Help me mess with the party's Tempest

[BOZ]

The party badass is a 3.0 Tempest with 14 total class levels (making him the highest level member of the party - he has simply survived a lot longer than everyone else).

This guy gets by on having a lot of attacks per round with his scimitar, which through feats and a keen weapon etc. has a ridiculously high crit range. Usually, combat is a cakewalk for him and he can take down boss villans in a couple of rounds. For example, in the last session he killed a raging hill giant with 8 levels of barbarian IN ONE ROUND BY HIMSELF. lucky @$&($#@*!

I decided to test him last night. The party fought a group of 15 hill giant skeletons. He wanted nothing to do with them, what with their damage reduction and immunity to critical hits. Though he moves very quickly, he took his time getting to the combat (he was off dispatching a living hill giant elsewhere). It wasn't until the party discovered the cleric controlling the skeletons that he was interested in taking any action.

The party is about to enter the Steading of the Hill Giant chief. SO, what I need are ideas to minimize the damage this guy can do, which is considerable. I need creatures and classes and whatever that would be appropriate to that environment. Armor of heavy fortification comes to mind. More skeletons mixed in with the giants should be fun. Ideas?

 

[Enkhidu]

Try finding ways to make him be more mobile - maybe some of the nastier hill giants get a kick out of spring attack/full power attack combos. This will reduce his number of full attack actions.

 

[BOZ]

heh heh heh... yeah, reducing his opportunity to make full attacks will definitely help. he likes the haste spell though, but spring attack on a creature with reach should help.

 

[GlassJaw]

what I need are ideas to minimize the damage this guy can do

Hill giant sorc with ray of enfeeblement and Empower Spell

Hill giant barb with IUS and Imp Grapple - players never like to be grapple

A really smart hill giant with combat reflexes and improved trip

 

[Crothian]

place him in a tea cup....

 

[Enkhidu]

heh heh heh... yeah, reducing his opportunity to make full attacks will definitely help. he likes the haste spell though, but spring attack on a creature with reach should help.

Should I assume from this statement that you're still using the 3.0 haste?

 

[rowport]

* Slow spell (wizard)
* Brambles spell (druid)
* Any undead or non-crittable
* Tight fighting conditions to limit mobility (e.g. narrow hallway)
* DR that limits slashing weapons
* Any area of effect damage spells (although his REF saves are probably great)
* Darkness spells (wizard) assuming he does not have darkvision- this one is simple and surprisingly effective against a mobility fighter, unless he took Blind-Fighting
* Rough terrain requiring 1/2 movement



We also have a scimtar-wielding dervish of death in our game. Basically, enemies that he cannot hurt (non-crittable and/or DR) or environments that limit his mobility (spells or tight conditions) make him really pretty ineffective. He is devastating, but kind of a one-trick pony, which limits him severely in non-optimal conditions.

 

[Rackhir]

Don't forget that Slow automatically counters Haste. Also if you can slow him, then he's only getting a standard action per round. So no full attacks, no move and attack.

With the size advantages of his foes, disarming him shouldn't be too difficult. Don't forget about trip as well. Since he'll have to stand up at a minimum after being triped and that's a move action.

Oozes are also immune to crits as are golems and plant creatures. No reason why you can't have a hill giant druid.

 

[rowport]

No reason why you can't have a hill giant druid.

I would second this idea. It fits in perfectly with your set-up, and gives a whole lot of the limiting factors in one ugly package. Druids are at their best IMO when they use their abilities to control the battlefield. Having oozes and/or mobile plants around not only make sense thematically, they add even more toughness like you are looking for. AFAIK, there are some cool druidic feats in Eberron that allow for funky animal companions like these. Or, consider the Oozemaster PrC!

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Sound like giants are a theme. Use the Large and In Charge feat from Sword and Fist. It is in a sidebar, somewhere near the back, on the left hand page, IIRC. Since your tempest is using a scimitar, he/she has to close with the hill giants and get through their threatened area. If they can rebuff his/her advance AND deal damage, then you might be back in business.

Use swarms and mobs: Their both immune to criticals, too, but somehow, that fact doesn't seem to leap to mind as readily as when the PCs fight constructs and undead, maybe since I never describe them as a "mob" or "swarm", but rather as a "slew," a "snotload," a "c -whack," or a "butt-ton."