Giantslayer by DM DoctorEvil

Game Master DM DoctorEvil

I hope you have a a great holiday, DMDE. Even with the odd frustrating bit, this game is good fun. :)

Eh...we can win!

Maybe.

Wow. More orcs.

... Still in the process of moving. Might not be able to post till Thursday. Sorry. Please have me climb over the barricade if I can't get through (if the orcs in the way aren't dead). If I am gone for more than one turn, have me shoot some arrows at orcs (without drawing an AOO).

A cold here, so feel free to bot Acacius if I'm slow in posting.

Ugh, hope you feel better soon.

Back, thanks for the bot.

Glad you are back.

This weekend my family’s going to be super busy so we’re not going to have a chance to make a post. We should be back to regular posting by Monday evening. Feel free to bot Nakoma and Zeke if necessary. Details below.
Thanks!

Nakoma:
...Has five arrows remaining she could shoot if the opportunity presents itself. She doesn't have any archery related feats. <Shortbow +4 (1d6/x3)>
...Otherwise fights in melee. <Starknife +5 (1d6+3/19-20)>
...Can spontaneously use her last spell slot to cast cure light wounds if needed.

Zeke:
...Attack in melee. (note that he is wearing a heavy shield, so he cannot do anything else with his off-hand). <Morningstar +3 (1d8+2)>
...Can touch a creature as a standard action, granting them a +1 sacred bonus on attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws for 1 round. (He can do this five more times).
...Has four scrolls of cure light wounds you can use if needed (but due to his shield he would need to drop his weapon to draw and use the scroll which makes him very nervous).

Thanks for all the instructions. Have a good weekend.

Cheers, I'm back and catching up. Throat mostly okay now.

Back! Thanks for the bot.

For a drunken sot, Frum is doing damn well!

I wonder if Giantslayers includes anything akin to Legacy of Fire's achievement feats. E.g. Orcslayer, etc. I think something along those lines would be apt given the default difficulty level.

It does not that I am aware of. LoF was a pre-Pathfinder AP so not sure i have seen anything of like ilk since. My RL players joked that this module should be called Orcslayer, and I guess they were right. Getting near the end of this section, though, and just one more chapter to go before Book 1 of the AP ends.

Please note, I will be traveling for the upcoming holidays from 12/22 through 12/30. I expect to be able to post some during that trip, but perhaps not with great regularity.

Wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (or whatever holiday your faith and culture venerate). Perhaps I will give you all a present and end this interminable combat and see what happens next...but only if you've been nice and not naughty.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Happy Holidays.

Today will be the last post Zeke and I make for a few days, as we're spending the holidays with our family. We'll resume regular posting on the 27th.

All the best, and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas all!

Merry Christmas. :)

Waves of Orcs - Post combat Summary

Defeated:
3 Orc Shieldbreakers, 1 Orc Beast-Tamer, 1 Monitor Lizard, 18 Orc Warriors, 1 Orc Bombardier. Combined that is 1108xp per player. This moves your cumulative total to 5702/5000 or past the number need to get to Level 3!

In addition, there is a story award of 400xp per player for defeating all 4 waves of orcs, and a further award of 200xp per player if Omast Frum survives the fight, which he did (barely).

After these awards are added in, your new total is 6302/9000 or about 33% to level 4. Well on your way!

Injured:
Nakoma - 5/17hp; 2 STR dmg
Grauk - not injured
Azen - 6/13hp remaining (1 NL dmg)
Zeke - 8/20hp remaining
Acacius - 5/22hp remaining

Resources Used:
Nakoma - no spells left, no blessings left, no fervor left, 5 arrows remaining; 3 charges left on wand of CLW.
Grauk - 1 spell left; 5 elemental rays remaining
Azen - 22 arrows remaining; no spells left
Zeke - 3 spells cast; 2 Touch of Good used; 1 CLW scroll remaining; deflection aura used

Please list your level up decision and new abilities etc here, so I can be sure to incorporate them. Well done!

Whoo! *happy dance*

Zeke and I will have to level up tomorrow. No time tonight.

Oh, yeah!

Hurrah! :D

Level 3 Fighter

31 hp (22+9)

BAB +1
Ref +1
Will +1

Skills

Knowledge History
Linguistics (Orc)

Feat Improved Shield Bash

Class Features:

Phalanx Fighting (Ex)
At 3rd level, when a phalanx soldier wields a shield, he can use any polearm or spear of his size as a one-handed weapon.

This ability replaces armor training 1.

Acacius - it appears you can use the polearms along with shield now, but your damage will be less since using the glaive-guisarme with one hand, you don't get 1.5X damage like you would if two-handed. Ok?

I have the rest of your items, and you are good to go.

Because there is still combat to be run post-waves, my idea for your level ups will be to add your HP, feats, skills, spell slots (even if a prepared caster) and you can just move forward with those abilities.

It will help keep you alive for the coming fight, and give more choices since most of you are out of daily abilities etc at this point.

So, to sum up, the counts don't start over, but you can use the new values in spell slots or other daily uses if they are above what you had at level 2. Make sense?

If there are case-by-case examples where this won't apply, let's discuss here.

Hmm. I actually only added Acacius' strength modifier to damage.

Grauk has four spells left before leveling. He's cast mage armour once (happy to reapply if two hours have passed since the fight started) and hasn't cast feather fall. With Enlarge Person and Burning Hands now on his spells known list he'll be using a lot more than cantrips more regularly.

HP: 4+2=6. 6+14=20
Fort Save: +1
Ref Save: +1

Skills:
Appraise +1
Spellcraft +1
Use Magic Device +1
Knowledge Planes +1

Feat:
Point Blank Shot

Spell Slots: 1st +1

Favoured Class Bonus: Bonus Spell +1 Cantrip
Spells Known:
Cantrip: Drench -seems sensible if allowed.
1st Enlarge Person, Burning Hands

Elemental Resistance: Fire Resistance 10

Level 3:

BAB +1 (so attacks and CMB/CMD go up as well)
HP +5 (half plus one, correct?)
+1 Fort save
+1 spell per day (level 1)
+1 zero and +1 1st level spell known (Read Magic and Abundant Ammunition)
+1 zero level spell as my favored class bonus (Message)

get inspire competence bardic performance.

Skills: 9 ranks (Diplomacy, Disable Device, Perception, Acrobatics, K: Engineering, Nature, Nobility, Planes, Religion)

Feat: Additional Traits
Deadeye Bowman--Neutralizes soft cover from only one person.
Two-World Magic--Gives me Stabilize as a zero level spell.

Level 3

Hp: 5 +1 con +1 favoured = +7
Skills: +1 sense motive, +1 heal, +1 knowledge religion
feat: selective channel
+1 BAB
+1 Reflex
Channel Energy becomes 2d6
Second Level Spell Slots: 2/day (aid, lesser restoration), plus 1 domain (barkskin)

Level 3

Hp: 5+2 = +7
Skills: +1 acrobatics, +1 climb, +1 knowledge geography, +1 knowledge nature
Feat: Guided Star
Bonus Feat: Dodge

+1 BAB
+1 Reflex
+1 first level spell per day (shield of faith)

I have to say that I'm feeling a good bit more confident about our odds of survival now. I'm seeing some solid offense, defense, and healing abilities cropping up above!

HP: 4+2=6. 6+14=20
Fort Save: +1
Ref Save: +1

Skills:
Appraise +1
Spellcraft +1
Use Magic Device +1
Knowledge Planes +1

Feat:
Point Blank Shot

Spell Slots: 1st +1

Favoured Class Bonus: Bonus Spell +1 Cantrip
Spells Known:
Cantrip: Drench -seems sensible if allowed.
1st Enlarge Person, Burning Hands

Elemental Resistance: Fire Resistance 10

This looks good to go. I assume that Burning Hands will have amplification also, so it will be a catch fire AoE. Nice! I allow Drench as your cantrip.

Level 3:

BAB +1 (so attacks and CMB/CMD go up as well)
HP +5 (half plus one, correct?)
+1 Fort save
+1 spell per day (level 1)
+1 zero and +1 1st level spell known (Read Magic and Abundant Ammunition)
+1 zero level spell as my favored class bonus (Message)

get inspire competence bardic performance.

Skills: 9 ranks (Diplomacy, Disable Device, Perception, Acrobatics, K: Engineering, Nature, Nobility, Planes, Religion)

Feat: Additional Traits
Deadeye Bowman--Neutralizes soft cover from only one person.
Two-World Magic--Gives me Stabilize as a zero level spell.

i have updated with these changes. Thanks!

Level 3

Hp: 5 +1 con +1 favoured = +7
Skills: +1 sense motive, +1 heal, +1 knowledge religion
feat: selective channel
+1 BAB
+1 Reflex
Channel Energy becomes 2d6
Second Level Spell Slots: 2/day (aid, lesser restoration), plus 1 domain (barkskin)

Good to go!

Level 3

Hp: 5+2 = +7
Skills: +1 acrobatics, +1 climb, +1 knowledge geography, +1 knowledge nature
Feat: Guided Star
Bonus Feat: Dodge

+1 BAB
+1 Reflex
+1 first level spell per day (shield of faith)

Got it. Have to admit the Guided Star feat is one I had not seen before. Good work!

I have to say that I'm feeling a good bit more confident about our odds of survival now. I'm seeing some solid offense, defense, and healing abilities cropping up above!

A good thing too. You may soon run into your first giant of the campaign...

Roll for it shall come in handy when those crits come!

Got it. Have to admit the Guided Star feat is one I had not seen before. Good work!

Haha. Thanks! It's perfect for Nakoma. That and I always prefer to take quirky thematic options when I can, if it works for a character, over something that's good but I could use with lots of other characters.

Also, I'm sick! Not sure I'll be on again over the next day or two. If you need to bot me you can. Nakoma is going to catch her starknife and move into melee and attack.

I hope that you get well soon.

So this may be in bad taste to post as im not familiar with the expectations of forum role play by post. I am a DM who has to this point never run an adventure path and purchased giantslayer this week as my first dive into running pre formulated adventures rather than creating story and world from scratch. I spent all day at work reading through your campaign and want to thank you for the oportunity to do so as I believe it will help me going forward greatly. If i am interupting or posting in poor taste I apologize and hope you all continue to have a great campaign. thanks again.

So this may be in bad taste to post as im not familiar with the expectations of forum role play by post. I am a DM who has to this point never run an adventure path and purchased giantslayer this week as my first dive into running pre formulated adventures rather than creating story and world from scratch. I spent all day at work reading through your campaign and want to thank you for the oportunity to do so as I believe it will help me going forward greatly. If i am interupting or posting in poor taste I apologize and hope you all continue to have a great campaign. thanks again.

It is my pleasure to share. If I can help in anyway, please let me know. Hope it goes well for you!

Hello KujoDM. :)

Feel free to ask player-view questions as well.

I appreciate that very much. I tend to enjoy adding in a system of hero points solely as a reward for exceptional role play instances. Do you believe that would throw off the difficulty balance too much to continue to do so in this adventure path? I'll have a combination of new and seasoned players. Also how much adjusting should i look to do for combats based on skill of the group and group size?

Honestly, I've found combat in the first book of this AP to be tougher than most. To the point where despite a pretty solid party, we've been struggling often. If you don't want the party to be completely optimised combat specialists, I think you'd either need to reduce the difficultly of the siege combats, boost the PCs, or a combination of both.

Honestly, I've found combat in the first book of this AP to be tougher than most. To the point where despite a pretty solid party, we've been struggling often. If you don't want the party to be completely optimised combat specialists, I think you'd either need to reduce the difficultly of the siege combats, boost the PCs, or a combination of both.

looking at your early combats I do and did when reading them feel that your group is both more efficient and likely more optimally set up class wise than my players will be so that is probably a great point.

Ran this in RL as well as here. The assault combat's especially, the waves at the end will use up all the daily resources of your party. Be prepared to sprinkle in some minor resource rewards - I added a partial wand and a healing station to recover all the HP between combats. Otherwise it will grind them to dust before they are halfway through. I ran it pretty close to as written otherwise. Upon reflection, probably could've given a few other one-time use items. If my main arcane caster wasn't a cantrip using one-trick pony, he would've been out of magic well into this fight. The bard was, but she is balanced enough to help in combat as well.

The Orc Ferocity ability really makes this a much harder series of fights than intended, I think. You may want to consider down-playing that or just allowing one round upright, like the PC ability.

Truly, the detective story at the beginning was the most fun for my RL players, but the assault wore them out so much that they didn't want to continue with this AP after Book 1.

Not sure, but I think combat fatigue has set in on this group also, and for PBP fights like this can take months and months to conclude.

While the combats have sometimes been a grind, the level up has definitely given us badly needed options. I'm keen to see this orc invasion broken at our hands.

I'd give any of your players who intend on going with a mage type to get a light crossbow or something as once you hit the siege getting back spells will not be happening. Grauk's built so he can contribute in combat without using spell slots. Setting people on fire doesn't always work but there's been a few points where I've been very pleased with how it's worked out.

I suspect hero points would be fine.

Paizo is very good with coming up with interesting ways for strangers to form the party. Rather than just meeting in a tavern the pcs are at a festival or going to a funeral etc. One starts in a tavern and the stereotype doesn't hold.

Post Combat Discussion - Barterstones Bombardiers

Defeated: 3 orc bombardiers. They are worth a total of 300xp per player. This moves your cumulative total to 6802/9000 or about 45% to level 4.

Injured:
Acacius: 18/31 hp

Resources Used:
Grauk: cast Enlarge Person; Elemental Ray (4 remaining);

Excellent work, everyone! And it feels good to have a fight that isn't a grinding slog. :)