DM Carbide's Giantslayer

Game Master John Woodford

Thanks! I knew I had to be missing something.

We just wrapped up the special, so I should have more time going forward. I'll be traveling again this coming weekend, though.

"Use the hand? How would we do that?" Jarrek looks down at the thing as he thinks it over.

Should I roll Arcana or History or something else to figure out how we'd use it?

A longspear could be interesting if I could retrain my Weapon Focus but the penalty from it being Large would outweigh the benefit of an enchantment unless it's a really good bonus.

Before parting from Umlo and Ingrahild, Haftor learned from them some family lore concerning their illustrious ancestor, Nargrym Steelhand, the Giantslayer. As is customary, he was laid to rest with his gear and other belongings--including the enchanted steel hand that earned him the name. The hand, stories say, gave him the ability to use giants' weapons himself.

So we know in-character that the Steel Hand lets you use giant-sized weapons. And we have now seen this in action with Lokmorr (Medium) using a Large longspear. We will probably need to identify the Steel Hand with Detect Magic and Spellcraft to get the full properties. It may or may not take away the oversized weapon attack roll penalty, but it at least lets a Medium character use a Large two-handed weapon which is normally impossible (except for a few archetypes). It's entirely possible that we will face giants with particularly impressive weapons down the road and the Steel Hand would let you use them.

Kronug has no need for the Steel Hand because Gorum's Thorn is Medium-sized and he is very happy using that weapon.

Kronug's level-up:
Fighter 7
HP 1d5 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 +2 Con = +10, new total 80
BAB +1
FCB: +1 CMD vs Trip/Grapple
Feat: Iron Will
Skills (3): Acrobatics (3 ranks)
Background Skills (2): Knowledge (Engineering) (2 ranks)
Armor Training 2

Let me know when I can intro my character. =)

Soon, and thanks for your patience. I think they'll be going to discuss their findings with Ingrahild and Umlo first.

DM, if Jarrek takes the magic spear can he retrain his Weapon Focus?

Also, any chance we can recoup the money he spent on enchanting his cold iron falchion? Seems like a waste now.

Makes sense that whoever takes the Hand would also use the Spear. Bane is good but why would any Medium sized PC want to grapple a giant? Even with a Str bump from the hand they're not going to be stronger than even a hill giant. That seems dumb.

I think you under-estimate how many buffs PCs get to their attack rolls (and therefore CMB checks).

And I would guess that a barbed spear grappling a giant means not grappling by wrapping your arms around it, but rather impaling it and thereby restricting its movement (like harpoons do in PF1). So weapon bonuses would count. That makes a big difference.

We could very easily have Good Hope or Heroism (+2 morale), Inspire Courage (+2 competence), and Prayer or Divine Favor (+2 luck for Jarrek) for an extra +6. With a +5 BAB, +5 Str, +3 weapon enhancement with Bane, and +1 Weapon Focus, Jarrek would then be looking at a +20. More with flanking, Enlarge, or other modifiers. That's pretty solid. The narrow crit range means it wouldn't come into play very often, but I expect it would have a good chance of succeeding.