by Dungeons
Don’t lose your way. If you venture into the caverns and cross paths with a stone giant, you’ll want to remember the quickest way back to the surface.
FROST GIANT
If you’re crossing the frozen wastelands and hear the wail of a war horn through the swirl of the frigid winds, it’s probably already too late for you to run and seek shelter. The frost giants are coming.
Frost giants are weather-hardened warriors who make their homes in lands of ice and snow, where very little grows and even less survives. Their skin is blue and cold to the touch, and their hair is white and crusted with ice. They avoid the sun and shun fire. There is no room for warmth in a frost giant’s life.
Because they live in such barren territory, frost giants raid and pillage for food and goods. As a result, their entire society is built around war and strength. In fact, the social order among frost giants is based on how tough you are, whether it’s the size of your muscles or the number of scars you have. Frost giants are more than happy to test their strength against each other to see who comes out on top.
LAIR Frost giants reside in cold and desolate places, in ice-rimed glacial caves or on the highest snow-capped mountains. You’re much more likely to encounter a frost giant on one of their raids into neighboring territory, but if you do ever stumble upon a frost giant’s lair, don’t expect a warm welcome.
SIZE Frost giants are slightly taller than the tallest giraffe, though the chances of a frost giant ever encountering a giraffe are slim.
TROPHIES Because frost giants love war, they also love trophies, whether taken from the settlements they’ve destroyed or made from the bodies of the enemies they’ve slain. That might include a majestic weapon or a jewel so huge that only a giant can wear it. But there’s nothing a frost giant loves more than a trophy that shows they’ve bested a dragon.
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Stay in the sun. Frost giants don’t venture too far from home, and you’ll never come across them in a warm climate.
Listen for the war horn. If you’re ever in territory that’s close to a frost giant’s lair, have your escape route planned in case you hear their war horn blare.
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Don’t show any weakness. Frost giants only respect strength.
Don’t go into frozen wastelands. At least not without a good dog pack or trusty steed to carry you swiftly out again.
Frost Giant
Bruenor clung to the protected side of a snowy outcropping as his keen eyes scanned the mountain for movement. Wind whipped swirls of snow into the air, making it hard to judge distance or see imminent threats. After decades traversing the north, enduring some of the harshest weather imaginable in all of Faerûn, the dwarven warrior was used to the cold, but it didn’t make his job any easier.
Just as Bruenor’s mind started to wander with thoughts of cracking open his rations to have a snack, he saw his target: a frost giant, towering above the trees, marching along the mountain as easily as a human or dwarf would traverse a hiking trail. From Bruenor’s hidden vantage point, the giant’s head was almost level. He could see that its battered helmet and ring-mail armor spoke of many battles fought and won. Slung on its back was a double-headed axe large enough to chop a house in half.
The dwarf had an axe of his own, notched by dozens of brutal battles. The weapon had served him well over the years. If Bruenor charged now and jumped, he might be able to surprise the giant and wound it, giving him the advantage in combat. If he stayed hidden, he’d be safe, but then the giant would almost certainly attack the nearby village, once it saw smoke from the fires down below. Could the dwarf sneak away and warn them without being seen? Should he make a lot of noise and distract the giant instead?
Whatever he was going to do, he had to decide now.
What happens next? Does Bruenor attack the frost giant, using his mighty axe against his opponent—and if he does, is the weapon sharp enough to pierce the giant’s thick hide? Does he remain hidden, thinking up a plan that will use his wits as well as his weapon to save the village? It’s up to you!
FIRE GIANT
With skin as dark as ash and hair as bright as flame, everything about the fire giant reminds you of their obsession with fire. Their ornate armor and terrifying weapons should give you a clue about their other obsession: war.
Fire giants live in a militaristic society that prizes valor, conquest, and battle tactics. Fire giants train as soldiers their entire lives, and their social order is determined by both strength and intelligence (because winning a war is never just about might). Fire giants are highly competitive and many of their leaders are determined to advance their rank in the great ordning.
Blacksmiths are also held in high regard in fire giant society, as the blacksmith’s forge is the heart of the fire giant war machine. Fire giants appreciate craft and skill, and their blacksmiths always work to improve their weapons and invent new ones to meet any challenge.
LAIR If you’ve ever wanted to visit a lair built inside a volcano, venture forth in search of the fire giants. They build incredible fortress castles underground, ideally on top of bubbling molten lava pits. If there isn’t a volcano nearby, expect to find them mining for coal or destroying forests to fuel their enormous forges.
SIZE Fire giants grow to an average height of about eighteen feet, which means they’re about the right height to look through the upper window of a two-story house (if this happens to you, run for the fire escape)!
MASTERS OF THE FORGE Fire giants are talented blacksmiths who excel at making armor, iron fortifications, and the deadliest and heaviest weapons, some of which are huge even by a giant’s standards. However, as beautiful and well-crafted as their weapons can be, fire giants also share all giants’ fondness for just hurling really big rocks.
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Stay cool. Fire giants don’t like to venture far from a heat source.
Learn a song. Fire giants love war songs, so you might win their favor by appealing to their vanity and singing about their great victories. This is where your party’s bard can really shine.
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Don’t underestimate them. Fire giants value strength, but also intelligence. They’re not simple brutes like hill giants.
Don’t get caught. Fire giants put their prisoners to work in the mines. So if they capture you, you might never escape.
DUKE ZALTO
Duke Zalto is a fire giant warlord with an obsession. Zalto believes he can become ruler of all giants by building an ancient war colossus called the Vonindod. An angry eighteen-foot-tall warrior with an even more gigantic monster machine? Yeah, it’s a scary possibility and someone needs to stop him.
Even without the Vonindod, Zalto is tougher than the average fire giant. He’s an experienced soldier who has fought in dozens of battles. He carries a massive maul (a war hammer wielded with two hands) that’s so big he can keep a human-size prisoner in the cage on top, and he has two huge dogs (named Narthor and Zerebor) that follow him wherever he goes.
LAIR Zalto lives in Ironslag, a gargantuan stronghold embedded in Mount Hamarhaast, north of the Silver Marches. Standing at five hundred feet high, Ironslag is a multilevel fortress with twisting mines, a forge, and a prison. Entering Ironslag requires figuring out how to get past fifty-foot-tall adamantine doors sealed with ancient magic. Even if you do make your way inside, you’ll have to contend with goblins, ogres, chimera, and the many fire giants loyal to the Duke before confronting Zalto himself.
SIZE Like all fire giants, an average person would stand somewhere between Zalto’s knee and his belt as he towers overhead. His arm is thicker than your whole body and each of his fingers are wider than your whole head.
ZALTO’S FAMILY Zalto is dangerous, and he’s not alone. While exploring Ironslag, you may meet members of his family as well.
Brimskarda: Zalto’s wife, an angry fire giant wom
an annoyed with her husband’s desire to build the Vonindod.
Cinderhild: Zalto’s daughter, a frustrated fire giant teen who wishes she could leave Ironslag and explore the world outside.
Zaltember: Zalto’s son, a lazy and cruel fire giant teen who enjoys hurting smaller creatures for fun.
THE VONINDOD The Vonindod, also known as the Titan of Death, is an ancient construct that Zalto hopes to rebuild in order to raise his ranking within the giants’ ordning.
If completed, the colossus will stand eighty feet tall with eyes made from giant rubies and armor of invulnerable adamantine. Four times the size of a fire giant, the Vonindod could wrestle an ancient dragon to the ground or punch a hole in a mountain with its huge metal hands. Zalto must be stopped before he brings the Vonindod back to life!
CLOUD GIANT
If you’ve ever dreamed of climbing a beanstalk all the way up to the clouds and then venturing into a giant’s home to steal their great treasures, the cloud giants would like to have a word with you. Because those are their treasures, and they don’t want to share.
Pale, athletic, and distinguished, cloud giants live in a society defined by wealth and beauty. They dress in finery, adorn themselves with exotic jewels, and surround themselves with lavish treasures and wonderful works of art. Rank in cloud giant society is determined by wealth and by the beauty and generosity of one’s gifts.
An elite race, cloud giants consider the world below to be a trivial place, only valuable as a source of more treasure or entertainment. They sometimes place bets on the outcomes of mortal wars. (Indeed, one of the only times they might interfere in the affairs of lesser races is when the wager isn’t going their way.)
LAIR Cloud giants take pride in the beauty of their homes, so they would prefer that you not refer to them as “lairs.” They live in palaces and castles, either high on mountaintops or up in the clouds themselves, which are surrounded by extravagant gardens of giant-size fruits and bright blooming flowers.
SIZE Cloud giants are the second-largest race of giants, averaging about twenty-four feet tall. That means they’re about the height of four tall men standing on each other’s shoulders.
SPECIAL POWERS Cloud giants often use magic to control the weather—to summon clouds or fog, to carry themselves on the wind or move objects around, or even to call down lightning to destroy a foe. All cloud giants share the ability to transform themselves into foggy mist and to walk on clouds.
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Show respect. Cloud giants can be very vain, and they appreciate flattery.
Watch out for their pets! Instead of keeping cats or dogs as pets, cloud giants keep griffons, giant eagles, or flying tigers.
Challenge them to a game. Cloud giants can’t resist a challenge. If a cloud giant has you cornered, a game of chance may be your only hope of escape.
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Don’t steal. Proud of their homes and their treasures, cloud giants won’t forget if you take something from them.
Don’t hide. Cloud giants can sniff you out wherever you hide.
Definitely don’t hide in the mist. Sometimes the mist is the cloud giant.
STORM GIANT
Pale and elegant, storm giants are largely peaceful beings despite their terrifying size and tremendous power. They live for hundreds of years and have long memories, so most are happy watching history go by, waiting for the day when their kingdom grows strong again and they can rule the world once more.
Storm giants are typically distant and aloof. When they do sometimes bother to involve themselves in the affairs of smaller, more short-lived creatures though, they can bring an entire country to its knees. As you’ve already probably figured out, it’s usually better to leave storm giants alone.
Even still, if you’re looking for some advice, a visit to a storm giant can be very rewarding. They can see the past and catch glimpses of possible futures. Come to them with proper respect and a good heart, and they may be willing to help you.
Storm giants are above all other giants in rank, and they do not care about the power struggles of the giants beneath them. Among their own kind they rarely battle for status, preferring to live secluded lives of contemplation if possible.
LAIR Storm giant lairs have one thing in common: they are almost impossible to reach. Whether storm giants choose to make their home on a remote mountain, in the deepest and darkest trench of an ocean, or so high up in the clouds that they can almost touch the stars, storm giants keep their distance. They don’t even spend much time around each other and don’t expect many visitors.
SIZE Storm giants are the biggest of all the giant races, and they grow to an average height of about twenty-six feet. That makes them about ten feet taller than a famous London double-decker bus.
SPECIAL POWERS Just as the name suggests, storm giants are masters of the storm. Their innate magical abilities not only allow them to control weather (like their cloud giant cousins on this page), but also to hurl lightning bolts directly from their hands. Storm giants also have the gift of prophecy. By reading patterns and omens, they can foretell the rise and fall of empires.
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Keep your distance. You could comfortably go your whole life without ever meeting a storm giant.
Show proper respect. Storm giants are wise and ancient. They’re used to being treated like gods. If you disrespect them, they may destroy you…and everyone around you.
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Don’t impose on a storm giant. They enjoy their own company, not yours!
Don’t try to trick them. Very little escapes storm giants’ notice, and they have no time for fools.
MOORS, BOGS & BONEYARDS
The dead do not always rest peacefully. Graveyards may be filled with evil energy and dark creatures who are ready to strike out in envy against the living.
Nor are graveyards always where you think. The churchyard dotted with stone markers is obvious, but an open field may be the resting place of ancient warriors felled in a great battle, or a dark cave may mark where an orc tribe once disposed of their dead.
Boneyards are not alone in harboring dark energies. Windswept moors and swampy bogs are steeped in solitude and despair, a perfect domain for the restless undead.
Regardless of where you find them, these places contain both deadly forces and hidden treasures for the adventurer brave enough to challenge their dangers. Are you ready to face what lives outside life itself?
TURNING THE UNDEAD
The undead are unholy creatures existing in a state no longer living but also not quite deceased. For this reason, holy power wielded by the faithful can force undead monsters to turn away, flee, or, in some extreme cases, even explode on the spot. Cleric or paladins of certain faiths have access to this turning power, and it can be quite a potent tool when battling creatures risen from the dead.
BANSHEE
Across the darkness of the night, a terrible wail sounds, sending fear shivering down the spine of even the bravest warrior. It is the call of the banshee, the corrupted spirit of a female elf. These cursed creatures misused their great beauty in life and are now condemned to suffer for their cruelty in death.
Banshees feel no joy or happiness, only pain at the presence of living creatures who remind them of all they have lost. They hoard beautiful treasures, surrounding themselves with art, jewels, and other objects reflecting their vanity in life. They mourn for their own lost loveliness, and a single glance in a mirror will drive one into a murderous rage. Few are prepared to face a banshee’s full wrath!
LAIR Banshees are bound to the place of their death and cannot travel more than five miles from that spot. Many died in once-luxurious mansions, now crumbling to dust, and others expired in the wilderness, having driven away everyone who cared for them in life.
SIZE As the spirit of a female elf, banshees retain roughly
the same shape and size in death. Their forms are luminous and wispy, surrounded by a tangle of wild hair and tattered rags that float around them in a ghostly manner.
SPECIAL POWERS
HORRIFYING VISAGE
By distorting their terrifying faces, the banshee can render their opponents immobile with fear!
DETECTION OF LIFE
Banshees are drawn to the energy of living creatures, whose presence can be sensed up to five miles away.
INCORPOREAL MOVEMENT
Banshees can move through objects and other creatures with mild difficulty. Doors and walls won’t stop them!
WAIL
Once per night, a banshee can unleash a horrifying scream that causes physical damage to any living creature within range.
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Fight from a distance. The banshee’s touch carries a necrotic energy that does damage to living creatures.
Use magical weapons and attack spells. Banshees are resistant to all types of damage from normal weapons, so now’s the time to break out that magic sword or fireball spell.
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Don’t show off your treasures. Banshees covet beautiful objects and will stop at nothing to add your shiny things to their collections.
Don’t count on walls, gates, or other obstacles to protect you. A banshee can phase right through such objects to reach her target.