D&D General How do you use giants in your game?

[Micah Sweet]

I very rarely use giants aside from Hill and Stone giants. Hill, because they're still small enough to be plausible to fight with the weapons PCs use, and don't particularly seem heavily-derived from some historical culture, and are an okay to just drop in to a campaign without particularly changing the tone of it. Stone because they're weird, kind of mystical, and really their own thing - their portrayal in more recent editions has been pretty good honestly, and they make for a great kind of "confounding factor" or odd element in a scenario.

I don't have much time for "IM A GIANT VIKINGDWARF WHO IS ON FIRE IM SO METAL" or the rest. They start getting bigger (so less plausible feeling - I think it's very different with humanoids to non-humanoids, note - players I've played with definitely notice the issue of say "hitting their ankles" more with humanoids than dragons or the like), and also just a lot more boring in terms of their vibes and also somehow become like, overspecific? If that makes sense. Like there could be a Viking myth-centric/inspired setting where Fire and Frost Giants make a ton of sense, or even were vital, but I feel like they're a terrible fit for every game of D&D I've ever run, and feel really uncomfortable to say, situate in the Forgotten Realm (even though they specifically have places they live!). I could massively rebrand them/reculture/restyle them, but like, it's a lot of effort and why? I don't have any particular affection for giants or elemental-themed beings!

(Cloud are kind of okay because they're so weird too, but they're too big and peculiar for me to want to really use them as antagonists - I've used a couple as essentially quest-givers or NPCs players weren't intended to fight - and indeed they didn't.)

"Keep Giants Weird" I guess is what I'm saying for myself (apologies to Portland and/or Austin).

(As an aside, I totally get that some other people like the other giants, and again, in the right campaign I could see it - though I'd still prefer them a bit smaller - but I'm glad D&D has somewhat sidelined giants as a whole for most of the time I've played it, which thus makes them feel very optional.)

Didn't they just put out a book all about giants? They don't seem to be sidelining them now at any rate.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Agreed. Personally, I feel like any particular type of giant works better as a one-off individual than as an entire society of huge beings. I'd rather place "The Storm Giant" than a group of storm giants, and up their challenge rating accordingly.

Right. I have used many different giant statblocks in my game, but they're not different subspecies, they're just different individuals of one species. Similarly like there are several different statblocks for various humans.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Didn't they just put out a book all about giants? They don't seem to be sidelining them now at any rate.

Sure they are. The book is optional and nothing about 5E is particularly giant-centric.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure they are. The book is optional and nothing about 5E is particularly giant-centric.

Everything in D&D (possibly excluding the core rules) is optional. Nothing about D&D 5e is fey-centric persay, but they are absolutely are NOT sidelining fey stuff, for example.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Everything in D&D (possibly excluding the core rules) is optional. Nothing about D&D 5e is fey-centric persay, but they are absolutely are NOT sidelining fey stuff, for example.

Indeed, because they're making it important to the characters and thus players particularly - there are races and classes with fey characteristics, quite a few, and some in 2024 PHB even (Glamour, Ancients, Fey Wanderer, Archfey Patron, for example). The closest they come with giants is the updated Goliaths.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Indeed, because they're making it important to the characters and thus players particularly - there are races and classes with fey characteristics, quite a few, and some in 2024 PHB even (Glamour, Ancients, Fey Wanderer, Archfey Patron, for example). The closest they come with giants is the updated Goliaths.

You have to admit 5.5 goliaths hit it pretty darn hard though.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Indeed, because they're making it important to the characters and thus players particularly - there are races and classes with fey characteristics, quite a few, and some in 2024 PHB even (Glamour, Ancients, Fey Wanderer, Archfey Patron, for example). The closest they come with giants is the updated Goliaths.

Isn't there a fighter subclass that has giant powers? Rune Knight?

I feel like Elementals have a better beef for representation.

Or monstrosities for not being a real creature type, but rather a trashcan they put anything they don't think fits.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Isn't there a fighter subclass that has giant powers? Rune Knight?

Yes Rune Knight does, but whilst it's an excellent subclass, it's not in either PHB (sadly), only Tasha's. Hopefully they'll reprint it in the new book. They also put surprisingly little player-centric material in the giant book - only one Barbarian subclass (theoretically a pretty good one! But I haven't even heard of anyone actually playing it yet - I think subclasses in isolation tend to get overlooked unless they're truly OP or fit a particularly desired archetype).

Subclass-wise, WotC seem to have chosen to increase Psionic and Fey theme presence with the 2024 PHB.

You have to admit 5.5 goliaths hit it pretty darn hard though.

For sure, but it remains a minor theme, for better or worse.

I feel like Elementals have a better beef for representation.

Yeah if this was about beefin' re: representation I'd definitely agree. Elemental representation as definitely decreased a lot in D&D since 2E.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yes Rune Knight does, but whilst it's an excellent subclass, it's not in either PHB (sadly), only Tasha's. Hopefully they'll reprint it in the new book. They also put surprisingly little player-centric material in the giant book - only one Barbarian subclass (theoretically a pretty good one! But I haven't even heard of anyone actually playing it yet - I think subclasses in isolation tend to get overlooked unless they're truly OP or fit a particularly desired archetype).

Honestly, I'm of the mind that the core isn't where you put specific themed stuff. But it's the way they try to make every book contained fragments of things a player or DM would want instead of doing whole books with a theme is to blame here.

It'd be really cool if we had a Large and In Charge book, an Elemental Powers book, a Sad Lovecraft Ripoff book, etc full of player options.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Honestly, I'm of the mind that the core isn't where you put specific themed stuff. But it's the way they try to make every book contained fragments of things a player or DM would want instead of doing whole books with a theme is to blame here.

It'd be really cool if we had a Large and In Charge book, an Elemental Powers book, a Sad Lovecraft Ripoff book, etc full of player options.

That would actually totally rock, even if the grognards would start darkly muttering the hated term "splatbook". Honestly, I'll say it now, I never hated splatbooks - I kind of loved splatbooks. I bought loads of splatbooks, and if they were cool, I'd do it again!