Giant-hurled boulders: Should they be ranged touch attacks?

[Grog]

Giants are one of the iconic monsters of D&D. And hurling boulders is one of their iconic attacks, and has been since first edition. However, in 3.x D&D, this attack is... underwhelming, to say the least.

The frost giant, a CR 9 monster, has a +9 attack bonus when hurling boulders. +9! Throwing at a 9th level fighter with +2 full plate, 12 Dex, and a +2 heavy steel shield (25 AC, which is actually pretty conservative for a 9th level fighter), he's only going to hit one out of every four times. Even against an arcane caster with an average AC, he's only going to hit half the time - maybe less. (The damage isn't that great either, but that's another topic).

And if they're trying to throw into a meele? Forget about it. Giants don't have Precise Shot, they aren't going to hit anything.

I've been thinking that, to actually make hurled boulders a dangerous attack again, I should make them ranged touch attacks. It works from a common-sense standpoint - if a creature 6-10 times the size of a normal human throws a rock as big as a person's chest, armor isn't going to provide much protection from that attack. One shot would cave in that fighter's breastplate, or at least batter him around inside pretty good. And it would allow the giants to actually have a decent chance to hit with their boulders, for a change....

What do you all think?

 

[griff_goodbeard]

I give my Hill and Stone giants Power Throw from CV that lets them use there str instead of dex with thrown weapons. Works very nicly.

 

[jontherev]

I give my Hill and Stone giants Power Throw from CV that lets them use there str instead of dex with thrown weapons. Works very nicly.

Don't forget to throw 2-handed (Stone Giants do so...why can't the others?) for 1.5X Str damage.

 

[Sejs]

Brutal Throw.

Str mod instead of dex on those thrown boulders. They hit juuuust fine.

 

[Vuron]

From a single giant the boulder stone is fairly unimpressive with the exception of base range (180' vs 110' for a composite longbow). However keep in mind that it's primarily designed to be an initial long range weakening barrage. In mountains a giant can hang back a handful of rounds before engaging in melee with the average party. However in the short ranges of the typical dungeon bound adventure it's generally a better strategy to quickly close with a charge and maximize damage dealing.


Boulder-throwing becomes more useful when used in mass attacks of several giants as they can send multiple boulders at the party in the opening rounds. 4-8 Giants all chucking boulders at a party can make for a very intimidating encounter for a mid level party.

If you really wanted to change the rules to make the attack more potent you might consider allowing large giants to target a 5' square rather than a character, huge or gargantuan giants might be able to throw boulders that allow the giant to target a 10' square area with a boulder.

 

[moritheil]

Giants should not be throwing at the front-line fighter; they should be throwing at the party mage or rogue with low AC.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Not only boulders from giants, but also siege weapons.

 

[Delta]

Giant boulders are too powerful and should be downgraded IMO (such as by radically slashing the range increment).

 

[Vuron]

Not only boulders from giants, but also siege weapons.

From a game balance perspective the published totals are likely fine but in practice they make it largely impossible for siege weaponry and giant boulders to do significant damage to structures. I figure it's a compromise to prevent siege weaponry from being insta-kill weapons.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I've been thinking that, to actually make hurled boulders a dangerous attack again, I should make them ranged touch attacks. It works from a common-sense standpoint - if a creature 6-10 times the size of a normal human throws a rock as big as a person's chest, armor isn't going to provide much protection from that attack. One shot would cave in that fighter's breastplate, or at least batter him around inside pretty good. And it would allow the giants to actually have a decent chance to hit with their boulders, for a change....

What do you all think?

6-10 times the size of a normal human? Rock as big as a person's chest?

Your regular Large size giant (most of them) is about 10 to 12 feet tall. Even the Huge ones clock in at about 20 to 21 feet. I guess if you were talking volume instead of height you've got a point.

As for the size of the rocks...

A giant of at least Large size can hurl rocks weighing 40 to 50 pounds each (Small objects) up to five range increments. The size of the range increment varies with the giant’s variety. A Huge giant can hurl rocks of 60 to 80 pounds (Medium objects).

50 pounds is pretty big, but it's not so big it should ignore armor. It's a rock, not a boulder.

Which i guess is my point, that D&D giants aren't as big as many people picture in their heads.