Subtitle: Grappling is Pretty Awesome
So, my players had the feast with the Gorilla King, and our Barbarian did all the trials.
Trial 1: Rage + Strength Surge. 'Nuff said.
Trial 2: Lucky 20 on Diplomacy check aided by other party members: 40 total, +2 for good story and props. Here they had brought porters who paraded the heads of enemies they had slain, especially the ones our Barbarian King of Saventh-Yhi (self-proclaimed) pinned and pummeled to death. This included every large monster they have met (the expedition has a taxidermist who's job it is to preserve these heads).
Trial 3: The Barbarian King demonstrably threw all his weapons on the ground, and took of his armor. He accepted only one buff, a Enlarge Person potion from our bard (CL 6, so it lasts for a while). I allowed an Intimidate check to make the Gorilla King feel like he had to lay down his falchion, which he of course made. Both kings ready, this is how the combat went:
Round 1: Barbarian walks up to GK, starts grapple. GK makes full attack with claws (1 crit) and rends. (Note that this round would have been identical had the GK been armed, as he would have to throw away the falchion. So these trials were run EXACTLY as written.)
Round 2: Barbarian pins with move action (has Greater Grapple), Intimidates GK with standard action. GK fails to escape pin.
Round 3: Barbarian damages and attempts to use Terrifying Howl. GK makes save. Fails to escape pin.
Round 4: Barbarian goes all-out damage. GK taps out.
The Gorilla King then acknowledged the Barbarian King as rightful king of Saventh-Yhi, and left a small garrison to assist in the coming war with the serpentfolk.
This was our Barbarian's finest day, and one of our funniest session, so I wanted to share our experience.
So, anyone else had an experience like this, with one character stealing the entire show? And anyone think grapple is too awesome?