Olaf the Stout
Legend
Last night in my 3.5E D&D game the party took on a CR12 Fire Giant. With 5 8th level PC's and 1 6th level NPC in the group I was expecting this to be a pretty difficult fight.
The Fire Giant had a +25/+20/+15 Full Attack and dealt 2d8 +17 damage with each hit so the Rogue and Conjurer in the party could quite easily be killed with just 2 or 3 hits.
In the end though a simple 1st level spell totally changed the battle. The Conjurer cast Grease under the Fire Giant's feet, he failed his save and before he had a chance to take another action the Rogue, Warblade, Monk and Hexblade had all surrounded him.
From here he was a goner. If he stood up he would take 4 attacks of opportunity from the PC's. On top of that he would still be on the greased area so he would have to make a Balance check to move (which he had a fair chace of failing and falling over again) and open himself up to a second AoO for anyone that had Combat Reflexes.
On the ground his AC was 4 lower than normal which meant the PC's had a better chance of hitting him. So he was pretty much between a rock and a hard place. In the end he survived about 2 rounds of attacks from the PC's and I rolled very poorly in return for his attacks. With about 10 hit points left (out of over 250) I had him bargain with the PC's for his life.
The party got some information from him about the rest of the complex they were in (who else was in there, any traps to watch out for) and then let him go. So they definitely ended up better of for not killing him.
And it was a simple 1st level spell that triggered it all. It's not the first time that the Grease spell has proved to be very effective in one of my games, even when the campaign has reached 10th level or above.
So what about your game? It doesn't have to be 3.5E, or even D&D. What low level power or ability have you used that has packed a big punch, even when your character has grown in power and has gotten much bigger and better abilities?
Olaf the Stout
The Fire Giant had a +25/+20/+15 Full Attack and dealt 2d8 +17 damage with each hit so the Rogue and Conjurer in the party could quite easily be killed with just 2 or 3 hits.
In the end though a simple 1st level spell totally changed the battle. The Conjurer cast Grease under the Fire Giant's feet, he failed his save and before he had a chance to take another action the Rogue, Warblade, Monk and Hexblade had all surrounded him.
From here he was a goner. If he stood up he would take 4 attacks of opportunity from the PC's. On top of that he would still be on the greased area so he would have to make a Balance check to move (which he had a fair chace of failing and falling over again) and open himself up to a second AoO for anyone that had Combat Reflexes.
On the ground his AC was 4 lower than normal which meant the PC's had a better chance of hitting him. So he was pretty much between a rock and a hard place. In the end he survived about 2 rounds of attacks from the PC's and I rolled very poorly in return for his attacks. With about 10 hit points left (out of over 250) I had him bargain with the PC's for his life.
The party got some information from him about the rest of the complex they were in (who else was in there, any traps to watch out for) and then let him go. So they definitely ended up better of for not killing him.
And it was a simple 1st level spell that triggered it all. It's not the first time that the Grease spell has proved to be very effective in one of my games, even when the campaign has reached 10th level or above.
So what about your game? It doesn't have to be 3.5E, or even D&D. What low level power or ability have you used that has packed a big punch, even when your character has grown in power and has gotten much bigger and better abilities?
Olaf the Stout
