ericthecleric's page

Thanks, guys.
I’ll definitely get round to book 10 at some point, but I might try waiting until the other 2 books are out. I tried reading book 10 without having re-read the previous 9 books for a while. It IS like one huge novel though, as several people pointed out.
Steve- It’s mentioned in book 1 that Lan’s aunt and cousin disappear into The Blight, and that Rand has a half-brother in book 4. I think that the mysterious “Isam” is some bizaare fusion of two people: Lord Luc (Lan’s cousin) in the world of flesh and Rand’s brother is Slayer in the dream world. (This is what is heavily hinted at in book 4, in the Two Rivers sub-plot.)
It’ll be interesting to see what Mat get’s up to in the Tower of Jengai.
For my own speculation, I think that Mazrim Taim is one of the Forsaken, and that Logain will kill him (that’s the “glory” that Min sees).
I also think that in the final book, it’s the blood from Rand’s old wound (gained at Falme, in book 2) that will seal the Dark One, based on the idea that the evil from that wound will fight the evil of the Dark one.
Of course, I might be wrong on the above points, but it’ll be interesting to find out.
I also hope- but I don’t want anyone to tell me if I’m wrong- that Moirane returns at some point, as she was an interesting character.
I really dislike Nynaeve. She seems as though she was designed by a particularly munchkin player. Eg. I’d like this wilder who has a block, lets see, she can only use magic when she’s angry. Oh yeah, she’s angry all the time though, and really obnoxious with it, and over-proud to the point of fault. What Lan sees in her I’ll never know.
The Wheel of Time RPG is, on the whole, very good. As Troy says, it’s a good encyclopedia of the earlier books. It does have it’s faults, IMO, because it tones down some of the character types as to be “balanced”, which I think is a mistake. It’s also a bit annoying that the CR system in that book doesn’t mesh with standard D&D- has anyone converted the CRs for the Shadowspawn into standard D&D?

It sounds a bit like you want a new prestige class really, adapted from the Tempest prestige class (Complete Adventurer) and War Hulk (Miniatures Handbook), with the latter adapted for, presumably, Medium-size creatures. And changing the former's "Tempest defense" ability to "Two-handed weapon defense".
Dragon doesn't seem to publish as many prestige classes these days as they used to though, and you'd have to create all the other "fluff" that goes with it.
Here's an idea for you: (Provide your own prestige class name)
D10 HD, Good BAB and Fort save, Bad Ref and Will Save, 2 skill points per level (as fighter).
Requirements: BAB +6, Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Mobility, Power Attack, Spring Attack
Lvl 1: Two-handed weapon defense +1: When wielding a 2-handed weapon, you gain a +1 bonus to AC. This bonus increases to +2 at 3rd level and +3 at 5th.
Lvl 2: Great Swing: As per War Hulk ability
Lvl 3: Two-handed weapon defense +2
Lvl 4: Mighty Swing: As per War Hulk ability
Lvl 5: Two-handed weapon defense +3, Mighty Blow (When wielding a two-handed weapon (or a 1-handed weapon in two hands), you add Str x2 to damage, instead of Str x1.5).
Lvl 6: Massive Swing: As per War Hulk ability

Was that what you were after? (I didn't reprint the War Hulk abilities for copyright reasons.) There are a few 6-level prestige classes, so hopefully that rough idea is ok.

Thanks for your help, everyone.
I've had a look at the scanning software now, and I see that changing resolution really makes a difference.
The reason I asked about the size of file is that in my last job, some of my clients wouldn't accept emails of larger than 2 meg in size. As Paizo is a publishing company, it makes sense that they can handle larger files.

Mike,
When contacting you about a class acts article, should the query be sent as an attached file (as with the scanned signed disclosure form), or in the body of the email?
Should one send a query or the full article with the SDF?
How long should we expect to wait before hearing from you?
For some reason, when I scanned the SDF form, it came out at 4 meg (!?!). That seems a bit large to me (but that's not really your problem)- can you receive emails that large, or would the email not be delivered, and you'd never know?
Thanks in advance.

Thanks, Peruhain! I couldn't get into book 10, and I've not bothered with the prequel. Was the prequel worth it?
I'm glad that 11 wraps up several plot threads- it looked like the series was never going to end! I've enjoyed reading it, but books 6-9 just seemed to go on and on and on...

Does anyone know what's happened to this series of books? Book 10 was out years ago, with one prequel more recently. How many more books are planned and when are they likely to come out- anyone know?

The subject heading says it really- what do people think of the new Tome of Magic? Any good? Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Surely a great DM is one that manages 5 TPK's a session?... Only joking.

The most important thing is to remember that the game must be fun, for everyone present, including the players and the DM. What constitutes fun for each group of course, is different.

Managing pacing is important also. If the players get stuck for ages over a particular puzzle, a great DM will provide a little hint to get things going, or divert the players' interests elsewhere until they can solve the puzzle, for instance. A string of constant fights would be boring for most groups as well, so adding some role-playing or puzzle solving or whatever can make things more interesting, and ultimately more fun.

R-type: Dungeon's Roger Moore was originally an ex-army psychologist who somehow got into magazines, if I recall correctly. (Dragon had a feature YEARS ago detailing various members of staff.) He's not the actor!
Cheers.

Yes, to take a -10 attack bonus with Power Attack, you'd need at least a BAB of +10, and it'd help to have a large attack bonus despite that. Which is why Power Attack is particularly good for giants and large outsiders.
A slam attack is a natural attack, and can therefore benefit from Improved Natural Attack (and the other weapon feats like Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, etc).
R-type, see the Champion of Corellon Larethian prestige class from Races of the Wild, and give the elves the elven courtblade (from the same book).
I'm not sure if you're after "flavor" feats, or something substantial. If the latter, you're probably better off multiclassing as an incarnate (Magic of Incarnum) or rogue.

Power Attack is really useful with a greatsword, especially under 3.5. Notably, for each point of BAB temporarily sacrificed, a two-handed weapon deals +2 damage. So, if you drop your attack bonus by 10, you gain +20 damage. With Improved Critical (especially for a falchion), that can really hurt.

Not everyone has access to the internet, so, because there must be some errata for the AoW series, why not print (some of) them between AP2 and AP3 in the magazine? Just an idea. I know that the editors don't make mistakes, but sometimes things just slip through... ;-)

Issue 100 has retrospectives by the authors. I can't remember if it says which issues they covered in detail though.

I agree with you on your response to my second question. That is, if the character lost his natural attacks because the soulmelds are temporarily dispelled, then he temporarily loses use of Multiattack.

I partially disagree with you on your response to my first question though. Nowhere does it say there's a choice- I think the character should get both benefits. However, I think it is a bit lame that incarnates have limited alignments. They should be allowed any alignment (except true neutral), but should then be allowed to choose which benefits they gain if they are an "extreme" alignment. For example, are they more lawful or more good? Doing this would make things more interesting- hopefully official errata will allow this.

I would also be interested in hearing from other posters to my original questions.
I'd also like to ask (DMs) for their opinions on whether they would ever consider any of the incarnum classes to be nonassociated- and for which races?

For those of you who've been using the Magic of Incarnum book, I'd like your opinions (particularly from DMs).
* If, say, a lawful good soulborn or totemist gains the "Shape Soulmeld" feat and picks "incarnate avatar" as the gained power, would you let the character gain full benefits, ie. each point of essentia adds +1 insight bonus on melee attacks and AC?
* Would you let a character (whether PC or NPC) gain the Multiattack feat, if he ALWAYS has girallon arms (or some other soulmeld that grants enough natural attacks) shaped?

I've collected Dungeon since issue #1, but in the early days it was really difficult to find some of the early issues. When issue 4 came out, I bought something else instead (can't remember what), and I've never seen it since. I only managed to acquire copies of 5 and 6 in the late 90's, in the 2nd-hand part of a RPG shop; I was soooo pleased to find them then.

The following examples are people I’ve DMed for or played with over the years, but thankfully never all at the same time. Just to get a debate going, which of ones would you say are the most annoying?

* A player who roleplays well, contributes ideas, and knows the game rules, but is not present one-third of the sessions (without telling anyone they won’t be turning up), and always turns up late by 60-90 minutes, when you’ve only got a games room available for 3 hours.
* A player who just sits there, never says anything and can’t be bothered to learn the rules.
* A player who pays no attention to what’s going on, and EVERY ROUND the DM has to work out the character’s attack and damage bonus.
* A player who always plays a “shifty rogue”, and always scouts ahead, hiding items they might find, and who also steals from other PCs if they can get away with it.
* A player who throughout the game continually offers rules “suggestions”; for example, “In my home campaign, we do it this way…”

If anyone out there is a fan, what's the 4th series like? The third series only just came out on DVD.

Ok, I started a thread in the general D&D discussion section about the simulacrum spell.
Please could you have someone officially update the spell, especially regarding CR calculation; whether a simulacrum's an intelligent construct or not; and how you choose which class levels are lost (when it matters).
Thanks. I'm willing to co-write it if help is wanted.

Recently, some friends visited for the weekend. I decided it would be fun to run The Whispering Cairn, on the off-chance that we can play the whole thing through. Based on other people’s advice, I decided to let the players have six PCs in total. This is what we ended up with:
Half-elf ranger
Female elf fighter (eventually to become an arcane archer)
Human sorcerer
Duskling totemist with Int 6 (was originally going to be a dwarf fighter)
Halfling rogue
Human cleric

The ranger was called “Agarorn”.
The fighter was called “Leggy Lass”
The sorcerer was called “Grand Alf”
The totemist was called “Dimli”
The rogue was called “Bodo Fraggins”
The cleric was called “Holly” (as in “holy”)

Because they didn’t know what the campaign was going to be about, the players called the group “The Fellowship of the… Thing”.
When I saw the names, I thought that this was going to be a daft/goofy session. But despite the names they played the adventure seriously. They even let Filge live- and are willing to let him accompany them on the visit to the mines... (Evil grin.) Somehow, the halfling ended up with the magic short sword and the magic ring; I’m sure you can guess what they called the sword.
Thanks Erik for writing a great adventure- despite the occasional silliness of my friends, but you’re not responsible for that!

*nods* Well-put Eric, though I wanted to clarify if this was for 3.0 or 3.5 usage?

I only ask because headbands of intellect no longer grant additional skill points to the wearers in 3.5, simplifying calculations a great deal.

Oops, forgot that. Thanks for the reminder. I guess it depends which version is being run.

Also, if an article is written, please also indicate, for simulacra with levels, how you choose which levels go if its complicated, like if the original creature had multiple classes and/or prestige classes.

First of all, I haven’t had time since Thursday to reply to the other posts, so for the people who posted helpful replies, thank you.

Sebastian, thanks for reminding me about “Headless”- James, you’ve written a LOT of really cool adventures. (For the old-timers, there’s a great adventure with simulacra, “Threshold of Evil”, in Dungeon 10.) Bear in mind though that Headless was written for v3.0, when the mechanics of the spell were slightly different. There are three simulacrum types in that adventure:
* A derro with 14 class levels- CR 15 normally, minus 7 class levels = CR 8.
* A frost giant (CR 9, 14 HD) with ranger6 (CR +6, +6 HD); total CR = 15. Using my guidelines above, half giant HD (-7 HD, equals -1.75 CR), half ranger HD (-3 levels, = -3 CR), rounding to the nearest whole number, would mean a CR modifier of -5 = CR 10. This is the CR of the giant simulacra in “Headless”.
* An old white dragon (CR 15; 24 HD). Using my guidelines above, half dragon HD (-12 HD, equals -6 CR) would mean a CR modifier of -6 = CR 9. However, the CR of the dragon simulacra in “Headless” is CR 12, which is fair because dragons are ALWAYS tougher than their actual CRs- and so should the simulacra.
James, I’m using these examples not to criticize your excellent adventure, but to illustrate the point that in the case of some simulacra, it’s hard to judge what constitutes a reasonable CR.

To answer Peruhain of Brithondy’s questions, a simulacra of a great red wyrm has the stats of a great red wyrm, with all the benefits thereof, minus 20 HD (for purposes of hp, Base Attack Bonus, and base saves). The simulacras of the old white dragon in “Headless” is an illustration of this. A great red wyrm simulacra is NOT an adult red dragon that looks like a great red wyrm. You still have to work out the number of skill ranks of the original dragon though (so that they can be halved); remember that a dragon’s Intelligence rises over age categories, which can be a real hassle. Actually, working out the skill ranks for a wizard in particular is even more of a hassle, because you have to estimate at which point they’d have improved their Intelligence (via level gains, headbands of intellect +2, +4 , +6 and so on); doing skills is even worse if the wizard multi-classed and took (multiple) prestige classes.

I cannot emphasize enough how good the simulacrum spell is. The potential is enormous. This is because of three main reasons- and they’re pretty big ones:
* A simulacra does not need any sort of upkeep, really (except when they need healing); they do not need to eat, breathe, or sleep. They don’t need to be paid or have any demands satisfied.
* A simulacra is totally under the control of the spellcaster, while still retaining their Intelligence.
* The caster can even create a simulacra of anything that has a corporeal body (a requirement so that body parts can be incorporated in the simulacra). Even corporeal undead can be made into simulacra! The only creatures that cannot have simulacra made of them are incorporeal creatures or creatures that have never lived.

If a wizard creates a mini-army of 12 great red wyrm simulacras with which to terrorize the land, they have all the advantages listed above, ie. total control, and no need for maintenance. No 20th-level wizard could recruit and retain 12 adult red dragons. The only problem the wizard might have is where to conceal them (plus roving bands of adventurers).

Aside from CR calculation, it should also be answered whether a simulacra is an intelligent construct (without using the construct BAB, base saves, HD type). It seems that someone should write an article officially updating the simulacrum spell description (not merely for Sage Advice), so would the good Paizo staff please consider this?

I am confused, you want to give a spell a CR? Sure the spell creates something that can attack etc but it is still a spell.

I think I see where you are going...
It calls into being something that has 50% HD of some other thing up to caster HD. SO I would say that if you want to assign CR to the something a CR of 50% of its usual CR. Most monsters etc have abilities that are tied to their HD so all of that stuff is reduced.
I would go with a 50% reduction in CR for the 50% reduction in HD, BAB, skills, feats.

However, I would not award any XP for said encounter with simulacrum. Why? Because it is a part of the spellcaster and should be treated as such. The mage has to pump in a large amount of gp, XP and time to create the simulacrum. Defeating the mage earns the XP not defeating the simulacrum.

igi

Sorry if I confused you or anyone else. I meant, how do other DMs assess the CR of a simulacrum (a copy of a creature)? The wizard isn't necessarily going to create a copy of himself. He might create a copy of a adult red dragon, for instance. Also, the simulacrum might not be encountered with the wizard, but elsewhere.

A 50% reduction in CR wouldn't quite be right. For example, the simulacrum of a great red wyrm (40-HD, CR 26) would have 20-HD if a simulacrum copy was made. It would still have DR 20/magic, a breath weapon which deals 24d10 damage, and 19th level-sorcerer abilities. Using half the original CR would make it CR 13, which would be overpowering.
Returning to my original post, subtracting 10 from the CR (-1 per 2 dragon HD, because it's minus 20 HD) would make it CR 16. Does that make my original post more clear?

Regarding the simulacrum spell, how do people assess CR? From reading the spell description, it says that the simulacrum has half the HD of the original. Therefore, one could conclude that the CR would be -1 CR per four aberration HD, -1 CR per 3 magical beast HD, or -1 CR per outsider HD, for example (based on the reverse of adding extra HD for advancement).

According to my 3.5 MM, page 234, a hieracosphinx (9 HD) is CR 5. Adding 8 non-associated cleric levels adds CR +4.
Adding the half-fiend template adds is CR +3, because the creature has 17 HD. That makes the CR 12, and it uses the half-fiend spell-like abilities as a 17-HD creature.
When determining skill points, assume that the half-fiend Intelligence boost starts with the first hieracosphinx HD though (because it was presumably born a half-fiend hieracosphinx).
As to whether adding cleric levels is "unbalanced", I doubt it, because, I imagine that if the PCs encounter the sphinx just by itself, it's most likely only getting 1 action per round. While say, a group of 12th-level PCs gets 4 actions per round (in total) against the sphinx.
Also, each 12th-level PC should have about 88,000 gp worth of equipment. A CR 12 human villain (or CR 12 hieracosphinx) should have about 27,000 gp worth of equipment. At 20th-level, the figures are PCs, 760,000 gp worth of equipment; villains, 220,000 gp worth of equipment. So, to some extent, the extra abilities are more than offset by the vast amount of treasure the PCs have; knowing the characters and the rules also helps. Actually, I think that PCs in general have too much equipment in regards to NPCs (but maybe I'm stingy, and that issue would be a different thread anyway).

Neeklus, there are 3 shops in Manchester that sell role-playing stuff, and they're all quite close to each other. Fanboy3 (which definitely sells both magazines), Travelling Man, and Forbidden Planet are the shops.
Personally, I prefer to subscribe through ThePlaceForGames.com, which- I think- has some connection with Paizo, but I'm not sure what.

Just out of curiosity, presumably a lot of the Paizo editorial staff were involved in the AP3 (& AP2) planning sessions. So, as you all (James et al) played the adventures also, how were there any surprises? Or how will there be any surprises when they playtest AP3?
Cheers,

CoC can be fun, with the right DM/Keeper.
One time, I rolled up my best character ever, in terms of stats. Using ordinary dice, and in front of that particular game's Keeper, I rolled up a soldier with two ability scores of 14, and everything else was 16+. No cheating was done. Unfortunately, when I rolled San, I came up 9. Oops.
During the first adventure, that character saw something (I can't remember what) that caused 3 temporary San.
The first time the character actually saw a monster, I critically failed the roll, and the soldier instantly went catatonic. At least he didn't know what happened to him the rest of the adventure...

Thanks for your reply, James!
I have to let you know, it's because of the outstanding quality of the AoW that I've resubscribed to Dungeon (at ThePlaceForGames).
Good luck with the next Adventure Path.
I hope that you've got an adventure or two in the works featuring Incarnum NPCs. If not, maybe I'll propose something.
While I'm on the subject, I'd like to re-write parts of my adventure "Clash", if you'd allow me to- your IT man can give you my email addy; maybe you never got the copy of my signed SDF (which I had some trouble getting to you), in any event I never received any feedback. (Please don't take that as criticism!)
Thanks for your time.

In adventures, whether AP or not, I prefer to see fewer but harder CR fights (rather than lots of lower CR fights).
Also in general, please don't print full stat blocks for monsters (that otherwise have no modifications) from sources like MM2, MM3, Fiend Folio, etc. Just list the hp and source, and suggest alternate monsters, with various classes and/or templates instead.
I'd also like to see some Incarnum-using badguys (preferably lawful, because those nice attack bonuses work very nicely with Power Attack), please.
Luckstealers (Races of the Wild)- I don't have much use for halflings generally, but I do like this prestige class.
Wild Magic and Wild Mages (Complete Arcane)- lots of it, please.
Oh yeah, lots of creatures with the -updated to 3.5- Corrupted creature template from Book of Vile Darkness.
And- if license agreements allow it- some Cthulu mythos please?

Cheers!

I agree on the point about rewarding players for doing something different (unless it's stupid). Some years ago, when shortly into running a campaign with a new group of players, the PCs came across a room with an intelligent undead monster. I was running the Birthright campaign adventure from Dungeon #60, I think. Anyway, when they entered the room, one of the PCs said "Hello" to the monster, just as it was closing to attack them. I was so surprised that a PC would try talking to something like that, that I thought, "why not?". So I ran the conversation, and rewarded the party by giving them a few bits of information about what was in the next few rooms. The players enjoyed the encounter, and so did I, and as a consequence, most intelligent undead from then on got the talky treatment from the PCs. Of course, sometimes I had the undead continue attacking the PCs just to shake them up.

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies. I didn't add any background because I wanted to see what ideas any responses generated- I like the jungle setting idea.
Sometimes various players over the years have called me a "killer DM", but that's not true; as one poster suggested, I like to use all the rules available when creating challenging opponents.
Yep, this build is legal. Please note that Huge lycanthropes are possible (MM 3.5, p. 175), the base animal needs to be within 1 size category of the base creature, which is Small to Large base animal for Medium base creature, Medium to Huge for a Large base creature, etc.
As for CR, adjustment is +5 for 18 animal-HD, then either animal's base CR (8) or base creature's CR (5 [for troll] + 10 class levels= 15). 5+15= CR 20.
I would never, ever allow such a combination as a player character, but such a creature would have an ECL of 41 (afflicted) or 42 (natural) as a PC. Base creature (troll) is 11 ECL, +10 for War Hulk levels, +18 for animal HD, +2 (afflicted) or +3 (natural). Such a PC would have stacks more equipment.
The obvious way to take down Smasher (I'm not great with creating names), is for a party to attack from long range, or even flying- but the same tactic should be used with any super-tough land-bound creatures.
For a more moderate version, say a troll weretyrannosaurus Cleric6, would be CR 13 (the cleric levels are non-associated), although druid, favored soul, or spirit shaman levels might also be fun and/or appropriate instead of cleric.

Just for a laugh, I created the following NPC. I created him because I like the concept, and like creating NPCs. I’ve could have made Smasher much nastier, if I wished, such as by choosing different/better feats, adding 18 more HD to the animal HD (this would change overall CR+1 though), or added more equipment, but I think it’s enough.
For any DMs who are fans of running high-level games, would anyone use him though (for a reason other than killing the PCs), and if so, how?
Before I show the stat bloc (I haven’t had time to use update Smasher to the new stat bloc yet, sorry), I want to include a reminder about the Power Attack feat, and notes about the weapon and armor qualities.
Power Attack feat note: Power Attack can be applied to natural weapons as well as manufactured weapons (per the Players Handbook).
Magic Armor note: In my games, the wild quality benefits all shapechangers, not merely wildshaping druids.
Magic Weapon note: The wounding quality deals 1 points of Constitution damage (from blood loss) to all creatures hit with the weapon; this is not doubled on a critical hit, and creatures immune to critical hits do not take the Con damage. The bodyfeeder quality (from Expanded Psionics Handbook): on a critical hit, the weapon grants Smasher temporary hit points equal to the total damage dealt by a successful critical hit; the temporary hit points last for 10 minutes. Thus, if Smasher successfully scores a critical hit while still enjoying temporary hit points from a previous critical hit, he gains only the better of the two values: either his current number of temporary hit points, or the new influx of temporary hit points, whichever is higher. This effectively grants a really decent level of fast healing... I would rule that- if using the Massive Swing ability, and scoring a critical hit- Smasher deals extra critical damage and gains temporary hit points only from the first creature hit.
As a further note, while I’m ok with the War Hulk feature that all skill ranks in Int-, Wis-, and Cha-based skills go down to 0 (except Intimidate), I think they should also retain ranks in Listen, Sense Motive, and Spot. I’ve cut all Listen and Spot ranks out of the NPC, but a War Hulk wouldn’t become unperceptive despite his utter brutality.

Here we go:
Smasher (Troll form): Troll Weretyrannosaurus Warhulk10; CR 20; Large Giant (Shapechanger); HD 24d8+10d12+278; hp 454; Init +3; Spd 30 ft.; AC 25 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +7 natural, +6 chainmail), touch 19, flat-footed 22; Base Atk +17; Grp +40; Atk +35 melee (1d6+19, claw), +33 melee (3d6+28/15-20, Huge falchion in massive swing), or +35 ranged (2d8+19, massive sweeping boulder); Full Atk +35 melee (1d6+19, 2 claws) and +33 melee (1d8+9, bite), or +33/+28/+23/+18 (3d6+28/15-20, Huge falchion in massive swing), or +35 ranged (2d8+19, massive sweeping boulder); Space/Reach 10 ft./10 ft.; SA Rend 2d6+28, massive swing, massive sweeping boulder; SQ Alternate form, darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision, regeneration 5, scent, tyrannosaurus empathy, 75% chance to ignore critical or sneak attack damage; AL CE; SV Fort +28, Ref +19, Will +17; Str 48, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 19, Cha 6.
Skills and Feats: Jump +39, Listen +6, Spot +6; AlertnessB, Cleave, Improved Critical (Falchion), Improved Natural Attack (bite)B, Iron WillB, Martial Weapon Proficiency (Falchion), Monkey Grip, Multiattack, Power Attack, RunB, Tougness (x6)B, TrackB. Note: Monkey Grip (Complete Warrior)- troll can wield a Huge falchion in (Large) troll form, with a -2 attack penalty [penalty incorporated above].

Smasher (Tyrannosaurus form): As troll form, except: Huge Giant (Shapechanger); Init +4; Spd 40 ft.; AC 25 (-2 size, +4 Dex, +7 natural, +6 chainmail), touch 19, flat-footed 22; Grp +53; Atk +43 melee (3d6+42, bite); Full Atk +43 melee (3d6+42, bite); Space/Reach 15 ft./10 ft.; SA Improved grab, swallow whole, curse of lycanthropy; SQ As troll form, but also gains damage reduction 10/silver; SV Fort +33, Ref +20, Will +17; Str 66, Dex 18, Con 30, Int 10, Wis 19, Cha 6.
Skills: Jump +52, Listen +6, Spot +6.

Smasher (Hybrid form): As troll form, except: Huge Giant (Shapechanger); Init +4; Spd 40 ft.; AC 25 (-2 size, +4 Dex, +7 natural, +6 chainmail), touch 19, flat-footed 22; Atk +43 melee (2d4+28, claw), +43 melee (3d6+42/15-20, Huge falchion in massive swing), or +43 ranged (2d8+28, massive sweeping boulder); Full Atk +43 melee (2d4+28, 2 claws) and +41 melee (3d6+14, bite), or +43/+38/+33/+28 (3d6+42/15-20, Huge falchion in massive swing), or +43 ranged (2d8+28, massive sweeping boulder); Space/Reach 15 ft./15 ft.; SA Rend 4d4+42, curse of lycanthropy, massive swing, massive sweeping boulder; SQ As troll form, but also gains damage reduction 10/silver; SV Fort +33, Ref +20, Will +17; Str 66, Dex 18, Con 30, Int 10, Wis 19, Cha 6.
Skills: Jump +52, Listen +6, Spot +6.
Note: Reach is 15 ft., because hybrid form is “tall” (refer to dire weretiger description if necessary).

Massive Sweeping Boulder (Ex): The troll can throw rocks with a range increment of 50 feet. (Like all thrown weapons, they have a maximum range of five range increments.) The troll uses his Str modifier instead of Dex mod on the attack roll. The rock must weigh approximately 50 pounds. The troll is able to throw his rocks with such force that they affect four squares in a line; each “square” must be 5 feet further away than the previous one. Make one attack roll and apply the result to each target.
Massive Swing (Ex): The troll can lash out all around himself with a single attack; the swing affects all squares he threatens. This is a standard action, therefore the troll can move and make a massive swing, or make multiple massive swings in a round. Make one attack roll and apply that roll as an attack against each defender. If the troll uses a special attack (such as disarm, trip, or sunder), this special attack affects only the first target; the other creatures are attacked normally.
The troll may skip creatures, attacking only those he wants to. For example, if there are 3 creatures surrounding him- an enemy, an ally, and another enemy- the troll can choose not to his his ally. If the troll drops one of his foes with a massive swing, he may make a cleave attack normally. However, he may do so only once for every time he swings, even if he drops more than one foe.
Rend (Ex): If the troll uses its natural weapons (instead of the falchion), and both claws hit, it rends the opponent, dealing an additional 2d6+28 (troll form) or 4d4+42 (hybrid form) points of damage. Power Attack bonus damage does not apply to rend (but does apply to any successful natural weapon hits).
Possessions: Huge +1 bodyfeeder wounding falchion, Large +1 mithral moderate fortification wild chainmail, potion (oil) of greater magic weapon +5 (20th-level; +5 enhancement bonus to falchion), potion (oil) of magic vestment +5 (20th-level; +5 enhancement bonus to chainmail), potion of barkskin +5 (20th-level; +5 enhancement bonus to natural armor), collection of throwing rocks. [Equipment value 131,825 gp, but could theoretically have more.]
Tactics: Drink/use potions; modifications not included above. If facing creatures with a relatively low AC (which is basically all creatures but the oldest dragons and a few other creatures), the troll assumes the opponents (ie. the PCs) are low AC, unless it constantly misses. Against low AC creatures, the troll shifts the full allotment into Power Attack (-17 on attacks, +17 damage with natural weapons or +34 with falchion). Wade into melee… Note that if using a -17 point adjustment on his falchion in hybrid form, his attack stats are +26/+21/+16/+11 (3d6+76/15-20, Huge magic falchion in massive swing), and on a critical hit would deal an average 173 hit points plus 1 Con damage to the first opponent hit (and gain 173 temporary hit points… heh heh), while other opponents would take an average 86.5 hit points plus 1 Con damage each.

So folks, what do you think? (Please be civil.) I can show my “workings”, if required.