D&D 5E (2014) Against the Giants.

[Ralif Redhammer]

I ran The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl as an insert in an Out of the Abyss campaign. It went well, though if I recall correctly the amount of magic items it doles out is more than current D&D generally does, and I had to reduce it.

 

[Nightfly]

These adventures reward good tactics, especially the first one, which can be approached many different ways. An underpowered party that lures the hill giants into an ambush probably has a much better chance than an overpowered party that blindly barges in the front door.

 

[aco175]

These adventures reward good tactics, especially the first one, which can be approached many different ways. An underpowered party that lures the hill giants into an ambush probably has a much better chance than an overpowered party that blindly barges in the front door.

I recall my group climbed up to the roof and managed to enter by removing shingles and happened to land in a safer place.

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, I ran it a few years back. It was pretty good, but the one thing I didn't like was that the areas in G1 were too small.

I love the G series.

EDIT: Oooh, a lower level party. If they don't approach it smartly, they're likely to get worked by the giants.

 

[Goonalan]

Hi there,

I'm running it atm with an over-powered anything goes 11th level party (4 PCs), here-

Thread '[D&D 5e] There Might Be Giants G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl Session: 033 RUN!'

Oct 16, 2025

There Might Be Giants​

No, really.

And...

Giants have been raiding civilized lands in bands, with giants of different sorts in these marauding groups. Death and destruction have been laid heavily upon every place these monsters have visited. This has caused great anger in high places, for life and property loss means failure of the vows of noble rulers to protect the life and goods of each and every subject-and possible lean times for the rulers as well as the ruled. Therefore, a party of the bravest and most powerful adventurers has been assembled...

• Goonalan
• Replies: 55
• Forum: Story Hour

But here's the thing, this is a sort of break-out game and not our main campaign. Basically we started doing G1 for giggles and just decided to do the lot before we get back to the main campaign.

I'm using the 'realistic maps'-

Loading…

www.drivethrurpg.com

But made G1 even bigger still by turning every 10ft square on the map into a 15ft square, the downside to this of course is it takes the PCs an absolute age to get anywhere, although... I quite liked that because the PCs really felt like the Steading was indeed a giant sized fortress.

I played the Hill Giants as mostly giant-sized violent chumps who generally just waded into combat, save for the few leader-types who had evolved a few more tactics.

It helped that the PCs did a lot of sneaking about and killing mostly sleeping/drunk or else just plain surprised to see them Hill Giants. I also fixed it so that the PCs met up with a pair of orc slaves who told them all about the orc revolt going on down below the Steading.

So, the PCs had an army of orcs to call upon for back up- see my write up for how that worked.

The 11th level (bawked) PCs got through G1 without any problems- there were a few absolutely titanic fights-

#1 30+ Bugbears, 2 Giant Apes, The Keeper (Stone Giant statted Hill Giant), 2 Hill GIant Torturers + 2 Fire Giant Smiths. This fight caused the barbarian to drop unconscious about 4-5 times, but the artificer just got him back up and into the fight every time.

And the finale-

#2 All the bad guys in the kitchen plus all those in the throne room (that's a lot of Hill Giants, Ogres etc.), but at this point the PCs had their orc slave army that took a lot of heat off them.

The PCs (now 12th level) moved on to the Frost Giant Rift and things have been a lot tougher there.

I'm playing the Frosties as violent (but not dumb) giant norse warriors, who do much more in the way of ambushing, they mobilise quickly and alert others to the PCs home invasion.

The players are finding it much more difficult- see the write up.

The Remorhaz ate the party's 12th level artificer, and... we're still in it. But the PCs have been judiciously teleporting in and out of the rift, and having to be much more clever about things.

Again, take a look at the write up.

In truth if you wanted to kill your PCs (some or all) then if you played it real smart and ganged up on them then you could TPK them, but if they're clever about it, or else learn their lesson then G1 should not be a problem. G2 and G3 are much harder than the first part of the trilogy, but if you don't pile in with multiple encounters etc. then eminanetly doable, particularly if the PCs can make some in-roads without getting spotted early doors.

I've maxxed the hit points of every named giant (and big bad guy) added all the random monsters on to my rota, and thrown the lot at the PCs- I am geniunely trying to kill my guys, with ambusing white dragons, a flying Cloud Giant and Oni duo, and a dozen or more Winter Wolves. Almost every session I've added more HP to my bad guys, or else increased their AC and/or to hit for all of the enemies, and still the (12th level) PCs are wiping the floor with the giants. Although, and again, G2 is nothing like as easy as G1 proved, and G3 looks to harder still.

Any other help/questions then don't hesitate.

Oh, and also. I've run G1-2-3 back in the day (were their pregens in the module? about 8th level? my memory) and killed a few PCs doing so but, they more or less all made it through, pretty much all the way to Q1.

Good luck.

Cheers Paul

 

[Gorg]

I ran The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl as an insert in an Out of the Abyss campaign. It went well, though if I recall correctly the amount of magic items it doles out is more than current D&D generally does, and I had to reduce it.

Well, there's 8 characters in total, so it's probably closer to right for us.

 

[Gorg]

Hi there,

I'm running it atm with an over-powered anything goes 11th level party (4 PCs), here-

Thread '[D&D 5e] There Might Be Giants G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl Session: 033 RUN!'

Oct 16, 2025

There Might Be Giants​

No, really.

And...

Giants have been raiding civilized lands in bands, with giants of different sorts in these marauding groups. Death and destruction have been laid heavily upon every place these monsters have visited. This has caused great anger in high places, for life and property loss means failure of the vows of noble rulers to protect the life and goods of each and every subject-and possible lean times for the rulers as well as the ruled. Therefore, a party of the bravest and most powerful adventurers has been assembled...

• Goonalan
• Replies: 55
• Forum: Story Hour

But here's the thing, this is a sort of break-out game and not our main campaign. Basically we started doing G1 for giggles and just decided to do the lot before we get back to the main campaign.

I'm using the 'realistic maps'-

Loading…

www.drivethrurpg.com

But made G1 even bigger still by turning every 10ft square on the map into a 15ft square, the downside to this of course is it takes the PCs an absolute age to get anywhere, although... I quite liked that because the PCs really felt like the Steading was indeed a giant sized fortress.

I played the Hill Giants as mostly giant-sized violent chumps who generally just waded into combat, save for the few leader-types who had evolved a few more tactics.

It helped that the PCs did a lot of sneaking about and killing mostly sleeping/drunk or else just plain surprised to see them Hill Giants. I also fixed it so that the PCs met up with a pair of orc slaves who told them all about the orc revolt going on down below the Steading.

So, the PCs had an army of orcs to call upon for back up- see my write up for how that worked.

The 11th level (bawked) PCs got through G1 without any problems- there were a few absolutely titanic fights-

#1 30+ Bugbears, 2 Giant Apes, The Keeper (Stone Giant statted Hill Giant), 2 Hill GIant Torturers + 2 Fire Giant Smiths. This fight caused the barbarian to drop unconscious about 4-5 times, but the artificer just got him back up and into the fight every time.

And the finale-

#2 All the bad guys in the kitchen plus all those in the throne room (that's a lot of Hill Giants, Ogres etc.), but at this point the PCs had their orc slave army that took a lot of heat off them.

The PCs (now 12th level) moved on to the Frost Giant Rift and things have been a lot tougher there.

I'm playing the Frosties as violent (but not dumb) giant norse warriors, who do much more in the way of ambushing, they mobilise quickly and alert others to the PCs home invasion.

The players are finding it much more difficult- see the write up.

The Remorhaz ate the party's 12th level artificer, and... we're still in it. But the PCs have been judiciously teleporting in and out of the rift, and having to be much more clever about things.

Again, take a look at the write up.

In truth if you wanted to kill your PCs (some or all) then if you played it real smart and ganged up on them then you could TPK them, but if they're clever about it, or else learn their lesson then G1 should not be a problem. G2 and G3 are much harder than the first part of the trilogy, but if you don't pile in with multiple encounters etc. then eminanetly doable, particularly if the PCs can make some in-roads without getting spotted early doors.

I've maxxed the hit points of every named giant (and big bad guy) added all the random monsters on to my rota, and thrown the lot at the PCs- I am geniunely trying to kill my guys, with ambusing white dragons, a flying Cloud Giant and Oni duo, and a dozen or more Winter Wolves. Almost every session I've added more HP to my bad guys, or else increased their AC and/or to hit for all of the enemies, and still the (12th level) PCs are wiping the floor with the giants. Although, and again, G2 is nothing like as easy as G1 proved, and G3 looks to harder still.

Any other help/questions then don't hesitate.

Oh, and also. I've run G1-2-3 back in the day (were their pregens in the module? about 8th level? my memory) and killed a few PCs doing so but, they more or less all made it through, pretty much all the way to Q1.

Good luck.

Cheers Paul

These characters are overpowered due to their very high stats. Done deliberately, mostly as an experiment.

Subclasses were chosen primarily for flavor or interesting factor- and often don't need to come into play, as teamwork tends to solve a lot of problems quickly, lol. I'll freely admit to including a Twilight Cleric BECAUSE so many kvetch about it being OP, lol. Honestly, he rarely uses that channel divinity feature- except for when it's REALLY needed- such as when we're facing a big crowd. (combats just don't often go on for long enough for a bonus XP/round thing to come into play) It just seemed a no-brainer for a cleric of Selune.

Or, as a way to reproduce the classic roles of those classes, such as the Thief subclass, or the Standard Paladin oath. Eldritch Knight was chosen as sort of a love letter to the AD&D Fighter/Magic User, or B/X Elf. He rarely casts many spells- we have a Cleric, Wizard AND Sorceror in the party to handle that- and now, a Druid. The Shocking Grasp/ melee attack combo is just too fun to pass up, though! The Sorceror is a classic 3E one: the heavy artillery. He has twin spell and far spell. (making those touch attack spells much less risky, lol) So far, the Druid plays support, casting spells to help the group. The thief uses Sneak Attack to great effect, on enemies going toe to toe with the angry half orc with the big axe; the Dwarf paladin, or the human fighter. The cleric, too if we need an extra front line melee guy. He has proven utterly deadly with either his shortbow or his shortsword. (as 5d6 with an str bonus is) He hangs back, to protect the spellcasters.

I am going to give them some extra adventures, before I throw them at G1, though.

We started level 2 of the current dungeon the other day. There is a 120' deep sinkhole that separates the two. it widens out, as it goes, making climbing extremely tricky. As this is the part I rewrote, I replaced the rope and plank from the module, with a platform and windlass. (the denizens of the upper level WERE Ogres and Hill giants, after all!) Instead of an insanely powerful artifact hidden by gods as the reason level 2 exists, I made it an altar to Grazz't, and replaced the custom demons with a Heirophant Lich, A Necrophant Ghast, an undead Ogre Magi, and a Ghoul Demon. The juju Zombies are now Clacking Skeletons, and the mist demon at the bottom of the pit is now a Crimson Mist. All from The Tome of Beasts. I replaced some of the treasure with some nifty toys that'll come in handy in the future. The tricks and traps I left as is, and added an unhallow effect in the center of the labrynth- radiating from the Altar. Because I now needed a reason why the Crimson Mist couldn't just fly up and prey on the giants, I added a very powerful forbiddance effect vs evil to the pit. (left by the wizard and friends who explored this place a couple centuries ago- as an insurance policy in case the evil came back. Same people built the "elevator", the secret room, and the secret doors only findable by good aligned creatures.)

This proved no real obstical to this group. They merely split in two: the heaviest going first- when four would be operating the lift, The second group: Elf, Gnome, and female druid was lowered down by the Cleric- who used his ability to fly in dark or shadows to rejoin them after. Too bad I rolled a 2, on the roll to see where that Crimson mist was- right in the cavern at the bottom of the pit...

Cliff's Notes for those who don't own the Tome of Beasts: A crimson Mist is what happens when a vampire is slain by direct sunlight- while feeding. It's intellect, personality etal are destroyed- only the never ending hunger and malice remain, in the form of a roiling red mist that drips blood. It has a long list of resistances and immunities, plus vampric vulnerabilities. It's only attack is to engulf- causing necrotic damage, and lowering the victim's HP max, as it feeds on them. A Dex save allows a potential engulfee to instead be shunted 5' away from it. Str check to escape, and allies can help- but they take necrotic damage, too. a CR 6 monster.

Worse, the noises made by those coming down and encountering this... THING, prompted a wandering monster check: I rolled a 1. Then rolled and got a group of four ghouls and a ghast. Arriving in 2 rounds. This could go very badly...

Nope.

Mist got the drop, due to surprise- and a natural 20 on init. Attempts to engulf the barbarian- the biggest target. He makes his dex save, so avoids the attack.
Paladin uses Holy Smite. Then hits on both attack rolls. A total of 50 damage!!! (it had 68)
Barbarian goes next. 1 hit, one miss. 17 damage.
Fighter hits with his longsword and it's destroyed.

When the ghouls and Ghast arrive, the party wins initiative.

Barbarian blasts the Ghast for a bunch of damage- and makes his Con save vs the stink.
Paladin turns undead- ALL 5 fail their save... And run away until out of range. As the turn lasts 1 minute, group 2 arrives in the meantime. When the ghouls return, they are greeted by SEVEN, not four, and are quickly dealt with before the cleric can fly down (30' fly speed).

Vs undead, Holy Smite gives a lot of milage for the cost of a first level spell slot. And, unless I missed something, Paladins only ever get one Channel Divinity per day.

We'll see how they fare vs the rest of the level.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

What I've done is keeping my Large Giant minis and say a Giant trait is having the resilience and damage dealing of Huge creatures, so I kan use my stash of minis. For my Huge minis, it's an elite or Boss Giant, with more hp, more damage, sometimes highrer CR.

Threadjack: I'm thinking about incorporating AtG into SKT. My question is: Are the strongholds in AtG better than the ones in SKT? Which to keep? I'm actually planning on using both the SKT ones and AtG. Do you think that will be too repetative?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I would suggest using 2x2 minis/tokens but increasing their reach if it’s less than 10ft. 3x3 for the boss.

Or some VTTs let you tinker with the grid, so you could, for example, make the grid squares 7.5 ft. across, and calculate ranges, speeds etc accordingly.

 

[Distracted DM]

With that party, they're going to stomp some giants. Go for it; I would not be concerned for the party's safety.