Anders Johnson, a Swedish artist over on ArtStation, has an awesome image in which he compares the relative sizes of various D&D giants.
That’s a problem with game and encounter design, not the size of giants.And yet combat between such a giant and a human fighter comes down to just standing next to each other in their squares on the battle mat and swinging their swords at one another and blocking and parrying each others blow,
I don't think anyone on AoT or SotC would ever try to just block a blow from a storm giant sized opponent with his human sized shield attached to his human sized arm.
Don't forget your "Giant-Size Man-Thing" (so to speak).My favorites are Giant Size X-Men #1, Giant Size Invaders #1 and Giant Size Super-Villian Team-Up #1.
What?
But how would you narrate that for the ToM without the giant looking like an idiot?
In the books they are basically elephants. Which, historically, where pretty devastating themselves when trained for war.
Can you unpack what “look like an idiot” even means, to you, in this context?But how would you narrate that for the ToM without the giant looking like an idiot?
I believe that's pretty simple, isn't it?Can you unpack what “look like an idiot” even means, to you, in this context?
But that is not accurate. If a giant is indeed similar to a human (it's moves travel at the same speed) then it will take longer for its club, sword, or whatever to strike a target (it is traveling a greater distance). This makes it much easier for a human-sized creature to dodge the massive blows of a giant, no matter how sophisticated its martial skills are.I believe that's pretty simple, isn't it?
If the assumption is that a human sized fighter can not just take a hit from a giant, then the combat can only go with the giant not hitting the human until the last blow.
So while the human nibbles away the giant's hp with small hit after small hit, the giant depletes the human's hp with him having to narrowly avoid blow after blow (until the very last hit in case the giant wins).
Unfortunately that makes the makes the giant a lumbering brute and ignores that they are supposed to have sophisticated cultures with their own renowned martial arts styles and fencing masters.
To do the giant justice he has to hit the human often and reliably, but when a single hit would end the human, that causes a problem.
But then the same would apply to humans vs. goblins or kobolds.But that is not accurate. If a giant is indeed similar to a human (it's moves travel at the same speed) then it will take longer for its club, sword, or whatever to strike a target (it is traveling a greater distance). This makes it much easier for a human-sized creature to dodge the massive blows of a giant, no matter how sophisticated its martial skills are.
EDIT: For example, if it takes a fighter 1 second to swing his/her sword, then it take a giant 3 seconds to do the same thing because it travels 3x the distance. On top of that I would imagine most giant martial arts center around fighting other giants and/or dragons. Creatures of similar size. Of course, now I am interested in giants specifically trained to take on the "small-folk."
EDIT EDIT: This is of course assuming basic similarity. It you purpose that giants are actually magically stronger than their size suggests, then they can actually swing their giant swords in 1 second instead of 3, but then your really opening a can of worms.