Strategy Thread 1

[rredmond]

These are not in character posts.
The DM will not necessarily read this thread.
The idea here is that you are all seasoned professionals, able to plan combats amongst yourselves quickly and effectively.
Use this to talk out any specific strategy or ideas. I'll try to keep this tied to the Action Threads so that you can find stuff easier here than in the OOC thread.

Please remember, I might not read this thread, if there's a question you need answered then direct me here, otherwise put it in the DM thread. Thanks all!

[max_vale]

Alrighty then....I guess I'll open the ball here on this thread....


Some quick ideas I had for possible strategies:

-Go heavy on the 'sneaky' part.....use Invisibility, Silence Spells, possibly Polymorph, etc. Using my own character as an example, I was thinking of waiting until the middle of the night; cast a silence spell on my Holy Symbol (or a coin in my pouch, whatever) and that way my character and possibly the whole party if everyone stays close can slip in....I can always hurl the silenced object if we need to communicate verbally with each other, use it against enemy spell-casters, etc.

-Along the same lines as above, characters with Infravision might be the best ones to cast Invisibility upon so that they can 'sally forth' even in complete darkness and at least have a decent idea of what's in each room we explore

-If/When combat situations come up; always try to team-up against targets if possible....we're talking about creatures that probably have 40-50+ hps minimum; so I doubt we're going to have too many 'quick takedowns' unless we work together. Also; if we can set it up; isolating our combat is a good idea as while we might be able to take on a giant or two at a time....much more than that might be a SERIOUS problem!

Anyway, just thinking out loud here....

[ToniXX]

All good ideas, Max. I like the silence spell idea to get us to the steading.

[Gynsburghe]

I have four potions of invisibility and a 75% chance to move silently (my hide in shadows is 61%). Several of us are small folk, getting pretty good bonus to whomp on Giants. I am very comfortable with the idea of using nightfall to our advantage...

[Inferno]

Should we spend some time on surveillance? The spies told us they didn't want to get too close. There might be more to learn. Jack can Polymorph while spying. He also has invisibility radius spell. And Animal Friendship.

Rredmond: the spies said the Giants were active during the day. Does that mean that some of the Giants leave their lair during the day?

Fyi, I'll be back from vacation late Monday and will post IC then. Thanks.

Best,
Inferno

[rredmond]

The Giants just returned from a raid. Which means they should all be there and won't likely be leaving the Steading in the next day or two. This makes your rulers happy, cause all the Giants are there and can be dealt with all at the same time. The downside is, of course, all the Giants should be there.

[Alethan]

Mass invisibility is really not that great a spell when people are trying to move about. Good, though, if we're hunkering down, trying to hide and rest.

My char has invis ring. If he were made silent, he can scout easily without wasting pots or more spells, once we get inside. With the way Ron is running the game, in each post being a turn of action, not sure we want to spend too much time with additional scouting.

Any Druids with Warp Wood? We could make a door easily enough in some back wall somewhere.

[Inferno]

With the way Ron is running the game, in each post being a turn of action, not sure we want to spend too much time with additional scouting

Hmm. I'll try Animal Friendship first then. The local animals have been watching these giants for some time already. We can see what they know.

[rredmond]

With the way Ron is running the game, in each post being a turn of action, not sure we want to spend too much time with additional scouting.

Each post is at least a Turn (when not in melee) and at least a Round (when in melee). If need be they can be longer, but the consequences of being in Giant territory are the same -- the longer you are near the steading, the more chance you have of being in danger.

You may be safe from Giants in your hidey-hole cave, but there are others in league with them...

Oh yeah, and the game is on now, so the danger has begun.

[Inferno]

Hey guys,

The king's spies said the giants won't be leaving the steading for a few days. And that dinner time was the "most chaotic" period. We should attack before dinner is over.

Area of effect spells should work well in their dining hall.

[Alethan]

Yeah, but possibly taking on the largest number of giants at once is going to make for a very short TPK campaign. AOE spells are good while they're all grouped together, which would be one round. At that point, they're grouped around us and we're squashed.

Maybe use the distraction of dinner to try and take out anyone NOT at dinner, though, since the sounds of fighting wouldn't be heard over the noise of chaotic dining?

[rredmond]

... since the sounds of fighting wouldn't be heard over the noise of chaotic dining?

Though it isn't overwhelmingly loud from where you are, you can only imagine things being pretty loud and raucous at the Steading.

[Inferno]

Fyi, Here's the animal army so far:

• Two black bears.
  One owl.
  Seven sprites: These guys will be useful. They all fly, turn invisible, move silently, and have poisoned arrows with Save vs. Poison or fall into a magic, comatose sleep for 1-6 hours... if we can get them to fight.

No giants in sight. So we can't pick them off one by one.
If we can avoid the wargs entirely, I'd love to.

How about we lock the giants in the dining hall, and fireball it, setting it ablaze with all of them trapped inside?
Round 1: we surprise them with a 9th level fireball.
Round 2: we fireball them a second time while they have to attack the burning walls to break out. Smoke, asphyxiation, etc.
Round 3: we fight the survivors as they come staggering out, while we are invisible/flying/polymorphed/hidden, etc. Plus, seven invisible Sprites shoot 2 poisoned arrows each, if the Sprites will fight for us.

Alternatively, the whole steading is made of wood. We can burn it down, and pick them off from hiding as they come out, like Max Vale's "draw them out" plan.
With this one, Jack will have to expend some magic to keep the fire from consuming the forest.

Thoughts?
Thanks.

[max_vale]

Good plan; 1 quick thing jumps out at me;

I'm not sure I'd put too much hope in the Sprite's arrows' managing to put very many Giants under as I'm guessing with 8+ HD they probably have a very low number to beat on their Saving Throws. Still....any of them that DO fail it; is 1 less for us to worry about!

[ToniXX]

How about we lock the giants in the dining hall, and fireball it, setting it ablaze with all of them trapped inside?
Round 1: we surprise them with a 9th level fireball.
Round 2: we fireball them a second time while they have to attack the burning walls to break out. Smoke, asphyxiation, etc.
Round 3: we fight the survivors as they come staggering out, while we are invisible/flying/polymorphed/hidden, etc. Plus, seven invisible Sprites shoot 2 poisoned arrows each, if the Sprites will fight for us.

Good ideas, but we're not even out of the cave yet. One thing at a time Since we're in a very wet area, it might be tough the light the place on fire. Just my observations...

If the animals say that the coast is clear from the cave to the steading, I say we move under cover of night. Let those with infravision lead.

[Alethan]

I thought we were in a grassy area not far from the hill giant fortress at this point...

Mechanically speaking, I think if it were as easy as just lighting the place up and picking giants off as they fled, we wouldn't be here. Plus, think of all the loot we miss out on if we burn it down!

[Inferno]

Thanks Max Vale.

Good ideas, but we're not even out of the cave yet.

We are. We're near the steading now.

Since we're in a very wet area, it might be tough the light the place on fire. Just my observations...

Good point. The inside of a dining hall might be dry and flammable though.

Plus, think of all the loot we miss out on if we burn it down!

Ha!

[rredmond]

Good ideas, but we're not even out of the cave yet.

I thought this as well. I'll double check the action posts, but you only just got the intel that the coast was clear from cave to entrance.
If you want to head on up to the Steading, that's absolutely fine though. Just let me know.

I'll start adding things to the action post to make location easier.

[Inferno]

Sorry ToniXX. Like Alethan, I thought we had already advanced on the steading.

Ron, in an early post you said the cave was almost an hour from the steading. In a later post we could see the steading across a field of long grass. I think that's where I made my mistake.

[Alethan]

Sorry ToniXX. Like Alethan, I thought we had already advanced on the steading.

Ron, in an early post you said the cave was almost an hour from the steading. In a later post we could see the steading across a field of long grass. I think that's where I made my mistake.

Yeah, same here. My impression was that we were in the field of long grass.