Help me plan a Hill Giant Assault!


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My first thought is that you definitely should check out the Feral Ravager (IIRC) from Librum Equitis Volume I. It's a PrC for creatures with Reach (like, say, Giants) that specializes in controlling the battlefield by preventing the PCs from moving. The class has an ability to the effect of "if anyone in your threatened area tries to move (including a 5' step), you can make an AoO and hook them with your weapon (or somesuch) to prevent them from moving." That is usually a hugely nasty shock for PCs, especially when the Giant waits until their within his 10' reach, then prevents them from (a) closing to engage in melee because they only have a 5' reach, and (b) prevents them from fleeing.

I'm just going off memory there, I'm sure there are more goodies to it, but it's a NASTY ability against melee types when combined with Combat Reflexes. :)

So there's your Giant Leader's right-hand man - the guy who physically controls a battlefield by stopping the PCs in their tracks - literally.

The second thing to have handy is a sorcerer/wizard who can fire up an anti-magic shell. Physically, giants are going to be (more or less) superior to most PCs in a slugfest - it's magic that evens things up. Take that edge away, and have the giants prepared to fight with just their sheer mass, and you should be able to do some serious damage. If you don't like that idea, try a dispel-magic specialist to (a) dispel the PCs' buffs and (b) counterspell relentlessly.

Once you've got those two things in place - an anti-magic provider and a "hold the PCs still" type heavy (maybe with a spiked chain), all you need is a couple of well-armored, giant-sized greatsword wielding tanks with weapon specialization, improved critical, power attack, and so on to deal massive amounts of damage to the (hopefully) motionless, magicless PCs.

That is both nasty and to me, satisfyingly giant-ish... make the PCs and giants face off as the gods intended... the PCs put down their magic and the giants will put down their buffs they'll try to kill each other like civilized people.

Fezzik
"I can't help it always being the biggest and the strongest."
/Fezzik

;)

--The Sigil

My 2 coppers.
 


Found the relevant class abilities of the Feral Ravager...

Lord of the Domain: Kings of the battlefield, by taking advantage of their natural reach, second level Feral Ravagers can prevent opponents from closing inside their reach, thus keeping smaller opponents out of range to attack the Feral Ravager. Whenever the Feral Ravager makes a successful attack of opportunity against an opponent moving inside his threatened area, he and the opponent must make an opposed strength check (with a +4 bonus for each size category larger he is than the opponent, or a -4 penalty for each size category smaller he is than the opponent). If the check succeeds, the opponent is forced back five feet into the square he just left, and his movement is ended.

Impassable Domain: The most irritating thing a small one can do is bypass the Feral Ravager's natural reach by Tumbling. With practice, the level six Feral Ravager learns the extraordinary ability of intercepting tumbling foes. If the Feral Ravager can beat the tumbler's Tumble check with a d20 + Feral Ravager level + Tumble skill (or Dex bonus if the Ravager has no Tumble skill or his armour check penalty brings it below zero), then he may make an Attack of Opportunity as normal against the tumbling foe (and may use the Lord of the Domain ability also).

Note that while the "flavor" portion text notes that the ability is learned so as to keep opponents from closing on him, the "mechanics" part makes no such distinction - any movement within the threatened area (that triggers an AoO) is sufficient. This keeps the PCs from closing, but they could still flee a fellow with 10' reach. A giant with a 15' reach (perhaps due to a reach weapon) should just let the PCs close to within 10' then keep them there, not letting them get closer nor move away. Not only that, he gets to whack them with his AoO to boot. Fun!

Wicked stuff, and PCs hate it. :D

And if you're not up to using the Feral Ravager, a healthy supply of tanglefoot bags can provide similar (though not nearly as nasty) results. But you said your PCs were 11th-14th level, so I'd hit 'em with a Ravager. Then again, I'm a rat bastard DM.

--The Sigil
 

cool. since i'm not going to be DMing this wednesday (whew!), i will come up with some stats as soon as i can.
 

I have a question: Are you aiming for a TPK (which is easy), no deaths (well, too late for that), or somewhere in between? I get that you want the experience to be intense, but not a TPK, but I don't know exactly where in that range you're aiming for.
 

exactly what you said. ;) i definitely don't want a TPK (party surrender is an option if the villans are just too overpowered), but if some guys get lost along the way, well... sorry about that. :)
 

BOZ said:
exactly what you said. ;) i definitely don't want a TPK (party surrender is an option if the villans are just too overpowered), but if some guys get lost along the way, well... sorry about that. :)

Okay, so it's variable within limits. Sorry; I'm used to my 10-person campaign, wherein if I have a nasty encounter, I can classify it using numbers of expected deaths. :D

I would say that the vampire druid hill giant could cause a LOT of status effect trouble for the party. Nothing massive, but faerie fire to prevent invisible escapees and certain buffs from working, a little rock to mud action to create strategic terrain, and some slime waves to weaken the party for his melee-happy pals.

Should they try fleeing, walls of fire and walls of thorns could show up, and possibly summoned animals with lots of speed (cheetahs? eagles? dire versions?)
 
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heheh, sounds cool. "acceptible" losses are 50% of the party or less. if i kill more than half, it was either too powerful an encounter, or the PCs really screwed up (like they did the first time they faced off against Nosnra).
 

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