D&D 5E Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

[Henadic Theologian]

The book that is up next.

For comparsion sake Fizban's lore chapter was broken up into groups of 3, Metallic Dragons (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Brass, Copper), Chromatic (Red, Blue, Black, Green, White), Gem (Emerald, Amyethyst, Topaz, Sapphire, Crystal), and Miscellenous (Dragon Turtles, Deep Dragons, Moonstone Dragons, Fairy Dragons).

Giants do not have nearly as many big families as Dragons, you really only have the one big one (Storm, Cloud, Stone, Fire, Frost, and Hill giants), Giantkin (Trolls, Orgers, Furbolgs, Ettins, Fomorians Cyclops, Verbreegs), and really out there stuff (Eldritch Giants, Death Giants, Doomwake Giants from Theros, Hundred Handed Ones, etc...), plus Empyreans while not giants might get a mention.

As you can see there is a big gap betweem major dragon types and major giant types.

Could they introduce new major Giant families based on a different theme?

Could Theros, Ravnica, and other out there settings get their Giants explored more to fill the gap?

I predict a Titan version of Great Wyrms for Giants.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, based on some of the UA stuff, I think Wyatt is going to bring some of his Primordial lore from the Dawn War forward into 5E here.

You list 13 major Giant and minor Giant types there (Igres and such), those plus a few new options is probably plenty to fill out a chapter, particularly since Giants are more communal than Dragons. Wyatt might put in example settlements (AKA Dungeons) ad he did with Dragon Lairs.

 

[bedir than]

Give me Irda

 

[humble minion]

Well, based on some of the UA stuff, I think Wyatt is going to bring some of his Primordial lore from the Dawn War forward into 5E here

The hamfisted and forcible retrofitting of the Dawn War mythos into every damn campaign setting drives me up the wall, and I wish WotC would stop pushing that barrow. It's ok for different settings to have different lore.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have an Eldritch Giant lurking in the background of my campaign -- the players haven't interacted with him for years now, but he's still out there, paying attention -- and hope to see them back.

What I'd really like though, is many, many more stat blocks for existing giant types. Give me giants of all sorts of level ranges and all sorts of combat and campaign roles.

I know other people like weirdo monsters, but what I really need, most of the time, are a boss of the primary type, a ranged attacker, a spellcaster, a tough sub-boss, and some weaker-than-typical mooks.

 

[Parmandur]

I have an Eldritch Giant lurking in the background of my campaign -- the players haven't interacted with him for years now, but he's still out there, paying attention -- and hope to see them back.

What I'd really like though, is many, many more stat blocks for existing giant types. Give me giants of all sorts of level ranges and all sorts of combat and campaign roles.

I know other people like weirdo monsters, but what I really need, most of the time, are a boss of the primary type, a ranged attacker, a spellcaster, a tough sub-boss, and some weaker-than-typical mooks.

Based on Fizban's, we'll get a pretty thorough representation of Giants from throughout D&D as stat blocks at least. The question is, which ones other Tham the Big Six will get a detailed treatment like gem Dragons or Dragon Furtles did in Fizban?

 

[bedir than]

Weren't there hints of dinosaurs and other primordial beasts?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Weren't there hints of dinosaurs and other primordial beasts?

That sounds right.

 

[bedir than]

That sounds right.

yep! The Druid!

https://media.wizards.com/2022/dnd/downloads/UA2022-drjwf73f8n.pdf

 

[Parmandur]

Weren't there hints of dinosaurs and other primordial beasts?

They have to go somewhere, and they werenlimked to Dragons. Giants using dinos as mounts...?

 

[DavyGreenwind]

Maybe they will throw in some more Dire animals. Dire mammoth, dire rhino, etc.

They could also add some of the giants from older editions, like Mountain Giants, Forest Giants, and Sea Giants.

Finally, they could add some Giant ideas/art from other cultures. Like the cool Aztec-inspired fire giant in Radiant Citadel.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Fog and mountain giants will presumably appear, as they have long pedigrees back to 1e and have appeared in most editions since (fog giants appeared in a D&D Beyond suppliment, so I can definitely see them getting "officially" updated in those book). Also, this would be the perfect place for some goliath and firbolg lore. There are quite a few other giant types out there, but for the most part they appeared in only a single edition and thus aren't as likely to be updated as other types. Voadkyn got some mentions in Giantcraft, which 5e has based much of its giant lore on, so maybe they'll get updated.

And I definitely agree with other posters here that we need a good selection of variants. I mean, I created a whole slew of giant variants on this very site after Volo's very anemic section on giant variants very much disappointed me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, fog giants are already in 5E, in the Extra Life PDF/D&D Beyond item, as fallen cloud giants. Mountain giants as, I dunno, really big hill giants seem likely as well.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Well, based on some of the UA stuff, I think Wyatt is going to bring some of his Primordial lore from the Dawn War forward into 5E here.

You list 13 major Giant and minor Giant types there (Igres and such), those plus a few new options is probably plenty to fill out a chapter, particularly since Giants are more communal than Dragons. Wyatt might put in example settlements (AKA Dungeons) ad he did with Dragon Lairs.

They could crib settlement maps from Storm King's Thunder if they wanted. Or maybe we'll see all new maps.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The hamfisted and forcible retrofitting of the Dawn War mythos into every damn campaign setting drives me up the wall, and I wish WotC would stop pushing that barrow. It's ok for different settings to have different lore.

Literally no 5e settings have any of the Dawn War Mythos. Do you perhaps mean the first world, or the great wheel?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Give me Irda

There are Irda in Monstrous Compendium Vol 2: Dragonlance Creatures on D&D Beyond. Not PCs though. Their Augment Physicality ability would present a way to do large PCs without allowing large PCs, so I wouldn't be surpised to see a PC version in the new book.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Weren't there hints of dinosaurs and other primordial beasts?

Only as a fluff option for a druid subclass.

But giant humanoids clearly need giant domesticated animals.

 

[Tonguez]

The book that is up next.

For comparsion sake Fizban's lore chapter was broken up into groups of 3, Metallic Dragons (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Brass, Copper), Chromatic (Red, Blue, Black, Green, White), Gem (Emerald, Amyethyst, Topaz, Sapphire, Crystal), and Miscellenous (Dragon Turtles, Deep Dragons, Moonstone Dragons, Fairy Dragons).

Giants do not have nearly as many big families as Dragons, you really only have the one big one (Storm, Cloud, Stone, Fire, Frost, and Hill giants), Giantkin (Trolls, Orgers, Furbolgs, Ettins, Fomorians Cyclops, Verbreegs), and really out there stuff (Eldritch Giants, Death Giants, Doomwake Giants from Theros, Hundred Handed Ones, etc...), plus Empyreans while not giants might get a mention.

As you can see there is a big gap betweem major dragon types and major giant types.

Could they introduce new major Giant families based on a different theme?

Could Theros, Ravnica, and other out there settings get their Giants explored more to fill the gap?

I predict a Titan version of Great Wyrms for Giants.

I would love to see Irda, which might happen as a DL tie-in

Also Ocean Giants - 20 ft long merfolk with whale flukes

Cerrillian Fhoimorians (as opposed to normal Formorians)

include Oni too and some other ‘ethnic giants’ from different real world cultures from the Hecatoncheires and Gigantes of Greece, through the Kuafu of China, the Kapre of Phillipines, the crystalline Cherufe of Chile to the Fachan, Cewri and Ettins of Britain

 

[plisnithus8]

I don’t think I saw B’rohg above.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

What the hell does Bigby have to do with giants. Feels like a random D&D name to pull out for this book.