Giants in D&D

One small step for man…

What are giants is are ?

Giants are an ancient race of humanoids that are much larger than regular humans. Typically, they can trace their lineage back to Annam All-Father, the father of all “true” giants. There are many types of giants and each type varies in appearance, skills and intellect. Typically, giants are as intelligent as humans, but often have additional abilities based on the type of giant.

Giant Biology

As much large creature than most humanoid , giants is require also require a dense bone structure . While this make them tough , it is makes also make them slow . Often , giants is are are slow both in movement and decision making , not due to a lack of intelligence , but because of their long life – span . anciently , giants is were were immortal , but with each generation , their life – span have become short with most giant live for a few century ( although stone and storm giant tend to be long live reach lifespan of a thousand year ) . Most giants is reach will reach adulthood at about 50yr old . Their natural toughness is makes make them immune to most disease and resistant to poison as well as have keen darkvision .

Giants is are are n’t particularly common , mainly because they require large amount of food for their large body size which is often difficult to maintain in large quantity . This is compels also compel giant to tend to live in tribe or family rather than large group or even city as feed a population of that size would be a tremendous undertaking !

Types of Giants

There are many type of giant , often typify by their unique ability and where they dwell .

true Giants

True giants are giants that can trace their lineage back to Annam All-Father. They also have a very definitive position in the ordining (the giant’s hierarchy of power):

Cloud Giants

Cloud giants are large even by the standards of most giants. While few live in the clouds (at least not anymore), they do typically live in high areas such as mountaintops, often above the cloud line itself. Some ancient cloud giants do retain ownership of cloud castles, structures built literally from the clouds themselves. The knowledge of how to build such structures has been lost though.

storm giants

storm giants (also known as uverjotens) are the most powerful and majestic of all giants, but with this comes an aloofness, regarding themselves as superior beings to all others. They are one with nature and feel its presence all around them, not just in the usual sensations of sight, sound and touch, but through the signs it provides them that foreshadow certain events or provide knowledge.

fire giant

fire giant are master craftsmen. They were the officers, engineers and crafters of the ancient kingdom of Ostoria and maintain their skills even now making them haughty and arrogant individuals. Often, they’re busy building increasingly powerful and formidable weaponry as their abilities in combat are considered only second to their craftsmanship.

frost giants

frost giants choose to settle in ice cold regions such as the snowy spires of Icewind Dale. They feel comfortable in the cold and find anything warmer than a body to be like the heat of a naked flame. frost giants are brutish beings that settle disagreements with shows of pure strength.

Stone giants

Stone giants are reclusive creatures preferring to hide away in caverns than to venture into the great outdoors among all of its hustle and bustle. They are gentle beings when not provoked who prefer the pursuit of artistry over all other endeavours respecting most those who demonstrate incredible, artistic flair.

Hill giants

Hill giants is are are the weak of the true giant . They is are are less smart , less strong and less charismatic than all other true giant . The only thing is eating they ’re well at is eat ( if being well at eat mean you can eat more of the stuff ) . Hill giant live to eat , it ’s not just a necessity of life , they is take take great pleasure out of eat and will do so at absolutely every opportunity . This is mean does mean that almost all hill giant are extraordinarily fat .

mountain giant

Exceptionally strong and cruel giants that tend to live in mountains. They’re closely related to hill giants.

fog giant

Stealthy giants that are closely related to cloud giants.

Ettins

brutish and ugly two headed giant that have a lowly rank in the ordining but are true giant base on their lineage .

Titans

The largest of all giants. They fled to Arborea when their progenitor was cursed by Othea

True Giant Offshoots

Some giants, while being able to trace their lineage back to the All-Father, either had no place in the ordining or their position is unknown:

• Ash Giants – Closely related to stone giants, they typically live in ashy plains near volcanoes
• Craa’ghoran Giants – Also close relatives of stone giants, their bodies have been infused with elemental earth energy giving them natural, earthy magic and causing rocky growths to protrude from their bodies.
• Maur – Descendants of storm giants that were once exiled to the underdark where they must hunch to move around meaning they’re no longer capable of standing up straight
• Paerlin Giants – descendant of stone giant whose mind have been warp by phaerimm magic from the underdark send them mad and turn them into savage creature

Giant-Kin

giant – kin is share share their ancient mother in common with true giant ( Othea ) but do not boast being part of the line of Annam All – Father and so are consider to be last in the ordining . Such giant – kin is include include :

• Firbolg – intellectual and nature – love , firbolgs do not share many of the quality of other giant who seek power , instead , they is focus focus on friendship and community
• Fomorian – Giants that once tried to subjugate the Feywilds. For this, they were punished, their bodies contorted into horrendous disfigurements
• ogre – brutish creature that are small than most giant , but still very large compare to most humanoid
• Verbeeg – Cunning giants that use subtler means to defeat their enemies
• Voadkyn – Once known as wood giants until their true lineage was discovered as not being related to Annam All-Father
• Cyclops – brutish one – eyed giant

Zakharan Giants

These giants is are are native to the South eastern island of Zakharan . These giant are not relate in any way to Annam All – Father and come into being separately :

• Desert Giants – Nomadic giants that live in deserts. They have been afflicted by a curse that will eventually turn all their race to stone
• Jungle Giants – Skilled hunters that eat only meat and dwell in jungles
• Reef Giants – Aquatic giants that are skilled in foraging the ocean floor, often working as traders of the goods they find
• Island Giants – beastial giant that hate everyone and everything , include each other
• Ogre Giants – Unintelligent giants that use their physicality to impose dominance over others

Other Giants

Some other giants are known to exist though their relationship to true giants is unknown so they do not fall under any specific category of giant:

• Eldritch Giants – Massive, even for giants, they have been granted arcane powers that still provides them great abilities despite their fall from power
• Death Giants – When the Netheril empire collapse , some giant trade their soul for the power to survive , they are now know as death giant
• Sand Giants – Desert dwelling giants that are bound by a code of honour and discipline

Giant Society

Giants is are are intelligent , often more intelligent than human , particularly in the case of true giant . While giant vary considerably between variation , one element is is in common is their adherence is is to the ordining , a social hierarchy that determine a giant ’s positioning in their social structure base on various attribute deem important to that giant type . typically , all giants is consider consider themselves to be superior to all other race , and their large , impose size certainly help them stake this claim .

Lineage to giants is also hugely important and they often find common ground in their relationship to one another (they are a very tribalistic culture after all). Typically, they will recite their lineage to one another upon meeting, tracing their lineage back to Annam All-Father, from whom true giants are descended (and would help establish their position in the ordining).

Giants have a different concept of good and evil from other humanoids. A good act is deemed to be one that brings honour to their deity or family. This might be an act of bravery such as combat. The consequences of such actions are unimportant, just the act of bravery itself. Evil on the other hand is considered to be an act of cowardice or betrayal to one’s own kind bringing disrespect on their family.

When it comes to deities, all giants revere Annam All-Father in the same manner that other races might revere a god. Each race of giants also has their own gods that might even vary from tribe to tribe.

The ordning

Giants adhere rigidly to a social structure known as the ordning. Each type of giant has their own method of determining who in their group is the best and most important. For fire giants, it comes down to their ability to forge great weapons and armour, for hill giants, it’s their ability to eat profuse amounts of food. In each case, this determines who is in charge and an order of seniority.

The ordning also works between the different types of giants with certain giant types being considered more powerful than others and having seniority. If you were of a lower type of giant, even the highest ranking in the ordning of your type, was of lower status than the lowliest member of a higher ranking type of giant. In this way, all cloud giants are considered senior to all fire giants who are all considered senior to all hill giants and so on.

The ordning between giant types currently has the following order of seniority:

• Titan
• storm giant
• Cloud giant
• Fog giant
• Fire giant
• frost giant
• Stone giant
• Mountain giant
• Hill giant
• Ettin
• giant – kin
• Ogre

You can learn more about giants and the different types you might encounter in D&D by purchasing a copy of Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

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