Storm Giants Are Not To Be Messed With

Storm giants are the toughest giants in most editions of D&D (I think anyway), although some OSR games have even more exotic giant types.  I'll write up at least one of those exotic giant types soon; this is my last entry for the more well-known giant types.

Other Giant Articles
Cloud Giants
Stone Giants
Fire Giants
Frost Giants
Sand Giants

Artist: Jane Li

To make a storm giant more interesting, give it one of these six powers.

1.  The nail that sticks out gets zapped down.  Call down a lightning strike.  The lightning will hit the tallest thing in the general area around the giant, unless there's something a bit shorter but far more conductive.  This will usually be the giant itself, who is immune to lightning.  

The lightning inflicts 6d6 damage on whatever it hits directly, and half that (save for half) on anything within a 10 foot radius.  This power has a 1 in 6 chance of recharging each round.  

2.  Static charge.  The giant's body is electrically charged– does 2d6 lighting damage to anyone who hits the giant with a metal weapon; assume any attack that comes within 4 of the giant's AC hit but didn't penetrate the armor.  Insulating gloves prevent this damage.  

The giant can also conduct this damage through metal objects like railings, or through large puddles or small ponds or pools, and will try to use the terrain to get in sneaky hits like this.  This power is permanently on as long as the giant wants it to be.  

3.  Ride the Lightning.  The giant can cast lightning bolt, as per the spell, with a range of 100 feet.  Immediately after casting, it can teleport to any point along the path of the lightning bolt.  Recharges on a one in six.  

4.  Electrical sense.  Sense electrically conductive objects within a radius depending on the size of the object– a few tens of feet for people, fifty feet for coins, a couple hundred feet for a sword, up to a quarter mile for plate armor.  

5.  Storm Summoning.  As the weather control spell, but can only be used to cause storms.  The giant is unaffected by lightning and storm winds (though not by hail or slippery footing) and can see through any rain, clouds or fog it creates.  

6.  Aquatic.  Can breathe water, swim at running speed, and adjust its buoyancy at will to float even if wearing plate armor.  Can launch itself about twenty feet out of the water, as if jumping on land.    

Vancian Freeform Magic

I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms.  It isn't.  You'll see.

I love the idea of free-form spell systems because they allow for endless creativity, and for me, creative problem-solving is the biggest source of fun in RPGs.  In practice though, people often come up with a few favorite spells they cast over and over.  This system was designed to prevent that by continually varying the tools in the free-form spellcaster's toolbox.

It's a noun-verb system like Ars Magicka, except the nouns and verbs are not skills you're permanently trained in.  They're lost when used, like Vancian spells, and when you get new ones you get them randomly, much like first-level magic-users in a lot of really old-school games.  There are ways to make that less random– you'll see.

Nouns and verbs are called lexestins– a portmanteau of "lex" meaning word, and sandestins, from the works of Jack Vance.

Artist: Todd Ulrich

Verbs (d20)

1. Create
2. Detect
3. Enhance (strengthen or enlarge)
4. Reduce (weaken or shrink)
5. Destroy (or damage)
6. Reshape (into something of the same type, ie reshape iron makes an iron object into a different iron object)
7. Analyze (learn about something, understand it)
8. Mend
9. Summon
10. Disguise
11. Conceal
12. Control (within the bound of whatever that object would normally do)
13. Become 
14. Move (that is, telekinetically)
15. Halt (prevent from moving or acting)
16. Combine (two or more objects into a single object; this is one where maybe you could use two nouns in a single spell)
17. Abjure (as in protect against, so abjure sword wards against swords)
18. Transform (into something else altogether, so transform iron could transform something made of iron into something not made of iron.  This is one where you could again maybe use two nouns in a spell)
19. A verb relevant to the current location, see below for details.
20. A verb relevant to your god if a divine caster, otherwise a verb relevant to the current location

Nouns (d100)

1. Heat
2. Light 
3. Sound
4. Emotions
5. Memories
6. Animals (alive only)
7. Plants (alive only)
8. Stone (includes concrete, brick)
9. Wood (dead or alive, includes paper)
10. Limbs (arms, legs)
11. Metal
12. Clothing
13. Weapons
14. Devices
15. People
16. Armor
17. Dead (pepple/animals, not including undead, includes dead animal materials like leather)
18. Undead
19. Spirits
20. Writing
21. Water
22. Kinetic energy
23. Explosives
24. Air
25. Electromagnetism (including electricity and/or magnetism, separately)
26. Robots/drones
27. Electronics
28. Building
29. Vehicle
30. Cloth (includes ballistic fibers like kevlar)
31. Glass
32. Plastic
33. Drugs/medicine/poison
34. Magic
35. Time
36. Space
37. Senses or sensory organs
38. Strength
39. Dexterity
40. Health
41. Charisma
42. Knowledge (both the attribute and general fields of knowledge, but not specific memories)
43. Perception (the attribute)
44. Willpower
45. Skin
46. Tools
47. Food or beverage
48. Thoughts
49. Fatigue (includes both fatigue and hit points)
50. Gravity

51-60 Generate 5 random nouns, referee picks one

61-70 Generate 3 random nouns, player picks one

71-90 A noun relevant to the current location, referee's choice.  So if the sorcerer is near the site of a recent forest fire they might get a fire sandestin, if they're in a carpenter's shop they might get wood or create, and so on.  

Items which have been used to accomplish great deeds can have the same effect, whether they're magical or not– a sword that has slain many foes may attract "destroy" lexestins, the toolkit of a highly accomplished eye surgeon may attract "senses" lexestins.  Sorcerers collect such items; they act something like spellbooks in other systems.  

Note that actual spellboooks have no place in this system, though grimoires are still used for rituals, which are a separate system. 

91-100– For divine casters, a noun of particular significance to your god.  For everyone else, one relevant to the location.  

Collecting Lexestins

A sorcerer or magic-user can have a maximum number of lexestins equal to Knowledge plus their Level.  A cultist, warlock or cleric can have a maximum number equal to their Knowledge plus half their level.  A half-caster class can have a number equal to their knowledge.  

By meditating for an hour after a night's rest, a sorcerer or magic-user may collect a number of lexestins equal to d6+their Knowledge modifier, plus one for every three full levels.  A cultist, warlock or cleric collects a number equal to d4+KNO mod, plus one for every five full levels. A half-caster collects a number equal to d3 + KNO mod, plus one for every six full levels.

The spellcaster can choose whether to roll for verbs or nouns.  In general, you'll want an even mix of each.

If you rest somewhere seeped in magic, like a wizard's tower, temple for a cult that has real magic, etc, you get one or two extra lexestins depending on how much magic there is nearby.

Casting Spells

Casting a spell takes a round, like in any other system.  Pick one verb and one noun to combine; you lose them and cast that spell, i.e. Create Fire.  You could maybe cast a spell with two nouns, like Transform Iron into Fire.  

All casters have a caster power that determines how strong their spells can be.  Caster power equals your level plus WIL mod for full casters, or half your level plus your full WIL mod for half casters.  Some powerful magic items can raise your caster power.

Area effect spells have a radius equal to 5 feet times caster power.

Damaging or healing spells do caster power D6's if they're single-target, or caster power/2 d4's if they affect an area or multiple targets.  If the spell takes advantage of something that already exists rather than creating the effect out of nothing– like throwing an existing fire at an enemy rather than conjuring fire out of thin air– raise the die size one step.

If you're using a system where HP doesn't scale very much, like GLOG or The Nightmares Underneath, then single-target damaging spells do 2d6+caster power, and area spells do 2d4+ half caster power.  

Buffing or disabling spells can affect multiple targets if it's a weak buff like Bless or if it only weakens targets like reducing their strength, disabling an arm, etc.  The equivalent of totally disabling spells like Hold Person, or awesome buffs like shapechange, can only affect one target.  Something like sleep that totally disables someone but can be easily cancelled, like how you can just shake people awake from sleep, can affect multiple targets.  

Spells with a duration last caster power minutes if the effect is really strong or hours if it's not as strong; go with whatever old-school spell it seems most similar to.   

If it's a touch spell, raise the damage a step, or raise the duration a unit of time– from minutes to hours or hours to days.  

Spell attack rolls and saves against spells will depend on whatever system you're grafting this onto.

This whole system requires a lot of on the spot rulings; use spells from more standard old-school systems as a guideline.  

Optional Dark and Dangerous Magic

All spells require a casting roll.  If you roll a critical, roll a d10 and a d8.  You take the d10 in damage to a random ability score; on a 7-8 on the d8 (or just an 8 with my seven-ability system) it goes to hit points.

So What Are Lexestins Anyway?

They're a sort of insubstantial, magical/spiritual/psychic symbiote.  The two types, which we think of as verbs and nouns, are the two "sexes."  It would be a mistake to call them male and female though; they don't have sperm and eggs and their reproduction is nothing like ours.  

There are known to be hundreds of noun lexestins, including many that have yet to be officially catalogued.  There may even be thousands.  It is widely suspected that there are other verb lexestins besides the eighteen that have been officially catalogued, but nobody knows for sure.  

When someone casts a spell, the verb and noun used are destroyed, and their magical essence magnified and released into the world.  This eventually coalesces into more lexestins, which is also why you can collect them more easily in places like wizard's lairs.

In other words, every time you cast a spell, two alien psychic symbiotes fuck each other to death inside your soul.  This is just one of many good reasons why people don't like sorcerers.  

Fire on the Velvet Horizon Reference Chart– Work in Progress

Fire on the Velvet Horizon is an amazing monster manual for high-concept monsters.  That is, the monsters in it are mostly unique for reasons that go beyond (but often also include) having unique ways of fighting.  Great art by Scrap Princess, incredibly evocative writing by Patrick Stuart.

It's been criticized for requiring a lot of work from the referee to use, in a few different ways.

First, the monsters don't have stats.  I think this is actually a pretty minor hurdle– you can whip up some stats in a minute or two, and the monsters are written in such a way that the concepts don't rest on the exact number of hit dice or damage dealt.

Second, there are a lot of stated or implied relationships between different entries, but they're not really collected in one place.  The index lists a small fraction of them.

Third, treasure isn't listed.  Monsters have to have treasure, right?

Fourth, plot hooks aren't explicitly provided for the monsters, although again many are at least implied.

Fifth, once you fall in love with this book, it's very easy to think that you'll only ever use a few of the monsters in it.  A lot of them seem like they'd be hard to work into a campaign, or like making them random encounters simply wouldn't do them justice.

Scrap Princess has been tackling number four by providing six plot hooks per entry, two entries at a time, on her blog.

I'm not tackling number one, but I'm working on a chart that helps with the other four things, by cataloging the relationships with monsters, and stated or implied treasure, in an easily cross-referenced spreadsheet form.

Here's the spreadsheet.  It's about 10% done, at most.  I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing.  

So, explanations.  Every cell other than the middle diagonal shows the relationship, if any, between two monsters.  i.e. Bog Elves and Potemkimen are at war, Swamp Drunks trade Sanguine Crane feathers, etc.

These cells are color-coded: red for hostile relationships, blue for friendly ones, black if it's mixed, neutral or unclear.  I started color-coding a ways into this so there might be a few that are black but should be blue or red.

A few of these are speculative; not just things that could possibly happen (any two monsters could fight under some circumstances,) but ones that seem likely.  Like, if two monsters are attracted to lightning, they're likely to be found near each other.

The bottom row for "others" is where I list any friends or enemies a monster might have that aren't other entires in the list, like how Aeskithetes like artists.

Note that I'm not bothering with things that could be said for literally anything, like that the Blathering Bird could give you information on any other monster.  That just clutters up the chart and makes actually unique entries harder to pick out.

The middle row, the one that's all gold and shows a monster's "relationship" with itself, is for treasure.  If the monster is clearly stated to have treasure, great.  If not I try to come up with something– either ways the monster's body could be used, or the monster itself could be employed when alive, or other potential benefits to killing it.  Sometimes I also list other very probable and noteworthy consequences for killing said monster.

One nice thing about a chart like this is it makes it easy to see how, once you put one or two monsters into your game, you could use that to introduce or seed plot hooks for more of them.  Like you kill a Sanguine Crane and sell its feathers to some Swamp Drunks, who get attacked by a Snapkeg which causes their caged Fruit Hound to escape and then they trade you the services of some Hex Dragoons who ride Atrocious Crows in return for chasing down the Fruit Hound and re-capturing it, but then you run into a Catastrophe Tree....

The plain-text version of the book has been invaluable here since I can ctrl-f it (but definitely get the hardcover, reading this kind of book is a whole experience), but a lot of this requires reading and re-reading entries and can't be boiled down to keyword searches.  You can also see exactly how far along I got before I realized I could copy-paste all the entry names from this book (and figured out how transpose paste works)

I'll keep working on this and probably post it again when it's...well not done because this is the kind of project that's never really done, but like 90% done.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions about how to improve the format, I'm all ears.

Cloud Giant Powers

So after this I'm doing storm giants, and then I've been talked into doing at least one of the more exotic giant types.

Other articles in this series:
Stone Giants
Fire Giants
Frost Giants
Sand Giants
Storm Giants

For more interesting cloud giants with abilities that allow for interesting tactics beyond "throw boulders and smash them really hard," give a cloud giant one of these d6 abilities:

1.  Levitation.  Can levitate at will.  Moves up and down at normal walking speed, but can only move horizontally at ten feet per round.  Can throw boulders while levitating, but has disadvantage on the throw due to not being anchored– the force will send it briefly spinning before it rights itself.  Can usually carry three boulders while levitating, unless it has a giant backpack to hold more.  Dispel magic will disable the levitation ability for a turn, possibly making the giant fall to its death.

2.  Fog Control.  At will, can summon an obscuring fog to conceal it.  This fog can move with it at very low speeds only; if it decides to run, it outpaces, the fog.  Can also cast fog cloud once per hour.

3.  Reduce Gravity.  At will, can reduce the pull of gravity on itself, allowing the giant to jump five times as far and high.  Does not reduce the giant's mass, just gravity.  Also acts as featherfall, but only if the giant spreads its body out while falling like a skydiver.

4.  Gaseous Form.  Can turn into a cloud, as gaseous form, once per day.

5.  Cloud Sight.  Can close its eyes and shift its viewpoint to see out of the surface of any cloud within its line of sight.  While doing so, can zoom its view somewhat– usually enough to make out groups of people, but not recognize faces or exactly what equipment they're carrying. 

6.  Solidify Clouds.  At will, can solidify clouds or mist within line of sight and within a quarter mile.  This allows the giant to walk on clouds, or turn a fog bank into an impenetrable barrier.  This solidified mist has a spongy texture with some give to it, a bit like a wrestling mat.  People inside a solidified cloud are trapped in a five foot bubble of the stuff; they don't suffocate but will have a hard time getting out.  The effect is temporary, and ends when the giant leaves the area, stops concentrating on it, or if the giant fails a save after taking damage.

Classless OSR Conversion

I've been toying around with a few ideas for making a classless OSR game.  Not something like Knave where anyone can do anything and magic is all item-based, but something where you have unique abilities that are a) inherent to your character, not coming from an item, but b) coming from something other than classes.

Here's one such idea.  The core concept here is that characters are defined mainly by ability scores, with high ability scores giving access to some special abilities.  This is a hack you can add onto the class-based OSR game of your choice.

This converts your game of choice into something very free-form where player characters can sort of mix and match class abilities to create really unique characters.  It also means, though, that power differentials between player characters can get bigger than is typical for OSR games.

Ability Scores

To make ability scores more important, you'll have to make the range of modifiers higher than is typical for an OSR game.  Something like:

1-3: -3
4-5: -2
6-8: -1
9-12: 0
13-15: +1
16-17: +2
18-19: +3
20: +4

Additionally, since we're getting rid of classes, saves need to be ability-based, not the old school poison wands, breath weapon, etc.  These work like in GLOG or The Nightmares Underneath: roll a d20 under the appropriate ability score.  DEX for dodging stuff, STR to resist being pushed, INT to see through illusions, etc.  Rolling equal to ability score is a failure, because ability scores can get up to 20.

Every time you level up, pick two ability scores to test for advancement.  Roll a d20; if you roll over the score's current value, it goes up by one.

High ability scores can also give you special abilities– more on that later.

Note that because ability scores are important, you need some rule for allowing people to not have to play characters with really low ability scores.  Either let them re-roll terrible statlines like in Lamentations, or raise one low ability score to 14 like in most of Kevin Crawford's games, or reverse all of their ability scores like in Esoteric Enterprises (replace all of them with 21 minus what you rolled, so 7 becomes 14, etc).  Don't be too generous though; high ability scores help players A LOT.

Hit Points, XP, and Other Nuts and Bolts

Since there are no classes, everyone gets d4 HP per level, max HP at level 1.  Yes that's low; there will be ways to get more.  You could make that d6 though, if you want characters to be sturdier.  CON may or may not apply to hit points; that's up to you.  

If your base system has different classes level at different rates, everyone levels as a fighter.  

If your base system uses race as class, then you need to convert that to race and...well not class, but you'll see.  Apply some kind of XP penalty to demihumans to account for their extra abilities; maybe they level at whatever rate they'd normally level at for their race, maybe not quite that bad, maybe worse.  This could be hard to balance honestly, so this whole hack works best if you apply it to a system that doesn't use race as class, or just borrow race traits from another system.  

All characters are proficient with light and heavy armor, shields, and all weapons.  Plate mail, or heavy armor, is the only thing only some people will be able to use.  

Ability Perks

Aaaand here's the fun part: the mix and match abilities we'll replace classes with.  High ability scores allow you to choose "ability perks," which replace class features.  

So for example, you could get an ability perk for each ability score equal to or higher than 12, a second if an ability score hits 15, and a third if it hits 19.  If you wanted to be a little stingier with the perks, you could award them at 14, 17 and 19.  Or you could split the difference and go with 14, 17, 19, or even 14, 17, 20; that makes a 20 really awesome but also incredibly hard to get.  

Rolling up a bunch of random characters, it looks like the first set of thresholds gives the average starting character 3 perks, and the second allows 1.5.  Regardless, don't set these thresholds at ability score values where the modifier also goes up; make it so most ability score values over 12 are giving you either a perk or a higher modifier.  

So taking the first set of values, if you had STR 15, DEX 13, and WIS 14, and the other scores were below 12, you could pick two strength perks, one dexterity perks, and one wisdom perk.  Perks are, as mentioned, the class features from your game of choice (or other games, or ones you just make up), now mixable and matchable.  

Charisma

-Animal companion, like a ranger 

-A squire, apprentice or servant, who doesn't need to be paid beyond room and board, is very loyal, with class level equal to half of yours rounded down.  Can be replaced in a week or so if they die.

-Lay on hands, as a paladin

-Turn undead, or whatever the spiritual enemy of your god is

-Get a totally sweet magic horse, like a paladin

-Attract follower and build a stronghold, if you think attaching the domain game to class features is cool (it isn't)

Constitution 

-Get an extra hit point per level.  Applies retroactively, can be taken up to 3 times.

-Immune to all diseases, like paladins

-There aren’t a lot of good perks for CON, I’m open to ideas here
-You can hold your breath for up to an hour.  This makes you immune to inhaled poisons only if you have a second or two of warning to hold your breath. (From Phlox on the OSR Discord server)
-You only need to sleep four hours a night.  You can also get a full night's rest in one hour, once, but can't do that again until you've made up for it by sleeping eight hours in a night.  (From Phlox again)
-If you successfully save versus an ingested poison, you can re-purpose the poison by spitting it at an enemy, biting or scratching them, forcing them to save or be poisoned.  (Phlox again)

Dexterity

-Thief skills as a thief of half your level.  Can be taken a second time to get skills as a thief of your level.  Could also be taken as an INT perk in systems like Lamentations where skills include things like medicine, tinkering, languages, etc.

-Fast movement and slow falling as a monk.

-Get a bonus unarmed attack plus an extra one per five levels, as a monk

-Ranged attack bonus as a fighter

-Double damage and +4 to attack when backstabbing, if that’s separate from the rest of the thief skills

Intelligence

-Cast spells as a wizard of half your level.  Take a second time to cast as a wizard of your level.  Casting in any armor heavier than light armor is either impossible or requires a roll.

-Have a chance to use magic items you don’t qualify for, like a thief

-Poison and disguise, like an assassin

-Trained herbalist/alchemist or something like that

Strength

-Melee attack bonus as a fighter

-Plate/heavy armor proficiency

-Rage as a barbarian (could be CON instead maybe)

-You can carry twice as much stuff

Wisdom

-Cast spells as a cleric of half your level, plus you’re an ordained priest.  Take it twice to cast as a cleric of your level, and be somehow prominent in the church.

-Cast spells as a druid of half your level, only if not wearing metal armor, plus speak druidic and whatever minor abilities druids get at level 1.  Take twice to cast as a druid of your level, plus get whatever minor abilities druids get at higher levels (not shape changing).  

-Shapechange as a druid, only if not wearing metal armor.

-Tracking and alertness as a ranger

Final Thoughts

This would work well applied to something like Lamentations, OSE, Esoteric Enterprises, Swords and Wizardry, or The Nightmares Underneath.  It has some trouble accommodating race as class; you can do it but have to make some judgement calls.  It also seems like it would be harder to apply to something like Perdition where classes have a bunch of features that you get to pick from.

There are a few balance issues I'd like to work out.  Starting ability scores are incredibly important, so I might want to smooth them out a bit more.  

There also seems to be too little incentive to try to advance low ability scores when you level; yes they're more likely to advance, but they're nowhere near giving you a cool ability.  I might want to make it so ability scores with a negative modifier actually advance two points if tested successfully, and one if the roll fails.  

But other than that, this seems like it would be super fun.  I'll probably try it in one of my games.

After hearing Stephen's feedback in the comments and thinking it over more, I've come up with the following modification that seems a bit more fair: the number of perks you get is based on your level, but which ones you have access to are based on your class.  

You get two perks at level 1, and an additional one at levels 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, etc.  

The perks are still linked to ability scores, but they merely limit how many you can pick from a given ability score.  So if you have CON 12 you can pick one CON perk, if you have INT 15 you can pick two INT perks, etc.

However, you can also completely ignore that limit for your highest ability score, however high it is.  If you get all of the allowed perks for that score somehow, you can ignore it for the second-highest score.  

So now, ability scores channel you towards doing what you'd logically be good at, but the power differential between high and low scores isn't massively increased.  I'd still keep the widened modifier range and testing for ability score improvement though.

Stone Giants, Re-Imagined

Next up on the list: stone giants.  After this it's cloud and storm giants and that will probably be it.  I might come back and do more exotic giant types in the future, but after five giant articles in a row I'm going to need a break from this.

Source: Viktor Lozanov

Other articles in this series
Fire Giants
Frost Giants
Cloud Giants
Sand Giants
Storm Giants

If you want a stone giant to be extra interesting, give it one of these six powers.

1.  Burrowing.  The giant can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth or stone, at half its normal walking speed.  While doing so it barely disturbs the matter it travels through, leaving only slight ripples.  It can't breathe inside stone though, so it has to come back out within a few minutes.


2.  Meld Into Stone.  The stone giant can meld into any piece of stone that is larger than it is, kind of like the 5E spell.  Unlike with burrowing, it can't move inside the stone, but can breathe.  It can't see anything while inside the tone, but can hear what happens outside the stone just fine.

There is no inherent duration limit to this, other than people's natural inability to stay confined and still forever; in practice, this usually means an hour or less when awake, or 8-10 hours if used to sleep.

3.   Tremorsense.  As long as it is in bodily contact with earth or stone (giants with this power usually go barefoot), the giant can sense vibrations from anyone moving on a surface connected to the surface it's touching.

It can sense goblins within 200 feet, humans within 500, ogres within 2000, and giants within a mile.  This distance can be shorter if someone is moving stealthily or longer if they're jumping or stomping; total invisibility to this sense requires padded shoes and deliberately minimizing impact on the ground, meaning you'd probably have to know how this sense works.  Giants with this ability will use it to send Morse code messages to each other.

4.  Fuse Rocks.  With a wave of its hand, the giant can fused rocks together as if they were mortared together.  The same power can be used to un-fuse rocks that were joined with this power.  Stone giants use this power to create fortifications, block off chokepoints, and lead ambushes through previously-sealed passages.

5.  The Statue of the Big Grey Dude.  This giant has crated a magical, incredibly life-like statue of itself which has as many hit points as the giant does.  Any damage inflicted on the giant is transferred to the statue; when this happens, a distant rumble will be heard coming from wherever the statue is.  Once the statue loses all HP it is destroyed and the giant can be attacked normally.

The power does not work if the giant is in the same room as the statue. The giant can repair the statue for one die of hp per day by working on it with a chisel, hammer and mortar, but if it touches the statue with its bare skin, all of the statue's damage is immediately transferred to the giant.

6.  Boomerang Boulders.  The giant has three enchanted boulders that it carries.  It throws them like normal boulders, doing normal damage.  On its turn instead of either moving or attacking, the giant can recall a thrown boulder, causing it to fly back into the giant's hand.  Anyone directly in the path of the returning boulder must save or be hit and take 3d6 damage.

More Magical Fire Giants

Someone in my last article about frost giants pointed out that the random powers made them feel more like ice elementals than giants.  That was a good point and it made me realize I should clarify something– unlike my articles about trolls or dragons, I don't think this way of doing giants is clearly superior to the standard way.

Standard giants are great if you want giants to mostly just be big hulking brutes; this is for if you want giants to be more exotic, more magical, and probably less numerous to compensate for that.  These are maybe a bit less like D&D fire giants and a bit more like Norse mythology fire giants.  

So, more magical fire giants.  Give them one or two of the following six powers.  

1.  Flame Aura.  The giant is surrounded by a flaming aura that reaches about five feet beyond it's skin.  Anyone standing within five feet must save or take d6 damage each round.  Anyone who attacks the giant with a non-reach weapon automatically takes the damage, as does anyone who the giant grapples or hits with an unarmed attack.  Giant-sized swords and axes are more than 5 feet long so people hit by them don't take automatic damage.  

2.  Melt Stone.  The giant can turn a small patch of stone– about 5x5x1 feet– to lava once per combat round.  The lava takes one exploration turn– 10 minutes– to cool to the point where it can be safely walked on by humans again.  The giant itself can walk through lava just fine.  Anyone knocked into the lava takes d20 damage, and an additional d20 per round until they get out, and must make a strength check to escape the sticky lava.      

3. Lava Bomb.  The giant can heat boulders right before throwing them, turning them into shells of cool stone with a gooey hot lava center.  These boulders shatter on impact, spraying the nearby area with lava.  The boulder does one extra die of damage.   If damage types matter, consider this half impact and half heat damage.   

Anyone within 10 feet of the impact point must save or take 2d6 lava damage.  A person hit by the boulder doesn't take this extra damage– it's already factored into the "direct hit" damage (extra damage for the lava, but less damage for the boulder being less hard).  Optionally, on missed hits roll a d8 for direction and d4 for distance to see where the boulder actually lands.  

4.  Flaming Sphere.  Similar to the 5E spell, the giant can conjure a floating ball of fire.  Every combat round it can move this ball of fire up to 30 feet, and may make an attack roll to try to ram it into someone, dealing 3d6 damage.  This is in addition to, not instead of, the giant's normal actions.

The flaming sphere emits light in a 60-foot radius which reveals anything and anyone hidden or invisible.  Giants with this power will often command squads of humanoid archers, using their flaming sphere to illuminate enemies for the archers to attack.  

5.  Eyes of Ignition.  With a gaze, the giant may ignite any highly flammable substance it looks at, such as paper, oil, dry leaves, or alcohol.  Wood, cloth armor and human skin aren't flammable enough, but a lot of non-treated cloth is, and hair might be. Oil sealed into airtight containers won't work either; there needs to be oxygen.  Giants with this power will try to fight in areas pre-seeded with innocuous-looking flammable materials.  

6.  Firewalk.  As it moves, the giant may leave a trail of fire in its wake.  This fire reaches ten feet high (the giant can see over it unless it crouches) and is several feet across, as thick as the distance between the giant's left and right feet.  The fire lasts ten minutes, and the giant may only have a sixty-foot length of it going at one time.  Anyone who runs through it takes 4d6 damage; anyone in the space occupied by the fire when it starts can save to dive to one side and avoid it.   

Giants will usually use this power in one of three ways: either to cover their retreat, to create a barrier that prevents enemies from closing to melee range while allowing them to throw boulders over it, or more aggressive fire giants may even get behind an enemy and use it to cut off their retreat.  

Other articles in this series

Frost Giants

Cloud Giants
Stone Giants
Sand Giants
Storm Giants

Frost Giants Re-Imagined

In my previous articles about trolls and dragons, I expressed the idea that even "standard" monsters could be made interesting and surprising by giving them some randomized powers.  Those are my most popular articles so it seems I was onto something.

So now I'm going to do the same thing for giants, one type of giant at a time.  There are many, many types of giants across all the different OSR games and D&D editions, so I'll start with the common types that made it into 5E: frost, fire, stone, cloud and storm (hill giants don't get special powers).  After that maybe I'll get into the more exotic ones.

They're not just giants; they're also vikings.  

As with trolls, apply these powers on top of the base stats from whatever system you're using.  If you need giant stats, here are the ones from Sword and Wizardry, and here's a monster generator for Labyrinth Lord.

So, frost giants.  They all have stats as per one of those two games, and they're all immune to cold damage.  If you want to distinguish between regular frost giants and frost giant lords, the regular ones have one less HD, and the lords have one more.

All frost giants additionally have one of the following six powers, and frost giant lords or shamans have two.

1.  Cold aura.  The giant is surrounded by a chilling aura with a 5 foot radius.  Anyone within this radius must save or take 1d6 damage and be slowed until the round after the leave the aura.

2.  Icy shell.  The giant's skin is covered by a thin layer of ice.  Reduce all damage (other than poison, psychic or anything that logically wouldn't be affected by it) by two.  A fireball, or hot weather, will melt this shell off, and it takes at least a half hour to re-form.

3.  Frost strikes.  All melee attacks inflict an extra die of frost damage, and anyone hit must save or be paralyzed.  They can save against each round to break the paralysis.

4.  Conjure ice.  The giant can conjure a block of ice equal in volume to a five foot cube once per combat round.  Giants with this power will mostly use it outside of combat, to build fortifications or prepare the battlefield with chokepoints and kill zones.

5.  Freeze water.  As a combat action, the giant can freeze a few cubic feet of water that it can see within 120 feet.  Giants with this power will try to get enemies wet, often fighting in the rain or an area with a lot of puddles, so they can use this power to freeze enemies in place.

6.  Ice javelins.  The giant can conjure and throw a javelin of ice as a normal attack action.  These javelin do the same damage as thrown boulders normally would, but they travel twice as far, and anyone struck must save or be paralyzed, as with the frost strikes power.

Other Articles in This Series
Fire Giants
Cloud Giants
Stone Giants
Sand Giants
Storm Giants