We’ve been doing Deep Dives for over three years now, and it’s about time we’ve gotten around to the Tarrasque. The most dreaded of all monsters, the Tarrasque is the culmination of many a campaign. This massive behemoth is the ultimate predator of life, and its origins stretch far into our real-world past. As talked about in Dragon #329 (March 2005) in the article The Petite Tarrasque and Other Monsters by Kyla Ward, its first stories begin in Provence, located in southern France. It was a mythological dragon-like creature with the head of a lion, a tortoiseshell on its back, the lower half of a fish, and a bit bigger than a bear. It brought devastation to the countryside until it was tamed by Saint Martha who defeated it by sprinkling holy water on it and wrapping her sash around its neck.

While we don’t recommend to others fighting the Tarrasque with holy water and a sash, we can’t help but be impressed by anyone who can take on the Tarrasque by themselves.

**Dragon #329**, March 2005 Paizo Publishing

AD&D - Tarrasque

Frequency: Unique
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: -3
Move: 9” (+6” rush)
Hit Dice: 300 hp
% in Lair: See below
Treasure Type: See below
No. of Attacks: 6
Damage/Attack: 1-12/1-2/2-24/5-50/1-10/1-10
Special Attacks: “Sharpness” bite, terror
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Animal
Alignment: Neutral
Size: L (50’ long)
Psionic Ability: Nil (immune to psionics)
Level/X.P. Value: X/37,500

The Tarrasque is introduced in the Monster Manual II (1983) and is a powerful monster to be sure. We’ll start by stating the obvious. The Tarrasque is ridiculously big and is 50 feet long. Not only is it the size of a fifth-story building, but it is also more than just physically intimidating. Most creatures of three-hit dice or lower simply freeze in panic when they see it. They are completely paralyzed until they can no longer see the Tarrasque, and no save to end this effect early. You are just frozen in place, incapable of moving as the Tarrasque begins gobbling up all of the paralyzed creatures. Hopefully, its eyesight is based on movement. If you are stronger than the average kobold, and have more than 3 hit dice, you simply flee in panic, no save. If you have 7 hit dice or more, you at least to get make a single saving throw, failing it means you are fleeing in panic.

If you are hoping to defeat this mighty foe, we have some bad news. First, it has no hit dice, but rather has a flat 300 hit points. In this edition, the Tarrasque has the most hit points, though there are a few close contenders, and by close, we mean not close at all. Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons, has only 200 hit points while Fraz-Urb’luu, the Prince of Deception, is sitting at a pretty 233 hit points. Even Bahamut, the dragon god of justice, has a measly 168 hit points, so even a lesser god is no match for the Tarrasque. If that isn’t enough, its AC is -3, and as a reminder, the lower your AC in this edition, the better. If that still isn’t enough to tell you that this is a bad idea, the Tarrasque also regenerates 1 hit point every round, which might not be a lot, but is more than you have.

Maybe you decided that magic is the key to defeating this monster, since you with your fancy sword are just stabbing it in the toes hoping that will defeat it. Unfortunately for the magic-users, a lot of their magic involves shooting bolts or rays. Spells like lightning bolt, ray of enfeeblement, and even magic missile, bounce right off the hide of the Tarrasque and there is a 1 in 6 chance that it gets reflected right back to the caster. If you think that fireball will save you, think again. It is immune to fire. Finally, for those GM’s brave enough to let players use psionics, the Tarrasque is completely immune to big brain powers.

Remember how we said the Tarraque had 300 hit points? Well in reality it has 330 hit points since you’ll need to reduce it down to -30 hit points to actually kill it. Even then, the Tarrasque isn’t dead. You’ll need to cast wish after you’ve struck it down, so hopefully, the wizard didn’t use their 9th-level spell slot already. If you don’t, while the Tarrasque may look dead, it isn’t. Let’s say you get ingenious and decide to dissolve the creature in the goo of a gelatinous cube instead. If you miss even the smallest bit of Tarrasque, the creature will slowly regenerate till it’s back to its original form.

This isn’t even taking into account what happens when the Tarrasque fights back. When it attacks, it gets 6 attacks each round; starting with two claw attacks, a tail lash, a savage bite, and two horn attacks. In the book we have, it lists the Tarrasque’s two claw attacks as the first one doing 1 to 12 damage, so a d12, and the second claw attack dealing 1 to 2 damage. We are pretty sure that that is a typo and it should be 1 to 12, but it is kind of amusing to think that it just has a really weak left hook. If you survive being raked by claws, get ready to be smooshed by its tail which deals up to 24 points of damage, and then its powerful bite. Its teeth are treated as a sword of sharpness, meaning that if you roll an 18 or higher, it will sever a limb, torso, or your head as well as deal up to 50 points of damage. If somehow you are still standing, you get 2 horns slammed into you, each dealing up to 10 points of damage. This monster can deal a maximum of 118 damage in a single round, or an average of 64 damage, which would allow it to kill most creatures without breaking a sweat.

If all goes according to plan and the Tarrasque is dead dead, and not just mostly dead, there is lots of treasure to be had. Skinning its underbelly and mixing it with the creature’s blood makes a powerful metal. If you know any dwarven blacksmiths they can forge this metal into +5 shields. Don’t forget to bring along the upper portion of the Tarrasque too. Treat that part with acid and use your dwarf friend’s forge to transform the body into diamonds, each worth 1000 gold. With a little luck, you can produce up to 100 diamonds from its shell.

Luckily for the world, the Tarrasque isn’t constantly awake and destroying the countryside and all the heroes who thought they could defeat it. It only awakens from hibernation to feed every 5 to 20 months but is only active for about two weeks. Once a decade it’ll go into a feeding frenzy, staying above ground for several months before it finally goes back to bed for about 4 to 16 years unless you happen to disturb it. While that is good news, the bad news is that by the time it awakens again, you probably have just finished rebuilding all the cities it had reduced to rubble.

The Tarrasque can be found in a few modules. In H2-The Mines of Bloodstone (1986), you can fight the Tarrasque in the Test of Might. In H4-The Throne of Bloodstone (1988) you can find the lair of the Tarrasque in the Land of Orcus. Yep, that sounds about right. The Tarrasque is also mentioned in the module DL16-World of Krynn (1988), and for some reason, is hanging out in Lord Soth’s, the original death knight, basement.

2e - Tarrasque

Climate/Terrain: Any land
Frequency: Unique
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: See below
Diet: Ominvore
Intelligence: Animal (1)
Treasure: See below
Alignment: Nil
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: -3
Movement: 9, Rush 15
Hit Dice: 300 (approx. 70 HD)
THAC0: -5
No. of Attacks: 6
Damage/Attack: 1-12/1-12/2-24/5-50/1-10/1-10
Special Attacks: Sharpness bite, terror
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: G (50’ long)
Morale: Champion (15)
XP Value: 107,000

**Monstrous Compendium Volume Two**, 1989 TSR Inc.

The Tarrasque is found first in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989) and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993). It’s legendary, dreaded, and lives on the Material Plane. And this is only the first line of the description. Thankfully there is only one in existence, or at least only one we know about because the Tarrasque has been rumored to wipe out entire civilizations when it isn’t sleeping, which it does almost constantly.

How it came into existence is still a mystery, but now we have a few theories to choose from. Some say that the Tarrasque was put on this plane by the dark arts or by elder, forgotten gods to punish nature. For what, we have no idea. Maybe the Lorax pissed them off. Another theory is that the Elemental Princes of Evil created the Tarrasque, as the creature is of an elemental nature. However it came into existence, the Prime Material Plane is a much more dangerous place because of it and we are currently looking for fresh real estate somewhere safer, like the Abyss.

The core information regarding the Tarrasque remains the same. You can see this as a good thing or a bad thing. It doesn’t get any deadlier, although that would be hard to do. Unfortunately, it will still ruin your day and the day of everyone in the path of this giant killing machine. How it does this is by lumbering along, stomping through the forest, plains, and cities that lie in its path. If you are insane enough to stand in the Tarrasque’s way, it may choose to charge you, and it can do so once a turn. You’ll still be facing the Tarrasque’s claws, horns, tail, and devastating bite attacks - they even fixed the typo for its second claw attack, so it is a full 1d12 points of damage. That of course is if you’re not paralyzed with fear or running away in terror. Even if you can stand your ground we want to remind you there is no shame in leaving as quickly as possible, by any means possible, and sacrificing the barbarian to whatever fate awaits them in the Tarrasque’s stomach.

On the positive side, the Tarrasque remains a creature that isn’t constantly wandering the countryside. It is only active in short bursts when it emerges from its underground layer to feed for a week or two. Where the Tarrasque sleeps is unknown, probably because no one is alive to follow it home. After the Tarrasque has a full tummy, it takes a nap for up to 20 months, after which it will be hungry again and set off to find a snack. Once every decade the Tarrasque stays awake for a couple of months, terrorizing everyone and everything it comes across. Luckily for the entire Material Plane, it will sleep for up to 20 years after such a rampage, unless you come across it while it’s sleeping and decide to bother it. But players are never that crazy… right?

If you aren’t happy with just having one Tarrasque in the multiverse, then Spelljammer: Practical Planetology (1991) has a world for you. On the planet Flax, creatures similar to the Tarrasque in almost every way make up most of the population. Some sages think that the Tarrasque somehow was transported through space and ended up on the Material Plane. The theory leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but we love the thought of the Tarrasque hurtling through space like Superman before arriving to terrorize the world.

Our final Tarrasque sighting comes in the last few months of the 2nd edition with the adventure The Apocalypse Stone (2000). The end times have reached the adventurers and the world they live on with the appearance of a rampaging Tarrasque, which is used to mark the end of the world. This adventure was written as a way for the GM to put an end to their world to start fresh with the next edition, and while the Tarrasque isn’t the final fight, it does bring with it wanton destruction and ruin upon kingdoms and nations.

3e/3.5e - Tarrasque

Colossal Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 48d10+594 (858 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 20 ft (4 squares)
Armor Class: 35 (–8 size, +3 Dex, +30 natural), touch 5, flat-footed 32
Base Attack/Grapple: +48/+81
Attack: Bite +57 melee (4d8+17/18–20/×3)
Full Attack: Bite +57 melee (4d8+17/ 18–20/×3) and 2 horns +52 melee (1d10+8) and 2 claws +52 melee (1d12+8) and tail slap +52 melee (3d8+8)
Space/Reach: 30 ft./20 ft.
Special Attacks: Augmented critical, frightful presence, improved grab, rush, swallow whole
Special Qualities: Carapace, damage reduction 15/epic, immunity to fire, poison, disease, energy drain, and ability damage, regeneration 40, scent, spell resistance 32
Saves: Fort +38, Ref +29, Will +20
Abilities: Str 45, Dex 16, Con 35, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 14
Skills: Listen +17, Search +9, Spot +17, Survival +14 (+16 following tracks)
Feats: Alertness, Awesome Blow, Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Toughness (6)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 20
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 49+ HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: -

The destroyer of worlds appears in the Monster Manual (2000/2003) and is a unique creature that just wants to devour everything in its path for a few days before it passes out again for about a year, with a short week of murder to cap it all off before it hibernates for up to 20 years. It’s a strange life cycle, but we can’t help but be jealous of how much sleep it gets.

Described as the perfect engine of destruction, we still don’t know how this creature came into existence. Gods, elemental evils, and evil wizards, there are always evil wizards, are the most likely culprits. No matter, because the Tarasque still eats everything in its path, whether that be plants, animals, entire towns, and, of course, you. There is no treasure to be had if you somehow manage to kill the beast this time though. So unless fame and glory are reward enough for you, we highly advise you to run away with everyone else.

**Dragon #286**, June 2002 Paizo Publishing

This 5-story-tall, 70-foot-long creature retains its wide assortment of attacks, reflective carapace, and regenerative abilities, though now it regenerates 40 hit points every round as opposed to 1 hit point. Weighing in at a trim 130 tons, it’s still hunched over and usually moves quite slow. Though don’t be fooled, it can quickly rush at you and move 150 feet with a single move action once per minute, which is a great reason to always wear brown pants.

A new ability comes into play in this edition, and we know you won’t be a fan. When the Tarrasque decides to bite you, it can choose to attempt to grapple you. One would think they would have to worry about being torn apart by the Tarrasque’s chompers, but apparently, the Tarrasque doesn’t chew its food. In the following round, the Tarrasque attempts to swallow you whole. If it does swallow you, get ready for the burning pain of stomach acid and its muscles crushing you to death. You can cut your way out by doing 50 points of damage to its intestines, making a hole that you can quickly fall through. The hole you made will seal once you’ve crawled out, this way the next poor soul the Tarrasque swallows will have to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and cut themselves out.

The article Tag Team Terror found in Dragon #288 (Oct. 2001) suggests that a fun combination of monsters to throw at players is a lich and the Tarrasque. The lich has trapped the Tarrasque in a gem and uses that gem as its phylactery. It’s quite ingenious, especially if you need to TPK and move on to the next campaign or you really want your players to know how much you hate their joke characters.

If you’ve ever wanted to join a cult, but all of them are obsessed with ancient elder evils that are beyond the realm of understanding, and you want something a bit more… down to earth, then you can’t miss joining the Waker of the Beast cult! This cult, and prestige class, is detailed in Dragon #296 (June 2002) and explains that only the truly insane and evil would willingly join a cult dedicated to awakening a Tarrasque so that it could destroy the world. While it isn’t exactly a powerful prestige class, you do get, at 1st-level, a great ability that allows you to locate the Tarrasque in your dreams and tells you how to wake up the creature. Once per month you can travel within 1 mile of the great behemoth and try to awaken it, with a percent chance equal to your level in Waker of the Beast class. While that will only ever be 1-5%, since there are only 5 levels for this class, you can join hands with other cultists and increase your chance by everyone’s cumulative level, which is nice to push evil people into working as a team more often.

**Dragon #359**, Sept. 2007 Paizo Publishing

In Dragon #359 (Sept. 2007), the final printed issue, we are blessed with an Ecology of the Tarrasque article by Ed Greenwood and Johnathan M. Richards. After a story of how the Tarrasque leveled the cities of a long-dead elven culture, we learn more about the wannabe Godzilla. It has three stomachs, allowing it to break down and dissolve every substance known. The first stomach is a burning hot forge filled with spikes that breaks down the buildings and giant rocks it consumes. Between the churning muscles and sharp spike protrusions, all matter is broken down and it slides down to the second stomach.

This stomach is filled with an acid that cannot be found anywhere else in the known universe. This acid breaks the remaining matter down forming a slurry that will travel to the third stomach. Nothing survives the corrosive acid, including the most powerful of magic items. In fact, such items, including artifacts, are first stripped of their powers and then reduced to nothing more than the aforementioned acidic goo. The third stomach is rather like our intestines and if somehow a rare metal or gem survived the first two stomachs, it is destroyed here. The acidic slurry is then absorbed by the Tarrasque, providing the energy the beast needs to destroy and also survive during its long slumber.

There is no longer a giant cave the Tarrasque retreats to when it needs to nap. When the sleepy time arrives, the Tarasque slides through the earth much like the xorn does. It leaves no passage behind it and when it reaches a comfortable parcel of dirt, it falls asleep, becoming one with the stone. This ability is known as arnstone and when in this state it will rest peacefully unless disturbed. If you do perturb the creature it becomes fully awake in 1-4 rounds, quite a feat for a creature so large. The Tarrasque may react poorly when awakened, but it also might shrug it off, slide away, and return to its nap.

Just in case the Tarrasque isn’t enough of a challenge, Dungeon Masters everywhere can now throw an Advanced Tarrasque at their players. Everything about the Tarrasque is amplified, from hit points to immunities, like its armor class is now a ridiculous 40. Spells that could possibly kill the beast instantly now only do damage. In a nutshell, this is the creature that a GM will throw at a party when they want the campaign to be over because the players stole the last piece of pizza and the GM just wants to get even.

4e - Tarrasque

Level 30 Solo Brute
Gargantuan elemental magical beast / XP 95,000
Initiative +23 / Senses Perception +19; blindsight 20
Earthbinding aura 40; any flying creature in the aura has its fly speed reduced to 1 and maximum altitude reduced to 20 feet (putting it within the tarrasque’s reach). Any creature above this altitude at the end of its turn falls to an altitude of 20 feet automatically.
HP 1,420; Bloodied 710
AC 43; Fortitude 49, Reflex 38, Will 32
Immune charm, fear; Resist 10 to all damage
Saving Throws +5
Speed 8, burrow 8, climb 8
Action Points 2
Elder of Annihilation The tarrasque’s attacks ignore all resistances.
Fury of the Tarrasque (standard, can’t use while bloodied; recharge 5-6 ) The tarrasque makes a bite attack and one of the following attacks:
- Rending Bite: reach 3; +34 vs. AC; 3d12 + 16 damage, plus the target takes a –5 penalty to AC until the end of the tarrasque’s next turn.
- Tail Slap: reach 3; cannot use against the same target it attacked with its bite; +32 vs. Fortitude; 3d12 + 16 damage, plus the target is pushed 4 squares and knocked prone.
Trample (standard; at-will) The tarrasque can move up to its speed and enter enemies’ spaces. This movement provokes opportunity attacks, and the tarrasque must end its move in an unoccupied space. When it enters an enemy’s space, the tarrasque makes a trample attack: +33 vs. Reflex; 1d12 + 16 damage, and the target is knocked prone.
Frenzy (standard, usable only while bloodied; at-will) Close burst 3; the tarrasque makes a bite attack against each creature within the burst.
Eternal Slumber When the tarrasque is reduced to 0 hit points, it sinks back into the world’s core and slumbers once again.
Alignment Unaligned / Languages -
Str 42 (+31) Dex 26 (+23) Wis 18 (+19) Con 36 (+28) Int 3 (+11) Cha 7 (+13)

The Monster Manual (2008) is a letdown when it comes to the Tarrasque. There are just a few paragraphs on the mightiest of monsters, even though the description calls it a terrifying embodiment of wanton destruction. This edition continues with the idea that it was created by primordials to obliterate all the hard work that the gods put in on the creation of the material plane. It is a mindless creature focused solely on a worldwide rampage, and while the primordials may have been defeated during the Dawn War, they’ll still get their revenge one way or another.

Some of the numbers listed in the stat block are the highest of any creature in this edition, which is to be expected for a level 30 monster. The Tarrasque’s hit point total is insane at 1,420 and its Strength is way higher than any creature we’ve discussed before. These allow the Tarrasque to be the world-destroyer it was meant to be, and to turn your pathetic characters into puppy chow.

Now the common wisdom in any edition is to have a large number of flying creatures attack the Tarrasque from a distance, allowing you to bring down the Tarrasque, if not quickly, at least with far fewer casualties than you’d have if you all charged in on horses. No such luck anymore as its earthbinding aura limits the effects of any creature in the area, reducing the fly speed to next to nothing and forcing them down to a maximum altitude of 20 feet. The movement reduction allows the Tarrasque to get up close and personal, and at 20 feet in the air, any flying creature is well within reach of our walking death machine.

It's not only its mouth you must watch out for, as the killer kaiju’s tail and claw attacks obliterate everything they come in contact with. Doing battle with the Tarrasque is ever so slightly easier than the earlier editions, as the Tarrasque can no longer regenerate, though we are thinking it probably doesn’t really need to. If you can somehow destroy it, the Tarrasque is never truly killed. When it is reduced to 0 hit points, the creature melts into the planet's core, sleeping until it is healthy. Then beware because it will burrow its way to the surface and restart its frenzied riot all over again.

What the Monster Manual lacks in information, Dragon #418 (Dec. 2012) more than makes up for. In the article History Check: The Tarrasque by Jeff LaSala, the narrator talks about the Tarrasque throughout history. We learn more about the Dawn War, the epic struggle between the gods and the primordial, and how this led to the creation of the mighty beast. Without going down the rabbit hole that is the Dawn War, here’s a brief synopsis. Primordials and gods fight. Primordials fight amongst themselves, gods work together. Some primordials, known as the Elemental Princes, create the Tarrasque as the ultimate weapon of war. They bury it inside the planet to incubate. Gods win. Tarrasque lays dormant, with everyone unaware of its existence.

When the beast finally awakens, it is back during the time of the ancient elves, referencing earlier editions. There is no rhyme or reason to its fury and wanton carnage but know that the Elemental Princes would have been proud of their creation. The story tells of the Tarrasque running amok throughout history, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Our narrator, presumably someone with a death wish, encounters the Tarrasque three times and somehow survives each time. Being one of his companions was not good for your health, as he was the sole survivor each time.

There’s a wide variety of other interesting information throughout the article. The Tarrasque has inadvertently destroyed several artifacts by eating them. It’s even postulated that the Hand of Vecna could be dissolved in the Tarrasque’s stomach juices! We’re not sure this is necessarily a bad thing.

Everyone loves a good cult, and the Reckoners are the best-known of the cults formed in the Tarrasque’s honor. The story goes that a deva was killed but rose again, and it and the cult’s followers have managed to harness the negative energy the Tarrasque leaves behind. In the article, The End is Nigh! by Dennis Johnson, the Reckoners are the focal point of an adventure involving our favorite t-rex. In a nutshell, the Tarraqsue plus negative energy equals corrupted cultists who commit extremely evil deeds. Those interested in building an encounter or even a whole campaign around the Tarrasque can additionally find adventure ideas and a stat block for the Reckoners at the end of the article.

Also found is a revised stat block for the Tarrasque, just to make it more difficult to defeat the beast that is already impossible to kill. The good news is its hit points are reduced to a measly 1,140. Now here’s all the bad news. The beast can no longer be knocked prone, dazed, or dominated by a creature or spell. It also gets an immediate reaction. In case you manage to hit the Tarrasque, it can retaliate with two melee attacks. All of the Tarrasque’s attacks deal full damage no matter what, and the bite, tail slap, and trample all do more damage. How fun for you and the rest of the world that must endure this cataclysm.

5e - Tarrasque

Gargantuan Monstrosity (Titan), Unaligned
Armor Class 25 (natural armor)
Hit Points 676 (33d20 + 330)
Speed 40 ft.
STR 30 (+10) DEX 11 (+0) CON 30 (+10) INT 3 (-4) WIS 11 (+0) CHA 11 (+0)
Saving Throws Int +5, Wis +9, Cha +9
Damage Immunities Fire, Poison; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned
Senses Blindsight 120 ft., Passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 30 (155,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +9
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the tarrasque fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. The tarrasque has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Reflective Carapace. Any time the tarrasque is targeted by a magic missile spell, a line spell, or a spell that requires a ranged attack roll, roll a d6. On a 1 to 5, the tarrasque is unaffected. On a 6, the tarrasque is unaffected, and the effect is reflected back at the caster as though it originated from the tarrasque, turning the caster into the target.
Siege Monster. The tarrasque deals double damage to objects and structures.
Multiattack. The tarrasque can use its Frightful Presence. It then makes five attacks: one with its bite, two with its claws, one with its horns, and one with its tail. It can use its Swallow instead of its bite.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (4d12 + 10) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 20). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the tarrasque can’t bite another target.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 15ft., one target. Hit: 28 (4d8 + 10) slashing damage.
Horns. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 32 (4d10 + 10) piercing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 20ft., one target. Hit: 24 (4d6 + 10) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the tarrasque’s choice within 120 feet of it and aware of it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the tarrasque is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the tarrasque’s Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Swallow. The tarrasque makes one bite attack against a Large or smaller creature it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target takes the bite’s damage, the target is swallowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the tarrasque, and it takes 56 (16d6) acid damage at the start of each of the tarrasque’s turns.
If the tarrasque takes 60 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the tarrasque must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the tarrasque. If the tarrasque dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone.
Legendary Actions
The tarrasque can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The tarrasque regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Attack. The tarrasque makes one claw attack or tail attack.
Move. The tarrasque moves up to half its speed.
Chomp (Costs 2 Actions). The tarrasque makes one bite attack or uses its Swallow.

This majestic creature loses almost all of its lore in the Monster Manual (2014) with just three paragraphs explaining just how exactly you are going to be eaten. This behemoth of destruction is over fifty feet tall, seventy feet long, and walks like a bird of prey, leaning forward and using its tail to maintain its balance. It even goes on to state that its hunger is so great it can devour the populations of whole towns, which could be a population under 200 or over 5,000, so maybe it’s impressive depending on which towns we are talking about.

What is slightly new in this edition is that its destructive nature is now incorporated, by some cultures, into religious doctrine. While it isn’t specifically a cult following, it is divine destruction when it awakens beneath the earth and begins to obliterate.

Luckily, this isn’t the end for the Tarrasque as it could make an appearance in the adventure Infernal Machine Rebuild (2019), which is focused on rebuilding the Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad. If somehow the machine is put back together, there is the potential to summon a Tarrasque, which runs amok for an hour before disappearing into thin air. Have we mentioned that Lum the Mad was completely off his rocker?

The Tarrasque then gets a brief mention in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden (2020) where you may be lucky, or unlucky depending on your point of view, to find a scroll of tarrasque summoning. Now if you or one of your friends is a lunatic, you can attempt to summon the Tarrasque. Summoning has nothing to do with controlling, and the beast is hostile to everyone. The results are pretty much what you’d expect them to be, and everyone involved can expect to be creating new characters soon.

The Tarrasque is a powerful monster that can bring devastation to entire continents, once it finishes its napping. This creature is a natural disaster and should be used as such instead of as a standard monster to be fought by a group of heroes hell-bent on getting the biggest hunting trophies to hang in their tavern. When the Tarrasque wakes, the world should tremble at its presence.