Running a Kaiju encounter.


Advice


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Kaiju are AWESOME! I just wish there was a good way to have them fight.

They are WAY to massive to fight in the traditional way. The map would need to be several tables wide, you ARE in it's reach (50+ feet) and on top of all that, I don't thing that even my colossal red dragon figure could do them justice.

(Although players gaining control of a Kaiju to fend off another would be epic...maybe another time.)

SO HERE IS MY NEW PLAN!

You don't fight the Kaiju, you fight the guy CONTROLLING the Kaiju. In the mean time the Kaiju is destroying the city you're fighting in.

Mechanics
Each turn on the Kaiju's initiative roll a d8 and it does a predetermined attack, many (but not all) will have some effect on the battle such as collapsing buildings creating hindering terrain or needing a save vs part of it's breath weapon.

The controller can spend a full round action to add or subtract 1 from the Kaiju's next die roll (He can direct it but not really control it).

Because of the nature of HOW the enemy is controlling the Kaiju, there would be a way to disrupt it (The one I am specifically thinking of is using music to direct the Kaiju, so a bard's countersong would be one way.)

The Kaiju I plan on using is Dragon Caesar.

What do you guys thing.


It's a cool encounter idea, but I'd say it's a matter of level. If the party is at a level comparable to the Zyurangers themselves (say level 5ish after accounting for their powers while transformed) then sure, taking out the controller would be their goal.

Now if they were... say... level 13-ish, I'd probably just say let them go fight the thing. Make a big deal out of showing off how epic and awesome the party has become in how you handle the fight. This includes martials blocking its tail attacks and tanking its missiles.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

You might want to put a few guys in who protect the BBEG. If your players get an alpha strike off on the BBEG, this might be done before he gets a turn to control the thing.

Otherwise, AWESOME!


I like your kaiju control idea.

In terms of figures, I would use some of the Bandai Godzilla figures (or even the 1970's Shogun Warrior Godzilla figure with the fist launcher).

I agree with kyrt-ryder--it depends on the level of the characters. I would probably recommend the party members be closer to level 17 before brawling with it. I would also keep the notion of how much destruction is going on a frequent part of your description. It isn't quite a timed encounter, but if the kaiju has leveled the whole city while they were fighting it, that isn't much of a win even if the party kills it.


Another way of doing this (assuming the players are higher level) is have them fight the Kaiju itself. The "schtick" for the encounter though is that the fight is actually ON the kaiju (or at least potentially so). You can have the PCs make acrobatics checks to stay on, climb checks to move up toward the head, etc. As you say, the PCs ARE within the reach of the kaiju no matter where they are, so they may even find it advantageous to be on the kaiju instead of the ground. I could see this limiting some of its attacks for instance. It also allows for cool effects such as grabbing the fighter and tossing him down the block.

Obviously this requires a bit of a higher level party to be able to absorb the damage, but you get the idea.


If you were going to do this the kaiju should be the map and your players would be fighting the parasites/symbiotic organisms on something that big while the kaiju itself would be an environmental hazard. You could have a massive claw swip through the map from a random coordinate and do a trample attack on anything in the area, or have its breath weapons or gazes sweep through the fights every few rounds. The goal would to either get to or make a weak spot on the creature so they could bring it down or maybe just goad it off its current path of destruction. Kaiju type monsters aren't enemies they're forces of nature. Your plans here can't roll initiative on a forest fire why should they on the super beast


Doesn't it say that the people who control the kaiju are the weak and powerless? I thought I read that somewhere.

If so, you could make it a really epic low level encounter.


fine_young_misanthrope wrote:

You might want to put a few guys in who protect the BBEG. If your players get an alpha strike off on the BBEG, this might be done before he gets a turn to control the thing.

Otherwise, AWESOME!

This will be a hard encounter, against a well organized team.

Absolutely. The controller is an advanced 8th lv Martial Artist. Supported by a vanilla monk,a Zen Archer, 2 Brawler Fighters and Sacred Mountain Monk.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110928140502/powerrangers/images/2/ 2a/All_Six_Zyuranger_Weapons.PNG


This would be an excellent opportunity to make use of the chase scene rules. Perhaps it would look something like this...

Mystic control of the beast is not absolute, is strictly short-range and is only possible because of the BBEG's attunement to several runic seals on Dragon Caesar's hide. The villain and his tactical team will therefore be flanking the beast and the easiest way to do that in a crumbling city would be across the rooftops (and perhaps the beast itself). Design your obstacle cards with general drama, character-tailored opportunities (especially if they're good at something they never get to do) and snapshots of the rampage. Chase scenes are also an excellent opportunity for the party to split up to pursue multiple objectives without it amounting to suicide.

Examples of dramatic obstacles... acrobatic leaps across alleyways, balancing acts on clotheslines, knowledge:engineering checks to know where not to be when structures collapse, animal handling to spook flights of pigeons into the beasts eyes, diplomacy to get the civilian to stop freaking out and get to safety.

Examples of tailored obstacles... the archer's opportunity for an extremely long shot at a seal, the barbarian's chance to sever the claws of a foot if he dodges and sunders just right, the rogue's opportunity to blind the beast or turn its fiery breath, the magus' chance to save the little church by turning the beast with a well-timed shocking grasp to the flank, or the summoner's realization that the seals are so similar to planar binding that he might seize control with a ritual of his own, a ritual that will only be possible if he interrogates a villain the fighter gets the drop on in the middle of the fracas.

Examples of rampage obstacles... reflex saves to avoid falling towers, climb checks to latch onto the beast, escape artist checks to avoid getting squashed, and of course single (probably largely scaled back) attacks with the payoff of a chance to strike back with impunity. If all else fails perhaps the party will win by a thousand cuts.

The actual map would consist solely of the chase scene cards per those rules, and an 8x8 grid would give you lots of flexibility. Maybe even remove a card from time to time to suggest that an opportunity has disappeared.

Dark Archive

Theme Music for the fight.


Master of the Dark Triad wrote:

Doesn't it say that the people who control the kaiju are the weak and powerless? I thought I read that somewhere.

If so, you could make it a really epic low level encounter.

It says MOST people who control Kaiju are helpless. I would never call THIS GUY

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/6147/greenrangersgotthis.jpg
helpless.

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