Buff these Hill Giants!

[Someone]

¿Cure serious wounds and fireball? They will do next to nothing. Use Invisibility Purge and Displacement (to be cast on the chief or fighter) instead.

 

[BOZ]

i should have mentioned that i'm going to be running a lot of the encounters very differently than the module. for example, Nosnra will most likely be out hunting when the PCs arrive... thinking they've gotten the easy way out of the module, the "boss" will show up just as they are leaving...

and it's not unlikely that Nosnra will appear alone or with a small group (and not necessarily with the cleric or wizard either).

 

[BOZ]

Ouch.... I'd be willing to bet that the Hill Giant Chief could solo TPK a party of levels 11-13. Raging, he's going to hit an AC30 character an average of 3 times for 31 points a hit. That's 93 points per round, pretty much guaranteed.

he might be able to take all of them out on his own. That remains to be seen. I will use discretion in unleashing this awesome force... the PCs will be spending much of tonight's session arming up and preparing. Given that they will be arriving in the dwarven city at the start of the session, they should have a lot of help in that regard.

YEEEEE-IKES! I wouldn't want to fight them! Heck, I would want to at 17th level, much less 13th! I'd tone Arneson (Nosnra) down to 4th level Barb, and the others down to only two or three class levels. Nosy will be quite powerful even as a Barb 4.

Don't forget, there's a CLOUD GIANT tooling around there, too!

Depending on how badly the PCs are doing, I may not use all of these guys. Heck, if they are doing badly enough, I may be merciful and not even sic Nosy on them! But don't count on that.

I'd use the Adept class instead of Mage and Cleric. Adept has much more flavor for a Hill Giant tribe. Have one been the primary adept level 5-7 and the other be the assistant, level 1-4.

flavor shmavor. They don't need to make sense, I am the DM muhahahahah!

For Nosnra, that's a good start, but I'd make several changes.

First, Nosnra is a big, ugly fighter who uses any weapon available. So no weapon focus or improved critical feats for him. Its not like he has ever had weapon training classes. Improved Sunder makes sense, because Nosnra likes breaking things. Likewise power attack and bull rush. I'd probably give Nosnra Leadrship and Cleave instead of weapon focus and improved critical.

No +3 Great Club for Nosnra. What powerful wizard or cleric is going to invest lots of exp enchanting a club when they could enchant a sword? Instead, have Nosnra's club powered up by a spell cast by the Adept (GMW or Spikes or equivalent).

For magic items to replace the club, how about Dragonhide armor (large sized, also replaces the bracers of ac). i.e. +5 Black Dragonhide Hide Armor with Acid Resistance 15 or something like that. Dragonhide has the nice effect that you don't have to claim a wizard created this. Nosnra himself might have created it by killing the dragon and skinning the dragon.

I'll take that into consideration. The dragon hide armor sounds nice, for one thing.

You could look at the Hulking Hurler (Complete Warrior) and the War Hulk (Miniatures Handbook) prestige classes.

I need these guys tonight. I don't have time to mess around with PrC's and such. but thanks – the module will likely take longer than one session, and nasty surprises will abound.

I buffed up some stone giants a few months ago for the party I'm DMing and gave them Imp Grapple and Fling Enemy(from RoS). It added a lot of flavor to the encounter without giving them a huge power boost. The first time one of them grabed the dwarf fighter and flung him across the room, the look on the players face was absolutly priceless.

I was considering Improved Grapple... which one of these guys would be best suited for that?

Giant clubs are so yesterday.

Give the chief a spiked chain. 20 foot reach is always nice.
Then, have the chief go DISARMING and TRIPPING, while her friends beat the crap out the PCs. +10 to disarm attacks (2-handed + special for chain, +4 for size). +11 to trip attacks.
Ouch. Keep the cleric tripped, and you'll have a TPK in no time.

Maybe I'll give that to the subcheif instead.

I used a bunch of frost giants recently, and found Large and In Charge to be the perfect complement.

War hulk...definitely cool...but use caution. I had a fire giant war hulk kill the party paladin in one hit, cleave and drop another member, and he still had plenty of attacks to spare.

The caber from Masters of the Wild is fun with giants too. Nothing beats a good ol' throwing log...especially with the returning property.

Suggested potions: bull's strength, endurance, jump, heroism, displacement.

Give the potion of Jump to Nosnra so he can leap over the front line and get to the chewy center.

Yoinking the potions! That's why I like you my friend, evil to the core...

¿Cure serious wounds and fireball? They will do next to nothing. Use Invisibility Purge and Displacement (to be cast on the chief or fighter) instead.

good call on the spells. I’ll give em cure potions and a low-charge wand of fireballs instead.

The PCs use invisibility and displacement all the time, so it'll be fun to turn the tables on them.

 

[griff_goodbeard]

I was considering Improved Grapple... which one of these guys would be best suited for that?

Personally I would go with the cleric. Remove Imp Sunder in favor of Imp Grapple, and if you're so inclined remove WF in favor of Fling Enemy.

 

[BOZ]

here they are ATM:

NOSNRA, HILL GIANT CHIEF
Large Giant, 8th-level Barbarian
Hit Dice: 12d8+60 plus 8d12+40 (206 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 40 ft. in hide armor (6 squares); base speed 50 ft.
Armor Class: 24 (-1 size, -2 Dex, +9 natural, +8 hide armor), touch 7, flat-footed 24
Base Attack/Grapple: +17/+31
Attack: +3 Greatclub +30 melee (2d8+18/19-20) or slam +29 melee (1d4+10) or rock +14 ranged (2d6+10)
Full Attack: +3 Greatclub +30/+25/+20/+15 melee (2d8+18/19-20) or 2 slams +29 melee (1d4+10) or rock +14 ranged (2d6+10)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, rage 3/day (+4 Str, +4 Con, +2 Will, -2 AC), uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching, damage reduction 1/--
Saves: Fort +19, Ref +4, Will +7
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 6, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +20, Intimidate +10, Jump +26, Listen +9, Spot +11, Survival +7
Feats: Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Iron Will, Power Attack, Improved Critical (greatclub), Improved Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatclub)
Gear: +5 Black Dragon Hide Armor (Acid Resistance 10), +3 Large Greatclub
Potions: bull's strength, cure serious wounds, endurance, jump, heroism, displacement
CR 15


HILL GIANT SUB-CHIEF
Large Giant, 5th-level Fighter
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 plus 5d10+20 (149 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. in chainmail (6 squares); base speed 40 ft.
Armor Class: 23 (-1 size, -2 Dex, +9 natural, +7 chainmail [+2]), touch 7, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+25
Attack: +2 Greatsword +22 melee (2d8+12/17-20) or spiked chain +21 melee (2d4+7) slam +21 melee (1d4+7) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+7)
Full Attack: +2 Greatsword +22/+17/+12 melee (2d8+12/17-20) or spiked chain +21 melee (2d4+7) 2 slams +21 melee (1d4+7) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +3, Will +5
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 6, Con 19, Int 5, Wis 6, Cha 3
Skills: Climb +15, Jump +15, Listen +3, Spot +4
Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain), Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Improved Trip, Weapon Focus (greatsword)
Gear: +2 chainmail, +2 Large Greatsword
Potions: bull's strength, heroism, displacement
CR 12


HILL GIANT CLERIC
Large Giant, 5th-level cleric
Hit Dice: 12d8+36 plus 5d8+15 (127 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. in hide armor (6 squares); base speed 40 ft.
Armor Class: 21 (-1 size, +9 natural, +3 hide armor), touch 9, flat-footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+26
Attack: Greatclub +18 melee (2d8+9) or slam +17 melee (1d4+6) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+6)
Full Attack: Greatclub +18/+13/+8 melee (2d8+9) or 2 slams +17 melee (1d4+6) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, rebuke undead
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +5, Will +11
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 9
Skills: Climb +6, Heal +6, Jump +6, Listen +6, Spot +9
Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Grapple, Iron Will, Weapon Focus (greatclub)

Potions: cure serious wounds

Spells Prepared:
0: 5
1: Command, Doom, Protection From Good, Shield of Faith +domain
2: Bull’s Strength, Owl’s Wisdom +domain
3: Invisibility Purge +domain

HILL GIANT MAGE
Large Giant, 5th-level Wizard
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 plus 5d4+20 (134 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 40 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (-1 size, +9 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+20
Attack: Dagger +16 melee (1d6+7/19-20) or slam +15 melee (1d4+5) or rock +10 ranged (2d6+5)
Full Attack: Dagger +16/+11 melee (1d6+7/19-20) or 2 slams +15 melee (1d4+5) or rock +10 ranged (2d6+5)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, spells, familiar (dire wolf)
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +5, Will +7
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 11, Con 19, Int 14, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Climb +20, Concentration +12, Jump +24, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Listen +14, Spellcraft +12, Spot +14
Feats: Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll (B), Weapon Focus (dagger)
Gear: Wand of Fireballs (8 charges)
Potions: cure serious wounds

Spells Prepared:
0: 4
1: Burning Hands, Charm Person, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement
2: Mage Armor (quickened), Protection From Arrows, See Invisibility
3: Displacement

 

[Tinner]

I'd consider giving one of those rock throwers either the caber mentioned above, or maybe just a boulder with the returning property.
Keeping at a distance and trowing the same rock over and over could be pretty annoying.

 

[griff_goodbeard]

Another feat I just thought of, Brutal Throw. Lets you use str instead of dex for ranged attacks. Beefs up those thrown rocks.

 

[maggot]

How did the hill giant mage get quickened mage armor at 2nd level?

I would think a sorcerer would be a better fit for hill giants that wizard. I would pump both the cleric and the sorcerer/wizard to level 6 in any case to make CR calculations easier. It should be +1/2 level for sorcerer/wizard for CR 10 at level 6, hard to tell with the cleric because giving only +3 CR for six levels of cleric means the giant gets better BAB and saves and +3 levels of fighter.

Nosnra is a wimp with that +4 reflex save (one Oltiluke's sphere and out of the combat you go), and a +7 will save (+9 when raging).

 

[LordBOB]

If you throw all of your Giants in at once than your PC'c WILL DIE!!

How about you set up a scenerio where One of your GIANTS is out hunting and comes across a Demon or another Equally though opponent and is loosing. Your PC's have the option to let the fight work itself out or jump in and help out. If you and the PC's manage to save your GIANT you will be brought back to their village where the CHEIF thanks you for your help, and chews out the person you helped for being so weak.

One of your GIANTS challanges the PC's to a friendly fight and If you win your Party is rewarded by an item of their choice from the GIANTS. If you loose than your wounds will be healed and you will leave. You can challange the GIANTS to a 1 on 1 foght or a group fight, whichever you like best.


If you arent able to save the GIANT from the Demon, the CHIEF will think your Party killed the GIANT. You will be held prisioner in the jail and you must find a way to escape. As you bust out of jail, you can steal and item or 2 if you find any.

Whatever way you choose im sure it will be good. HAVE FUN!!!!

 

[BOZ]

How did the hill giant mage get quickened mage armor at 2nd level?

simple: he's actually a 5th level wizard.