D&D General Comparing Giant Sizes

Anders Johnson, a Swedish artist over on ArtStation, has an awesome image in which he compares the relative sizes of various D&D giants.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Have you imagined anytime a D&D version of Attack on titans? Dreadful as zombies, but not undeads tainted by a contagious curse close to the therianthropy and a bulletproof skin as crocodiles.


By fault of White Wolf now I imagine fomorian giants as tainted Lovecraftian race with some mutations.

Theoretically the giants should be the nemesis of the dragons, like vampires vs werewolves, but they are the great forgotten ones. They could be ruling empires, and kicking-asses to the noble houses of Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen, Tully or Greyjoy. But if these can use giant crossbows and lot of valyrian fire.

The spinosaurus, maybe the largest bipedal creature was 4,3-7 m high.

 

[Zaukrie]

I too prefer Hill giants to be large, not huge.

This is a GREAT graphic, btw......

 

[dave2008]

Wow, when a fire giant punches you with a forearm as big as your whole body, it really calls their Strength 25 into question. The must be moving incredibly slowly, in order for that much mass to result in that little destructive power.

For me, it is not so much the strength score (I actually think it could be lower), but the damage caused. I generally accept it because HP are so abstract, but if you want HP to be meat points (which I think you do) it really makes no sense. I hit from a giant should kill you.

 

[Lanefan]

For me, it is not so much the strength score (I actually think it could be lower), but the damage caused. I generally accept it because HP are so abstract, but if you want HP to be meat points (which I think you do) it really makes no sense. I hit from a giant should kill you.

This one comes down to simple narration.

If the blow comes from above, or squashes you into a wall or cliff, then yes the Giant realistically should one-shot you. But if the blow comes in such as way as to simply send you flying backwards then it might well not kill you at all. (and Giants are one opponent, among very few, that really should have forced-move effects on a hit, to reflect this)

 

[The Crimson Binome]

For me, it is not so much the strength score (I actually think it could be lower), but the damage caused. I generally accept it because HP are so abstract, but if you want HP to be meat points (which I think you do) it really makes no sense. I hit from a giant should kill you.

I'm less concerned about Hit Points than I am about doors and manacles. When something has a break DC of 20, a +7 modifier doesn't really cut it.

 

[dave2008]

The flip side of this is that, due to sheer scale, most Giants won't be able to attack nearly as quickly/frequently as PC-size people could; and so the reduced damage kind of evens it out (doing 2d8 more often instead of 8d8 not as often).

Works for me...

It generally works for me too. However, you could have them have fewer attacks and cause more damage. I might like that even better.

Also, if they are dynamically similar they wouldn't be much slower.

What doesn't work as well for me, and here I rather agree with Celebrim, is the up-scaling of Giants' sizes. I come from a 1e perspective, where Ogres are 9' tall, Hill Giants are 10-12' tall and it's about another foot or two in height for each gradation up from there. That's usually more than big enough to pose a threat (particularly if there's lots of 'em!); and if I need something bigger there's always Titans (which can be big enough to underpin entire mountain ranges, if needed), Elementals, or whatever I can dream up on my own.

Conversely, what I like is the narrowed range of size in 5e. In 1e a Storm Giant is 2x the size of a hill giant., but only about 1.5x the size in 5e

 

[pukunui]

My grandfather had a copy of this classic NC Wyeth painting at his house:

I always enjoyed looking at it as a kid. As a result, this is what I think of when I think of giants.

 

[dave2008]

I'm less concerned about Hit Points than I am about doors and manacles. When something has a break DC of 20, a +7 modifier doesn't really cut it.

I get you, If I cared about that mechanically that would bother me too. I feel free to handle that Narratively and just say the giant breaks them.
However, if it did bother me I would probably change the whole mechanics around strength in DC is to break things rather than change the Strength scores.

 

[Lanefan]

It generally works for me too. However, you could have them have fewer attacks and cause more damage. I might like that even better.

Also, if they are dynamically similar they wouldn't be much slower.

I dunno - I'm having a really hard time envisioning a Dex-based two-weapon Giant dancing circles around the sword-and-boards...

That said, I did throw a Giant Monk at a party not so long ago - it actually pulled off some flippy-flips before they slaughtered it.

Conversely, what I like is the narrowed range of size in 5e. In 1e a Storm Giant is 2x the size of a hill giant., but only about 1.5x the size in 5e

Only because the 1e Hill Giant is smaller...

 

[Lanefan]

My grandfather had a copy of this classic NC Wyeth painting at his house:

I always enjoyed looking at it as a kid. As a result, this is what I think of when I think of giants.

That's what I'd see as a Cloud Titan or Elemental - it left Giant behind long ago.