[slightly OT] what is Aragon's STR? (possible spoilers)

[Ziona]

As far as the "toss" goes, I think that -in game terms- you'd have to give the assist from Gimli. Probably more of an "alley oop" than a straight throw of dead weight. Or possibly Aragorn giving Gimli an assist to his Jump?

Though on screen it wasn't easy to tell (happened pretty fast)...

ANOTHER REASON TO WATCH IT AGAIN!!

Good call...any reason to watch it again is a good reason!

I have to agree though, that Aragorn's tracking skills are immense! His strength must be at least a 16, perhaps a 17. Gimli may not be D&D-dwarf-heavy, but he's still a pretty stout barrell of a dwarf!

The heroics in this movie were great...ANOTHER REASON TO WATCH IT AGAIN!!

 

[wolff96]

Aragorn is a great example of epic-level tracking. Yow!

Not at all.

Since "Firm Ground" is the normal outdoor surface, we start with a DC 15. Add one since the creatures tracked are small. That's 16. Then add another one since it's been 24 hours (possibly less, but let's go worst case). That's only a DC 17.

Add a circumstance penalty to account for the torn-up ground of the battle (let's go worst-case again and say +4) to make it a DC 21.

My third level druid could make that roll on an 11. Even assuming Aragorn hasn't invested heavily in Wilderness Lore (yeah... right) that's still a very, very easy roll to make.

It's not epic-level tracking. It's just a Ranger doing what he does best. And a really cool depiction of him at work.

 

[drnuncheon]

Not at all.

Since "Firm Ground" is the normal outdoor surface, we start with a DC 15. Add one since the creatures tracked are small. That's 16. Then add another one since it's been 24 hours (possibly less, but let's go worst case). That's only a DC 17.

Add a circumstance penalty to account for the torn-up ground of the battle (let's go worst-case again and say +4) to make it a DC 21.

It's not epic-level tracking. It's just a Ranger doing what he does best. And a really cool depiction of him at work.

You forgot the penalty for tracking while running at full speed, so that's a -5 to his roll. On the other hand, there were at least 15 orcs in the group, so that's a +5 to offset that. (And the orcs were certainly Medium-size.)

But...you have to roll every mile, and if you lose the trail, you have to search for an hour before trying again. So to actually catch up with the orcs, he'd have to be making his rolls just about every time, which implies that he's probably got a +20 or so on his roll. (I'd think he couldn't take 10 - running at top speed must certainly count as being 'in a rush'.)

J

 

[sword-dancer]

To judge from the movie ... definitely.

To judge from the books, no. Aragorn loses the trail a number of times under circumstances much less difficult than the PHB sets for a DC 25-30 tracking check. I've made the case in the past that I don't see the Fellowship as epic-level characters, but most folks don't agree with me (see my versions of them at the Middle Earth d20 site).

Remember that Sarumans will hindered the 3, how much influence had this on the hunt.

 

[Bagpuss]

Forget epic-level dwarf tossing...

Aragorn is a great example of epic-level tracking. Yow!

I kept waiting for him to say....

"And just here Merry turned to Pippin and said...."

Then it cuts to Merry delivering a line of dialogue to Pippin.

 

[wolff96]

You forgot the penalty for tracking while running at full speed, so that's a -5 to his roll. On the other hand, there were at least 15 orcs in the group, so that's a +5 to offset that. (And the orcs were certainly Medium-size.)

I was actually only referring to the time where he was tracking Merry and Pippin across the battlefield. It was really cool how he was re-constructing their actions on the ground.

The tracking of the running orcs wasn't something I thought about.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

The only character I see as seeming truly epic-level is Gandalf (well, the only good character)... Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are all clearly inhumanly skilled, but I probably wouldn't put them far beyond level 12...

It's not that I think most of you are overestimating the skill depicted on-screen: Rather, I think you're underestimating the power level of D&D characters. An 8th-level character in D&D is already starting to push the boundaries of what seems humanly possible... Level 12 is four times as powerful. Remember, D&D was made with an epic feel in mind -- which occurs well before "Epic Levels."

(For a point of comparison, try imagining the characters versus monsters of various CRs... A Frost Worm, for instance, would probably give the Fellowship a good battle -- they'd probably come out alive, but still use "1/6th of their resources," at least. Looking at the Battle of Helm's Deep... The Uruk-Hai are probably CR 4 each, at most, and there were some normal Orcs in there with them as well, I believe. The commoners were holding their own against them -- they can't be that powerful. You don't have to be that high level before you can totally decimate CR 4 creatures.)

Of course, there's also the fact that neither the books nor movies were made with D&D in mind, so you probably won't ever be able to find a perfect fit for the characters You get some nice ones, but that's because it worked the other way around: D&D was designed with LotR heavily in mind.

 

[Stone Angel]

It is deffinitely hard to judge whats epic whats not. Obviously since so many people are torn between every one in the fellowship being high level vs. low level, and all other debates. But realistically what do you think the dc would be to re-create their footsteps. My dad was a ranger in the Army and I have went hunting with him, he is good at tracking. However he said never in his wildest dreams could he "see" what happened like Aaragorn did. Anyway at least everyone agrees it was a cool part of the movie.

 

[Zander]

The only character I see as seeming truly epic-level is Gandalf (well, the only good character)... Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are all clearly inhumanly skilled, but I probably wouldn't put them far beyond level 12...

It's not that I think most of you are overestimating the skill depicted on-screen: Rather, I think you're underestimating the power level of D&D characters. An 8th-level character in D&D is already starting to push the boundaries of what seems humanly possible... Level 12 is four times as powerful. Remember, D&D was made with an epic feel in mind -- which occurs well before "Epic Levels."

FWIW I agree. After the FotR film, I estimated the CR of the monsters in that film and extrapolated what level the members of the fellowship would be. Though very rough, I estimate the following levels:

• Aragorn = 12 - 16
• Legolas = 10 - 14
• Boromir = 8 - 10
• Gimli = 8 - 10
• Hobbits = 1 - 2

Saruman and Gandalf are harder to estimate because it's a relatively low magic setting (compared to D&D). However, given that Gandalf the Grey just manages to defeat the balrog suggests he's level 18 or 19. Saruman is little bit higher around level 20. Gandalf the White seems to be epic level, perhaps 21.

YMMV

 

[Tsyr]

I was actually only referring to the time where he was tracking Merry and Pippin across the battlefield. It was really cool how he was re-constructing their actions on the ground.

The tracking of the running orcs wasn't something I thought about.

It was mostly the whole "rebuild a scene" thing... that's more than a basic track check, to me.