I live in Los Angeles, and as you're likely aware, we kicked off this so-far-hellish year with several massive wildfires (thankfully we've had about a week of rain, so even though the fires had mostly been contained by the time the rain started, I think they're probably fully out by now).
Indeed, as we've been seeing over the past couple decades, extreme weather events (like the windstorm that stoked those massive fires) have been getting worse as humanity keeps pumping CO2 into the air by burning fossil fuels, and the short-term economic costs of adopting strong environmental regulations to curb this are now exacting extreme economic costs (not to mention lost lives) because of our failure to act.
In our post-industrial society, thus, even if you're pro-humanity (and I'm definitely pro-humanity,) the wrath of nature feels... almost righteous, even if it is terrifying.
Within your typical pseudo-medieval fantasy world, of course, the balance is quite different. These worlds are often defined by being pre-industrial (though places like Eberron or Ravnica would differ here). Still, humanity has always had to reckon with its place in nature - we build up structures and societies and industries in order to survive our world, but nature has a way of showing that, as carefully as we build and plan, sometimes the natural world will just unmake what we've created.
The Elemental Cataclysm, thus, is a kind of sentient natural disaster. However, it's not malicious, exactly. Though it does intentionally seek out artificial settlements to destroy, the impact it has on the area is often a positive one for nature - creating fertile soil and clean waters.
In my Ravnica campaign, one of my players is a Storm Sorcerer from the Gruul Clans, the guild that would prefer if the plane-wide city were reduced to rubble so that nature could reclaim it. If I had space within my story for it, I really think that we could have a Gruul villain try to summon one of these to rampage across the Tenth District (the "capital" of the city-world). And I think that, among the party members, that Sorcerer would only try to help the Cataclysm accomplish its task. (Actually, lots of the Titans in the new Monster Manual would work well as guild-associated kaiju, like the Blob of Annihilation being not unlike the Simic Combine's "Experiment Kraj" from the original block, or the Izzet League constructing a massive Colossus).
The point is, you might feel ambivalent about fighting something that represents the renewing power of nature. That said, as I mentioned before, I like humanity. I think cities are great. I'd prefer that they be built to be more harmonious with nature (there's a whole subgenre/aesthetic called "Solar Punk" that has this vibe,) and especially in a fantasy world where humanity is clinging to small points of civilization in a mostly wild world, something like these arriving to wipe out what little safe haven there is would feel quite vindictive and cruel.
Now, like a natural disaster, one of these could show up without warning. It could also be sent as the vengeance of a god (or some god-like entity, like the Primordials of Exandria). Extremist druids could also summon one as an act of ecoterrorism.
But one way or another, the main thing to consider about an Elemental Cataclysm is that it's dangerous.
A massive CR 22 elemental titan, this thing can burrow, fly, and swim, is more or less immune to every condition, and is fully immune to several damage types - Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Thunder. With an AC of 20 and 370 HP, it's going to take a lot to take it down.
Shocking absolutely no one, it is also a Siege Monster, so any kind of physical barriers in its way are not going to last long.
The Cataclysm has a multiattack, doing two Elemental Bursts, which is a ranged or melee attack (the melee version has a 30-foot reach) that deals an average of 25 damage of any type it's immune to (elemental's choice).
However, about half of its turns, it'll be doing Cataclysmic Event (which recharges on a 4-6). This is actually a randomized effect, with one effect per element.
Clinging Flame is a massive 60-foot sphere of fire damage, dealing an average of 45 damage on a failed DC 23 Dex save, or half on a success. And regardless of whether the creatures inside succeeded, they start to burn (which taking just 1d4 fire damage at the start of each turn - not a huge problem unless you're making death saves).
Freezing Waters is a 90-foot cone attack that deals an average of 22 bludgeoning and 22 cold damage, or half as much on a DC 23 Con save. And even if you succeed, your speed is reduced to 0 until the end of your next turn.
Raging Storm is another 60-foot sphere, creating a cloud that lasts for one minute or until the next Cataclysmic Event. Inside, creatures are blinded and deafened and can't cast spells with verbal components. In addition, creatures take an average of 18 lightning and 18 thunder damage if they enter the cloud or start their turn there, or half on a success.
Swallowing Earth is the final potential Cataclysmic Event, dumping rubble over a 90-foot cube. Creatures inside take an average of 18 bludgeoning and 18 acid damage, and are knocked prone, restrained, and suffocating on a failed DC 23 Strength save, or half damage only on a success. Buried creatures can use an action to dig their way out, or a friend within 5 feet can help them out, both requiring a DC 18 Athletics check.
(I've noticed a lot of monsters cause suffocating, which is interesting and quite scary.)
Lastly, mostly for flavor, the Cataclysm can cast Control Weather without spell components.
In terms of legendary actions, once per round they can use Rumbling Movement to move any of their speeds other than Burrow without provoking opportunity attacks, and knock anyone who fails a DC 23 Con save while within 5 feet of the cataclysm during this movement prone. For their other two legendary actions, they can make an Elemental Burst attack.
So, a bit like the Beholder, this is one of those monsters where the DM doesn't necessarily know what the monster is going to do. Given the high DCs for everything, a lot of characters are going to be unable to resist many of these Cataclysmic Events, which means a lot of damage and some potentially nasty debuffs.
Like most Titans, I think this is built to be a solo-monster encounter. It's worth 41,000 xp, so for 5 players, that's 8200 xp, which makes it a high-difficulty encounter for 16th level characters, and still a moderate challenge for 17th and 18th level.
While again, I think this is best as a solo monster, it would make sense to throw in some lesser elementals if you wanted to push the difficulty up, or potentially some Elemental Cultists, Archdruids, or the like.
As a Titan, any fight against one of these should feel like a major set-piece, and even if it's not the final boss of a campaign, it should work well as a high-stakes challenge. Having one of these go after a major city with lots of people makes a lot of sense.
Now, I can also see unleashing one of these with a Scroll of Titan Summoning as a really fun moment for the players - maybe they see some evil polluting facility controlled by the bad guys, and this is the party's means of destroying it.
I can also imagine an encounter where the objective is not necessarily to defeat the Cataclysm, but just to rescue anyone in its path (a premise that could work for any of the Titans). Having such a fight over a truly massive map (or at least imagined map) could be interesting, maybe even trying to send large constructs to try to lure it off its path.
No comments:
Post a Comment