The Giants Are Coming!

Adam, why do many of the giants pictured in the released art work look like big fat slobs... He looks like an over grown hill billy, like what I have always pictured hill giants looking.

I think you just answered your own question there.

Do Fire giants use giant sized bows and crossbows?

They'd have to if they wanted to use bows or crossbows, wouldn't they? But I think mostly they hurl giant flaming rocks.

Why are disparate groups of giants working together? Normally the are competitors with one another aren’t they?

Ah, the very question our intrepid adventurers ask themselves! To find the answers to this and other such riddles, you'll need to slay yourself a whole buncha giants!

How soon is now?

Good music is good.

Adam, why do many of the giants pictured in the released art work look like big fat slobs. It seems to me that no art work for giants has an average body style? Not that I am against fat giants the Hill giant mini in the last set is one of my favorites. He looks like an over grown hill billy, like what I have always pictured hill giants looking. The only improvement that I could have though of for that mini would be a large straw hat.

Do Fire giants use giant sized bows and crossbows?

Why are disparate groups of giants working together? Normally the are competitors with one another aren’t they?

It's only that the ones shown in those pictures happen to be the giants that have that kind of body. Fire giants, stone giants, frost giants, storm giants, cloud giants, and others all have their own different body types. I'd say that stone giants are probably among the leanest of the giants we've depicted.

Fire giants certainly could use bows and crossbows, but they prefer throwing rocks, especially heated ones, when it comes to ranged combat. Then again, individual giants have their own preferences.

When you ask why different groups are working together, are you referring to the illustration shown here in this blog or are you asking about the plot of the Adventure Path? Because the answer will vary depending on that clarification. As for the art, rune giants are known for enslaving other giants and making them do things for them. Also, I wanted to depict a rune giant since they're not really going to be showing up in the Adventure Path since they are so tied to Thassilon. As for the Adventure Path plot, you're going to have to just wait and see. :)

It's only that the ones shown in those pictures happen to be the giants that have that kind of body. Fire giants, stone giants, frost giants, storm giants, cloud giants, and others all have their own different body types. I'd say that stone giants are probably among the leanest of the giants we've depicted.

C'mon Adam show us some giant centerfolds! lol

The Player's Guide is live!

Thanks Adam!

Niiiice.

*Fist bumps the Flumph*

j b 200 wrote:

increddibelly wrote:

We already earned the Giantslayer achievement in RotR4. So much loot, none of it useful to the players.

I really don't see the fun in this AP.

I do believe JJ mentioned on his thread that there will be a mechanism for resizing large items for Medium/small creatures. There was a similar issue in WotR (crusaders can't use all the unholy weapons they loot) and the work around is fairly elegant.

This trait:

Quote:

Giant-Blooded:

Your family has always been dogged by rumors that a bit of giant blood got into the family's veins at some point. Whether this was through alchemical or magical experimentation, or because your great-great-grandfather married a giant, it has made you big for your race, and may have given you other minor cosmetic features of giants, such as flaming red hair, a bluish tinge to your skin, or oversized hands. When you wield a weapon that is larger than your size, the penalty on attack rolls for using inappropriately sized weapons is reduced by half. In addition, you gain a +2 trait bonus to your CMD against awesome blow combat maneuvers. If you're a dwarf, your stability racial trait applies to awesome blow combat maneuvers as well.

Or the Massive Weapon feature of the Titan Mauler Barbarian Archetype or the Giant Weapon Wielder of the Titan Fight Archetype

Should also help make the loot less marginalized.

That trait and the Massive Weapons feature of the Titan Mauler Barbarian Archetype don't work. Their wording doesn't negate the "inappropriately sized weapons" rule" (though I wish another printing of Ultimate Combat will fix that for the Titan Mauler Barbarian Archetype).

Or they stop making things class specific.

That trait and the Massive Weapons feature of the Titan Mauler Barbarian Archetype don't work. Their wording doesn't negate the "inappropriately sized weapons" rule" (though I wish another printing of Ultimate Combat will fix that for the Titan Mauler Barbarian Archetype).

What do you mean the Massive Weapons feature does not work? It says "The attack roll penalty for using weapons too large for her size is reduced by 1, and this reduction increases by 1 for every three levels beyond 3rd" That lessens the penalty from inappropriately sized weapons. So at 3rd level using a large longsword the inappropriately sized weapons penalty is -1 instead of -2.

What do you mean the Massive Weapons feature does not work? It says "The attack roll penalty for using weapons too large for her size is reduced by 1, and this reduction increases by 1 for every three levels beyond 3rd" That lessens the penalty from inappropriately sized weapons. So at 3rd level using a large longsword the inappropriately sized weapons penalty is -1 instead of -2.

This comes straight from the Ultimate Combat FAQ:

Can a Medium titan mauler wield a Large two-handed weapon, such as a Large greatsword?

No. The "Inappropriately Sized Weapons" rule says (in summary) that a creature can't wield an inappropriately-sized weapon if the size difference would increase it one or more "steps" beyond "two-handed." None of the titan mauler's abilities say the character can break the "steps" part of the "Inappropriately Sized Weapons" rule, so the character still has to follow that rule.

So in other words, unless they fix the wording of the Titan Mauler Archetype to something similar to the Titan Fighter Archetype (which I'm guessing actually works) then it's pretty much unable to allow a medium-sized barbarian to wield a large-sized two-handed weapon.

Quote:

What do you mean the Massive Weapons feature does not work? It says "The attack roll penalty for using weapons too large for her size is reduced by 1, and this reduction increases by 1 for every three levels beyond 3rd" That lessens the penalty from inappropriately sized weapons. So at 3rd level using a large longsword the inappropriately sized weapons penalty is -1 instead of -2.

This comes straight from the Ultimate Combat FAQ:

Can a Medium titan mauler wield a Large two-handed weapon, such as a Large greatsword?

No. The "Inappropriately Sized Weapons" rule says (in summary) that a creature can't wield an inappropriately-sized weapon if the size difference would increase it one or more "steps" beyond "two-handed." None of the titan mauler's abilities say the character can break the "steps" part of the "Inappropriately Sized Weapons" rule, so the character still has to follow that rule.

So in other words, unless they fix the wording of the Titan Mauler Archetype to something similar to the Titan Fighter Archetype (which I'm guessing actually works) then it's pretty much unable to allow a medium-sized barbarian to wield a large-sized two-handed weapon.

Ok thanks for clarifying I thought you where trying to say that you could not use any weapon that was sized inappropriately.

Will subscribers receive their notifications this week? Man I hope so.

Ok thanks for clarifying I thought you where trying to say that you could not use any weapon that was sized inappropriately.

Your welcome but my point is that the whole Archetype doesn't work period. A large longsword is basically, in a nutshell, a medium greatsword so there's no real point in getting one (you'd be better off just wielding a medium greatsword). Now I'm guessing that the wording for the "Titan Fighter Archetype" allows for the wielding of large two-handed weapons (such as large greatswords) so maybe if Ultimate Combat gets a 2nd printing they'll fix the wording for Titan Mauler to be similar to the Titan Fighter.

Yeah the only weapon that would be good is a large bastard sword or Large Dwarven Waraxe.

I'm really hoping we see some giants who use smarter tactics when appropriate. My players use smart tactics to eliminate them, some giants are intelligent, and even the stupid ones will follow orders from, say, a smart Rune Giant.

For one example, giants get immense tactical benefit from using reach weapons, like spears and polearms. A Hill Giant with a reach weapon gets to full attack from 20' away where the foe can't full attack back, plus it's almost guaranteed to get an AoO, plus they tend to be hard-hitting two handed weapons that take maximum advantage of giant strength. Your basic hill giant with a longspear is at least 30% more combat effective than is one with a greatclub. I know this by sometimes so equipping them when I ran RotRL. The difference is large enough that it would be reasonable to sometimes adjust the Tier from Low to High simply by equipping the giant with a polearm. Yet I can't recall a single instance , in any published Paizo module, of a giant wielding a reach weapon. Why is that?

I'm really hoping we see some giants who use smarter tactics when appropriate. My players use smart tactics to eliminate them, some giants are intelligent, and even the stupid ones will follow orders from, say, a Rune Giant.

For one example, giants get immense tactical benefit using reach weapons, like spears and polearms. A Hill Giant with a reach weapon gets to full attack from 20' away where the foe can't full attack back, plus it's almost guaranteed to get an AoO, plus they tend to be hard-hitting two handed weapons that take maximum advantage of giant strength. Your basic hill giant with a longspear is at least 30% more combat effective than is one with a greatclub. I know this by sometimes so equipping them when I ran RotRL. The difference is large enough that it would be reasonable to sometimes up the Tier from Low to High simply by equipping the giant with a polearm. Yet I can't recall a single instance , in any published Paizo module, of a giant wielding a reach weapon. Why is that?

Because reach weapons confuse people, reach weapons on creatures with reach make people cry.

Out of game: Are you saying the customer base isn't familiar enough with the core rules to handle giants with reach weapons? It's mechanically just like Enlarge Person ...

In Game: Are the supposedly intelligent leaders of these monsters not smart enough to act in their own best interest? Are they trying to make things easier for sub-standard PCs by having their minions deliberately use sub-standard tactics?

Perhaps consider this sort of option for Hard Mode with Advanced Players. There must be some demand for that.

I'm really hoping we see some giants who use smarter tactics when appropriate. My players use smart tactics to eliminate them, some giants are intelligent, and even the stupid ones will follow orders from, say, a smart Rune Giant.

For one example, giants get immense tactical benefit from using reach weapons, like spears and polearms. A Hill Giant with a reach weapon gets to full attack from 20' away where the foe can't full attack back, plus it's almost guaranteed to get an AoO, plus they tend to be hard-hitting two handed weapons that take maximum advantage of giant strength. Your basic hill giant with a longspear is at least 30% more combat effective than is one with a greatclub. I know this by sometimes so equipping them when I ran RotRL. The difference is large enough that it would be reasonable to sometimes adjust the Tier from Low to High simply by equipping the giant with a polearm. Yet I can't recall a single instance , in any published Paizo module, of a giant wielding a reach weapon. Why is that?

In WotR, Half-fiend minotaurs have glaves. It makes it complicated b/c their gore threatens 5ft and 10ft, but glave only threatens 15ft and 20ft. It gets hard to run and the monsters start to run out of room to operate.

A Giant with a Dorn-Derger would destroy everyone!

I'm telling you I don't know how many diagonals a Large Creature with a reach weapon can hit.

This is, I believe, now how it works based on the new ruling. Only the first Diagonal ignores the normal rule on moving diagonal, (every second square counts as double movement).

10ft Reach = 2 Diagonals
15ft Reach = 2 Diagonals
20ft Reach = 3 Diagonals
+10ft Reach = +1 Diagonal.

If it is Natural Reach, then you would threaten all squares in between. If it is not Natural Reach, that is you don't normally have Reach, but are using a Reach Weapon, it is only the normal square you threaten. If it is a combination, such as Enlarge Person (Nat Reach 10) plus a Lonspear (additional 5ft), you threaten between 10ft and 15ft feet, but only the second square diagonally wit your Longspear. If said character also had another (non-Reach Weapon attack), with that attack, they would threaten between 0ft and 10ft, and again, 2 Diagonal Squares.

Yet another reason I like doing things in inches rather then on a square grid.