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Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 6979052" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>We now move onto the Giants, of whom we have six. It is worth noting that [MENTION=6801060]Demetrios1453[/MENTION] has an <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?506871-Homebrew-Giant-Elites" target="_blank">interesting thread</a> where they are providing full writeups for alternative giants, primarily ones that are tougher than standard and good for ‘elite’ encounters. Go check it out! Meanwhile, we have six Giants to consider ourselves, all of which are ‘odd’ in some way. They’re not the ‘chieftain’ statblocks that you might expect, but instead tend to represent outsiders or religiously-mad versions of the base Giants. We begin by looking at the <strong>Cloud Giant Smiling One</strong>.</p><p></p><p></p><p><img src="http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/a/a8/Monster_Manual_1e_-_Cloud_Giant_-_p44.png/revision/latest?cb=20141112145055" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>I think that the giant types in Volo’s are new, so sadly we won’t have any useful or interesting previous edition versions to draw on for images. The art in Volo’s for the Smiling One depicts it floating and gesturing; the complex body motions reminds me a little of <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Odissi_Performance_DS.jpg" target="_blank">Classical Indian dance</a>. An abstract swirl tries to hint at a background, while the Giant herself is fairly androgynous, both of which combine with the mask to give a nice air of mystery. </p><p></p><p>So these chaps are fond of Memnor’s role as a trickster god, and they use magic and misdirection to achieve the same outcome that all Cloud Giants aspire to - wealth. This idea is also seen in the <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/catalog/product/600x620/99120111001_HarlequinTroupe01.jpg" target="_blank">Harlequins</a> of Warhammer 40,000, who worship the Laughing God, wear masks, and use misdirecting technology to protect themselves in battle; considering the many similarities between the two, I’d be inclined to suggest that the Harlequins were the inspiration for this monster entry. </p><p></p><p>In order to let them actually interact with players in a meaningful way, the Smiling One gets a <em>Change Shape</em> ability that is very broadly worded, letting it easily infiltrate or evade as required. Interestingly, the Giant retains all of its stats in the new form, meaning that it could pretend to be a Cat but still dish out whopping Giant damage; however, the entry gives you no hints as to how to handle its attacks if the new form doesn’t include either a boulder or a morningstar, which is a bit of a troubling omission. As always, the DM is given the freedom to decide what suits; but some hints as to whether it gets loads of bonus damage or not if it is no longer Giant sized would have been helpful. However, the roleplaying-scene potential of this guy is strong, with a huge Deception score of +11, and a whole bunch of fun spells that can let it spread chaos and confusion. </p><p></p><p>The mission statement - wealth acquisition - and weird powers of this creature inclines me to suggest that you treat it like a comics villain. What would Giganta or Lex Luthor do with these powers? The answer is probably going to involve breaking into a bank and then framing the players for it. [1] Really, these guys seem perfect for all kinds of shenanigans in cities, with a surprise ending leading to a boss battle the players were not expecting. Especially fun since Giants are not things that you can easily bring into urban adventures. In a Cloud Giant adventure, these guys are probably most interesting if used in the ‘false innocent’ trope, but I’m a bit leery of that one myself: encouraging your players to be suspicious and murderous towards any prisoners that they meet in dungeons is really driving them down the murderhobo path. Otherwise, they might work well if you use one as an untrustworthy middleman between the Cloud Giants and the humanoid civilisation that the players are near - a combination of a grand vizier and an ambassador, if you will. Really, these guys are about as useful as any ‘deceitful clever shapeshifter’ in driving plots, but with the added bonus of being able to lob boulders if enraged. </p><p></p><p>In combat, the Smiling One is basically a Cloud Giant with levels in Arcane Trickster or Bard - it can cast a few illusion and control spells, it can do more damage it if has advantage on attacks. It isn’t particularly sneaky, oddly, but it can use magic to try and cover the distance. This will be one of the monsters that your DM ruling on how ‘invisible’ and ‘hidden’ interact will really matter though, with only a +1 to Stealth and the Invisibility spell. Shapechanging back into Giant size takes a round, as with most (all?) monsters of this kind, but I usually handwave that to instant just for the dramatic potential of having it transform and then immediately start swinging in its ‘true’ form. They are a little tougher than normal Cloud Giants, and like them are not resistant to Lightning damage, no matter how obvious that’d seem, so expect it to stay up a couple of rounds even against dedicated efforts. I don’t know if their spellcasting will be that important to a combat, to be honest, since they don’t have any really powerful ones, so you’ll likely have something that swings for massive damage on the first turn and then fights like a normal Cloud Giant thereafter. Saying that, Cloud Giants do hella damage, especially with the <em>Fling</em> attack from <em>Storm King’s Thunder</em>, so don’t feel bad about just wading into melee.</p><p></p><p>[1] Bank robbery is a fun thing to bring into D&D - I once had my players meet a Dao who was mid-way into breaking into the extra-dimensional vault that their bank used, and they took the opportunity to trade non-interference in his robbery - and a bagful of gems - for vital plot information and his promise to leave their own vault alone.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 6979052, member: 32659"] We now move onto the Giants, of whom we have six. It is worth noting that [MENTION=6801060]Demetrios1453[/MENTION] has an [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?506871-Homebrew-Giant-Elites"]interesting thread[/URL] where they are providing full writeups for alternative giants, primarily ones that are tougher than standard and good for ‘elite’ encounters. Go check it out! Meanwhile, we have six Giants to consider ourselves, all of which are ‘odd’ in some way. They’re not the ‘chieftain’ statblocks that you might expect, but instead tend to represent outsiders or religiously-mad versions of the base Giants. We begin by looking at the [b]Cloud Giant Smiling One[/b]. [img]http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/a/a8/Monster_Manual_1e_-_Cloud_Giant_-_p44.png/revision/latest?cb=20141112145055[/img] I think that the giant types in Volo’s are new, so sadly we won’t have any useful or interesting previous edition versions to draw on for images. The art in Volo’s for the Smiling One depicts it floating and gesturing; the complex body motions reminds me a little of [URL="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Odissi_Performance_DS.jpg"]Classical Indian dance[/URL]. An abstract swirl tries to hint at a background, while the Giant herself is fairly androgynous, both of which combine with the mask to give a nice air of mystery. So these chaps are fond of Memnor’s role as a trickster god, and they use magic and misdirection to achieve the same outcome that all Cloud Giants aspire to - wealth. This idea is also seen in the [URL="https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/catalog/product/600x620/99120111001_HarlequinTroupe01.jpg"]Harlequins[/URL] of Warhammer 40,000, who worship the Laughing God, wear masks, and use misdirecting technology to protect themselves in battle; considering the many similarities between the two, I’d be inclined to suggest that the Harlequins were the inspiration for this monster entry. In order to let them actually interact with players in a meaningful way, the Smiling One gets a [i]Change Shape[/i] ability that is very broadly worded, letting it easily infiltrate or evade as required. Interestingly, the Giant retains all of its stats in the new form, meaning that it could pretend to be a Cat but still dish out whopping Giant damage; however, the entry gives you no hints as to how to handle its attacks if the new form doesn’t include either a boulder or a morningstar, which is a bit of a troubling omission. As always, the DM is given the freedom to decide what suits; but some hints as to whether it gets loads of bonus damage or not if it is no longer Giant sized would have been helpful. However, the roleplaying-scene potential of this guy is strong, with a huge Deception score of +11, and a whole bunch of fun spells that can let it spread chaos and confusion. The mission statement - wealth acquisition - and weird powers of this creature inclines me to suggest that you treat it like a comics villain. What would Giganta or Lex Luthor do with these powers? The answer is probably going to involve breaking into a bank and then framing the players for it. [1] Really, these guys seem perfect for all kinds of shenanigans in cities, with a surprise ending leading to a boss battle the players were not expecting. Especially fun since Giants are not things that you can easily bring into urban adventures. In a Cloud Giant adventure, these guys are probably most interesting if used in the ‘false innocent’ trope, but I’m a bit leery of that one myself: encouraging your players to be suspicious and murderous towards any prisoners that they meet in dungeons is really driving them down the murderhobo path. Otherwise, they might work well if you use one as an untrustworthy middleman between the Cloud Giants and the humanoid civilisation that the players are near - a combination of a grand vizier and an ambassador, if you will. Really, these guys are about as useful as any ‘deceitful clever shapeshifter’ in driving plots, but with the added bonus of being able to lob boulders if enraged. In combat, the Smiling One is basically a Cloud Giant with levels in Arcane Trickster or Bard - it can cast a few illusion and control spells, it can do more damage it if has advantage on attacks. It isn’t particularly sneaky, oddly, but it can use magic to try and cover the distance. This will be one of the monsters that your DM ruling on how ‘invisible’ and ‘hidden’ interact will really matter though, with only a +1 to Stealth and the Invisibility spell. Shapechanging back into Giant size takes a round, as with most (all?) monsters of this kind, but I usually handwave that to instant just for the dramatic potential of having it transform and then immediately start swinging in its ‘true’ form. They are a little tougher than normal Cloud Giants, and like them are not resistant to Lightning damage, no matter how obvious that’d seem, so expect it to stay up a couple of rounds even against dedicated efforts. I don’t know if their spellcasting will be that important to a combat, to be honest, since they don’t have any really powerful ones, so you’ll likely have something that swings for massive damage on the first turn and then fights like a normal Cloud Giant thereafter. Saying that, Cloud Giants do hella damage, especially with the [i]Fling[/i] attack from [i]Storm King’s Thunder[/i], so don’t feel bad about just wading into melee. [1] Bank robbery is a fun thing to bring into D&D - I once had my players meet a Dao who was mid-way into breaking into the extra-dimensional vault that their bank used, and they took the opportunity to trade non-interference in his robbery - and a bagful of gems - for vital plot information and his promise to leave their own vault alone. [/QUOTE]
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