Against the Giants: Info

An infodump on what this campaign is all about, how I'm playing it, ETC. The character that I run in this campaignof mine is called Tovena'ar. I rolled him up and named him a very long time ago, several years or so. I Made alot of characters when I was younger, but only got around to playing maybe 5% of them. I liked the possibilities of new characters, I just never got any play in. This campaign allowed me the opportunity to bring in some of my old characters. granted, they were all 1st or 2nd level, and I'm pretty sure I went through several before they resurrected Tovena'ar. He was the first one I played, and in the first session I played him he got splattered against the wall by a magical wind.

But he got resurrected, and I've kept playing him ever since. He's had alot of close calls, but I've managed to learn from the experience every time.

He is a Grey Elf from a realm that is beyond the ken of mortal men. He is incredibly intelligent, dexterous, and scheming, but is physically weak, as well as harsh of tongue. I used to be a very critical player, even though I was a complete newbie compared to the others. I've managed to mellow out a bit, though.

In 1st Edition Illusionists are a special sub-class of the regular magic-user class. Whilst regular wizards (actually called magic-users to avoid bad connotations of wizardry or sorcery) have an incredible spell selection, and can be almost any sort of wizard, Illusionists are much more subtle, their spell list more selective. While a magic-user may have the ability to blast an opponent away with a lightning bolt, or summon a demon to fight it off for him, the Illusionist must misdirect, fool, and avoid his enemies. In a large party the role I have carved out for the Illusionist is one of support, not artillery. Misdirecting, and splitting up large groups. Crowd Control, if you will.

As an example, then.

The last session of game play saw the party enter the lower dungeons of the Fire Giant king, Our task was to enter these dungeons, disrupt or destroy the power structure, and figure out who is behind all of this.

So, we entered the lower dungeons, and after dealing with some lesser monsters came to a very large room and hallway. Inside the room was most of the lairs young and women, along with their guards. They were hostile, and ran screaming death cries at us.

There were perhaps about two and a half dozen giants, each about fifteen feet tall. The party consisted of ten various humanoids, elves, dwarves, humans, ETC. No more than six feet tall.

My job in this fight was to use Darkness, Silence, and various illusions to separate several giants at a time, to we would not have to deal with so many at once.

One illusion spell, known as Phantasmal Forces, is purely Olfactory in origin. Sight isaffected, nothing else. Using this, I made an illusion of glowing soldiers appear between us and the giants. They were insubstantial, almost ghost-like. They fought silently, and unnerved some of the giants, tying them up.

A small example, but I think a good, and in my case a common one.

My equipment, on the other hand, has hardly changed. Firstly, ever since castle Amber I’ve had a pair of cursed bracers. (sets of armor that go on the wrists. In medieval times archers used them to protect their arms from the fletching of the arrows. In D&D they can be enchanted to provide extra defense. I had thought this was the case with mine, but it was the opposite.)

The DM described them as “bracers of defencelessness”, saying that I have AC 10. (The worst, on a scale of -10 to 10. Lower is better) Beyond that I didn't know what they did. I didn’t get them off until our main magic-user bought it and the player brought in a backup who actually had remove curse, after we stormed the hill giants.

I also held an inscribed stone tablet with several illusionist spells. As of the end of the Hill Giants all I had left was Gaze Reflection.

Besides those two, my equipment has stayed the same throughout the Hill Giants and start of the Frost Giants. Firstly with Robes of Blending and a Amulet vs Crystal Balls and ESP round out my defences. I am virtually invisible to everyone, when I’m standing still.

I have several wands and a couple of empty scroll cases, a couple of healing potions (never know when the cleric might die, especially with our useless triple-classed one (At the time, anyway)) and a Horn that I swiped from castle Amber. I never figured out what it did, though, and I sold it for Spectral Forces ( an advanced illusionary spell and Wraithform (Turns the caster etheral; cant be touched on the physical plane, but can't interact. Useful as a panic button)) at the mages guild when we hiked back to town.

New characters are rolled one level lower than the lowest level character still actively in the party. This meant that the cavalier started at 2nd or 3rd and by the time we got to the hill giants was only 4th.

Some characters do die this way, but we have enough people so that it isn't often; During the hill giants we were pretty spread out in terms of levels, I was 6th, I know the Gentleman was 9th and Scott 10th, but other than those I don't really remember. I know for sure that Scott and Duorddon were the highest.

Only the Gnoll and Magic-user bought it during the entire adventure, and neither of them from a giants club or ogres sword. I guess in that respect we've been pretty lucky so far.