Should we stay or should we go now, la la la.

[justfisch]

I am looking for some advice about a current game situation I am in. We play again on thursday so I have a couple of days to ponder my next moves.

Here is the setup:
We are playing through a portion of Against the Giants, retooled for 3.5. Our party is made up of:
Ranger -7th(asimar)
Monk -7th (goliath) (I play this character)
Cleric -8th (I play this character right now as the played is on injured reserve)
Rogue/Fighter -5/3
Paladin -8th (with dire wolf mount)
Wizard -7th (now dead)

We were moving through the hill giant lodge and killing pretty much everything we came across, but ended up against 7 hill giants at once. Our wizard has just been killed, thus removing our chance for area damage. The monk and cleric have the giants held at the door to the kitchen, cleric and ranger are in the kitchen and the paladin and rogue/fighter are outside of the kitchen sepeated from the rest of the party. The giants are weilding great axes and have a little extra armor(AC22) making them a bit harder to hit than normal.

The giants are in the hall way and have moved up to melee with the party and are not using rocks anymore. There are two stone giants towards the back of the great hall (where the hill giants emerged from) that are watching the battle. The stone giants are apparently part of a dipmolacy mission between the giants and we have been fairly succesfull at motivating them(through diplomacy skill) to at least stay out of the fight, if not join us.

I am not adverse to staying and fighting, the problem is that the fight could go south really quick and we wouldn't be able to run. I am thinking about a tactical retreat right now. We are better as a group with ranged combat than the hill giants, plus we have some battle field control spells that the cleric can throw down, like obscuring mist. The only problem with this is that we are sperated (broke player rule number one, I know!).

Let me know what you think.

 

[Mark]

How many players and what do they say?

 

[blargney the second]

They're gonna paste you. Scram.

 

[moritheil]

The dead wizard is really a problem in many ways. More than the lack of area damage, the inabillity to throw out crippling effects based on will saves is going to cost you dearly in any protracted engagements.

 

[justfisch]

The dead wizard is really a problem in many ways. More than the lack of area damage, the inabillity to throw out crippling effects based on will saves is going to cost you dearly in any protracted engagements.

Yes, I know, he also had a 6th level wand of fireballs that none of the rest of us can use. The wizard made it one round and got hit with three rocks. The cleric had nothing left to work with. The only up side o all this is that they can't get surround us, we have them pigonholed into the door way and hall. There is also a 10' corredor exiting the kitchen that I think we could us for our retreat, except for the fact that we haven' been down that corredor so we don't know where it goes or what is at the end of it. I forgot to mention that we have a summoned lantern archon for the next 7 rounds. It is giving off a nice circ. pro evil 10' and can cast aid on someone each round or shoot a couple of rays for d6. I don't know how we will leave as a group, I think we are going to have to split up.

What would you do for your retreat, split or try to stay together?

 

[rgard]

Run away!

The giants are going to eat your lunch.

When safe, either get the wiz raised or roll up a replacement.

Edit: saw your question about splitting up or staying together. I'd stay together.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[moritheil]

I don't know how we will leave as a group, I think we are going to have to split up.

What would you do for your retreat, split or try to stay together?

Ideally stay together, but it sounds like you may not have a choice. In which case, either the DM will take pity on you, or those of you without hide ranks will be destroyed in short order while the others regroup.

What was your wizard doing that got him killed, anyhow? Did he just get smashed by boulders in the opening round before he could go invisible?

EDIT: I see that was the case. I guess he'll be using Protection From Arrows more in the near future.

 

[Sitara]

I say try to split the giants up. Maybe have the paladin's mount be a distraction and try to corner 1-2 giants and attack them at once. Since their alignment is probably evil the paladin's smites can be real helpful (+8 damage guaranteed per smite!)

 

[S'mon]

You're not powerful enough to fight a horde of 3.5e hill giants. Run away!

 

[green slime]

Nah.

I say, stay and fight. At least until you get the team back together. Once the team is together, then you can try and make an ordered retreat. If you run now, at least two more will go down, as I'm assuming one couple will find their retreat effectively blocked.

Priority one is get the team back together.
Priority two is stay alive. (Consider your options when the team is together again).

You could consider surrendering, or negotiating a truce.