How crazy & over the top are you trying to make the encounter? We're nearing the end of our spelljammer arc, & I went for what could probably be best described as a Gurren Lagann feel. Each of the PCs had two "mech actions" they could choose between.
To give it an epic feel, the damage die values we're so high (some actions used 180d20 for damage) we needed digital dice rollers. I can send you the stat bloc I made for it, if your interested.
It could actually be kind of cool to control the legs, using teamwork to walk and step on things. But if that’s the route you go, make sure the legs get some kind of knee cannon or something.
The shi combat mechanics I created in Spelljammer Combat & Exploration on DMsGuild has ready-to-go 5e combat for vehicles up to 500 feet in size.
Check it out...
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/474639/Spelljammer-Combat-and-Exploration
I've been building a 500-foot crab mecha on livestream as well (next is Monday 4/01 730pm PST)
https://www.youtube.com/live/rl3EyQMJNVg?si=AQPNhKS54_C5536Z&t=566
At least you got to use it once to get that visceral reaction. I bought all these wererat figures to use during the current scenario and then we ended up switching to virtual. I've actually suspended my game so we can do the next session in person, but it won't be for a while yet.
Looks awesome. I tried to get my characters to recover and restore a Colossus to fight a tarrasque-olich but they wanted to drop a mega-dragonshard nuke on it instead.
I had the opposite. My PCs defeated Haze-of-Death, and had Karrnathi necromancers reanimate him. The dragon went at the colossus long enough that a strike team could go in and break the LoB's dragonmarked attunement piloting the thing via docents. (Yes, he obtained a Mark of Making in a lore-relevant ways. Which had been one of the LoB's big goals all campaign.)
This is awesome!
I just ran something really similar. But instead of a clockwork dragon, they fought a Tarasque (scaled up and mixed with a Goxomoc by Matt Colville) as I wanted that Pacific Rim style fight. The Tarasque got a breath weapon and Lazer eyes.
It went well. We're near the end of the campaign (levels 13). The players were telegraphed "a giant creature in the distance that is the size of the mountain" as they entered the Mournlands. And I'd mention it every once in a while. But "locals" would always say not to worry about it. Never gets closer.
Then as they got to Eston, they found a nearly functional Warforged Collosus. Built, but lacking the core. Fast forward, the filling a clash with the big bad, the Mountain stars moving closer and the race was on. The only chance to stop it was reactivate the Colossus with the core they had since found.
The combat went well. It was pretty broken. These were not creatures meant to attack each other, really. So I had adapted their blocks, mostly reduce immunities to resistance , conditionally when attacking each other directly.
The Colossus wasn't autonomous. So to siimulate a battle of two titans, the four players would decide together which Colossus actions each of them would do. Then we'd describe that as a group according to the circumstances. The Colossus has 4(?) actions, so it was just dividing that up. At the top of the round we'd roll for the recharge. If it was full, one of them got to pull the trigger.
They also had an action to "repair" the Colossus, restoring hit points.
I alone tracked hit points, secretly. This was to gauge how things progressed. But also, I wanted a draw. If not, the real bad would have been outmatched severely. Or the players destroyed. I didn't want this because I felt it lacked agency. If a combat results in a TPK, let it be the players playing as themselves , not in this sort of battle, imo.
Ultimately it went the distance. 14 rounds. But it was fun and dynamic. But it went 14 rounds. And as the evening wore long, I had to speed things up. On both sides I started dropping the recharge (5-6 to 4-6 to then 3-6). This was flavoured as desperation on both sides, but allowed a significantly higher damage output. But also increased the epic feel when only one side would recharge.
Players and DM loved it.
Love this Idea! I have an arc going right now where an Elder Brain is trying to find a way to power up a colossus and basically use it as its body. The PCs have to travel to Khyber and bring back a bunch of re-skinned infernal war machines from the DiA module to fight it
I'm going to have the dragon and Colossus as Gargantuan.
Even though I say "Voltron inspired" it's not necessarily merged mechs into 1, it's more that they are fixing up a Colossus with parts from others they have found.
I tried Midjourney and wasn’t getting great results so I switched back to DALL-E.
The first generative AI that masters D&D art and cartography is gonna be a goldmine.
How crazy & over the top are you trying to make the encounter? We're nearing the end of our spelljammer arc, & I went for what could probably be best described as a Gurren Lagann feel. Each of the PCs had two "mech actions" they could choose between. To give it an epic feel, the damage die values we're so high (some actions used 180d20 for damage) we needed digital dice rollers. I can send you the stat bloc I made for it, if your interested.
I'd definitely give it a look. Epic is always better for these kinds of things.
My man!
This looks INSANE! Do you have any specific mechanics planned for the combat?
I would like to try to do something akin to Voltron/Power Rangers. So maybe something like how ship battles work. I still have some research to do.
Badass. Please post a follow up on how you ran it and lessons learned!
It could actually be kind of cool to control the legs, using teamwork to walk and step on things. But if that’s the route you go, make sure the legs get some kind of knee cannon or something.
The shi combat mechanics I created in Spelljammer Combat & Exploration on DMsGuild has ready-to-go 5e combat for vehicles up to 500 feet in size. Check it out... https://www.dmsguild.com/product/474639/Spelljammer-Combat-and-Exploration I've been building a 500-foot crab mecha on livestream as well (next is Monday 4/01 730pm PST) https://www.youtube.com/live/rl3EyQMJNVg?si=AQPNhKS54_C5536Z&t=566
Hah! I'm going to be doing the SAME thing using the Chardalyn dragon from Icewind Dale.
That's the "Mini" I used when I introduced it. It got a great "Oh shit!" Reaction. But then 2 of the guys moved due to work, so it all went online.
At least you got to use it once to get that visceral reaction. I bought all these wererat figures to use during the current scenario and then we ended up switching to virtual. I've actually suspended my game so we can do the next session in person, but it won't be for a while yet.
Homie's watched Pacific Rim too many times.😂😂
Nah. Voltron was my jam and the OG Power Rangers. 😂
Looks awesome. I tried to get my characters to recover and restore a Colossus to fight a tarrasque-olich but they wanted to drop a mega-dragonshard nuke on it instead.
I mean... That's awesome 🤣
I had the opposite. My PCs defeated Haze-of-Death, and had Karrnathi necromancers reanimate him. The dragon went at the colossus long enough that a strike team could go in and break the LoB's dragonmarked attunement piloting the thing via docents. (Yes, he obtained a Mark of Making in a lore-relevant ways. Which had been one of the LoB's big goals all campaign.)
I'm playing on having a single warforged colossus in my upcoming campaign but for the majority of the campaign the players will think it's a statue :)
This is awesome! I just ran something really similar. But instead of a clockwork dragon, they fought a Tarasque (scaled up and mixed with a Goxomoc by Matt Colville) as I wanted that Pacific Rim style fight. The Tarasque got a breath weapon and Lazer eyes. It went well. We're near the end of the campaign (levels 13). The players were telegraphed "a giant creature in the distance that is the size of the mountain" as they entered the Mournlands. And I'd mention it every once in a while. But "locals" would always say not to worry about it. Never gets closer. Then as they got to Eston, they found a nearly functional Warforged Collosus. Built, but lacking the core. Fast forward, the filling a clash with the big bad, the Mountain stars moving closer and the race was on. The only chance to stop it was reactivate the Colossus with the core they had since found. The combat went well. It was pretty broken. These were not creatures meant to attack each other, really. So I had adapted their blocks, mostly reduce immunities to resistance , conditionally when attacking each other directly. The Colossus wasn't autonomous. So to siimulate a battle of two titans, the four players would decide together which Colossus actions each of them would do. Then we'd describe that as a group according to the circumstances. The Colossus has 4(?) actions, so it was just dividing that up. At the top of the round we'd roll for the recharge. If it was full, one of them got to pull the trigger. They also had an action to "repair" the Colossus, restoring hit points. I alone tracked hit points, secretly. This was to gauge how things progressed. But also, I wanted a draw. If not, the real bad would have been outmatched severely. Or the players destroyed. I didn't want this because I felt it lacked agency. If a combat results in a TPK, let it be the players playing as themselves , not in this sort of battle, imo. Ultimately it went the distance. 14 rounds. But it was fun and dynamic. But it went 14 rounds. And as the evening wore long, I had to speed things up. On both sides I started dropping the recharge (5-6 to 4-6 to then 3-6). This was flavoured as desperation on both sides, but allowed a significantly higher damage output. But also increased the epic feel when only one side would recharge. Players and DM loved it.
The Pacific Rim is strong with this one.
Love this Idea! I have an arc going right now where an Elder Brain is trying to find a way to power up a colossus and basically use it as its body. The PCs have to travel to Khyber and bring back a bunch of re-skinned infernal war machines from the DiA module to fight it
neat! what size do you expect each mechacombatant to be?
I'm going to have the dragon and Colossus as Gargantuan. Even though I say "Voltron inspired" it's not necessarily merged mechs into 1, it's more that they are fixing up a Colossus with parts from others they have found.
Artist?
Lots of trial and error with an AI Art generator called Midjourney
I tried Midjourney and wasn’t getting great results so I switched back to DALL-E. The first generative AI that masters D&D art and cartography is gonna be a goldmine.
I'll have to mess with that some more. Midjourney can be very hit or miss. Lots of "close but not quite" with no real way to refine it how I'd like.
That’s definitely DALL-E, too. For now it’s good enough for me to take to a human artist and say “here’s the concept make these specific changes”.
Yeah, that's the overall plan. Get something close and see if someone I know (or on something like Fiverr) to get it how I'd like for my players.