Giant, Cave

Family: Giant

This towering hulk stinks of rot and smoke. Its already pale skin is smeared with white ash and daubed with crude designs in old blood. The foul, untanned hide of a cave bear serves as its loincloth. Hunched and long-armed, the giant carries two stone-headed axes, and two massive tusks jut up from its protruding jaw.

Huge giant, chaotic evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 200 (16d12 + 96)
Speed 40 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
27 (+8) 10 (+0) 22 (+6) 8 (-1) 13 (+1) 6 (-2)

Saving Throws Dexterity +4, Constitution +10, Wisdom +5
Skills Athletics +12, Perception +5, Survival +5
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Giant
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)

Special Traits

  • Sunlight Petrification. If the giant starts its turn in sunlight, it takes 20 radiant damage. While in sunlight, it moves at half speed and has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. If the giant is reduced to 0 hp while in sunlight, it is petrified.

Actions

  • Multiattack. The giant makes three attacks: two with its handaxe and one with its tusks.
  • Handaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6 + 8) slashing damage.
  • Tusks. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d6 + 8) slashing damage, and if the target is a Large or smaller creature it must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
  • Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target. Hit: 30 (4d10 + 8) bludgeoning damage.

ABOUT

Cave giants are primitive brutes who keep a tribal society built around grisly shamanistic beliefs. They are exclusively carnivores and prefer the flesh of humanoids and other giants above all others. While they can subsist on animal flesh, they consider it disgusting and bad luck, to be undertaken only if absolutely necessary for survival.

Dwellers in the Deep. Cave giants shun sunlight and fear its touch. The sun’s glare slowly turns cave giants to stone. They lurk in tunnels and caves beneath the earth and deep in the hearts of mountains.

The brutes make forays into the lands of surface-dwellers that extend beneath the surface, such as dwarven strongholds, in search of meat and sacrifices.

Brutish and Primal. Cave giants are deeply superstitious and see their shamans as messengers and tools of the spirits. Thus, a charismatic shaman will dominate any given group of cave giants. The giants believe that eating another creature allows them to consume its spirit as well as its flesh and seek to devour as many sentient creatures as possible, especially spellcasters whose power they believe they can steal.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Creature Codex. © 2018 Open Design LLC; Authors Wolfgang Baur, Dan Dillon, Richard Green, James Haeck, Chris Harris, Jeremy Hochhalter, James Introcaso, Chris Lockey, Shawn Merwin, and Jon Sawatsky.

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