D&D 4E 4E Giants

[Mr. Wilson]

Is that picture on the left what the new Frost Giant will look like? If so, yuck. I much prefer the viking giant on the right.

Also, FR also had Giants playing an important part in the ancient history of Toril, so it's just not an Eberron thing.

Just read the second thread, so I have a new comment. I'm sad they're ditching the Frost giant, as it was my favorite giant.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I like the move towards elemental giants. It has a strong vibe of Norse mythology, where the world was born from, and destroyed by, the giants of frost and flame. I also like the reappearance of Death Giants, those were on of my favorite giants from the last edition. I am a bit less sold on the convoluted Formorian/Cyclops stuff, and the large/huge giant divide.

But I really have to ask along with the others... if Giants are all elemental now, why are frost giants, one of the best elemental giants, not going to be in the MM1?

Also, where on earth does that image alongside the 3E Frost giant image come from? I really hope that is not the 4E Frost giant. Of course, I rather doubt it is.

 

[Falling Icicle]

I know it's cliche, but these kind of golem-like, elemental giants are straight out of WoW. The Rock Giants in Feralas and the Ice Giants in Winterspring are good examples of this.

 

[Dormammu]

Interesting flavor, but I would have liked it if they structured it to reduce the number of giants overall to favor those from the original 1E MM. Mountain Giants are one of the most boring additions to D&D I can think of... aren't they just big Hill Giants? Who cares? Frost and Fire and Stone are the three most interesting and Hill are the most like mythological giants. Those four are, to me, the most important. Perhaps I am biased by the old G1-3 series.

 

[fuindordm]

I really like this flavor. A big dose of Greek and Norse myth, a touch of Scarred Lands and Eberron...

If I were going to make giants a big part of my campaign, I would do something like this. I love the idea of titans and giants creating servitor races.

 

[Nikosandros]

[IMaGel]http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8387/frostyfa8.jpg[/IMagel]Hell, Do frost giants really need to be full-on immune to cold? Five to ten points of cold resistance is MORE than enough to handle almost any cold enviorment, even a glacial rift. Thus a frost giant is a bit hardier to cold atatcks, but no longer needs that achiles heal of fire attacks.

IMHO from the way D&D depicts them, 'frost' giant should still be flesh and blood, not ice and antifreeze. The thing on the left looks immune to ice, and one would expect it to take extra damage form fire. The giant on the right, not so much.

R&C states that blanket immunity are extremely rare in 4e... where is the info about frost giants being immune to cold?

Also, I'm curious about the source of that image...

 

[carmachu]

Uhm mountain giants? Where the heck are the stone ones...that make more sense for earth based giants.

Granted I like the new theme running through giants, but still...where are cloud giants as well?

 

[Cam Banks]

If hill giants change from their "big neanderthal giant with club" nature, which they've been all this time, we're going to have to call the Krynnish ones by their other names - storm ogres.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[SCMrks]

Elements seem to be getting a big role in 4th Ed. Demons are corrupted elementals, Giants are connected to the elements, and dragons are the brillant astral spirits of the raw elements (pg 24 R&C). And dragonborn are lesser spirits of the elements who can learn to tap into their element essence to create a breath weapon. Then there's the actual elementals.

 

[Baron Opal]

Frank, where did that image come from? I don't see it on the WotC site.