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.