Frost Giant
Frost giants speak their own language and the language common to all giants.
Frost giants live in small bands consisting of a chief, his henchmen, and their camp followers. A band usually will occupy a crude castle or frigid cavern. When encountered in their lair there will be 9-16 1d8+8) giants; half of whom will be immature. To determine a Giants’s maturity, roll 1d4. A roll of 4 indicates an infant with no combat ability and hit points of ogre; rolls of 1-3 indicate older progeny with hit dice, damage, and attack rolls equal to that of a stone giant. Particularly strong or intelligent frost Giants chieftains will command bands three or four times normal size. A chieftain who commands 20 or more giants is called a jarl. Jarls always will have better than normal armor and a weapon of +1 to +3 enchantment. There is a 20% chance that any band of frost giants will have a shaman (80%) or witch doctor (20%). If the group is led by a jarl, there is an 80% chance for a spell caster. Frost Giants shamans are priests of up to 7th level. A shaman can cast normal or reversed spells from the healing, charm, protection, divination, or weather spheres. Frost Giants witch doctors are priest/wizards of up to 7th/3rd level; they prefer spells that can bewilder and confound other giants. Favorite spells include: unseen servant, shocking grasp, detect magic, ventriloquism, deeppockets, ESP, mirror image, and invisibility. Frost giants often capture and tame other creatures as guards. There is a 50% chance that a frost Giants lair will contain 1-6 winter wolves. Larger than normal groups check once for every eight giants. Bands with 20 or more giants have a additional 30% chance to have 1-4 yeti, larger groups check once for every 16 giants. A jarl’s band has a 20% chance to have 1-2 subdued white dragons in addition to other guards. The dragons will be age category 2-5 (1d4+1). Frost giants also take captives to hold for ransom or use as slaves. There is a 15% chance that a lair will contain 1-2 captives, larger bands check once per eight giants. Captives can be of any race.
Frost giants live in frigid, arctic lands with glaciers and heavy snowfall. Frost giants eat mostly meat, which they can hunt and kill themselves. They raid human and demi-human settlements for foodstuffs and other booty.
Like all evil giants, frost giants have a reputation for crudeness and stupidity. This reputation is deserved, but frost giants are crafty fighters. Frost giants have muscular, roughly human builds. The typical adult male is 21’ tall and weighs about 8,000 pounds. Females are slightly shorter and lighter, but otherwise identical to males. Frost giants have snow-white or ivory skin. Their hair is light blue or dirty yellow, with matching eyes. They can live to be 250 years old. Frost giants carry their belongings in huge sacks. A typical frost Giants’s sack contains 2-5 (1d4+1) throwing rocks, the Giants’s wealth, and 3-12 (3d4) mundane items. Everything in a Giants’s bag is old, worn, dirty, and smelly, making the identification of any valuable items difficult.
In their arctic lands, frost giants dwell in glacial caves or crude fortresses carved of stone and ice. From these holds, frost giants hunt game and raid for slaves and plunder. The mightiest frost Giants in a clan, called a jarl, leads weaker giants though intimidation and violence. Ice shapers, the frost giants' seers, gain respect from their kind for their augeries and wisdom. They engender fear with their cruelty and ferocity.
A few frost giants have magical powers and can use runes, sorcery, and foul rituals. Such powers give a Giants influence in its clan, if not outright leadership.
A frost Giants’s natural Armor Class is 5. Warriors usually wear chain mail and metal helmets decorated with horns or feathers (AC 0). They also wear skins and pelts, along with any jewelry they own.
One of their favorite strategies is to ambush victims by hiding buried in the snow at the top of an icy or snowy slope where opponents will have difficulty reaching them.
Warriors favor huge battle axes. A frost Giants’s oversized weapons do double normal (man-sized) damage to all opponents, plus the Giants’s strength bonus. Thus, a frost Giants battle axe does 2-16 (2d8) +9 points of damage. (or 4d6+7)
Chilling Strike: The Giants is able to funnel a psionic and physical blast of cold through his weapon. He does standard weapon damage. Additionally, the target is affected by a Cone of Cold (casting level is equivalent to Hit Dice) with no area of effect. The Giants can use this 3/day.
Icebound Footing: When an effect pulls, pushes, or slides a frost Giants, the Giants moves 2 squares less than the effect specifies. Also, a frost Giants can make a saving throw to avoid being knocked prone.
Chilling Aura: The Giants projects a psionic and physical field of cold 3 squares. All creatures that end the round in the affected area take d10+2 dmg. (save vs. breath weapon for half damage). This field also extinguishes all normal heat sources, magical heat sources save (as per the caster) vs. death or are also extinguished.
Cold-Blooded Kick: d8+9 dmg., target is pushed 2 squares and knocked prone (Dex. check -3 to avoid).
Ice Slide (Shaman): The Shaman can slide a target 3 squares.
Wall of Frost (Shaman): The frost Giants Shaman can conjure a wall of swirling snow that lasts until the end of the Shaman's next turn. The wall is 6 squares high and blocks line of sight. The wall's space is lightly obscured and is difficult terrain. A creature that starts its turn adjacent to the wall takes 5 cold damage, and a creature that enters a square of the wall or starts its turn there takes 15 cold damage. The Shaman can sustain the wall through concentration.
Ice Armor (Shaman): One creature within the Shaman's line of sight gains +5 to their AC and resist the first 20 pts. of damage done to it. The effect ends in 3 rounds.
Freezing Bolt (Shaman): 1 target. 2d12 dmg. and target is immbolized (save vs. breath weapon). Range of 200 ft.
Ice Bolts (Shaman): Targets 1-2 creates. d8+9 dmg. per creature (if only one, they take 2d8+18). Target is slowed unless save vs. spell. Range is line of sight.
Blast of Winter (Chieftain): Range of 50 ft. All targets in the area of effect take 3d8+6 dmg. (save vs. breath weapon for half) and are immobilized (save vs. spell). The Blast may be sustained for an additional d10 dmdg. per round if the Shaman concentrates on the action. Immobilization continues (if it was successful) with no new save.
Frost giants are immune to cold.
Special Advantages
SPECIALADV
Special Disadvantages
SPECIALDISADV
Comments