Source: Monster Manual (2024) p. 305. Available in the SRD and the Free Rules (2024)
Tarrasque
The Shape of Calamity
Habitat. Urban
Treasure. None
Among the most devastating creatures in existence, the tarrasque is an engine of catastrophe and a ruiner of nations. A terror of massive size and overwhelming might, this primeval destroyer survives from the earliest epochs of the Material Plane, when it served as a weapon of immortal forces. Since then, the tarrasque has slumbered in secret, rising every few ages to usher in eras of destruction.
The tarrasque is a bipedal, prehistoric Monstrosity that stands over seventy feet tall. Bristling with horns and spikes, its spiny carapace deflects harm and can reflect magical attacks.
The tarrasque is a creature of tireless rage. It lashes out at any creature that catches its attention, thrashing with claws and its mighty tail while swallowing smaller beings whole. It seems to take instinctual offense at the works of lesser beings, venting its rage at buildings, bridges, ships, and monuments. The larger a structure or foe is, the greater the tarrasque’s wrath.
It is a mystery what—if anything—calms the tarrasque, but eventually it returns to its slumber, leaving the world irrevocably changed. While the tarrasque might be halted by incredible opposition, its threat can never be wiped from the multiverse. Whenever the tarrasque is defeated, another tarrasque awakes somewhere else on the Material Plane.
Few things survive the tarrasque’s rampages, and reports of the monster’s devastation are often contradictory, incomplete, or beyond belief. In cases where it leaves no survivors, its calamities might initially be blamed on evil dragons or magical disasters, but the tarrasque frequently leaves behind some unmistakable indication of its passage. Roll on or choose a result from the Tarrasque Evidence table to inspire what marks the monster’s rampages.
Tarrasque Evidence
dice: 1d4
Amid Destruction, the Tarrasque Leaves…
1
Evidence of a magic spell reflected back on its caster, like Ice Knife or Melf’s Acid Arrow.
