Buff these Hill Giants!

[BOZ]

Hey! i'm running the classic G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief for 3.5 D&D. the players are levels 11-13. i thought i would give them a nasty surprise of having some giants with class levels.

i just whipped these up in the last hour or so by adding class levels onto standard hill giants and rerolling the ability scores. give me some ideas - skills & feats can change, and they can get more magic items. i prefer stuff the PCs can't use (giant-sized weapons & armor) as well as potions, scrolls, and other limited-use items, because if the PCs beat these guys they will loot - guaranteed.

they don't need much of a change, since i don't necessarily want them to kill the characters, but a challenge is what i'm looking for.

NOSNRA, HILL GIANT CHIEF
Large Giant, 8th-level Barbarian
Hit Dice: 12d8+60 plus 8d12+40 (206 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 50 ft.
Armor Class: 21 (-1 size, -2 Dex, +9 natural, +5 armor), touch 7, flat-footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +17/+31
Attack: +3 Greatclub +30 melee (2d8+18/19-20) or slam +29 melee (1d4+10) or rock +14 ranged (2d6+10)
Full Attack: +3 Greatclub +30/+25/+20/+15 melee (2d8+18/19-20) or 2 slams +29 melee (1d4+10) or rock +14 ranged (2d6+10)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, rage 3/day (+4 Str, +4 Con, +2 Will, -2 AC), uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching, damage reduction 1/--
Saves: Fort +19, Ref +4, Will +7
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 6, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +20, Intimidate +10, Jump +30, Listen +9, Spot +11, Survival +7
Feats: Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Iron Will, Power Attack, Improved Critical (greatclub), Improved Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatclub)
Gear: Bracers of Armor +5, +3 Large Greatclub
CR 15


HILL GIANT SUB-CHIEF
Large Giant, 5th-level Fighter
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 plus 5d10+20 (149 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. in chainmail (6 squares); base speed 40 ft.
Armor Class: 23 (-1 size, -2 Dex, +9 natural, +7 chainmail [+2]), touch 7, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+25
Attack: +2 Greatsword +22 melee (2d8+14/17-20) or slam +21 melee (1d4+7) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+7)
Full Attack: +2 Greatsword +22/+17/+12 melee (2d8+14/17-20) or 2 slams +21 melee (1d4+7) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +3, Will +5
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 6, Con 19, Int 5, Wis 6, Cha 3
Skills: Climb +15, Jump +15, Listen +3, Spot +4
Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Initiative, Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Weapon Specialization (greatsword)
Gear: +2 chainmail, +2 Large Greatsword
CR 12


HILL GIANT CLERIC
Large Giant, 5th-level cleric
Hit Dice: 12d8+36 plus 5d8+15 (127 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. in hide armor (6 squares); base speed 40 ft.
Armor Class: 21 (-1 size, +9 natural, +3 hide armor), touch 9, flat-footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+22
Attack: Greatclub +18 melee (2d8+9) or slam +17 melee (1d4+6) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+6)
Full Attack: Greatclub +18/+13/+8 melee (2d8+9) or 2 slams +17 melee (1d4+6) or rock +11 ranged (2d6+6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, rebuke undead
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +5, Will +11
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 9
Skills: Climb +6, Heal +6, Jump +6, Listen +6, Spot +9
Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Weapon Focus (greatclub)

Spells Prepared:
0: 5
1: Command, Doom, Protection From Good, Shield of Faith +domain
2: Bull's Strength, Owl's Wisdom +domain
3: Cure Serious Wounds +domain

HILL GIANT MAGE
Large Giant, 5th-level Wizard
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 plus 5d4+20 (134 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 40 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (-1 size, +9 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+20
Attack: Dagger +16 melee (1d6+7/19-20) or slam +15 melee (1d4+5) or rock +10 ranged (2d6+5)
Full Attack: Dagger +16/+11 melee (1d6+7/19-20) or 2 slams +15 melee (1d4+5) or rock +10 ranged (2d6+5)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, spells, familiar (dire wolf)
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +5, Will +7
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 11, Con 19, Int 14, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Climb +20, Concentration +12, Jump +24, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Listen +14, Spellcraft +12, Spot +14
Feats: Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll (B), Weapon Focus (dagger)

Spells Prepared:
0: 4
1: Burning Hands, Charm Person, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement
2: Mage Armor (quickened), Protection From Arrows, See Invisibility
3: Fireball

 

[WinnipegDragon]

Ouch.... I'd be willing to bet that the Hill Giant Chief could solo TPK a party of levels 11-13. Raging, he's going to hit an AC30 character an average of 3 times for 31 points a hit. That's 93 points per round, pretty much guaranteed.

 

[Henry]

YEEEEE-IKES! I wouldn't want to fight them! Heck, I would want to at 17th level, much less 13th! I'd tone Arneson (Nosnra) down to 4th level Barb, and the others down to only two or three class levels. Nosy will be quite powerful even as a Barb 4.

Don't forget, there's a CLOUD GIANT tooling around there, too!

 

[Endur]

I'd use the Adept class instead of Mage and Cleric. Adept has much more flavor for a Hill Giant tribe. Have one been the primary adept level 5-7 and the other be the assistant, level 1-4.

For Nosnra, that's a good start, but I'd make several changes.

First, Nosnra is a big, ugly fighter who uses any weapon available. So no weapon focus or improved critical feats for him. Its not like he has ever had weapon training classes. Improved Sunder makes sense, because Nosnra likes breaking things. Likewise power attack and bull rush. I'd probably give Nosnra Leadrship and Cleave instead of weapon focus and improved critical.

No +3 Great Club for Nosnra. What powerful wizard or cleric is going to invest lots of exp enchanting a club when they could enchant a sword? Instead, have Nosnra's club powered up by a spell cast by the Adept (GMW or Spikes or equivalent).

For magic items to replace the club, how about Dragonhide armor (large sized, also replaces the bracers of ac). i.e. +5 Black Dragonhide Hide Armor with Acid Resistance 15 or something like that. Dragonhide has the nice effect that you don't have to claim a wizard created this. Nosnra himself might have created it by killing the dragon and skinning the dragon.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

You could look at the Hulking Hurler (Complete Warrior) and the War Hulk (Miniatures Handbook) prestige classes.

 

[griff_goodbeard]

I buffed up some stone giants a few months ago for the party I'm DMing and gave them Imp Grapple and Fling Enemy(from RoS). It added a lot of flavor to the encounter without giving them a huge power boost. The first time one of them grabed the dwarf fighter and flung him across the room, the look on the players face was absolutly priceless.

 

[Simplicity]

Giant clubs are so yesterday.

Give the chief a spiked chain. 20 foot reach is always nice.
Then, have the chief go DISARMING and TRIPPING, while her friends beat the crap out the PCs. +10 to disarm attacks (2-handed + special for chain, +4 for size). +11 to trip attacks.
Ouch. Keep the cleric tripped, and you'll have a TPK in no time.

 

[Emirikol]

Boz:

You didn't use the new stat block format?

jh

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Give the fighter some blackguard levels!

 

[Shade]

I used a bunch of frost giants recently, and found Large and In Charge to be the perfect complement.

War hulk...definitely cool...but use caution. I had a fire giant war hulk kill the party paladin in one hit, cleave and drop another member, and he still had plenty of attacks to spare.

The caber from Masters of the Wild is fun with giants too. Nothing beats a good ol' throwing log...especially with the returning property.

Suggested potions: bull's strength, endurance, jump, heroism, displacement.

Give the potion of Jump to Nosnra so he can leap over the front line and get to the chewy center.