Frost Giant Reaver
Frost Giant Reaver (CR 17)
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.
Frost Giant Reavers are members of Frost Giant 'society' that are well-known for their ability to fly into a cold, murderous rage in battle, making them some of the most dangerous Frost Giants in a melee battle. Reavers are often seen in raiding parties, serving as muscle for a Frost Giant Jarl, or even occasionally leading their own small dysfunctional band of cold-natured killers. In combat Reavers have few compunctions or fears, and will close to melee combat without fear or hesitation.
GENERAL
CR 17 Hit Dice 26
XP 102,400
CE, Huge, Giant (cold)
Init +10; Senses Low-light Vision, Perception +29
DEFENSE
AC 40, touch 23, flat-footed 35 (+10 armor, +5 dex, +7 natural, +8 deflection)
hp 426
Fort +20, Ref +18, Will +16
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: Catch Boulders
Immunities: Immune to Cold
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 80 ft.
Space / Reach: 15 ft. / 15 ft.
Single Melee Bitter Axe +28 (3d8+11/19-20x2) + Torpid until the end of the targets next turn
Full Melee 3x Bitter Axe +28 (3d8+11/19-20x2)+ Torpid until the end of the targets next turn
Ranged None, but see Cold Stare
Special Attacks None, but see Bitter Challenge and Cold Fury, below
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 36, Dex 18, Con 32, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 16
Base Atk +17; CMB +28; CMD 35
Feats Mobility, EFFECT: +4 AC versus attacks of opportunity triggered by own movement (AC:44, Touch 27)
- Cleave, EFFECT: Once per round, bonus melee attack at full BAB against an enemy adjacent to an enemy just struck
- Cornugon Smash, EFFECT: Once per round, roll a free Intimidate Check to Demoralize while Cold Fury is running
Skills Bluff, +25, Sense Motive +27, Survival +25, Intimidation +30
Languages Giant, Common
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Bitter Challenge (Ex)
Once per round, a Frost Giant Reaver may, as a Swift action, challenge a foe to mortal combat. The foe challenged must be within thirty feet of the Frost Giant to issue this challenge, and the Giant must have line of effect to the foe so they may hear them issue the challenge. Deaf foes are immune to Bitter Challenge. The Giant does not have to share a language with the victim. This challenge lasts until the beginning of the Giant's next turn. While Challenged, the victim takes a -2 to-hit penalty on any attacks, and a -2 penalty on any concentration rolls, that do not target or include the Challenging Giant. Note that Bitter Challenge from multiple Frost Giants stacks, but the penalty is never greater than a -2 to-hit.
- Catch Boulders (Ex)
Twice per round as a free action, a Frost Giant Reaver 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 successfully 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.
- Cold Stare (Su)
Once per encounter, as a triggered action, a Frost Giant Reaver may direct a cold, murderer's stare at any creature who damaged it with any attack from beyond its reach. Cold Stare inflicts 4d6+2 points of Cold damage and inflicts the Paralyzed condition until the end of the Frost Giant's next turn. Making a Fort save against a DC of 25 reduces the Cold damage by half and lowers the Paralyzed condition to an Entangled condition instead, which still expires at the end of the Reaver's next action.
- Cold Fury (Ex)
Once per encounter, as a swift action which can only be taken after they have suffered damage from an enemy, a Frost Giant Reaver can allow its cold-hearted anger to suffuse it's body with strength. When triggered, the Reaver is healed for 63 points of damage, and for the rest of the battle receives a +2 Rage bonus to all attacks and damage rolls.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 26,667 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Frost Giant Reavers will typically charge directly into melee combat as fast as possible, and will seek to stay between any ranged attackers and their back ranks, so they can use their Catch Boulders power to swat away attacks going past them. Anyone foolish enough to shoot them at range with enough skill and force to overcome their Catch Boulders ability will be favored immediately with their fearsome Cold Stare ability, which is usually more than enough to stop further ranged attacks.
Melee attackers will not find Reavers an easy foe, however. Reavers will move in melee without a worry for attacks of opportunity, trusting their Mobility to protect them, and as they start taking damage they actually get WORSE. They will often hold their Cold Fury to try and maximize the healing burst they receive, but they're also likely to trigger it early, to gain the bonus to-hit, damage, and best of all, the free Intimidate rolls to Demoralize every round due to their Cornugon Smash. That Shaken condition is just one more edge they will use to destroy their foes in battle.
In battle, Reavers are far too chaotic to work out in advance things like flanks and tactics. They charge in and let their natural abilities carry them trough the battle. They try to attack bunched-up foes so they get free Cleaves as often as possible, and will use five foot steps in melee to force non-reach foes to move, thus ricking Attacks of Opportunity. In general, if there is a way for a Reaver to weasel its way into an additional attack, it will take it. That said, if they happen to see an opportunity for an easy flank, or an opening where a Bull Rush, Trip, or a Reposition will work in their favor, they are plenty cagey enough to try it.
Once combat begins, Reavers are NOT true berserkers: their anger is cold, and if things are going poorly in battle, they will withdraw from a fight without hesitation if they think they can get away. Their high ground speed makes this more viable than many would suspect, too. If they cannot withdraw, they will fight to the death if they must or surrender if their foes look like the sorts to take prisoners.