Help me stat these

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'm working on a new campaign that draws heavily from ancient Mesopotamian and Middle Eastern mythology and religions. The only available PC race is humans, their chief antagonists are the Nephilim:

Genesis 6:4 states "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days --and also afterwards-- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." The Nephilim were a race of giants that were produced by the sexual union of the sons of God (presumably fallen angels) and the daughters of men. Translated from the Hebrew texts, "Nephilim" means "fallen ones." They were renowned for their strength, prowess, and a great capacity for sinfulness.

So... how would you stat up the Nephilim?

 

[guardianfallenangel]

I'd go with half-celestial template. tweak where needed.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Anger of Angels had an interesting writeup for these, for d20. There were 3 kinds of Nephilim in there, if I'm not mistaken, all being evil offspring of the Grigori (a type of angel also known as 'Watchers', IIRC). There was also another kind, sort of 'Good Nephilim', known as Gibborim, which were the firstborn (collectively) among the Grigori's children. However, even these were doomed to fall, sooner or later.

Personally, I don't know nearly enough on this subject matter to offer much more / else. But I do recommend that book - it's written by Sean K. Reynolds, and it's good.

 

[evilbob]

Actually, the half-fiend template seems like a good place to start. Or make them tieflings.

It actually depends on how powerful you want these characters to be in relation to the PCs. The half-fiend template is not bad because it starts at +1 CR and builds to +3 as HD increase. If you're also looking for a "large" size, you could also mix in some ogre or other monsterous race, but all of a sudden you're jumping up a ton of CR.

One idea that might not be bad if you don't mind the fact that they aren't technically "giants" would be to use goliaths from Races of Stone. They are huge but still medium, and their +1 LA would translate into a +1 CR at most. And they would be quite intimidating with large-sized weapons. Half-fiend goliaths (with flavor changes on appearance and background) might be cool, and only about a +2 CR (building to a +4 at later levels), which would mean they were rather tough, but still surmountable by the PCs.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Not having either of those books in my collection, I think I'll go with the half fiend or half celestial template on a large sized character. They are always characterized as giants, so I want to keep the larger than human aspect to them.

Thanks!

 

[Aus_Snow]

An alternative would be to use the Powerful Build type mechanic (as referred to by another poster), and just make them about as tall and strong as they can be for Medium. That's probably what I would do if I were to just make them "Giants of Old, Men of Renown" or whatever the quote is again, in a kind of broad sense. Back in time somewhat, a "giant" could have been only 6 or 7 foot tall, perhaps (8, even). . .

Half Celestial looks alrightish for the stat adjustments. . . some of the other bits though. . . I dunno. Anyway, best of luck with it. As I'm unsure how exactly I would prefer to go about statting them, I'll stop trying to find issues with others' methods. Please forgive my prattling.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'm wacked out on codeine based cough syrup. Where is the Powerful Build write up?

 

[Priest_Sidran]

The bible says a number of things about the Nephilim, in my translation of the old king james it says Giants "men of great stature" of these the Raphah, who lived near Gath of which Goliath came from was one, are said to have once ruled over Ugarit, their founding king being Rapha, a six fingered giant who was a demigod of a sort.

The children of god as mentioned in the Bible are said to either be the Sons of Adam through Seth, or the Angels.

Necromancer games makes a book about Mesopotamia, whilst Green Ronin makes the book Testament: RPGing in the Biblical Age, and has a sourcebook on Hittites. Anger of Angels is a book I second for source material, a very good read indeed.

They actually recently had a documentary on this topic on History channel or something similar to it quite recently.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I'd go with modified half-giant stats.

Half-Giants

Also see the Half-Giant monster listing.

* +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity: Half-giants are tough and strong, but not too nimble.
* Giant: Half-giants are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
* Medium: As Medium creatures, half-giants have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Half-giant base land speed is 30 feet.
* Low-Light Vision: A half-giant can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
* Fire Acclimated: Half-giants have a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against all fire spells and effects. Half-giants are accustomed to enduring high temperatures.
* Powerful Build: The physical stature of half-giants lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger.

Whenever a half-giant is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the half-giant is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.

A half-giant is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A half-giant can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
* Naturally Psionic: Half-giants gain 2 bonus power points at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
* Psi-Like Ability: 1/day—stomp. Manifester level is equal to ½ Hit Dice (minimum 1st). The save DC is Charisma-based.
* Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Ignan.
* Favored Class: Psychic warrior.
* Level Adjustment: +1.

Powerful Build highlighted.
Season to taste, and you should have a grand nephilim race

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

The bible says a number of things about the Nephilim, in my translation of the old king james it says Giants "men of great stature" of these the Raphah, who lived near Gath of which Goliath came from was one, are said to have once ruled over Ugarit, their founding king being Rapha, a six fingered giant who was a demigod of a sort.

The children of god as mentioned in the Bible are said to either be the Sons of Adam through Seth, or the Angels.

Necromancer games makes a book about Mesopotamia, whilst Green Ronin makes the book Testament: RPGing in the Biblical Age, and has a sourcebook on Hittites. Anger of Angels is a book I second for source material, a very good read indeed.

They actually recently had a documentary on this topic on History channel or something similar to it quite recently.

Right. They were referred to by different names. www.pantheon.org has a few articles on them, as well.

JQM, thanks for the write up!!! And I just purchased the .pdf of Mesopotamia last week!