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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 6840405" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Are discussions supposed to assume use of the party of 5 PCs listed above? Or are we to discuss based on our own groups, or just based on general assumptions of a 13th level party?1. Describe how you would run the challenge as designed including any rulings you would make at your table.Given the situation described for the giants, I'd certainly play them aggressively, but not suicidal. The party should be very obviously capable as soon as fighting breaks out, and Gorbarth would likely realize this once a couple of the wolves were dead. So if the PCs killed two of the wolves, then I'd have Gorbarth try to parley and put an end to combat (after all, he now has two wolves to eat). However, if the PCs did not impress upon him their ability quickly, then I'd have him go all out to put them down quickly. 2. Describe how you would expect your group (or yourself) to approach the encounter if it were ran as described in 1.As a player myself, given the parameters of the adventure, I would do everything within my power to avoid this pointless fight. It will waste time and resources, and could possibly require a short rest afterward, which would be a foolish expenditure of time at this point, given the constraints of the adventure. A tongues spell would come in handy if no one spoke giant, and I would rely on the party "face" (the bard, most likely) to try and persuade the giants to let us pass. I would even go so far as to pay them for safe passage if what they demanded was within reason. As I said, this conflict is meaningless...there's no need to be drawn into this fight. My players, however, are a bit more murder-hobominded than I am, so I'd be surprised if they didn't immediately engage the enemies. My players are pretty tactical when it comes to combat (as opposed to tactful when it comes to avoiding it) so they'd first seek to get out of the dangerous spot they're in with all of them being exposed to multiple breath weapons. So they'd disperse, with the melee types moving toward the Giants and the caster types moving away from them. Ultimately, I'd expect them to defeat these foes pretty soundly, but I also expect that it would cost them a decent amount of resources.3. Estimate how many and which resources the PCs might be expected to expend given 1 and 2 (a range based on contingencies may be appropriate).I'd expect the frontline PCs to lose a quarter to half of their HP depending on rolls. It could easily be worse than that depending on the initiative and how the rolls all went, but I'd expect this range. The other characters would likely lose more like a quarter HP, and would likely have to spend a few low level spells and one mid level spell. Given the initial set up and circumstances, unless almost everything goes the PCs' way, there's no way to avoid taking some pretty big hits. I would hope that the resources spent would not require a short rest. I think it's reasonable to assume that could be avoided, and is more an outside possibility depending on rolls favoring the giants. But in lieu of a short rest, the party would have to use a decent amount of resources to heal, so that would be a handful of spells from the cleric and bard, and probably a small chunk of the paladin's lay on hands.All in all, viewing things from an optimization standpoint, the simplest way to resolve this situation would be through diplomacy. Based on the party above, none speak giant, but the diviner has tongues memorized, so a single 3rd level spell could be all that was required to resolve this situation. Diviner casts that on the bard, and she uses her +14 persuasion to talk them all out of a fight. Anything more than a single 3rd level spell would be sub-optimal. I would expect most groups to spend a good deal resources more than that, especially if they tend to be more combat focused.</blockquote>

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