Hill Giant Warrior
Hill Giant Warrior (CR 13)
Hill Giants are massive creatures, covered in huge masses of thick muscle and fat. While they are technically size Large, they are definitely at the very upper end of that size category due to their simple bulk. Hill giants exude a sense of huge power mixed with dull frustrated rage at a world they simply don't understand. Indeed, Hill Giants are the second strongest breed of Giants, their physical power exceeding the strength of far more dangerous clans of giants, such as Cloud giants, who are frail weaklings compared to Hill giants.
Luckily for every other creature in the world, their incredible strength is also their downfall, as Hill Giants, charitably, are musclebound idiots. They are physically clumsy, slow of action, and awkward when they manage to do something, as likely to break a weapon as use it to smash a foe. Even worse, they are crude and stupid creatures. Ogres are mental giants compared to a Hill Giant. Hill Giants struggle to sustain even the most rudimentary of social structures, like family, or language. The actions of most other races are incomprehensible to a Hill giant, who is too limited to even grasp what a farm is, never mind understand why agriculture is a good idea.
As a result of their incredible physical strength and incredible mental deficiencies, Hill giants on their own live lives of desperate poverty, lacking fire, shelter, and far too often, even clothing. Despite this, Hill giants thrive on their own, their size and strength serving quite well in Nature to sustain their lives. Groups of Hill giants are uncomfortably common in untamed lands, and they are disgustingly fertile, to boot.
Many Hill giants find themselves working as serfs for other races. Ogres and especially Trolls find Hill giants to be excellent companionship, and those creatures serve to improve the life of Hill giants tremendously. Other Giant races also employ Hill giants as serfs, especially Frost and Fire giants, as well as Death giants and the terrible Fomaori. No one tries to enslave a Hill giant, by the way. No chain will hold them and no punishment will deter them, so there is little point. Give them a warm place to sleep, food to eat, things to torment, and rugged, simple work to do, and Hill giants will be loyal forever.
Hill giants usually live in small tribal groups, and make crude mud huts out of sticks and wattle. They will roam out daily, in a more-or-less random direction, and forage for food and victims. If Hill giants are serving as serfs for other classes of creatures, they will arise, take their food, and then happily perform whatever jobs they are given, as long as those jobs are within their intellectual grasp. As long as they are given lots of things to do, Hill giants are surprisingly tractable. If some of those duties involve killing and hurting things, all the better!
Hill Giant Warriors are just like all the other Hill Giants, but they have a proven aptitude for violence, usually because they've survived a few fights. Hill Giant Warriors look just like other Hill Giants if they are living on their own, but if they are working as serfs, Warriors will usually have some sort of a uniform, often a helmet or shield, and perhaps an ironbound or spiked club. Such items are sources of immense pride to Hill Giant Warriors, and when they are given jobs such as standing guard or walking patrol, they will set to these simple chores with nigh religious fervor. As a result, even though they are so stupid they are in danger of drowning in a hard rain, Hill Giant Warriors make astonishingly good guards, watchmen, and security. No matter how mind numbingly dull the duty, they are always alert and eager for trouble.
GENERAL
CR 13 Hit Dice 19
XP 25,600
NE, Large, Humanoid (Giant)
Init +6; Senses low-light, scent, Perception +24
DEFENSE
AC 34, touch 20, flat-footed 30 (+8 armor, +4 dex, +6 natural, +6 deflection)
hp 295
Fort +16, Ref +12, Will +12
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: -
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 10 ft.
Single Melee Giant Club +19 (2d8+10/19-20x2) plus Giant Swing
Full Melee 3x Giant Club +19 (2d8+10/19-20x2) plus Giant Swing
Ranged Giant Boulder +19 (2d8+10/x2)
Special Attacks Earthen Smash, Giant Swing, Battle Roar
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 76, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +13; CMB +22; CMD 30
Feats -
Skills -
Languages Giantish(pidgin)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Earthen Smash
As a standard action, a Hill giant may swing its huge club overhead and SMASH! THE GROUND! Hill Giants actually like this a lot, because the ground is easy and satisfying to hit really hard. Earthen Smash is a 30 foot cone area of effect that does 7d6 points of physical bludgeoning damage and knocks all creatures prone. A reflex save versus DC22 negates the prone effect and reduces the damage by half.
- Giant Swing
Every time the giant uses its Giant Club attack, it may choose two adjacent squares in its reach. If there are enemies in both of those squares, they are all attacked every time it uses its Giant Club attack. (Roll to-hit once, compare this number against all foes to determine if they are hit or missed. Roll damage once, apply it to all creatures struck. Giant swing counts as AOE damage for swarms and other effects.)
- Battle Roar
Once per encounter, a Hill Giant Warrior may use a standard action to give a huge bellowing roar, both to confound his enemies and to alert his employers. Battle Roar affects all enemy creatures within 30 feet of the Giant, doing 3d6+2 of Sonic damage and inflicting the Rattled condition on all enemies until the end of the encounter unless otherwise removed. If a Fort save against a DC of 22 is made, the rattled condition is replaced with Jostled and the sonic damage is halved.
In addition, the loud sound of the Battle Roar gives all allies of the Giant a +10 on perception rolls to notice the Giant is in combat as long as they are within 200 feet of its space.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 11,250 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Like all Hill Giants, Warriors are not good tacticians, but they hardly need to be. If they are not employed as guards, they will use Earthen Smash as soon as they can, and resort to Giant Club attacks with Giant Swing combined with five foot step retreats, like all Hill Giants. They will use their Battle Roar later in the combat as they take more damage, to hopefully weaken and rattle their foes.
If they are employed as guards, they will aggressively close against any intruders, using Earthen Smash and/or Battle Roar as early as possible, to alert their employers that they caught something. Once battle is engaged, they will use Giant Club as much as possible to defeat their foes, without retreating an inch. Their delight at finding an intruder is almost palpable, and the idea of breaking off the battle will never cross their dim minds.
OUT OF COMBAT
It should be noted that Hill Giants are ridiculously strong. Per the Carrying Capacity rules, Hill Giant Warriors can lift and carry 313 tons as a light load! This is completely intentional: Hill Giants are so strong that it is encouraged that out of combat they be treated as able to lift and carry pretty much anything at all. Of course, given how stupid and lazy they are, its rare for them to do so unless motivated. Note, however, that this amazing strength does not, will not, and should not EVER alter their combat statistics! Out of combat a Hill Giant can pluck up huge trees as easily as a daisy, but their combat stats are just boring old numbers, as laid out above.