Giants: How big should they be in an a Fantasy RPG?

[KB9JMQ]

I pretty much leave them alone. They are pretty big already.

 

[werk]

Besides, 15 feet tall is big.

People keep mentioning the extreme high end of 'large' as if that is how big they are.

Going from the MM:
Hill 10.5
Frost 15
Fire 12
Stone 12
Cloud 18
Storm 21

SO of the giants being discussed, only one is at the high end of large, while the hill giant is barely large.

I vote bigger. Whether than means changing 'large' to include larger creatures, or making them huge.

 

[Nebulous]

I leave sizes alone, and simply upgrade if i need to. i'm very excited about the new huge set though. The formorian giant from way back is still one of my favorites. Man, that was a wicked battle...

 

[Henry]

People keep mentioning the extreme high end of 'large' as if that is how big they are.

Going from the MM:
Hill 10.5
Frost 15
Fire 12
Stone 12
Cloud 18
Storm 21

SO of the giants being discussed, only one is at the high end of large, while the hill giant is barely large.

So every one of the hill giants your PCs meet are 10 and a 1/2 feet tall? Just like humans, the giants in my campaigns are 9 feet, 10 feet, even 12 feet, and some occasionally 13 or 14 feet tall! (Giants have giants among their number, I imagine, just like human beings!)

Even presuming average height, to me, someone 11 feet tall (10.5 or so) is ENORMOUS. They dwarf their opponents. I'm almost six feet tall; the room I type this from is 10 feet up to the drop ceiling. A foot beyond that, imagining a creature of that size and bulk, and portraying that to the players, will be pretty daunting in itself. That's why I don't mind their size, and if I want something taller, I just make them so. I like having a wide range to choose from.

 

[werk]

So every one of the hill giants your PCs meet are 10 and a 1/2 feet tall? Just like humans, the giants in my campaigns are 9 feet, 10 feet, even 12 feet, and some occasionally 13 or 14 feet tall! (Giants have giants among their number, I imagine, just like human beings!)

Even presuming average height, to me, someone 11 feet tall (10.5 or so) is ENORMOUS. They dwarf their opponents. I'm almost six feet tall; the room I type this from is 10 feet up to the drop ceiling. A foot beyond that, imagining a creature of that size and bulk, and portraying that to the players, will be pretty daunting in itself. That's why I don't mind their size, and if I want something taller, I just make them so. I like having a wide range to choose from.

Average means average, so not only are some bigger, but they are also smaller. So that means if you have 14 foot tall hill giants, you should also have 6 foot tall ones, right?

Yes, we can play with the numbers all we want, but my point was that everyone is modifying them upwards, which seems to suggest that the averages are too low in most people's opinion...even unconciously.

11 feet tall is not enormous, it is large. Barely bigger than human sized technically and relatively. Put a bulette up against that hill giant, and now he is the small one, despite them having the same challenge rating.

There are already a lot of large creatures to daunt the PCs with, giants should be giant.

 

[frankthedm]

Looking at that image in the OP, how does the human deal a the lethal (killing) blow to the Huge giant? He can't hit above the giant's thigh.

This concept has always been a mental stumbling block for me.

Unless the characters have some crazy damage output, it takes a lot of hits to drop a giant, if PCs do 25 damage per hit on the average, a 149 HP fiire giant will take 6 blows to drop.

As the giant is reeling from one blow to his leg, another strike causes him to lurch forward in pain, a third blow nearly brings him to his knees, two more solid slashes cut into some vital areas,. The giant regains his stance, swings his weapon again and again on his tiny foes, but blood loss and shock are about to do him in. One last solid blow to his legs tips the scale and plunges him into blackness. A heartbeat later one of his murderers drives a great sword into his neck.

 

[Arnwyn]

I noticed at least one person voted for all 4 choices. Nice one, Jaws.

 

[Sejs]

Looking at that image in the OP, how does the human deal a the lethal (killing) blow to the Huge giant? He can't hit above the giant's thigh.

This concept has always been a mental stumbling block for me.

As Henry said - that femoral artery's looking awfully inviting. Let Mr. Huge have his blood supply drop out of him like a coffee cup with the bottom cut off. A few choice hits to the legs, and that giant's not going anywhere but down.

In that picture, they are not trying to win -- they are trying to destroy the wand of orcus by throwing it in the tarrasque's mouth. (Context from the book that image appeared in.)

Yeah I never did quite understand that one. Getting the Tarrasque to eat something is hard now?

I mean seriously. Wrap the wand in bacon then leave it somewhere convienant and the situation will take care of itself!

 

[Rogue765]

I've always thought that giants should be... Gigantic.

But I guess that would just be silly.

 

[Umbran]

Yes, we can play with the numbers all we want, but my point was that everyone is modifying them upwards, which seems to suggest that the averages are too low in most people's opinion...even unconciously.

11 feet tall is not enormous, it is large. Barely bigger than human sized technically and relatively.

Maybe people think the averages are too low. But maybe that's because they've got little grasp of how big these sizes are. Rarely are we put up against something mobile that large, so we lack perspective.

Consider your words above. 11 feet is barely bigger than human sized, relatively? Dude, it's nearly twice the height of your average Joe. Double "barely bigger"?