Restating the Tarrasque as an Elder Evil

[Sinfire Titan]

I find it rather strange that the ultimate engine of destruction wasn't restatted when they printed Elder Evils, as the stats in the MM really do not do it justice. What more classic way is there to get the party to shit themselves than sending the Tarrasque their way?

Unless it's a party of optimizers, in which case its a joke at best and a campaign-breaker at worst...


So how about it, shall we stat out the Tarrasque as an Elder Evil-style campaign seed (complete with new stats for Big T himself)?

[veekie]

Well with Big T as an Elder Evil, I think the emphasis should be more on the destruction levied against anything BUT the players. It's the devourer of worlds, so it's thing is to be extremely difficult to harm at range, while being an absolute melee monster. The players assault it to try and divert it. It cannot be stopped by terrain or environment, rather resculpting the land as it passes.

But at the same time I imagine it's role in setting might also fit a renewal through destruction theme. The land in it's wake is crushed but vibrant(tarresque poop fertilizer), it'd suck if you're a guy who just experienced a civ ending event, but where nature is concerned Big T just reset the imbalances.

[oslecamo]

But at the same time I imagine it's role in setting might also fit a renewal through destruction theme. The land in it's wake is crushed but vibrant(tarresque poop fertilizer), it'd suck if you're a guy who just experienced a civ ending event, but where nature is concerned Big T just reset the imbalances.

This. The Tarrasque is neutral for a reason. It destroys, but isn't more evil than an earthquake or a volcano is. It spends most of its time slumbering, sometimes going into a rampage to shake things up around the world, and then goes to sleep again. The more puny sentient beings try to "tame" the world, the bigger chance the Tarrasque awakens and crushes some civilizations for good measure (all those unlooted buried ruins have to come from somewhere after all).

Anyway if you want to rebuild it from scratch, I could sugest my monster class version as a basis as far as special abilities are concerned.

And for your viewing pleasure, I release you the first draft of my Tarrasque monster class abilities. Altough I deemed its full array of abilities too OP for an actual player, they may do just fine for a final boss:

(click to show/hide)

HD:d12
Saves: All good
Bab:Full


Features:
Ancient body: The tarrasque loses all other racial traits and becomes a medium sized magical beast with all the related traits(basically darkivision 60 foot and low light vision). It has a base speed of 40 foot and a natural bite attack dealing 1d10+1,5 str modifier damage, and the scent ability. It has claws and tail altough they're too weak to do anything for now. It's unable to do fine manipulation but it can talk in a gutural deep primal voice.

It also gains a bonus to natural armor equal to his Con modifier+2. Whenever the Tarrasque grows in size it's natural armor grows by an extra +1.
Unless otherwise noticed all of the Tarrasque abilities are Ex abilities, even those that replicate spells.


 Assimilation:The tarrasque is an avatar of doom, seeking not only destroying everything in his wake but growing stronger as he does so.

As a fullround action the tarrasque may eat an unatended piece of  magic equipment, in wich case it is destroyed and it's essence assimilated into the tarrasque body, granting the magic bonus of the assimilated item (if any) . Magic weapons absorbed transfer their magic enanchments to a natural weapon of the tarrasque's choice (use the natural weapon basic stats). Enchantments that only work on ranged attacks don't benefit the Tarrasque.  Armor and shield bonus apply to the Tarrasque's natural armor. Charged items keep their old number of charges and can be used the normal number of times.  As usual equipment, bonus of the same type don't stack.

Basically, this ability allows the tarrasque to use equipment whitout it actually equiping it. Bonus gained from assimilation can be supressed by dispel magic and AMF like regular magic items and permanently destroyed by Mormekdain's Disjuction

The tarrasque may remove any number of assimilated item from himself with 8 hours of uninterrupted concentration, in wich case one or more exotic jewels form on the tarrasque's skin, from the condensed essence of the magic items. Those gems can be removed whitout harm from the tarrasque's skin at the end of the 8 hour period. They are worth half as much as the market price of the assimilated items removed.

In adition to the above, whenever the tarrasque needs to make a save against poison or disease, nothing happens if he fails the save, and if the tarrasque makes it then he assimilates the poison/disease and can deliver it with his bite attack. Each sucessfull save only allows for one "charge" of poison/disease, but the tarrasque doesn't need to use it right away, and can hold it indefenetely.

Improved grab:As the srd ability.

Ability score increase: the tarrasque gains +1 str and +1 Con at every level.

Monstruosity:gains regeneration equal to half the tarrasque's HD, wich can only be bypassed by critical hits(including coup de grace). Also gains resistance to fire, cold, sonic, acid and electrecity equal to his HD.

Rush:Once per minute the Tarrasque can multiply his base movement speed by seven for one round as a free action.

Claws: The tarrasque gains two claw attacks dealing 1d4+str damage each, secondary attacks.

Pounce:When the Tarrasque charges it may perform a full attack at the end of the charge.

Growth: The tarrasque grows one size category at levels 4, 8, 12 and 16.

StompAs a standard action a number of times per day equal to his Con modifier the tarrasque may slam the ground he stands in, creating a shockwave that desestablizes his oponents and tears apart the ground itself. The tarrasque chooses either a  line  with a length of 20 foot per HD and wideness equal to the tarrasque's own space, or a burst with a radius of 10 foot per HD. Anyone in the selected area must make a reflex save (DC 10+1/2HD+Str modifier) or be knocked prone and takes 1d6 damage per HD of the Tarrasque (sucessfull save reduces this damage to half). The affected area also becomes dificult terrain that however doesn't slow down the tarrasque himself.

Multiple uses on the same area stack. So a piece of terrain stomped two times would reduce movement speed by ¼.

At 8 HD the Tarrasque may use this ability as a move action.
At 12 HD the Tarrasque may use this ability as a swift action.
At 16 HD the Tarrasque may use this ability as a free action any number of times per round as long as it has uses.
At 20 HD the Tarrasque can use this ability at will, but only once per round. It adds two times his Con modifier to the DCs instead of just once.

Horns The tarrasque gains two horn attacks dealing 1d6 damage each, secondary attacks.


Begginning of the end: the tarrasque's skin starts to srugg off both sorcery and sword. The tarrasque gains SR=11+HD+Con modifier and DR/- equal to half his HD.


Terror from below: the tarrasque lurks under earth or water, waiting for his oportunity to strike. It gains a swim speed equal to his base speed and a burrow speed equal to half his base speed. In adition the tarrasque no longer needs to breath and it can eat anything as sustenance, as well as gaining tremorsense with a range of 10 foot per HD.

Doom: As the Tarrasque grows it resembles more and more an avatar of destruction. The first time the tarrasque attacks or charges each round, every creature of the same size or smaller  than the Tarrasque that can see it must make a Will save DC 10+1/2 tarrasque's HD+Con modifier or be shaken for 1 round per HD. Failing the save a second time while shaken makes the creature panicked.  Even creatures immune to fear can be affected by this ability as nothing is truly safe from the tarrasque, but they gain a +5 bonus on the save. On the other hand, creatures gain a  -1 penalty on their saves for each size category they're smaller than the Tarrasque.

Primal Roar:The  Tarrasque can roar with such strenght it creates waves of impact that bring down everything above him. A number of times per day equal to his Con modifier, as a move action the Tarrasque can roar, affecting all creatures in a range of 100 foot per HD (the tarrasque may reduce this radius if it wishes). The primal roar extends to the ethereal plane itself affecting ethereal creatures.

Flying creatures (and objects like airships and flying islands) affected by the primal roar  are mercilessly brought down to the ground at the begginning of their turns, falling prone and taking apropriate falling damage depending on how high they were (ref save 10+1/2 HD+Con modifier for half damage and landing on their feet). Creatures may try to take to the skies again after landing (having to get up first if prone) but they'll be brought down again at the begginning of their next turn taking falling damage again. This affects even the Tarrasque himself of he somehow was flying.

Creatures on land other than the Tarrasque must make a Fortitude save DC 10+1/2 HD +Con modifier or have their speed reduced by half as they struggle against the mighty roar. If they fail the save by 10 or more they're pinned instead. Creatures take a -1 penalty on this save for each size category they're smaller than the Tarrasque.

The primal roar keeps echoing and every creature affected suffers the same effects for 1 round per Tarrasque HD after it roars. If the Tarrasque is in zone where there is no discernible “ground” like the elemental plane of water then creatures fall towards the Tarrasque itself slamming on it's hard body but whitout dealing it damage.

At 12 HD the Tarrasque may roar as a swift action. At 18 HD it may roar as a free action any number of times per day it wants and it adds twice his Con modifier to the DCs instead of once.
 
Reality bend:the tarrasque's sheer presence is enough to start making the very existence around him twist. The tarrasque gains a permanent mindblank effect and can use plane shift as a SLA 1/day for each 4HD it has, save DC 10+1/2 tarrasque's HD+Con mod.

In adition, the tarrasque  can enter personal extradimensional spaces like rope trick and mage's magnificent mansion. Even if the entrance size is too small for the Tarrasque to fit it can tear it open untill it's large enough simply by moving trough it.

Augmented senses:The Tarrasque eyes and ears are exceptionally sharp. It adds his Con modifier to spot and listen checks and benefits from a permanent see invisibility effect.

Devouring bite:The tarrasque can try to swallow a grabbed opponent two or more size categories smaller than it by making a successful grapple check. Once inside, the opponent takes 1d8+1/2 str modifier points of crushing damage plus 1d8+Con modifier points of acid damage per round from the tarrasque’s digestive juices(both damages increase acordingly when the tarrasque grows in size). A swallowed creature can cut its way out by dealing damage to the tarrasque’s digestive tract (AC 10+Con modifier) equal to his HD+Constitution score (not modifier). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. The tarrasque’s gullet can hold two creatures two size smaller than him, or eight creatures three sizes smaller than him, or 32 creatures four sizes smaller than him, and so on.

In adition, the tarrasque now ignores freedom of movement effects when using this  and  its improved grab ability.

Reality tear: the tarrasque's natural weapons now ignore all DR that can be bypassed by something. DR/-  is only half as effective, and the Tarrasque natural weapons now benefit from a permanent ghost touch effect.

Dimensional Colapse:All teleportation becomes extremely hazardous when performed near the Tarrasque due to his sheer presence. Anyone trying to use a teleportation effect/spell/ability to or from 10 foot per HD away from the Tarrasque must make a Concentration check 10+HD+Str modifier or the effect fails and the one trying to teleport takes 1d6 damage per Tarrasque HD. Even if  the save is made the teleportation effect goes awry unless they suceed by 10 or more. Roll a 1d100. The distance traveled by the awry distance is reduced by that percentage (minimum 5 foot reduction).

Destroyer: the tarrasque's natural weapons evolve to deliver gruesome and crippling wounds. Oponents hit by the following natural attacks of the tarrasque suffer the following penalties, fort save equal to the damage taken from the attack to resist, and last untill the target is healed back to his full HP unless otherwise noted. All the abilities down there ignore freedom of movement.

Bite: maimed, take a -1 penalty on all d20 rolls for each 10 points of damage taken by the attack, stacks

Claws: rended, take -1  penalty on an ability score of the tarrasque's choice except Con for each 10 damage taken,  stacks (but can't reduce below one)

Horns: impaled, loses dex bonus to AC and can't move anymore but if the tarrasque moves the impaled target is moved along. Can try a new save every round to pull himself out. While impaling, the tarrasque can only use the respective horn to attack the impaled creature itself. A creature of the same size or bigger than the tarrasque can only be impaled if the tarrasque hits it with both horns on the same attack and the creature fails both saves.

Immortal vigor:The tarrasque's regeneration can now heal any ill effect. If the tarrasque would recover any amount of  HP thanks to his regeneration, instead he may choose to remove the same amount of negative levels, ability drain, ability damage or a spell/power/supernatural ability  effect on him. So for example a tarrasque with 10 HD and regeneration 5 could remove from himself one 5th level spell, or a 3rd level spell and two negative levels. If an effect doesn't have a listed level, it is half of the HD of the creature that originated it.

Carapace: The tarrasque’s armorlike carapace becomes exceptionally tough and highly reflective, deflecting all rays, lines, cones, and even magic missile spells cast from more than 30 foot away from the tarrasque. There is a 50% chance of reflecting any such effect back at the caster; otherwise, it is merely negated. Check for reflection before rolling to overcome the creature’s spell resistance.

In adition, the tarrasque gains DR equal to it's HD (stacking with it's normal DR) against any   ranged attacks coming from more than 30 foot away from it.

Prevail:The Tarrasque revels on violence and destruction, even when inflicted upon itself. Specially when inflicted upon itself.

If the Tarrasque is droped to 50% of his normal HP it may add his Con modifier to his DR, SR, saves, skill checks, regeneration, resistances, ability DCs, attack and damage rolls even if it was already adding them.

If the Tarrasque is droped to 25% of his normal HP it may add his Str modifier to his DR, SR, regeneration, saves, skill checks, resistances, ability DCs, attack and damage rolls even if it was already adding them.

Tail Slap:The tarrasque gains a tail slap natural weapon dealing 2d8 base damage, secondary attack. Whenever the Tarrasque attacks with it's tail it may attack once any creature smaller than itself whitin his melee range with it but doesn't gain extra attacks from cleave or similar abilities from oponents droped in this way.

Unstopable Force: created for destruction, the tarrasque tramples over all defenses. The tarrasque can ignore any obstacle on it's way that has less hardness than his HD when moving and attacking. So if for example he detected a creature hiding behind a wall of stone with his tremorsense, he could simply charge trough the wall of stone like it wasn't there.

This ability also allows the tarrasque to ignore all cover, and can even punch trough magic effects that hamper movement like solid fog or even prismatic wall. When facing any area magic effect that would hamper or block movement the tarrasque can make a dispel check against that effect using his own HD as CL, no limit, as an attack action. Force effects can be destroyed by this ability but the tarrasque takes a -5 penalty when trying to dispel them.  If the check is sucessfull, the attack punches trough and can be directed at any oponent now whitin reach.

Augmented critical: All of the Tarrasque natural weapons no have a 18-20 threat range and deal triple damage in a sucessfull critical.



Ancient Heart: The Tarrasque's regeneration can't be bypassed by anything, and any effect that would kill it outright instead simply deals it nonlethal damage equal to it's total HP +10.

To kill the tarrasque one needs to leave it uncoscious by dealing enough non-lethal damage and then  cast a limited wish to finish it off, but the Tarrasque still gets a last Fort save to resist this.

At 18 HD it takes a wish or miracle instead of limited wish to finish the Tarrasque.

In adition the Tarrasque no longer fails saves on a natural 1.

Earthquake: The Tarrasque's might is such that it can crack the earth itself simply by stomping it's feets as a standard action. This works as an earthquake SLA, useable a number of times per day equal to the Tarrasque's Con modifier and using Str for the save DC. The Tarrasque itself suffers no ill effects from it.

Rend Magic:The Tarrasque's natural weapons tear apart everything, even the strongest fabrics of magic. Any creature hit by the Tarrasque's natural weapons is targeted by a  dispel magic effect, CL equal to the Tarrasque's HD, no limit like the normal spell. The Tarrasque may also attack any ongoing effects to dispel them in this way, not only ones that block/hamper movement.

Crush:When the Tarrasque moves over creatures/objects three or more size categories smaller than himself (that normally wouldn't block it's movement) it can choose to crush them. The targets may choose to don't perform attacks of oportunity for the movement and instead do  a Reflex save (DC 10+1/2 HD+Str modifier). Failure on the save or performing the attack of oportunity means the creatures are pinned, in adition automatically taking 4d6 damage +1,5 Str modifier(changes acordingly to the Tarrasque's size).  No creature or object can be crushed more than once per turn.

Primal Sight: The Tarrasque now benefits from a permanent true seeing effect, except that it extends an extra 5 foot per Tarrasque HD.

Break:The Tarrasque attacks grow even more potent. Anything hit by one of the Tarrasque's natural weapons takes a -1 penalty to AC untill fully healed/repaired, multiple hits stack.

Counter:Whenever a creature inside the Tarrasque's reach attacks it in any way, the Tarrasque may strike back with any of it's natural weapons right after the first attack is resolved

Sky Break: The skies themselves cry when the Tarrasque aproaches. This works as a Storm of Vengeance SLA useable a number of times per day equal to the Tarrasque's Con modifier, except the Tarrasque can start it as a standard action, doesn't need to keep concentration to maintain it, it can last up to one hour per  HD and the Tarrasque is completely immune to all the ill effects of the Storm, including being able to perfectly see trough it. The Tarrasque can produce multiple storms one after the other but if they're on the same area the effects don't stack. Save DCs are Con based.

Eruption:Even the land itself screams at the Tarrasque's coming. A number of times per day equal to it's com modifier, as a fullround action the Tarrasque can roar while slamming the ground, making the earth start to tremble. 1D4+1 rounds later a torrent of lava erupts on a place whitin view of the Tarrasque of it's choice. It is a cylinder with a radius up to 5 foot per Tarrasque HD reaching up to 100 foot high per Tarrasque HD. Creatures inside the cyliner get a reflex save DC 10+1/2 HD+Con modifier to get out of the area on time once it explodes. Anyone left inside the cylinder is treated as immersed in lava. This lava is specially hot and burns even creatures with resistance to fire, altough the resistance still applies to the total damage dealt, except the Tarrasque itself. The eruption lasts 1 round per Tarrasque HD.

Apocalypse:The true purpose of the Tarrasque comes into being. To slay all the gods and their creations. The Tarrasque becomes fully immune to all salient divine abilities and epic magic, and can freely use his reality bend ability to enter any private realms (assuming it has heard about them). The Tarrasque also becomes immune to artifacts and can destroy any such trinket by swallowing them.

Creatures slain by the Tarrasque's natural weapons or offensive abilities are utterly destroyed and can't be brought back to life/existence by any means known, even divine intervention (specially divine intervetion).

Add bigger numbers on DR/HP/Stats/Regeneration at your leisure.

[Agita]

Some mechanical ideas based on veekie's pretty reasonable specifications:
-Mr. T needs defenses. First and foremost, a high touch AC. The easiest way to do this is probably to have its deflective carapace turn its natural armor into a deflection bonus instead. Saves need a similar treatment, but due to HD bloat those are much easier to have reasonably high.
-It also needs defenses that heavily discourage ranged approaches without actually giving it outright immunity. Having it reflect such attacks that it successfully defends against might work well.
-Deal with the Allip Problem: Big T not being able to munch on incorporeal creatures is silly. Give it Ghost Touch in some fashion. Perhaps it exists on the Material, Ethereal, and Shadow planes (the three coexistent planes) all at the same time.
-If discouraging ranged attacks is done right, giving it off-theme flight can be made redundant. A swim speed could be handy. Climbing ought to be made superfluous by jumping and extreme Strength. A burrow speed might fit because it just eats that fast.
-Area-of-effect melee attacks. Because the Tarrasque needs to be able to rip open armies.

Campaign seed-wise, the most obvious bad guy to vector the release of the Tarrasque would be some crazy druid. Something less often done might be preferable.
I'm AFB right now so I don't have the list of Signs handy, but off the top of my head Eerie Weather or Blood Moon seem appropriate.

EDIT: I just remembered a piece of homebrew for a different system we can probably steal from as well. Stay tuned for more ideas.

[veekie]

The preferred sign varies a bit:
-Eerie Weather, excellent for Big T as All-Destroyer, with weather growing more destructive as things go on. And incidentally all the nasty weather also tends to ground enemies.
-Blood Moon, focuses a bit more on on Big T as Ender of Civilization, with people going mad with hunger leaking from the beast.
-Appalling Fecundity, fits Big T as Renewer.

For Malefic Property though, Big T would best fit for:
-Impervious to the Divine, which makes it much more of the irresistible wrath of nature, and massively ups it's resistance to magic.
-True Death, in the sense that it devours everything it finds down to the spiritual level for recycling.

Possible takes to the awakening process:
-Big T is dungeon sized, awakening in appetite, mobility and awareness as the Signs progress. What the PCs get to fight are essentially it's limbs and outer layers, slowing it down and impeding it's ability to eat everything quite as quickly. In it's wake, Dire animals, monstrous plants, giant vermin and other oversized wildlife emerge. The only way to put it back to sleep is to destroy it from the inside, or starve it for long enough.

-Big T starts as Small T, growing as it eats it's way up, then pupate and metamorphose steadily bigger. Up until the final dungeon sized form, multiple of them exist, growing as they devour more things and even each other, with the end state of again, dungeon sized monster.

[Agita]

Possible takes to the awakening process:
-Big T is dungeon sized, awakening in appetite, mobility and awareness as the Signs progress. What the PCs get to fight are essentially it's limbs and outer layers, slowing it down and impeding it's ability to eat everything quite as quickly. In it's wake, Dire animals, monstrous plants, giant vermin and other oversized wildlife emerge. The only way to put it back to sleep is to destroy it from the inside, or starve it for long enough.

-Big T starts as Small T, growing as it eats it's way up, then pupate and metamorphose steadily bigger. Up until the final dungeon sized form, multiple of them exist, growing as they devour more things and even each other, with the end state of again, dungeon sized monster.

Doing Big T up as a whole dungeon in and of itself would seem to defeat the purpose of the OP somewhat, though, in that it's supposed to be a re-stat of the Tarrasque itself. The second option might be closer to that with different sizes of Tarrasques, I suppose.

EDIT: Impervious to the Divine might fit or be a bit odd depending on how you play it. If it's supposed to be a force of nature that even divine intervention won't stop, then it sort of works, but you do need to explain why, say, Druids can't do jack while Wizards can (not that it would be impossible or even difficult, just a consideration).

EDIT 2: Having the thing awaken near the start or middle and keep growing is also liable to cause problems with sequence breaking, where the players get lucky or otherwise face it before it's fully grown and head off the plotline altogether, as opposed to a full awakening when it's ready.

[veekie]

On the size thing, yes, but as the iconic gigantic creature, it could stand being larger than Colossal, if only to make it better at swallowing everything. Big T is supposed to be unique, indestructible, very big and very hungry, meeting all of which is difficult to do while meeting the Elder Evil format. It doesn't have any real minions in the proper sense, save for perhaps, cultists in the earliest stages trying to speed it's awakening. Once it wakes, it's a big honking solo monster, which while scary for parties, doesn't exactly sound world ending.

Impervious to the Divine, not so hard, if it's a physical embodiment of the rules which underlie gods and nature.

For the growth option, it's one reason I went with multiple Small Ts eating their way to Big. It's pretty difficult to get them all put down, especially if every one of them is similarly unkillable. One other possibility is Big T as a transformative force(I think this is closest to the historical inspiration), which would, after causing a massive increase in giant creatures rampaging, metamorphose the strongest predator into the truly unstoppable one.

[Agita]

On the size thing, yes, but as the iconic gigantic creature, it could stand being larger than Colossal, if only to make it better at swallowing everything. Big T is supposed to be unique, indestructible, very big and very hungry, meeting all of which is difficult to do while meeting the Elder Evil format. It doesn't have any real minions in the proper sense, save for perhaps, cultists in the earliest stages trying to speed it's awakening. Once it wakes, it's a big honking solo monster, which while scary for parties, doesn't exactly sound world ending.

True enough. I like the ideas of both a big devastating end fight with the thing itself and, well, keeping the purpose of the project as restatting the Tarrasque into THE TARRASQUE, though. The former might clash with the idea of it being a monster that's supposed to rampage over all the world eventually, but the latter is quite key in my opinion and saying that the CR 20 (or 24 or 27 or whatever it ends up as) Tarrasque is "a smaller version" or "an avatar" sort of feels like a cop-out.

Impervious to the Divine, not so hard, if it's a physical embodiment of the rules which underlie gods and nature.

Yeah, it's not terribly hard like I said, just something to be kept in mind while writing flavor.

For the growth option, it's one reason I went with multiple Small Ts eating their way to Big. It's pretty difficult to get them all put down, especially if every one of them is similarly unkillable. One other possibility is Big T as a transformative force(I think this is closest to the historical inspiration), which would, after causing a massive increase in giant creatures rampaging, metamorphose the strongest predator into the truly unstoppable one.

True enough, that is likely to work fine in all but niche cases. Since you mention it, though - what is the historical(/mythical) inspiration, anyway? I can't say I'm familiar with it.

[veekie]

It's some kind of french dragon, but is chimeric in form.

The Tarasque was a sort of dragon with six short legs like a bear's, an ox-like body covered with a turtle shell, and a scaly tail that ended in a scorpion's sting. It had a lion's head.

Though this one is specifically weak to mind affecting divine magic, and strangely enough, while unstoppable on the battlefield, when calmed, it goes down to villagers.

[Agita]

It's some kind of french dragon, but is chimeric in form.

The Tarasque was a sort of dragon with six short legs like a bear's, an ox-like body covered with a turtle shell, and a scaly tail that ended in a scorpion's sting. It had a lion's head.

Though this one is specifically weak to mind affecting divine magic, and strangely enough, while unstoppable on the battlefield, when calmed, it goes down to villagers.

No half an essay? I'm disappointed.

Hmm... so the original basically went down to a Calm Emotions. Not terribly useful for a game, though. Anything about the original myth that might be worth stealing?

Now that I have my copy of Elder Evils: On Signs, Seal of Binding might work in a "no help for you" kind of way, but others just fit better. Same goes for Arcane Skies, which could go along with Impervious to the Divine.
Twisted Life might work even better than Appalling Fecundity for Tarrasque As Renewer, especially if it spawns dire animals and other mutated superpredators.
On Malefic Properties, Discord and Woe is the only other one that seems like it could fit.

[sirpercival]

[Threadnaught]

Two versions from me to my players. One is currently being held prisoner while the forest around it is shrouded in darkness, the air is screaming and all forms of teleportation are prevented. In the southern desert where it was held prisoner, tortured and fed on, it's mind can temporarily escape it's body to be with it's essence. It lures all kinds of twisted creatures that were born from it's flesh by doing this. That's multiple signs there and that's before I read Elder Evils.
It also holds the dual status of ultimate final boss (or so my players think) monster and scary quest giver.

Second version is basically, that horribly overpowered... Thing, Oslecamo posted, there are no words to describe how scary it is.

Dark Visiting Malefic Property looks like the best one to give this alien creature. It fits into far too many signs to say which one it should use however.

[Amechra]

I've always like this rewrite for the Tarrasque.

I think it should have a unique sign; may I suggest some kind of Primal World sign, where nature becomes harsh.

Look at the Shadow Landscape spell; it doesn't alter the natural world's shape, it just makes things bad for the unprepared traveler.

That should be the Mild sign, at least, ranging up to "haha, the world is all storms and earthquakes, with grasses and such grabbing you and holding you down to be devoured, before being devoured itself."

It should take the darkest side of nature, and make it both come forward and make it worse.

[veekie]

Something to work with might be some ability keyed off Swallow Whole or augmenting Swallow Whole, for the ultimate omnivore. Though getting buffed from what it eats can get crazy pretty fast. Maybe if the food acts as a reserve of health or regeneration over and above it's normal regeneration.

EDIT: Pic Relevant

(click to show/hide)

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Yeah, 2nd-ing the Divine immunity like the rest of the EE's.

You could give big T the weird anti-flier semi-immunity of the 4e version.
Heh ...  ... 4e >> 3e on like 1 thing.


If you gave big T an automatic retort type power:
Surprise round ... T wakes up, un-prones, gets 1 retort attack, roar deafens all attackers to line of sight(hearing)
1st round requires an Immediate to autostrike back / within reach
2nd round OAs get a return OA back as round 1 / within range of attacker
3rd round adds 1 free action / within range = line of effect
4th round = auto retort any attack / within range = line of sight
... by this point T is flipping around the battlefield like 4e Demogorgon
5th round = pre-retort any attack / range to the horizon

[Bloody Initiate]

The more puny sentient beings try to "tame" the world, the bigger chance the Tarrasque awakens and crushes some civilizations for good measure (all those unlooted buried ruins have to come from somewhere after all).

This also explains the millennia-long failures to advance that plague fantasy settings ("The elder king's sword from 2k years ago is an artifact of enormous power.... and for some reason better-crafted than anything we've done since"), and in fact their tendency to DE-Evolve rather than evolve ("Damn those giants and dwarves built some fancy machines, more artifacts of enormous power and mystery!").

The only way most fantasy settings work is if they keep suffering cataclysms. This is actually why I liked the steampunk-ish Eberron ("WTF are you doing walking anywhere? Catch a train cave boy!").

Real great civilizations fall, there's plenty of historical evidence of that, but the way it's often handled in fantasy settings is just a little annoying. That being said fantasy settings are frequently devoid of the most annoying real life problems, like plagues wiping out massive portions of the population, and I don't remember the last time my D&D character had to use a lavatory. Maybe the absence of problems caused by poor infrastructure explains the lack of advances in that very infrastructure. If you never got a parasite from drinking out of the stream, maybe you never thought to build an aqueduct.

So yeah, it helps having the Tarrasque show up and destroy stuff every now and then. That woud explain the rather unique weapon technology of D&D without the corresponding societal advances, if you live in a world where giant bugs just eat people who walk on trails due to random encounters, maybe you'd be less worried about whether your city is making the best use of sunlight and rainwater.

[Agita]

Continuing from my and veekie's last string of posts, some thoughts on why the Tarrasque might be awakening. For starters, shoehorning the Tarrasque into explaining D&D's various anachronisms and other simple conventions of the fantasy genre is not a good idea, in any case. It's liable to create more inconsistencies than it explains or fall prey to Midichlorian Syndrome (or both). It also cheapens the big critter immensely as an elder evil-style campaign ender if its release is something that just happens every couple thousand years, oh well. Think major extinction event, not fall of Rome.

Possible bad guys:
The opportunist: This guy wants the Tarrasque to trash stuff so he (or she) can loot the remains and reign atop the rubble. Prime fodder for self-hoisting by means of own petard. Not really what one would call a reasonable motivation for releasing Big T though, even granting that anyone aiming to do so is by definition insane. Probably better used as a supporter for another BBEG.

Civilization is evuhl: You know the type. Ecoterrorism cranked to eleven. Civilization is poisoning nature, so release the Tarrasque to kill it off and start over. Drawback: Pretty overdone.

Survival of the fit: The other, possibly less overdone, naturalistic approach. Release the Tarrasque as a way to cull all but those strong enough to survive it. Good pairing with the opportunist (or even one and the same).

Those damn aboleths: Aboleth plot. The aboleths as a race are canonically older than the gods. Given the Tarrasque's status as an environmental reset button, it has almost certainly been unleashed at least once before. Since aboleths were around before that and are around now, it follows that they survived any prior releases. Thus, it stands to reason that they would survive again as a race, resulting in a situation where the aboleths, thanks to racial memory, have fairly little to lose (a number of individuals and most non-aboleth, read expendable, minions) and potentially a lot to gain.

The most dangerous game: What's more badass than hanging a tyrannosaurus skull over your fireplace? Hanging a Tarrasque skull over your fireplace, of course (or more likely over your house, depending on what size T ends up being). So a big game hunter releases it for hunting purposes. Gets eaten, naturally, as the trope demands. Drawback: Kind of Disney-ish.

[Threadnaught]

Got a few more ways to release the Big T.

The Players: Get a bunch of new players in and trick them into waking the Tarrasque while dangling the non wakey Tarrasque option in front of them.

It's own Essence: Say the Tarrasque is as old as the world. Bits of it will have fused with the land, vegetation and creatures. Creating a whole new species, perhaps something new or maybe another iconic creature.

The Inevitables: The world has gone too long without feeling the Tarrasque's fury and the forges can't create Marut fast enough. Kolyarut are sent to scout ahead and gather information. While the Marut serve as the ones who awaken and free the Tarrasque, perhaps become part of it's army.

Arrogant Villain: In a similar situation to the aforementioned hunter, this guy would release the Tarrasque for their own personal gain. Though the Tarrasque is likely to just eat them and then rampage.
There was a villain who did this and succeeded though. It was a Psion who swapped minds with the Tarrasque and usually walked around transformed into his original form with a custom magic item to hide the tarrasque from spells like True Seeing.
His original body with the Tarrasque's mind was left in an asylum being cared for by Monks.

[oslecamo]

It also cheapens the big critter immensely as an elder evil-style campaign ender if its release is something that just happens every couple thousand years, oh well. Think major extinction event, not fall of Rome.

On the contrary, the Tarrasque being a recurring force makes it 10x times as epic. Because you know that it's not just some madmen's ramblings. Because you know that others tried to stop it-and failed. Can you do it? Can you break the cycle of destruction?

Now making it a puny hunting target, that's as cheap as it gets. If every noble has a tarrasque skull over its fireplace, there's no glory whatsoever on the party doing it. "So you killed the tarrasque? Yeah my cousin's son did it last week as well. We got hunting tarrasques monthly. Still have some leftoever steak. You were expecting a prize or something?"

[Agita]

It also cheapens the big critter immensely as an elder evil-style campaign ender if its release is something that just happens every couple thousand years, oh well. Think major extinction event, not fall of Rome.

On the contrary, the Tarrasque being a recurring force makes it 10x times as epic. Because you know that it's not just some madmen's ramblings. Because you know that others tried to stop it-and failed. Can you do it? Can you break the cycle of destruction?

We're talking past each other here. I never suggested that the Tarrasque should not be recurring, and I'm not sure where you might have gotten that as I explicitly refer to the event happening multiple times. It totally should be. The suggestion is that the Tarrasque's scale is diminished if it happens too often.
Civilizations are transient. All of them will collapse eventually anyway even if an unkillable giant lizard doesn't come along and trash stuff. It makes the Tarrasque almost pedestrian. The black plague did that. Humans can do that, if they try. It's not special in the grand scheme of things.

Compare the Tarrasque as a major extinction event, happening every ten thousand years at most (More realistic, comparing to how evolution and ecosystems work in the real world, would be spaced a few hundred million years apart, but most settings don't have that kind of prehistory and obviously work differently). Rather than just ending civilization, it kills the world so that it can be reborn more alive than it was before. It's the cycle of reincarnation, as applied to the entire planet.
Simply saving the world is something many campaigns do. If you kill the Tarrasque under this model, you have done so much more. If you permanently kill the Tarrasque conceived as the death and rebirth of the world, you have forever broken a fundamental principle of the universe.

And as with anything epic, overexposure will cheapen it. Seriously. Epic + epic again does not equal twice as epic. Knowing for a fact what is going to happen and that it will be coming does the same. Building horror or tension requires the unknown to a large degree (ask any professional writer of fiction in the genre).
I'd much rather have a single ancient stone tablet buried somewhere, speaking in a language that nobody now knows (and thus has to be deciphered with magic) of a nebulous Beast of Judgement, destroying all in its path and leaving a new world in its wake, along with ruins of an unknown civilization of who knows what (not even necessarily humanoids), that is dated far older than any recorded history, over certain knowledge that a giant beast comes every [insert timespan] here, and you're due. I find the moment you realize to your horror that what is happening right now matches the final writings of a lost civilization's last survivor far more interesting.

Now making it a puny hunting target, that's as cheap as it gets. If every noble has a tarrasque skull over its fireplace, there's no glory whatsoever on the party doing it. "So you killed the tarrasque? Yeah my cousin's son did it last week as well. We got hunting tarrasques monthly. Still have some leftoever steak. You were expecting a prize or something?"

False assumption. The suggestion builds on the idea that the Tarrasque is an age-ending monstrosity, recurs on the timespan of ages, not millenia, and is one of a kind. You can't have multiple Tarrasque heads around at the same time for that exact reason. In order to claim it as your trophy, you have to kill the Tarrasque permanently, because otherwise while you're redecorating your house it will grow back and kill you anyway (along with everything else, natch). Obviously, once the thing is dead you can't kill it again. If you can safely take its head multiple times, then the Tarrasque is a chump and the whole point of the proposed project is for that not to be the case. This contention is ridiculous.