions they're familiar with, or other sources.

I'm not really looking for you to guess their stat block; I'm just looking for as much information as I can possibly find and compile together, so I have a rough idea of what they might add on to it based on my previous experience with their decision-making.

[King of Nowhere]

so, what your dm did has the potential of being interesting, but it also has the potential to break the campaing. I mean, if you imprison the tarrasque, then you can become one at will without drawbacks.

Tarrasque has lots of regeneration, so you could use that form to heal between combats.
it has no flight, but as a dragon you can learn spells. take the fly spell, cast it on yourself before shapeshifting, and you are a flying tarrasque.
are you also going to become dumb as the tarrasque? because that may be a problem if you are required to roleplay that

[Buufreak]

Be honest here, do these few DMs ever adhoc bs onto encounters just because they can? Have you ever been absolutely right on the proper ruling of something, but got nope'd because they are DM and you aren't? If yes to either, no real amount of information we give is going to help you.

[DrMotives]

Dragon #300 has the "waker of the beast" 5 level PrC, which is where a humanoid gets obsessive about the Tarrasque and becomes a little bit Tarrasque-ish. There is some lore in that article, in addition to the one about the beast itself MisterKaws mentioned.

[Calthropstu]

Pf has a class somewhere that can literally summon the tarrasque. I forget where it was I saw it though.

[MisterKaws]

Pf has a class somewhere that can literally summon the tarrasque. I forget where it was I saw it though.

Wizards can gate him in, straight outta 3.5.

[Calthropstu]

Wizards can gate him in, straight outta 3.5.

They can? But he isn't extraplanar...
Oh wait it's 3.5. Wizard shenanigans.

[Bronk]

Dragon #300 has the "waker of the beast" 5 level PrC, which is where a humanoid gets obsessive about the Tarrasque and becomes a little bit Tarrasque-ish. There is some lore in that article, in addition to the one about the beast itself MisterKaws mentioned.

I looked around and found this in Dragon 296. It would be pretty nifty as an NPC antagonist!

[Jarmen4u]

so, what your dm did has the potential of being interesting, but it also has the potential to break the campaing. I mean, if you imprison the tarrasque, then you can become one at will without drawbacks.

Tarrasque has lots of regeneration, so you could use that form to heal between combats.
it has no flight, but as a dragon you can learn spells. take the fly spell, cast it on yourself before shapeshifting, and you are a flying tarrasque.
are you also going to become dumb as the tarrasque? because that may be a problem if you are required to roleplay that

You might have misunderstood. Every player in the game was given an egg to care for, out of which hatched a random type of dragon. My dragon has the described ability to shapeshift into one at will, in the same way that some dragons often shapeshift into humanoids.

I would assume that the DM wouldn't apply the mental penalties associated with being a Tarrasque to the dragon, though.

[Bronk]

Aside from the relatively peaceful Falx tarrasques (thanks for remembering the planet name), there are also the variant tarrasques...

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/eo/20051109a

[Quertus]

So, what you need to do is to contact a friendly Illithid Savant or 50, and explain the situation to them. They will happily deal with your tasty respawning "Regeneration 50/--" problem. :smallwink:

[ShurikVch]

Aside from the relatively peaceful Falx tarrasques (thanks for remembering the planet name), there are also the variant tarrasques...

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/eo/20051109aAnd aquatic Tarrasque at Tellene (Kingdoms of Kalamar)

[Jarmen4u]

I had this thought while reading over the dragon magazine entry: if I managed to make *my* Tarrasque two size categories larger, would it be able to Swallow Whole the other one? Can a Tarrasque's stomachs digest another Tarrasque?

[RedMage125]

so, what your dm did has the potential of being interesting, but it also has the potential to break the campaing. I mean, if you imprison the tarrasque, then you can become one at will without drawbacks.

Tarrasque has lots of regeneration, so you could use that form to heal between combats.
it has no flight, but as a dragon you can learn spells. take the fly spell, cast it on yourself before shapeshifting, and you are a flying tarrasque.
are you also going to become dumb as the tarrasque? because that may be a problem if you are required to roleplay that

You're forgetting that in 3.5e, the "Regeneration" ability means that it only takes non-lethal damage (some creatures specify different damage types that do lethal damage to them, like trolls with fire and acid), and that they only "heal" non-lethal damage every round. The Tarrasque, specifically, has no damage type that does lethal damage, so ALL damage it takes as non-lethal (note that this does not preclude lowering it's HP total by means of spells like Avasculate, because that isn't "damage"). Which means that if the OP's dragon gets hurt in combat in dragon form (lethal damage), changing into the Tarrasque form will not heal this lethal damage. Like any creature with Regeneration, if it does somehow take lethal damage, it must be healed either naturally through rest, or from magical healing.

The OP asked about lore from all editions, and in 4e, the Tarrasque had an aura of exceptional gravity. So even creatures with flight were limited to max height they could fly at (I think it was 30'), well within the Tarrasque's reach. Such a thing would likely preclude the Tarrasque itself from flying.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

If your little dragon can speak (or at least understand what you say), do some experiments on what it can do in tarrasque form. Take ideas from what everyone here says and experiment with them to see if any of these things are stuff it can do.

If it can't, get hold of some telepathy and then do it.

[Jarmen4u]

If your little dragon can speak (or at least understand what you say), do some experiments on what it can do in tarrasque form. Take ideas from what everyone here says and experiment with them to see if any of these things are stuff it can do.

If it can't, get hold of some telepathy and then do it.

It can, or rather, my character speaks Draconic.

However as I pointed out in the OP, the second my dragon takes the form, the real Tarrasque will become aware of its existence and do everything in its power to kill the fake. So I don't really have the luxury to experiment.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

It can, or rather, my character speaks Draconic.

However as I pointed out in the OP, the second my dragon takes the form, the real Tarrasque will become aware of its existence and do everything in its power to kill the fake. So I don't really have the luxury to experiment.It CAN'T kill him. Not if he has the tarrasque's regen, anyway.

You could just cast a ton of buffs on him and have him crap the kick out of the other one. Or just summon a few shadows and wraiths to ability drain the thing dry, then use your dragorasque as bait (with some escape routes small enough for your dragon but not Tarry so he can get away with ease).

[Jarmen4u]

It CAN'T kill him. Not if he has the tarrasque's regen, anyway.

You could just cast a ton of buffs on him and have him crap the kick out of the other one. Or just summon a few shadows and wraiths to ability drain the thing dry, then use your dragorasque as bait (with some escape routes small enough for your dragon but not Tarry so he can get away with ease).

I intend to do something like this eventually, which is why I'm trying to gather as much information about them as possible. Because I doubt the DM will tell me every single ability my dragon will get in Tarrasque form, so I have to go off of what I know outside of the game.

Also, I know that the dragon-asque shouldn't necessarily die, but it would certainly put the rest of us in danger.

Also x2, how would I be able to buff him up if he's mostly magic immune? Unless I could buff him before he transforms and it persists, idk.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4sVmnfz9Wk

No mechanical information here, but understanding the history of the Tarrasque as a monster may help.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Buff, then he can Pokevolve.

[MisterKaws]

They can? But he isn't extraplanar...
Oh wait it's 3.5. Wizard shenanigans.

The only restriction is not being able to gate a creature from the same plane, AFAIK. Thus, a two-step gate, first through the Astral, into a contingent gate to the material, could very easily summon it anywhere.

[Thurbane]

In the FR comics (which were 2E based, from memory), there was a ritual involving sacrificing dragons that summoned and controlled the Tarrasque.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

In the FR comics (which were 2E based, from memory), there was a ritual involving sacrificing dragons that summoned and controlled the Tarrasque.

Oh hey, I was just thinking of that one!

[Quertus]

In the FR comics (which were 2E based, from memory), there was a ritual involving sacrificing dragons that summoned and controlled the Tarrasque.

Well, on the "plus" side, you've got your not so sacrificial Dragon to summon the Tarrasque already. So you only need to work out the other half of that ritual.

[ShurikVch]

Magic of Incarnum have two soulmelds related to the Tarrasque - Dread Carapace and Totem Avatar

Also, infamous Karsus's avatar (https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Karsus%27s_avatar) spell required certain parts of the Tarrasque - "just to enchant one of the material components of the spell"