Here are some more tidbits on the giants from the Cold Fens. They're clearly not standard GURPS DF/DFRPG giants. Or at least, they aren't just that.
- the PCs can't quite figure out which giant is the wizard, but the consensus seems to be the one wearing "white" armor - actually a light, dirty grey - and not the one wearing "black" armor - actually a very dark grey/brown/black color.
- they lost their gloves when the PCs took them and disposed of them in town (I can't recall how) after their first fight. They now wear mail gloves. The PCs had planned to attack their hands, but didn't follow through on that during their second meeting.
- they have only seen a handful of giant footprints - and then only when one stood on clearly soft ground and used great strength, such as toppling a menhir or lifting some heavy weight. Otherwise, they move without making any footfall noises of any kind. This had lead to conjecture that they are physical manifestations of . . . something. Wyatt suggested maybe it's connected to the altar. Wyatt also suggested it was clearly an "18th level goblin wizard" who created a Perfect Illusion of them, which just goes to show that a) Wyatt is the new Dryst, who made random stuff up all of the time, and b) Wyatt doesn't know that wizards don't have levels.
- they're Lucky. Both of them have displayed uses of Luck.
- they're tough. Both of them wear dragonhide armor, and have dead dragon bits in their lair. Nothing the PCs could just grab and sell for a mint, rather just the worthless stuff, but they've either purchased two suits of dragonhide armor and killed a small, third dragon, or killed at least three dragons.
- the one in "white" has a magic sword.
- they have some ability to spot invisible foes.
- they're solid trapmakers, but err on the "brute force" side of traps. No snares for them, it's deadfalls, pits, and bent-back trees for the win.
- they have access to healing, including repair and/or replacement of lost eyes.
Whatever they are, they aren't plain dumb big guys like Crogle was.
I find it puzzling that your crew are obsessed with the giants over the dragon when there is evidence the giants are more dangerous than dragons (not least of which the evidence that they've killed dragons or looted dragon graveyards) and also no signs of dragon-sized treasure hoards. The logical thing is to say risk-reward ratio of giants is lower than of dragons, let's go rob a dragon first and come back to these guys with a plan and more resources. But instead they keep throwing themselves at the giants repeatedly without solid planning and whatever random resources they have on the day of adventure. It's fun (to a point) but is not getting them treasure/XP and is costingly them greatly in injury/resources to recover from injury.
ReplyDeleteFrankly it also seems strange that they are debating which of the giants is a wizard instead of (to me the logical question) asking "is there a third giant we haven't seen, perhaps because he's using invisibility and flight?" If you want to imagine heavily armored wizard giants casting secretly in melee without being observed or spiritual forces manifesting as giants, that's fine. But as cop and medical shows remind us, the correct solution is usually the most straighforward one (unless you are watching a wonky procedural like CSI or House that wants to highlight the most obscure stuff in existence).
They've seen at least one of them concentrating during combat, so the even simpler solution is that particular giant being a wizard.
DeleteI missed this in my reading. To me it seemed all the magic happened off-screen when the giants momentarily got out of view or by using potions.
DeleteIt's easy to miss - it happened more in the first than in the second, and only once in the second.
DeleteHow's player morale these sessions? They've been making great reading, but as a player I know that bouncing off truly worthy enemies a few times can be either the most fun thing ever or deeply frustrating, depending mostly on group dynamics. I assume you're having fun, because you seem to like leaving PCs and PC limbs on the ground from time to time, and I'd bet the players are too, but I'm curious about it nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteThey keep coming, and coming after their foes, so I think it's pretty good. We have had a few players essentially drop out of the game, but it's not the giants that caused that, although it could be the challenge level.
DeleteYet the players, when surveyed, seem to like the high-risk/high-reward nature of the game.