DBH |
Our party is just starting part 3. Forge of the giant god.
Branwen Alise - Human female. Slayer 7.
Gilda Sintkilder - Dwarf female. Ranger 7.
Jagged Heart - Gnome male. Cleric 7 of Hanspur. Domains Death & Travel.
Valindra Shadowmantle - Elf female. Arcanist 7.
The Slayer took the Rogue trapfinding talent at 2nd level and fills the party rogue role very well.
DBH
Steel_Wind |
Giantslayer - Dwarven Delve
All five of my players PCs are Dwarves from Janderhoff. All are from the same clan. This concept for a PC party is something we have kicked around with doing for many years but this seems to be the time to actually try it. The Giantslayer AP is our "Dwarven Delve"
Malakai Redrock - Ftr 1/Paladin (StoneLord)1
Ulbricht Redrock - Ftr1/Cleric 1
Hemattin Redrock - Rgr1/Wizard 1
Horadaric Redrock - Ftr 1/Rogue 1
Hrafnarr Redrock - Ftr 1/Monk 1
All of the PCs are Lawful Good, except for Horardric the Rogue; the black sheep of the Redrock clan is Chaotic Neutral. Still, the "Dwarven way" of seeing things has predominated over any particular trite LG alignment role-playing. We're going all-in on the Dwarven feel in every respect.
Players speaking in "fake brogue" indicates that their character is speaking in the Dwarven tongue, not common.
The plan was to start all PCs as either Ftr or Ranger and then diverge from that point to branch out into the character's chosen class.
In terms of flavor, the Dwarven theme has worked out very well so far. There is a different backstory which explains their presence in Trunau, added clan obligations, family politics and so forth.
I think everybody is quite pleased with the Dwarven Delve so far.
Free Starting Team Feat
The fighter baseline for all of the Redrocks went further than martial/armor proficiencies. They got a free team feat out of it, too.
Each of the Redrocks was given a free "team feat" to start in addition to their normal starting feats and traits. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, after much debate and weighing the pros and cons, the players ultimately agreed they would choose "Shake it Off" as their beginning team feat.
As a free team feat, "Shake it Off" may prove to be the one selection which will prove to be too powerful. We're giving it a few more sessions to get a feel for how it will play out during actual play during extended combat when it may come into use. That has not happened yet and may not for some time, tbh.
They may receive another team feat at 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th, or not. We are playing this "team feat" experiment more or less by ear.
Very Dangerous over Short Distances...
The other wild card is how the reduced mobility of the PCs will play out during combat. With every PC being reduced to a movement speed of 20', that aspect of things may well have pernicious consequences.
For those GMs familiar with the conclusion of Vol 1, that may be a battle where the 20' range limitation will hit a stone wall. We'll see.
Pt II of Vol 1, The Siege of Trunau begins next session!
Turin the Mad |
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The 20' speed is mitigated early on by the judicious use of ponies. ;)
Our current party (just concluded the Siege of Trunau, about to enter the 'catacombs')
Mary Shelley, CN female human lame Life Oracle 3rd beholden to no deity, trapfinder (via trait), itching to use animate dead and eventually fashion a pet flesh golem. Pony: Dash. Pack mule: Cranky.
Piers Anthony, male grippli Ranger 3rd. Pony: Flutter.
Rudyard Kipling, male wyvaran Barbarian 3rd with an axe fetish. Racial type changed from dragon to humanoid (reptilian). No pony.
Geoffrey Chaucer, male gnome Arcane Sorcerer 3rd, self-delusional "Oracle of Nethys". Excellent orator. Pony: Jack.
Miguel de Cervantes, CG male human Cavalier (Beast Rider Gendarme) of the Order of the Sword 3rd. Rocinante is his horse, of course. Ponies: Spike, Macintosh.
UnArcaneElection |
Haven't gotten in a PbP yet, so I wouldn't have posted here, except that this thread seems to be going slow, so here's a party that I'd like to see somebody test drive (if I can't be part of it myself). Going in parallel to Steel_Wind's post of the all-Dwarf party, this one defaults to all-Halfling, although a couple of substitutions could be made if somebody didn't want to stick with all-Halfling (and all-Small or all (Small+Dwarf) would still be thematically cool). Read the link for details, but to summarize (and I added a few details here):
1. Mouser Tower Shieldadin. Could be substiuted by any Small race that makes a decent Paladin and Fighter, or a Dwarf.
2. Bard (or maybe Skald). Could alternatively be any race that makes a decent archer Bard; Medium race is fine for this position (even helps a hair with damage output), although it breaks the theme of all-Small or all-(Small+Dwarf) (since Dwarves have a hard time being Bards or Skalds).
3. Underfoot Adept Monk built for Monkey Shining, but with a 1 level dip in Mouser. Really needs to be a Halfling, although substitution is possible if you really insist (but keep in mind that Underfoot Adept is a Halfling-specific Monk archetype).
4. Ninja (or Unchained Rogue Filcher archetype) built for Dirty Tricks and eventually Ranged Sneak Attack, and eventually becoming Halfling Opportunist. Really needs to be a Halfling (even if you use Racial Heritage to qualify for Halfling Opportunist and/or Filcher Rogue as Human, you won't have the Halfling Luck to use with the Exceptionally Lucky class feature).
5. Witch specializing in debuffing (focus Hexes mainly on this, but leave room for Healing and eventually Major Healing) including Jinxing (focus feats on this), with secondary focus on AoE damage and battlefield control, eventually including Area Jinx. Really needs to be a Halfling (as above, if you aren't a Halfling, you won't have the Halfling Jinx to use with this). Caution: This will be the only 9/9 caster in the party.
The thematic justification for this party would be that they were all slaves in Cheliax and/or one of the adjacent countries, and escaped, with possible exceptions for one or two people that helped the rest of the party members to escape. Note that this party theme would tend to mean that none of them are Trunau locals, although it is possible that one of them is a Trunau local who got kidnapped and enslaved, or a traveler from Trunau who decided to help the others escape slavery. Potential plot hook from this background: Agents from Cheliax (especially Hellknights of the Order of the Chain and/or Order of the Scourge and/or their associates) come after them.
DBH |
The 20' speed is mitigated early on by the judicious use of ponies. ;)
Our current party (just concluded the Siege of Trunau, about to enter the 'catacombs')
Mary Shelley, CN female human lame Life Oracle 3rd beholden to no deity, trapfinder (via trait), itching to use animate dead and eventually fashion a pet flesh golem. Pony: Dash. Pack mule: Cranky.
Yes well...
Our Gnome cleric already has a Giant Bloody skeleton as his bodyguard/pack mule etc.
The Slayer and the Ranger are very focused on killing Giants and Orc, and so don't care what the Cleric gets up to, as long as it works in that regard.
The Arcanist hasn't expressed any opinion on the matter.
Not really a campaign for the pure of principle it seems.
DBH
Turin the Mad |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
To be fair, our group's general opinion about animated dead (without knowingly doing so on desecrated ground) is that they and the abilities/magic that creates them is Neutral, not Evil. How one acquires the skeletons/zombies and what you have them do is another matter. We're not going to animate our fallen citizens of Trunau, although the orcs are fair game. I believe that Mary is eagerly anticipating 6th level, when her plan is to animate the first pair of hill giants she gets her hands on as zombies.
After all, creating most golems involves enslaving/binding an elemental spirit, yet doing so isn't blanketed as Evil.
taks |
I'm running through with a party of 5, one of which is played by me. I'm teaching the game to my son and his friends, and my wife is helping out. We are just about to hit the last "act" of Bloodmarch Hill. Anyway...
Alik, Human Druid (Mountain Druid) 3
Drako, Half-Orc Barbarian (Titan Mauler) 3
Balthazar, my son, Human Ranger (Infiltrator) 3
Liselle, my wife, Half-Elf Witch (Hex Channeler) 3
Rinnaf Deracourt, me, Human Investigator (Empiricist) 3
The boys are young (12/13), and my wife is rather detached (though she seems to have more fun than she will admit), but it has been fun. I just got the map folio in so I don't have to draw Trunau anymore (yay!). We should finish up Bloodmarch Hill later today.
SometimesCrumb |
We're on Chapter Two, making our way up the river
Xander Gaither - Half Elf Ranger 3/Rogue 1 (took up one level of Rogue for DD and an extra D6 when flanking something)
Talvo Ob - Dwarven Warpriest of Torag 4 (new character to the party as the players original char. (a Slayer) in the last battle of Chapter 1 lol)
Wilca Magceb - Half Elf Cleric of Milani 4
Nomac Greenbottle - Halfling Universal Wizard 4 (again, new character as the other players convinced him to ditch his useless Dervish Dancer Bard [meanwhile, I just think he wasn't playing him to his potential])
Oceanshieldwolf |
Our all-orcs Giantslayer PbP can be found HERE
Our party consists of
Choot Othul: Male Orc Cleric 1 (Undead Lord) /Sorcerer 1 (Ghoul Touched Bloodline)
Thoku the Bloodied One: Male Half Orc Summoner (Synthesist) 2
Kern Deadeye: Male Half Orc Hunter (Packmaster) 2. Warcat - Grell
Kraq Skyspiltter: Male Half Orc Wizard 2
Hakak: Male Half-orc Druid (Saurian Shaman) 1. Spinosaurus: Fleshripper.
Shakraal Bloodscreamer: Female Half-orc Scarred Witch Doctor 1/Barbarian 1
We have formed our own tribe after succeeding at many trials of the Flood Truce, and now investigate Trunau. Or rather some of us are - my wyrdwarrior is afrai...ehrm... too strong.... for the weak human settlement and waits outside looking after the animal companions...
Tybid |
My group has just reached the Vault of Thorns...
Jaimme - Female Dwarven Warpriest of Torag
Tempi - Male Gnome Alchemist (Grenadier)
Mira - Female Halfling Mesmerist
Nell - Female Human Ranger
Arain - Male Dwarven Monk
Tudek - Male Half Orc Druid (Ape Shaman)
Lost
Kaseem - Female Human Unchained Rogue
Naseem - Male Human Fighter (Polearm Master)
(Quit due to poor player / dm compatibility)
TaigaKirdApe |
Current (as of next session) group, all lvl 7:
Agatha - Human Tattooed Sorcerer specialized in Fireball
Ernst - Dwarf Druid + Anklebiter, the world's best Raptor companion
Colton - Human Rogue
Fen - Dwarf Fighter 1 / Cleric 6
Lost -
Rongar - Half-Orc melee wizard 5 (Transmuter) / Ranger 1 /Eldrich Knight 1. Surprisingly effective, player just got tired of dwarven insults and decided the party needed a dedicated blaster instead of imperfect melee.
Arendall |
Our group is currently composed of :
Thornriel - Male Musetouched Aasimar, Inspired Blade
Zaerilla - Female Fetchling, Unchained Rogue
Ambre Grimalkin - Female Human, Diviner Wizard
Alice "Grimm" Grimalkin - Female Tiefling, Witch
Sajna Gimalkin - Female Angelkin Aasimar, Lunar Spirit Oracle
Emrig - Male Dwarf, Goliath Druid, with Pebbles his Allosaurus pet
Thornriel is tanking and does a lot of damage. Zaerilla tries to spot traps but fails sometimes. Ambre uses more evocation spells than divination. Grimm put people to sleep in combat and curse them. Emrig usually blows out giants with his hammer. Sajna heals, buffs and casts some wizard spells.
They are 6th level. They entered Redlake Fort and started to explore. They had some problems with Orcs, but they managed to ally with them.
Yossarin |
"Auntie" Muriel Nargrymkin, Female Dwarven Druid (Green Faith Adept), currently with a Dire Bear animal companion
Bonham Nargrymkin, Male Dwarven Bard
Thalen Nargrymkin, Male Dwarven Slayer
Rock Boulder, Male Dwarven Cleric of Pharasma
Millicent, Vudrani Halfling Kineticist (Geokineticist)
I honestly think this party speaks for itself about what our Giantslayer experience is like!
DBH |
After our first session, our party consists of:
Hrafn, male dwarven warpriest of Angradd
Theodric, male aasimar gunslinger
Albrecht, male dwarven ranger
Angdethael, female elf magusA very martial group.
Haven't used a Magus at all.
Do they have any ranged spells?
Getting close to Giants with a Magus HP is going to get nasty otherwise,
gamerdork |
We are a mere 3 sessions in, playing online, with:
Belgarath, human transmutation wizard
Satya, aasimar ranger/warpriest (hopefully to become evangelist)
Lucruth, half-orc grenadier (alchemist)
Valin, halfling mouser (swashbuckler)
Oren, half-orc bloodrager/brawler
so we have little healing and not a ton of melee. Belgarath, Lucruth and Satya are residents of Trunau; Valin and Oren are visitors.
Game on!
- Corey
KestrelZ |
To answer DBH -
A magus does have some ranged spells that can be selected. Color Spray is useful in the first book, yet becomes useless later. They do have ranged evocation spells. Glitterdust is always fun.
Also keep in mind that a Magus can use their abilities on masterwork ranged weapons as well as melee weapons (I'm thinking of the ability to give a weapon magical properties for a round). Having a reach weapon doesn't hurt, either.
DM_aka_Dudemeister |
Vex - Half-Orc Fighter [Planning on going Wizard to Eldritch Knight. Wants to prove a point about the viability of such a build.]
Bizarch - Half-Drow Undead Lord Cleric of Rhozool [Goddess of Fate Interrupted - Daughter of Zon Kuthon and Nyrissa from Kingmaker. Really looking forward to animating an undead Dragon])
Tink - Changeling Druid with Sabertooth Tiger Companion
Cyberohero |
Right now we finished Battle of Bloodmarch Hill and here's the party as follows:
Maridia, the Undine Cleric of Pharasma 4
Alyssa, the Human Titan Fighter 4
Lylabeth, the Elven Stormborn Blooded Arcanist 4
Umbra, the Tiefling Unchained Rogue 4
I even have an image for the end of one of the best fights they had.
Michael Talley 759 |
Just starting book 3 of 6 (we vary in level due the GM giving single kill and XP awards and new character rules)
Loki Stormbringer, Human Dragon Sorcerer 9
Thrax, Half-Giant Fighter 9
Windel, Halfling Rogue 8
Thorn, sylph, Cross-blooded Sorcerer 8 (Dragon/Elemental) [Dead]
New character for thorn will be a Half-Orc Invulnerable Rager 8
taks |
My Mummy's Mask group was dealt a setback when the rogue (archaeologist) had to depart for a few months. Rather than continue without him, they decided to do a run through Giantslayer in his absence (we just finished book 2 so we were at a good stopping point).
Anyway...
Dwarf barbarian (drunken brute, invulnerable rager)
Dwarf fighter (savage warrior, plans on drunken brute dip into barb next)
Dwarf alchemist (trapbreaker)
Dwarf druid
Dwarf warpriest
Gnome sorceror
On any given day, I only expect 5 to be present. When the sorc is out, I substitute an NPC human bard to help with charisma related issues. She noticed the strange group of dwarves during the hopeknife ceremony and struck up a conversation, offering occasional help to the obviously out of place dwarves.
JamZilla |
We are also part way through book 3, character level 8.
We have:
Gnome cavalier (lance charger)
Gnome sorcerer (enchantment and blasting)
Human Slayer (ranged damage)
Human Archaeologist Bard (Me. Secondary ranged, skills and buff spells)
Honestly, the AP has been incredibly easy for us so far. I can think of only one fight that has been even reasonably difficult. Aside from that the Slayer and I do so much damage on a full attack that nothing can stand up to it and when it can the cavalier just mops them up with a lance chargefor about 60-80 damage.
The sorcerer has actually become a little marginalised to just having the highest initiative and casting haste so we can shoot more arrows :/
I keep telling the group that the time will come where we are facing multiple giants with overlapping reach and without a proper melee (since the cavalier uses ride-by attack when he can which basically makes him like another ranged character) we are going to be in trouble. But I'm starting to actually doubt that myself now because our damage output is way outpacing what we are coming up against.
Is anyone else finding this one quite easy?
taks |
It depends upon how the GM works it. IMO, it can be played very easy, or very hard. I've heard both on the boards, and I'm just starting my 2nd campaign group through it.
The first group has all noobs and an NPC that I built to handle all skills related issues. They are having an easy time, just finishing up with A Knight in Need in book 2, part 1. Of course, as the GM teaching my son and his friends (and marginally, my wife), I'm not playing hard, and they are getting the benefit of the doubt much more often.
My 2nd group (the dwarves above) are playing with slightly modified encounters, better tactics from me, and, although they are all much more experienced, are having a significantly more difficult time. The assassins almost TPK'd them: there was some definite GM love on that encounter. The siege in book 1 is probably another session away, which will be telling. I may let them run straight through without rest on leveling to 3 just to make it fun.
I find this one a lot easier to deal with than Mummy's Mask, at least, in terms of making combat a challenge. The 2nd GS group is on a temporary hiatus from MM and they were stomping MM until the very end of book 2.
Tough call, really. Part of it is me learning how to deal with my groups and their abilities, part of it is me learning how to GM properly, part of it is simply combat style of the player and/or GM.
Piccolo |
So far, my players have chosen:
A Tiefling variant daemonspawn Wizard Evoker (admixture school).
A Dwarven Barbarian wielding a warhammer and shield, so as to take advantage of the artifact warhammer in the campaign. Took Minesight and the Giant hatred variant.
A Hobgoblin Ranger with a bastard sword, two weapon wielder and Infiltrator archetype. He's also our token trap man.
A Aasimar Cleric of Gorum with a greatsword.
An custom Elf variant(+2 Str and Dex, -2 Int) Fighter concentrating on archery. Took Woodcraft and darkvision.
Note that the entire party has darkvison. Since the party doesn't need light sources, they can take Stealth Synergy at 3rd level and be totally sneaky. This should prove very handy when they start invading enemy encampments starting in book 2.
Since this game takes place far from civilization and readily available food sources, I recommended the Wizard grab a Ring of Sustenance and the rest of the party a Travel Cloak. Here's the stats for the latter:
Travel Cloak- 5 cold resistance, sheds precipitation to the knees, gray-green color, wandermeal for one each day (you could make it a racial version if it was inherited by a PC), turns into a 1 man tent once per day, a 1 pint flask in a hidden extradimensional pocket that provides up to 2 gallons of fluid each day either sugared hot tea or cool spring water. Weighs 1 pound, costs 1200gp, Craft Wondrous Item, CL 5, endure elements, create food and water, enlarge. All they need to get more than that is a bunch of soap, a lantern, flint and steel, a masterwork backpack, and a bedroll to camp for however long. A cold weather outfit would be appropriate for Arctic conditions.
Piccolo |
They'll have to go to Vigil to get that equipment, unless you are ignoring the economy rules. Fortunately, you pass within 1 day from Vigil on the river in book 2.
Neat cloak, btw.
That's a good idea. I will tell the players that in book 2, so they can save their money up. BTW, what's the max purchase in the starting town of Trunau? They're going to want to make a lot of buys in armor, especially Mithril breastplates.
taks |
Yeah, the way book 1 works out, they should have nearly all of their treasure from the basement of the Plague House on when they hit the river. The town buys a lot of the siege gear, but can't afford any of the high dollar stuff, and the most they can do is add +1 enchantments to mwk items. I break mwk item cost and enchantment up into 2 separate expenses but charge them the day it takes to enchant.
taks |
Yeah, but for others... realistically, nothing I said is too spoilerish, otherwise I'm sure somebody would have griped by now! :)
Either way, I hope you have as much fun with this as I am having (both my groups, actually). I run the Sunday group with noobs and don't have to pay as much attention to details and overall story (they are tracking, but not intensely). The Saturday group has much greater experience and overall interest, so I have to be much more on the ball. The lessons learned from Sunday (they're a full book ahead) are really beneficial.
taks |
Does the 1000gp limit on Trunau also apply to nonmagical items, like suits of full plate or mithril heavy shields etc?
No. The settlement rules description for base value clearly state that the limit applies to magic items. As a result, I had my PCS buy their armor then enchant it. Personally, I'd limit how many high-value armors are available, i.e, there's only 1 full plate, first come first served, the next arrives in 3 weeks.
Anyway, Vigil is only a few days of detour in book 2.