johnsemlak
First Post
I just got Lord of the Peaks: the Essential Guide to Giants the other day and have been looking through it. I was wondering if people could offer their views on this book or other books that cover Giants.
The others I am aware of are FFG's Giant Lore and Mongoose's Slayer's Guide to Giants.
About LotP:
I've just looked through it briefly, and haven't immersed myself in the mechanics. It was published well before 3.5 came out, but my initial impression is most of the book is still pretty usable.
The book focuses on the 6 Giant types in the MM. It' alos covers to a lesser degree Ogres, Trolls, Ettins, and Cyclopes. Two new Giant races are provided: Celestial Giants and Half Giants (Playable as PCs, and very differetn from the Half GIants found in the ExPsiHB).
The book also offers a number of new feats, spells, domains, skills, prestige classes, plus some magic items. Most of the above crunch is designed for giants (many of the feats have Size: Large or greater as a prerequisite), though some is designed for Giant foes, such as the obligatory Giant Slayer prestige class.
The Feats provide a lot of options for making combat with giants more interesting. I liked the Stomp feat, which allows a Giant two sizes larger than its opponent to use an AoO to simply step on an opponent.
I'm not much of a critic of illustrations, but in a book like this the main thing I would look for in the art would be pictures that demonstrate the scale of Giants versus human beings, which I think is done satisfactorily.
This book was designed to accompany Green Ronin's Hammer and Helm dwarf racebook. There are a few references to material in HaH, including use of the Bloodgift feats introduced there, and several new Bloodgift feats As I have Hammer and Helm and liked it a lot, I think these cross-references are nice, but not too much for those who don't have both books.
The spells section contains a list of spells and makes notes on ramifications of Giant spellcasters using spells. IT notes a number of spells that dont' work for giants because of size restrictions. A small amount of Giant-researched spells are provided to fill in some of these gaps.
In general, I have so far found the book readable and enjoyable. There's a lot of good fluff text talking about Giant culture.
The back of the book has maps of two small sample Giant lairs.
Overall, I find the book very worthwhile for those who either want to base a campaign around Giants (a.la Against the Giants) or if you just have them as occastional foes. I currently fall into the latter categorie, though this book may make me want to run the former. I have a lot of d20 books and there are few present stuff that I instantly want to put in my game. This one provides plenty.
The others I am aware of are FFG's Giant Lore and Mongoose's Slayer's Guide to Giants.
About LotP:
I've just looked through it briefly, and haven't immersed myself in the mechanics. It was published well before 3.5 came out, but my initial impression is most of the book is still pretty usable.
The book focuses on the 6 Giant types in the MM. It' alos covers to a lesser degree Ogres, Trolls, Ettins, and Cyclopes. Two new Giant races are provided: Celestial Giants and Half Giants (Playable as PCs, and very differetn from the Half GIants found in the ExPsiHB).
The book also offers a number of new feats, spells, domains, skills, prestige classes, plus some magic items. Most of the above crunch is designed for giants (many of the feats have Size: Large or greater as a prerequisite), though some is designed for Giant foes, such as the obligatory Giant Slayer prestige class.
The Feats provide a lot of options for making combat with giants more interesting. I liked the Stomp feat, which allows a Giant two sizes larger than its opponent to use an AoO to simply step on an opponent.
I'm not much of a critic of illustrations, but in a book like this the main thing I would look for in the art would be pictures that demonstrate the scale of Giants versus human beings, which I think is done satisfactorily.
This book was designed to accompany Green Ronin's Hammer and Helm dwarf racebook. There are a few references to material in HaH, including use of the Bloodgift feats introduced there, and several new Bloodgift feats As I have Hammer and Helm and liked it a lot, I think these cross-references are nice, but not too much for those who don't have both books.
The spells section contains a list of spells and makes notes on ramifications of Giant spellcasters using spells. IT notes a number of spells that dont' work for giants because of size restrictions. A small amount of Giant-researched spells are provided to fill in some of these gaps.
In general, I have so far found the book readable and enjoyable. There's a lot of good fluff text talking about Giant culture.
The back of the book has maps of two small sample Giant lairs.
Overall, I find the book very worthwhile for those who either want to base a campaign around Giants (a.la Against the Giants) or if you just have them as occastional foes. I currently fall into the latter categorie, though this book may make me want to run the former. I have a lot of d20 books and there are few present stuff that I instantly want to put in my game. This one provides plenty.
Last edited:
)
I like the book on the whole.
