Is this fair? (Not for my players)

[Planetouched]

This sounds like a CR 9 for me. I'm currently running City of the Spider Queen and my party(all level 10) encountered 3 Stone Giants (CR 8 i believe). After a few rounds my party had to retreat, badly wounded.

The fact that i found my giants thougher than normally was because they smashed the fightertype characters AC with a +17 attack and average 24 damage roll and my party just didn't figure out a way around their clubs. This undead creature might nog have that many attacks but it sure has one that will hit. I would rule it as a CR 9 and not 10 because if the party finds a way around that attack, the creature is helpless. For instance Spider Climbing, Improved Inivisibility, Fly etc would be the end of the creature.

 

[Ghostknight]

This sounds like a CR 9 for me. I'm currently running City of the Spider Queen and my party(all level 10) encountered 3 Stone Giants (CR 8 i believe). After a few rounds my party had to retreat, badly wounded.

The fact that i found my giants thougher than normally was because they smashed the fightertype characters AC with a +17 attack and average 24 damage roll and my party just didn't figure out a way around their clubs. This undead creature might nog have that many attacks but it sure has one that will hit. I would rule it as a CR 9 and not 10 because if the party finds a way around that attack, the creature is helpless. For instance Spider Climbing, Improved Inivisibility, Fly etc would be the end of the creature.

Not really, throwing rocks will take out those spider climbing and flying creatures. Invisible characters may be difficult to hit, but not impossible. Added to that is the increased hit points over the normal giants and undead immunities.

 

[Eccles]

Not really, throwing rocks will take out those spider climbing and flying creatures. Invisible characters may be difficult to hit, but not impossible. Added to that is the increased hit points over the normal giants and undead immunities.

But Rock Throwing is listed as a Special Attack for Giants.

The SRD Zombie template says that "A zombie retains none of the base creature’s special attacks."

So I removed Rock Throwing. I accept that if they still had this attack, things'd be different.

 

[Ghostknight]

But Rock Throwing is listed as a Special Attack for Giants.

The SRD Zombie template says that "A zombie retains none of the base creature’s special attacks."

So I removed Rock Throwing. I accept that if they still had this attack, things'd be different.

The giant is a bit confusing - it lists rock throwing as a special attack, but has a ranged attack under the normal attacks. to me, even a dumb zombie can pick up a rock and throw it. The zombie template states that a zombie retains abilities around ranged attacks - overall I would let a monster zombie throw rocks - it does not require intelligence and the zombie template states that it retains special qualities that relate to its ranged attacks.

Maybe its just a personal preference, but to me , something that big picking up a rock and throwing it is a natural action.

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, but a zombie has no intelligence score. They do exactly what they're told, no more, no less.

I agree that they should lose the rock throwing special attack. Shame, though. :\

 

[Ghostknight]

Yeah, but a zombie has no intelligence score. They do exactly what they're told, no more, no less.

I agree that they should lose the rock throwing special attack. Shame, though. :\

How much intelligence does picking up a rock and throwing it take? SInce zombies tretain special abilities relating to ranged attacks, a ranged attack is not beyond them. A giant picking up a rock and throwing it is to me the same as a human picking up a stone - different size and strength makes for a larger projectile

 

[The Forsaken One]

@ level 7 under most conditions this is most certainly a speedbump for the party I'm currently in and the party which I DM. Just how the players approach it and take it down. They are so easy to avoid and immobilize and effortless to fool.

Still a 10th level party should absolutely have no problems with a single zombie like this. (IMHO )

 

[Eccles]

If it was throwing rocks, it'd be throwing them as a big dumb zombie, and would throw normal damage rocks (possibly adjusted for size), a normal range increment, with a normal 'improvised weapon' penalty, I'd reckon.

Anyway, my group's mostly 13th. They came, they saw, they hacked and flailed at it, they conquered. It did hurt them, but then so did the CR7 Umber Hulk.

I think CR9 is about right, but if it was in a group where the rest of the group could make good use of the giant's "meat shield" capacity, I might give them a small extra XP award. On its own it was too dumb and too slow to make the most of it.