Campaign Idea: Kill Tiamat

[dededo11]

I have an idea for a campaign and I would like to know what you all think

So in this campaign world, Tiamat and Bahamut were once a single mega powerful dragon diety until something caused it to split in two, one half being Bahamut and the other half being Tiamat. In this campaign, Tiamat would find a way to gradually drain Bahamut of his power so she can become as powerful as the mega powerful dragon diety that they once were and wreak havoc across the multiverse (Perhaps she is using the metallic orbs of dragonkind to do this). The players would be tasked by a rare alliance of storm giants and metallic dragons to find the materials to craft a weapon capable of weakening Tiamat (perhaps the chromatic orbs of dragonkind) so the party can slay her to stop her from draining Bahamut's power.

What do you guys think?

[Zhorn]

I'd suggest dialling it back a tiny smidgen. God slaying is one of those things that if you make possible for one god via mortal means, pretty much all gods would be targets due to all the different factions and followings that exist.

Give her an avatar that has made it to the material plane (variation of if the was successful in the Rise of Tiamat module), and that is draining power from Bahamut and doing everything else as you describe. The statblock given for Tiamat is also supposedly just an aspect of Tiamat, as her true god self is unstatable
edit: I have been corrected

[Urukubarr]

rise of Tiamat might be an okay place to start, though I admit to HEAVILY modifying it (though that's probably what 95% of all DM's do anyway.

It seems like you already did a bit of research on Tiamat, my suggestion would be to:

-find a scenario in games or media that is similar and you thought was epic and heavily steal it, games are a good source because you can transfer mechanics / setting, when I ran rise of Tiamat among other things I was heavily inspired by the rebuild of evangelion movies, going so far as using the music for encounters. I really wanted to push this divine power that was so immeasurably beyond the players that all they could hope to do was prevent her arrival or try and send her back to hell. (I made that battle like 5 encounters in various scenarios)

-really plan encounters as something you would like to do as the player / be satisfied interacting with. when dealing with "gods" or beings so powerful they are considered as such its VERY easy to slip into "you cannot damage them, with anything, ever" this can be done, but is often done poorly, and not in any way shape or form fun.

[Christew]

I agree with the dialing it back point. God slaying can get a bit messy logistically. A good item hunt (like your dragon orb idea) can be a nice way to hang structure and provide clear goals well before the players are capable of interacting with even an avatar of a deity.

I'd be sure to backwards design unless you are starting PCs at high level. What will the tier 1 plot be to eventually connect to such world shattering (tier 3/4) events? I'm often guilty of getting excited about the endgame of a campaign without a good map of how to get there.

[LibraryOgre]

Come on, guys, it would be Legend ... wait for it ... s. (https://amzn.to/2LCP2iU)

[Millstone85]

So in this campaign world, Tiamat and Bahamut were once a single mega powerful dragon diety until something caused it to split in two, one half being Bahamut and the other half being Tiamat.That is how SCAG describes them.

Io, the creator of dragons, was axed from head to tail by the primordial Erek-Hus. The two equal halves then transformed into Bahamut and Tiamat.


The statblock given for Tiamat is also supposedly just an aspect of Tiamat, as her true god self is unstatable.Does the module say that?

It is my understanding that, in 5e, Tiamat is a lesser deity (MM p86) and the only-an-avatar move is reserved to greater deities (DMG p11).

[Zhorn]

Does the module say that?

It is my understanding that, in 5e, Tiamat is a lesser deity (MM p86) and the only-an-avatar move is reserved to greater deities (DMG p11).

I stand corrected. My understanding was that of statblocks of gods as presented in game were always just avatars or aspects, but scanning through Rise of Tiamat, it does say the form you fight at the end of the module IS a god.
Her Discorporation ability stops her from being killed as her essence goes back to the Nine Hells to reform there some time later.

Must say I'm underwhelmed. Even for a lesser deity, CR 30 doesn't seem very god-like based on all the stories of what gods can do.

[moonfly7]

I have an idea for a campaign and I would like to know what you all think

So in this campaign world, Tiamat and Bahamut were once a single mega powerful dragon diety until something caused it to split in two, one half being Bahamut and the other half being Tiamat. In this campaign, Tiamat would find a way to gradually drain Bahamut of his power so she can become as powerful as the mega powerful dragon diety that they once were and wreak havoc across the multiverse (Perhaps she is using the metallic orbs of dragonkind to do this). The players would be tasked by a rare alliance of storm giants and metallic dragons to find the materials to craft a weapon capable of weakening Tiamat (perhaps the chromatic orbs of dragonkind) so the party can slay her to stop her from draining Bahamut's power.

What do you guys think?

I love this. I've gotten flamed on this forum several times for having my party kill ab actual god and asking for stat help. It makes me happy that me and my players aren't the only ones who want to do this. Here's somethings I did that helped:
I made 11 forms of the god, form 1 being at full power, and form 11 being the weakest it could be. I then made a list of ways weakening might be achieved. Weakening isn't required, but your party most likely needs to, even just a little. Even just by a few tiers. Although keep in mind tiamat is one of the few dieties that doesn't draw strength from somewhere like followers, so it's harder to weaken her, as she is her own source of power.
2. The health on a gods first tier should be around 5000 or more health, I will check to find the exact stats I use later if you want.
3. Like, 50+AC for highest power form. Remember, this is at the height of her power, once you make this you can decrease it however you want for each level drop.
4. I gave mine infinite spell slots because she's a goddess of magic, sounds OP but that's just the god form. It's supposed to be stupid broken. Think about stuff like this to give yours.
5. Take control of the action economy, give it like 15 attacks a turn, and somewhere around 10 legendary actions.
6. Make sure it's breath weapon always deals half damage if you succeed with evasion or not.
7. Give the god evasion, and make sure it's immune to all nonmagical damage and resistant to all magical damage.
8. Give it like plus 10 ability modifier and proficiency in every saving throw.

And I hope that helps. I know I wish someone would have been more supportive for me, and I also know that this might not be what your looking for. That's fine, take whatever you can from this to help, and good luck with this my friend. It's very interesting.

[Imbalance]

Sounds a little like the plot of Morrowind: Ill-gotten godhood, waxing in influence and might while the counterpart diminishes, linked to an ancient artifact. The hero(es) must prove to other adversarial groups that the threat is real and that only an alliance can stop it, which, in turn, proves the hero(es) worthy of being aided and to challenge the big bad. Only specific tools can sever the evil one's link to the source of power, and only after such can she even be challenged. I'm not pointing this out to make your idea seem contrived, but because I really like the model and especially think that Mw would make an excellent template for a campaign, perhaps even yours.

[Yunru]

I stand corrected. My understanding was that of statblocks of gods as presented in game were always just avatars or aspects, but scanning through Rise of Tiamat, it does say the form you fight at the end of the module IS a god.
Her Discorporation ability stops her from being killed as her essence goes back to the Nine Hells to reform there some time later.

Must say I'm underwhelmed. Even for a lesser deity, CR 30 doesn't seem very god-like based on all the stories of what gods can do.

If you expand the CR table based on the post-20 pattern, Tiamat sits at a CR of 40.

[Envyus]

I stand corrected. My understanding was that of statblocks of gods as presented in game were always just avatars or aspects, but scanning through Rise of Tiamat, it does say the form you fight at the end of the module IS a god.
Her Discorporation ability stops her from being killed as her essence goes back to the Nine Hells to reform there some time later.

Must say I'm underwhelmed. Even for a lesser deity, CR 30 doesn't seem very god-like based on all the stories of what gods can do.

30 is the max CR