Anybody gonna run the 4e Steading of the Hill Giant Chief from DDI as a PBP here?

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Steading of the Hill Giant Chief)

I've been avoiding reading this one in hopes that someone will run a game here. Hint hint...

I've never been in a really satisfying game of the original. I'm seeing a lot of good buzz about this one.

Dibs on a Ranger!

Scotley said:

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Steading of the Hill Giant Chief)

I've been avoiding reading this one in hopes that someone will run a game here. Hint hint...

I've never been in a really satisfying game of the original. I'm seeing a lot of good buzz about this one.

Dibs on a Ranger!

Click to expand...

How do 4E giants compare to 3E giants (seeing as 3E giants were WAY tougher than 1E/2E giants)?

[sblock=4e Hill Giant]
Large natural humanoid (earth, giant)
Level 13 Brute XP 800HP 159; Bloodied 79 Initiative +5
AC 25, Fortitude 27, Reflex 23, Will 25 Perception+7
Speed 8

Standard Actions Greatclub (weapon) At-Will

Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +18 vs. AC

Hit: 3d10 + 11 damage.

Hurl Rock (weapon) At-Will

Attack: Ranged 10 (one creature); +18 vs. AC

Hit: 2d10 + 8 damage.

Sweeping Club (weapon) Encounter

Attack: Melee 2 (one or two creatures); +18 vs. AC

Hit: 3d10 + 11 damage, and the giant pushes the target up to 2 squares and knocks it prone.

Str 21 (+11) Dex 8 (+5) Wis 12 (+7)
Con 19 (+10) Int 7 (+4) Cha 9 (+5)

Alignment chaotic evil Languages Giant
Equipment: rock x5, greatclub .

[/sblock]

[sblock=Hill Giant 3.5e]

Size/Type:

Large Giant



Hit Dice:

12d8+48 (102 hp)



Initiative:

-1



Speed:

30 ft. in hide armor (6 squares); base speed 40 ft.



Armor Class:

20 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +9 natural, +3 hide armor), touch 8, flat-footed 20



Base Attack/Grapple:

+9/+20



Attack:

Greatclub +16 melee (2d8+10) or slam +15 melee (1d4+7) or rock +8 ranged (2d6+7)



Full Attack:

Greatclub +16/+11 melee (2d8+10) or 2 slams +15 melee (1d4+7) or rock +8 ranged (2d6+7)



Space/Reach:

10 ft./10 ft.



Special Attacks:

Rock throwing



Special Qualities:

Low-light vision, rock catching



Saves:

Fort +12, Ref +3, Will +4



Abilities:

Str 25, Dex 8, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 7



Skills:

Climb +7, Jump +7, Listen +3, Spot +6



Feats:

Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatclub)



Environment:

Temperate hills



Organization:

Solitary, gang (2-5), band (6-9 plus 35% noncombatants), hunting/raiding party (6-9 plus 2-4 dire wolves), or tribe (21-30 plus 35% noncombatants plus 12-30 dire wolves, 2-4 ogres, and 12-22 orcs)



Challenge Rating:

7



Treasure:

Standard



Alignment:

Often chaotic evil



Advancement:

By character class



Level Adjustment:

+4
[/sblock]

Looks like another significant bump in power to me. Plus, in 4e they have lots of other Hill Giants like Shaman's (Controller) and Hunters, Rock Throwers and even Slingers (Artillery), as well as Avalanchers and Battle-chiefs (Skirmishers). The Challenge rating went from 7 (3.5) to 11 to 14 (4e) for the standard types. There is even a Chthonic Apostle at level 24.

Scotley said:

Looks like another significant bump in power to me. Plus, in 4e they have lots of other Hill Giants like Shaman's (Controller) and Hunters, Rock Throwers and even Slingers (Artillery), as well as Avalanchers and Battle-chiefs (Skirmishers). The Challenge rating went from 7 (3.5) to 11 to 14 (4e) for the standard types. There is even a Chthonic Apostle at level 24.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a 4E Steading is going to really be a meat-grinder if they stick with the original AD&D format.

Seems likely. Still could be fun.

Subscribed. Dips on a druid leader (sentinel) or controller (protector), if a kind soul will DM this

From a quick scan, the module looks to be high quality. I'm willing to try DM'ing, but there's a huge caveat that I've never done PbP DM'ing before. I have no experience with mapping programs, and combat maps are likely to be a big deal (lots of combat would be expected, I think).

Basically, if I can get some good advice on handling maps, you people have yourselves a DM.

t~

There seem to be currently two map making "schools":

Full color and tokens map tool art.

Google docs spreadsheets like here.

The second isn't as hard to do and with the right options chosen, the players can also update the maps themselves.

tiornys said:

From a quick scan, the module looks to be high quality. I'm willing to try DM'ing, but there's a huge caveat that I've never done PbP DM'ing before. I have no experience with mapping programs, and combat maps are likely to be a big deal (lots of combat would be expected, I think).

Basically, if I can get some good advice on handling maps, you people have yourselves a DM.

t~

Click to expand...

Welcome. I have done a good bit of PBP DM'ing and I'll be happy to assist you any way I can. I'm currently running three games, so I wasn't going to try to take on this one. I am of the second school that WD described. I use excel and then put it in an older format so players can open it with Google Docs or Open office. Here are some examples I've used. They represent different experiments in style. These are mostly the larger more complex examples. Usually, fights are pretty simple and the maps are not quite this big or involved. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to discuss at more length. I'm not sure how familiar with spreadsheets you are.

I would be interested in playing, most likely a leader (runepriest?) or defender