Saturday Night Fight Club - Frost Giant v Remorhaz

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but that doesn't stop the fighting. Tonight, we welcome back the Frost Giant from last time's bout and pit him against another denizen of the frozen wastes, the Remorhaz.

Without further ado, let's pour ourselves a hot one and take a look at the contenders.

Frost Giant



AC 4
HD 10 + 1-4 average hit points 48 (well, 47.5 but I’ll round up)
No of atts 1
Dam per att 4-24
Hurling rocks for 2-20 damage

Can catch rock hurled 40% of the time

THAC0 10 - to hit the remorhaz overall the Frost giant needs a 10, to hit its head, he needs an 8, to hit its underside, he needs a 6


Remorhaz


AC Overall 0, head 2, underside 4 (it rears up when it’s angry, so an attacker may well get a hit in on its underside)

I’m ruling that if the remorhaz gets its initiative in before Frosty, then it lunges forward and Frosty’s attack lands on either its back (80%) or its head (20%) and we all know what happens if you hit a remorhaz’s back. Similarly, if Frosty gets first strike, he will hit either the underside (80%) or the head (20%). That should sort the multiple AC out.

Move 12”
HD 7-14

Okay, the hit dice and average hit points are as follows:

7 31.5 average hp
8 36 average hp
9 40.5 average hp
10 45 average hp
11 49.5 average hp
12 54 average hp
13 58.5 average hp
14 63 average hp

THAC0
7 THAC0 13. To hit a frost giant, it needs 9
8 THAC0 12. To hit a frost giant, it needs 8
9 THAC0 12. To hit a frost giant, it needs 8
10 THAC0 10. To hit a frost giant, it needs 6
11 THAC0 10. To hit a frost giant, it needs 6
12 THAC0 9. To hit a frost giant, it needs 5
13 THAC0 9. To hit a frost giant, it needs 5
14 THAC0 8 to hit a frost giant, it needs 4



No of atts 1
Damage per att 6-36

Prey swallowed whole on a score of 20 – although trying to swallow a Frost Giant whole might give it indigestion.

When it gets aroused, its back protrusions glow cherry red and any non-magical weapon striking its back will melt, and anyone touching the back will take 10-100 pts of damage. Yes, that’s 10 d10

Get this – magic resistance 75% - spells are going to bounce off it. It’s got the same magic resistance as a type 6 demon.

Okay, first things first – I’ll be pitting Frosty against both a 10HD remorhaz and its big brother, the 14HD one – just for fun, you understand before the FGCLU gets on the phone.

To recall, the 10HD remorhaz has variable AC, to hit Frosty it needs a 6 and its HP are 45.

Frosty has 48hp, AC 4 and to hit the remorhaz, it depends. To be fair to Frosty, I’m giving him both an axe and a big sword. He’ll need them.

Okay, round 1

To be really nice to Frosty, I’m giving him the chance to get a couple of boulders in as the Remorhaz closes for action.

Roll de boulders!

19! Yay! Damage roll of 10. The remorhaz is not in the least bit perturbed by this, however, and all the less so when Frosty’s second boulder attack gets a 1 for its hit roll. Did he drop it on his foot? We can watch the video on YouTube later.

First round of combat –

Roll for initiative, Frosty gets a 1, the remorhaz gets a four. I see Frosty’s bad dice luck has followed him from the previous fight.

The remorhaz lunges forward for its strike and hits with a 13. Hang on while I just get six D6 together.

20 damage. Whew! That’s some bite. Frosty reels, and swings his axe. Let’s see where his blow lands. 62 – it’s the back. I’ll be more than generous and say that the heat from the remorhaz’s insides hasn’t glowed cherry-red yet. Frosty hits with a 16 and does 11 damage.

Round 2 of combat – Frosty starts on 28hp, the remorhaz on 24. Let’s see who goes first. (oh, and by now the remorhaz back is glowing nicely. Get your oven mitts out.)

Frosty rolls a 3, the remorhaz a 6. Man, that thing is fast.

It rolls a 16. Damage of 22 – Frosty is not liking that at all. He’s down to six hit points. He swings his axe again – let’s hope he hits the head.

21

No – it thuds home with a 14. Just before it totally melts, it does 10 damage.


Round 3 – the time for initiative is upon us again. It’s come round a little too fast for Frosty, who by all reasonable standards of behaviour should have turned tail and run home crying like a girl, but no, he stands his ground. He’s stubborn, I’ll give him that.

Whatever he is, he won’t be so for long. The remorhaz has just beaten him in the initiative roll again. 4 to 3. Up he rears and forward he snaps. With an 11, those fearsome teeth bite home – damage of 12. Frosty is down to –6. Game over.


Okay, so I said we’d be pitting an 10HD and a 14HD remorhaz against our Frosty Giant. But I think we all know what’s going to happen with Mr 14, don’t we?

Who’d like to see that anyway?

Okay, so here we go. We’ll do the rock-flinging and then close to combat.

Frosty rolls to pitch and putt his boulders. 19 and 11 – both hit. The first does damage of 17, the second does damage of 12. That’s a hefty 29 to come off the Remorhaz’s…

63. Oh, it doesn’t seem to have worried it much. It’s now down to 34.

Roll for initiative. Frosty rolls a 1, the remorhaz rolls a 6. I’d change that d6 if I were you, Frosty.

The remorhaz rolls a 10, hits and does 25 damage. Kerpow!

Frosty rolls to see where his blow would land. 71 – it’s the back. We’ll give him the same chance we did last time regarding the back getting up to heat.

Dang! He rolls a 2 to hit. Which is a crying shame because I’d rolled the damage and he got 6,6,6 and 5 – 23. Ah well, the snow takes the pain.

Round 2 – Frosty actually wins his initiative roll – new dice, new luck? We’ll see. He rolls 32, which gives him a strike at the underside.

18! Yay! 10 damage, reduces the remorhaz to 24. Frosty is really regretting not having hit last time.

With an 11, the remorhaz snaps down on Frosty, doing 25 damage.

Game over again, although to be fair to Frosty, he did put up somewhat more of a fight that time. If he’d made his hit on the remorhaz, it’d be down to 1hp. Frosty would still be dead, but the remorhaz, if it survived the long slither home, would treat Frost Giants a bit more carefully next time.

I suppose you want to see Frosty beat up the little guy now?

Okay, rock throwing first.

Frosty rolls 5 (a miss) and 11 – hit! 12 damage. The remorhaz is down to 20hp before a blow has been struck.
Frosty’s lucky d6 strikes again as he gets a 5 to the remorhaz’s 1. Dice to see where the blow falls – 50 means the underside has taken the full force of Frosty’s blade. A hit roll of 12 sees the blade slicing into polar worm flesh. Unfortunately, it’s only damage of 8

It’s a flesh wound!

The remorhaz bites back – he hits with a 19! Damage of 23.


Next round – The remorhaz is on 12hp, Frosty is on 25. Time to roll those d6 – hey, guess what? Both 1s! Hmm – this may affect where Frosty lands his blow – in fact, I’m going to rule that the odds are reversed and there’s an 80% chance of the head being hit.

The remorhaz makes his to hit roll – just. He inflicts 24 damage. Frosty rolls 61 which means his axe lands on the head – that makes his THAC0 8.

He rolls a 12 – and with 17 damage, he shatters the remorhaz’s skull, sending lumps of slimy brain all over the tundra.

Staggering, blood pouring from his hideous wounds, one single hit point left, Frosty howls a bellow of triumph in that strange language that only Frost Giants can understand. He picked on the smallest remorhaz he could find and he won – just.


Well, I hope that this has shown just how fearsome an opponent the remorhaz can be for the unsuspecting party. May Gygax preserve you if you meet the 14HD one.

Next week, we line up a fixture suggestion from Biopunk, the manticore, Lion of the Skies, verus Old Stinger himself, the Wyvern. Till then, wrap up warm and....

Did that snowdrift just move?