Frost Giant
Frost Giant (CR 16)
In the world, there are places where summer never comes. There are vast frozen wastelands coated in permanent ice, there are gigantic boreal forests that lie cloaked in eternal winter, there are high, bright deserts where the utter cold of the Deep Dark has settled into the world's bones permanently.
Many races with the Spark of Civility can tolerate the cold very well, most notably the rocky Oreads, the deep-dwelling Dwarves, and the well-furred Gata, Kitsune, Nagdyr and Tengu. Humans, of course, live everywhere, and thrive.
But in the deepest and most bitter of the Cold Lands, there are no civilized races. Not because they cannot bear the numbing cold. But because there is something much older, much colder, much, much worse that already lives there.
The Cold Lands are the natural home of one of the coldest, cruelest races of Giants imaginable. They call themselves Aesir, or Frostborn, or even sometimes the Rimed Ones. To all other races they are known as the Frost Giants.
Frost Giants control vast areas of territory, cold, hard places, inhospitable lands where food is hard to find. Unfortunately for the world, Frost Giants have an eerie magical metabolism and they can survive, even thrive, on nothing but a diet of ice. In places where there is plentiful ice, Frost Giants are discouragingly common. In cold, dry places such as bright deserts, Frost Giants find ice, imported from their own territory, or stolen as water from warmer climes, is a long-lasting food store that never goes bad.
Frost Giants have many styles of 'civilization' in their lands. There are roving bands of barbaric cannibals, there are vast mountaintop fortress cities of blue, bitter ice, there are vast glacier-born towns of wrackwood and tusks sprawling down the sides of mountain ranges, there are vast log fortresses in dark, cold forests, there are entire plains sculpted into lost, empty Igloo Ruins. Frost Giants live in all these places and more, sometimes in hordes, sometimes as single wanderers and hunters.
One unifying feature of the Frost Giant 'culture' is the fact that Frost Giant hearts are as cold and unforgiving as their territory. Frost Giants do not understand such concepts as friendship, love, mercy, or compassion. Every Frost Giant, from the most exalted to the lowliest, truly cares about only one thing, which is themselves. Frost Giants are capable of working together to raise mighty works, create vast fortresses and cities, and march in terrible armies, but the driving motivation behind every one of them in the masses is pure selfishness.
Another feature of Frost Giants is their pure, unrelenting evil. The cold that drives them and makes up so much of their mindset leaves no room for kindness or gentleness or weal. There is no such thing as a kindly Frost Giant, they are every one as vicious, nasty, and unfeeling as the worst monster ever spawned.
Some Frost Giants are berserkers, a cold rage driving them to maddened heights of murder. Others are cowards and connivers, seeking allies and pets to do the hard work of making them enriched. Some Frost Giants are twisted by terrible cold magic, their bones fuming with hoarfrost, and others are as patient and unforgiving as a frozen sea.
Frost Giants delight in owning slaves, and use them in every low, demeaning way possible. They especially value Stone Giants and any of the Civilized races as slaves, both for their valuable skills and abilities as well as the way they provide a fun and easy outlet for their basest urges toward rapine, torture, murder, and cannibalism.
In addition to slaves, Frost Giants count many creatures as allies and pets. Trolls and ogres, of course, delight in Giantish company. Remorhazes, winter wolves, yetis and even wendigoes are valuable pets, chattel, and allies. Frost Giants also frequently have Hill Giants as serfs, the hardy creatures enduring the cold without trouble and providing a cheap source of unending labor. Frost Giants have even been known to capture and enslave White Dragons, much to their own delight and the chagrin of such proud creatures, although anyone who crosses the Dragons must be careful indeed.
Frost Giants spend much of their time raiding, warring, and murdering among themselves, in their dark, cold fastnesses. Unfortunately, those Giantish lands that lie close to the lands of the Civilized races are considered to be Giantish lands as well, just momentarily too hot for comfort. Frost Giants delight in raiding into civilized territory, and they have developed a type of magically chilled glacier which serves as their preferred vehicle for such depredations.
A Frost Giant Glacier is a vast block of ice, easily the size of a Civilized Galleon that has been scaled up to size Huge, and each one has a full complement of Frost Giants, siege weapons, and looting/pillaging space. Such Galleons can 'sail' across dry land for up to a year before melting, and provide the Frost Giants aboard a comfortable place from which to kill and raid to their hearts content.
The Glaciers hearken back to the ages of Frost Giant glory in the past, the so called Ice Ages, when glaciers covered the world, carrying utterly victorious Frost Giant hordes to the ends of the world to crush and rule everywhere. In a Frost Giant's mind, it is just a matter of time until the next Ice Age begins, and when it does, the world will belong to them once again.
The Frost Giants presented here are the generally average sorts of Frost Giants you will find in frost giant cities, towns, strongholds, and other enclaves. They are good, solid citizens, doughty and true, stay-at-home sorts who are making their way as tradesmen, merchants, and craftsmen in Frost Giant society. That said, it is not at all uncommon to find such Frost Giants out raiding, wandering as barbarians, or any other place where Frost Giants may be found.
GENERAL
CR 16 Hit Dice 24
XP 76,800
CE, Huge, Giant
Init +7; Senses Low-Light Vision, Perception +24
DEFENSE
AC 39, touch 23, flat-footed 33 (+10 armor, +6 dex, +6 natural, +7 deflection)
hp 374
Fort +19, Ref +15, Will +15
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: Catch Boulders
Immunities: Immune to Cold
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Space / Reach: 15 ft. / 15 ft.
Single Melee Bitter Axe +26 (3d8+10/19-20x2) + Torpid until the end of the targets next turn
Full Melee 3x Bitter Axe +26 (3d8+10/19-20x2) + Torpid Until the end of the targets next turn
Ranged Snow Ball +26 (3d8+10/x2) 50 foot range increment, max range 250 feet + Entangled until the end of the targets next turn
Special Attacks Bitter Blast
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 34, Dex 14, Con 32, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 18
Base Atk +16; CMB +26; CMD 34
Feats Cleave, EFFECT: Attack a foe adjacent to their current target, at full BAB.
Skills Survival +28, Bluff +24, Diplomacy +24
Languages Giant, Common
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Bitter Blast (Ex)
As a standard action, a Frost Giant may scoop out a Snowball from its belt pouch where it stores such things, pulverize it with a squeeze of their mighty fist, and with a powerful breath, blow the cloud of ice crystals into a thirty foot cone adjacent to their space. This inflicts 8d6+1 points of Cold damage unless a Fort save versus a DC of 24 is made, in which case it inflicts half damage. In all cases, the area of effect is filled with whiteout conditions, which blocks line of sight through the cloud and reduces visibility to five feet for creatures caught in the cloud. Bitter Blast blocks line of sight until the end of the encounter, but can be removed immediately by such effects as Gust of Wind.
- Catch Boulders (Ex)
Once per round as a free action, a Frost Giant may make a Reflex Saving throw against a DC of 24 any time a thrown or projectile weapon is fired at them or passes anywhere within their reach. This applies to giant thrown weapons, siege weapon projectiles, arrows and bolts and bullets, and any other thrown weapon or ammo. Note that catching a projectile this way is a violent action that will set off alchemical bombs and items. If the Giant sccessfully catches the attack, it is interrupted and lost unless it is an alchemical bomb or effect, in which case it effects the giant which caught it.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 23,750 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Frost Giants are solid, basic combatants. They will suit their tactics to the battlefield. If the engagement begins at range, they will hurl Snowballs at ranged attackers and Entangle them. If the engagement goes to melee, they will pull out Bitter Axes made of blue-glowing Ice and hack away, using their Cleave and Reach to get as many attacks as possible, stepping back with five foot steps to get the most use of their reach as possible.
If they are taking heavy ranged attacks, they will use their Bitter Blast power to cover themselves in icy clouds, breaking line of sight and stepping back five feet to swing on attackers coming through the clouds. Note that Frost Giants are immune to cold, and they will often be surprised when their bitter blast actually damages their puny foes.
Once combat begins, some Frost Giants will press the attack to the death, while others will flee at the first sign of trouble. There's really no way of knowing how a Frost Giant will react in combat. (Roll 1d6, they flee on a 1 or 2, otherwise they fight to the death.)