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== Mythological Giants == | == Mythological Giants == | ||
The | The Cyclopes are a type of giants from Greek mythology which have one eye (hence the name). The first ones were mighty proto-deities who forged the weapons of the gods in their war against the titans. Later ones were inbred hillbilly shepherds on a islands in the Aegean. One of them, Polyphemus, was a son of Poseidon, and had a famous run-in with Odysseus. | ||
Norse giants, meanwhile, are the embodiments of powerful elemental forces. From the frost giants of Niflheim, to the fire giants of Muspelheim, the giants fought, slept with, and occasionally married the Norse pantheon as part of the endless struggle of civilization against nature. Notably, Loki, the trickster, was a giant sworn as Odin's brother and ally. And, of course, all creation ultimately ends in a final mighty battle between giants and gods, Ragnarok, in which the fire giant king Surtr ultimately emerges triumphant and burns all of Yggdrasil to a cinder. | |||
Finally, there are the giants of Medieval Europe. Some were stupid, savage brutes, threats to knightly adventurers because of their incredible strength, while others were sophisticated beings that lived in the clouds, though no less evil. Both liked their human flesh, though the smarter ones cooked it first. | |||
== Giants in D&D == | == Giants in D&D == | ||
Revision as of 23:42, 1 January 2017
In general a guy who is somewhat larger than average by means besides obesity is stronger than a normal sized human and more dangerous in a scrap, either unarmed or armed with melee weapons. On the same note larger animals are more dangerous individually than smaller animals. Really tall humans that are more than 2 meters tall usually have major health concerns, which get more and more pronounced as height increases. Individuals more than 2.3 meters tall often have to walk with canes. Never the less, these fine details of medicine were not well known in the Bronze Age and people loved to embellish and embellish on embellishments in storytelling. As such it is little surprise that Giants, people who are of a much greater scale than normal Humans, are so common in mythology.
Mythological Giants
The Cyclopes are a type of giants from Greek mythology which have one eye (hence the name). The first ones were mighty proto-deities who forged the weapons of the gods in their war against the titans. Later ones were inbred hillbilly shepherds on a islands in the Aegean. One of them, Polyphemus, was a son of Poseidon, and had a famous run-in with Odysseus.
Norse giants, meanwhile, are the embodiments of powerful elemental forces. From the frost giants of Niflheim, to the fire giants of Muspelheim, the giants fought, slept with, and occasionally married the Norse pantheon as part of the endless struggle of civilization against nature. Notably, Loki, the trickster, was a giant sworn as Odin's brother and ally. And, of course, all creation ultimately ends in a final mighty battle between giants and gods, Ragnarok, in which the fire giant king Surtr ultimately emerges triumphant and burns all of Yggdrasil to a cinder.
Finally, there are the giants of Medieval Europe. Some were stupid, savage brutes, threats to knightly adventurers because of their incredible strength, while others were sophisticated beings that lived in the clouds, though no less evil. Both liked their human flesh, though the smarter ones cooked it first.
Giants in D&D
In Dungeons and Dragons "giant" can designate a subtype of monsters going from trolls, ogres and various Oni all the way up to the "true" giants. The name is also used for the various types of (Whatever) Giant to denote a particular kind. Certain types of giants live in certain areas or have special abilties. For example, the Forest, Frost, Hill, Jungle, Mountain and Ocean Giants all live from where you expect them to. In one cases this is less clear (Fog, Stone and Sun Giants) or almost impossible to tell (Death and Eldritch Giants). Between the books there are often dozens of different giants available, with 3.5e having a staggering 22 different types of "true" giants and a host of others with the type.
Giants tend to be in the mid to high range of monsters, starting as early as CR 7 for the Hill Giant all the way up to 26 for the Mountain Giant, and that's pre-class levels. Giants are very much a mixed bag, being anywhere on the range from bullies to millitant assholes to dicks sitting in the clouds and doing nothing. This can make them decent enemies, aloof sages or a nice way to make players feel like they're hot shit before delivering the smackdown. They are often of the Large or Huge size categories and are all experts of throwing rocks, who because of their size do a lot of damage.
Giants in modern fantasy
In A Song of Ice and Fire, giants are huge hairy dim witted hominids about three to four meters tall that live north of the wall. Even so thats peanuts by the standards of most giants.