Spelljamming Giff

[smootrk]

I seem to remember the Giff showing up in a Dragon magazine or somewhere similar. They are the bipedal Hippos who love guns. Anyone know what article or place that I am thinking of?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

Dragon #339

You're thinking of the article Races of Spelljammer: Wanderers of Wildspace, from Dragon #339 by Joshua Cole. In addition to Giff, it features updates of Insectare (green elves with antennae behind their ears), and Scro (space orcs).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Am I the only one who thinks that the designer who said "I know, anthropomorphic hippos!" in the design meeting should have been taken out and soundly thrashed?

 

[Kvantum]

Am I the only one who thinks that the designer who said "I know, anthropomorphic hippos!" in the design meeting should have been taken out and soundly thrashed?

You didn't play Spelljammer in its heyday, did you? When you can have ships designed by gnomes and powered by giant hamsters the size of cows running around on wheels attached to the outside of the ships, hippo people aren't the worst/weirdest thing about a setting.

 

[smootrk]

Thanks guys. I find the Giff to be very interesting, although at 2 racial HD and +3 LA, I will probably have to create my own version of them for me to use. Those stats are too steep for how I want to use them.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I think one of the great points about Spelljammer is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Spelljammer is all fun, with a lot of humor involved. The giff stand as one of my favorite elements from the setting.

I have to wonder, though, how a giff would respond to a warforged if the Spelljammer universe was to include the Eberron setting. I could just see the big hippo-man getting a huge smile on his face as he arms a warforged with a bombard.

 

[Alzrius]

I always thought that the giff were awesome if you understood them (instead of just writing them off as "goofy hippo-men." Yeah, I mean you, Erik Mona). They're basically the very lawful version of berserkers. They crave military order and discipline, and absolutely love battles and blowing things up. They're like merry Klingons.

I'd also like to add that scro are kickass too. Roger E. Moore wrote an article about them (in Dragon Annual #1 IIRC) that really showcased their possibilities.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Thanks guys. I find the Giff to be very interesting, although at 2 racial HD and +3 LA, I will probably have to create my own version of them for me to use. Those stats are too steep for how I want to use them.

Author's Note:

The Giff would probably work as a +2 LA and/or dropping the racial hit dice. Like Wizards, Dragon tends to put high LAs on most non-core creatures, so I made sure to push toward the weaker side with Races of Spelljammer. I also wanted something of a compromise with their 2e stats, which were much higher.

Personally, I see Spelljammer as an inherently high-level setting, since the ship weapons and some of the monsters can butcher even high level PCs, so the higher LAs on those races didn't bother me as much as they would for a lower-powered game, but like I said, the Giff don't have anything game breaking as written.

One option you might want to explore is leaving their LA and hit dice, but making them Large instead of proud owners of Powerful Build. According to their 2e stats, they are *exactly* on the border of the two sizes, so giving them reach (which is a huge advantage, especially in potential boarding actions) would probably make them more deserving of their LA.

 

[trancejeremy]

I think one of the great points about Spelljammer is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Spelljammer is all fun, with a lot of humor involved. The giff stand as one of my favorite elements from the setting.

Personally, I always thought of it as a weird (loosely based on real world mythological cosmology) but serious and very dark setting. I mean, you have some very very nasty aliens, most of whom get around in space by killing slaves. Plus pirates everywhere. And not the campy, friendly POTC-Disney/Freeport style pirates. And an impending invasion by the goblinoid races.

 

[smootrk]

All I need now are some minis of Ninteenth-Century-Naval Uniformed Hippo People.

Easy... not. Maybe some old spelljamming figures are out there still.