D&D 5E Anyone worked with Colossal/Mythical monsters before?

[Lanliss]

I have a few monsters planned for my world that are truly Massive, a couple big enough to eat the Terrasque whole. Anyone worked with this kind of size before?

I plan to stat their defense like terrain, as if you were attack a Castle Wall or an Iron mountain. Not sure on how I would arrange an attack for a creature like this, large as it is. Maybe just have them swim, and if the players are stupid enough to get in the path they take damage like they were hit by a mountain.

 

[Ath'kethin]

I don't know. These sound more like events than monsters. The power to destroy a planet may be insignificant compared to the power of the Force, but you're gonna need both to handle these critters.

As far as their attacks go, what would be the attack? By which I mean, are they smacking you with claws and tail? Breathing out a landslide? Saving throws and breath weapons might be precedents to look at for those.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Sounds like a golden opportunity to do the 'swallowed by the monster, fight your way out the dungeon-stomach' plotline.

 

[Oofta]

If you're setting up godzilla/kaiju type monsters, isn't it kind of the point that you can'o fight them directly? That even a modern military might can't really touch them? These monsters are forces of nature, you can no more combat them directly than you can combat a typhoon.

You may be able to annoy/distract/mislead them but hacking at Godzilla's toe with a claymore is going to do no more than us being bitten my an ant. Yes, it's annoying and will make us want to swat the ant but that's about it. Enough damage may help redirect Godzilla - nobody likes being bitten by insects - but I would put that under "annoyance damage". Think of it has a few hundred temp hit points that you have to get through before you can start doing any serious damage. Keep hacking at Godzilla's toe and eventually you will slow his speed and may actually hurt him a little bit but it isn't going to kill him.

As far as doing real damage, it depends on the monster. If it's a giant clockwork machine you first have to hack your way through it's outer layer and then get to some vital spot. There may be small worker clockwork machines that constantly fight "infection" such as adventurers that you have to battle through. There would have to be multiple steps, such as immobilizing the creature so he doesn't destroy the kingdom followed by destroying some defensive mechanism so you can finally get to it's "heart". Meanwhile you are fighting against the clock because the device has the worker machines doing repairs all of the time.

With magic you could do something similar to more flesh and blood monsters. Have a special version of breath water that lets you breath in any liquid.

Or just get a special ritual that turns you into colossal creatures as well for the final battle against the king of the monster's.

As far as being attacked and damage, I'd probably rely on saving throws instead of directed attacks. The monster is not so much stomping on the PCs as he is trying to crush everything in the general vicinity of the annoyance. Think of it as a stomp area effect with a reflex save for half. Scale damage as you think is appropriate.

Ultimately you want to break down the monsters down into different types of varied challenges, both combat and non-combat. Throw in a variety of monsters and challenges but give people achievable goals. Have the first encounter just be helping people evacuate. Have the kaiju "shed" small monsters/parasites (ala Cloverfield) that can actually be fought.

Good luck!

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I would go the Godzilla Resurgence route, and basically have the monster ignore the PC's until they pull out a big move (and then it practically detonates a nuke around itself). I agree with Ooft, area effect stomping damage is the way to go until they sufficiently annoy it.

If the monster is in a town or a city, it is probably creating a lot of rough terrain/small fires where ever it goes (building gets knocked down, lamp gets knocked into a book, fire breaks out). If it is swimming, the drag should make it hard to get close to the monster (for any PC's swimming). If it is a flying monster, the force of wind should make any flying PC's have to make a saving throw to stay close (even if they are flying by magic). The hardest part of a running battle should be the running.

Unless they are level 18+, the PC's should figure out that getting the monster to chase them (instead of destroying the town) or finding the Magguffin is the best plan.

 

[zaratan]

well, there was hatori, Leviathan, Zaratan and many others in previous edition. Why not?

The limit of gargantuan size always bothered me.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I have a few monsters planned for my world that are truly Massive, a couple big enough to eat the Terrasque whole. Anyone worked with this kind of size before?

Yes. Back in the day I used a monster (if it could be called that) which reached a pseudopod over a continent from the edge of the world and crushed a city. The party fought some of its cilia, which were stated out as purple worms.

More recently, in a short Epic Level campaign, the party fought a living planet.

I plan to stat their defense like terrain, as if you were attack a Castle Wall or an Iron mountain. Not sure on how I would arrange an attack for a creature like this, large as it is. Maybe just have them swim, and if the players are stupid enough to get in the path they take damage like they were hit by a mountain.

A big enough monster you can treat as terrain. You can reverse the Swarm (treat lots of little monsters as one big one) paradigm and have the huge monster count a series of smaller ones once you're on or in it. Parasites, young, and (if you want to get all scientific) immune responses can also be statted out as more conventional-sized monsters (and other hazards). A big enough monster can be host not just to nasty parasites, but to whole cultures unaware of their home's destructive nature.

 

[dave2008]

Depending how large you want I have some monsters that might fit the bill over in my 5e Epic Updates thread:http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468639-5e-EPIC-MONSTER-UPDATES

It is hard to do as a standard stat-block and I keep tweaking the formula, but here are some suggestions to look at:

Ahat-Hir (3000'x3000') in the Primordials section. Colossal parts.
Bjornganal (150'x150') in the Demon Lords section. Colossal trait
God Forged Colossus (200'x200') in the Constructs section. Colossal trait
Shen, the Dragon of Doom (50'x50') in the Dragons section. Colossal trait.
Protean, Astral (1000'x1000') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal trait.
Draeden, Greater (500'x500') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal parts.
Tarrasque, (50'x50') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal trait.
Kraken, (60'x60') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal trait.
Elder Treant, (60'x60') in the Plants section. Colossal trait.

Hope that helps.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

In the game I ran, the Big Bad evil dragon that was prophesied to destroy the world... eventually... was using the Tarrasque as its sort of larval form while it gathered energy. When the PCs cracked it open to let out the energy, before it got too powerful, it took a form that was about 1000 miles across. Its ensuing battle, with the Big Good dragon that sealed it away in the first place, destroyed the moon and would have probably ended the world outright if the PCs decided to stick around and watch.

When they actually fought the thing, six thousand years in the past, it was only ~500 miles wide by ~200 miles thick. I statted it out into five sections, with the PCs attacking the head, and other groups of destined heroes from throughout future history attacking the wings and claws. Each square on the battle grid was 50 miles, and most of its attacks hit everyone in a square. The breath weapon and wings could attack in line and cone patterns respectively. It worked out pretty well.

Edit: I guess it also counts, but they had an earlier encounter with the dread herald Icthultu, who was a writhing mass of kelp and tentacles that was only ~3 miles tall. That one was resolved without punching, by overloading the energy cannon on their airship, though hundreds of innocents were killed in the process.

 

[Lanliss]

Depending how large you want I have some monsters that might fit the bill over in my 5e Epic Updates thread:http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468639-5e-EPIC-MONSTER-UPDATES

It is hard to do as a standard stat-block and I keep tweaking the formula, but here are some suggestions to look at:

Ahat-Hir (3000'x3000') in the Primordials section. Colossal parts.
Bjornganal (150'x150') in the Demon Lords section. Colossal trait
God Forged Colossus (200'x200') in the Constructs section. Colossal trait
Shen, the Dragon of Doom (50'x50') in the Dragons section. Colossal trait.
Protean, Astral (1000'x1000') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal trait.
Draeden, Greater (500'x500') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal parts.
Tarrasque, (50'x50') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal trait.
Kraken, (60'x60') in the Monstrosities section. Colossal trait.
Elder Treant, (60'x60') in the Plants section. Colossal trait.

Hope that helps.

I haven't thought much on actual sizes, since these are so monstrous. For example, imagine a shark so massive it leaves a Tsunami when it rises to the surface, or Charybdis large enough to make a whirlpool so big you cannot see the opposite side.

Sounds like a golden opportunity to do the 'swallowed by the monster, fight your way out the dungeon-stomach' plotline.

That is a possibility that I hadn't even thought of.