Tarrasque is probably the most iconic high-CR monster in Dungeons and Dragons, with the exception of those Dragons. Unfortunately for this beastie, it had fallen a bit behind the curve thanks to the steady power-creep of Player characters. Thankfully, those wizards on that coast have seen fit to give us a beefed up version in the new 2025 version of the Monster Manual.
The biggest problem I’ve always had with the tarrasque was it’s complete lack of ranged attack. That has been corrected now, with a breath weapon. Its Thunderous Bellow deals thunder damage, and also confers the frightened and deafened conditions. Thunderous Below does have a recharge of 5-6, which I’d prefer it didn’t. Still, it’s better than the nothing that was there before.
There are a few other bits of good news before we get to the bad news. The first is that the tarrasque now swallows as a bonus action. Previously you had to either wait until you could use your legendary actions to swallow, or even for the next round. Now you can swallow the same round as you grapple with your bite. The monster is also a good bit faster, and can move and attack with the same legendary action. One last thing, it can also use a legendary action to break the concentration of other creatures.
Here’s the bad news: tarrasque is down from five attacks in its multiattack to only four. It also lost its second most damaging attack, horns. That all leads to a significant reduction in the average damage it can be expected to do in a round. It has also lost the ability to bite as a legendary action. We’ll have to see how this all balances out in play.
Now that you’ve got a nasty new tarrasque, you’re going to need to sell your players some nice new magic items.
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