Half-Giant (Gigan)

The giants are dead.

Half-giants are not the descendants of giants, but rather descendants of the first giant hunters. Collectively known as the gigan, the original giant hunters used runic magic to permanently imbue themselves with the aspects of the giants they hunted, becoming half-giant weapons.

The gigan are much taller than other humanoids but are nowhere near the size of the titanic giants. Half-giants push the boundary between a Medium sized creature and a Large one.

A half-giant’s appearance depends on the type of giant they hunted. Hill giants have the same skin tones as humans, fire giants have dark brown or gray tones, frost giants have blue and white tones, storm giants have light gray tones, and stone giants have earthy tones.

The History of Giants

The giants were among the oldest creatures on the planet. They lived all across the world and were adapted to the environments they lived in. Little is known about the civilization of the giants, as it seems their society had collapsed long before the history books began.

The earliest writings about giants describe them as isolated custodians of an area. There was rarely more than one giant at a time, and they never interacted with any of the smallfolk around them. They just worked on a single task, almost robotically. One moved rocks and boulders from one pile into another. Another guarded an icy mountain pass, killing anyone that tried to pass.

No one knows why they did these tasks, and they never seemed to finish.

The first smallfolk saw the giants as guardians, keeping watch over them. As their civilizations began to rise, however, they started to see the giants as less like protectors and more like threats.

They began to hunt and kill the giants. They had little success at the beginning, but eventually they found ways to use the power of the giants against them. These hunters became the gigan, or the first half-giants.

Most of the giants are dead and gone. Only a few exist in the world, and they are either too powerful to destroy or remote enough to be ignored. The true nature of giants is still unknown, and they don’t seem to have noticed or cared about the decimation of the other giants. They just continue at their vigils, waiting and working as they always have.

Become What You Destroy

The first giant hunters were unable to scratch the skin of the giants. When they witnessed one giant kill another, they realized that giants were less impervious to attacks from other giants. So the hunters sought ways to make themselves more like giants.

This involved a lot of time, runic magic, and giant blood, but eventually they were able to turn themselves into half-giants, living weapons against the giants. And they were effective. Within a few decades, the giants were nearly all dead.

The process that created the half-giants permanently altered their bodies. Those that survived the hunts and had children discovered that their children also inherited these changes. They had become something new.

The half-giants called themselves the gigan and formed small communities dedicated to hunting the giants. When the giants were dead, they turned their attention to hunting other large monsters.

The process used to create half-giants requires the blood of giants, a rare ingredient nowadays. The gigan carefully protect the giant blood they have and rarely perform the ritual needed to create new half-giants.

Half-Giant Names

Half-Giant names are inspired by the ancestry of the original giant hunters.

Example Names: Gije Jujo, Eren Titanslayer, Manuel Gigas.

Half-Giant Traits

You gain the following abilities as a half-giant.

• Ability Score Increase. You gain a +2 and +1 bonus to two different ability scores of your choice, or +1 to three different ones.
• Age. Normal giants are probably immortal, but half-giants live as long as elves. They reach adulthood at the same rate as the original giant hunters they are descended from.
• Size. A half-giant’s size is Medium. Half-giants are very tall. They are usually between 7 and 8.5 feet tall, and weigh between 300 and 400 pounds.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Oversized Weapons (Major Feature). You can wield large and oversized weapons without penalty. The damage dice of an oversized weapon are one size larger than normal. For example, a d4 becomes a d6. A d12 becomes 2d6 and 2d6 becomes 1d8+1d6. Oversized weapons weigh twice as much as a normal weapon of the same type.
• Powerful Build (Minor Feature). You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
• Throwing (Minor Feature). You are skilled at throwing objects. You are considered proficient with any weapon or object you throw. If the thrown object isn’t a weapon, it deals 1d4 damage if it can fit in your hand, 1d6 if it can be thrown with 1 hand, or 1d8 damage if thrown with two hands. Range is 30/60 feet unless 2 handed, in which case the range is 10/30.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.

Lineage

Pick one of the following giant lineages your ancestors hunted. Your choice provides you with either a major feature or two minor features.

Fire

Fire half-giants were known as the best weaponsmiths in the hunts against the giants. Their forges are found in volcanic areas.

• Expert Tools (Minor Feature). You have proficiency with one set of tools of your choice. When you make an ability check involving artisan’s tools, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check.
• Fire Resistance (Minor Feature. You have resistance to fire damage.

Cloud

The aloof cloud half-giants are rarely found in the empire. They live in remote regions atop tall mountains where their excellent smell and sight makes them deadly hunters.

• Cloud Cushion (Minor Feature). You take half damage from falling.
• Keen Senses (Minor Feature). You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Frost

The blue-skinned frost half-giants are acclimated to the cold. The first organized, coordinated group of half-giants hunted frost giants.

• Cold Acclimation (Minor Feature). You are naturally adapted to cold climates and can ignore the negative environmental effects of such places, like cold temperatures.
• Cold Resistance (Minor Feature. You have resistance to cold damage.

Hill

Hill half-giants are the heaviest type of half-giant. They have tremendous appetites and can eat almost anything with no ill effects.

• Fast Metabolism (Major Feature). You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.

Stone

Stone half-giants dwell underground, living close to dwarf communities. Their gray skin takes on the texture of rocky environments.

• Darkvision (Minor Feature). You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Stone Camouflage (Minor Feature). You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide in rocky terrain.

Storm

The first half-giant was of the storm and many of the oldest living half-giants are storm half-giants.

• Hold Breath (Minor Feature). You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes at a time.
• Lightning Resistance (Minor Feature. You have resistance to lightning damage.