bloodymage
House Ruler
The hill giant downed one of the wizards first round but took some good damage from some destryed "grenades" in the wizard's pack. Gotta admit, hadn't slept in 2 days and missed the giant's second attack thru the whole encounter. The other PCs, with the exception of the other wizard, just ganged up on him and trusted to luck. A successful Random Action by the remaining wizard (actually C1/W1 of Wee Jas) help their luck considerably. At least one and possibly two more would have been dropped in short order if it were not for that. As it was, everyone left was nearly to 0 except the wizard. The party healed and went on.
As to the ettin, not quite as powerful as the giant, I had noticed my mistake and this guy got his 2 attacks. He also had max hp (the giant was book avg.). His problem was the dwarf! After he downed the dwarf in his military saddle the dwarf's warpony carried on the fight for one round, then fled. I rolled for the monster and he was without question fixated on the dwarf. In his desire to mangle his enemy beyond all recognition, he basically ignored the rest of the party. There was a humorous ending to this encounter. The ettin has just caught up with the unconscious dwarf and his horse and missed his attacks (really!). The other fighter had picked up the grenade bag that the wizard had fumbled and swung it at the two-headed monstrosity. He could have sneezed at it and knocked it down, it had 5 hp left! As it was, he hit, and 3 or 4 of the "grenades" broke delivering 36 hp electrical damage. It came within 2hp of outright killing the fighter!
So I could have ground them up. It was an EL 7 party, a CR 7 giant and a CR 5 ettin. They were both random encounters however and unless an attempt is utter folly (had a 1st level barbarian once who was going to take on a hill giant single-handedly! That wouldn't have lasted long.) I'll generally grind up the party but let them live. One or two may die from time to time tho. They were lucky last night.
As to the ettin, not quite as powerful as the giant, I had noticed my mistake and this guy got his 2 attacks. He also had max hp (the giant was book avg.). His problem was the dwarf! After he downed the dwarf in his military saddle the dwarf's warpony carried on the fight for one round, then fled. I rolled for the monster and he was without question fixated on the dwarf. In his desire to mangle his enemy beyond all recognition, he basically ignored the rest of the party. There was a humorous ending to this encounter. The ettin has just caught up with the unconscious dwarf and his horse and missed his attacks (really!). The other fighter had picked up the grenade bag that the wizard had fumbled and swung it at the two-headed monstrosity. He could have sneezed at it and knocked it down, it had 5 hp left! As it was, he hit, and 3 or 4 of the "grenades" broke delivering 36 hp electrical damage. It came within 2hp of outright killing the fighter!
So I could have ground them up. It was an EL 7 party, a CR 7 giant and a CR 5 ettin. They were both random encounters however and unless an attempt is utter folly (had a 1st level barbarian once who was going to take on a hill giant single-handedly! That wouldn't have lasted long.) I'll generally grind up the party but let them live. One or two may die from time to time tho. They were lucky last night.
