63 years is a long time to balance things back out again. Most men in Minas Tirith live no longer than men today. Only in a small percentage does the blood of Númenor run strong.
I think we are there.
I will work up a post in the game thread later.
Details on Hunter Killer in game terms instead of descriptive terms:
Hunter Killers are 4+1HD with 18:00 Strength and dexterity. They are at least +6/+6 with Strong Bows and some specialize with their Bows and are +7/+8 or even +8/+8 with 3 shots. They are usually well armored in chain or banded. With their dexterity they will end up having either 1F or 0D Armor Class.
They are very dangerous. Especially to those with low Hit Points.
Details on Renee acolyte of Estë. She is just turned 2nd level and very young for this. She is exceptionally Wise already with an 18 Wisdom and Charisma. Her wit is quick as is her dexterity. She is of very hardy stock. Int 15, Dex 18, Con 17, Str 9
Over her Grey raiment of Estë she wears an exceptional Cloak of Lothlorien, fine Elven brooch and Elven boots. She also has a fine silver belt.
Note on Estë: Referred to as the Gentle and “the healer of hurts and of weariness”. Her name means Rest. “Grey is her raiment, and rest her gift.” She is the wife of Irmo, and lives with him in his Gardens of Lórien in Valinor. She sleeps at day on the island in the Lake Lorellin.
Actually they are quite dangerous to those with high Hit Points! :eek:
If they hit 3 times in one round for 3d6+24 damage, I expect half the party would go down…
Does the cloak conceal her? Because she’s not going to survive a top Hunter-Killer firing at her.
Not only does the cloak conceal her, but she will under most conditions be the last target chosen as long as she remain innocuous.
For those who were wondering, here’s my mental image of Princess Gilraen, as played by Keira Knightley - but does she have pointed ears, as I personally believe her mother must? Our esteemed DM What Exit? remains resolutely neutral on the whole Elf-ears debate… 
http://www.enjoyenglandseastmidlands.com/displayimage.php?DSID=2&BLOBID=390
http://www.visimag.com/filmreview/images/f185_rev01.jpg
http://www.javno.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2007/m01/x129670222420955.jpg
I have rather more hit points than one of those horrors, but otherwise they’ve got me beat every way you like. About what you’d expect really, they’re basically ogres with some nifty upgrades in dexterity, armour and weaponry, and would give 1st Edition hill giants a run for their money one on one. My money’s on the HK if it gets a single round of missile fire even though the giant has twice the hit points.
Guess I’d have to be really sneaky, but it’s sure hard to hurt them that way. Let’s be careful out there. /HSB
I suppose there’s no chance they count as Large creatures for purposes of being hit?
::Whistles innocently holding smoky glass sling bullet::
At a pinch, I’m faster than it, more accurate than it and can hopefully blind it before it knows whats happened. If it hits me, I’m a Mulligan shish kebab.
Personally, I would prefer to get really, really sneaky. There are all sorts of ways to take down big things without going toe-to-toe.
On 2nd thoughts, I would prefer not to meet it at all 
Yes - the one thing better than “presence of mind” when dealing with one of these would be “absence of body”.
You’re more accurate than it? :dubious: I’m a phenomenal shot - there are 9th-level fighters out there who are worse than me - but this thing has the strength, reflexes and equipment to outmatch me. A 4+1HD monster is already better than a 3rd-level fighter, and its various modifiers equal or surpass me for hitting and comfortably leave me behind on damage rating. It even keeps up with me on rate of fire. :eek:
So yeah, best not to even think about getting into a fair fight with one of these. The Ash Mountain terrain won’t be my favourite but at minimum I’m going to have to try to catch one of these looking the other way. If it’s wearing two or three of my arrows before it knows where I am, I like my chances a lot better.
With the smoke bullets, I hopefully will not have to worry about its armour, just it’s basic dex modifier to get out of the way. In fact if it hits the armour so much the better.
I’ll go back and check modifiers again, in case I am missing something. I don’t have my char sheet to hand and What Exit? will probably tell me I am being an idiot 
I’m with the Bard - the weediest Hunter-Killer attacks as a 12th level Fighter with two arrows per round, each doing d6+6 damage. (It’s those Strong Bows, you know - only usable by someone with maximum strength for a human…).
I know you’re good 
, but I can’t believe you’re that good. 
We’re all gonna die.
If she’s a twiggy as KK, then I’m going to worry and try to get her to eat my rations too. KK does not look like she has a 17 Con.
What Exit?, are my damage bonuses only in melee, or with bow too?
Also, I won’t have the time to go over my char sheet until the weekend. One thing I forgot to add - given the weight of coins, I’d like to swap my coins into precious stones. When I figure out how much I have left, we can work out exactly which and how many stones.
If we can keep them at long range, I may have an advantage. I may even have an advantage over the Elf.
Really? And when did you acquire a BAR? 
Actually quite shockingly, with his smoke bombs, the wee Hobbit is more likely to hit for the smoke bomb to go off. As the Ref when I see if he hits, I have to check two things, Does the smoke bomb hits (This ignores armor & shield protection as all he needs to do is hit and break a clever glass ball) and then see if he did any damage which is much less likely and probably not what he cares about.
As to being more accurate in general. He is going by the +9 to hit and forgot about a 3rd level thief’s THAC0 vs. a 4+1HD monster’s. In addition, Range and penetrations come into play.
However, his actual ability to hit with the smoke bomb is quite high, especially from a 5" range or less. Mulligan’s clever ploy might be your best way to take out these most dangerous of all orcs.
A note on accuracy in the party: Gil-Gandel is +7 to hit and on a 3rd level fighter chart. Mulligan is +9 to hit but on the thief chart so this balances out.
Why does Mulligan have a +9 you ask? Well Hobbits, all Hobbits, have a +3 to hit with stones and slings. This Hobbit has a Dex of 18+ for a +3 to hit and an innate special ability with Slings for another +3.
As a note and long ramble not tied to this game:
I mentioned it has been a long time since I ref’d an evil character or party. Last time I did the evil party attacked a Hobbit village and rounded up all the men-folk and then the wizard tossed a fireball on them, killing most of them. It takes plenty to rouse a Hobbit, but this was more than enough, every single Hobbit in the village rose up as one with anything that could be thrown, old bows, pointy sticks, heavy objects and scythes. The popped out of windows and holes in the ground. 18 hobbit kids brought down the Evil Knight with dozens of wounds. They mages Imp was throttle and the mage himself was beat beyond all hope and recognition by an ancient Hobbit granny with her trusty cast iron skillet. Not one party member escaped alive. None were spared and the players were unhappy. They had no clue what they went up against.
I also realized I really hate ref’ing evil characters. I did not even let the player that played the Mage play in my games again. My games had a rep on the ship as the best and some said I was too harsh, but I had played in game with this fellow too and decided he was the type that gave gamers a bad name. There was no need for what he did and even the other players were dismayed by the fireball.
The morale of the ramble, never underestimate a Hobbit, they are made of far sterner stuff than anyone would believe. That wasn’t even in Middle Earth, just a world of my own creation.
D_Odds and others, on Princess Gilraen, two points and a ruling.
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No one said that Renee and Princess Gilraen are the same person, indeed on Thoroncir of the characters would knows this from the start. Well maybe Mulligan too, but Mulligan is good at hiding secrets.
-
The pictures are strictly Elendil’s Heir’s concept. I approved one that he Emailed to me where she looks younger (and healthier). Princess Gilraen and Renee are both slender teenage girls. Princess Gilraen is roughly ¼ elf* and the daughter of the greatest beauty in the Middle Earth and its greatest Man. She might be the least hardy of her siblings with a 17 con. Maybe later Elendil’s Heircould post just the one I approved.
The Ruling) In the game thread, some experience will be gained or lost based on treating Renee at face value and ignoring the fact that to the players she is the Princess. She is trying hard to make her way on her own worthy merit and not as a Princess. As few of you would have a clue who she was, please play it that way. In all likelihood, something will eventually slip. Caramir is either playing along with her secret or is actually fooled. No one at this point will know. In fact, I do not know yet.
Malacandra, what’s a BAR in this case?
I ain’t telling. You are not the only archer of the group, yaknow. And I roll on the fighter ‘to-hit’ table, too. And I did mean long range.
If I remember correctly from Call of Duty, a BAR is either a machine gun or a sniper rifle. I’d have to play the game again to find out.
Bwuh? Sorry, Mr Haul, I didn’t recognise you out of uniform. 
[sup]1[/sup]
Oh, any DM can kill a party if he wants to - especially if he wants to decide that a village full of halflings just happens to be meaner than a colony of giant wolverines. 
One of these.
I realize that some longbows outrange mine, but I can generally dictate the range of any engagement I get into, especially against someone in armour.
[sup]1[/sup]Not a problem, btw - I can play 'em any way I have to, and knowing about these ass-kicking über-Orcs ahead of time, even to knowing their stats, is most welcome. We’re going to be f@cked trying to sell off any 18/00 Strength bows though, I mean, even in MT there can hardly be three men that could even draw one. Hope HKs have a weird fascination with carrying around a small fortune in gold and jewels.
Just remember, there are special circumstances where you and the Hobbit shine and might have an edge over the Elf, but the Elf is really good and gets three shots every round. Brin gets two and Mulligan only one.
Malacandra, that is Mr. Hall to you, as in Monty.
The 18:00 strength bows can probably be modified for the slightly weak by mainly changing the bow string out and reworking the bow itself somewhat. We have two in the party that might be able to use them. Thoroncir and Theogrim.
Thanks for the explanation What Exit?, I don’t feel quite so foolish any more.
Purely a setup question, would she have been at the royal dinner with the Hobbits?
This is the picture which What Exit? earlier agreed could, in his opinion, fairly depict Gilraen:
http://www.visimag.com/filmreview/images/f185_rev01.jpg
FWIW, Gilraen is 16; Keira was 19-20 when Pride & Prejudice (from which that picture was taken) was filmed.
As noted above, a BAR is a Browning Automatic Rifle, a heavy rifle used by U.S. infantry during WWII and the Korean War. Ed Burns’s character had one in Saving Private Ryan. I think one would certainly be capable of taking down even one of these HK Uruk-Hai.
You are welcome. You were correct in the usage of the gas bombs and this might prove a huge help. The H/Ks are among my deadliest living monsters. I would rather fight trolls which are roughly the equivalent of the Giants in D&D 1st Ed.
I would never want to fight a Giant* of Middle Earth. The are truly huge.
Yes, she was at the royal dinner, so thus you might figure out what is going on quickly.
- Speaking of which. A fair warning, should talk of a Dragon ever be heard, it is important to note that the smallest of Dragons in Middle Earth are larger than the largest of 1st Edition.
I have begun to shape the campaign in my mind and I am already weaving it together with the campaign that my Friday night group is in. That party already met Moose[sup]2[/sup] briefly once and they have just joined a force of Dwarves and Hobbits led by Mulligan’s favorite cousin, Faramir Took.
[sup]2[/sup] He was a random Moose encounter. They were fighting orcs, he appears from nowhere, bellowed “Kill Orcs” and kill one large Uruk-Hai and charged back off.