Epic Destinies and Earth Giants

[Majoru Oakheart]

This preview has finally started to show people the power range of 4e. What you'll find is that the power level of characters and monsters in 4e has actually dropped. Dramatically. There are a lot of people out there who were complaining that 4e was too high powered, that it was becoming too anime with at-will powerful abilities and the like.

This is the first preview that has really started to hint at the new power scale. Let me just say that as weak as the Archmage powers seem when compared to 3e, they are VERY powerful in 4e.

 

[frankthedm]

So, nerfing some other guy can be perceived as buffing the hill giant? OK, D&D is officially an MMO now.

That's how it works in all situations. Giving something to one person in a group is funtionally the same as taking away soming from all other members of that group.

plus, the other giants have thier own elements, fire giats may hurl lava at thier foes. Where that lava is being squirted from when a source is not nearby, don't ask .

 

[Fallen Seraph]

You know, now that I think about it, I plan on having lots of traps and hazards with Titan confrontations.

-I want a Titan to split asunder the ground, I set a trap that causes the PC to fall into the ground (which then becomes a hazard).

-I want a Titan to cause the mountains to shake and bring down massive boulders, I set rows of boulder traps.

-I want a Titan to completely reshape the landscape, I set tons of different hazards that become known periodically throughout the combat.

 

[NaturalZero]

So, nerfing some other guy can be perceived as buffing the hill giant? OK, D&D is officially an MMO now.

If thugs in game A all have baseball bats and this is found to be boring so you take away the baseball bats from half of them in game B only to give them machine guns, it hardly counts as nerfing the ones without baseball bats.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Ugh.

My complaint over the previous content was that they tried making early levels "too epic" and it became campy in a bad way in the process.

And now my complaint is that end levels are too bland and lifeless.

The irony is not lost on me.

Also, please, for the love of god, change the name of "Demispell." I don't think anyone can take it seriously.

 

[Felon]

That's how it works in all situations. Giving something to one person in a group is funtionally the same as taking away soming from all other members of that group.

All situations are not zero-sum scenarios. If I gain $100, is it really the same as taking $100 from several other people? The earth giant's rock throwing either has merit or it doesn't. What some fire giant off in some other dungeon has is tangential at best.

 

[Dausuul]

Unless human sized greatclubs are 1d8s, those giants are getting short changed. Those large great clubs ought to at least be 1d12 and maybe 2d8.

Who says those are large greatclubs? If you look at the picture of the hill giant, you'll notice it's swinging that club in one hand. I'm guessing it's a regular-sized greatclub and they've gone back to the 3.0 system where weapon size was fixed for all weapons of that type. (Which in turn means there may be special weapon types for big wielders; a sword that a giant needs two hands to use might be called a giantsword instead of a greatsword.)

While i suspected giants would not have thier 3E damage output, the hill giant's has weaker damage with a melee weapon than a first edition ogre! Reducing the rediculous damage of 3rd editions giants is reasoanable, but this one is just a smidge too low for a 13th level foe.

It does seem awfully low, I have to admit. The 4th-level orc berserker (also a non-elite brute) does more damage. Of course, the giant is a whole lot tougher and has a ranged attack, plus that nasty per-encounter double-attack-knockback-knockdown ability, but it still seems like fighting a band of hill giants would be something of a grind.

 

[FireLance]

Did anybody notice that the giant preview had "ogre bludgeoneers" as level 16 minions?

Perhaps "bludgeoneer" is the brute minion template while "legionnaire" is the soldier minion template.

 

[keterys]

I suspect it's not a template, and more just like the 'orc drudge' and 'orc warrior'. Just a name.

 

[Sojorn]

You know, now that I think about it, I plan on having lots of traps and hazards with Titan confrontations.

-I want a Titan to split asunder the ground, I set a trap that causes the PC to fall into the ground (which then becomes a hazard).

-I want a Titan to cause the mountains to shake and bring down massive boulders, I set rows of boulder traps.

-I want a Titan to completely reshape the landscape, I set tons of different hazards that become known periodically throughout the combat.

Dear Fallen Seraph,

Please stop making us sound awesome. We were trying not to get slaughtered this edition.

Your friends,
the Earth Titans