D&D 5E Should giants be tougher?

[Vymair]

I think the truly challenging encounters in 5e are based on numbers of monsters unless the monster has legendary actions in which case it can be frightening solo.

Giants are the orcs of high level D&D. A single orc won't frighten a 3rd level party, but a group of 10 sure will. Giants fill a similar niche at higher levels.

For me, a group of 7th/8th level characters taking on several hill giants with some ogre support would be a more interesting fight than going toe to toe with a single fire giant.

 

[CTurbo]

I can see a 20th level Storm Giant Tempest Cleric!
-a 11th level Stone Giant Hunter Ranger with Horde Breaker and Whirlwind attack!
-a 13th level Fire Giant Champion Fighter with 3 attacks
-a 12th level Frost Giant Frenzy Barbarian with brutal crits
-a Cloud Giant with a giant Halberd and the Polearm Master feat(25ft reach)
-and of course a Hill Giant Wizard! hahaha

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Good point. On a similar note, if cloud giants could make flying fortresses, what other toys did they have that have been lost to the mists of time?

There might have been a whole David Weber style arms race between giants and dragons (great now I have "1,000 red dragons breathed fire at the storm giant fortress, 2 missed altogether, illusions spells diverted 300, the elemental shields blocked 325 of them, which meant that 373 hit....." in my head).

Clearly, D&D needs more Weberverse arms races. I would totally love running that war, if it wouldn't take three years to do so. Probably not something you would do as part of your regular D&D game, but maybe a player vs. player wargame you run on the side as a prequel (or sequel!) to your TTRPG campaign.

 

[discosoc]

This is an issue with 5e monsters, not giants. I highly suggest working up a solo-monster framework that gives them legendary actions. Otherwise, ive found simply doubling hp generally helps them last enough rounds to be a challenge. I really hope to see 6e actually address action economy and boss fight better.

 

[S'mon]

I think the stats work fine for traditional 'large' giants encountered in numbers. Very 1e. I don't see any reason to increase their Size though and yes they look weak for Huge creatures.

 

[S'mon]

This is an issue with 5e monsters, not giants. I highly suggest working up a solo-monster framework that gives them legendary actions. Otherwise, ive found simply doubling hp generally helps them last enough rounds to be a challenge.

In my high level 5e games the PCs are usually fighting large numbers of moderate-CR enemies. I definitely agree 5e is not great at solo boss fights. It does 1 PC vs 1 NPC duels well, though!