Do not hunt on the ledges. There is a safe area at the top, 5 rooms if I recall, which has no wind risk but you have to climb to get there. Stone trolls and giants are easily found in the lower areas, which do not require climbing and have no risk of falling. I suggest you hunt there. The room at the top of the stairs to the stronghold is a safe spot to rest; just don't enter the stronghold itself or you will be eaten by dogs (if you are lucky). The first room after you leave the lion/bear area is also safe for resting.

The wind is a lot nastier than it used to be (somewhere between about 3 years ago and about 6 years ago it changed from huntable with care to stay there for a couple of fights and you'll fall off), masses of climbing, gobs of survival, well above level for area and it will still blow you off very fast. I rather suspect someone thought survival should play into it but put the wrong sign in when they changed the formula so the better trained you are the more likely you'll fall.

When you land you take impact and crush damage, so you can mitigate the effect of the fall with those resistances and being in light or no armor does seem to help at that point (robes I rarely if ever died, full plate I normally die).

You can't find trolls separate from giants, although if you want giants you can go inside and play dodge the mystic (a lot easier than dodge the wind on the ledge in my experience).

>But key point: they do gen down in the lower foothills.

They gen in the bit between the ledge and lions/bears. You won't find them ruining your day if you are a lion hunter. If they decide to hide on the ledge though, you'll be stuck waiting for them to come down.

>>a capped Rogue was saying, "I've got 20 ranks each of climbing & swimming, plenty for the whole game..."<<

True for some areas, not for others. I picked up 70 ranks of swimming for Nelemar, and 50 or more of climbing is useful in the Rift.

>>if you want giants you can go inside and play dodge the mystic <<

Not a good idea, considering he doesn't even want to hunt giants. And it's "dodge the mystic, duck the shaman and don't pet the doggies".

I'd definitely go for the trolls and giants in the lower areas. There seem to be more trolls there, and it's easier to dodge the giants with all the little twists and turns. As for falling off the ledge...my little survivalist halfling ranger seems to do pretty well. She's stood there watching while characters 30 levels her senior get whisked off the mountain. Purely a subjective view, of course. But it seems to me that survival does play a role, perhaps along with certain stats. Halflings are pretty dodgy, too, so that could be a factor.

~ GtG

<<<120 survival ranks (and 70 climbing) and straight off the edge. If it plays a role its got the wrong sign in the formula. Thats way over the training anyone like level is going to have.>>>

Well that blows my theory. Literally.

~ GtG

Heeh! Gods forbid you should yell there. Your friends will never hunt with you again.

I'm afraid you were born to suffer. So no.

Many, many people have got their first bounty for stone trolls at level 50. They go out and try it and meet up with a level 58 stone giant and the next thing you know - crispy kritter.

This is what I'm talking about. Yeah, the giants "interfere" with the experience harvest alright.

I sure wish I had a spell that caused these results at 34 points of failure...
(Or rather, that the effect caused at 34 points of failure--assuming that I have a spell that good--actually gets to STAY EFFECTIVE. Too damn many things shake off stuns, and none of them are my PCs.)

---

GMs, note that there is a typo in the crit effect of the first spellcast. (Emphasis mine.)

---

This is three consecutive actions by the same giant:

A stone giant plunges his fist into the ground in front of you!
CS: +254 - TD: +210 + CvA: +3 + d100: +97 - -5 == +149
Warding failed!
... 30 points of damage!
Strike to arm spins you like a top. You is stunned.
You are knocked to the ground!
You are stunned for 5 rounds!
Roundtime: 8 sec.
>
You are still stunned.
>...wait 5 seconds.
>
A stone giant rumbles an incantation.
>...wait 1 seconds.
>
Translucent streams of mana cascade across your sight as you let loose with a rallying cry!
You break free from your senseless daze!
A sense of invigoration courses through your legs as you rise smoothly to your feet!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
>
A stone giant plunges his fist into the ground in front of you!
CS: +254 - TD: +210 + CvA: +3 + d100: +82 - -5 == +134
Warding failed!
... 25 points of damage!
Leg strike sends waves of pain through your body.
You are knocked to the ground!
You are stunned for 5 rounds!
Roundtime: 4 sec.
>
Your concentration on unravelling the threads of mana is broken.
>Translucent streams of mana cascade across your sight as you let loose with a rallying cry!
You break free from your senseless daze!
A sense of invigoration courses through your legs as you rise smoothly to your feet!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
>

A stone giant slaps the ground spraying rocks and dirt everywhere!

You are struck by a large rock!

... 15 points of damage!
Nasty blow to your chest!
You are stunned for 1 round!

---

So, 49 points of failure inducing 8s RT, prone, 1-step arm wound, 5 rounds stun.

34 points of failure inducing 4s RT, prone, 2-step leg wound, 5 rounds stun.

Unknown failure from invisible maneuver effect, stunned for 1 round.

And, of course, 100 mana to get out of it (including the 2 Rally's shown, and 20 more for TravelSong back to town).

Thanks for the tip, Fyonn!

If I 'stop noise', does the effect go away? (So that I can cast through it.) If not, it won't prove too terribly useful.

>I sure wish I had a spell that caused these results at 34 points of failure...

You'd rather have 110 than 1030?

Creatures have lore knowledge (and unbalance has a lore tie-in). Also the unbalance table is built around knock downs and stuns. It can even knock you down by hitting your hands which I have always found odd.

As a trade off it is probably the worst table for actually killing things that exists. Grapple is almost as bad but at least it does decent HP damage. Unbalance doesn't even get that.

Tal.

>17 points of failure, and stunned for FIVE ROUNDS? I want some of what they're smoking....

What you need is either better TD or better tactics. Summoning lore isn't going to help you but its getting close to the equivalent of claidh weighting for them. Do you let a critter with a feras weapon scratch you and moan about it only being a 101 endroll, or a claidh and moan about it only being 17 points of failure? Lore benefits get chunky with enough levels and the consequence is that you can't afford to let a critter ward you at all, just like you can't afford to let a critter with feras touch you or a critter with a claidh scratch you.

If the spell could ward you, don't let the critter cast it at you. If you are going to let the critter cast, get another 20 points of TD from somewhere.

You fought the lore, and the lore won. It gets worse as you level, don't give critters a chance to land a spell on you.

>>You fought the lore, and the lore won.<<

That ... that's just atrocious. You deserve to be pun-ished.

Nah, I'm still a dozen levels from 60.

It's just that the trolls & giants are so vulnerable to Bards, it's worth it to be there.

.

I just can't get over the 17 endroll. That was a troll, so 55th level, so assumed to have 27-or-28 ranks of SL:Summoning.

Well, I already (7 levels before that) have 24 ranks of ML:Manipulation, and my Disrupt is nowhere near that spicy.

	Disrupt		+4 Lore ranks
			[to equal giant]
Single-target	117 final	15.6hp	18.0hp
Open-cast	117 final	24.6hp	27.0hp

So even with equal Lore, I'll be doing less damage: 18hp vs. 20.

But it's the whole "knocked prone" AND hard-RT AND five round stun that gripes at me. I'm virtually positive the Disrupt flares aren't doing that, because when I get a series of crappy rolls against the giants (nothing like blowing 10 mana to roll a 4 and see 15hp of damage... six times) I see crappy crits, too.

10th level, Minor [grade1 spell list] vs. 30th level, Semi [grade2 spell list].

Yeah. I still want what they're smokin'.

And yet the 10th level spell from the minor list (with all of four more [+4] notional Lore ranks) generates those results?

.

Yes, absolutely, at the top end, it's devastating. I'm looking forward to it.

And I agree, I have a long ways to go, particularly for single-target. But I'm almost halfway there for open/nearly equal to a mastered 1Hand instrument.

>But it's the whole "knocked prone" AND hard-RT AND five round stun that gripes at me. I'm virtually positive the Disrupt flares aren't doing that,

Different crit tables. The unbalance crit table has a lot more status effect in it, the disrupt one a lot more death. Up the crit ranks a couple and unbalance is just doing knockdowns where disrupt is doing crit kills. I doubt you'd like it if 90% of the crit kill possibilities vanished from disrupt.

Yup, I was looking at that when the other poster said, "Get more TD." Troll rolled a 99 to net 117, so that's 18 points; by the time I'm 6 levels higher (54th hunting 55th, seems reasonable) I can ignore the trolls with impunity.

<shrug>

Like I said, this way I come back doing my simulation of "experience on the hoof" for the Empath.

.

And, honestly, a lot of my hunts involve no damage to me at all, if they choose to do things like swing weapons at me. And everything they're doing is slowed by Depression (I'm at +2s RT inflicted from Lore), so I'm largely safe(-ish) much of the time. :)